RICHMOND — The Center for Baptist Heritage & Studies recognized three outstanding students at the annual meeting of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society in May.
The fifth class of Heritage Fellows includes Mattie Patterson, a junior at the College of William and Mary and a member of Millfield Baptist Church in Ivor; Melissa Shepherd, a sophomore at the University of Mary Washington and a member of Heritage Baptist Church in Farmville; and Kelly Thompson, a sophomore at Bluefield College and a member of Bonsack Baptist Church in Roanoke.
From left, Mattie Patterson, Melissa Shepherd and Kelly Thompson.
The Heritage Fellows have been given learning opportunities in Baptist history and heritage and will participate in a special project on Christian stewardship during the upcoming school year. The focus of the project will be on individuals who exemplify a giving life. Each individual will have given of their time, financial resources or their God-given talents in service to God and their neighbors. The Center will compile the Heritage Fellows' research for publication in late spring of 2008. Each student also is awarded a stipend of $3000.
The Center requests stories from around Virginia for the anticipated stewardship resource. If you know of an individual, living or dead, young or old, who exemplifies the giving life, write their story and send it to the Center. The stories should not be more than two pages and should focus on one aspect of a giving life. The Center is accepting these stories for possible inclusion in the resource and will place all of them in the collection of the Historical Society. If possible, please include a picture of the individual. (Photos and stories cannot be returned.) Send all submissions to Giving Life Stories, Center for Baptist Heritage & Studies, Box 34, University of Richmond, Virginia, 23173. Please include complete contact information on the person submitting the story.
The Heritage Fellows program was initiated by the Center to identify and equip emerging leaders among Baptist students in Virginia's colleges and universities. The goal is to enable the students to have a better understanding and appreciation of Baptist heritage, especially time-honored Baptist principles and distinctives, and of the relationship between Baptist heritage and the contemporary scene in Baptist life.
The Heritage Fellows program is one activity among several sponsored by the Center, which was established in 2000 to champion Baptist principles through education.