Arkansas students help
build chapel in Congo
A UMNS Report
By Kathy L. Gilbert
A campus ministry is inspiring college students in Arkansas to build a Wesley Foundation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"This seemed like almost an impossible dream; I didn't think we could raise even $3,000, but to have raised $15,000, it is so obvious to me that it is God's will," says Taylor Duncan, a junior at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.
Duncan says the students at Arkansas Tech realize how much their Wesley Foundation has meant to them, and they want a way to "inspire Christians in Kamina (Congo)." The Wesley Foundation will be on the campus of the University of North Katanga, a United Methodist-related school in Kamina, Congo.
The influence of the Wesley Foundation on students' lives has sparked and fueled the whole campaign.
Billy Reeder, a graduate of Arkansas Tech University and now the United Methodist Arkansas Annual (regional) Conference communications director, proposed the idea to the foundation's director after spending a month in Africa working on a documentary on the church's work in Congo.
Reeder was transformed by his experience in Africa. "There is so much joy in the midst of hopelessness," he says. "I am a product of the Arkansas Tech Wesley Foundation. I know what kind of leaders are coming out of that foundation, and I know Kamina needs leaders." He told the Rev. David Scroggin, "you need to build a Wesley Foundation in Kamina."
"I got convicted," Scroggin says. He was astounded to learn that building a chapel the same size as the one at Arkansas Tech would cost only $3,000.
The staff at the Wesley Foundation became excited and convicted too, especially two young men - Bobby Jackson and Greg Pair. The two planned to go to the Congo and help with the construction after enough money was raised to build the foundation.
"Bobby was ready to go to the Congo right then," Scroggin says. Unfortunately, on his way to the foundation one day in August, Jackson was killed in a bicycle accident.
Jackson's death "broke our hearts," Scroggin says. "We just wanted to quit. I wanted to quit the ministry; it was just terrible."
Scroggin and his wife went to the funeral home to be with Jackson's family, and while making arrangements, it occurred to Scroggin to suggest a memorial in Bobby's name to build the chapel in the Congo.
"His parents thought that was a wonderful idea," he says. By the day after the funeral, they had already raised $3,000. A praise band concert raised another $4,000, and the rest has come from students giving $1, $5 - or as one note on an envelope of money said, "this is all I have."
Scroggin says 98 percent of his students work anywhere from 10 to 30 hours somewhere in the city or on campus. "They are taking their small paychecks, and they are tithing." On top of their tithes, they are supporting the Bobby Jackson Memorial Wesley Foundation being built in Kamina. The foundation increased its goal from an initial $3,000 to $10,000, and it has exceeded both of those amounts by raising $15,000. It also has committed to paying the salary of a minister-professor at the college in perpetuity.
For complete text of this and other United Methodist News Service stories, visit www.umns.umc.org.
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