Rev. Kevin W. Cosby, D. Min.
A staunch proponent of education, Dr. Cosby earned a Bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, a Master of Divinity degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Eastern Kentucky University, Bellarmine University, and Campbellsville University.
Dr. Cosby has held administrative and teaching assignments at Kentucky State University, the University of Louisville, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and United Theological Seminary. His exceptional oratory skills have produced lecture engagements at universities and institutions around the world, including Harvard University. His local community service includes boards of trustees for both Kentucky State University and the University of Louisville.
ST. STEPHEN BAPTIST CHURCH
Since 1979, the Reverend Dr. Kevin W. Cosby has served as Senior Pastor of St. Stephen Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Due greatly to his practical and dynamic Bible teachings, the congregation has grown from 500 to approximately 14,000 members with three large beautifully appointed campuses: a 1,000-seat church in Louisville, and 500-seat churches in Jeffersonville, Indiana and Radcliff, Kentucky. The church conducts mid-week Bible studies and multiple services on Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate the crowds. It also broadcasts its full worship services weekly at www.ssclive.tv.
In 2010 Outreach magazine recognized St. Stephen as one of the 100 largest churches in America, and Emerge magazine identified it as one of six “super churches” of the South. St. Stephens has the largest Christian African American education program in Kentucky and sponsors development of the full person, through education, science, art, music, and culture. Annually it awards $50,000 in college scholarships.
Under Dr. Cosby’s vision, St. Stephen has grown to become the largest private black employer in Kentucky and has led the city’s economic investment in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the nation. Dr. Cosby’s leadership brings blacks and whites together to channel social and economic capital into poor neighborhoods. Dr. Cosby promotes black entrepreneurship, hard work, self-reliance, accountability, and ethical wealth building. St. Stephen leads by example. A debt-free institution controlled by blacks, its $23 million in assets include more contiguous property than any other black private institution in West Louisville.
St. Stephen is dedicated to service and to justice. It speaks up for the poor, promotes voter registration drives, conducts health clinics, and provides transportation for seniors. At no cost to the city, it renovated the nearby California Community Center, and It established and built a Family Life Center, which includes a state-of-the-art indoor fitness center, racquet ball court, basketball court, an indoor walking/running track, an upscale women’s clothing boutique, a sit-down family restaurant, youth after school and summer enrichment programs, and addiction recovery meetings. It also has provided facilities for West Louisville’s only physical therapy rehabilitation center. More information on this visionary church is found at www.ssclive.org.
SIMMONS COLLEGE OF KENTUCKY INC.,
While St. Stephen Baptist Church is Dr. Cosby’s first calling, Simmons College of Kentucky Inc. has become his mission outreach project. From 1879 to 1930, Simmons College was a national leader in higher education for African Americans. Established by formerly enslaved Kentucky Baptists, Simmons became a full university with a law school and a medical school. But during the Great Depression, its campuses suffered foreclosure, and as its programs were scaled back, it became a small Bible college in a remote part of the city’s poorest area.
In 1997, Dr. Cosby led his church to purchase the nearby four-acres of the former Simmons campus, even though at the time, he was unsure of how the property would be used. He prayed in his heart that God would allow him to reclaim the mission of this historically black institution of higher learning, even though, at the time, it seemed like a pipe dream. Yet in 2005 Dr. Kevin Cosby became the 13th president of Simmons and promptly began reclaiming the college’s original mission of offering a full curriculum for impoverished African American youth.
In the last 12 years, Dr. Cosby has refused nearly $1,000,000 in compensation that would otherwise be due to someone of his stature in order to assure the college’s economic stability and build a comprehensive curriculum. Simmons’ priority is students, maintaining a small faculty-student ratio, and it embraces entrepreneurial education. Under Dr. Cosby’s visionary leadership, Simmons gained accreditation by the Association of Biblical Higher Education (ABHE). In 2015 the U.S. Department of Education granted Simmons status as the nation’s 107th Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Enrolling over 200 students, Simmons offers baccalaureate and associate degrees in business, cross-cultural communications, music, religious studies, and sociology—all designed to strengthen the five institutions so critical to the African American community: churches, families, schools, businesses, and media. In the last two years, Simmons has graduated 55 students, all of whom have completed college with zero debt.
Simmons has recently become the headquarters for the National Baptist Convention of America International Inc. (NBCA). An organization first formed in1880, this voluntary convention of African American Baptists has over 3.5 million constituents. This will be a beneficial relationship for the college, the convention, and the city. The NBCA has already purchased a beautiful 56-acre retreat/conference center in southwestern Louisville, and its annual sessions will bring attention to Simmons and tourism to the city, while Simmons’ program in religious studies and its community leadership programs will support the mission of the convention.
Simmons College and the NBCA along with the Progressive Baptist Convention Inc., and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship have partnered together to sponsor a three-year comprehensive religious and community education program that creates awareness of our individual and collective responsibility to do God’s work of economic justice—leading up to the 400th anniversary of slavery in America. Known as the Angela Project in honor of the first Christian enslaved woman to step foot on American soil in 1619, the program will bring leaders together to advocate for Black communities and institutions in places of power, challenge businesses and churches to invest in Black neighborhoods, while teaching Black communities to better use their economic resources.
PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Cosby has authored five highly-acclaimed books: Get off Your But!: Messages, Musings & Ministries to Empower the African-American Church; As They Went; Treasure Worth Seeking; Who’s Your Daddy?: Life Lessons from the Prodigal Son and Be Loyal to the Royal. He has been a contributing writer to a number of books, journals, and newspapers.
PERSONAL AND CONTACT INFORMATION
Dr. Kevin Cosby has been the subject of many national articles and documentaries, which consistently list him among the most influential leaders in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. His 2007 selection as “Louisvillian of the Year” is a tribute to his outstanding contributions to the community. Louisville Magazine ranked him #1 of the Top Ten Religious Leaders in Louisville. In the spring of 2012, he was inducted into the Hall of Distinguished Alumni at Eastern Kentucky University. Although Dr. Cosby has achieved many notable accomplishments, he is most known for his intense commitment to serving God through improving the lives of others.
Dr. Cosby is married to the former Barnetta Turner. They are the parents of two adult children and one beautiful granddaughter.
To contact Dr. Cosby for more information regarding his ministries and community leadership activities or for speaking engagements, email seniorpastor@ssclive.org or phone: 502-583-6798. More information may be found at http://www.drkevincosby.com.
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