Mississippi College’s Christian Studies students will become eligible next year to receive a $1,000 scholarship from Alta Woods Baptist Church. 

The Jackson church’s first award going to a Mississippi College student will be in Fall 2019. 

Church deacons and other leaders agreed in October to offer the annual scholarship at Baptist-affiliated MC.

Established 70 years ago, Alta Woods Baptist Church seeks to reach people for Christ in a variety of ways.

Its diverse missions extend to the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson, the women’s prison ministry, Operation Christmas Child and the Port Ministry in New Orleans, to name a few.

The church at 168 Colonial Drive already has strong connections to Mississippi College, just a few miles away in Clinton.

Burn Page, who chairs MC’s Christian Studies Department, serves as the church’s pastor. He worked as the church’s interim pastor for five years prior to that. At Mississippi College, Page also serves as the director of the Institute for Christian Leadership based at Provine Chapel.

Page and MC Vice President for Advancement Bill Townsend recently joined church deacons, including acting chair Shellie Bailey, to make the scholarship announcement.

Applicants for the $1,000 award would be any MC student in Christian Studies, Page said. His department supports other student scholarships at the Christian university.

Over the past 20 years, Alta Woods Baptist Church has seen its membership dwindle on its spacious south Jackson campus. Members either passed away or moved to other nearby metro Jackson communities.

A 1,200-seat sanctuary at the Baptist church was no longer being fully utilized. For many years, families and members of all ages used to fill the church’s Sunday School rooms and sanctuary each week. Today, Alta Woods Baptist has about 70 members.

In June 2016, Alta Woods Baptist Church leaders began a partnership with Jackson’s New Jerusalem Baptist Church pastored by Dr. Dwayne Pickett. It allows both Jackson churches to share campus facilities at a time when New Jerusalem Baptist Church needed more space.

As a result of the agreement, the Alta Woods congregation is teaming with New Jerusalem Baptist Church to further their common mission for the cause of Christ.

For details on the church’s new scholarship offered at MC, contact Burn Page at bpage@mc.edu or call 601-925-3292.