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Calvary Partners with Military Tuition Assistance to Train Students

Calvary Partners with Military Tuition Assistance to Train Students

by | Jan 29, 2020

Matt Blackledge, Air Force Reserves, leads worship at a prayer night on Calvary’s campus.

Vets and Reservists use Military Tuition Assistance to study Scripture and get marketable degrees.

Sgt Jonathan Haggard USMC (ret) served in the Marine Corps for eight years before coming to Calvary University to pursue his bachelor’s degree. He was searching for a local university to use his GI Bill and chose Calvary because it was close, “and the fact that it wasn’t just a Bible college,” but offered a range of widely marketable degrees in business, education, performance arts.

Haggard is studying Business Administration and Organizational Leadership, building off of the skills he acquired during his military tenure. Leadership training was one of the reasons Haggard joined the Marine Corps. He referenced the Marine concept of JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, an acronym for Judgement Justice Dependability Integrity Decisiveness Tact Initiative Endurance Bearing Unselfishness Courage Knowledge Loyalty Enthusiasm. “Those are leadership traits Marines are supposed to have. And I would say they all fit into Christian values.” Haggard’s time in the military was “training to be a leader. And as Christians, we’re called to leadership.”

Matthew Blackledge joined the Air Force Reserves three years ago, and currently pursues a master’s degree in Bible and Theology through the Air Force’s Military Tuition Assistance (TA). “I knew I wanted to go to a place to study the Bible, that’s always been my passion. And also, I had a goal to not go into debt at college. That was a big deal.” Calvary’s commitment to biblical education, keeping costs low, and working with TA met all of Blackledge’s criteria. Now that he’s here, he said, “I actually think I want to keep going and go all the way to PhD. Because when I’m 70, I want teach. I want to tell the story of the Bible.”

Calvary is proud to partner with veterans and enlisted soldiers to provide quality education, equipping them to live and serve, in the church and in the world, according to the biblical worldview.

Calvary University is approved by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs for the training of veterans.

 

Calvary University is a member of the DoD Voluntary Education Partnership.

 

Lux Voces Performs at Local Rotary Club

Lux Voces Performs at Local Rotary Club

by | Jan 28, 2020

Grace Murphy, a member of Lux Voces, sings at the Belton-Raymore Rotary Club performance.

Belton-Raymore Rotary Club Meeting Features Calvary’s Music Team

Last Wednesday, Calvary University had the opportunity to present a program at the Belton-Raymore Rotary Club’s weekly meeting. Members of the Rotary Club enjoyed a performance from Calvary’s traveling musical group, Lux Voces. The team presented three songs from their repertoire, featuring a rich instrumental blend and powerful vocal harmonies. 

Lux Voces is a traveling music group of Calvary students and alumni seeking to praise God through their musical performances and to serve Christian schools and churches by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ through music and testimonies. Lux Voces is available to present concerts at local churches or schools in fall of 2020 and spring of 2021.

For more information, contact the Music Department.

Josh Freerksen plays the electric bass guitar as Jordan Hoffman drums.

Katherine Figuera plays the keyboard for one of the songs presented by the group.

Calvary Alum Directing Amazon Project in Brazil

Calvary Alum Directing Amazon Project in Brazil

by | Jan 25, 2020

Gary (back, center) and Sandy (front, second from left) serve with Word of Life Bible Institute in Brazil.

Calvary “Pushed” Him Toward Missions

Calvary alumnus Gary Parker serves with his wife, Sandy, with Word of Life Bible Institute (WOLBI) in Brazil, The Amazon Project. Parker said this ministry has three major foci. The first is “to evangelize and disciple young people,” by means of camping ministries, a K-12 Christian school, sports ministries, and teaching the Bible in public schools. Their second focus is the Missionary Training Institute, offering one-year, three-year, and five-year tracks. Parker said the three-year program is the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in missiology, while the five-year program partners with online Brazilian universities to give students training in missiology and a university degree.

“The focus is to train Brazilian young people to be missionaries, to take the gospel to places where it’s never gone before around the world,” Parker said. The institute trains students in a variety of skills, including first aid, mechanics, agriculture, literacy, sanitation and water supply, and food preparation.

The third focus of WOLBI in Brazil is a church planting ministry on the Amazon River. WOLBI has a team of missionaries that go out on boats doing survey work to identify communities that are open to churches, then teams of church planters plant churches in the identified communities. Parker said, “As those churches begin to be established, of course, in all of these communities there are young people, so the cycle starts over.” All of the youth ministries are functional on the Amazon on a different scale, including camps, schools, and “floating seminary.”

Parker said, “I see God moving in the Brazilian church and in the hearts of Brazilian young people to not only take responsibility for finishing the job of reaching the nation of Brazil with the gospel, but also having more and more of a vision for reaching the world with the gospel.” He also mentioned how Brazil is uniquely positioned to reach the Muslim world, “because all the Muslim countries hate America, but they love Brazil because of soccer… And so Brazilians have open doors.”

Parker, who serves as Executive Director of The Amazon Project, discovered Calvary when their music team performed at his church in high school. He came to Calvary pursuing pastoral studies, but “a lot of things changed in my heart, and I ended up going back to Brazil where I was born to be a missionary.” While he was at Calvary, his parents returned to Brazil to start a new ministry with WOLBI. “They needed somebody to come with them,” Parker said, “to learn with them and grow with them… and I was looking for something to give my life to.” Now he oversees the various ministries in Brazil, raising funds, and representing the ministry in conferences and promotion. “Think what Dr. Cone does for Calvary, and that’s what I do for Word of Life.”

Parker said, “I believe we have one job description, and that’s making disciples in all nations. Whatever our occupation, we should have the nations in mind.” He looked to his time at Calvary as one of the factors that pushed him towards missions. “The time that you spend in college is a time where you begin to identify how you find your abilities, talents, and opportunities best aligning with that mission… so whatever you’re doing, whether you’re building widgets or preaching, the purpose behind that is the mission of making disciples globally.”

Calvary Preps for Global Engagement Think Tank

Calvary Preps for Global Engagement Think Tank

by | Jan 21, 2020

Josh Paxton teaching recently in an Intercultural Studies classroom.

Where is the School?

With Calvary’s Conference on Global Engagement just around the corner, Josh Paxton, Director of the Burnham Center for Global Engagement, is gearing up for the conference’s Think Tank. Scheduled for Friday the 31st, the Think Tank addresses the question of how the church, mission agency, and school work together in training missionaries for the field. Paxton said, “The conversation has generally centered around the mission agency and the church. And… as I’ve been in these conversations, the constant refrain in the back of my mind has been, where is the school?” He noted that, as Christian schools have closed over the past few years, mission agencies have turned their recruiting focus toward churches. While recognizing that “the church is God’s primary vehicle in the world today, and the local church bears responsibility for local missions,” Paxton said, “I think the school still very much has a role to play.”

Concurrent to the conversation is Calvary’s Synergy program that has already forged a stronger connection between the school and the mission agency. As the program grows and develops, leaders and students are finding ways to involve the church more in discipling the individuals preparing for the mission field. Paxton said an integral part of the Synergy program is “making sure that [the student’s] local church is behind them, and that they’re being mentored in the process.”

The Think Tank brings together local pastors, Calvary leadership, missions agency representatives, and students around the idea of, “how do we do this better together?” The format of the Think Tanks will be “Ted Talk style,” featuring 30-minute presentations followed by discussion times. Paxton is excited to bring students into these conversations, “because it strikes me it does no good for pastors and teachers and missions agency leaders to sit around and talk about students without students actually being there to give their input.”

Examining how the church, agency, and school work together to disciple and train leaders, Paxton said, “I think we need to take a real hard look at what are the roles of each: what’s the church good at? What’s the school good at? What’s the agency good at? What are our niches and how do we work better together?”

Warriors Ground Eagles

Warriors Ground Eagles

by | Jan 18, 2020

Calvary added another conference win Friday night beating Faith Baptist 61-55. 

The Warriors started the game well getting out to an early 6-2 lead. They then went cold from the floor allowing Faith to go on a 14-2 run holding CU scoreless for over seven minutes and ending the first quarter with a 16-8 lead. 

In the early part of the second quarter, the Eagles picked up right where they left off and were able to extend their lead to as many as 10. Then with half-time looming and with Avery Kornstad and Anna Holloway leading the charge, the Warriors were able to match Faith and erase the deficit sending the game into the half tied at 30.

Both teams struggled offensively to begin the third quarter. After trading baskets a minute into the quarter neither team scored for almost 4 minutes. The only offense in the period for the Warriors came from a pair of Holloway field goals and a pair of Hannah Sorenson free throws. The Eagles eventually found their stride and led by five at the end of the third 41-36.  

The Warriors opened the fourth with three straight buckets from Holloway to take a 42-41 lead with over eight minutes left. The game remained very close over the next six minutes, with both teams trading baskets and neither able to gain more than a three-point lead. With two minutes left Calvary began to pull away extending the lead to ten twice and holding on for the 61-55 victory. 

The Warriors were playing without starters Taylor Hunter and Anna Davis, who combined average over 29 points and 10 rebounds a game. After the game head coach Tressa Shoemaker said the game was “a true team effort, with several players stepping up and making big plays towards the end to seal the win.”  

Holloway lead Calvary with a game-high 18 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Kornstad added 13 points and six boards. 

Michaela Crider led the Eagles with 14 points. 

With the conference victory, the Warriors improve to 9-6 on the season. Up next is Emmaus in Dubuque, IA on January 18. 

Warriors with Conference Win over #10 Faith

Warriors with Conference Win over #10 Faith

by | Jan 18, 2020

The Warriors picked up a big conference win Friday over Faith Baptist, in a battle between the 10th and 11th ranked teams in the country. 

Calvary got off to a fast start grabbing an early 6-0 lead. Faith then went on a 9-0 run holding the Warriors scoreless for over four minutes. For the rest of the half, the game went back and forth, with both teams finding success at the offensive end and neither team able to gain more than a five-point lead. After a pair of made Eagle free throws, the Warriors went into halftime trailing 38-35. 

Faith opened the second half with a pair of baskets to extend their lead to eight. Off a great pass from Jay Lems, Ben Jones created, and converted, a one-and-one opportunity to cut the lead back to five and momentarily stem the tide. Over the next eight minutes, the Eagles matched the Warriors blow-for-blow and held a 59-52 lead at the 10-minute mark. With Calvary struggling to cut the lead to less than seven Cameron Bender knocked down three straight three-pointers, on back-to-back-to-back possessions, and evened the game at 61. The game remained tight until Lems hit a three to put the Warriors up 74-70 and provide some breathing room with three minutes left. The rest of the game became a free throw shooting contest won by the Warriors, who were 19-21 from the line on the night, as Calvary pulled out the 83-78 win. 

After the game head coach Matt Sanders called Bender “the player of the game” as he made 5 of CU’s 6 threes and put the Warriors back in the game with his shooting in the second half. 

Sanders also pointed out Braydon Unruh, Zeb Green, and Tim Marchbanks as key individual contributors and said the Warriors played a “fantastic game defensively” holding the best offensive rebounding team in the country to just ten second-chance points.