Articles for tag: Nebraska Christian College

Why We Meet

By Mark Krause Why did the early church celebrate the Lord”s Supper every week? The answer to this is very simple, but for some Christians it requires a different way of thinking. Most believers are well acquainted with the church tradition and expectation of meeting together on the first day of the week. This weekly gathering is reflected in a term we sometimes use for a particular, local church, the congregation. This word literally means “those who gather together.” Churches are made up of members who assemble, who come together. But why? If you were to ask believers why they

Not Defiance, but Surrender

By Mark Krause I recently read of a young mother who named her son Defy. Yes, I spelled that correctly: Defy, as in “to oppose with an attitude.” She said she wanted her child to grow up knowing he never had to accept the status quo and should always question everything. While I understand the cultural frustration that causes this sort of thing, it seems dangerous to me. If everyone in a society becomes a relentless questioner, pretty soon there is no one left to give answers, and collapse is inevitable. This can happen in the church. Is our first

Keeping New Leaders in the Game

By Dave Miller Ministry is hard. Who can help ministers jump the hurdles in their first few years of service? After 13 years of ministry, I was fortunate to jump on a start-up and fly all over the United States to consult in churches. I probably visited 400 churches over the five-plus years I was with that organization. I don”t want to exaggerate here, but I believe I heard some version of this phrase more than 200 times: “Please help us find a youth pastor or kids pastor or worship leader or executive or tech director, etc.” It didn”t matter

You Can Help Nepal

By Jennifer Johnson Many mission agencies and international ministries are working to provide relief, support, and financial resources to those affected by Saturday”s devastating earthquake in Nepal. Central India Christian Mission, which has worked in Nepal the last 15 years, writes, “On a typical Saturday morning, many Nepalese churches meet for weekly worship services. On Saturday, April 25th, at 11:56 am when many Nepalese brothers and sisters in Christ were worshipping, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake occurred. It destroyed almost everything in the country. From Saturday until now, approximately 45 earthquakes have happened in the country. It has brought huge destruction.

Colleges Discussing Collaboration

“Nebraska Christian College is studying the possibility of collaborating with Hope International University to begin a Christian University system with other colleges throughout the country,” according to ncinitiative2015.wordpress.com, a blog set up to  provide updates on the discussions. The blog entry goes on to say,   John Derry, the President of Hope International University (http://www.hiu.edu) reached out to Nebraska Christian College in hopes of beginning talks of mutual collaboration. This original email exchange led to two subsequent meetings between President Derry and the Executive Team of NC to discuss ways in which this collaboration could drive mission to a greater extent. We are

Revealed in the Breaking of the Bread

By Mark S. Krause In the old Errol Flynn movie The Adventures of Robin Hood, there is a remarkable scene of revelation. Robin Hood has been fighting the injustice of evil Prince John, who was ruling England in the absence of his brother, King Richard the Lionheart. King Richard had gone to the Holy Land for a Crusade, and his whereabouts are uncertain. Some believe him dead. However, Richard returns to England with a few men, incognito, in the dress of monks. Richard realizes his danger and decides to seek out Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest. Still clad in monk”s

Why Celebrate Every Week?

By Mark S. Krause Some in the church world today ask, “Why celebrate the Lord”s Supper every week?” In the Christian churches/churches of Christ, we celebrate the Lord”s Supper each Sunday because we find that pattern reflected in the early church described in the New Testament. While it is inevitable that the church has changed over the centuries, we believe there are basic patterns worth preserving, and this is one of them. But this leads to a more basic question: “Why did the early church celebrate the Lord”s Supper every week?” The answer is very simple, but it requires a

Country Clubs

By Jennifer Johnson I thought my years in California prevented me from developing geographical snobbery, that condition in which you assume your city/state/region has the corner on all things progressive and everywhere else is a barren wasteland. It”s a hobby along that coast; one California megachurch pastor actually told me Willow Creek grew to its current ginormity because “there”s nothing else to do out there. What”s in Illinois, yaks?” Yep, buddy, their church is way bigger than yours because Chicago”s boring. So I expected to like the Plains states when I first visited them years ago to lead workshops at

Enlarging the Vision of Rural Preachers

By Jennifer Johnson “Small towns are getting smaller,” says Jim Hardy. “And the churches in these areas are getting smaller, as well.” Hardy founded the Center for Rural Church Advancement at Nebraska Christian College to encourage and equip the leaders of rural churches in Nebraska and beyond. The new initiative includes a series of two-day events in conjunction with The Barjona Company; Chad Hunt founded the company after growing Caveland Church from 150 to 750 people in the small town of Cave City, KY. A four-session series of these “strategic roundtables” is spread over two years, and groups are kept

Students Need Practical Skills Along with Big Ideas

By Jennifer Johnson Higher education is not known for its pragmatism. For every course in biology basics there”s another in “The Science of Superheroes” (University of California, Irvine). For every Spanish 101 there”s “Invented Languages: Klingon and Beyond” (University of Texas at Austin). For every fundamentals of accounting, there”s “Street-Fighting Mathematics” (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). And that”s OK. As the cliché goes, part of being educated is “learning how to learn.” There”s value in interacting with ideas simply for the sake of enrichment, even without any immediate vocational payoff. But Dave Miller at Nebraska Christian College also makes a good

An Honors Program Focusing on Leadership and Community Service

By Jennifer Johnson “There”s a lot of discussion about the cost of investing in a college education,” says Dave Miller, vice president of advancement at Nebraska Christian College. “We want to talk about what the college is investing in the student.” At NCC in Papillion, NE, part of the investment is The Institute, a new program that rolled out in January and launches officially this fall. “The Institute is like an honors program, but focused on leadership potential and community service,” Miller says. Students must maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average to participate, but academic aptitude is just

Just Stick with It

By Mark A. Taylor Everybody”s heard that America is getting older, a fact not lost on me since I and most of my friends now qualify for seniors discounts at movie theaters, museums, and many restaurants. But even though I”m glad to take the deals, I don”t think of myself as old. Old people are 70-something, maybe, or 80; 90-year-olds certainly qualify. But not me. I doubt my kids see it that way, though. In fact most adults, regardless of their age, define “old” as at least 10 years older than themselves. I thought about this again late this spring

Obituaries from 2009

(Listed alphabetically) Gerald D. “Jerry” Bright, 94, died March 2, 2009, at the Stanton (KY) Nursing Home. He was born March 27, 1914, in Akron, OH, to Henry Proctor Bright and Minnie Shoup Bright. The 1938 graduate of Kentucky Christian University (known then as Grayson Normal Institute) also attended Butler University School of Religion, Indianapolis, IN. In 1938 he began his first full-time ministry with the Church of Christ in East Liberty, OH, during which time he met his wife, Mabel, of Bluffton, OH. They married June 15, 1941, and he continued as minister there until 1944. They served churches

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