ENGAGE Program

Together students will explore the contemporary call to racial justice and healing, the histories of both the church and the U.S. Civil Rights movement, and what it means to live a life of Christian leadership and service.

Students will spend seven days on Lipscomb’s campus, studying theology, Scripture, and history with Lipscomb professors and immersing themselves in the spiritual, cultural, historic, and entertainment opportunities available in the great city of Nashville.

Students will spend another three days traveling outside of Nashville on the “Bus Ride to Justice,” a historical and interactive tour of various sites and memorials of the U.S. Civil Rights movement, including:

The Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum
The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL
The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma
A walking tour of Montgomery and the State Capitol
The Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice
The Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multicultural Center
Students will also have the chance to meet Dr. Fred D. Gray, legendary civil rights leader and attorney. He represented clients in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the 1965 Selma March, the desegregation of Alabama public schools, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bus Ride To Justice

The “Bus Ride to Justice” travel course adds a unique element of experiential learning to the ENGAGE initiative. Students will spend three days touring significant sites of the U.S. Civil Rights movement throughout Alabama. Each stop immerses students, counselors, and faculty in intergenerational conversations rooted in that past struggle and challenges learners to think about the work that remains in our society. One former graduate student who experienced the trip writes: “I was unprepared for the depth of emotional response, personal soul-searching and corporate reflection which this field trip invited [us] to enter into.”

This particular model of learning moves participants to consider their own responses to racial injustice as they stand in the physical spaces of past events and allow the voices and faces of history to inform and frame their actions for the future. The journey intends to prompt students to ask thoughtful, theological questions concerning the mistreatment of all oppressed peoples, using cross-cultural dialogue and intergenerational, non-violent engagement.

Payment

Faculty and Staff

Meet some of the key people in the ENGAGE Youth Theology Initiative.

Raymond Carr

Raymond Carr, assistant professor of theology and ethics at Pepperdine University, will serve as visiting faculty during ENGAGE. Dr. Carr is a compelling classroom educator who has worked extensively at the intersection of Christian theology, vocation and the task of racial reconciliation. The course he teaches will be based in the Bible and in the theology of James Cone’s groundbreaking work The Cross and The Lynching Tree. Carr holds an M.Div. from Pepperdine University and a Ph.D. in systematic and philosophical theology from Graduate Theological Union. Carr is the author of Theology in the Mode of Monk: Barth and Cone in Revelation and Freedom and “Fired in the Crucible of Oppression: Toward a Theology of Spiritual Freedom,” a forthcoming chapter in a festschrift honoring Charles Long. A USAF veteran who hails from Petersburg, Virginia, he is married to Joi Carr who is also a professor at Pepperdine and a gospel singer/songwriter.

Richard T. Hughes

Richard T. Hughes has worked at the intersection of religion and American culture over the course of a 45-year career, specializing in religion and American identity, religion and race in America, religion and American higher education, and the role of Christian primitivism in American life. His 17 published books include Myths America Lives By (University of Illinois Press), Christian America and the Kingdom of God (University of Illinois Press), Reviving the Ancient Faith: the Story of Churches of Christ in America (ACU Press), and How Christian Faith can Sustain the Life of the Mind (Eerdmans). Having taught at Pepperdine University, Southwest Missouri State University, Abilene Christian University and Messiah College, Dr. Hughes currently serves as scholar-in-residence in the College of Bible and Ministry at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Claire Davidson Frederick

Claire Davidson Frederick is an affiliate faculty member in the College of Bible and Ministry at Lipscomb University, and she serves as program director for the ENGAGE initiative. She oversees elements of planning and recruitment; coordinates course curriculum, service activities, and field trips; and provides input regarding theological and academic content for the program. Frederick is a Nashville native who spent 12 years in the country music industry as a published songwriter before going into ministry full time. She earned her B.A. from Rutgers University, graduated from the Hazelip School of Theology at Lipscomb University with a Master of Divinity, and is currently pursuing her Doctor or Ministry at McCormick Theological Seminary. She teaches freshman Bible courses and children’s ministry at Lipscomb and facilitated two songwriting workshops at the Tennessee Prison for Women as part of the Lipscomb LIFE Program. She has over 15 years of experience leading summer Bible schools, youth camps, women’s retreats, and worship.

Jacquelynn Day White

Jacquelynn Day White serves as adjunct faculty in both the College of Professional Studies and in the College of Bible and Ministry at Lipscomb University. She earned
her B.S. in Nursing from the University of South Alabama; her Master of Divinity degree in 2008 and her Doctor of Ministry degree in 2018 from the Hazelip School of
Theology. White teaches undergraduate courses such as Luke/Acts, Spiritual Disciplines, The Story of Israel, and The Story of Jesus. She also serves as teaching faculty and Camp Nurse for the ENGAGE Youth Theology Initiative. She is a native of Tennessee and currently works as a Registered Nurse in various Psychiatric settings and in Community Health Nursing. She and her husband Robert have three
children and reside in Spring Hill, Tennessee. They are members of the Maury Hills Church family.

Robert A. Jackson Jr.

Robert A. Jackson Jr. will serve the ENGAGE initiative as program consultant and teaching faculty. A gifted speaker and teacher with a heart for social issues, Jackson spent nine years doing youth ministry for the Taylor Street Church of Christ in Pulaski, Tennessee. He currently co-teaches an adult Bible class at Otter Creek Church of Christ called “The Arc is Long,” which focuses on the church’s response to racial justice and reconciliation. Jackson graduated with honors from Alabama A&M University in 2005 and presently is pursuing his Master of Divinity degree from the Hazelip School of Theology at Lipscomb University. Jackson works as an information technology specialist at Maury Regional Medical Center in Columbia, Tennessee. He and his wife Tiffany are the proud parents of a five-year-old daughter.

Calendar

Every July, ENGAGE participants arrive on the campus of Lipscomb University for a 10-day summer residency. After moving into the dorms, students begin their cultural, theological, and historical explorations. While some events and activities are subject to change, a previous year's schedule is provided below for your consideration.

Schedule for July 7-16, 2021

Wed.

Wednesday, July 7

1 p.m. Registration: students arrive and move into the dorms
3 p.m. Welcome / Orientation / Ice Breakers
4:30 p.m. Conversation Covenants / Brave Spaces: Students begin sharing their personal and spiritual narratives
6 p.m. Catered dinner on campus
7 p.m. Opening worship and small group discussions
10 p.m. Lights out

Thurs. - Sat.

Thursday-Saturday, July 8-10 ("Bus Ride to Justice" pilgrimage through Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery, and Tuskegee, Alabama)

Day One:

5:45 a.m. Breakfast in the lobby of the Ezell Center. Load bus at 6:15 a.m.
6:30 a.m. Depart for Birmingham
- Watch "Eyes on the Prize," Vol. 1 (60 minutes)
- Watch the opening scene of “Selma”
- Watch "Ella Baker: A Legacy of Grassroots Leadership"
10 a.m. Tour 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL
- Reading: King’s “Eulogy for the Martyred Children”
11 a.m. Tour Kelly Ingram Park
11:30 a.m. Classroom discussion at the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum and lunch delivered to the classroom. Students can take an optional tour of the museum.
1:30 p.m. Load the bus
2 p.m. Bus travels from Birmingham to Selma, AL
- View the Spike Lee documentary Four Little Girls
4 p.m. Tour Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama
- Reading: Malcolm X speech
5 p.m. Walk the Edmund Pettus Bridge
6 p.m. Dinner and conversations of significance at Lannie's BBQ in Selma, AL
7 p.m. Depart for Montgomery
- Watch DVD: "Faces in the Water"
8 p.m. Arrive at Hampton Inn & Suites, Commerce St. Montgomery, AL

Day Two:

6:30 a.m. Breakfast served in the hotel
8 a.m. Load the bus and depart for Tuskegee
- Discuss the educational philosophies of WEB DuBois and Booker T. Washington
9:30 a.m. Students arrive at the Tuskegee Human & Civil Rights Multicultural Center and meet with Dr. Fred D. Gray
11 a.m. Depart for Tuskegee University
11:30 a.m. Lunch in the Kellogg Hall dining room
12:30 p.m. View “Lifting the Veil of Ignorance” statue, Tuskegee Chapel and
Cemetery Tour the George Washington Carver Museum
1:30 p.m. Tour campus and Tuskegee's Legacy Museum (where the immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks are housed)
3 p.m. Tour 'The Oaks' (home of Booker T. Washington)
4 p.m. Tuskegee Airmen Museum Tarmac Tour
5 p.m. Finish with Tuskegee Airmen Museum Film & return to Montgomery for the evening
6:30 p.m. Dinner in downtown Montgomery
8 p.m. Fun outing in downtown Montgomery

Day Three:

6:30 a.m. Breakfast served in the hotel
8 a.m. Check-out, load bus
9 a.m. Tour the Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum
10:30 a.m. Tour the National Memorial for Peace and Justice
Noon Lunch
1 p.m. Tour the Dexter King Memorial Baptist Church
2:30 p.m. Tour the Rosa Parks Museum
4 p.m. Return to Nashville
6 p.m. Dinner en route to Nashville
10 p.m. Arrive at Lipscomb University

Sun.

Sunday, July 11

7:30-8:30 a.m. Breakfast available in Bison Café
8:30 a.m. Load bus in front of Allen Arena
9 a.m. Worship with a historic African-American Christian congregation
10:30 a.m. Bible class
Noon Lunch
2 p.m. "Story of Jesus" with Claire Frederick
3:30 p.m. Affinity Groups
6 p.m. Dinner catered by Sodexo
7:15 p.m. Evening class/workshop with Robert A. Jackson Jr.
8:25 p.m. Personal Narrative Class
9:30 p.m. Evening worship and devotional
10:30 p.m. Small groups meet, counselor-facilitated

Mon.

Monday, July 12

7:30-10 a.m. Breakfast available; students may sleep in
10 a.m. Review and process the trip to Alabama. Individual and group reflection.
Noon Lunch in Bison Café
1 p.m. Class with Dr. Raymond Carr: "Theologies Born of Struggle"
2:30 p.m. “Culturally Attentive Communications,” with Dr. Aerial Ellis
4 p.m. Free time
6 p.m. Dinner in Bison Café
7 p.m. Personal Narrative Class
8:15 p.m. Snack break
8:30 p.m. Resume class
9:30 p.m. Covenant groups meet, led by counselors
10:30 p.m. Lights out

Tues.

Tuesday, July 13

7:30–9 a.m. Breakfast available in Bison Café
9:15 a.m. Morning devotional in Ezell Chapel
10 a.m. Personal Narrative Class
11 a.m. Theology Class with Dr. Raymond Carr
Noon Lunch in Bison Café
1 p.m. Rest Time in Dorm
2 p.m. “Business as Mission” with Rob Touchstone, M.Div.
3:15 p.m. “Nursing as a Kingdom Vocation” with Jackie White, BSN, D.Min
4:30 p.m. Free Time
6 p.m. College of Bible and Ministry Dinner in Shamblin Theatre. Music of the Civil Rights Movement provided by Odessa and Calvin Settles.
9 p.m. Bible Class with Robert Jackson Jr.
11 p.m. Lights out