Teach. Reach. Beach. 

Teach Reach Beach is a weekend event our Minister of College, Alex Smith, offers during the Fall Semester along with 5 additional churches across the Carolinas. The goal? To see church-based college ministries collaborate with a church in a South Carolina coastal town so that they may evangelize the area, prayer walk, and point those they encounter back to that local church. 

The schedule included large group sessions, Saturday morning breakouts, evangelism training, and most importantly-time in the harvest. One of our Establish Network Interns, Chapel Leroy, led a breakout Saturday morning on Relational Ministry from a Students Perspective. Chapel is a student at North Greenville University and is a Christian Studies major. 

One of the most memorable moments came at the end of our evangelism training when a young man, in the training, prayed to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. What a joy! Unbeknownst to us, the momentum was just beginning. At 4:30 that afternoon we gathered near the pier on Folly Beach and baptized our new brother in the faith. While celebrating, 6 more young adults came forward to be baptized, publicly identifying with Christ and acknowledging their salvation in him alone.

Two of the young adults that came forward were beach goers observing the first baptism. As they came forward into the water, Alex and Todd Williams (First Baptist Spartanburg) heard their salvation story. Both had accepted Christ in previous months but had not found a church to be baptized in. Once they were baptized, Alex asked where they were from. They both were vacationing for the weekend and were from Conway. As the Lord would have it, one of our partnering churches is in Conway and ministers at the school the young lady attends, Coastal Carolina University. Alex and Todd were able to connect the two with PJ (college minister in Conway) right there on the shoreline. PJ gathered their names and numbers and has been in contact with them, invited them to church and began discipleship efforts. 

With that momentum in mind, we were expectant for Sunday service with our local partnering Church, Fort Johnson Baptist Church on James Island. The Lord blessed again as there was standing room only while members and guests pulled seats into the foyer of the church to worship. 

God is good.

These are just a few stories of how walking in obedience honors the Lord and encourages our hearts. 

Please continue to pray for our college students as the Lord calls them to walk in obedience.