Students Chosen for Endowment Scholarships for Ministry Guidance Program

Eighteen students were chosen recently to receive the initial endowment scholarships made possible through a $4 million gift from the estate of Baylor University benefactor Allene Hubler, who designated the money for Baylor's Ministry Guidance program.

The gift also has been used to establish an endowed chair and an endowed professorship for the program, which is in the Ministry Guidance program within Baylor's department of religion, said Dr. Jeter Basden, director of Baylor's Ministry Guidance Program and professor of religion.

Basden was named the The Raymond O. Hubler Chair of Ministry Guidance, while Dr. Dennis Horton, an associate professor of religion and associate director of Ministry Guidance, was named to The J. David Slover Professorship in Ministry Guidance.

The scholarships were awarded through The Raymond O. and Allene Breech Hubler Endowment Scholarship Fund.

The late Allene Hubler and her husband, the late Raymond Hubler, were generous supporters of local Baptist churches and close friends of the late Dr. David Slover, the first full-time director of the Ministry Guidance program.

The endowment, announced by Baylor in July 2007, is "a very

generous gift from the Hubler family trust," Basden said. "It basically says we'll always have a Ministry Guidance program with a chair and professor and that ministry students who major in religion can compete for this merit scholarship."

He said the criteria for scholarships are SAT scores and church leadership.

"We're looking for academic excellence and leadership in the church, not just church attendance," he said. "This will benefit churches in the long run."

More than 50 students submitted applications for scholarships for this school year. Scholarships are for $10,000 each school year.

Recipients include four seniors, four juniors, five sophomores and five freshmen, Basden said.

Ten are men and eight are women. Five are preparing for preaching and pastoring, five for youth ministry, four for missions, three for pre-school and children's ministry and one for Christian counseling, he said.

The group includes students from five states. Three denominations and one nondenominational church are represented.

The ministry guidance program assists undergraduate students who feel called to vocational Christian ministry. During spring enrollment, more than 2,400 students were interested in some form of ministry. Among those ministries are preaching, missions, religious education, music, youth ministry and recreational ministry.

The students who have been awarded scholarships include:

Freshmen Karington Buchanan of Dallas; Benjamin Hager of Port Neches; and Chris Gilchrist, Matt Hodges and David Lieberman, all of The Woodlands.

Sophomores include Richard Britt of Woodway; Caitie Compton of Murrieta, Calif.; Jaime Orth of Saginaw; Ryan Russell of Abilene; and Alison Sheffer of McKinney.

Juniors include Luke Bryant and Jennifer Shaw, both of Arlington; Connor Schaars of Coppell; and Alex Tworkowski of Washington D.C.

Seniors include Anna Castleberry of Chesapeake, Va.; Meredith Monroe of Highland Village; Mike Quinlan of Coppell; and Audrey Waggoner of Raleigh, N.C.

Contact:Terry Goodrich, Assistant Director of Media Communications, (254) 710-3321

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