‘Launch’ equips Mississippi Baptist students for evangelism

By Tony Martin
Associate Editor

The second and final Launch event, designed to train students in grades six through 12 to be evangelistic in all the spheres of life where God has placed them, was held at Garaywa Camp and Conference Center in Clinton on August 11.

“Launch grew out the hearts of two youth pastors, Nate Ball at First Church, Clinton, and Reid Stevens at Park Place, Pearl [now senior pastor of Forest Church, Forest],” said Ken Hall, student ministry consultant in the Discipleship/Sunday School Department at the sponsoring Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB)

Through their efforts and the support of the MBCB Evangelism Department and  Discipleship/Sunday School Department, Launch was created and scheduled for the first session in March and then a second session in August.

“The goal of Launch was to motivate students to make sharing the Gospel a natural overflow of their faith and to equip them to do so,” Hall said. “Students are bombarded by so many cultural issues and interpretations of what truth is. Christian teenagers have the answer and need to know how to share the Good News effectively with their peers.”

There were approximately 75 participants for the March event at Central Hills Retreat near West and 280 participants for the August event at Garaywa.

“The Launch gathering provided teenagers an opportunity to move the truths of God’s Word from their head to their heart to their hands,” said Stevens. “This event is unlike others in that the bulk of our effort was focused on the practicality of the Great Commission call.

“We sought to faithfully proclaim God’s Word and lead students in worship for the sake of then sending them to church groups in order to dissect what was studied and apply it to their lives” he said.

“Lord willing, Launch truly did ‘launch’ students back into their schools, homes, churches, and communities for the sake of the Great Commission,” Stevens said.

Ball echoed Stevens’ observations. “As I have spoken with different youth and youth ministers across the state, I have been convicted that we’re doing a great job of inviting people to salvation — but a poor job training them to walk in the relationship that Christ has called us to,” he said.

“I see no biblical support for a salvific [salvation] moment disconnected from an ongoing relationship that transforms us into new creations. Christ has called us to water the seeds of salvation and then to plant seeds of the Gospel in the lives of those who He has placed around us,” Ball said.

“The efforts of Launch were geared around teaching, educating, equipping, inspiring, and sending students to invest in the Great Commission. We had two large group sessions that included worship and Bible teaching, followed by a closing session in which we asked questions to a panel of students who were living evangelistically with their lives,” Ball said.

“At each of the three sessions we heard from believers from various places around the world who are investing the Gospel where God has placed them. We had two different trainings on how to share our faith and how to share our testimony and then we spent time praying for various missional needs all across our state and around the world,” he explained.

Stevens said, “I’ve personally seen students exhibit higher confidence and capability in living out the Great Commission by the time and tools Launch provided them.”

Hall said response to the Launch format was good. “Our feedback from both Launch retreats was positive, and several leaders have indicated their appreciation for such an event to spark their students as they return to school this fall.”

“Launch was funded through the generous gifts of churches through the [Mississippi] Cooperative Program,” Hall said. “We’re currently looking into the possibility of Launch 2024.”

For more information, Hall may be contacted at khall@mbcb.org.

The author of this article may be contacted at tmartin@mbcb.org.