Coach Chris Lovell Featured at Youth Evangelism Challenge

Youth Evangelism Challenge speaker Chris Lovell. He serves as the men's head basketball head coach at Bossier Parish Community College.

Basketball coach Chris Lovell should feel right at home as the keynote speaker at the 2019 Youth Evangelism Challenge.

After all, the December 27-28 conference at Mississippi College’s A.E. Wood Coliseum is the home court of MC Choctaws hoops teams.

The Mississippi Baptist Convention Board’s Evangelism Department serves as the event’s sponsor. The program is titled “Stand Tall.” Typically, the annual blitz of meetings on the Clinton campus will draw about 800 teens from Baptist churches across the Magnolia State.

“Students are challenged by men and women who are gifted communicators to this generation," says Don Lum, the MBC evangelism director. “They are encouraged to live boldly for Jesus and bring friends with them. It is a great way to start the new year!."

An inspirational speaker, Lovell recently began his fourth season as head men’s basketball coach at Bossier Parish Community College. He led BPCC to a 19-12 record last season, the best mark for a Cavaliers hoops team since 2006-07. Before joining the two-year school in Louisiana, Chris coached the boys basketball team at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas.

Prior to coaching, Lovell served as the head student pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas and at Germantown Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He will preach as the camp pastor in June 2020 at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ridgecrest, North Carolina.

Chris played college basketball at LSU-Shreveport where he received a bachelor’s degree. The Louisiana resident earned a master’s in Christian education at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Adding to the lineup of guests at the Youth Evangelism Challenge will be the Christian worship band Broken Vessels of Arkansas.

Formerly based in Louisiana, Tory Dardar serves as president of the Broken Vessels Ministry. The group performs many of the Hillsong Worship sounds, selections such as “What a Beautiful Name” and “Amazing Grace.”

The series of meetings at Mississippi College start with registration at 1:30 p.m. on Friday December 27. The two-day program combines Scripture readings with worship music and outstanding speakers.

Last year’s conference guest speaker was former MC Choctaws baseball player Jason Curry, founder of the Finish Empty ministry. An MC graduate from Arkansas, Curry has preached to audiences worldwide for two decades. He’s taken his evangelism message to churches, festivals, schools and Fortune 500 corporate events.

The pre-registration cost for the Youth Evangelism Challenge will be $10. The price at the door is $15. The conference concludes at 12:30 p.m. on December 28.

For more information, contact Don Lum of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board Evangelism Department at 601-292-3278 or dlum@mbcb.org