Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Detectives are still attempting to locate Hardy Dunn, who is wanted in reference to the following:

One Count – Cruelty to the Infirmed (Felony)

Two Counts -Aggravated Assault with a Firearm (Felony)

Domestic Abuse Battery (Misdemeanor).

Dunn was last seen near his residence traveling on a yellow ATV.

NOTICE TO ARRESTING AGENCY:

• DUNN HAS MADE THREATS OF VIOLENCE TOWARD LAW ENFORCEMENT.

• DUNN HAS INDICATED TO FAMILY HE WOULDN’T ALLOW HIMSELF TO BE

TAKEN INTO CUSTODY.

If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Dunn, they are asked to contact the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office at 318-473-6700 or Crime Stoppers at 318-443-7867.

By JIM BUTLER

Buhlow Lake is open again to boat traffic and the work done during months of low-water stage is but a start to polishing what officials consider a previously undervalued jewel.

In addition to improvements along airport road (beach area, bbq/picnic facilities, sand volleyball) the city plans a new development anchored by the lake.

Chief of Staff Doug Gann previewed those intentions at January’s City Council meeting.

The first of many steps in that project will be a proposed ordinance outlining the district and its reason for being.

Gann noted the proposed district will include the old Huey P. Long Hospital area.

The district will likely have the same authorities and responsibilities as the existing Pineville Downtown Development District.

That district extends north-south from the Buhlow airport to the Cottingham Expressway and east-west from the rail line extending from the lake to Cottingham to Red River.

How any overlap of one district and the other would be accommodated is among the many steps Gann told the Council have to be completed to create the Buhlow district.

He’s familiar first-hand with the subject as unpaid executive director of the downtown district which has a seven-member board.

Alexandria native Scott Stoker has moved back close to home, recently joining the football coaching staff at UL-Lafayette.

Stoker brings nearly 30 years of coaching experience to the Ragin’ Cajuns. He was named earlier this month as the program’s inside linebackers coach by head coach Michael Desormeaux.

Stoker has been an assistant coach elsewhere in Louisiana at McNeese, ULM, Tulane and his alma mater Northwestern State, where he ranks among the Demons’ greatest players and their last successful head coach, going 43-38 from 2002-08 with two FCS playoff appearances and a 2004 Southland Conference championship. The Demons have not won the conference or reached postseason since.

Stoker joins the Ragin’ Cajuns after a two-year stint at Tarleton State where he coached the outside linebackers in 2022 and safeties in 2023.

Prior to his time at Tarleton State, he was an offensive/defensive analyst at Tulane following a five-year run (2016-20) at ULM, serving as defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and interim head coach.

Stoker was the defensive coordinator for three years at UTEP (2013-15) and four years at Sam Houston (2009-12), helping the Bearkats to back-to-back FCS national championship game appearances in his final two seasons. Before joining Sam Houston, Stoker was the head coach at his alma mater, Northwestern State, for seven years.

“We are excited to add Scott Stoker as our linebackers coach,” Desormeaux said. “He is a veteran coach with deep Louisiana ties, and decades of experience on both sides of the ball. Coach Stoker is an absolute professional and someone whose work I have admired for a long time. He is a relentless recruiter, top-notch developer, and great man who will bring lots of value to our staff.”

While at ULM, Stoker’s linebackers played a big part in the 2018 defense that ranked fourth in total defense in conference games in the Sun Belt. Stoker coached David Griffith to become the Warhawks’ all-time tackles for loss leader with 42.5. Griffith also earned All-Sun Belt second team honors and had a career-high 92 tackles under Stoker’s tutelage in 2018. In 2019, Stoker coached Cortez Sisco Jr. to a career-best 114 tackles. He became the first Warhawk to top 100 tackles in a season since 2015.

Stoker also spent three seasons at UTEP as defensive coordinator from 2013-15. His first year on the job was a tremendous success as the Miners cut their points per game allowed from 39.3 the previous season to 28.1 in Stoker’s first. The Miners also improved in many other defensive categories. Total defense allowed dropped by more than 100 yards per game from the previous season.

Prior to UTEP, Stoker spent four years at Sam Houston as defensive coordinator. His defenses at the FCS level were fearsome. The Bearkats experienced immense success, making back-to-back FCS Division I Championship game appearances and winning back-to-back Southland Conference championships in 2011 and 2012. 

Following the 2011 year, which saw the Bearkats finish 14-1, Stoker was named the NCAA FCS “Defensive Coordinator of the Year” by FootballScoop.com. The 2011 defense finished the season ranked top-five in the FCS in rushing defense (No. 1), scoring defense and turnover margin (No. 2), total defense (No.3) and pass efficiency defense (No. 4).

In Stoker’s time as the head coach at Northwestern State, he compiled a 43-38 record and led the Demons to a 2004 Southland Conference co-championship and two NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances (2002 and 2004). Three of his Demon teams ranked in the top-15 in total defense and rushing defense. They finished second in both categories in 2004. Stoker was named as one of the country’s Top-10 recruiters by American Football Coaches Monthly.

Stoker spent eight seasons on the McNeese staff (1994-01). The Cowboys made six appearances to the NCAA I-AA playoffs. In 1995, they played in the national semifinals and the 1997 team played in the national championship. Stoker was the offensive coordinator in 1999 before transitioning to defensive coordinator in 2000.

Stoker’s playing career included an all-state recognition at quarterback for Alexandria Senior High School, where his late father Butch was head coach, before heading to Northwestern State, where he led the Demons to the 1988 Southland Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA I-AA playoffs.

Stoker closed out his collegiate career in 1989 as the school’s all-time leader in passing yards (4,801) and total offense (5,059 yards). He is a member of the N-Club Hall of Fame, enshrined in 2008.

Stoker and his wife, Kim, have three adult daughters: Jennifer, Carlie and Zoe. Zoe is on the operations staff for the University of Texas Longhorns football program.

Louisiana Christian University wants you to wear red on the first Friday in February to kick off a monthlong focus on cardiovascular fitness!

The American Heart Association recognizes the first Friday in February as “Go Red for Women” Day, as cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke, is the leading cause of death in women. By promoting it, the AHA believes people will be motivated, educated, and supported in their journey to better health, and lives can be saved.

In conjunction with AHA’s national campaign, LCU’s Exercise Science Department will be hosting twice-weekly workouts for faculty and staff to promote a healthy heart lifestyle. 

“Our ‘Step Up, CENLA’ program, funded in part by The Rapides Foundation focuses on creating a culture in which physical activity is the norm in our community,” said Dr. Sonia Tinsley, chair of the Department of Exercise Science. “More than 30% of adults in Louisiana are not physically active. With February being American Heart Health month, this is a perfect opportunity to focus on increasing our level of physical activity to improve our cardiovascular health.”

All fitness levels are welcome to participate. Interested faculty and staff should meet at the H.O. West Field House in comfortable attire. Workouts will be led by LCU personal trainer Kelsey Alford from noon to 12:30 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays throughout February. There will be no workout on Feb. 12, as it falls during Winter Break. 

“I think anyone able and willing to, should participate,” Alford said. “Those who exercise can improve mood, focus, energy levels and sleep. Other benefits are improved mobility and strength for everyday activities. People who exercise also tend to make better nutrition choices, in turn leading to better overall health and awareness. Everyone is in their unique place but it doesn’t mean that they won’t catch on or be able to keep up with the exercises.”

Contact Dr. Sonia Tinsley for more information at 318-487-7396 or via email at Sonia.tinsley@lcuniversity.edu. 

Arrests are accusations, not convictions.

January 29

Alexander Finch Jr., 40, Alexandria — attempted murder 2nd degree, no bail set;

Katlin Funk, 24, Alexandria — home invasion aggravated assault, $100,000 bail.

Run cold—water faucets for one minute; Run drinking water fountains for one minute;

Flush automatic icemakers (make three batches of ice and discard); Run water softeners through a regeneration cycle;

Run water coolers with direct water connections for five minutes.

Textbook knowledge is one thing, but immersion is a whole different pallet of paint.

Louisiana Christian University Art Professor Wangling Chou has been teaching art history and other foundational art courses—in addition to her specialty, ceramics, since 2008. Teaching students about some of the most important artists and periods in art history is always interesting, she said, but it was only informed through mass communication methods.

Chou spent 17 days over the winter holiday break immersing herself in the works of the masters in Italy and France.

‘The experience has reinvigorated my passion for teaching the subject, reaffirming the importance of art history and art education,” Chou said. “Technology today allows us to see so many of these great works, but travel allows you to experience them, to feel the space, and that you can’t substitute.” 

While an international professor, hailing from Taiwan, Chou had only traveled extensively in Asia prior to this trip. 

“I’ve taught art history for many years, but to see the real thing, the real works, it made me understand so much more why so many are so important,” she said. “It fills so much of my knowledge gap.”

Chou holds an endowed professorship in art at LCU and she said she is incredibly grateful to the university for providing the funds for her to experience these artworks in person. 

“Ms. Chou was presented the BoRSF Eugenia Dawson Professorship in Art for her award-winning contributions to art,” said Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Cheryl Clark. “Her works have been shown in more than 56 solo, juried and invitational exhibitions all over the country, including a solo exhibition in Gallery 456 in New York City, Wheaton College, Illinois, Samford University, Alabama, Henderson State University, Arkansas, University of Arkansas, Monticello and others. Her works have won eight national awards, including first place at River Oaks Square Arts Center’s national cup competition. In addition, her students’ works have also received recognition and have won awards in professional juried competitions.” 

LCU currently has 29 endowed chairs or professorships, 13 of which are part of the Board of Regents Support Fund (BoRSF) endowment program, a program that matches resources to non-state donations to establish endowment funds for professional development, Clark said. The professorships are awarded to outstanding faculty for their superior contributions, and the earnings from the endowments are used to support faculty productivity and enhance their professional development. 

In addition, LCU was blessed with a generous gift from the families of C.O. Walker and Andrew Walker that has provided endowment income to supplement budgeted funds for professional development for the faculty. 

“LCU values and promotes professional development and supports faculty members in their efforts to maintain competence in their teaching fields,” Clark said. “We seek to foster a climate for innovation in teaching and learning, and I know this experience will not only enhance Ms. Chou’s personal development but also her classroom teaching.” 

Chou’s art-centric journey was meticulously planned, focusing solely on galleries, museums and architecture. In Florence, Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance, Chou visited the Uffizi Gallery, Piazzale Michelango, Medici Chapel and Pitti Palance. 

From Florence, she traveled to Rome, where she visited the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Vatican Museum.

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel is in Vatican City.

“I tell you, it’s just overwhelming,” Chou said. “It’s three-dimensional, and the size and detail, the photos we’ve seen just don’t do it justice. The entire ceiling, the allusion it creates, it’s just hard to experience it all digitally.”

Visitors are not allowed to take pictures of the space.

Chou next spent two days in Milan where she visited Duomo, the high Gothic building and its museum, and attended solo exhibitions of El Greco and Morandi, famous pieces of Italian art.

The second week of her European venture included major museums in Paris, France.

She visited the Louvre, Versailles, Musée d’Orsay, and Centre Pompidou, covering art from the medieval through post-modernist periods.

The famous “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci is in the Loevre, and Chou said it was very crowded with visitors wanting to see it in person.  But there are so many lesser known works that are equally rich and deep in meaning.

Chou’s last stop was back in Italy, where she spent a day in Milan visiting the Prada Foundation, a contemporary experimental art site featuring internationally renowned artists. 

“The contemporary exhibits provided fresh ideas for my teaching, offering valuable content for design and lecture courses,” Chou said. 

Chou encourages both faculty and students to explore Europe. Seeing so much history gained from a lifetime in the classroom can be brought to life and make things make sense in a way that only experiencing something firsthand can bring. 

“It’s like meeting a famous person you’ve always admired in real life,” she said. “I was able to see closely and to see the intimate details of the craftsmanship and not simply wonder why it’s a masterpiece.”

Chou said she stayed in a sense of awe. 

“College students need to backpack or travel around Europe at least once,” she said. “It’s affordable and life-changing experience. Students from all over the world travel everywhere there. It’s possible, and a lot of things are free.”

By JIM BUTLER

Police are searching for Devacheay Martin, 23, wanted for the second time this decade on attempted 2nd degree murder charges.

Martin is accused of shooting another man Saturday during an encounter on Magnolia Street in Alexandria.

Circumstances of the incident, other than the man being shot, have not been revealed.

Martin, also wanted for being a felon allegedly possessing a firearm, was charged with attempted murder in 2021, records show.

His Rapides rap sheet dates to at least January 2020 when arrested in relation to a rash of vehicle and residential burglaries.

He was charged with aggravated burglary, theft of firearms, burglary, criminal conspiracy and contempt of court.

In November 2020 he was booked and accused of contraband, battery, aggravated battery, hate crimes, aggravated assault 2 counts and burglary.

On parole in June 2022, he was charged with violation as well as criminal damage, disturbing the peace, aggravated resisting with force or violence, domestic abuse battery and aggravated assault child endangerment.

By JIM BUTLER

This much is certain – the next school year will begin for students on August 8, 2024 and end on May 22, 2025.

And you can plan for Christmas break beginning with end of classes (and semester) on Friday, December 20, and Easter break next Spring beginning with Good Friday.

Other details will be resolved after public voting on the two alternatives before the board.

You can vote by going to the school system web site. Voting closes Sunday, with a board decision February 6.

The plans are fairly close to the outline of the current school year though noticeable changes are proposed.

Completing the fall semester with arrival of Christmas break is both an instructional and logistical streamline.

Moving the Spring break to the week after Easter was favored by teacher and student advisory panels.

When to set Fall break (give it up, greybeards, substantive breaks in each semester are now accepted practice).

Alternative A has it Thursday and Friday after the parish fair; Alternative B has it Friday and Monday of Fair weekend.

Both calendars have the required 171 student days and have 1,260 more instructional minutes than the state minimum, creating 3.5 days for weather or other extraordinary events that necessitate closings.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents are investigating a fatal boating incident that occurred in Vernon Parish on Jan. 28.

Agents recovered the body of Derek Green, 42, of Pineville, from Vernon Lake around 4:20 p.m. on Jan. 28.

Agents received information about a missing boater on Vernon Lake around 9:40 a.m. on Jan. 28.  LDWF agents along with the Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office, Leesville Fire Department and the Alexandria Fire Department immediately searched for Green.

Green was operating the trolling motor on his vessel when a wave hit the boat and knocked him into the water.  According to the two juvenile passengers on the vessel, Green resurfaced a few times and then was not seen again.

LDWF agents will be the lead investigative agency for this fatal boating incident.  Green’s body was turned over to the Vernon Parish Coroner’s Office to determine an official cause of death.  He was recovered without a personal flotation device.

He’s 70 now, with specks of snow on the roof, and he was reminiscing in the afterglow of being inducted into the Louisiana USSA Hall of Fame for his softball officiating career.

“It started at an early age,” Alfred Rachal said of a career that started humbly enough.

“I was 16 and my coach W.C. Davis (then the head football coach and athletic director at Peabody) was in charge of a youth baseball program for the Rapides Parish Police Jury.” 

Davis needed an umpire, and he summoned Rachal, a talented baseball player. 

“He gave me a softball mask to wear,” he said, “only it was a baseball game.”

Thus started his 50-plus year love affair with officiating, a career he’s retired from now. Well, sort of.

The only time he officiates now is “when somebody doesn’t show up or is going to be late, and I fill in,” he said, “and that’s in the elementary/junior high leagues.” He gave up officiating high school sports a few years ago. 

A 1971 graduate of Peabody, where he helped the Warhorses win a state baseball title as an all-state senior, Rachal paid his rent during his years at Southern University in Baton Rouge with money he made from umpiring. When he wasn’t wowing folks with a college baseball career that saw him share SWAC Player of the Year honors as a senior in 1975, he was molding his future career as an official, umpiring American Legion baseball games and fast-pitch softball games.

He officiated basketball games for more years (38) than he did for either baseball or football (20-plus years in both), but he said baseball has always been his favorite. “In baseball, you get a chance to talk to the athletes,” he said, fondly recalling an impressive roll call of baseball players from this area whose games he called, including several future major league players. Terry Mathews. Warren Morris. Juan Pierre. Russ Springer. Greg Smith. To name a few. The list doesn’t end there.

“I called games when Terry Mathews was playing and, later, when he was an assistant coach at Menard,” Rachal said. “When I was at one of those games, I remember his mother calling out to me, ‘Alfred Rachal, you still officiating?’ And (pretending to tug on a leash) I said, ‘Look here, this is my seeing-eye dog.” 

He was holding court in his Pineville Community Center office, where he still works as the foreman for the Pineville Recreation Department. Soon, he was lamenting that “it’s hard to get people to officiate” these days.

“It’s not about a dollar sign,” he said, acknowledging that it is but shouldn’t be. “It’s about wanting a coach to know you’ve done the best you can” to provide a fair and impartial environment in which the athletes to compete. “You do your best between the lines for the student athletes. I tell the young ones all the time, ‘Folks don’t come to see you, they just want you to keep the peace with law and order.’”

That’s the way Rachal, a former high school baseball coach and football coach and athletics director, officiated. His worthiness as a baseball official was rewarded with assignments to officiate in four Dixie World Series events – two in Alexandria at Bringhurst Field, one in Bossier City and one in Lake Charles. He also officiated at college games in the area and, on one occasion, a professional minor league game for the Alexandria Aces.

“When a young ump working a game with me would ask, ‘What did I do wrong?’ or ‘What can I improve on?’, that’s what I enjoy. It makes me feel I can help,” he said. “It was like, ‘I got your back. I want you to have my back.’”

He saw at least three generations of athletes during his career as an official.

“I’ve had folks who see me on the street say, ‘You called my games when I played ball,’” he said. 

Rachal lost his wife of 40 years, Charlene Chark Rachal, to cancer last September, “and she died, on my baby daughter’s birthday,” he added. Alfred and Charlene had four children, two boys and two girls, and he said his youngest daughter, Charlathia, was “my first scorekeeper for basketball.” That’s a job she continues to do, he said, for the Northwood girls basketball games.

Any advice for today’s officials? 

“Treat the student-athletes like prize possessions on the floor,” he said, switching to basketball. “If they have a hostile moment, the first thing you’ve got to do is settle them down rather than kick them out. If you have a calm demeanor, that will kind of relax them. I used to tell them to keep their mouth shut. That mouth ain’t ever going to shoot the ball.”   

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Most teams in any sport aren’t the same as in the first month of a season.

They grow, progress, realize their deficiencies, and either find a way to correct or disguise them.

For only the second time in Kim Mulkey’s three seasons as LSU’s head coach, the No. 9-rankedTigers suffered a second consecutive loss, on the heels of last Thursday’s stretch-run struggles in a narrow defeat to No. 1 South Carolina.

Why? Because Mulkey no longer can hide her team’s weaknesses such as a slow-footed backcourt, no bench depth and zero leadership when things go awry, all of which underdog and unranked Mississippi State feasted on in a 77-73 SEC victory Monday night before a Humphrey Coliseum sellout crowd of 9,121.

MSU senior Jerkaila Jordan, a former Miss Basketball in Louisiana as a high school senior in 2020 at John Curtis in metro New Orleans, stuck the dagger deep into her home state’s defending national champs.

She scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the third quarter when the Bulldogs (17-5, 4-3 SEC) scored 28 on 11 of 13 field goal accuracy to erase a 40-35 halftime deficit and give MSU a six-point advantage heading into the final quarter.

“She (Jordan) came to me and said `I live for this moment, I want this moment’,” said MSU head coach Sam Purcell, who recorded his first-ever win over a top 10-ranked team. “She was poised. I told her we were going to ride her coattails.”

The Tigers (18-4, 5-3 SEC) employed a full-court defense in the fourth period that caused seven Bulldogs’ turnovers. But that was offset by LSU committing six turnovers simultaneously and failing to stop guard Darrione Rogers (a former DePaul teammate of LSU’s Aneesah Morrow) from scoring 9 of MSU’s 14 fourth-quarter points.

For the game, the Bulldogs outshot the Lady Tigers from the field 52.6 percent (30 of 57) to 44.6 percent (29 of 65). MSU nailed 9 of 17 3-pointers (52.9 percent) to LSU’s 3 of 14 (21.4 percent). LSU barely won the rebounding battle 35-33 and had one fewer turnover (21 to 22) than MSU.

“We can’t seem to defensively get stops with this team,” Mulkey said. “We don’t have the fleet-of-foot guards out there that can make up things when they get beat off the dribble. All their (MSU’s) scoring came from the perimeter.”

Starting LSU point guard Hailey Van Lith and backup Last Tear-Poa had a combined 6 points on 2 of 8 shooting and 7 turnovers. Freshman guard Mikaylah Williams had 11 points on 5 of 8 field goal attempts, but also committed 5 turnovers.

Because the Tigers lost two key bench players before the start of SEC play – center Sa’Myah Smith (knee surgery) and guard Kateri Poole (dismissed from the team) – Mulkey doesn’t trust anyone coming off the bench but Poa and freshman center Aalyah Del Rosario.

“We had great depth going into the season, but we don’t now,” Mulkey said “So, usually when you have somebody struggling out there, you can sub for them. We really don’t have that so they have to play through it.”

In Monday’s loss, the Bulldogs’ five-player bench keyed by Rogers (19 points) and freshman Mjracle Sheppard (12 points) outscored Poa, Del Rosario and freshman guard Janae Kent 35-6. Four of LSU’s five starters played 35 or more minutes, including forwards Angel Reese and Morrow and guard Flau’jae Johnson.

Reese finished with 20 points and 18 rebounds. Johnson had 18 points and Morrow 14 points. That trio scored 11 of LSU’s 16 points in the final quarter with just a combined 5 points from Reese and Morrow.

“When you deal with that (the lack of depth) through the season, you got to you got to keep on keepin’ on and make them (her players) believe,” Mulkey said. “Fatigue may be some of it, but you gotta be tougher when you’re fatigued. You gotta be tougher when the game’s on the line.

“I really think that’s where experience plays a big, big role. Those that have been in a system or been in your program a long time don’t get rattled.”

In LSU’s seven-player rotation, Reese, Johnson and Poa are in their second season in Mulkey’s system. Van Lith and Morrow, although starting for multiple seasons for Louisville and DePaul, are newbies under Mulkey as are freshmen Williams and Del Rosario.

“We’re going have to live through these moments, and you have to allow them to grow,” Mulkey said. “And the next year we’ll be better, the next year after that we’ll be better. I think we were just going through some of that right now.

“I don’t know that I can tell you that it’s unexpected. The unexpected would be dealing with the issues we had to deal with injury and people no longer on the team.”

LSU is off until Sunday when it hosts Arkansas.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

Arrests are accusations, not convictions.

January 23

Arthur Green Jr., 25, Boyce — OWI, no license plate light, open container, resisting, 1:14 a.m., $1,900 bail.

January 26

Kristen Beauboeuf, 40, Ball — OWI 1st, improper lane usage, 7:19 p.m., $1,100 bail;

Rosalie Gil-Morales, 29, Pineville — OWI 1st, no driver’s license, 11:55 p.m., $1,100 bail.

January 28

Desteny Chevalier, 23, Glenmora — OWI 1st, improper lane usage, 3:38 a.m., $1,100 bail;

Isaac Manior, 19, Nashville, TN — OWI 1st, reckless operation, no driver’s license, criminal damage, 1:23 a.m., $2,100 bail;

Heather Mitchill, 39, Jena — OWI 1st, open container, 4:55 a.m., $1,300 bail;

Shelby Strother, 25, Pineville — OWI with child endangerment, improper lane usage, 4:36 a.m., $1,100 bail.

Arrests are accusations, not convictions. 

January 28

Jennifer Bordelon, 51, Alexandria — aggravated assault, criminal damage, $1,500 bail;

Otha Tatum Sr., 40, Alexandria — false communication with intent to cause emergency response, $5,000 bail. 

The Rev. Robert Freeman will speak at Louisiana Christian University’s first Christ Church Culture (C3) event of the semester on Monday, Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m. 

Freeman is the founder of Robert Freeman Ministries in Urbana, Illinois. Robert Freeman Ministries is an important Christian voice in the national conversation about race, and Freeman will be discussing racial reconciliation and diversity from a biblical perspective. 

This event is one of LCU’s events in honor of Black History Month.

Freeman will be speaking on discipleship and how it brings true reconciliation.  He will also be the Chapel speaker on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. 

“I also speak on the topic of ‘Speaking Truth,’ which can lead to healing by trusting the words of God,” Freeman said.

Freeman has been actively involved in community work. He has held numerous leadership positions in diverse areas such as community development, economic growth, Habitat for Humanity, hospital patient care and hospital ethics. He has also served on the Governor’s Task Force on racism and has been invited to meet with several U.S. presidents. 

Freeman received a Bachelor of Science from Delaware State University and a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School near Chicago. He earned a Doctor of Ministry from the Aquinas School of Theology, located in St. Louis.

He has been a featured speaker in religious events around the country and has also participated in mission work in Mexico and Puerto Rico. 

LCU’s C3 Series provides an opportunity to view contemporary cultural issues through the lens of a biblical worldview.