Coleman Bailey, right, with Dr. Terry Cross after Mr. Bailey received the Alumnus of the Year Award for the School of Theology & Ministry
Coleman Bailey was honored as Lee University’s School of Theology & Ministry’s Alumnus of the Year during the school’s 2022 Homecoming festivities.
“We honor Coleman because he has become the extended hands of Christ to the least of these,” said Dr. Terry Cross, dean of the School of Theology & Ministry. “We honor and thank him for representing the cause of Christ to hundreds of children at risk across the world, whose plight has reached the ears of our God, and He has sent Coleman as one of several responses to these cries.”
Mr. Bailey works with Serving Orphans Worldwide and has launched new orphan ministries across Africa, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They have built an orphanage that houses 80 children and serve 250 children in the community, and all these children are victims of war in the Congo. He has also helped evacuate orphanages across Eastern Ukraine, moving hundreds of children and refugees to safety.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from the then School of Religion in 2015, Mr. Bailey decided to go to Kathmandu, Nepal, where he lived for a year. “While there, Coleman saw the daily condition of horror, especially for children, many of whom had to resort to eating garbage,” said Dr. Cross. Mr. Bailey began to work with orphanages and children throughout South Asia, joining Serving Orphans Worldwide soon after.
Mr. Bailey received the Alumnus of the Year Award at a special reception.