Rev. Larry Sykes Jr. Named Religious Studies Distinguished Alumnus
The Reverend Larry Sykes Jr. (’09) has become an honored church and social justice leader in Kentucky, and in spring 2024 the Department of Religious Studies recognized him with the Charles H. Reynolds Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Sykes felt called to ministry early in his life. “My parents raised me in church, where I cultivated and nurtured my sense of purpose and belonging,” he said. “I developed love and compassion and my moral compass, which led me to want to get deeply involved in people’s lives for our mutual spiritual benefit.”
He majored in religious studies with a minor in philosophy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where Charles Reynolds was one of his professors.
”He was a pragmatist, which was a different worldview than the one I was reared by,” Sykes recalled.
“He showed us the value religion could have in the solutions it could offer to suffering people all over the world,” Sykes said. “He showed me the fundamental aspects all religions share (divine power/authority, sacred texts, ceremonial rites), but in so doing helped me to grow a greater appreciation for my own faith tradition.”
After graduating from UT, Sykes earned a Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He earned awards for preaching and church leadership at the seminary, where he currently is pursuing an educational doctorate.
Serving Community
In 2011, Sykes became the pastor of Greater Good Hope Baptist Church in Louisville.
While here he served as co-president of Citizens of Louisville Organized United Together (CLOUT), through which religious congregations work to solve community problems. ”We take a grassroots approach to understand the critical issues that plague our community, and through the power of organized religious congregations, we offer to government and city officials systemic solutions to solve them,” he explained.
In that role he led a successful “Ban the Box” initiative to remove barriers to employment for people with criminal records. The Louisville Metro Council unanimously passed an ordinance barring the city from asking on job applications if people have a criminal record.
“We also worked to provide solutions for affordable housing,” Sykes said.
In 2016, the Louisville Metro Council recognized Sykes with an Outstanding Community Leader Award, citing his work on the “Ban the Box” initiative as well as other ways his church served as a community gathering place for social justice organizations. “We also had a strong mercy ministry in partnership with Dare to Care to provide food resources to at-risk populations,” Sykes said.
He went on to serve three years as associate pastor at Consolidated Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. Currently he is senior pastor at Clay Street Baptist Church in Shelbyville and a leader in fighting poverty and racism.
“We have worked to speak for minority children, who are suspended at four times the rate of their white peers for similar behavior patterns,” Sykes said. “I have stood in the streets—and was even arrested—to amplify my voice during the most recent protest in Louisville following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020.”
Academic and Spiritual Growth
The distinguished alumnus award was presented at the department’s Graduation and Awards Ceremony. Reynolds served as head of the Department of Religious Studies for 20 years and stayed connected with many of his former students. After his passing in 2017, the department created the alumni award in Reynolds’s name.
Sykes recalled not only his interactions with Reynolds as a student but also other UT faculty and staff, within the department and beyond.
“Dr. Rachelle Scott was also invaluable,” he said. “She has such passion and enthusiasm as she teaches Buddhism, and as a Christian preacher, she made me fall in love with Theravada Buddhism.”
He also fondly recalls his fellow students. “My time at UT was more than just an academic pursuit,” he said. “It was about the community, the friendships forged … and conversations as deep as we could muster as young adults. My time here was about exploring, questioning, and growing—not just intellectually but also spiritually.”
Even then UT was striving to prepare undergraduates to succeed in the global society. “I would argue that, because of my upbringing, I came to the university more ready for the world than some of my peers,” Sykes said. “I still had so much more to learn about myself and the plight of the global majority around me.”
By Amy Beth Miller