Marshall University’s Campus Christian Center is home to a variety of religious groups on campus, one of which is the Baptist Campus Ministry.

The group, which typically contains around 200 members consistently throughout the school year, had their first meeting of the fall semester Wednesday evening.

“On Wednesday nights we have praise and worship, and then we have Bible study,” said senior Kasey Madden, president of BCM. “We just really want to make it an open environment where people are free to come worship the Lord in whatever way that they see fit.”

Exactly 326 nametags were given out for Wednesday’s meeting, which consisted of BCM members gathering in the Campus Christian Center chapel, as well as an “overflow room” to accompany the large turnout.

Madden said that more people arrived later in the evening to join in on the prayer and music, which was played by students in BCM.

“We really want them to be authentic, we really want them to be genuine,” Madden said. “We want to preach the truth to them and we want to preach the gospel.”

Rob Ely, director of student ministries for the West Virginia Baptist Convention, said that while BCM meets in large groups only once per week, the group also has smaller groups for those members who wish to meet in a more intimate setting.

“We will break down into smaller groups when we talk about [impact teams],” Ely said. “Those groups will do individual Bible study or group Bible studies and service projects. A lot of our ministry, too, will be outreach here on campus and in the community.”

Ely said the impact teams consist of eight to 10 BCM members and are all peer-led. Leaders are trained on Sunday nights at a leadership meeting. Anyone is welcome to join BCM, Ely said.

“We are sponsored by the West Virginia Baptist Convention, but it doesn’t matter to us,” Ely said. “We just want to reach out to students. I’ve been doing youth ministry for a long time, and I just love helping college students grow and be better disciples of Christ. I was part of BCM when I was a student here and it impacted my life, so I just want to carry that on.”

BCM meets in the Campus Christian Center on Wednesdays at 9:15 p.m.

Olivia Zarilla can be contacted at [email protected].