By Terry Goodrich

When Baylor University was chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845, one of the guiding visions held by its Baptist founders for the new school was to train students who would spend their lives as ministers and missionaries. And while Baylor has undergone many changes since those early days on the Texas frontier, the University’s commitment to equipping young men and women for Christian ministry remains a core value embraced by thousands of students.

When Baylor began religious instruction in 1846 with the start of its first classes, most students who felt called to ministry were “Baptist preacher boys” — young men, primarily from Texas, who were bent upon preaching, evangelizing and shepherding a Baptist flock.

That template has expanded over the past 170 years. While some of the 2,000 undergraduates enrolled in Baylor religion classes each year feel called to become ministers, the forms that their ministry takes have multiplied. Different, too, are the types of individuals who build upon the bedrock taught in their religion classes, which focus on the Bible, ethics, theology, church history, ministry and world religions.

Baptists still abound in Baylor religion classes — some 850 students each year — but “there are all sorts of denominational identities now among those who feel a call, as well as nondenominational ones,” said Dr. Jeter Basden, professor of religion and director of ministry guidance. “And these days, we have more women than men.”

The pulpit does not top the list of where Baylor ministry students envision themselves, Basden said. They most often mention an interest in missions, followed by youth ministry, music ministry, preaching, education and children’s ministry.

Baylor students remain committed to seeking ministry careers, even though the first years after graduation are often challenging ones. Dr. William Bellinger Jr., chair of Baylor’s religion department and The W. Marshall and Lulie Craig Chairhold in Bible, said beginning positions generally are in small churches with relatively low salaries. The post may be only part-time, requiring a minister to pick up a second vocation to make a living.

Add to that the usual ministerial challenges, such as “living in a fishbowl experience, being on call 24/7 and having very little discretionary time,” Basden said. “On top of all that, you might be called on to do things like drive the church bus and fix the church’s sound system or air conditioner.”

Despite those hurdles most Baylor ministry students forge ahead, strengthened by their faith in God and the encouragement and guidance of religion faculty.

Among them is senior Nate Hilgenkamp, who blogs as “The Official Preacher of the Penthouse” and hails from Eden Prairie, Minn. He grew up in a Baptist church, serves as a group leader in a college and young adult ministry at McGregor’s Harris Creek Baptist Church and plans to become a lead pastor.

A sermon Hilgenkamp delivered inspired by “the Penthouse” — his cramped third-floor Waco apartment — has netted him a preaching scholarship award from the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“I live with six other guys, and we’re crammed in one bedroom with three bunk beds,” he said. “People will look at it and say, ‘How does that work?’ That’s the same question Mary asked when the angel Gabriel told her she would have a son, and what Zechariah (father of John the Baptist) said when Gabriel said he would be a father. They asked, ‘How shall this be?’ Mary said, ‘I’m a virgin.’ Zechariah said, ‘I’m old.’”

“Things may be beyond our ability,” Hilgenkamp said. “But God can make them happen.”

Sometimes, students are certain they are headed on a straight road to a vocation — and then it veers.

“My idea was to go Yale and become a cardiovascular surgeon,” recalled 2002 Baylor alumna Amy Wilkins. “I grew up in a traditional conservative Southern Baptist church. I didn’t know such a thing as a female minister existed.”

Wilkins entered Baylor as a University Scholar and had a pre-med scholarship, but “I gradually started to feel that God was calling me into ministry,” she said. “I assumed that meant being a medical missionary. But slowly, God made it clear that while I was to be in missions, I was not to be a medical missionary. I found that I really had a heart for the local church.”

She went on to earn her MDiv degree from Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and today she is the Rev. Amy Wilkins, minister of community and global missions at Valley Ranch Baptist Church in Coppell. She works with overseas missions support, mission trips and many local serving opportunities such as homeless ministries and an English as a Second Language Program.

Kelsey Podley, a senior psychology major from California, sees her ministry as helping people through counseling.

“God put me at Baylor,” she said. “I took an introduction to ministry class, and we wrote a paper on what our call is. I’ve always liked to help people who would come to me with problems. I get so much joy out of helping them through difficult times and bringing God’s comfort.”

Podley’s studies at Baylor have been made easier by a Baptist Ministry Scholarship, and after graduation in May 2016 she plans to earn a master’s degree in social work.

“My dream is to have my own practice,” Podley said. “But there’s a need for counselors in churches. A lot of them don’t have counselors on their staffs. I’d like to do that at least part time or as a volunteer. I want to work with lots of different kinds of people, to emulate God’s love in a variety of ways.”

For all ministers, communication is vital, and not just for preaching or leading Bible study. Increasingly important is cross-cultural communication, regardless of whether ministers serve in their native countries or elsewhere.

“That can involve anything from language to economics to geography to lifestyle,” Bellinger said.

These days, too, serving as a minister often means being an entrepreneur. Some ministry graduates find themselves as church-starters rather than in positions at an established church. And those in missions may not have the financial support of a mission board or agency, so “you’re finding a way to earn your living and spread the gospel,” Basden said.

Like many other university graduates, those who enter the ministry may face yet another challenge — significant student debt and often, a relatively modest income from which to repay it.

To ease that burden, Baylor awards scholarships to all qualified Baptist ministry students, with the Baptist General Convention of Texas contributing a portion of that. Four years ago, Baylor expanded financial assistance with a few scholarships for qualified non-Baptist ministry students. That number has grown, and the goal is to increase it to include all qualified non-Baptist ministry students.

“There are people I’ll never meet, but they’ve impacted my life through scholarships and freed up my family and me from taking out loans,” Hilgenkamp said. “I let people know how great Baylor is. With all the religion professors, I’ve never felt uncomfortable walking into their offices. They want what’s best for me.”

Faculty members are “so good about wanting to know what’s going on in students’ lives and supporting us in what we need,” Podley said.

Bellinger said he and other members of Baylor’s religion faculty are repaid many times over for the investment they make in the lives of students preparing for Christian ministry.

“It’s so rewarding to see these students clarify what God is calling them to do, to see them determine what their gifts, skills and passions are — and then to watch what happens when they go from here to churches, nonprofits or around the world,” Bellinger said.