Episode 26: Where in the World is BCM?

Rodney Norvell has been at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) for 11 years, leading students on journeys of faith and service. One of his favorite things as a BCM Minister is taking students on mission trips. Rodney first heard about ministry opportunities in the Philippines from missionaries connected to UT and Carson-Newman alumni. They spoke of their work in Batangas City, where they established a Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) for Batangas State University. "One of my favorite things about being Baptist is we are a family and we are a big network that cooperates together," Rodney shared. This connection grew personal when Rodney’s son, Jacob, chose Batangas City for his own mission work. Inspired by his son’s experience, Rodney felt called to take a team from UTK to the Philippines.

Benji Mendoza, a UTK student with Filipino heritage and a heart for ministry helped lead this endeavor. Benji’s journey wasn’t straightforward. Called to ministry at 15, he initially ran from it, choosing to study kinesiology with plans for a career in physical therapy. "I came into college running away from the Lord," Benji admitted. Personal losses led him to resent the Lord, and he drifted from his faith. But halfway through his first semester at UTK, the pull of the Holy Spirit and the encouragement of his youth pastor back home led him to BCM. There, he found community, accountability, and a renewed sense of purpose. "Without BCM, I probably would have been so far down the hole of just worldly desires and fleshly desires," he reflected.

The impact of the Cooperative Program and the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions is undeniable. They not only fund these transformative experiences but also support the long-term spiritual journeys of students like Benji Mendoza, who are poised to become the next generation of Christian leaders.

For more inspiring stories like this, tune into The Tennessee Golden Hour Podcast. Every two weeks, we share powerful narratives of faith, mission, and transformation. You can find us on YouTube and all major podcast platforms, including iTunes and Spotify. Don’t miss out on these remarkable journeys—subscribe today!

Transcript

Matthew Tullos  
Hello and welcome to the Tennessee Golden Hour. My name is Matt Tullos. My name is Beth Moore, and we are so excited because we get to talk to people that one that I've known for a long time, and one that is a brand new friend. So that's always exciting. And Rodney and I have known each other since way back when I was at Lifeway. And where were you, Rodney, I don't know. I think the first time I met you, I was a seminary student and maybe rec lab. That might have actually been it when we were at Lake. Yeah, you've been at utk for how long? This is my 11th year that I'm in at utk, so it's fantastic.

Rodney Norvell  
Brief, in my opinion, it's gone very fast,

Matthew Tullos  
and you've got an actual verified Grade A student.

Could you introduce us to? Absolutely with

Rodney Norvell  
us this morning is Benji Mendoza. Benji is a student. He is interested in ministry. He serves on our leadership team, and he was actually a co leader for our Philippines mission trip. That's

Matthew Tullos  
fantastic. That's awesome.

Beth Moore  
We're so glad that you're both here. Rodney, I'd love for you to just share even how you came to the decision to go to the Philippines, why that was important for this trip, the connections

Rodney Norvell  
absolutely like one of the my favorite things about being Baptist is we are a family and we are a big network that cooperates together. So I first really heard about ministry in the Philippines from a couple of our missionaries who came stateside, who are alumni from BCM, from Carson, Newman and from UT and they were telling about their missionary work that they were doing in Batangas city in the Philippines, where they basically had created BCM for Batangas State University and had admission house, kind of like we even have here on our UT campus, and just reach out to high school and college students and tell them about Jesus through that ministry. And so Kim and Jeff introduced me to the area A Few Years Later. The interesting part is my son was actually interviewing for Nemi teams and chose Batangas city. And when he described it to me, it's like, I think I know who the people are that were there. And so Jacob went and spent a summer there. And after he was there, I was like, I want to meet these people that are part of this person, a part of this ministry. And so I began to think through maybe the opportunity to take our folks here. Benji has a Filipino history too. And I was like, he'd be awesome to lead on this team, and has been to Manila to visit his family several times. And so that's how it all began to start to take shape. That's

Beth Moore  
awesome. Benji, what prior to this trip, what's your missions experience that you've had going on any kind of trips?

Benji Mendoza  
Yeah. So throughout my high school, my high school years, I've been doing short term mission work in the state of Tennessee. Every summer I get to serve as a Short Term Missionary at this disability camp that I had the privilege to serve at and to, kind of like, rise in the ranks of that of that camp as well. I mean, it's a, it's a small ministries called Luke 14 ministries, uh, headquartered in Moorestown, Tennessee, and manly Baptist Church. And I'm not from that church, but within that Lakeway area, like this, ministry is known to pour into kids with disabilities and with their families, and so I've been involved with short term mission work like that. However, last year, I got the privilege to serve as a student ministry intern at First Baptist Concord in West Knoxville, and that's where I had the privilege of going on my first international mission trip to the UK, actually. And so we partnered with with a church there, and they got us plugged in with UK high schools in the area. And so we got to meet students and invite them to the church to just hang out with the American students and just get to know them while also planting these gospel seeds. And so I love ministry. Discipleship is my passion, but I've had these, the Lord has led me to these, just these awesome opportunities and mission work in the States and also international. So

Matthew Tullos  
that's great. One question I want to have before we get on the plane with you guys to go to the Philippines, what has BCM done as far as in your life? How's BCM played a

Benji Mendoza  
part? Honestly, I came into college running away from the Lord. I received my calling to ministry when I was 15 years old, as a immature, 15 year old kid in high school who, for some reason, at a dean now retreat, received the calling from the Lord to do ministry, and I ran away from that. And so, long story short, long story short, I've had a bunch of deaths. In my family, and so that just led me to resent the Lord a lot. And so when I came into college, I was a kinesiology major, wanting to wanting to do physical therapy, and so I was running away from that calling, and that led me to run away from my relationship with the Lord. And so that led to a lot of downhill spirals. But then, you know, I started just walking around campus, just trying to find my way. And obviously, like, I was really heavily involved in my student ministry growing up, and my youth pastor always told me to, like, always find a community. Always find a godly community, whether that be the BCM and I knew and I knew students who were from my hometown that were involved with the BCM, and so that's always been on the back burner of my mind. I think that was the Holy Spirit telling me to be like, get involved here. Get involved here. And I never really did until halfway through my semester here in college. And so I started getting plugged in, joined the group me, and started coming to some of the worship nights and some of the just the outreach events with soul food and stuff like that. And I never really got plugged in until I started talking with, you know, with Rodney and some of the campus missionaries, and really just meeting my best friends here, really the guys that I get to lean on and do life with. And so I really, the Lord really had to break me to fig to for me to realize that this is the calling that he's asked me to be in. And so with that, BCM has been so instrumental with my life. Without BCM, I probably would have been so far down the down the hole of just worldly desires and fleshly desires. And so with the BCM i i received accountability, I received encouragement, I received opportunities to really explore the calling to which the Lord has called me to be in, and just the incredible, generosity of the churches in the area who have been investing in college students, and I think that's incredibly important for people like me, who may not even be called a ministry, but students who are trying to find a community, students who are trying to find these lifelong friendships. And so BCM has been so instrumental with my walk with the Lord.

Beth Moore  
That's so cool. I'd love to hear that. And a huge part of BCM that we know for our state is leadership development. So this trip is just a great example. Rodney, tell us about some of the things that you all were able to do on this trip.

Rodney Norvell  
So we Benji led a team. They stayed in Manila, and then they went to university campuses and actually got into some classrooms to do some teaching. He can tell you more about that. My team, we went to Batangas city, where there's another university. We were not able to get on campus, so we went to the parks. And every day we would go to the plazas and the parks and just actually do cold walk up evangelism, like walk up to somebody like I said, you can figure out who students are, because they wear a lanyard with their information on it, and usually have a shirt or something that they're a part. And so you can pick out students and just go up to them and start a conversation about Jesus, and then invite them to come to the Connect house. Many of them do have a Roman Catholic background. And so it's a it's a process of trying to say, where do you understand what a personal relationship with Jesus is? And so there's lots of questions and just lots of talking. How long was the trip?

Matthew Tullos  
10 days, and did you do any fundraising? We're super blessed.

Rodney Norvell  
I mean, there are a number of things that go into any international mission trip that we have. So the University of Tennessee had the had actually summer missionaries students did this, who decided to start an endowment fund so that more students could go on mission trips. And so that's one of our beginning places. Is we have this endowment that allows students to underwrite part of the cost for their expenses. Then I just make up a budget, figure out what our playing cost is going to be, what our lodging costs are going to be, and then ask the students to, you know, pay this amount. And so then I kind of do some coaching about, like, how you can write fundraising letters and approach your church and approach maybe family members or other believers that would support you. And through that, we just kind of put all those funds together, and it works

Beth Moore  
out so Benji, tell us a little bit about what your team did in Manila

Benji Mendoza  
in the Manila team, we partnered with a church plant that was planted by IMB missionaries who discipled the current pastor there, and so he he and his team partnered with us to Go do kind of similar to what rodney's team did, was to just straight out evangelism on these college campuses. I absolutely loved what we did. I think because of the cultural differences, I think it's incredibly more easy to share the gospel with with the Filipino college students. We do have a bit. Of a bit of an advantage, because, like we have, we're American students, and so people are automatically going to pay more attention to what we have to say. But we also got to serve in many aspects of the church that was there. We got to be encouraged and be just be part. We really, at the end of the trip, we were incredibly, you know, sad, because we really got close with the students who are part of the church. The part of the the church is 70 to 80% college students. And so at one of the gatherings, actually PASTOR JOEL, who's the pastor there, he pulled us aside and was like, Hey, you see that kid over there? That's a fifth generation disciple. And so discipleship is the pillar of that church. And so the pastor discipled his associate pastors, and then his associate pastors grabbed older students, who then grabbed younger students. And so it's just a generational pipeline of discipleship that I just absolutely loved, and getting to serve with the church, and getting to partner with the student evangelist there who are part of who are students at the universities that we got to visit, I think it was just an incredible experience of just God's sovereignty and God's providence within the the international scope of missions, one of our students, when we were having our debrief night, really just pointed out how big God is. And so we oftentimes, as American Christians, we we are very self centered about trying to focus, trying to bring in God to ourselves, but rather, God is also working in the Philippines, God is working in in the UK, and God is working in all of these churches that are in the international scope of missions. And I think that's just so true about how big our God is, and how big that the God we serve, that we have the privilege of serving and doing ministry under and so what what we did, was fantastic. I think the numbers where we shared the gospel with 275 students, and 268 of those students prayed the acceptance prayer. But part of the Filipino culture is to be hospitable. And so we they say yes all the time, and so we don't really know the fruit of their salvation until the student evangelist would start reaching out to them, and they would start coming to the church. I remember on our last day, we went to a classroom and shared the gospel with 13 to 15 students, and that same night, there's 13 to 15 students came to the church to just to hang out with us. And so we we definitely saw, uh, God's movement in God's hand throughout that whole trip. And it was just an amazing experience.

Matthew Tullos  
Rodney, I just want to ask you, as a BCM director, what is the end goal? Why? Why do you take students, university students, on mission?

Rodney Norvell  
I think that it has to do with like, creating a lifestyle of evangelism. It is hard sometimes to go up to people that you know or in a familiar place for you evangelize, but if we take you out of your comfort zone, you get to a place where nobody knows you and you just have the opportunity to you, you you do it, and then you're like, hey, this isn't as hard as I thought. Hey, I actually enjoy this. This is really cool. God is really you know. So it's the process of, kind of just getting you out of your regular routine so that you can try something as different, as Benji said, it's super easy to talk in this culture, because people are drawn to you in the United States, you're just like, one of many. And so people aren't necessarily drawn to you as a foreigner, and it's a little bit harder, but once people kind of get that taste for evangelism and what it can be, or they see a response, then you hope that that becomes, you know, a lifestyle, something that they'll always do. So Benji,

Beth Moore  
I know you have Filipino heritage. Did you have relatives still there that you were able to connect with at all? Yeah,

Benji Mendoza  
actually. So one of my one of my aunts and two of my cousins live in Manila, and we actually, it was actually a really cool story. We ate one of my cousins who's a mining attorney. And so context, being an attorney and being a doctor are the two most prestigious things that you could be in the Philippines. And so my cousin, his name's Justin, he's incredibly, borderline prideful of his accomplishments. He went to his dream school, he he got his dream job. He's, he's dating his dream girl as he would as he would describe. And so he has, he has everything. And what he was, he actually wanted to visit the church that I was serving at, and he's a devout Roman Catholic. And so he checked out the church and what we were doing, and me and him sat down with with the. Pastor that we partnered with, and he actually opened up to us. He was saying that I have everything that I want, and I have no goals, and so I'm kind of at a loss. And so me and kaloy, who's the associate pastor, youth pastor, there, we were just encouraging him with the fact that your whole life, you've been in control of your life. You you've been writing your story. And so one of the biggest things that we try to encourage him with was what would happen if you just give God the pen and let him write your story like you have such a massive platform for the gospel, and I know that you're a devout Roman Catholic, and and you and you do all these things in order to to get favors from God, basically, because he was describing how he his prayer life is kind of like a deal, because he's naturally an attorney. And so he's saying his prayer life would be like God, I'm going to do X, Y and Z, and in return, I expect you to do X, Y and Z. And so we were trying to shift that attitude with him and be like you have been. You say that you are trying to give God the pen, but in reality, you're not. You're you're writing your own terms and conditions. Why don't you just take the time to just outright and pray and ask God, what would you have me to do? And so we he told us a little bit about his struggles. And after, as I was walking him outside of the church, like me and him just started talking again, and he told me that, for context, like, I'm struggling with a lot of just family relations, especially with my parents, with my call to ministry, because obviously they want the best for me, but and wanting to go into ministry, they're they're still trying to understand that. And so what he was encouraging me with my cousin, he was saying that even though that our family is kind of against your calling, against what you want to do right then and there. That encouraged me. I don't really open up to people, but I opened up to you, and I have no idea why you're my baby cousin. I'm the I'm the high up attorney, and you're my baby cousin. I have no idea why I opened up to you, and so I just want you to know that I'm right beside you. I'm encouraging you, I'm in your corner. And that really meant a lot to me. And so just seeing that God working through my cousin, and God even working through my family, I think that was just that was just

Matthew Tullos  
amazing, if I'm a pastor, explain to me some some ways that I can reach out to this collegiate generation and really move them forward, like Benji was saying, there are obstacles all over the place, sometimes even in families as as far as their walk with Christ. What are some ways that pastors and leaders in the church can connect better and reach this next generation of leaders.

Rodney Norvell  
Benji is probably the expert on this, but I always say, from my experience, because I am getting just a little bit older, is most students are going to put up a front to you, and because they're too cool for school, so like, but the funny thing is, is they really want a lot of help. They just don't know how to ask for it, and they often are gonna, like, try to push you off, but you have to get beyond that in order to have the relationship with them. But once you're in, then I think that they really value who you are and and want to listen to your teaching. But it's just really hard, and their insulation, in most cases, escapism, is their phone. So, I mean, they can be super lonely, but that's going to be their defense mechanism, even when they're in a room of people. And as a pastor, I think we're busy and running from here to there, we have to notice that and say, hey, put down your phone a minute. I want to talk to you. You know? I mean, like, you have to just kind of break through a few of those barriers, and then once you do, I think they're really excited that you took notice of them. But to me, that's the hard part of it. Is there's this little shell that's kind of built up around this generation because they are so digital, and we have to get beyond that to get personal. I think

Benji Mendoza  
you can go one of two ways. Number one, if you're a pastor wanting to really impact the collegiate generation, is number one, be consistent. I think, I think college students get a lot of information at one time, and a lot of it goes in one ear and out the other. But if you are consistent with reaching out and consistent with showing Christ's love to them, I think that will make it make a difference. And you can use your own creativity on how to do that, how to be consistent on college campuses, how to be consistent with a college student. But number two, and I think this may be the most effective, is invest in a. There's students who will invest in other students. Discipleship is my passion, and so I believe that as pastors, we are supposed to make disciples, who make other disciples. And I read a statistic one time where this applies to youth pastors, but if a youth pastor invites an unchurched student to come to the youth group, it's around a 5% chance that they will come to the youth group, but if they invest in another student and that student invites another student, the odds are up to 90 to 95% and so invest, invest in solid, mature, godly students to pour into disciple them and encourage them to find two or three to five other students to pour into and to bring them in and so, number one, be consistent. And number two, pastors, I would say, grab the students and the younger people that you have right now, love them, encourage them, disciple them, and then send them out to other students.

Beth Moore  
Well, Benji, I love just hearing your heart. It's clear that God has a call in your life, and you articulate it so well, I would love to hear from both of you. You know, Benji, you mentioned just family support around your call. I can relate to that and trying to even discern that. Rodney, I'll start with you to just kind of share advice that you give to students as they're discerning their call, and then Benji advice you would give to your peers? Yeah, this

Rodney Norvell  
is a huge question for students, because what we have to say first is, you honor your father and mother, so you you are going to have to treat them in such a way that honors them, but you're also going to have to be true to what God's call is in your life. So those two things don't always go together, but they need to, and you need to do the best you can, to be at peace that the next thing is there are times when you are under your father and mother's authority, as in, you're living in your house, they're paying the bills, all those kind of things like that. And again, you have to take that into consideration, because we're honoring them. But there comes a time when you will be an adult, and there comes a time when you will grow up and you will make decisions on your own. And so, you know, choose those discussions wisely with your parents, and choose your timing, and then be true to what God has called you to do. And and I would say, and even in my calling, you know, my parents, Christians, believers, struggled with that for a little while. But if you are consistently following the Lord, and they see fruit from your ministry, and they they see all those things, then they get on board with you. It takes a little while because maybe they had a vision of you being a doctor or a lawyer, you know, I mean that kind of deal, and they didn't really have the vision of you being a pastor. But if you're consistent and you do it well, you enjoy what you do and you include them in that before long, I think they really get on your side. I definitely

Benji Mendoza  
think it's situational. However, I do agree with with Rodney and what he says about finding finding that wisdom and discernment to honor them while also pursuing the Lord's call in your life. And so I can speak for myself that I do my best to, you know, try to explain and articulate things with my parents and and trying to are articulate it in a way that they would understand, however it is difficult at times, but at the same time like, I think what Rodney says is so true that when they see the fruit of how God uses your life, I think that that their hearts will be softened and that they will eventually accept but at the at the same time, like, yeah, definitely honor them. Use your own wisdom and discernment to know what that looks like. But I would say to a student who's struggling with their call to ministry, uh, number one, don't wait. And number two, in terms of your family, be honest with him, like, Hey, this is what, this is what I feel that the Lord is calling me to do. I would love your support, even though that this, this isn't something that you, that you expected, but the reason why that you, that you put me in this university that you provided for me is for me to have, is for me to have a better life. And if this is what the Lord is wanting me to do, we know that through Scripture and through the Lord's character that he's going to be faithful, he's going to provide, he's going to protect. And so there's no better place to be than in the midst of where the Lord calls you to be, keep them updated on what the Lord is doing. Like, like, like, have like, having conversations with them about, like, Hey, this is what I feel like I want to do. This is, this is what happened. And like, give them a debrief, like, maybe over dinner or something like, tell them, tell them how the Lord used you and in a mission trip or at church. And I believe that their hearts will be softened.

Rodney Norvell  
It's really interesting that you say that? Because when I'm hearing this discussion, I'm like, this is really no different than how we're actually witnessing often to Roman Catholics. And it's because people have plans. Yeah, their plans, but a true Christian has God's plan, like they're wanting to follow God's plan, and so. Many times our conversation we like, Have you prayed about who would marry? Have you prayed about what your career should be? Have you prayed about these things? And so this is often our witnessing technique when we go to other people, and you're witnessing to your parents, who may really be cultural Christians, but have never really considered that God should be the one who orders their life instead of themselves.

Matthew Tullos  
It's fantastic. I want us to take a trip into the Twilight Zone, and this is for you. Rodney, oh no. So say that we're in a universe where there is no cooperative program and there's no golden offering for Tennessee missions. How would that impact you?

Rodney Norvell  
School is expensive. It's getting more expensive every day. And so anything that we do, you have to budget, and you have to think about that. And so a whole lot of students, when they look at the price tag, at what it would actually cost to go overseas or do something, it's kind of like sticker shock. That will talk a lot of them out of it, you know, even though you say to them, Hey, like, don't let money be the reason why you won't go on the mission field. So many of them are just practical minded. We're in engineering school, so we have a lot of practical minded folks. And so that will be come a barrier that they just think is insurmountable. But when you put that with the cooperative program, when you put that with our foundation of missions that we've been blessed with the University of Tennessee, that hurdle becomes much smaller for them to get over. And plus, we'll begin to see God working, you know, like God is at work in these things, providing for his people, because some people are able to give, and other people are able to go and other people are able to pray for folks on the mission field. So none of those is greater than the other, but all of those are required for us to be successful. And so you put that together, and it's suddenly, like, I think I can do this. And then you have, you know, other people who are saying, I'll pray for you while you go, and I'll be lifting you up. And, you know, keep us informed. You know, we'll even have like, you know, be treats. We'll have a live feed that'll say, witnessing to somebody right now they seem receptive. Pray for this conversation. And so you've got to have all those elements that make it possible. And when students catch that vision and see that, then they wanna be a part of that too.

Matthew Tullos  
Yeah, right. And I think just for you, because I get requests, and I am sponsoring some collegiate ministers who are not a part of the cooperative program or Baptist missions, you know. And I think about you and and me just the the comfort to know that your finances are taken care of. You don't have to worry about pledges and and folks to to support you, right,

Rodney Norvell  
right? I mean, it's so funny, because I've been Southern Baptist throughout my life, and I knew about the cooperative program, and I heard about it, but it became reality me when I went to seminary, because I had been to a private school, and I went to seminary, and I was writing the check for my first semester there, and I was like, Is this the fee for parking? Or, like, when does my real like, tuition, what kind of matriculation? When does my real matriculation come in? And they're like, No, that's it. And I'd be like, You don't understand. Like, this is not enough. And they were like, thank the cooperative program, because the cooperative program makes it so that you can come to a Southern Baptist seminary, get an education, and we're supporting you on the way to ministry. And I was like, Oh my gosh, you know, like people gave for me to go to school, and that blew my mind. And I was a believer. After that,

Beth Moore  
Rodney, I'd love to hear if there's just any interesting stories that you have to share about the trip.

Rodney Norvell  
Yeah, I have a couple. One was actually one of our students who was sharing with a group of Filipino students, and he was sharing the gospel really kind of quickly, because he was kind of excited, and his translator said, like, slow down. They're saying, like, Hey, you're giving us a nosebleed, because too much English, that's what they say. It should give me a nosebleed. So the translator then slowed down and shared what Nathan had said and shared the gospel with the people. And Nathan was able to sit back and watch their faces as they heard the gospel for the first time. And he said that was like so touching. Because, sorry, I don't know Brian, but we forget what good news it is. And when you're able to see somebody's face, recognize that that's a cool thing.

Matthew Tullos  
Amen, yeah. Well, I am so thankful for my buddy Rodney and the work that he's doing with University of Tennessee at Knoxville. BCM, have has been there for so long. And Benji, wow, what an amazing story God is writing in your life. And so thank you so much for being here. And thank you, Beth,

Beth Moore  
absolutely, yeah, this has been great. Benji, I can't wait to see what God does with you. I think it's going to be some really great things. So yeah, thank you, Ron, for your leadership. Thanks for

Matthew Tullos  
giving through the cooperative program and through gold offering for Tennessee. Stories like we've heard today really began with your gifts, and we're so thankful for that.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai