By Linda Waggener, assistant director of university communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - the Rev. Matthew Smyzer, Jr. accepted the position of Church Relations Council Chair-Elect at the fall meeting of Campbellsville University's Church Relations Council (CRC) held on campus in the new Ransdell Chapel. Over the next year, he will serve as vice-chair to the new chairman, Rev. Dennis Bickers, and will assume the Chair's role in 2008.
Smyzer has served as a member of the Campbellsville University Church Relations Council for several years and is a past recipient of the Campbellsville University Racial Reconciliation Leadership Award. He has participated as a speaker in the CU Dialogue on Race series and is currently pursuing a graduate theology degree at Campbellsville University's Louisville Campus.
“We are very thankful that Rev. Smyzer is willing to serve as our CRC Chair-Elect,” said John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president. “We know that Rev. Bickers and Rev. Smyzer will make a strong leadership team for our Church Relations Council in 2007-2008.”
Smyzer is the senior pastor of Beargrass Missionary Baptist Church in Louisville and serves as the Executive Director of the Baptist Fellowship Center there. He is also the Superintendent of Missions for the Central District Association of Baptists, the largest district association in the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky.
Chairman Bickers is the area supervising minister for the American Baptist Churches of southern Indiana and Kentucky and is a nationally renowned author and speaker on bivocational ministry. The outgoing chair of the CRC was Rev. Dr. Skip Alexander, senior pastor of Campbellsville Baptist Church.
Helen Henderson, a member of Saloma Baptist Church in Campbellsville, graciously continues in her service as the CRC secretary.
For more information on Church Relations at Campbellsville University contact Chowning at (270) 789-5520 or e-mail at jechowning@campbellsville.edu.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,310 students who represent 100 Kentucky counties, 32 states and 28 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report's 2008 “America's Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 22nd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South and eighth in the South for “Great Schools, Great Prices.” CU has been ranked 15 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his ninth year as president.