Buscher delights in job; gives guidance to students, arranges service projects

Jill Powers
2/17/12

Campus Minister Jeff Buscher ’81, coordinator of Student Ministries and community service, has the rewarding job of aiding William Jewell College students in their spiritual journeys. This includes accompanying them on service trips, guiding them in finding answers to questions of faith and helping Christian Student Ministries. This role fits him well. He has known from a young age that his religion would guide his career.
Buscher graduated high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa then took a job at a local factory. About a year later, a young woman from his church was planning to visit William Jewell. He went along to keep her company, but in the process he found a new home. However, he had not planned to further his education and did not take any preparatory courses in high school, so he was surprised when he was admitted to William Jewell, becoming the first in his family to attend college. He majored in religion and philosophy, sensing that he was meant for the ministry.
“I felt like my acceptance to [William] Jewell was an affirmation to that sense of calling,” Buscher said. He graduated in 1981 and received the Hester Scholarship from the College, which he used to attend Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City. Before finishing, he went to Colorado for two years with Christian High Adventure, a backpacking ministry. There, he met his wife Kayle.
Buscher returned to Kansas City and finished seminary in 1987. He then worked for three churches, two in Wyoming and one in Montana, as an educator of youth and college students.
“Not just anybody can handle teenagers and actually enjoy it,” Kayle, who now works in the College’s Office of Admissions, said. She and Buscher have been married for 27 years and have two children. Their son James has a secondary education degree from Carroll College in Helena, Mont., and is currently minister of youth and media at a church there. Kenna, their daughter, is a junior at William Jewell majoring in art and nonprofit leadership.
“They’re fantastic, and it’s because of their father,” Kayle said.
While they were undergraduates at William Jewell, Buscher and Dr. Andrew Pratt ’81, chaplain, became close friends, and later each was the best man at the other’s wedding.
“When Dr. Pratt got his job as chaplain I called to congratulate him, and about two years later, he called and asked if I’d be interested in campus ministries at [William] Jewell. I didn’t have to think too long about that,” Buscher said.
He started working for the College in 2004, guiding students in Mosaic and Christian Student Ministries.
“My favorite part of this job is creating experiences for students that … broaden and deepen their faith journeys,” he said. One of his favorite ways to do this is taking groups on service projects to places like New York, Haiti, Africa and Honduras.
“I just want those kinds of experiences to be transformative for students. One of the greatest joys I get is reading reflection papers after these trips,” Buscher said. He also loves spending time working outside. Kenna is eager to have this experience with him. She wants to take the trip to Honduras next summer.
“They’re such a big part of Dad’s love,” Kenna said. “He’s really in his element when he does them.”
However, Buscher does find some parts of his job challenging.
“Sometimes I think the greatest challenges are helping students work with and understand one another, whether that’s students who have different religious views or students who are at conflict in the [residence] halls,” Buscher said. When these conflicts are resolved, though, he appreciates that he was able to aid them in that process.
“In a way it’s rewarding, because when students with different mind sets collide and they have a place to work it out, that’s a beautiful thing,” Buscher said.