Professor ministers to Southeast students, trains Romanian pastors

College is a challenging time for students intellectually and spiritually. Dr. Bruce Gentry works with students on both levels as a campus minster and professor at Southeast Missouri State University.

In addition to teaching, Gentry serves as the director of the Baptist Student Center. He described serving in his various roles as "unique."

"I get to know students at a diverse level. I get to meet people that I won't otherwise meet and have lots of interesting conversations," Gentry said. "It's been a big blessing with opportunities for ministry."

On the ministry side, Gentry has done everything from training interns for the Baptist Student Center, organizing social events, and planning mission trips. As an instructor, he is currently teaching World Religions, Old Testament Literature, New Testament Literature, Religion in America and Business Ethics.

Gentry recently traveled to Bucharest, Romania to train pastors at the Gypsy Smith Training School to minister to the Roma people, or Gypsies. While there Gentry helped teach pastoral skills and the Bible. He said the students he worked with were full of "enthusiasm for learning and absorbed everything."

The Roma people have been persecuted throughout history. Many Roma children are placed in special education classes simply for being Roma and are not taught many fundamentals, Gentry said. Many of the pastors Gentry worked with will reach unchurched Roma children through education.

The Baptist church established the Ruth School in 1992 to teach disadvantaged families.

Gentry learned of the Smith School through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Convention. He met a couple who spoke about their experience and had a pastor friend talk with him about it as well.

"I was blown away. It was a great experience," Gentry said.

While in Romania, Gentry learned firsthand of Romania's history and experienced the culture.

Gentry attended a Roma church that featured a 25-piece mandolin ensemble. He described the Roma people as having a musical culture, an environment that included singing and playing their instruments during class breaks.

Gentry met with people who risked their lives for their faith by smuggling in Bibles while Romania was still communist. He also visited a cemetery dedicated to people who died in the 1989 revolution that led to the overthrow of the dictatorial communist rule in Romania.

Reflecting on the experience, Gentry said it was "amazing, overwhelming and sobering."

This is Gentry's ninth year at Southeast. Having grown up attending church in Duke, Ala., he felt the call to ministry around his freshman year of college at Jacksonville State University. He has served as a pastor and campus minister.

This semester Gentry is also teaching a course called "Prophets of the Old Testament" on Monday nights from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. along with the Rev. Jeff Long of Centenary United Methodist Church. The course can be taken for undergraduate or graduate credit. Gentry said there is still room for anyone interested.

The Baptist Student Center has several ministries this semester. The student ministry has chapel meetings on Sundays at 7 p.m. and features worship and Bible study. The God Talk discussion group meets on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Seekers can have conversations over general topics without judgment. The center is also hosting a Chinese Bible study on Saturdays at 7 p.m. which is lead by Ron Winstead.

The Baptist Student Center is at 909 Normal Ave. For more information on the center, go to www.baptiststudentcenter.org or call 335-6489.