Written by Janet Orgain
The Institute for Church and Family was transformed this summer into the Carl and Frankie Mitchell Center for Leadership and Ministry.
The Mitchell Center houses the newly formed leadership and ministry second major, as well as Uplift, Teenage Christian Magazine, and the Encouragement Foundation.
Executive Director of the Mitchell Center for Leadership and Ministry Andrew Baker said the center was formed to help students use professional skills to spread the message of Christ.
“The Mitchell Center was created to help students make an eternal difference in the career they chose, no matter the profession, no matter their course of study,” Baker said. “We are all part of the body of Christ. If you woke up and your name was not in the obituary column, then you have a role and a function to play.”
Previously called vocational ministry, the leadership and ministry second major allows students to double major in their chosen field of study and in Bible by taking one extra Bible course per semester.
Dean of the College of Bible and Religion Monte Cox said leadership and ministry majors will learn leadership strategies with practical ministry in mind.
By the end of the 2011 spring semester, Baker said the goal is for 100 students to be enrolled as a leadership and ministry second major.
“We are trying to help students live out their faith in their profession,” Baker said. “I would love to say that 10 years down the road, every non-Bible major at Harding is a leadership and ministry major with their first major.”
The center was named after Carl and Frankie Mitchell, who joined Harding’s staff after serving as missionaries in Italy for many years. Carl served as dean of the College of Bible and Religion and now serves as a scholar in residence. Baker said Carl is committed to encouraging the “priesthood of believers” and was instrumental in developing the leadership and ministry second major.
The Mitchell Center will oversee 2012 vocational ministry spring break campaigns.
“People of faith are called to make an eternal difference,” Baker said. “The point of this experience is ‘How can I use the skills I am gaining in my college education to be beneficial to the kingdom and the mission field?'”
