Christmas came early to the Delta. From December 10-13, 92 MS Baptist Student Union (BSU) students dispersed across the mid, south, and north Delta to engage in missions, to join with faithful church partners, and to serve the community in the name of Jesus Christ.
Josh Warren, BSU Director of Mississippi Delta Community College, founded “Christmas in the Delta” to mobilize collegiate teams to reach the community for Christ. Inspired by the former MBCB Collegiate Ministries Director, Lloyd Lunceford, and his “Christmas in China” mission, Warren recognized the need for this project at our own doorstep.
“The Delta is the most unchurched and under-resourced part of our state,” Warren explained. “About 90% of our population here is unchurched, and that’s crazy, because there’s a church literally on every street corner. As the saying goes, ‘missions exist because worship does not’. So we do this because there are people in our cities, in our communities, in our neighborhoods who do not worship Jesus.
“Jesus is worthy of their worship. Jesus is worthy of my worship. And so we want them to understand what the love of Jesus is all about.”
With the Christmas season drawing near and the school semester ending, the “Christmas in the Delta” organizers – Warren, Zach Hardy, and Sam Ivy – hoped at least 50 students would volunteer. Instead, 92 students arrived from 11 different BSUs across the state, ready to serve.
Sunday night, the BSU team led students through a history of missions in the Delta, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary sponsored a meal at the Delta State University’s BSU to emphasize calling out the called.
On Monday, students joined the prison ministry at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, where they participated in a five-hour worship service, prayer time, and testimonies. Tuesday and Wednesday, students dispersed to various ministry sites all over the Delta for church canvassing, painting projects, tornado relief efforts, prison ministry, Crisis Pregnancy Center efforts, packing blessing bags, and more.
“This is the dream,” said Warren, commenting on the mission trip’s victory. “This is the vision. This is what we prayed for, for years, that God would send laborers into the harvest. And the harvest is plentiful. We see that every day. We live it and we’re entrenched in it.
“The need is great, but the problem is there’s not enough workers. We asked Him to send more laborers, and here we are: BSU directors bought in, college students bought in, and now faithful partners here in the community bought in, as well. So it’s been awesome.”
The “Christmas in the Delta” team thanks all the BSUs from Blue Mountain Christian University, Coahoma Community College, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Delta State University, East Central Community College, Hinds Community College, Mississippi Delta Community College, Mississippi State University, Northwest Community College, University of Mississippi (Ole Miss.), and University of Southern Mississippi, for your service for the Kingdom!
For a video highlighting “Christmas in the Delta” activities, click here.
