Southeast's Baptist Student Center celebrates 80 years with banquet

For 80 years, the Baptist Student Center on Southeast Missouri State University’s campus in Cape Girardeau has aimed to reach out to the community through education and fellowship. Tonight, it will celebrate that legacy with an event at The Courtyard by Mariott.

The Rev. Bruce Gentry said he’s only the fourth director in the center’s 80-year history.

He has served as director for nearly 17 years, Gentry said, and in that time, the ministry’s dual focus on education outreach and hospitality has stayed generally consistent.

“Every ministry does food on some level,” Gentry said, and the BSC is no outlier. The center has long offered lunch Wednesdays, and Sunday nights, a special meal is held.

Everyone is welcome, Gentry said, and as it turns out, many attendees are international students. They might not live on campus, Gentry said, and these meals are a great way to get food and fellowship.

Over the years, “It’s mushroomed into more diversity, with all types of people,” Gentry said.

That correlates with the center’s other focus: education.

This semester, Gentry teaching a course on the Gospel of John. Previously, he’s taught on the fables of Jesus and other theological subjects. Those courses can be taught for university credit, he said.

He also teaches smaller, less formal courses, structured similarly to a Bible study, but on many different subjects, Gentry said.

BSC administrative coordinator Nathan Meece said when the center was founded in 1939, education was the core mission.

“Teaching creates growth and development in people. Eating creates community,” Meece said. “It’s one of the most fundamental communal things we do as people.”

So, Meece said, the Baptist Student Center offers meals and study.

According to Southeast Missourian archives, the Southeast Missouri Baptist Foundation, as the center was originally known, was founded Sept. 11, 1939, when S.D. Aubuchon began teaching Bible classes.

He directed the foundation and taught classes until retiring in 1952.

His successor, Thomas S. Messer, served as director and Bible professor for 36 years.

The Rev. Michael Parry served as center director for 15 years, according to the archives.

Gentry said such a history is exciting to celebrate, and the banquet tonight will be a great opportunity to connect with the community.

Dinner, entertainment and a presentation will be held beginning at 5 p.m. today at The Courtyard by Mariott, 400 Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Special guest speaker will be Southeast Missouri State University president Carlos Vargas-Aburto.

Tickets are $65 per person, available at www.baptiststudentcenter.org or (573) 335-6489.