Lakewood minister Reg Cox steps outside church walls to help community

Reg Cox, the senior minister for Lakewood Church of Christ, talks with Tony Sandoval, 7, about his clay project at Foothills Elementary School on April 15. Cox helps organize the Whiz Kids after-school project at the school and brings volunteers to tutor disadvantaged students. (Anya Semenoff, YourHub)

LAKEWOOD Sitting in his office at Lakewood Church of Christ, senior minister Reg Cox said he is more of a community catalyst than a traditional pastor.

And he not only has a business card with a job title listed as "Community Catalyst" but a track record to prove it.

Since he came to Lakewood from Abilene, Texas, 12 years ago to take on his first job as a church minister, Cox has made it his mission to look outside church walls and bring community leaders faith-based, secular and civic together to tackle community challenges.

Reg Cox talks with Sherry Konkel, a member of his church who also volunteers as a tutor for the Whiz Kids program. (Anya Semenoff, YourHub)

The 57-year-old pastor said the opportunities and challenges in modern society are simply too large and complex for any single organization to solve alone.

"If you were to look for a handle for me, I'm really kind of the connector," Cox said. "I'm not necessarily making it all happen. I'm just connecting people who have opportunities, resources, influence and knowledge."

Cox is an active member of a group of about 25 church leaders from across Lakewood, meets regularly with civic and other community leaders and has been instrumental in helping turn around a struggling elementary school blocks away from his congregation in the Green Mountain neighborhood.

Enrollment had been dropping for years at Foothills Elementary School; the playground and athletic fields were unusable, and academic achievement scores were dropping.

After hearing in 2011 about the school's struggles, Cox and the pastor group began working to raise funds for an athletic field and slowly gathered a wide coalition of Lakewood citizens to help.

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Lakewood minister Reg Cox steps outside church walls to help community