Why you should become a host family

When Sarah Beard asked my husband and me to consider becoming a host family for an SMU student, our response was an easy “yes.” We had already experienced an amazing level of camaraderie and fellowship from having several students and the HPUMC college ministry team over to our home. To see these young men and women asking questions, digging into their faith, and praying together was inspiring, humbling, and AWESOME.

My husband and I wanted to replicate the kind of hospitality that we saw make such a difference in those students lives by sharing our home and faith. We also loved “filling up” our empty nest. Since our kids were all either away at college or had graduated, our family dinner could perhaps once again be a special offering for a young person in our home.

More than anything, we really viewed it as a privilege to be a home away from home for a student. Personally, it also gave me a reason to reflect on my own college years and on how the difference a connection like that (with a family, church, and community) might have made in my life. The reflection was more than enough motivation to step up!

I wasn't prepared to love Kaitlyn as much as I did - nor so quickly!

A junior from Baylor University here for nursing school, Kaitlyn left her friends, sorority, and all things “college” back in Waco. I believe the experience was more like work for her because she was actually in class or labs up to 12 hours per day. Amazingly independent and fiercely committed to her studies, Kaitlyn maintained a gentle spirit and faith that escaped me when I was 21.

We shared our faith, challenges, and experiences; we got to know her family through her stories and she got to meet our kids and my parents. I never once prepared a meal when she was over without her either right at my side or across the room finding something helpful to do. My husband was always there at the table on Sunday evenings with us to make sure we visited about the lighter subjects of life.

The highlight for us as hosts was whenever he and I prayed together for Kaitlyn. Praying for Kaitlyn taught me to pray differently for my own daughters. Seeing Kaitlyn through a mother's eyes, though not as her mother, helped me see my children less as an extension of me, and more as a child of God.

The gratitude I have for all of those things is immense! Being a host family blessed us as much as or more than it did Kaitlyn. We continue to feel that blessing in our lives even today.

I would recommend becoming a host family to anyone with a heart for shepherding and mentoring. You have to be able and willing to love these young adults through time, prayers, meals, activities, conversation, whatever gifts you have. It could be something as simple as a washing machine!

It looks different for everyone because every family is different and each college student is too. College can be a lonely place and there are so many distracting paths for young people to take. For us, being a host family was about our home being a safe and "come as you are" place to feel welcomed, wanted, and loved. That can be a hard place for any college kid to find, but Lord knows that they all need it.