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. ENGAGE seeks to develop cultural competencies, compassion, and empathy in young people by means of shared narratives, conflict transformation skills, active listening, and constructive dialogue.

This year, students have the opportunity to earn college credit for completing the ENGAGE program. Participants will enjoy four days of virtual learning opportunities and interactive discussions on Zoom from July 6-9.

Then students will spend July 12-15 on Lipscomb’s campus for a time of community building and vocational discernment with university professors. Two field trips to various sites along the Civil Rights Trail in downtown Nashville will also be part of their experiential and interactive learning.

Stops may include:

The newly opened National Museum of African-American Music
The Civil Rights Reading Room in the Downtown Public Library
Sites of the 1960s Sit-In Movements and Freedom Rides
Fisk University’s Jubilee Hall and Memorial Chapel, plus a chance to view art and historical archives at the John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library
Historic Jefferson Street
Griggs Hall at American Baptist College, where John Lewis was a student
The Davidson County Courthouse and “Witness Walls”
Plus the opportunity to hear first hand accounts from Nashville residents and former students who participated in the 1950s-60s Freedom movement, and who continue to work for racial equity today in various ways

Each stop on the trail 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 participant 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.”

ENGAGE YOUTH THEOLOGY INITIATIVE

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.