Vickie Stewart is new Morgan State University collegiate missionary

By Shannon Baker, BCM/D National Correspondent

BALTIMORE, Md.—As the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware’s new missionary for collegiate ministry at Morgan State University, Vickie Lynn Stewart is excited about all that is to come.

Originally from Baltimore, where she graduated from Eastern High School in 1981, Stewart earned a bachelor of science degree in Bible from Lancaster (Pa.) Bible College in 1990; and a master of arts degree in church and community ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1999.

After seminary, Stewart spent seven years in Brazil, where she served as an International Mission Board missionary.

Stewart credits her home church, Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida in Lancaster, Pa., for giving her the inspiration for doing international work. Her pastor was from Mexico, and though English was her primary language, all the church services were in Spanish.

Accordingly, she later applied to serve as a missionary in a Spanish-speaking country, but God closed that door.

Instead, she ending up in Curitiba, the capital city of Paraná, Brazil, and in of all things, a Japanese church for a year and a half! Of the 183 million people in the country in 2007 and the 1.8 million in the city in 2006, 30,000 were Japanese, she explains.

In Brazil, Stewart also worked with the urban poor, women, children, students, Brazilian missionaries, pastors and SBC volunteer missionary teams from Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, in the areas of church planting, evangelism and discipleship. The work, she feels, prepared her to be a collegiate minister back in her hometown Baltimore and more specifically on the Morgan State University campus.

Each year, Morgan State enrolls an average of 6,000 students in programs from the baccalaureate level through the doctorate. While Morgan is a historically black institution, it has served students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.

“I hope to take groups of college students to Brazil one day,” Stewart envisions excitedly, her bubbly personality shining through every word. “I want to expose students and get them out of their comfort zones.”

Stewart says she’d also like to teach what the Bible says about finances and other vital biblical truths for daily living.

Presently, Stewart is partnering with Baltimore’s Seventh Church and is very excited about ministering in Baltimore. Describing herself as people-oriented and outgoing, Stewart shares her heart for the students throughout Baltimore.

“I want to reach my city for Jesus,” she says, beaming, in awe that Jesus would even consider using her to reach students.

You can reach Stewart at vstewart542@hotmail.com.