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Brandon Pittman, who serves as the student director at Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, says he loves the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s M3 camps, which are supported by funds given through the Reach Texas State Missions Offering. Each summer, the camps are held in multiple locations in Texas and New Mexico and introduce students to the saving message of Jesus Christ.
But the value of M3 camps goes beyond that, Pittman says.
“I really endorse M3 camps not only because of the evangelism aspect,” he said, “but because of their emphasis on what’s next [for the students who attend]. How do you grow deeper in your faith? How do you pray? How do you read your Bible?”
M3 camps also spend time helping students understand how to embrace God’s calling on their lives, whether that’s at their schools, in their future careers, or through a direct calling to vocational ministry.
Pittman tells the story of Lilly, a Great Hills student who felt God might be calling her to missions or ministry. She was unsure about what that calling would look like until last year, when one of the emphases at M3 camp was an unreached people group she had never considered—the deaf community. She attended an American Sign Language breakout session at camp and began taking ASL classes at her high school for the purposes of ministering to the deaf community.
Lilly is among a group of about 10 students at Great Hills who currently feel called to ministry. It reminds Pittman of Luke 10:2: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
“We’re seeing in Gen Z and Gen Alpha this revival,” Pittman said, “and we’ve got to be faithful to lead them well and lead their generation to become leaders in the church now and in the future as well.”
