Missouri churches help
boost Ukraine missions
ST. CHARLES—Three Missouri Baptist churches sent mission teams this year in support of the Ukraine Freedom Crusades. They are First Baptist Church, Harvester (St. Charles), Sandy Baptist Church, Pevely, and First Baptist Church, O’Fallon.
There were 48 new church starts across the country of Ukraine during the months of August, September and October. This work was accomplished by the International Mission Board (IMB), the Ukrainian Baptist Union, and Don Betts, a full-time evangelist who has held crusades across Ukraine over the past 20 years.
Crusade meetings were conducted by 13 teams from America and 35 teams from Ukraine in district centers with no evangelical or Baptist church. A total of about 3,000-4,000 people prayed to receive Christ.
“I am truly amazed at how God is working in Ukraine,” said Shannon Ford, an IMB missionary to Ukraine. “Sometimes it is nearly impossible to take it all in.”
Scholarship Appreciation
Day touches over 300
BOLIVAR—Southwest Baptist University (SBU) scholarship students and their donors recently gathered at the 15th annual Scholarship Appreciation Day luncheon held in the Jane and Ken Meyer Wellness and Sport Center at SBU. More than 300 donors and students attended the banquet, a record number for the event. Those who attended heard musical performances and speeches thanking the donors for their generosity.
Cindy Rice, director of private scholarship development and estate planning associate, coordinated the event, which originated in 1994 with 50 attendees. According to Rice, private scholarships currently total $10 million of the university’s endowment. The donors present at the luncheon represented more than 75 of the 313 total scholarships, 247 of them are endowed.
Rice expressed her delight in this unique opportunity for students and their donors to interact face-to-face at the luncheon.
“Selection of the private scholarship recipients by the University Scholarship Committee occurs annually in January for the following academic year,” she said. “It is not until this luncheon that we see in one room many of the students whose lives our decisions affect. More than 475 students were selected to receive a private scholarship for 2008-2009; however, not all of their scholarship donors were able to attend the Scholarship Appreciation Day.”
Abernatha to join staff
of Fellowship Baptist
WARRENTON – Fellowship Baptist Church in Warrenton has called Christian Abernatha as an associate pastor for student/family ministry.
Christian and his wife, Stephanie, and their little girl, Shaylee, will be moving from Louisville, Ky., to begin ministry in January. Christian and Stephanie are both graduates of Hannibal-LaGrange College. Abernatha has been attending Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.
T.D. Bray is senior pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church.
SBU launches new
online learning suite
BOLIVAR—Southwest Baptist University (SBU) in Missouri has adopted the ANGEL Learning Management Suite (LMS) to support web-enhanced instruction in traditional face-to-face classes and its hybrid and fully online courses.
Although the university achieved an 80 percent adoption rate with the course management system (CMS) it first licensed in 1997, increasing costs and a decline in technical support led SBU to investigate alternative systems. Faculty support for the SBU decision to migrate to the ANGEL LMS was unanimous.
“Over the last year or two, we experienced a steady decline in support from the provider of the CMS we originally licensed, and prices were increasing,” said Bob McGlasson, SBU vice president for information technology services. “We heard a lot of good things about ANGEL at conferences and from schools similar in size to us. We scheduled demonstrations, and we liked what we saw in ANGEL.”
“Our CMS is a very important instructional tool, and our faculty are gung ho as long as they are supported,” added Neal Cross, SBU director of instructional technology. “We brought faculty in every step of the way in our decision to switch to the ANGEL LMS, and they liked ANGEL from all different perspectives. The ANGEL gradebook knocked their socks off. The ability of ANGEL agents to automate work, ANGEL’s communication capabilities, they are all impressive.”
SBU library honors
top student assistant
BOLIVAR—The Southwest Baptist University’s Harriett K. Hutchens Library has announced that Luiza Hozan, Bolivar, Missouri, was honored as the Outstanding University Library Student Assistant of the Month for October. The University Libraries’ faculty and staff established the monthly award to recognize outstanding employment characteristics such as dependability, quality of work, motivation, attitude, and cooperation.
Hozan, a student assistant with Technical Services, received an award letter from Ed Walton, Dean of the University Libraries, a certificate of recognition and a gift. Hozan is majoring in Intercultural Studies.
HLG to hold December graduation ceremony
Hannibal – Hannibal-LaGrange College (HLG) will hold commencement ceremonies at 10:00
a.m. Dec. 13 in the Mabee Sports Complex. Approximately 122 graduates will receive degrees.
The keynote speaker for the December graduation will be Jill J. Janes. Janes received her bachelor of science in elementary education, master’s in education, and Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has been an educator for 33 years serving as a teacher, director of early childhood, building administrator and assistant superintendent. She has been superintendent of Hannibal School District since 2004.
The fall 2008 semester will end Dec. 8, followed by final exams through Dec. 11. Residential housing will close at 10 a.m. Dec. 12. Registration for spring 2009 semester classes will be held Jan. 12, with classes to begin on Jan. 13. For more information on class schedules or registration, call the admissions office at 1-800-HLG-1119, or check out the website at www.hlg.edu.
LifeWay to close Independence store
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – We will be closing the LifeWay store on Bolger Road in Independence on Dec. 31. This store was relocated to the current location in 1997. This closing was planned in conjunction with the Oct. 26 opening of our new LifeWay store in North Kansas City, which is located in the Tiffany Springs Market Center at the northeast corner of Highway 152 and I-29. While this closing was planned, it was only planned after the rent rates from our landlord were dramatically escalated beyond what could be supported by sales.
We continue to be committed to the Kansas City market. In addition to the new North Kansas City store, we also acquired a new store in February 2008 located in the Olathe Station shopping center at 119th and I-35 in Olathe. This winter we will also be expanding the LifeWay store at Midwestern Seminary, making it more available to the churches in that part of the city. We are grateful for the support our customers have shown. As part of our continued commitment to be the best possible resource for Christian products, we will continue to evaluate and look for other new store opportunities in the Kansas City market.
It is our desire to provide employment opportunities for as many of the employees in the Independence store as possible.