New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s 2026 spring Serve Day offered students and faculty the opportunity to volunteer in the local community and share the love of Christ.
This semester's Serve Day, taking place Thursday (Feb. 26), saw more than 250 students, faculty, local church members and campus guests engaging in a variety of service projects and evangelism efforts across New Orleans.
Afternoon classes were cancelled as participants went out into community to serve in various locations around the city.
The day began with a chapel message from Reggie Bridges, senior pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Ruston, La.
Bridges spoke about the importance of addressing inward feelings of guilt or unforgiveness in ministry.
“You cannot lead in mission and ministry unless you are willing to lead in forgiveness,” Bridges said. “You cannot go out in ministry until you have dealt with what you need to inwardly in your relationship with God and other people.”
After chapel, 22 different groups went out into the community to complete a variety of service projects and engage in evangelism.
Multiple groups did prayer walking and evangelism through various neighborhoods. Other groups served at local community centers or churches, while others did clean-up projects throughout the city.
After the projects were completed, the groups gathered in the Luter Student Center to share highlights of their time serving. Several groups shared encounters of sharing the Gospel, with one group reporting someone praying to receive Christ.
Thomas Strong, vice president of spiritual formation and student life, reminded NOBTS family to stick together as they seek to faithfully serve the community.
“We have to remember that it is not only about reaching our community out there, but about having community with one another at the seminary as we go and do this together,” Strong said.
“The thing we will always be held accountable for is our faithfulness. We’re not accountable for the results. That doesn’t mean we do not care about the results, but we just remember our job is to be faithful.”
NOBTS President Jamie Dew closed the time by expressing his gratitude for the Serve Day participants.
“This is always one of the prouder moments of the year for me,” Dew said.
“There is a sense in which none of us ever really ‘get used’ to doing things like this because every type of ministry you all did today takes you outside of your comfort zone at some level. Serving is not the easiest pathway and it is easy to find excuses, but you all press into this and you do it very well every time.”
Dew echoed the sentiments of Strong and thanked the students for living out the mission of the seminary.
“Although it may never actually become completely comfortable for us to do these kinds of things, I am encouraged to hear the number of times that you all as students are doing the things you would be doing on a Serve Day unprompted, unscheduled and unstructured by the seminary,” Dew said. “Just seminary students going out to serve the community and share Jesus in their everyday lives. That makes me incredibly proud, and it is honoring to the Lord.
“Remember that it’s not up to you to produce or contrive a result, you just have to go out and be faithful.”
