BCM hosts cookout to welcome students
The Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) hosted their annual cookout on the from 5-7 p.m. on Sept. 2 outside the University Center (UC) to commemorate the start of the school year.
Tasty food, cornhole and the promise of community were offered, drawing many students to the two-hour event.
With the pandemic forcing people to be apart more, campus minister Kendall Danford and associate campus minister Mary Cross wanted to help bring students back together.
“Especially this year, the students haven’t had a community and everybody is separated and divided and quarantined off,” Danford said. “We wanted this to be something where people could just come hang out and have a good time, but we also want to tell them a little bit about what BCM is and give them a chance to come to our Tuesday night worship gathering.”
Cross said that she wanted the event to be interactive and exciting for the students.
“We wanted to welcome back students in a fun way,” Cross said. “We have snow cones, hotdogs, chips and drinks and different games we can just play to meet new people and help other students connect with each other.”
As an active member of the FMU community, Danford said he finds great importance in helping college students connect and spread love.
Nicolas Doctor, a sophomore civil engineering major, heard about the event through some friends who work with BCM. Doctor said he wanted to attend the cookout because he thought it would be a great way to socialize.
“I just came to meet new people,” Doctor said.
The social gathering was a relief to many students. Following all of the safety procedures, the event had a good turnout. Students surrounded the corn hole game, sat in the socially distanced chairs to eat and enjoyed socializing with their classmates. The opportunity to socialize safely allowed the students to interact with each other leading into the first week of school back in the classroom.
BCM is a group existing right outside of FMU’s campus that is dedicated to spreading the word of God to college students and facilitating a community of love. While they hold worship gatherings every Tuesday night with free food, teaching and socializing, the BCM campus cookout is a much larger event occurring through the cooperation of BCM and Student Life that helps connect college students and introduce them to BCM.
The Tuesday worship gatherings can be located at the BCM building across from campus and next to the Griffin Athletic Complex. The meetings will be held every hour from 6-8 p.m. to allow for a safer environment because of COVID-19.
