For the Forrest family, North Carolina Baptist summer ministries have deepened their commitment to the Great Commission. What began decades ago with two college students serving at Caswell has now come full circle, as their daughter joins the next generation of student leaders making disciples through BeDoTell.

For the Forrests, serving in student ministry is a family experience.

In college, James Forrest served with Witness, North Carolina Baptists’ student music ministry before it was BeDoTell. The group drove across the state, ministering to students around the state.

Julie, who he would later marry, grew up in Baptist churches in Winston-Salem and went to Caswell as a camper. She learned about the summer ministry through James and served with Evangels, the drama counterpart to Witness. They spent the first couple weeks of the summer at Fort Caswell with campers and then also traveled the state.

“Caswell was a special place for both James and I,” Julie said. 

In 2003, the couple joined The Summit Church in Durham, where they raised their children. 

And in 2024, their daughter, Ava, a junior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, learned about BeDoTell from Daniel Rose, N.C. Baptist’s student ministry strategist. Rose previously served at Summit and was Ava’s youth pastor. This past summer, she served on BeDoTell’s production team.

Ava saw students grow spiritually and relationally with their churches throughout their week at camp. She celebrated with church leaders as they shared about students putting their faith in Christ and answering calls to ministry. 

“Following Jesus doesn’t have to be boring, and it can be so fun,” Ava said. “Caswell opens up a lot of doors for that, and N.C. Baptists open up a lot of doors for that.”

As part of the production team, Ava helped produce social media content and saw students excited to engage with BeDoTell online, even after they left.

“To be able to make reels and do things that are more interactive with campers — it gets them really excited for camp.”

Ava previously served in children’s ministry at Summit, helping with worship and snack time for preschool groups. She’s also a nanny.

“I love working with kids, whether that’s through student ministry or my job,” she said. “It was definitely challenging at first — working with middle and high schoolers. That’s a lot different than kids and babies. But it was so cool to get to learn more about that this summer and pour into kids more.”

She described BeDoTell’s ministry as intentional. 

“You really do get to build relationships with specific church groups and campers. That was a cool opportunity to get to pray for them intentionally, get to know them more … to pour into a new generation and see Hatch Auditorium on fire for Jesus.”

When her father, James, looked back on serving at Caswell, he remembered a pivotal season for his faith. 

“We all grew up going to church, in a religious, faith-based background,” he said. “I think for those formative years, you really move from, ‘Do I believe this because I believe it?’ or ‘Do I believe this because my parents believe it?’”

“During that very, very critical time of college — many people come to Christ in college — taking advantage of that critical time and doing ministry through N.C. Baptists was really influential on all three of us.”

Serving in student ministry became a tool for making his faith authentic and his own, James said. It was a channel for hands-on, active ministry, and it brought together like-minded Christ followers. James still regularly keeps in touch with some friends he made while serving with Witness.

He also recalls being encouraged by leaders from his small Baptist church in rural North Carolina, who laid the foundation for his “yes” to ministry opportunities in college.

At the time, Milton Hollifield led N.C. Baptists, and Steve Ivey led music ministries for Witness and Evangels. Ivey was involved in BeDoTell until just last year.

“They poured multiple decades into this ministry,” James said. “You see the trickle-down effect of that.”

For Julie, it has been uniquely special to experience Caswell’s generational impact. They visited Ava at Caswell this past summer and had the chance to attend a service and participate in Fort worship.

“Going there as a camper, then getting to work there as a college student, and then all these years later … getting to watch your child do that — it just reminded me how much N.C. Baptists influence people through Caswell.”

Student ministry today and a generation ago are more similar than different, said James. 

“There’s still a real authentic focus on the Lord and worship and discipleship and what it means to be serious in your faith,” he said. 

Music styles and cultural references may have changed, but the “core substantive areas —God, ministry, faith — the importance of those things and going deeper are the same. The way that we deliver that, the way that you reach people with that has obviously changed. … It grabs the attention of a generation that’s very different.”

Julie said the similarities are a great thing.

“Still all these years later, the emphasis is on Christ and helping young people come to know the Lord and want to live for Him,” she said.

James added, “And the Great Commission. That’s a clear theme throughout both is that we’re sent.”

By Liz Tablazon, N.C. Baptist Contributing Writer