Central Baptist Church hosted Conway Baptist Collegiate Ministry’s first service on Aug. 25 after being at Harlan Park Church for years. 

Conway BCM is a Christian organization that gives college students a place to come together and get connected with churches and other Christians in the area.

For several years, Conway BCM used Harlan Park Church for their services, but last year, BCM campus minister Thomas Guinee, saw the number of students and decided it was time to upgrade.

“With everything I’ve learned through seminary, when you’re starting to hit 80 percent capacity in a space, it’s that critical junction where you’ve got to make some decisions,” said Guinee.

“We’re really thankful we were able to meet for our week gathering BCM collective for several years at Harlan Park,” said Guinee. “He [Dr. Gary Mitchell, pastor of Harlan Park] enabled us to do a lot of college ministry.”

That decision was to move to Central Baptist Church on Dave Ward Drive. Michael Treat, the college and young adults pastor, was crucial in the switch. 

Treat said that while he was a bus driver for a BCM mission trip to Kansas City, he talked with Guinee and began the discussion for the change.

“He [Guinee] started talking to me about the possibilities and if I thought Central would be interested in hosting,” said Treat. “For one thing, we had more room, but another thing that was really a point of interest was our Rec area.” 

CBC’s recreation area includes a disc golf course, hammock village, bonfire pit and sand volleyball pit.

Guinee said proximity was also a huge factor in choosing CBC. “I feel like I hear people talking about traffic so much these days, we wanted to be as close to our campus as possible.”

Guinee is thankful for the years Harlen Park hosted.

Four hundred and twenty students between UCA, Hendrix and Central Baptist College joined in BCM’s first service at the new location. 

“You know, he made a good choice in just finding a place to put more people,” said Treat, “and God is already starting to bless that, we may have to open our balcony sooner than expected.”

“I have a unique privilege that I get to preach, so I get to see everybody at once,” said Guinee. “That’s fun, but my favorite thing to see is how our student leaders just stepped up,” said Guinee

Conway BCM has 103 student leaders who serve during service and meet with new members to make them feel welcome.

The sermon series for this semester is named The Answer. This sermon aims to share the life of Jesus Christ in a way that college students can understand and relate to.

Guinee said he is thankful for the campuses in Conway. 

“They’re just incredible at partnering together with organizations like BCM and giving us opportunities to serve students and connect with them,” said Guinee. “We know that this wouldn’t be able to happen without the incredible leaders who are willing to partner with us.”

Conway BCM meets on Mondays at Central Baptist Church, on 3333 Dave Ward Drive.