Jones College has a long legacy of former students returning to serve the campus community. Many come back as instructors, but John Franklin Porter has built a different kind of legacy; he has served as director of the Jones College Baptist Student Union for 23 years.
Porter attended Jones College from 1983 to the spring of 1985. In 1987, he returned as the assistant BSU director, a role he held until 1994. He has served as director since 2002.
Porter’s connection to the BSU began even before he enrolled at Jones. Two girls from his church, one who participated in BSU summer missions, and another who sang in the BSU music group, influenced his life early on.
“Even in high school, I started going to BSU events because of what I saw in them,” Porter said.
Throughout his life, Porter has been shaped by many influential people, but one stands out with a twist of fate tied to his BSU career. Porter said his childhood pastor Larry Goff, baptized him, discipled him and, in an ironic way, encouraged him toward eventually becoming BSU director.
One day while the two were fishing, Porter said he was quietly thinking about pursuing ministry when Goff spoke up unexpectedly.
Goff said, “When are you going to take over my church?”
Porter didn’t end up leading Goff’s church, but he did follow in Goff’s footsteps by becoming BSU director in 2002. Goff had led the Jones College BSU since 1991 until his death from cancer in 2002.
Porter has been connected to the BSU for more than 23 years and has witnessed major changes in its operations.
He remembers when the BSU was an old white house where students played garage ping pong until 2000. There was even a payphone in the building. When Porter was a student, BSU meetings were held in the mornings and sometimes drew up to 100 students. The organization didn’t move to nighttime gatherings until 2008.
One of the biggest shifts Porter has observed involves how students connect through technology, and how that technology has affected their lives.
“In the ’80s and ’90s, if you put up a sign for a Christian event, people just came,” Porter said. “Now you have to be much more intentional by using social media.”
As BSU director, Porter has walked with students through life’s challenges and has noticed both similarities and differences between generations. While he believes every generation needs love, encouragement and Jesus, today’s students face levels of anxiety he didn’t see in earlier years.
“People are more worried, more stressed and more dependent on technology than ever,” Porter said. “I’ve never seen so many students so anxious about everything.”
Porter said he has also seen society become less religious, with students less likely to attend Christian events. But that doesn’t discourage him. He believes the impact of the BSU is not defined by attendance numbers but by transformed lives.
“We once had a student give up baseball because he felt the Lord calling him to ministry,” Porter said. “He became BSU president, a missionary in Europe and now a pastor. That’s the kind of impact you can’t quantify.”
Porter continues to pursue the BSU’s mission of being a light on campus not only for students, but also staff, striving to change lives one person at a time.
For any questions, Porter can be reached at frank.porter@jcjc.edu.
by Destiny Velasco
