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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) — A record number of students will be receiving help to pay for their ministry training through the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s Calling Out the Called Scholarship. A total of 168 men and women will receive $161,000 in financial aid for the 2024-25 academic year.
The KBC has offered scholarships to ministry students for years, but in 2022, Executive Director Todd Gray had the vision to take it to a higher level.
The KBC now administers the scholarship as part of its Calling out the Called initiative and has increased its funding.
A task force led by Michael Cabell, the assistant to the executive director for convention relations, revamped the scholarship program which is available to qualified students at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, Southern Seminary and Boyce College who are studying for ministry.
Gray said the fact that the number of scholarship recipients has more than quadrupled over the past two years is a testimony to two important truths.
“First, God continues to call men and women to answer His call and prepare for a life of Christian ministry — and two, Kentucky Baptists take great pleasure in helping them do so,” Gray said.
“By God’s grace and providential design, Kentucky Baptists will have a hand in the preparation and ministry of all these future ministry leaders.
“May God bless them in their pursuit of ministry training, and may God continue to bless Kentucky Baptists as they give so generously through the Cooperative Program to invest in those who will spend their life advancing the gospel here in the commonwealth and around the world.”
Cabell echoed Gray’s excitement over the scholarship program.
“This historic scholarship award demonstrates the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s ongoing commitment to serving churches by investing in their current and future ministers,” he said.
“The scholarship has grown in popularity because it is customized to best meet the needs of Kentucky Baptists.”
Cabell said one key change was to make the scholarship available to part-time students as well as full-time.
“This is an especially unique blessing to part-time students who traditionally have fewer scholarship options. We are blessed with three outstanding KBC- and SBC-affiliated institutions in the Kentucky and are proud that Kentucky Baptists can be trained in Kentucky and then deployed to serve Kentucky Baptist churches,” Cabell said.
Tyler Shields, lead pastor at First Baptist Church in Barbourville, is a member of the scholarship committee.
“Kentucky Baptists are directly investing in the training and education of future pastors, missionaries and church leaders,” Shields said.
“While many who answer the call to ministry struggle trying to balance work, ministry and their education, I’m thankful that our convention is doing something to make answering that call just a little bit easier.
“It is a true pleasure to pore over the scholarship applications and hear the heart that these students have for the ministry. My prayer is that in the future we can do even more to assist our Kentucky Baptist students in their professional education as they answer God’s call to serve.”
In addition to these scholarships, a donor has provided two additional $5,000 scholarships awards for Clear Creek Baptist Bible College students.
Scholarships are for one academic year, and recipients will be notified by May 31.
Applications for the 2025-26 academic year will open January 1, 2025, and run through April 15.
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