By Jana Wiersema, Features Editor
On Oct. 3, Mark Stuart — former Audio Adrenaline member and director of the Hands and Feet Project (HAF) — will be involved in the following campus events concerning servant leadership:
10 a.m. – Chapel message in Hughes Auditorium
12 p.m. – Talk-back session in the dining hall
4 p.m. – Talk on “the complexities of mission work in Haiti” in the Kinlaw Boardroom
7:30 p.m. – Panel discussion on servant leadership in the Stuce Kenyon Room (map side) with other panelists: Nancy Sleeth, director of Blessed Earth Ministries; Susanna Elliott, director of Global PR for All Tech Corp; Wayne Lewis, interim commissioner of education for the State of Kentucky; and Mark Whitworth, director of athletics at Asbury
Jim Shores, chair of Asbury’s communication department, told the Collegian that Stuart’s chapel talk would explain why Stuart created the HAF.
“He’s going to tell his story tomorrow, but it’s about losing his voice at the height of [Audio Adrenaline’s] fame,” Shores said. “And then he basically took his fame and invested that in orphanages down in Haiti where his parents were working, and he created the Hands and Feet Project.”
Last spring, Stuart met up with Asbury students in Haiti as part of an unconventional mission trip. Shores took a group of students to Haiti to work with HAF. According to a Collegian article by Robin Gericke (who went on the trip), the group “partnered with the Hands and Feet Project to create a PR package for Ikondo, HAF’s new job creation project.”
Shores said that there will likely be another trip to Haiti during spring break of 2019.
“[HAF] has two orphanages that are really well-functioning,” he said, “and they have two job creation programs for Haitians that employ probably about a hundred people.”
Shores said that he met Stuart when the singer-turned-philanthropist visited Asbury in May of 2017. Parker Touchton, a media communications student who graduated in 2017, was interning for Stuart at the time.
Shores said that students can learn a lot from Stuart’s experiences. “Here’s somebody who lost everything,” Shores said, “and instead of getting bitter, he just took what he had and invested it in serving. I just think it’s a great story, a great model.”
