Zoe and Maura both attended Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina.

Today, both women have committed their lives to full-time missional living in the United States. Yet despite this shared calling, their stories could not be more different.

Finding Meaning in College 

Zoe grew up in a Christian home where she was consistently taught what it meant to follow Jesus. “I grew up in church and was saved and baptized there,” Zoe said, “but I didn’t really know what that meant until I got to college.” The typical college lifestyle left her feeling “really unsatisfied and searching for what [she] knew was right,” until she walked into the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) at Coastal Carolina. There, she met a fellow student named Abby Beatty who intentionally discipled her. “I feel like that’s what truly changed my life with the Lord,” Zoe said. “It was being part of a ministry like BCM on a college campus like Coastal where I really felt like I found my satisfaction in the Lord.”

BCM also opened the door to Zoe’s first mission opportunities. During her sophomore year, she joined trips to New York City and Denver, where she began sensing a call to ministry. “I didn’t really know at the time that I was being called to ministry,” she said, “but looking back, that trip was the beginning of what the Lord was doing in my life.”

Community in Christ 

Maura’s path to Coastal Carolina looked very different. Growing up in a Catholic home, she arrived on campus like many students, seeking purpose and community far from home. That search led her to BCM on a random Tuesday evening, where she met Zoe and others who welcomed her warmly. “They took me right under their wing,” Maura said. “I started going to Bible study, and they were the first people to introduce me to a ‘by grace alone’ type of faith.” The BCM community also invited her to CONVERGE, a South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBaptist) collegiate conference, where she gave her life to Christ. Through BCM, Maura found mentors who invested in her, offered her leadership opportunities, and ultimately became her new family. “Coming from New Jersey to South Carolina and coming to BCM meant I was able to make a family,” she reflected.

Though their backgrounds differ, both women were deeply shaped by SCBaptist and made life-changing decisions about their futures through their collegiate ministry experiences. Both were a part of Palmetto Collective, participated in international and domestic mission trips, and took on active leadership roles within Coastal Carolina’s BCM. Today, Zoe works for the same BCM where she once served as a student and will soon step into full-time missions in North America. Meanwhile, Maura and her husband recently moved to Utah to live missionally through their careers and to serve alongside a church plant.

Both women point to Coastal Carolina’s BCM and SCBaptist as major turning points in their faith, propelling them to live on mission among the lost for the glory of God.