Free shuttle rides?
Free pancakes?
How can God use these simple acts of service to change a life?
Last month, more than 350 Tennessee Baptist Collegiate Ministry students and leaders — and other college students in neighboring states — utilized these simple acts of kindness to share the gospel with thousands of spring breakers in Panama City Beach, Florida.
Over a three-week period, BCM groups from about a dozen Tennessee schools joined 37 other campus-based/church-based college ministries from across the U.S. to have a Kingdom impact on their generation through Beach Reach in PCB.
RELATED: Learn more about Beach Reach here.
The results were amazing.
During the three-week stretch, Beach Reach had the largest attendance in its history.
A total of 1,502 Beach Reach students gave rides to nearly 19,000 passengers, served more than 1,600 plates of pancakes, and had nearly 11,000 gospel conversations.
A total of 310 individuals placed their faith in Jesus, which was another historical marker for the ministry.
In addition, other spiritual decisions were made by many spring breakers.
Many students expressed that it was an incredible opportunity to be a part of such a great outpouring of God’s work in the lives of this generation.
Eli Ragsdale, a MTSU senior from Jackson, Mississippi, summed up Beach Reach simply by saying “It’s college students reaching college students.”
‘Unique opportunity’ amid brokenness
Started in 1996, Beach Reach PCB has mobilized tens of thousands of Christian college students to impact the lives of spring breakers by meeting their physical needs of a meal and free transportation — while at the same time sharing the love of God amid brokenness and spiritual searching.
Each evening the ministry utilizes free shuttle services, free pancakes and street teams to build relationships with spring breakers.
While ministry takes place in the city, the Beach Reach ministry is undergirded by a prayer room where a group of Beach Reachers rotate in to pray specifically for all that is happening on the streets of Panama City Beach.
“Beach Reach is not just another mission trip,” shared James Crowell, a University of Tennessee-Martin junior. “It is a unique opportunity to reach spring breakers who might be searching for something more.”
Leighanne Higgins, a University of Tennessee-Knoxville sophomore, recognized that “Beach Reach targets many demographics of college students. … It is kind of a catch-all mission opportunity.” Each week, students saw various ways that God used each part of Beach Reach to connect with a variety of spring breakers.
Higgins shared a story that reflected this in an encounter with a group of female spring breakers. Her street team came across a couple of college girls who were trying to figure out how to secure transportation to their hotel.
After sitting on the ground next to the spring breakers, Higgins shared how the Beach Reach info card provided information on requesting a shuttle ride. While thankful for the details, the spring breaker bursted out that she was “really hungry.” Higgins told the spring breaker to turn the card over to reveal the details about the late-night pancakes. The spring breaker was in tears, overwhelmed by how God was taking care of her needs and that Beach Reachers were connected to the church.
“It was such an awesome moment,” Higgins reflected. “God really did that. He had everything orchestrated even down to the business card info.”
Most groups travel to PCB in 15 or 12-passenger shuttles and utilize them for evening ministry.
Individuals serve in various roles within a shuttle. While the driver covers transporting the group from location to location, the navigator keeps in communication with the call center , where rides are assigned and organized. Others serve in support roles. The doorman searches for the spring breakers being picked and the backseat security provides safety for the passengers. Several students have the responsibility of the “hot seat” where they build conversations with spring breakers with the hope of steering the conversation toward the gospel.
From the beginning, Beach Reach was designed to equip college students with sharing their faith.
The weeklong mission trip was designed to provide a “platform where Christian students could push through their fear and engage their peers with the gospel,” stated Keith Inman, former BSU campus minister at Murray State University and the point person for the first Beach Reach in PCB.
Comfort to the hurting
This truth resonated with Alexis Phillips, a University of Memphis freshman.
She shared that during the week God taught her how the importance of sharing the gospel. “A lot of us are not living the abundant life God has for us because a big part of living the abundant life is sharing the gospel with other people,” Phillips said.
Katelyn Underwood, a junior at Austin Peay State University, shared that God taught her about the importance of humility in sharing the gospel with others. Underwood articulated that “We cannot tell others about Jesus from a high and mighty perspective. We have to come alongside these people, meet them where they are, and show them that we all need Jesus.”
Phillips displayed this perspective in an encounter she had where she was able to pray for a spring breaker who was visibly upset and crying.
“After asking her if I could pray over her, the spring breaker pulled me in for a hug,” Phillips recalled. I prayed God’s truth over her, and let her know that she was loved, made with a purpose and that God loved her. As I was praying, she continued crying with her tears falling on my hand.”
Phillips felt it was a privilege “to get to be the people that meet needs and comfort those that are hurting.” Clearly, sharing the gospel includes living out the gospel of love and compassion for those hurting and lost.
At times, Beach Reachers were amazed at the responses they received from spring breakers upon sharing about Jesus.
Jacob Welch, a Vanderbilt University sophomore stated that “It was so surprising how receptive people were to the gospel message. We were told to expect opposition … but so many people were so intrigued (by the gospel).
“Perhaps some college students anticipated corner preachers pointing out the sinful lifestyle often found among spring breakers, but with the use of shuttle rides, street teams and pancakes, many spring breakers were desiring to engage in faith conversations during the week.”
During the week, Beach Reachers prayed that God would convict college students who were seeking worldly fulfillment. Welch explained how he met a spring breaker who felt conviction from all the parties that he had attended.
“This is what everyone had been praying for. We had been praying for people in PCB to be convicted of their sin and turn to Christ,” Welch said.
He and the spring breaker had a gospel conversation as they talked about putting faith in Jesus and seeking next steps in following Jesus.
Jacob shared that it was amazing to realize that “exactly what we were praying was at work” in the lives of spring breakers.
Underwood asserted that “Many college students don’t expect to encounter Jesus, much less be told about Jesus by someone just like them.”
Yet, a unique aspect of Beach Reach includes the value of college students trusting each other. Street teams help spring breakers get shuttle rides and begin gospel conversations with those waiting for the ride.
More than a shuttle ride
Lydia Nakamine, a University of Tennessee-Chattanooga freshman, reflected how she was able to share the gospel with a group of college girls.
While they didn’t make a decision for Christ, she was able to update the shuttle leaders how her street team’s conversation went with them and trust that God would continue to use other Beach Reachers to share the gospel with the spring breakers.
“I had to trust the next shuttle to share the gospel … and realize that His ways are always more effective in advancing His Kingdom.”
In many cases, the BCM students leave Beach Reach more prepared to share Christ with their peers and family back home.
This, too, was a high priority for Beach Reach as it began years ago.
“Beach Reach (does) not stay at the beach,” Inman noted. He noted that students often “bring back to their local campuses an awareness that through the Spirit, conversations about Jesus could occur in a natural way.”
Many Beach Reachers grasped this significance from their week in PCB. Ragsdale shared that one of their shuttle riders decided not to go to the bar. The spring breaker expressed that he was saved but was not living for God in recent years. Instead of going to a bar, the spring breaker chose to go to the Beach Reach late night pancakes with another spring breaker. The decision to change was due to the investment Beach Reachers had on college students each night. This caused Ragsdale to recognize how important faith influence is even back at his university.
“People aren’t being changed by a shuttle ride,” Ragsdale said. “They are being changed by people who are consistently pouring into them and showing them what Christ died for.”
This was a powerful lesson that a large number of students took away from the week of Beach Reach, as they realized that the Tennessee universities are a mission field and that God is using the BCMs to be salt and light to a generation in need of the gospel.
BCM leaders are encouraging Tennessee Baptists to pray for the hundreds of BCM students who will faithfully follow the Lord of the harvest’s direction to sow the seed of the gospel on their campuses across Tennessee in the years to come.
As Hayden Sinnamon, a student at Walters State, put it: “God taught me how the conversations I had at Beach Reach are also everyday conversations that I can have on campus.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Morgan Owen and originally published by Baptist and Reflector.