Baptist Student Union - Connect with Us

Connect with Us

Check out all the ways you can connect.

Missional Communities

Missional Communities are small groups of students that meet on a regular basis to help each other to connect with other students in an intimate, communal setting and to facilitate a personal and unique relationship with God. We want to help students at all stages in their walk with God grow together, so the groups will remain open enough where all students can feel comfortable asking questions and explore different aspects of their faith. The BSU has several different missional communities each with a distinct focus impacting the campus. There is definitely one for you. If you would like to learn more about these communities or would like to find a community that is right for you, please contact Kara Bollinger, the intern over missional communities.

Serving on Staff

The BSU is a student led organization. All who attend BSU events are encouraged to consider themselves members of the BSU and identify themselves with the organization. Some students may want to become more involved in the ministry tht happens at the BSU. That is why staff positions exist.

What does it mean to be a student staff member?
It mainly means that you are committed to the ministry of the BSU. This is explained by 6 expectations of staff. All staff members are expected to follow the expectations below.
Let's take a closer look at these expectations:
(click on each list item for a description)

1. Support the Vision.

We’re looking for people who support the direction and vision of our ministry. No, that’s not it. Really it’s that we’re looking for people who are cheerleaders for our vision and the direction our ministry is heading. Not only do they support our ministry, but also they are excited about it. They want everyone else to get excited about it too. To read more about this vision that we are so excited about, check out the About Us page.

2. Pursuit of discipleship

Every staff member at the BSU commits to pursuing discipleship. The BSU will provide discipleship opportunities for staff through covenant groups or one-on-one relationships. Staff members will utilize these opportunities for growth.

3. Connected to the community

The BSU is striving to be a grace-filled community (we want to be a loving, forgiving, supportive group) Staff members are connected to this community. People know who they are, because they are around. This isn’t to say that we expect staff members to attend every activity we have, but they should be involved in what we do.

4. Accountability

Every staff member agrees to mutual accountability with other staff members. This means that staff agree to follow the Biblical guidelines when a fellow staff appears to be sinning by going to the person and in love confronting them. This should be done without involving others and with great humility since all of us sin and fall short of His glory. The staff member that is being confronted agrees to receive the message with the love and thought intended. If this does not resolve the issue, you then both agree to take it to a BSU Intern or Campus Minister.

5. Discovering and using their evangelism style

At the BSU we have a class called Becoming a Contagious Christian. This class helps individuals to identify how God has created them to share his story. Staff members identify their evangelism style through Contagious Christian and the BSU provides opportunities for them to put those styles to use through our evangelism and outreach programs.

6. Discovering and using their spiritual gifts

At the BSU we also have a class called Network. This class helps individuals to identify how God has uniquely gifted them for service in the community of believers. Staff members identify their spiritual gift mix, personal style, and passion through Network and the BSU provide opportunities to serve in our structure. We might ask you to serve on a team, or lead a team, administrate an activity, or coordinate an event.

Notes: If you are interested in joining staff you can do that now! Staff selection at the BSU is an ongoing process even though there is a significant push for students to join staff in the Spring of ever year. To become a staff member at the BSU you need to fill out an application and be interviewed. You can download these from the Useful Downloads page.

The staff are the heartbeat and driving force of the BSU. Without them, the ministry of the BSU would not exist. Find out who our current staff members are on the Our Staff page.

Click here for the 2009-2010 staff applications

Visit the downloads page.

Our Teams:

Involvement Team

Involvement Team is a group of people that cares about helping new students get connected. We want to be the people who help introduce new students to the rest of the ministry. We want to help new students find a place where they can be themselves and build relationships. And we want to help new students get involved (hence Involvement Team …)

Throughout the year, Involvement Team hosts events that will help new students connect to the ministry and each other. During Truman Week, we put on daily events to welcome new students and provide lots of fun and food! Such events have included Improv, Wacky World Records Fair, Tie-dyeing, mini-Fuel (see Fuel page for more details), mini-Damascus Road (see Damascus Road page for more details), and massive waterballoon fights! A few weeks later we host a freshman progressive dinner that allows the freshmen to connect with local churches. Other various events occur throughout the year, such as the New Student Retreat and Freshman Exodus. These events are meant to connect new students with each other as well as other people in the ministry.

Connecting new students with people isn't all we do… we also help new students discover themselves. We've done things like Network, DISC personality profile, and Contagious Christianity in order to help new students figure out how God has uniquely created them. This helps new students better understand who God has created them to be, which helps them find a place in the ministry to serve that they are passionate about and gifted in. We want to help you serve in a way that you are passionate about and fits who God created you to be.

That's who Involvement Team is. We are committed to helping new students connect to people, the ministry, and God.

Encouragement Team

The Encouragement Team is a group of people who see the value in spreading kind words and actions to others around them. Currently, this team has been primarily focused on encouraging those within the BSU, but soon it will spread to encouraging Truman's campus in various ways. This may include attending sporting or other campus events, performing random acts of kindness, or simply speaking nice words to those around. If you like to make others feel good, come check out the encouragement team!

Music Team

The ONE10 music team offers several ways to get involved and connected with other musicians and singers. The Damascus Road House Band offers the chance to play secular and christian music that is popular right now, in a live "cover band" style. Guitarists, drummers, bassists, keyboardists and singers are all needed! The FUEL worship band provides a chance to play worship music on a weekly basis, as the FUEL worship team leads the BSU/ONE10 in worship every tuesday evening, and at special events.

Atmosphere

Atmosphere Team is awesome! We're in charge of helping Damascus Road and FUEL to create the "atmosphere" for each particular event. We're kind of like the set designers for a play. Every week we design decorations or construct props and scenery to illustrate the message for the service that night. Sometimes we light some candles and set out some pillows to create a mellow mood. Other times we construct Mt. Doom and the towers from Lord of the Rings or we build Metropolis City for our Smallville DR! Or we might make table decorations, like the mobiles we made for our DR about Science and God! We've even built a transformer! Whatever we're doing, it's fun! And we do this to glorify God, to help share His message with our campus. We love being a part of DR and FUEL and the vision to share God's message with our campus using culture.

If you're interested, come on down to the event early to help setup! We love having as many people as possible! And you don't have to be way artistic or anything. We need painters, cutters, gluers, and tapers; people to color, people to draw and people to paper maché! We need everyone! So if this sounds like the place for you, let us know and we'd love to have you!

Tech. Team

Tech. Team takes care and runs all of the electronic equipment needed for the various events. This includes running the slideshow for each service, the sound system, and the lights. Ocassionally, the Tech. Team can be hired to run sound for non-BSU concerts and performances. Our services can be found running the sound system for the True Men concerts in Baldwin. If you have in interest in electronics and would like to help the Tech. Team, please do not hesitate to contact Brad Girard.

BSU Feeds