While many college students head to the beach for spring break in search of parties and fleeting fun, others are pursuing something far more lasting.
Baptist Campus Ministry students from Eastern Kentucky University, University of Louisville and 15 other campuses nationwide traveled to Panama City Beach last week for Beach Reach, an outreach focused on sharing the gospel. Each evening from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m., students engaged spring breakers in conversation, prayed with them, worshiped together and offered support to those searching for meaning in all the wrong places.
Jake Hancock, director of the BCM at EKU, led a group of 86 students, traveling in 16 minivans prepared for a week of ministry. Through training sessions ahead of the trip, students were equipped with the tools, motivation and understanding needed to make the most of the opportunity.
Gospel conversations, prayer, professions of faith
The impact was significant. The group reported 408 gospel conversations, prayed with more than 800 individuals, and saw nine people make professions of faith in Jesus Christ.
Across the area, about 80 vans were in operation, responding to calls for free rides from bars, clubs and other locations. Many spring breakers, including some who had been drinking, took advantage of the service.
Inside those vans, riders encountered teams of four BCM students ready to offer kindness, conversation and truth. Rather than condemnation, the focus was on building relationships that often led to meaningful discussions about faith and the hope found in Christ.
Preparation plays a key role in the ministry, and Hancock emphasizes the importance of understanding both the purpose and the process before arriving. Students participate in structured training and simulations designed to prepare them for real-life interactions.
“The first training is the logistical side,” he said. “Why do we do this? What does it look like? It’s not a spring break trip to have fun although we’re having more fun than anybody else. At night we go out to the wee hours of the morning to share the gospel.”
Students are also trained in how to clearly communicate their testimony and use evangelism tools such as 3 Circles.
The second phase of preparation involves simulation, with six chairs arranged to mirror a minivan setting. Each van team includes four defined roles: a driver focused on safety, a navigator who communicates with the call center and prayer network, a male doorman who locates riders outside venues, and a “hot seat” participant — typically a female student — who initiates conversation and helps guide it toward spiritual topics.
Simple conversations grounded in compassion, truth
Hancock said not every ride results in a full gospel presentation, but every interaction reflects Christ’s love.
“We want to freely serve brothers and sisters on the beach, serve spring breakers,” he said. “At the very minimum it’s a positive experience of Christians serving without pay. That speaks volumes. They ask, ‘Why do you guys give free rides?’ We instantly bridge it to the gospel to answer that question.”
Conversations often begin with simple questions about beliefs or spiritual background. “Whatever produces more conversation,” he said.
Students are encouraged to practice relational evangelism, meeting people where they are and pointing them to Christ as the only true source of fulfillment. Hancock noted that each interaction is grounded in both compassion and truth. “Every conversation was marked by both love and truth, reflecting the grace that each of us has received through Christ.”
As the week progresses, Hancock said attitudes among spring breakers often shift.
“For the most part, students start off the week with excitement with a free ride to go party,” Hancock said of those who come for different reasons than the Beach Reach outreach. “At the end of the week, the party scene has lost its luster. They are thinking, ‘There’s got to be more to this.’ The questions and salvations come at a rapid pace toward the end of the week. The excitement has worn off from the party scene.”
Meanwhile, the impact on the BCM students continues long after they return home.
“First day back on campus, it’s snowing here and we still have students texting,” Hancock said. “College students saying how they’ve got a gospel appointment tomorrow and how they walked to class and shared the gospel with a girl. This is happening yesterday (Monday) at our campus. It transitions over so effectively not only for spring breakers in Florida but across the nation. It fuels the flame for evangelism right here in our own backyard. This mission trip is such a greenhouse for evangelism.”
The Cooperation Program funds the Baptist Campus Ministry in seven colleges across the commonwealth.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mark Maynard and originally published by Kentucky Today.
