By Tanner Cade
Communications Services Director
From the Exhibit Hall floor at the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Brett Golson, vice president for strategic operations at William Carey University, announced a new scholarship opportunity for families of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) that covers all out-of-pocket expenses.
“We’ve signed a memorandum of understanding between us and the North American Mission Board that we will provide this and so we’re launching it today,” Golson said.
The undergraduate scholarship includes tuition, on-campus housing, textbooks, and a meal plan, extending the same benefits WCU has offered to families and students from the International Mission Board (IMB) for decades.
“Serving those who serve” expresses the heart behind the long-awaited opportunity WCU staff gladly started today.
“The DNA behind this is serving those who serve,” Golson said. “God has blessed us to the point that we can turn around now and bless those who are serving. You think about these missionaries on the field all over the world. We want them to be able to drop their kids off not having to worry about any of this, and we’re going to take care of them while they’re out serving.”
Golson and WCU staff made the announcement Monday afternoon, June 10, at their SBC Annual Meeting exhibit booth in Indianapolis, alongside several others involved in ongoing conversations with NAMB Send Network.
“William Carey University is not just a name. We are named after Dr. William Carey, the father of modern missions,” emphasized Dr. Ben Burnett, president of William Carey University. “This was to continue his legacy in everything that he does. Everything that he did for setting up the field for mission work.”
According to Golson, some schools offer help for IMB and/or NAMB families, but it is his understanding WCU is the only school in the country to include everything this undergraduate scholarship offers.
“This is probably the most exciting thing that we’ve ever embarked on because for years we’ve honored the IMB dependents,” Burnett continued. “It feels like to us that we’re just connecting Dr. William Carey some 200 and something years later to current people serving in the mission field and to provide that education and that relief where they don’t have to worry about the cost of education.”
The opportunity to further connect WCU to two large entities of the Southern Baptist Convention is another strong appreciation Burnett expressed about the Cooperative Program.
“We’ve been going around to churches all over the state and thanking them for their support of the Cooperative Program,” said Burnett. “It’s a small part of our budget that we get from CP but it’s necessary. There are many years in our past, some 30 or 40 years ago, that if we didn’t have that support, we would’ve closed. We’ve been connected to the Mississippi Baptist Convention since 1911. And so to be connected to the two large Southern Baptist entities like this, it’s just in our DNA and we couldn’t be more excited.”
“This is our way of serving,” Golson continued. “This is our way of giving back to the institution that, as Dr. Burnett has said, has kept us alive for so long.”
WCU will release more information about the undergraduate scholarship soon through their website and social media platforms. More information about the university can be found at www.wmcarey.edu.
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