BSM celebrates 100 years on campus This year, the Baptist Student Ministry is celebrating its 100th year on the UMHB campus—a century of transforming students’ lives through mission opportunities, discipleship, and evangelism. “It’s hard to quantify the impact the BSM has had over this last century here,” said Director Daniel McAfee. “Countless students have gone on their first mission trips, learned to share their faith, and come to know Jesus through the ministry and work of this organization. Clearly, the BSM has made a big impact on a lot of people’s lives here.” For some, being involved with the BSM changed their lives completely, and for others, the ministry has helped spur them on to a life in ministry. “There’s a hundred years’ worth of faithfulness that has been at work here, and it’s an exciting time,” said
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McAfee, who stepped into the role as leader last August. He replaced Dr. Shawn Shannon, who had served in that position for 18 years.
“There’s a hundred years’ worth of faithfulness that has been at work here, and it’s an exciting time.” —Daniel McAfee, BSM Director UMHB was one of the first schools to host a student-led Baptist Student Union (what the BSM was originally called before the name changed in 1994). According to historical documents, during a meeting of the Texas Baptist General Convention (TBGC) in 1919,
the executive board was instructed to begin an all-inclusive religious organization involving college students. “Baptist schools and some state schools had a simultaneous desire to have a Baptist witness on Texas campuses,” Shannon explained. Dr. Joseph P. Boone, who was the TBGC student secretary in 1919, was charged with finding campuses to use as a pilot program. “The more I learn about UMHB’s role in the beginnings of the BSM as a whole, the more acutely aware I become that the leaders and students of the BSM are standing on the shoulders of so many men and women who have come before us,” McAfee said. “Their faithfulness and sacrifice are an inspiration as we plan and dream for the next 100 years of the BSM at UMHB.”
