By Abigail Gan | Reporter
Pathway — a discipleship ministry that guides freshmen throughout their transition into college and helps them in their walk with Christ — is accepting leader applications through Feb. 15.
The ministry, which is only a few years old, got its start during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In fall 2020, the incoming freshman class began a drastically different college experience than any class had experienced before. It missed out on in-person Line Camp, Welcome Week, Baylor and Waco traditions and more.
Will Bowden, director of Baptist Student Ministries and Pathway, said during this time, his team started brainstorming what they could do to help the incoming class with their transition into college. They ultimately came up with a system in which one upperclassman would lead four freshmen through four weeks of being a Baylor student. Still, Bowden said there was more to this vision than helping students understand what it was like to be a Baylor student.
“We’re also a Christian organization, so this is also what it looks like to be a Christian in college,” Bowden said. “So it just kind of turned into a discipleship program.”
Rockwall senior Mallory McCartney was a part of the incoming class and joined Pathway during its first year. She has gone through the organization as a member, leader, co-executive chair and now executive chair.
McCartney said she learned a lot about discipleship during her year as a leader. She said she still meets with the women from her group almost two years later.
“They’re not the same people I met freshman year, you know, like they’re so much more in love with Christ,” McCartney said. “That’s just like, all Him, like He just did that. And I got to be in the process.”
McCartney said the vision for Pathway is that freshmen are poured into so intensely that they seek to disciple others and become leaders themselves.
That vision rings true for Milwaukee freshman Sarah Balding, who went through Pathway last fall and is now in the application process to become a leader. She said Pathway taught her to prioritize community.
“I think something that I learned is, there’s so many opportunities for a community and Christian community at Baylor, but you have to seek out those opportunities and you have to commit to being a part of them,” Balding said.
Tulsa, Okla., junior Rachel Gurley was the leader support chair for Pathway last fall. In this role, she said she came alongside leaders and found creative ways to encourage them to make sure they felt heard and supported. Gurley said God is a relational God, and similarly, Pathway is a relational ministry.
“To have passionate leaders who love God and want to step up and be a part of His mission — that is … the heart of our ministry,” Gurley said.
Gurley said Pathway aims to carry out the Great Commission and glorify Christ’s name above all else. She said there isn’t anything special about what they are doing; they are just faithfully serving and inviting a real and active God to give growth.
“God does not need us, like He is so powerful and like could do it all by Himself,” Gurley said. “But to be invited in to work alongside the Lord is so cool. And so it’s just so cool to get to come alongside each other as Christians and carry out the mission of God together — imperfectly, but with a faithful God.”
Bowden said the focus on discipleship is important because it is lacking and is an issue in the American church right now.
“I think a struggle we have at Baylor is that we’ve settled for the lowest bar of being a believer in Jesus,” Bowden said. “Some people may take the step of being a disciple of Jesus and getting to know Him in full relationship and going to places where He would have gone. But very few of us step to being a disciple-maker, of where I invest in people.”
Bowden said being a disciple-maker is obedience to Christ’s Great Commission.
“For Pathway, we think a lot of people will struggle to be a disciple until they start making disciples,” Bowden said. “And so being a disciple-maker helps you be a better disciple.”
McCartney said discipleship can seem scary, but people won’t understand how to do it unless they try it.
“If you don’t take a chance and just step out of your comfort zone and do it, then you’re just going to miss a unique, like, intimate way to connect with Jesus,” McCartney said.
However, McCartney said to recognize that being a leader in Pathway isn’t something to take lightly. It isn’t joining a club, it’s joining a mission. McCartney said it’s a difference and a time commitment.
Bowden said she encourages students to apply to be Pathway leaders. She also said it’s OK if students don’t feel equipped to be a leader when they apply, because the students will have a mentor above them too.
“The first four weeks of school are some of the most transformational weeks of a person’s life; honestly, they kind of choose who their friends are going to be or choose majors,” Bowden said. “But the idea is that we push students toward Jesus. There’s only one Pathway, and not pathways. There’s only one path: Jesus, right? And so we want to walk alongside them as they pursue Jesus and say, ‘We want to activate their faith. We want to disciple them.’”
