Extra Chairs and Open Doors
Welcome to the very first edition of Come and See. As we kick off this school year, our hope for this space is simple: to pull back the curtain, share genuine stories from our ministry and give glory to God for everything He is doing in the lives of college students. Psalm 66:5 says, "Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man." We invite you to be a part of this ministry as we look at what God is doing.
Through every season, we keep coming back to the same conviction: the ultimate heartbeat of this ministry is to share the Gospel, and you cannot reach more people if you aren’t willing to make room for them. Stepping out in faith meant trusting that if God told us to build a bigger table, He’d bring the people to sit at it.
After much thought and prayer as a staff, we decided to add a second service to our Thursday night worship gathering. It was a huge leap of faith, but we were trusting the Lord and acting in obedience. We did not know how it would turn out. Will anyone even show up? Will we split our community in half?
That tension felt familiar. In March of 2025, we chose to leave the jam-packed church we were meeting at and relocate to a larger church farther from campus, simply because we ran out of space for everyone walking through the doors.
Yet, the Lord continues to provide abundantly.
During our very first Thursday night gathering of the semester, roughly 700 students packed our main room for the first service.
Every chair was taken. Extra rows were dragged out, and some of our student leaders slipped into the lobby so new freshmen and visiting students could have a seat.
Immediately following the first service, nearly 150 students gathered for the second service. That night we had over 800 college students walk through our doors to lift the name of Jesus and dig into Scripture together. What started as nervous obedience turned into an undeniable reminder that God is actively stirring hearts across OSU’s campus.
The same conviction to “make room” drove our Welcome Week outreach just one week prior. During our Welcome Week worship night, Paul walked us through Jeremiah 29:4–11; God’s call to His people in exile to settle in and seek the peace and welfare of the place where He has planted them. College can easily feel like a season of transition or exile, but the Word of God reminds us that we are not here by accident. God has called us to plant roots right here at OSU, invest deeply and trust His promise that He holds plans to give us a future and a hope. This vision shaped every event across the week:
Chick-Fil-A Bash:
We handed out 750 Chick-fil-A sandwiches on campus, tossed beanbags around, and struck up conversations with hundreds of new students, meeting them with love and community to offer belonging before isolation could set in.
Worship Night:
More than 700 students showed up to worship, grab free T-shirts and hear Paul’s message challenging us to seek the welfare of our campus and trust God’s intentional design for our college years.
Ultimate Frisbee: Students packed five Colvin fields under the lights, teamed up with new friends to play several rounds of ultimate frisbee and one student had a walk-off trick shot to win a cooler full of energy drinks. All this turns into real, shared joy and community that can turn strangers into lifelong friends.
Sand-N-Sno: We closed things out in the sand with volleyball and snow cones, allowing for the friendships created earlier in the week to continue to flourish and prayerfully become discipleship relationships.
While each of the events were loud and high-energy, the goal was always people-focused. The real work happened amidst the many conversations and meetings, from the BCM staff to coffee shop conversations. Students exchanged numbers, laughed away their first-week anxieties and were invited into something deeper than an on-campus club.
Yet, as encouraging as it is to see a room of 700 students standing in rows, life change happens in circles.
The most exciting fruit of this past month is the discipleship happening behind the scenes. More than 150 freshmen showed up to form 13 Freshman Connect groups led by upperclassmen during the first week of school.
Alongside them, we launched 13 upperclassmen Community Groups: men’s, women’s, and co-ed groups, dedicated to diving into the Word, praying for one another and walking through college life together. Events like our outdoor movie night and Courts & Cones continued to give students the space to form Christ-centered friendships. From events like these, we pray for one-on-one discipleship opportunities for deeper connection and growth as students walk through life with one another.
Keeping up with this kind of momentum takes serious work, and the Lord has graciously provided laborers for more behind-the-scenes work. We are blessed to bring on four new staff members to shepherd key areas of our ministry: Community Groups, Events and Hospitality, Women’s Ministry, and our Worship Team.
None of this would be possible without our 150-student leaders who are part of our Big Leadership Team (BLT). These college students balance heavy class loads, jobs and personal responsibilities, yet they pour out their energy each week to serve their fellow students. Whether they welcome international students, lead small group discussions, handle event logistics, or lead our creative and worship teams, they live out the Gospel with their hands and feet every day.
We are so thankful for how faithful the Lord has been toward our ministry. As we continue into the semester, we ask our community, supporters and alumni to stand with us in prayer. Pray that the hype of Welcome Week turns into deep, lasting faith and Gospel transformation for students. Pray that our 26 small groups become safe places where students can confess sin, study the Bible, and push each other closer to Jesus. Pray for genuine energy, wisdom and encouragement over our staff and every student leader serving this campus.
God has been faithful to plant the seeds, and we are trusting Him with the harvest. Thank you for walking with us, praying for us and taking a front-row seat to look at what God is doing at the OSU BCM.