From student to campus missionary, Kyle Hall has a history with Christian Challenge

In 2006, Kyle Hall first learned about Christian Challenge, the collegiate ministry of the Arizona Mission Network. It was during this time, his senior year of college, that he helped start Christian Challenge at Arizona State University’s West Valley campus.

Following graduation, he served with Christian Challenge from 2007 to 2015 on the campuses of Arizona State University West Valley, Glendale Community College and Estrella Mountain Community College. During this time Hall led and mentored many students as they grew in their relationships with the Lord.

Following his initial time with Christian Challenge, the Lord led Hall and his family to the pastorate. After serving for several years with local churches, he found himself being called back to Christian Challenge.

“After leaving my role in my previous church, I prayed for God to give me direction and thought about the types of ministries I had the greatest passion for,” Hall said.

The two that came to mind were Arizona Baptist Children’s Services (foster care) and Christian Challenge.

From 2020 until 2024, Hall had been serving through his church as a volunteer with Christian Challenge at Glendale Community College North. Because he had so much experience with Christian Challenge and passion for college ministry, he contacted Marc Hill, Christian Challenge state director, about potential opportunities to serve full time with Challenge once again.

For a couple of years, Lainee Pegelow and Maya Abe, the Christian Challenge campus missionaries at Northern Arizona University, had prayed for the Lord to bring a male missionary to join the team and pour into the growing population of young men that God was bringing to Christian Challenge at NAU. Hill soon offered Hall the opportunity to serve as a campus missionary at NAU as well as a regional catalyst serving the chapters of Christian Challenge in the rural parts of the state.

Hall and his wife, Mallery, prayed about this new opportunity and felt it would be a good fit for their family and a strategic place to reach college students.

Having been a campus missionary and pastor of a local church, Hall brings a level of experience to Challenge from serving in both roles. Helping young men to understand what it means to glorify God in all areas of life — school, family, work, church and more — shapes the next generation.

Because each chapter of Challenge partners with a local church, students are much more intimately tied into church life than parachurch college ministries. This is beneficial for the church, leading to numerical growth, but also beneficial to the college students who have a natural connection to a multigenerational community of believers.

Through the generous giving of Arizona Southern Baptists to the Arizona Mission Offering, campus missionaries like Kyle Hall can invest in and mentor college students across our state. Through Christian Challenge these students can connect with the local church and reach their campuses with the gospel.

Lainee Pegelow, a freelance writer and photographer, is the missions and communications catalyst for Christian Challenge AZ. She is a member of Challenge Church, Flagstaff.