CAMPBELLSVILLE UNIVERSITY'S CHRISTIAN WOMEN'S JOBS
CORPS HONORED AT KENTUCKY BAPTIST CONVENTION

By Julie Walters

(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) - Campbellsville University CWJC was honored with the 2009 CWJC Site award which carries a grant to help expand their ministry. Joy Bolton, executive director/treasurer of Kentucky WMU, presented the award on behalf of the WMU Foundation to Edwina Rowell, site coordinator, during the Kentucky Baptist Convention Annual Meeting at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown on Nov. 10.

 

CWJC is a ministry of national WMU begun in 1997 that seeks to equip women for life and employment through a Christ-centered, holistic approach. Each CWJC site is created and operated by a woman who has heard and responded to the call of God to invest her life in other people.

The site in Campbellsville, which is one of four sites in Kentucky and one of 215 across the U.S., was founded by Debbie Carter in 2000. She said she became involved with CWJC and continues her involvement because the philosophy and mission of the ministry matches her personal and professional value system.

“As a Christian and professional social worker, I strongly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to have a better life physically, emotionally, and spiritually,” Carter explained.

Debbie Carter is assistant professor of social work at Campbellsville University and is the wife of Campbellsville University President Michael V. Carter.

Edwina Rowell accepts the award for the Campbellsville University Christian Women's Job Corps. Debbie Carter is in back.

Rowell, who replaced Carter as site coordinator in March, became involved in CWJC because she is “drawn to ministry to women and believe God has called me to missions wherever I am.”

Services offered at Campbellsville University CWJC include one-on-one mentoring and a weekly Bible study in a public housing project. Rowell said they will use the award money of $1,468 for Bible study materials used by mentors, recruitment efforts such as advertising to increase volunteerism and visibility in the community, and to make their new office space a more professional area in which to work.

Jean Cullen, national WMU's ministry consultant responsible for CWJC, called site coordinators like Edwina “true heroes” because “they continue to believe and express to others that God desires to be in relationship with each person regardless of their past decisions or circumstances.

“With compassion and encouragement, they live daily with the broken relationships, unpaid bills, violated probations, lost jobs, isolation and spiritual darkness that exists in the lives of participants,” Cullen continued. “Meanwhile, they manage responsibilities for securing on-going funding, public relations, evaluations, and recruiting and training staff and volunteers.”

The award was made possible by the Christian Women's Job Corps/Christian Men's Job Corps Endowment managed by the WMU Foundation.

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 3,006 students who represent 97 Kentucky counties, 30 states and 37 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report's 2010 “America's Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 23rd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South, tied for fifth in “most international students” and fourth in “up-and-coming” schools in baccalaureate colleges in the South. CU has been ranked 17 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America's Best Christian Colleges® and to G.I. Jobs magazine as a Military Friendly School. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his 11th year as president.