Kevin Kosh Jr. credits his education at United Methodist-related Rust College with cultivating his faith and preparing him to lead others in ministry.
Kosh is on track to become an ordained minister. He hopes to serve in a campus ministry and pursue doctoral work in education so he can teach at the college level.
“While serving, I would like to establish a program which allows students to actively explore how their faith and majors may intersect in addition to creating a non-traditional style of worship which meets communities where they are,” he said. “My professional goal is to empower others by helping them explore and identify how God may be speaking to them through their unique gifts and abilities.”
In 2009, it was Kosh’s gifts and abilities that qualified him to join the prestigious ranks of the Lina H. McCord Program, supported by the United Methodist Black College Fund.
As a McCord scholar and ambassador, Kosh continues to travel throughout the denomination to tell his story and to demonstrate the importance of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The United Methodist Church supports the largest number of historically black colleges and universities of any church body in the United States. About 16,000 students grace the halls of these 11 institutions, which are open to all.
“Because United Methodists faithfully and generously give to the Black College Fund, generations of students are able to dream, do and lead,” said Dr. Cynthia Bond Hopson, staff executive for the Black College Fund and Ethnic Concerns at the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry. “Lina H. McCord ambassadors are an example of the vital experiences only HBCUs can offer.”
“Going to an HBCU has made a great difference in my life,” said Kosh. “The HBCU experience prepared me not just for life after graduation, but it also taught me how to be successful and remain tenacious when dealing with some of the uncertainties that life may throw my way.”
Additionally, he says that the Lina H. McCord Program has boosted his confidence and improved his networking and public speaking skills.
Kosh graduated from Rust and went on to earn his master of divinity degree from United Methodist-related Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta last May.
“Because of Rust College, I was led to explore God’s call on my life towards ministry, and because of my continued work with the Lina H. McCord Program, I was supported and encouraged through my seminary journey. To be a part of the continued legacy of education, equality and forward progression reminds me to not only remember where I came from, but to leave society better for those to come.”
To learn more about the Black College Fund and all United Methodist-related colleges and universities, visit the Division of Higher Education at www.gbhem.org/education.
