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Dr. Brian Bucy: Training Students for Global Missions

Dr. Brian Bucy
Dr. Brian Bucy

During the past several years, Dr. Brian Bucy (M.A. Bible Exposition ’83) has spent most Monday nights of the fall and spring semesters in the same location—the MacKenzie Great Hall. As the sponsor for Mission Prayer Band for the past three decades, Dr. Bucy can often be found introducing special speakers, talking to students interested in missions, and praying for missionaries.

According to Dr. Bucy, in Mission Prayer Band, “we recognize that while not everyone will reach the field on their feet, all can reach the field on their knees [in prayer] right now.” Whether the students are planning to go to the field themselves or not, Dr. Bucy uses his role in Mission Prayer Band to help students make a difference in missions work, even if it is simply through prayer.

“My personal calling is to motivate and train people for global ministry,” Dr. Bucy said. And whether through training in class, through mission trips, or hosting and praying for missionaries, he’s been working toward this calling for over 35 years.

This passion for missions began shortly after Dr. Bucy accepted Christ as a teenager. Through the leadership of his pastor and the example of the director at a Christian camp that Dr. Bucy served at during his high school years, he saw firsthand what having a heart for missions looks like. Later, as a graduate student at Pensacola Christian College, Dr. Bucy took the opportunity to participate in mission trips and began realizing global missions was more than just a personal passion—it was something he could share with others as well.

“The Lord had begun to expand my global vision from the seeds that my early missions-minded pastors had taught me,” Dr. Bucy said.

Dr. Bucy talks to a couple students about the mission field

Over the years, Dr. Brian Bucy has done missions work in Mexico, Togo, South Africa, Kenya, and Germany. Additionally, he and his wife, Becky (Secondary Education ’81, M.S. Secondary Education ’83), led teams to Honduras on multiple occasions. While there, they were able to serve alongside PCC alumni and Campus Church missionaries Sam and Julie Hodges. “I was thrilled to have them teach me how successful ministry is done there,” Dr. Bucy said.

These trips have helped prepare Dr. Bucy for another of his job titles, Youth Outreach Ministry Summer Missions Teams Coordinator. In this position, he helps plan, promote, and recruit students for summer YOM mission trips. He answers questions “from students, parents, missionaries, donors, team leaders, and [the] website team.” Dr. Bucy explained, “As the Lord has blessed and grown the teams, this part of my ministry has become year ’round. It is my privilege to constantly answer questions for and encourage students who are thinking about missions.”

In addition to working with Mission Prayer Band and Youth Outreach Ministry, Dr. Bucy also teaches undergraduate missions courses and Seminary Bible electives. Some of the classes he teaches include Principles and Methods of Missions, Modern Trends in Missions, Old Testament Survey, Hebrew History I, and Ministerial Seminar Lab.

Dr. Bucy talks to a student about the mission field

Though he has been full-time college faculty since receiving his doctoral degree, Dr. Bucy values the important part each person serving at PCC has. “Having been working here since the early 80s (1980s not 1780s), I can say with conviction that no person is more important than another,” Dr. Bucy said. “We all work together to get a job done—that is to promote the cause of Christ by developing students spiritually, intellectually, morally, culturally, and socially.”

When asked what his favorite thing about working at PCC has been, Dr. Bucy said, “One favorite thing? That is hard.” So he gave three instead. “[One blessing is] working as a couple with Becky to see students from all around the world discipled to follow Christ in whatever vocation God calls them,” Dr. Bucy explained. “Another favorite thing is to send missions teams to alumni and former students.”

The third aspect of working at PCC that Dr. Brian Bucy enjoys specifically relates to his faithfulness over the years. “I have also had the privilege to teach children of my former students! What a blessing to see multigenerational faithfulness!” he said. “God is good!”

Read more about how God is directing and working through PCC faculty and alumni.