ODUBCM/BSU Campus Minister's From Over The Years
Rev Caitlin Childers Brown
Caitlin Childers Brown served as campus minister starting in summer of 2018. During her tenure, the BCM focused on building a community of young adults that celebrated diversity and creativity focused on discovering the Kingdom of God all around the campus of ODU. The COVID-19 pandemic was a large hallmark of her time as the students displayed perseverance and tenacity in continuing to be the body of Christ for one another in isolating times. A favorite memory would have to be sitting around the dinner table together, laughing and wrestling in community together.
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Caitlin left ODUBCM to serve as the Associate Pastor at Freemason Street Baptist Church and now serves as the Co-Pastor for Highland Hills Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia.
Nigel Anderson
Nigel "Legin" Anderson is a spoken word artist, gospel hip hop artist, podcaster and preacher/speaker who uses transparency to connect and art to communicate with his listeners.
Scott & Chelsea Anderson
Scott and Chelsea Anderson came to Norfolk in the summer of 2013 right after getting married. They inherited a core group of students from Brett Badorff’s tenure as campus minister, and those students willingly jumped into the school year with new campus ministers. The ministry experienced great blessing during this time as a weekly worship service (Merge) grew and community began to develop deeper roots. The BCM loved to serve the campus and community and took mission teams to New York City, the Eastern Shore, and Wilmington, DE. Bible studies grew as did student leadership. We saw the Lord change hearts and had a lot of fun along the way.
Scott and Chelsea left in 2017 to serve with the team at the Virginia Tech BCM. In 2021, they moved to Harrisonburg to relaunch the JMU BCM, and this is where they currently reside. After Noah’s birth in Norfolk (2015), Josiah (2018) and Lyla (2020) were born during their Blacksburg tenure. Chelsea continues to be a wedding and portrait photographer in addition to her work on campus.
Robert Sandford
Memories of Baptist Campus Ministry
After almost 14 years of retirement, my memories of 39 years
(1969-2009) at the BSU (later BCM) at ODU remain clear, although
some dates are a bit fuzzy! There are so many great memories of
eating together, especially pizza and Thursday lunches, Friday night
Bible studies, playing chess, ping pong, intramurals, and the list goes
on and on.
Key pivotal events which made great impact on our ministry and
our numerical growth were: the building of our new center in 1973,
Eagle Eyrie retreats, winter missions conferences, Spring Break
mission trips (especially the first one to New York City), end of year
Nags Head retreats, our first music team "The Christian Life", our skit
team "The Peculiar Players", and Student Week every summer at
Ridgecrest.
Life long friendships that have resulted help keep these
memories alive. Prayers for two of those friends are needed: Jimmy
Tarrant, one of our Associate Campus Ministers, for recovery from
brain surgery several weeks ago, and Jonathan Twining, one of our
BSU members, waiting for a heart transplant
In 2009, Bettina and I retired to Richmond because our
daughters and their families are here. Larisa has two sons, Bo
(sophomore at JMU) and Ted (senior at Collegiate and going to U of
Mississippi this Fall). Melanie has two children, Banner (13) and Eva
(almost 12). We immediately started taking care of new baby, Banner,
and Bo and Ted after school, while their mommas worked. Eva came
along 1 1⁄2 years later! That was quite a new and delightful adventure
for us! My hobbies of fishing and gardening have continued. You may
have seen some of my Facebook flower postings. We have enjoyed
some great trips, some with the children and some just the two of us.
We enjoy worship at River Road Church Baptist where we have both
found our niche.
Life is good.
Grace and Peace to you all.
Rob Sandford
William "Bill" P. Bonner
Bill Bonner was the first ever campus minister of the BSU/BCM at ODU, back when it was Old Dominion College. He served for 8 years! He has since passed and is survived by his wife and family.
