Jim McKenzie Tribute

It is with great sadness that we have to share today that Jim McKenzie, KCU Executive Vice President from 1969-1992, passed away on Saturday, January 5, 2013. We are reminded today the words Paul preached to the people of Antioch in Acts 13: “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.”

Mr. McKenzie came to Kentucky Christian in 1969 to serve God’s purpose. God used Mr. McKenzie’s talent to channel and focus his efforts and expertise for the work of the Lord in Grayson.

In his book, For the Good of the Cause, former President J. Lowell Lusby said: “Mr. McKenzie is the only man in the history of Kentucky Christian who, during his first week on the job, walked in my office and handed me an undated letter of resignation! He told me that any time I was dissatisfied with him; I would only need to insert the date and inform him of his release. Frankly I never did see any reason to exercise this prerogative!”

It is impossible for us to list every one of Mr. McKenzie’s accomplishments during his years of service at KCU. Here are a few:

• He worked out a way to eliminate all indebtedness on the property so that funding could be secured to build Lusby Center.
• He supervised the building of Dale Hall dormitory.
• A major fire in Neal Hall, a women’s dorm at the time, was turned from tragedy to triumph as Mr. McKenzie led fund raising efforts to rebuild and refurbish that dorm, the oldest building on campus.
• The Nash Chapel/Fine Arts building was built under Mr. McKenzie’s direction.
• The Young Library was built under his direction. He also secured a collection of 50,000 books and bound periodicals from the University of Louisville, for a small fraction of the estimated value of $1,000,000.00 at the t