Feb. 26, 2014
For Immediate Release
| Attending the Crazy Love Bible Study luncheon were, from left: Front row — Dr. Michael V. Carter, Dr. Ted Taylor, Sheri Taylor, Sherry Bowen, Marissa Rhemet, Audrey Wunderlich, Meg Brown, Bailey Foxworth, Michael Newton, Ryu Ballard, Mallory Vest, Jordan Cornett and Shirley Cheatham. Back row — John Deener, Larry Bowen, Greg Gover, Jason England, Eric Gilbert, Mandy Gilbert, Ed Pavy, Vicky McKinley, Wade Harris, Mark McKinley, Dr. John Hurtgen, Brad Lauer, Jim Hardy and Dr. Frank Cheatham. (Campbellsville University Photo by Chris Megginson) |
By Bailey Foxworth, student news writer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Feb. 11 celebrated almost five years since the inception of Crazy Love, an athletics-based ministry that serves to bring the word of God to the athletes of Campbellsville University through Bible study.
The brainchild of now graduates Jordan Cornett, Kristi Ensminger, Courtney Danis and Alex Jane Clemmons, Crazy Love started in 2009 as a way for athletes to engage in Bible study with their teammates, and to reach out to the athletes on campus who don’t have a relationship with Christ.
In honor of the impact Crazy Love has had on campus, Dr. Ted Taylor, director of the Big Maroon Club and director of Crazy Love, organized a luncheon to recognize the athletes who are a part of Crazy Love and to allow the athletes to give thanks to the faculty and community sponsors that have made this ministry possible.
Taylor has worked with several members of the community to provide funding for Crazy Love. Together, sponsors have donated thousands of dollars to provide Crazy Love with materials for Bible study, including FCA Competitor’s Bibles, literature, workbooks and videos. The luncheon was a wonderful opportunity for those who receive the materials to meet and thank those who supply them.
Sophomore Meg Brown, current chair of Crazy Love, spoke to the sponsors, faculty and athletes present. She explained the mission of Crazy Love, to bring the gospel to the sports teams at CU and to provide athletes with a means of fellowship and Bible study.
There are 13 teams and 75 athletes on campus that participate in Crazy Love Bible studies including men’s soccer, men’s golf, men’s wrestling, cheerleading, women’s tennis, women’s basketball, JV women’s basketball, women’s bowling, men and women’s swimming, men and women’s cross country, and men and women’s track.
Several of the teams that participate were represented by their Bible study leaders, including Ryu Ballard of Clemmons, N.C., of the men’s wrestling team, Yves Baptiste of Haiti of the men’s soccer team, Meg Brown of Russellville, Ky., president of Crazy Love and representative of the women’s tennis and JV basketball teams,
Wade Harris of Woodburn, Ky., of the track and field and men’s cross country teams, Michael Newton of Bowling Green, Ky., of the men’s golf team, Marissa Rehmet of Independence, Ky., of the women’s bowling team,
Mallory Vest of Muskegon, Mich., of the track and field, women’s cross country, and women’s JV basketball teams, Audrey Wunderlich of Frankfort, Ky., of the cheerleading team and Bailey Foxworth of Nicholasville, Ky., of the men’s and women’s swim team.
Campbellsville University President Michael V. Carter was among other community dignitaries and sponsors present as well.
A few of the leaders, including Meg Brown, Wade Harris, Michael Newton, Mallory Vest and Audrey Wunderlich, shared their experiences with Crazy Love. They expressed their gratitude for having the opportunity to share Christ with their teammates and their hopes for continuing their spiritual growth with their teammates through Crazy Love Bible studies.
In his testimony, Newton, a junior at CU, expressed his gratitude for the Gibles he had received for his team. “It’s amazing that just handing someone a Bible can make such a huge impact in their life.”
Jordan Cornett, one of the originators of Crazy Love and former member of the CU Lady Tigers softball team, said she was very excited to see the continuation of the ministry.
“Today was such a blessing to me. I think back to my sophomore year when Kristi (Ensminger), Courtney (Danis) and Alex Jane (Clemmons) and I were just dreaming about a way to reach our teammates. To see how the Lord has taken that dream and turned it into a campus-wide movement that continues to grow five years later is incredible.
“It just goes to show that this isn’t anything that a person or people are doing as we are all graduated and gone. It is the Lord working and moving in the hearts of Christian athletes to share the gospel with their teammates. Nothing makes me happier than knowing God did that.”
Cornett, a recent graduate of Campbellsville University, continues her love for athletics and ministry in her blog, Jordan’s Blah, Blah, Blahg, in which she discusses the benefits of college athletics in the “real world.”
At the close of the event, faculty and community sponsors encouraged the representing athletes to continue the work the kingdom work they have been doing in the athletic department.
It is the hope of Crazy Love to continue to reach athletes on campus that might not hear the gospel shared elsewhere, and to continue to increase the number of athletes participating in Bible studies with their teammates, according to leaders.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,600 students offering 63 undergraduate options, 17 master’s degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.