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Alex Sutton and Emily Lewis came to Sam Houston State University in Huntsville for more than just career education. Both were searching for something deeper: a growing relationship with Jesus.
With hundreds of others, they found just that—plus opportunities to lead and serve—at University Heights Baptist Church, a congregation with what college minister Jon Harding calls “a legacy of loving college students.”
UHBC is nestled in Huntsville’s University Heights neighborhood, “a minute behind the campus,” Harding said. The school has grown significantly in the last decade, its sprawl almost enveloping the church and providing a mission field in the congregation’s backyard.
The university’s growth has eclipsed that of the town in recent years. When Harding and his wife, Danielle, arrived in 2023, they found there were not enough local churches to disciple the burgeoning population of nearly 22,000 college students attending “Sam,” as locals call it, in person or online.
“When we landed [at UHBC] … the church was primed to reach the campus,” Harding said, noting “only a handful of churches” were extensively involved in college ministry. “More people are ready to respond to the gospel on the campus than there are people willing to proclaim the gospel. This generation is hungry to know who God is and to seek after Him. … The harvest is ripe.”
“More people are ready to respond to the gospel on the campus than there are people willing to proclaim the gospel.”
Harding’s goal was to revitalize UHBC’s legacy of sending out Christian leaders.
More than 200 students responded to flyers distributed on campus and attended a Welcome Home Sunday college ministry kickoff in August 2023.
“They just kept coming,” Harding recalled. After the service, students enjoyed a free lunch prepared by church member Dennis Coleman. Kids filled the fellowship hall and spilled over into classrooms.
The 2024 Welcome Home event attracted even more students. “The church provides the meal. We are blessed to be part of a church that makes this investment.”
In addition to Sunday services, college students attend TRUTH, a Tuesday night gathering featuring worship and teaching with an emphasis on gospel clarity. Last school year, TRUTH averaged 145 in attendance; this year, that number is closer to 175. Involvement in student-led small groups is also encouraged.
UHBC college students recently returned from a spring break mission trip to New Orleans, where they partnered with a church plant. Each summer, some in the college ministry serve with GenSend through the North American Mission Board, too, Harding said.
More than 60 UHBC students and student leaders attended the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Commons Conference in Houston in January, added Harding, who is part of the SBTC’s Collegiate Network. Two students accepted Christ at the 2025 conference.
“A surprising number of unbelieving students want to be part of the church,” he said. “Some have some sort of faith background, but it’s never actualized till their college years. We rarely receive a student who is ready to hit the ground running.
“Our mission is to invite students to belong to the family of God and then engage in the mission of God. We build everything around that. Discipleship looks like family. It also looks like mission,” Harding said.
“More people are ready to respond to the gospel on the campus than there are people willing to proclaim the gospel.”
‘You don’t know how this can change you’
Sutton, a senior from Sugarland studying international business and finance, said he was looking for community when he transferred to Sam Houston State.
“I was one of the first people in my family to pursue Christianity,” Sutton said. “I fell in love with going to church as a kid. Youth, small groups, VBS … I loved it all.” In high school, he remained part of the church his mother took him to when he was 8, but admitted he was “trying to figure out” his faith in high school.
“I was mostly trying to figure out what to do with my life. I lost my initial understanding and purpose,” he said, adding that he took a side trek from pursuing God’s will in favor of preparing for a career and getting a college degree.
Then he found UHBC and got involved in a small group, attending church on Sundays and TRUTH on Tuesdays. Eventually he became a student leader, serving Tuesdays and also leading small groups, coordinating prayer walks on campus with groups, engaging students with the gospel, and offering to pray for them.
“I gained a better understanding of leadership and ministry, a grasp of what it is to be in ministry,” he said. “After my first semester at Sam, I realized ministry is something I needed to do for my lifetime.”
Sutton’s advice to other college students? “Don’t be afraid to ask. Get involved [in ministry] wherever you can and whenever you can. You don’t know how this can change you till you do it. It changed my whole life.”
‘I went from 0 to 100’
Lewis, a sophomore from New Caney, also came to Sam and UHBC full of questions and doubt.
“I grew up in a household that practiced cultural Christianity,” she said. “We didn’t talk about Jesus … my parents told us we were Christian. We celebrated Christmas and Easter.”
The family seldom went to church, and when her parents divorced when Lewis was 5, she experienced anxiety that only escalated when she hit middle school and found herself surrounded by friends whose parents were together.
One evening, as an 11-year-old, she lay in bed distraught about her family situation. “I didn’t know how to handle my feelings. I was a child,” she recalled. “I reached out to Jesus and said, ‘I don’t want to feel like this anymore.’” A sense of overwhelming peace enveloped her.
During high school, she explored faith largely on her own, finally deciding that in college, she would become serious about Jesus. Again, alone in her dorm room, feeling anxiety about school and life, she felt “a pull” and determined “the only way for me to live is going to be living for Jesus.
“God, I want a relationship with you,” she said. “I don’t really have it. I know I want it.”
But how?
A conversation the next day in the campus student center changed her life. Lewis had thrown on her only clean top, a “What Would Jesus Do?” T-shirt. She and a fellow student struck up a conversation about her faith journey and he invited her to TRUTH. She agreed. Then doubt struck and she had second thoughts about attending.
A timely text from a female student offering to accompany her to TRUTH, combined with encouragement from her mom, who told her, “Emily, this is an answered prayer. You have to go,” convinced her to attend.
“I need to do this if I am going to be serious about my faith,” Emily told herself.
TRUTH changed her life, confirming the faith that had begun in childhood. “From that point on, I started walking with Christ. I went from 0 to 100 and was baptized three weeks later,” she said.
Today, Lewis leads small groups and serves on the college ministry’s core leadership team. She also teaches preschool to kindergarten Sunday school.
“I don’t just do college ministry. I wanted to serve in another way, too,” she said, adding, “College is a really important time for decisions.”
College ministry is healthy for a church, too.
“We have seen the college ministry infusing new life into the church,” Harding said, explaining that the second Sunday service is at 90% capacity.
It’s a win-win. For Huntsville, Sam, UHBC, and for eternity.
