By Lizia Oliveira, student news writer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - The president of Project One Inc. in Louisville, Ky., Dr. Charles J. King Jr., will be the speaker at Campbellsville University's chapel Wednesday, Oct. 1. The public is invited to attend the session at 10 a.m. in the Randsell Chapel.
King's message will serve as the official kickoff of CU's tenth annual “Dialogue on Race - Campus and Community” which is led by Mary Wilgus, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
King has been the president and chief executive officer of Project One Inc. since 1985 and has held pastorates in Kentucky, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio and Washington, D.C.
“We are very honored to be hosting Dr. Charles King for our Dialogue on Race Chapel,” said John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president.
“This service constitutes the kickoff to a campus and community emphasis on building dialogue and understanding across lines of race and ethnicity,” he said.
“This will be our tenth annual Dialogue on Race emphasis, and we remain committed to a campus community that places importance on diversity and promoting greater understanding and appreciation for our individual backgrounds and life experiences,” he said.
“Dr. King comes to us with just such a record in his ministry,” Chowning said. “His success with Project One, coupled with his ministry in the church, give him a unique ability to share with his own insight into the ministry of reconciliation in Jesus Christ to which all believers are called.
“Dr. King's chapel message will help set the stage for our campus and
community conversation on race,” Chowning said.
“It is indeed a blessing to have Dr. King's message as the central theme of CU's annual Dialogue on Race. His emphasis on Christ's message of reconciliation is especially timely during this year of economic dislocation, international challenges, and an historical election year when all of these issues serve to divide rather than unite a nation so rich in diversity,” Wilgus said.
She said there are seven different dialogue sessions that will be held on campus during the week that King speaks. “Community leaders and CU students will have seven different opportunities to interact and discuss race and reconciliation,” Wilgus said.
Wanda Washington, with Greater Campbellsville United, said, “With the past weekend event of the Diversity Festival that had more than nine different nationalities in one place, it was not about the culture it was how each person made an honest effort to communicate.
“To me, Dialogue on Race initiates acceptance, understanding and the importance of communicating.” Washington is one of the leaders of the various Dialogue on Race sessions.
King is the presiding elder of Cincinnati, Dayton and Indianapolis District, supervising 44 churches in the Ohio/Central Annual Conference of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church since 2002.
He served as president of The Lincoln Foundation from 2001 to 2003.
King received The Louisville Defender Newspaper's Community Service Award in 2007 in recognition of dedicated service and outstanding contributions to the Louisville community. He also is the recipient of the Kentucky Center of Arts Award.
His oldest activity, Project One Inc., is a non-profit, faith-based organization that has been working hard over the past 20 years in the Greater Louisville area to provide youth with the adequate training for the world of work. It helps over 400 youth annually. Through training programs, year-round activities as well as summer programs, this project has already yielded over 8,000 youth placed in a satisfactory career field.
The institution seeks to develop in the young people job skills, readiness skills and also encourages business in the private sector to employ “Just One Youth.” Over the past few years, several companies, such as Toyota, Republic Bank and The Metro, have been successful in providing opportunities for young people.
Also, Project One Inc. holds a Fatherhood Program that provides for young fathers some support in the areas of psychological growth, spirituality education, employability and parenting skills. This initiative was designed to educate fathers by teaching stress management, conflict resolution, men's health and related issues so they can become good parents and an example for their children.
As a non-profit organization, Project One Inc. depends upon volunteers, job orders, internships and contributions.
King is an ordained minister in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church with the Right Rev. E. Lynn Brown, presiding bishop. He also has worked with the Kentucky Center for the Arts, is secretary of the board of trustees of the Interdenominational Theological Center having served on the board since 1984, is a member of the endowment committee of the Texas College Board of Trustees and the Board of Personnel Services serving as vice chair of the board of trustees.
He also belongs to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Prince Hall Masons of Indiana.
King has written “A Manual for Creating A Jobs Program for Economically Disadvantaged Youth Through the Black Church.”
He is also a candidate for bishop at the CME Church 2010 General Conference.
King has a daughter, Constance Leigh King, and is the son of Ruthie Mae King of Louisville and the late Charles J. King Sr.
He graduated from Spencer High School and received a bachelor's degree in history in 1974 from Paine College in Augusta, Ga. He graduated in 1979 from The Interdenominational Theological Center (The ITC) in Atlanta, Ga. with a master of divinity degree.
He received his doctor of ministry degree in 1994 from Ashland Theological Seminary.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,601 students who represent 93 Kentucky counties, 27 states and 31 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report's 2009 “America's Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 22nd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South for the second consecutive year. CU has been ranked 16 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America's Best Christian Colleges®. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his tenth year as president.