With praising God on their minds, a group of nearly 20 people took a trip to the Collegiate Evangelism Conference (CEC) in Alexandria this past weekend. The group belonged to Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Grambling State.The CEC is a conference that unites all of the BCMs in La. for one weekend. The goal of the conference is to “provide students with a chance to hear the Word of God in an exciting and cutting edge environment,” said Mark Robinson in the conference’s program.
The conference kicked off with an uplifting concert from Jeff Capps. Afterwards, the conference’s main speaker Landon Dowden graced the stage to talk about CEC’s theme: Vantage Point. Dowden preached that there are different views in the world as far as religion goes, but in the same sense, Christians are to still stay strong to their beliefs.
“We have people in our church growing up without Biblical views,” he told the crowd. “The way you live your life shows how you believe the Gospel.”
Not only were there sermons from Dowden, but workshops were also held to help attendees understand different elements of religion.
“One of the things that I learned was about taking care of your finances,” said Sharoma Scurry, BCM President. “I also learned about special ways to help people deal with depression.”
Other workshops spoke on dealing with the missionary, homosexuality, global warming and the Christian movement, and more. The workshops were a part of the break out seminars held during the conference.
Reginald Alford, the director of BCM and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, said the conference was a great networking tool.
“It was a chance to connect with other students from other students across the state,” he said. “I think that fellowship and the workshops were very exciting. Based on this weekend, it should help motivate (the students) to do more and lift others at Grambling State University.”
As the conference ended, Alford said he hoped there were several things students got out of the trip.
“Fellowship, how to interact with different cultures, and to see what other BCMs are doing across the state, that’s what I think we got out of it,” he said.
Scurry agrees.
“I feel like it was good to mingle with other BCMs around the state,” she said. “We networked and met people who are in the same organization as we are.”
Alford said that after the success of this trip, he’s definitely looking forward to doing more trips with BCM.
“We have a lot more trips planned,” he said enthusiastically. “My ultimate goal is to get students involved into missions. I’d like to see some students overseas doing missions.
“These are little steps to that.