Southwestern Seminary, TBC students form strong bond while sharing the love of Christ on University of Texas campus

Some thought a group consisting of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptist College (TBC) students traveling to Austin over spring reading days was just “a random group of people that [had] been placed together,” as one student put it. By the time the mission trip to the University of Texas (UT) campus was over, however, the students had bonded together in their efforts to bring the light of Christ to hardened hearts.

The group was small—just four students and team leader Ashley Allen, assistant professor of women’s ministries and assistant to the president at Southwestern—but after a week of sharing the Gospel, some of the students decided that number was just right.

“There was just something about this small team, close knit, and we got to share parts of our lives with each other that, if the team had had more people, I probably wouldn’t have been as open about or we wouldn’t have gotten to know each other as much,” said Samantha Jenkins,* who is pursuing a degree in intercultural studies at TBC. “So I really appreciated, even though we weren’t a whole lot, we still went, and we were still … faithful to share, but then also faithful to care for each other.”

Abigail Romero, a Christian studies student at TBC, initially was surprised at the small number of participants and wasn’t sure how the trip would go.

“And at the end of the mission trip, I understood so well why the Lord placed each and every one of us on this mission trip together, and I would not have had it absolutely any other way with absolutely any other team, because the Lord just encouraged each and every one of us through each other,” she said.

Allen said the seminary’s World Missions Center wanted to partner with John and Olivia Jordan,* both of whom graduated from Southwestern in the spring of 2025 and were called to move to Austin to minister to Chinese students on the University of Texas campus through the Austin Chinese Church. She was asked to lead the team because of her relationship with the couple—“Olivia was in my Bible study here on campus for three years”—and because she is a UT graduate, she said.

Planning began last September, looking at “what would work the best for them in light of what they knew in talking with the students [in their student ministry] and also knowing what they sense God is calling them to do through that ministry,” Allen added.

Activities included prayer walks on the campus and surrounding area and handing out flyers inviting students to a cookout planned Friday at a local park as well as a Bible study that John and Olivia lead each week.

Allen said all four students on the team “had the gift of evangelism and were ready to share the Gospel even with some of the hardest people.” They shared with Muslims, with agnostics, and some who had never heard the Gospel, she added.

“And I think one of the things that our students learned is that we live in a hard culture, and in that hard culture that is very dark, the light of Christ is very much needed,” Allen said. “And our students were very faithful in sharing the Gospel and being both diligent and fervent in talking with people and wanting them to hear the Gospel.”

Joshua Okoye is pursuing a Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree with concentrations in evangelism, missions, and apologetics at Southwestern Seminary. A graduate of Texas State University in San Marcos, Okoye said he was familiar with the area, having previously conducted evangelism there. “I know the type of soil that it is over there. It’s kind of hard soil,” he said, adding the mission trip was “another opportunity to be able to evangelize in that area.”

Jenkins said the team was out on campus every day, adding it was “very interesting, because it was spring break for them as well. And so we met up with a lot of international students, PhD students, people that didn’t have a way to get off campus, and got to share the Gospel with them.”

There was one profession of faith—a middle school student who was on the campus. She didn’t realize the girl was so young until she invited her to the cookout and the girl said she would have to ask her parents, Jenkins explained with a laugh. She then encouraged the girl to share her decision with her parents, whom the girl said were Christians.

Many were not as receptive, however.

Katy Morgan, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Intercultural Studies at TBC, said some people rejected them outright, and when they would try to start conversations, the people would walk away when they started talking about religion.

“We had a lot of rejections, but the conversations we did have were very enlightening,” Morgan said. “And a few people, I think, definitely walked away challenged by some of the things we said.

“Overall, I’m really glad I went,” she added. “I learned to just keep talking to people and sharing faith, even when it’s discouraging and it feels like nobody wants to hear what you have to say, to just trust that the Lord is going to lead you to the right people and to keep being bold and obedient, even if you can’t see the fruit of it in that moment.”

Okoye said he appreciated the teamwork of group evangelism, noting “there’s a sense of feedback, and there’s also a sense of leaning on one another and getting different perspectives when evangelizing. … Somebody else can pick up where you might have more of a weakness in, and you can pick up where somebody else has more of a weakness in, so I think it’s a good collaborative effort.”

Romero said she felt God purifying her through the trip.

“I’m so grateful to God that He placed me on that trip because the UT students asked so many good questions that I genuinely did not have the answer to, and this mission trip revealed so many parts of my heart that weren’t honoring to the Lord,” she said, adding, “I always thought that a burden for the lost was going to be like this halo, or like this cloud that just follows you around and warms your heart … but I found that my soul was genuinely disturbed at the lostness of Austin.”

Jenkins agreed, saying, “They’re three hours away and [yet] worlds away; they are searching for purpose and they can’t find it.

“They’re some of the smartest people I’ve met, and they are so lost,” she added.

Allen said the trip was highly personal for her.

“When I was a UT student in the late ’90s, that is where I was believers baptized, where the Lord called me to ministry, and I was very active in campus ministry on the UT campus. And so for me to see almost 30 years later that there are still believers on that campus that are reaching others with the Gospel and are faithful to pray, and that God is still at work on that campus, you know, three decades later, was just a good reminder during the week that God’s faithful and that He will finish what He has started.”

*Names changed to protect current and future mission work.