The South Carolina Baptist Convention has named Chad Stillwell as the new Director of Collegiate Ministries. He brings years of experience leading students, including previously on staff with the state convention, and a passion to partner with local campus ministers to reach campuses across the state. The addition of Stillwell to the convention’s staff represents its vision to partner with local churches to see that every life in South Carolina is saturated with the gospel.

“We are thrilled to welcome Chad back to our South Carolina Baptist team. He is a proven leader with a great passion for reaching and mobilizing the next generation. His creativity, strategic mind, vast experience and previous service here make Chad the ideal candidate to lead collegiate ministry into the future,” says Jay Hardwick, SCBC Associate Executive Director-Treasurer and Chief Strategist.

An Alabama native and graduate of The University of Alabama at Birmingham and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Stillwell is leaving a 12-year tenure on staff with the International Mission Board’s Student Mobilization Team where he served as team leader for the last four years. In that role he developed and implemented Hands On, a collegiate semester missions program, which has helped over 1,600 students serve on mission in the past decade. His additional IMB experiences include assisting missionaries, students and volunteers experiencing emergencies overseas through the Crisis Action Team, and collaboration with South Carolina BCM groups sending students to the nations.

“I previously served as associate director of BCM with the SCBC and, since that time, I have continued to have a heart for the college students of South Carolina. I am excited to work with this incredible team of campus ministers who are some of the most passionate and gifted in the country. I am also excited to meet and do all I can to help college leaders in churches share the gospel with, disciple and send college students on mission,” Stillwell says.

“Chad is a leader of leaders. I’m confident God will use him to equip and encourage our campus ministers and local church college ministry leaders across the state. His own life was changed by the gospel through BCM, so he is a living testimony to the eternal impact our campus ministers and local church leaders can have in college students’ lives,” Hardwick adds.

Stillwell’s vision includes seeing active ministries on each of the 61 colleges and universities in the state, and to reach the roughly 275,000 total student populations on those campuses with the gospel. He and his wife Anna have one daughter, Aubrey.