Several years ago Deena Weston was working at a local Montgomery high school and met an international exchange student from Germany who really needed a different home.
She came to live with the Westons — members of Cloverdale Baptist Church (see https://thealabamabaptist.org/montgomerys-operation-revitalization-pairs-pastor-church-in-need-of-healing/) — but had already started going to Eastmont Baptist Church.
“I didn’t see any reason she should change that up, and in helping her be involved there I got to know Gene Kim,” Weston said.
Kim, Eastmont Baptist’s college and missions pastor, was working hard to get ministry efforts going in area neighborhoods and local college campuses, and Weston suddenly had an idea.
“Cloverdale is so close to Huntingdon College and Alabama State University, and I asked him what he had going on on those campuses,” Weston said. “He said really nothing and God started connecting the strings.”
Now Kim — with the support of other local churches and the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions — leads a group similar to Baptist Campus Ministries at Cloverdale Baptist called Mosaic.
Opened doors
“It was a way for Cloverdale to have a college ministry without having the people we needed to execute that ministry,” said Weston, noting that most of their congregation is made up of senior adults.
“It’s another beautiful partnership that I hope will continue and grow.”
Kim said it met a ministry need for them too.
“I had been thinking, ‘How can we reach those campuses?’ and Cloverdale kept popping into my mind,” he said. “It’s amazing how God opened all of those doors. They have been so welcoming to us. It’s not an Eastmont thing or a Cloverdale thing, it’s a Kingdom thing.” (Grace Thornton)
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