University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley BSM partners with Dallas church to offer career guidance for college students

As “one of the areas where they were going to impact the world,” Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas sends “seven different teams down [to the Rio Grande Valley] every year to do different projects, mainly with local churches,” focusing on expanding and planting new churches and meeting needs in the community.

In 2019, Park Cities member John Thompson, who now leads the “Career Coaching” trips, traveled to the Rio Grande Valley with Park Cities’ leadership to “look at what the needs are.” The group stopped by the Baptist Student Ministry at the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV BSM). 

“They literally have teams that come around the clock throughout the year to serve in different capacities. So, as they were doing ministry in Colonias and on all of the areas in the Rio Grande Valley, the thought came up of, ‘We're ministering to children, we're helping families,’ and then I asked, ‘Well, what happens to the children when they grow up?’” explained Robert Rueda, UTRGV BSM director. 

Thompson and Park Cities’ leadership expressed interest in investing in college students.

“They said, ‘Well, we want to be supportive, and even if they're not our young adults from our church or our college students, we think it's important that, as a church, we come together and minister to [people] at all stages of life,’” explained Rueda. 

So, Park Cities Baptist Church struck up a partnership with UTRGV BSM to serve students. 

The new partnership brought a challenge for Rueda and the Park Cities team to “think creatively [about] ‘How can a church minister alongside us beyond serving [Free] Lunch?” They determined that the greatest need among UTRGV students, in addition to Jesus, was career guidance.

“We use our expertise to go [serve] other countries. Why not do it here in the United States, where you can use your expertise as a gateway to invite others to follow Jesus,” said Rueda. 

Thompson said this new trip idea gave him a different angle to encourage his friends to join the team that serves in the Rio Grande Valley. 

“I try to come back [from the trips] and get some of my friends to go with me, and they all [say], ‘No, we're not going to do that. We're too old [to do] construction… and we went to the BSM and they said, ‘We can do some kind of thing with the students and you have no construction requirements. You don't have to be outside. You can be in the classrooms. You can directly walk and use your expertise as opposed to using your strength,’” explained Thompson. 

So, the team took their first “Career Coaching” trip in November 2019.

Using career expertise to share Christ 

The “Career Coaching” trips give Park Cities members the opportunity to “use their careers in the college setting to reach others for Jesus.” The group speaks to freshmen students in a “general university 101 class” about “How do you do life? How do you do college?” and to business school students about their specific career field. 

Emily Martin, Thompson’s wife and Park Cities member, said going back to the BSM after speaking in classrooms to have one-on-one encounters with students is where the group gets to lean into how their faith influences their work.

“At the BSM, we end up [doing] a panel discussion on an evening event that they have, and that's also where we do some one-on-ones or small groups with some of the students,” said Martin. “In the classroom, we don't really involve our faith… [but] under the auspices of the BSM, that's where we get more clear about how our faith has influenced our careers.”

Rueda said the “Career Coaching” team has “made themselves available” to “keep up [with students] even after they graduate.” 

“That's the beauty of [“Career Coaching”], that the people that come not only forge connections with students, they become mentors to them… We have students that still meet with the people that they met, and they still pour wisdom on them over Zoom like, ‘Hey, I'm graduating. What careers should I take? What steps are right to take?’” said Rueda. “Now we have a mentoring program that is available to students to connect with those that come.” 

Park Cities member Eduardo Retta said going to UTRGV to speak with students has been “deeply fulfilling and rewarding” in multiple ways. 

“When I was in college at a big state university, the BSM gave me a place to be with other believers for fellowship and Bible study, [but] we never had adult professionals to address us,” said Retta. “Most students at UTRGV are Hispanic. As a Hispanic myself with a long international career, I realized… when students see someone who looks like them, who shares their background, they realize success and rising above your limitations is possible [and] 'I can do all things through Christ' (Phil. 4:13) becomes tangible [to them].” 

Park Cities member Kevin Rooker said, “the giving of my time to those interested in career counseling, and sometimes life counseling,” is one way he can obey Jesus’ command to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” (Matt. 22:39).  

“The UTRGV BSM connection is really made for that distant neighbor who may ask the question, ‘Do you see me, and am I important to you?’ My answer is ‘Yes, I see you and you are important to me. Let’s talk,’” said Rooker.

Rueda said, “Every corner of our program is impacted” by Park Cities’ “Career Coaching” team. 

“They come here and they're willing to answer questions. They're willing to guide them as they launch careers. So, that's the impact in the lives of our students in our BSM ministry. The impact has been that all these people they've become prayer warriors, they’ve become just an essential partner to us,” said Rueda. “[They’re] an incredible blessing.” 

Rueda said he’s even seen students who moved to Dallas for graduate school get plugged into Park Cities from their mentors from “Career Coaching.” 

Park Cities member Patrick Stewart said discussing “the importance of our Christian faith in determining life’s goals and career plans” with BSM students also encourages him.

“Faith and prayer gets us through the regiment of studies and life [and] the community of BSM sets [a] firm foundation for growing more like Christ. I benefit, also,” said Stewart. 

“We never imagined that God could use [this]”

Rueda said he and the “Career Coaching” team are all in agreement: “We never imagined that God could use [business professionals discussing] their careers in the college setting to reach others for Jesus.” 

“A lot of times when you think of a mission trip, you always think construction or you always think prayer walking, but [it’s] the idea that God can use your career… to minister to others,” said Rueda. “We have people that come in [and] they're like, ‘I never thought that I was going to be using my career to go into a college to talk about Jesus with students.” 

Rueda encouraged other Texas Baptists churches to consider setting up a similar program for young adults in their respective churches. 

“I think that's a model that a lot of churches in Texas should explore because we have BSMs everywhere,” said Rueda. “One of the things that churches do when they want to minister to young adults is they do a worship night for young adults, and what we're saying is… open the whole church [to] mentoring [with the] expertise of brothers and sisters that have walked through life already, to talk to these young people and to minister to them. You'll be surprised, there are some of our young adults that [have] never talked to an elderly person about careers.” 

He said, “a message people need to hear,” students and church members alike, is that “you don't have to go on a mission trip and build a house to be of service to the Church,” but simply be faithful in using the gifts that God has given you to further the gospel. 

“That's where our passion is: the intersection of entrepreneurship and faith; what happens when a person puts their skills to the service of God and uses whatever skills God gave them, albeit being a professional or a minister or whatever, and then they use it to further the gospel. That's just incredible to me,” said Rueda. 

He said he is praying that students are able to see “an example of a believer in Jesus who is impacting the world in the work space.” 

“We want to paint a picture for them saying, ‘This could be you after college. These are people that are highly successful, and they're putting all their success at the feet of Jesus to the service of the church,’” said Rueda.

“A beautiful opportunity” to invest in young adults

Rueda said Texas Baptists have “a beautiful opportunity” to invest in their young adults in this way. 

“Texas Baptists [have] distinguished themselves for investing in people. So, I hope that when people read the article, there will be a church somewhere that says, ‘We can do that. We have people here that can adopt a campus, beyond supporting financially and giving them free lunch. We can go and walk with them and be [ask], ‘What do you need?’” said Rueda.

The Park Cities team will be at UTRGV BSM for “Career Coaching” on Nov. 11-14. 

For more information or to get connected to a BSM on your campus, visit txbsm.org.