MC students explain how MC impacted their spiritual journey at Education Commission meeting

Layton Levingston and Taylor Phillips told Education Commission members how Mississippi College has helped prepare them for careers in ministry.

A pair of Mississippi College students passionate about using their God-given skills to help others develop and strengthen their relationship with Christ shared their testimonies with members of the Education Commission on Jan. 24 and explained how MC has helped set them on a path to achieve their long-term ministerial goals.

Upon graduation this year, Taylor Phillips and Layton Levingston, both seniors from Brandon, plan to enter a ministry residency program at their respective home churches and serve the Lord by helping spread the Gospel of Christ. Both are transfer students who received the Leland Speed Scholarship, which enabled them to complete their undergraduate studies at Mississippi College.

The Speed Scholarship program provides full tuition for all admitted high school and undergraduate transfer students who are residents of Mississippi.

The Commission, comprised of high-ranking leaders of the Mississippi Baptist Convention and presidents and administrators of Blue Mountain Christian University, MC and William Carey University, met in Anderson Hall in the B.C. Rogers Student Center on the Clinton campus.

The group cultivates the interests of Mississippi Baptists on behalf of Christian higher education, strengthens the colleges of Mississippi Baptists and unifies their efforts in the Convention program of Christian higher education, and makes recommendations through the Convention Board to the Convention concerning all cooperative efforts on the field of Christian higher education, among other responsibilities.

Phillips, a sports ministry major, said it was an honor to be selected to give her testimony to the group.

“It means that I have made an impact in my area of study and to the professors who I have had the privilege of learning from,” she said. “It means that others see Christ in me and see how I walk with Him daily.”

From an early age, Phillips had decided to become a pediatrician, but a test she took in high school pointed her toward a career in occupational therapy. A soccer player, she received offers to play the sport in college and chose to attend Copiah Lincoln Community College in Wesson and major in kinesiology.

Phillips discovered that Co-Lin was not for her, so after a semester, she transferred to Holmes Community College in Ridgeland, where she met her fiancé. Now closer to home, she interned at Pinelake Church, where a counselor’s message helped her see that success means something other than just making a healthy living. She had always secretly felt a call to ministry, so during an anatomy and physiology class at Holmes, she began scrolling the kinesiology pages on Mississippi College’s website and discovered a section on sports ministry.

“That A&P class is where every internal and external struggle, every awful experience at Co-Lin, and every day that I questioned my future at Holmes all fell into place,” Phillips said. “So many prayers were answered and decisions were made right there in that classroom.

“In sports ministry at MC, I did not have to change my major and waste all the hard work I had done in so many classes, but I could still learn ministry. It was there that I had peace about my future for the first time and knew that it was exactly where God wanted me to be.”

The only obstacle that remained was her parents’ blessing. It took some convincing, but receiving the Speed Scholarship helped Phillips persuade them that MC was where she needed to be.

During her three semesters in Clinton, she has found a community and an institution that has contributed to her educational and spiritual growth. Two of her fellow Choctaws have agreed to be bridesmaids in her upcoming wedding.

“I have made so many lifelong friends and connections – things I did not have at my other colleges,” Phillips said. “It’s amazing how God works and truly will work things out for the good of those who love Him.”

Levingston, a Christian studies major, studied social work at Holmes with plans to transfer to a public university. He wanted to move away from home and gain a measure of independence from his hometown. He aspired to pursue vocational ministry after graduation, but his plans changed when he learned about the Speed Scholarship program at MC. He enrolled in the Christian University and declared Christian studies as his major, knowing it aligned with his calling to vocational ministry.

But his journey to accepting this calling was not without struggle.

“I first sensed the Lord’s call to full-time ministry during high school; however, I initially pursued other paths,” Levingston said. “At Holmes, I found my desires for a career constantly shifting. My thoughts always returned to working in the church. No matter what direction I tried to take, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being called to ministry.”

Eventually, he surrendered to what he believes is God’s plan for his life.

“This calling is one of the many reasons I consider Christian studies at Mississippi College a blessing and an opportunity I wouldn’t have had without the Speed Scholarship,” he said. “MC has exceeded any expectations I could have imagined. Any time someone asks me about my experience at MC, my highest praise is always for the education I’ve received. It has been an incredible privilege to learn more about God’s word from the Christian Studies professors.”

What excited him the most about sharing his testimony was explaining how MC has prepared him for future ministry.

“I’ve learned how to study God’s Word more deeply and interpret the meaning behind each passage of Scripture. I am confident that the education and experiences I’ve gained at Mississippi College will equip me to shepherd a congregation faithfully one day.”