BWA in Action WEBINAR T Youth Leadership Series

he Baptist World Alliance Youth Department has launched a series of webinar training sessions, offering online training opportunities to leaders serving in ministry to youth around the world.

The first in the series of webinar training sessions was titled,

“Influence: Leading with Impact and Intention,” facilitated by BWA Youth Department Director Emmett Dunn. Sixty youth leaders from 27 countries register for the webinar. Eighteen from nine countries participated.

The second webinar topic was “Marketplace Theology: Taking the Gospel to the Marketplace.” Facilitator was Ross Clifford, president of Asia Pacific Baptist Federation and Principal of Morling College in Australia. A third webinar under the topic, “Justice at a Time of Costly was facilitated by Elijah Brown, executive vice

Witness,”

president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative and vice chair of the BWA Commission on Religious Liberty. Future

subjects include “Creation Care,”

“Christian Unity” and “Prayer.” The BWA is exploring the possibility of hosting webinars in

languages other than English, offering training opportunities to youth leaders who do not speak the language.

The recorded webinar sessions are available on the BWA website at:

http://www.bwanet.org/programs/youth/youth- leadership-webinars

Virginia Church Invests Heavily in Education Continued

the Saturday before HBCU Sunday. “I have always been very passionate about HBCUs,” Davis declared. The festival “is a way to expose our youth to all that HBCUs have to offer and to chip away at the myth that HBCUs are schools to be marginalized and undervalued.”

ASBC has had a long history of supporting educational

causes. On HBCU Sunday, which the church has observed for more than 50 years, a university president is invited to address the congregation during worship and a financial gift from the church is presented to the institution. The Dr. John O. Peterson, Sr. Education Fund was established

by ASBC at Virginia Union University (VUU) in the city of Richmond, in honor of the ASBC former pastor, for a VUU student enrolled in the School of Theology.

ASBC Foundation, formed in 2002, gives out tens of thousands

of dollars worth of scholarships on an annual basis. Each of the foundation’s Millennium Scholarships awards a total US$20,000 over a four year period. A number of Legacy Scholarships are given out annually. Every ASBC member who graduates from high school is guaranteed a scholarship in his or her first year at a tertiary institution.

The church hosts two college Sundays each year where its members who attend colleges and universities get additional

Below: Scenes from the 2016 Alfred Street Baptist Church HBCU Festival

bursaries. Care packages are sent to each church member who attends a tertiary institution on a regular basis throughout the school year. A special graduation luncheon is held by the church in June to celebrate all persons in the church who graduate, from kindergarten to the post-graduate level. It is at this luncheon that scholarship winners are announced and awards handed out. Under the motto, Pray, Prepare and Perform, the church’s Tutorial

Ministry “Discipleship,”

assists youth in the church and surrounding communities to improve study habits and encourages students to take responsibility for learning. Sessions are held Monday evenings from October to June during the academic year. In total, ASBC spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on education on an annual basis. “The members and leaders of Alfred Street really care about young people,” one past VUU scholarship recipient said. “They surround them with love and encouragement and support, and they challenge them to be all they can be.”

(Photos courtesy of Alfred Street Baptist Church)

Vance Davis, founder of the Alfred Street Baptist Church HBCU Festival