One way Kentucky Baptists are reaching out to the world right here in Kentucky is through the Engage conference which will be held this weekend in Cave City. Put together by the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s Baptist Campus Ministries and Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union, Engage reaches out to students from around the world who are studying here at Kentucky colleges and universities.

Funded by the Cooperative Program and the Eliza Broadus Offering for State Missions, Engage is another great example of how Kentucky Baptists are seeking to fulfill the Great Commission.

Here’s the KBC news release about this weekend’s event:

International Students ‘Engage’ in Spiritual, Cultural Event

CAVE CITY – Hundreds of college students will converge on cave country this weekend for a time of sharing and encouragement that also will provide many international students an opportunity to hear about the love of Christ, perhaps for the first time.

Last year more than 300 students representing 43 countries attended the Engage conference, hosted by Kentucky Baptist Convention Collegiate Ministry and Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union.

Cindy Pelphrey, campus minister for several Owensboro-area colleges, is coordinating this year’s event. The theme is “Very Important Piece…Place…Person!”

A highlight of the event is Saturday evening’s banquet which includes a “parade of nations” and a cultural fashion show. Pelphrey said the activities allow students to educate their peers about different cultures and to demonstrate pride in their homelands.

“On Sunday morning, students will be invited to attend a Christian worship service where some will share Scripture in their language and others will give testimonies,” Pelphrey said. “An international choir will sing and the message will focus on the ‘Very Important Person,’ Jesus Christ.”

Sports, games and a talent show are among other activities. Tamara Koch, a counselor from Rockford, Ill., is the guest speaker. A former resident of Germany and graduate of European Nazarene College and Wheaton College, Koch helps missionaries and health-care professionals stay mentally and emotionally healthy so they can minister to others.

Pelphrey noted that today’s colleges and universities are more culturally diverse than ever, and that Baptist Collegiate Ministry is a way for Kentucky Baptists to engage in international missions without leaving home.

“It is a joy to discover the world in Kentucky during this special weekend where smiles, laughter and pride in family and culture meet,” she said. “The greatest joy is sharing the love of Christ and His desire to call each of us His child.”

The Kentucky Baptist Convention announced position cuts among its Mission Board staff today as it shifts funds to national and international missions as part of the Great Commission Task Force plan approved by messengers to the annual meeting in November.

Here’s the Convention’s official release:

KBC Announces Staff Reductions for FY 11-12

LOUISVILLE – The Kentucky Baptist Convention Mission Board will eliminate five full-time and 19 part-time positions in its next budget in order to send a larger percentage of church gifts to Southern Baptist Convention causes throughout the nation and around the world.

The reductions are being made in response to a Great Commission Task Force report approved by KBC messengers at the 2010 annual meeting in November. The report recommended changing the formula for allocating Cooperative Program gifts to an even 50 percent-50 percent split between the state convention and SBC over 10 years with the bulk of that shift occurring in the 2011-12 fiscal year.

Three of the five full-time positions being eliminated are already currently unfilled while the other two positions will become vacant due to retirements on Aug. 31. The 19 part-time positions are a mix of filled and unfilled contract positions. Seven other part-time contract positions will be reduced.

The staffing adjustments go into effect with the start of the new fiscal year on Sept. 1.

KBC Executive Director Bill Mackey told the Mission Board’s Administrative Committee Thursday that the part-time position reductions will come largely from two areas – the elimination of seven part-time campus ministry positions and the elimination of funding for the part-time consultant positions from the Worship and Music Department.

Mackey said ministry in these areas would continue.

“We regret having to give up these positions and the ministry that takes place through them,” Mackey said. “But we will do our best to meet these ministry needs through effective and faithful volunteers and assignments to current personnel.”

Evangelism Growth Team Leader Ross Bauscher said that in the case of several of the seven campus ministry position reductions, the persons currently serving will continue their work as volunteers. The college campuses affected are Ashland Community College, Berea College, Centre College, Elizabethtown Community College, Hopkinsville Community College, Mid-Continent University and the University of Kentucky.

The UK position eliminated is a vacant intern position. That school will continue to have a full-time campus minister. Ministry at Berea College will continue through the work of a ministry intern based at Eastern Kentucky University, Bauscher said.

In regard to the Worship and Music Department positions, Mackey said that the five consultant positions being affected will actually continue at least temporarily into the new fiscal year. The department director position is currently unfilled but will remain in the inventory to give the KBC’s next executive director flexibility in making decisions about the department. In the mean time, the funds from that unfilled position will be used to support the consultants’ work.

Mackey is retiring in May and a search committee is currently seeking his replacement.

Employees who will be retiring at the end of the fiscal year are Baptist Men on Mission Department Director Randy Foster and Missions Growth Team Ministry Assistant Linda George. Disaster Relief Associate Coy Webb will be recommended to the full Mission Board to fill the department director position while his associate’s position will be eliminated.

Following retirement, Foster is expected to continue serving in a part-time contract position to support the department’s R6 mentoring ministry for ex-offenders, and Kentucky Changers, a popular ministry that engages high school students in repairing homes during the summer.

The department will lose Greta Wilson, part-time children’s missions consultant, and Gary King, a missions consultant who works with the R6 ministry. The Missions Growth Team previously eliminated its Mississippi River Ministry and cooperative ministries consultants.

Mackey said the staffing adjustments will result in a net savings of approximately $486,000. There will be a total of 90 full and part-time positions in the Mission Board’s job inventory at the start of the 2011-12 fiscal year.

Lowell Ashby, the KBC’s Business Services Team leader, said salaries of current staff will also be frozen for the new fiscal year at 2010-11 levels.

The CP allocation change is one of several funding challenges facing the Mission Board.

Additionally, the nation’s recession is now taking a toll on church giving. Ashby reported that CP giving for the current year is running just over 9 percent behind pace for reaching this year’s $23.5 million CP budget.

The convention is also absorbing a shift in the funding received for missions and ministries through the North American Mission Board of the SBC. Cooperative agreements with state conventions are currently used to share costs for some positions but NAMB has announced plans to end those agreements over the next seven years.

The Cooperative Program is the unified giving plan used by Southern Baptists to support its missions and ministries. Gifts through individual churches are sent to state conventions and then allocated to various state and national ministries according to an agreed-upon formula.

Currently, 38 percent of CP gifts are sent to the SBC while 62 percent are used for missions and ministries in Kentucky (36.4 percent by the Kentucky Baptist Mission Board and 25.6 percent by KBC agencies and institutions).

The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Click this link to read coverage of the reductions in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

–Robert Reeves

Members of the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s 1:8 Leadership Experience West team play a parachute game with a group of children at a housing complex in inner-city Denver. Now in its third year, the 1:8 Leadership Experience has expanded to two teams in order to accommodate the demand. Thirty-three students from Kentucky colleges are participating this summer. (Photo by Evelyn Fuson)

The Kentucky Baptist Convention is receiving great reports this summer in response to the work of some of our Baptist Campus Ministry students who are actively working to learn about and carry out the Great Commission through the 1:8 Leadership Experience.

Click here to read details about what these young people are doing in this story in the Western Recorder but I wanted to share here some of the feedback from those with whom our western team has been working. It comes from an e-mail to KBC Assistant Executive Director Steve Thompson and shared with permission:

Hello Steve,
from Jim Walters, Senior Pastor at Bear Valley Church in Lakewood, CO.

Your team of 16 college students (organized by Keith Inman) just departed our city after three weeks of serving our church through its Multihousing Ministry. Over the years, I have been on many mission trips and have hosted many teams. This team, of KY college students, was the most outstanding group of young adults doing ministry that I have ever witnessed. They were an absolute delight and encouragement to our church, our multihousing workers, and scores of residents who are lost and lonely.

We cannot say enough good about them, but below is the report from our Multihousing Coordinator, sent to me this morning.

For now, I wanted to make your day as you read through the report below, and thank you for sending these workers to us.

Jim Walters
Senior Pastor
Bear Valley Church

————————————————————

From: Luann Turner
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 6:35 PM
To: Jim Walters
Subject: Kentucky

Today was the last day of a remarkable month in our multi-housing outreaches. This was the day the 16 college students were to be “off” – packing, cleaning, and seeing sights in Denver. Instead, a group of them were back at one of our apartment communities playing with the kids they have been teaching, playing with and loving on for the past 3 weeks. These college kids fell in love with our folks, and our folks fell in love with them.

The Kentucky Baptist Convention sent us kind-hearted, responsible, loving servants. It was a group of young adults willing to work hard and do whatever needed to be done with whoever needed it at the moment. All were willing, eager, pleasant – to everyone. As one of our volunteers said, “Only God could have put together a group like this.”

In 3 weeks, they worked with us to feed over 600 meals, host 4 carnivals, 4 Vacation Bible schools, and 3 field trips. They gave swim lessons, led worship, taught both teens and adults, shared their testimonies, visited folks in assisted living, delivered welcome baskets and flyered apartments. They moved bricks, ran a jack hammer, and helped out two church planters painting, gardening and doing all sorts of manual labor for them. They prayed with and for folks, and prayed with 5 to receive Christ, following up with them with Bibles and basic discipleship. They took photos and made a DVD presentation for us to use in recruiting volunteers.

Our seniors in assisted living and our children were especially touched by the love these college kids rained down on them. The kids wait at the church door for them to come and play with them.

In the midst of this, they served and loved our other volunteers and leadership team equally well.

Two stories especially touch my heart:

• One young man floated another young man, P.J., who suffers from cerebral palsey, in the pool, giving him an incredible afternoon.
• Another young man asked the elderly woman he was visiting if he could walk her to her room. Of course she was honored, and took him in to show him her family pictures.

But the stories are endless. One young woman essentially baby-sat a little boy day after day so his sister could play and be a little girl instead of a “mom”. Others cooked, cleaned, led another mission team, did crafts, swam, played basketball – on and on – all with loving hearts that touched one and all in ways beyond what I can put in words. Only in eternity will we know all the fruit that this trip has produced.

A few of our leaders wrote these words in gratitude:

“It’s been a pleasure to meet you and witness the fellowship you have shared with the GG kids.  YOU made each day special for these kids and I know they will not forget your visit.  You have inspired and opened new doors for many of them in thier walk with Christ.  God bless you and your ministry.” –  Scott

“I just wanted to express our appreciation to Jeremiah and Chris for their help on Thursday, June 17th.  They arrived that afternoon with a willingness to help and ended up moving brick, mortar, landscape ties (old creosote railroad ties) and trash for us.  Their appearance worked out well as we just happened to be demolishing a chimney and needed to jackhammer out an old sidewalk.  Both Jeremiah and Chris jumped right in and worked very hard to help us with this heavy work.  What great attitudes they showed as they helped us out.  Their assistence was a real blessing for us and resulted in much more work being done than planned.  It saved some of us ‘old guys’ from overdoing it too…! Please express our gratitude to Jeremiah and Chris for their work that day!” — Keith & Tammy

“Thank you so much for your wonderful ministry to the children in my new neighborhood. NEVER would I have tried to do such an outreach at my house with everything so “unready” & “undone”, but God’s ways are not my ways and your work with the kids was every bit as much of a blessing to me as it was to all the kids.  You provided the “jump start” we needed to begin to minister to the Multi-Housing communities all around our home!  May God bless you richly and continue to advance His Kingdom through you as He already is!  I can’t think of a better “House Warming” for me & Keith than what you brought during these hot summer days!  Wish you didn’t have to leave!  All my love and sincerest appreciation.” — Tammy

“The students were just amazing! Such a gift to us, and as I am sure you know by now, fantastic examples of what it means to follow in the way of Jesus.” — Karl

“Thank you for the ways you supported our team.  You not only loved our kids well but us as well.  You were always willing to do whatever we needed with such a teachable spirit.  I have no doubts that only God could put a team together so perfectly.  God bless you as you move on.  Our hearts go with you.” — Brenda

“Hebrews 6:10 talks about what you have done for the children of Green Gables.  You have shown God’s love by the love you have given to each of the children.  God will truly bless each of you! We love you all!” — Tom and Barb

So, Kentucky, we cannot thank you enough!

–Robert Reeves

For nearly 85 years now, the Cooperative Program has helped Southern Baptists send missionaries all over the world to share the Gospel in fulfillment of the Great Commission. Such international missions support is certainly not the only purpose of the Cooperative Program (which was established to also support a wide variety of Baptist causes on the state and national levels) but it is definitely one of its top priorities

Even in a year when the Kentucky Baptist Convention is managing a recession-limited budget, Kentucky churches are expected to send more than $4.37 million to the International Mission Board through the Cooperative Program. We can add to that figure record-setting giving by Kentucky churches to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. I just saw a report today that showed that Kentucky churches have already given more than $4.9 million through Lottie Moon and that we anticipate hitting the $5 million mark sometime in May. (Last year, the total for the year was  $4.4 million.)

We are grateful to every Kentucky church for its faithfulness to support international missions through both the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. With CP providing foundational support and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering adding strategic focus, Southern Baptists have a system in place that enables Baptists to be true Acts 1:8 Christians who reach out simultaneously both at home and abroad.

Nothing bears this out more than the stories of the impact of giving from the missions field itself. Below is a story the KBC released last month focusing on a Kentucky missionary on the international field:

IMB Missionary: CP is ‘Reason I’m on the Field’

By Kristie Randolph, Kentucky Baptist Convention

LOUISVILLE - Elizabeth Warren* has literally gone around the world and back, thanks to many people she will never get the chance to meet.

Warren has been serving as a missionary to Asia for the past seven years through the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board. As Southern Baptists prepare to celebrate Cooperative Program Sunday on April 11, Warren is spending her stateside time traveling to Southern Baptist churches in order to thank them for their gifts.

A lifelong Southern Baptist, Elizabeth Warren was discipled, educated and called to missions through ministries of the Cooperative Program. She is now an advocate for CP, seeking to help people understand how the program enables thousands of missionaries like her stay on the field.

“The reason I’m on the field is so people who have never heard of Jesus have the chance to hear,” she said. “When people give through CP and Lottie Moon, they aid what I do. Without their giving, it would be difficult to be there.”

Warren’s deep ties to Cooperative Program ministries and missions began during her fifth grade year at a Girls in Action camp, sponsored by the Woman’s Missionary Union in Texas and supported through CP. It was there that Warren first felt God calling her to be a missionary.

“God was doing something in my heart there, showing me he wanted me to be a missionary,” she said.

When Warren moved to Kentucky, her involvement in the youth group at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown fueled her excitement for missions as she sat under missions training and teaching, and was exposed to hands-on missions work.

While she knew the basics about how CP worked, it wasn’t until Warren got involved in the Baptist Campus Ministry at Eastern Kentucky University that she began to experience its benefits firsthand.

“During my college years, I had many opportunities to be exposed to missions and be a part of missions,” Warren said of the BCM, a ministry supported through CP.

It wasn’t long before she learned through the BCM of extended missions opportunities available to college students through the IMB and North American Mission Board. After her freshman year, Warren was commissioned by NAMB for missions work in Wyoming for a summer. Several years later, she went on to serve for a summer in Asia through the IMB.

Warren would again benefit from the Cooperative Program as she set her sights on attending seminary in order to prepare more fully for her calling. She would go on to complete a Master of Arts in missions at Southwestern Seminary in Forth Worth, Texas.

“I knew I wanted to go to seminary, and I knew I wanted to end up on the field, so I wanted to go to an SBC school,” she said. “Part of CP funds are given to the seminary, so that was obviously supporting my education. When I was in seminary, I had a defining moment when God showed me exactly where he wanted me to go.”

With her seminary degree completed, Warren headed overseas to serve as a journeyman in Asia through the IMB. While there, Warren’s call to lifelong missions was affirmed once again, and she applied through the IMB to be a career missionary.

Warren was appointed as a career missionary by the IMB and then returned to Asia in 2006 to continue serving, this time with a specific people group in view. Now several years into her assignment, Warren has seen God working amongst the people she serves and is hopeful that she will be able to continue serving there for years to come.

“I’d like to be there for life, but there are no guarantees,” she said, referring to strict government policy in Asia that has often resulted in missionaries returning home. “I could end up anywhere, but that’s okay as long as I am serving somewhere.”

Warren now lives in a town in her assigned country and frequently travels to the countryside where her target people live and work. Her goal is to form friendships amongst the people and build a relationship of trust that will ultimately allow her to share the gospel.

The work is difficult, but Warren feels certain she is exactly where God has led her. She enjoys her time on stateside assignment in the U.S., but always looks forward to returning to the field.

“I’m thankful that I don’t have to stress about raising money when I’m home,” she said. “The main thing I want to do when I’m at home is thank churches for giving through CP and the Lottie Moon Offering.”

The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2,400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, Ky. including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more.  For more information, visit www.kybaptist.org.

*Note: The name of the missionary featured in this story has been changed to protect her identity for security reasons.

– Robert Reeves

Kentucky students involved in Baptist Campus Ministry have been using their spring breaks in a variety of ways to share the Gospel. Some participated in the “Find it Here” Gospel distribution and various ministry projects here in Kentucky.

Others used their time off to share with other college students through Beach Reach. In Beach Reach, the students literally take to the streets and to the beaches to share their faith in traditional Spring Break venues. Free pancake breakfasts and free van rides are used to open doors for conversation and ministry.

Students from the Murray State University BCM were recently followed by a reporter from the Panama City News Herald for a night. This reporter submitted the video report of our students in action which will give you a feel for what it’s like for the students. Click here if you’re unable to see the embedded video in order to visit the paper’s Web site.

It’s exciting to see young Christians living out the Great Commission!

– Robert Reeves

Keith Inman

As I have shared here before, one of the powerful ways that Kentucky Baptists are reaching the world for Christ is through the international missions work of Baptist Campus Ministry. Each year, thousands of students from countries around the world come to U.S. colleges to receive the benefits of American higher education. Many will be returning home to take on leadership positions in business and government. Their presence on our campuses gives us a wonderful opportunity to minister and share the Gospel at a time in their lives when they are open to listening to and considering new ideas.

In this guest post, Keith Inman, collegiate and young adult ministries director for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, shares about how this important ministry of Kentucky Baptists:

The World is Coming to Kentucky’s College Campuses

Every week it seems as if I hear of another international student coming to faith in Christ through our Baptist Campus Ministry on our university campuses. There is a reason for this news.

Ten years ago, Tommy Johnson, currently our campus minister at Western Kentucky University, shared a dream of reaping the harvest that God was bringing here to our state from countries all over the world. The Cooperative Program and Eliza Broadus Missions Offering make this possible. I am so grateful to Dr. Bill Mackey and Joy Bolton for supporting a vibrant international ministry on the campuses.

Currently, we now have committed semester missionaries on various campuses specifically for the purpose of international ministry. Under the influence of Riley Byers, a former International Mission Board Journeyman and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate, the KBC Collegiate and Young Adult Ministry Department, in partnership with students from SBTS, has one of the best international ministries in SBC collegiate ministry. A committed base of lay ministers provides a support that makes our efforts so much easier and effective.

According to statistics gathered by the North American Mission Board, more than 623,000 international students are studying in the United States today. Below is a brief snapshot of who is coming to our country to study on our campuses:

International Students in the U.S.

These statistics are from The Institute of International Education which publishes Open Doors, Fast Facts.

Top 20 countries of origin for international students 2006-2007, 2007-2008.

1. India (over 94000)

2. China (81,000)

3. South Korea (69,000)

4. Japan (almost 34,000)

5. Canada (29,000)

6. Taiwan (29,000)

7. Mexico (almost 15,000)

8. Turkey (12,000)

9. Saudi Arabia (almost 10,000)

10. Nepal (9,000)

11. Thailand (9,000)

12. Germany (9,000)

13. Vietnam (9,000)

14. United Kingdom (8,000)

15. Hong Kong (8,000)

16. Indonesia (7,700)

17. Brazil (7,500)

18. France (7,000)

19. Columbia (6,600)

20. Nigeria (just over 6,000)

These countries contain some of the least reached people groups. Just the top 5 countries send 49% of all international students, with 15% from India, 13% from China, 11% from South Korea, and 5.5% from Japan.

The number of students from India increased by 13%; the number from China increased by 20%. Increases South Korea were 11%, Saudi Arabia 25%, Nepal 15%, and from Vietnam 45%.

According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Web site, Kentucky has between 2,000 and 4,999 students currently studying on our university campuses. The Baptist Campus Ministry is the most consistent witness to Christ of any ministry in our state.

Recently, I received this e-mail from Brian Combs, our campus minister at Northern Kentucky University which is indicative of the intentional effort to reach these international students.

“We (NKUBCM) are meeting with Dr. J.D. Payne, director of the Church Planting Center at SBTS to develop a strategy of reaching international students for Christ and discipling/training them to be prepared to start a contextualized church at home when they return.  The thinking is that we have so many students coming to the US from countries of unreached people and if we can reach those students while they are here and send them back prepared to share the Gospel, we will be able to continue to make a difference for Christ around the world.  fyi…JD and I grew up together in Corbin, went to UK together…  He’s a great guy that is seeking to follow what the Lord has laid on his heart and I look forward to partnering with him and seeing what God has in store.”

The command to “go” is obviously intended to extend to the “uttermost parts of the world.” In the 21^st Century, the “uttermost” is coming to our back door! This is creating an interesting dynamic: students going overseas on mission are coming back with an awareness that these same people groups are studying with them on their campus. Furthermore, as these Christian students “recruit” others in our effort to be intentional in building relationships with our foreign friends, students find a new desire to go overseas.

International students in the university culture are very open to hearing the Gospel because our students genuinely befriend them and help make life easier as they adjust to a new country. The Gospel is presented, the message is shared, and the presence of Christ is manifested in love. New brothers and sisters are born into the family of God because of a Great Commandment and a Great Commission intersecting in friendship with peoples from around the world.

Kentucky State University BCM students

If Southern Baptists are to be a part of seeing the Great Commission fulfilled, one of the barriers we must ultimately overcome is that of racial prejudice. Much progress has been made but Sunday morning continues to be one of the most racially segregated times of the week in America. In this guest post, Curtis Woods, the Baptist campus minister for Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky, shares how Baptist Campus Ministry students are helping to bring people together on the campus of this historically black school.

KSU BCM: A Story of Hope

“The people of God are not merely to mark time, waiting for God to step in and set right all that is wrong. Rather, they are to model the new heaven and new earth, and by so doing awaken longings for what God will someday bring to pass,” says Philip Yancey.

This quote well captures the mission of the KSU BCM to “Keep the Savior’s priorities our Undying passion.” We summarize this purpose statement by teaching our students to “love God and love people.” In fact, one could say that our principle unit of thought concerning missional thinking and discipleship is pursuing “omnigeneous” (all people) rather than homogeneous (one people) relationships. This has proven an extremely difficult task in light of the “racialized society” in which we live. I borrow the phrase “racialized society” from Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s, associate professor of sociology at Texas A&M University, work entitled “Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States.” In essence the word connotes “a society wherein race matters profoundly for differences in life experiences, life opportunities, and social relationships.” Or, put another way, it’s a society that has socially structured walls of separation which keep image-bearers from experiencing the beauty of unity in the midst of ethnic or economic diversity. A society that shuns the Lord’s High Priestly prayer that we become “one” as He and the Father are one united by the Spirit (John 17:22).

What are we to do?  Give up and long for the return of Christ without playing our role in bringing all people to the throne of grace in intimate relationships? May it never be. Rather, we must use our influence on the campuses of the world to change hearts and minds for God’s glory and our good.

A Kentucky State University small group. Campus Minister Curtis Woods is up front.

Last year, I saw a glimpse of heaven on earth as students from multiple cities, states, and countries came together under the umbrella of unity to campaign for one of our former student leaders, Elisabeth Martin, who felt led by God to run for the most coveted prize at Kentucky State University—University Queen. This may not seem like much to the casual reader until you understand that Elisabeth, a young Caucasian female from Waddy, Kentucky, believed that she could serve as the first Anglo American female Queen in the history of Kentucky State University, a historically Black College and University. Yes, she trusted God, and her peers, enough to attempt what many labeled as “dreaming the impossible dream.” As an active BCM member and International student leader, she believed that campaigning on the cross-cultural platform of love and unity would give her a chance to be heard and fully known by her peers. The campaign week was arduous. Her campaign manager and spokesperson, Casper Camau, a former BCM president and native of Kenya, provided Elisabeth with the nuts and bolts to become politically dexterous, meeting with and loving on students from urban centers and rural areas around the world. They all believed in her dream and passion, even though she made it known that she believed that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Obviously, as a Baptist campus minister, this brought great delight to my heart as I observed her unresolved commitment to the one True God in the public forum; a rare quality, indeed, for those who desire political correctness over Christian theological orthodoxy. Amazing! Humbling! Inspiring!

The sea of multi-ethnic students who worked in one accord to assist Elisabeth waited on Election Day with anxious expectation. They wondered what would take place. The numbers were counted…She won by a landslide!!! I believe it was around midnight when I received the call. It was the voice of Elisabeth Martin, panting and cracking as a result of tears of joy. She said, “Brother Woods…Brother Woods, we won.” I didn’t catch it then, but once I reflected on it the next day. The impact of her words hit me. “We won…” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” The KSU BCM intentionally seeks to build relationships with all image-bearers in order to introduce them to the blessed hope of the gospel found in Jesus Christ alone to the glory of the Father by means of the Spirit. This is our ultimate joy.