The End Of An Era

On July 2nd, 2024, an era came to an end. The ENGAGE Youth Theological Institute closed its last chapter at Lipscomb University. This is a short story of my experience told through pictures and the video above.Dr. Claire Davidson Frederick led this program that was built by several people who love enlightening the minds of young people. We are thankful for the skillful writing Dr. Richard Hughes for getting the original funding to give us the opportunity. Dr. Raymond Carr was the scholar behind teaching every single class of students from 2017-2024. He had a group of scholars that rotated around to assist him over the years. This blog post is to express how working with teenagers helped to introduce me to other scholars who have become friends and opened other doors for me over the years.
This program helped me to develop an understanding of the diverse nature of how theologians function in society. This program was one that showed me the physical places and artifacts of the ugly history of this country. I met people who still remember and tell the traumatic stories of what they witnessed during the Civil Rights Movement. The stories of these people should continue to be remembered so that we do not return back to a time like that. I will continue to make sure these stories are heard.  
I am thankful to God for the opportunity to be able to be a part of the team that helped to build this program to what it became. 
It is sad that Lipscomb and the College of Bible and Ministry did not see the benefits of continuing this work. Nevertheless, it will be continued by many of us who were impacted by it.
 
May God help us to continue the work of telling the story of the atrocities of this country, how the American Church was complicit, and how we can learn from history to help do the work of the Kingdom by working towards allowing the Spirit of God to show the love of God through the diverse unity of the Gospel of Jesus.