McPherson Regional Youth Conference - March 6-8

“Keep Calm and Be a Dunker Punk” is the theme for Regional Youth Conference at McPherson (Kan.) College on March 6-8. The event is for senior high youth and advisors. The theme scripture is from Isaiah 1:17: “Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless” (The Message). The conference will feature leadership by David Radcliff of the New Community Project, and performances by Mutual Kumquat and Ted and Co. The fee for youth to attend is $65. Special pricing is available for college students willing to volunteer part of their time to assist with the weekend. For more information and online registration go to www.mcpherson.edu/ryc. For questions contact Jen Jensen, McPherson College director of Spiritual Life, jensenj@mcpherson.edu or 620-242-0503.
 
The public is invited to performances by Mutual Kumquat and Ted and Co. in McPherson, Kan., as part of the Regional Youth Conference. Ted and Co. will present “Laughter Is Sacred Space” in Brown Auditorium at McPherson College at 12 noon on March 6, and “The Big Story” at 1 p.m. on March 7 at McPherson Church of the Brethren. Mutual Kumquat, a band rooted in the Church of the Brethren, and billed as “obviously the best band ever,” will perform at the McPherson Church at 9 p.m. on March 7. “All are welcome to attend these events!” said an invitation from the church.

Source: 2/25/2015 Newsline

Church of the Brethren Regional Youth Conference 2015

The Regional Youth Conference will feature leadership by special guests David Radcliff of the New Community Project, Mutual Kumquat, and Ted & Co. The event is for youth in grades 9-12 and their adult advisors. Special pricing is available for college students willing to volunteer part of their time to assist with the weekend. Workshops are provided respectively for youth, youth leaders, college students. Registration will open later in January. More information will be made available soon. Contact Jen Jensen, McPherson College Director of Spiritual Life, with any questions at jensenj@mcpherson.edu or 620-242-0503.

Source: 01/14/2015 Newsline

McPherson College Chor

Gettysburg (Pa.) Church of the Brethren is hosting a choir from McPherson (Kan.) College in concert on Monday night March 17, at 7 p.m. The McPherson College Singers are a mixed group of 20 young men and women who will be touring the Mid-Atlantic region, said an announcement. “This is a free evening of music. There will be a donation basket but no free-will offering will be lifted.”

Source: 3/4/2014 Newsline

Students at Church of the Brethren-related colleges are doing services projects.

Foregoing “fun in the sun” spring breaks, several groups of students at Church of the Brethren-related colleges are doing services projects instead.

• At Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., 21 students in the Habitat for Humanity club will take on the construction of an entire house in Albany, Ga., and other students will organize the affiliate’s ReStore location. The college’s Hillel chapter for Jewish students is traveling to the Dominican Republic to work on the “My Roof” project that focuses on building shelters for people who don’t have adequate, safe housing, and will volunteer at a health clinic and a school. Juniata’s Christian Ministry Board is traveling to North Fort Myers, Fla., to volunteer on a demonstration farm working with Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization. The college’s Community Service Board is going to Apopka, Fla., to work with immigrant families in collaboration with a local organization called Hope CommUnity Center.

• At Bridgewater (Va.) College, 18 students and 2 staff members will spend spring break volunteering with Habitat’s Collegiate Challenge Spring Break 2013. The group, accompanied by college chaplain Robbie Miller and Stacie Horrell, assistant director of student activities, will leave for Sumter, S.C., on March 10 to work in partnership with the Sumter Habitat for Humanity helping to build several houses. To raise money for the trip, they held a chili cook-off and sponsored a faculty/staff car wash. This is the 21st year that Bridgewater College students have used spring break to work on various Habitat projects.

• At McPherson (Kan.) College, a group of students is planning to serve for a week at a Brethren Disaster Ministries project site in Holton, Ind., in late March. Tom Hurst, director of Service for the college, is organizing the trip with help from Western Plains District.

Source: 3/8/2013 Newsline

McPherson College Offers Prizes

McPherson (Kan.) College is offering more than $80,000 in prizes for Kansas high school entrepreneurs in its second “Jump Start Kansas” program. Every year, “Jump Start Kansas”--created and hosted by McPherson College--awards two grand-prize grants of $5,000 to a Kansas high school student or team of students who present the best entrepreneurial idea. One grant is given in the area of commercial entrepreneurship, and one for social entrepreneurship. The grants come with no stipulation that the high school students attend McPherson College, said a release. The grand prize winners may receive a $20,000 scholarship to McPherson College across four years. All students for the remaining eight finalist ideas will be offered a $4,000, four-year scholarship to attend the college. Students can enter with their ideas between now and Jan. 28 at www.mcpherson.edu/jumpstartkansas .

Source: 1/24/2013 Newsline

McPherson College to celebrate 125 years.

McPherson (Kan.) College is celebrating 125 years since its founding, and its deep roots in the Church of the Brethren, with a special worship service on Oct. 21.

Although the service will start at 10 a.m. in Brown Auditorium on the campus of McPherson College, the McPherson Community Brass Quintet will play pre-service music beginning at 9:45 a.m.

All students, faculty, staff, friends of the college, and community members are welcome to the service. The planning committee features one person from the five closest Church of the Brethren congregations. Already, members of Church of the Brethren congregations in McPherson, Monitor, Hutchinson, Wichita, and Newton are planning to come to McPherson College for the special occasion.

The service will include an opportunity for people to participate in a large mass choir. Rehearsal will start at 8:30 a.m. in Brown Auditorium for anyone who wishes to participate.

The message will be delivered by campus minister Steve Crain, who is planning to speak on "Kneeling Before the Lord of the Harvest"--giving thanks for God's blessings.

Following the Children's Time in the service, childcare will be available for children age preschool and younger. Following the service, there will be a Sunday brunch available to all in attendance for $8 for adults and $6 for children at 11 a.m. in the nearby Hoffman Student Union.

Plans are also in the works to help those unable to attend to still be able to view this special time of worship. Watch for details on www.mcpherson.edu about how to access a planned live stream of the service online, and a video of the service afterwards.

McPherson College, located in central Kansas, is a four-year private liberal arts college offering more than 20 bachelors of arts and pre-professional programs, as well as an experiential graduate-level courses in teaching. Throughout the curriculum, students are given the “Freedom to Jump”--to explore their ideas, to learn through doing, and to make a difference in the world.  McPherson College, associated with the Church of the Brethren, is committed to the ideals of scholarship, participation, and service--developing whole persons, prepared for fulfilling life vocations.

-- Adam Pracht is coordinator of development communications for McPherson College.

Source:8/22/2012 Newsline

McPherson College has announced its first graduate-level courses in education starting this Fall.

McPherson (Kan.) College has announced its first graduate-level courses in education starting this Fall. Mark Malaby, director of the graduate courses in education and associate professor of education at McPherson, has spent the last academic year developing the unique curriculum, a release said. McPherson is seeking initial accreditation in fall of 2012 from the regional accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), with the hopes of gaining HLC approval to offer a Master’s in Education degree based on the course offerings. The courses have received the endorsement of the McPherson, Little River, and Smoky Valley school districts, which are encouraging their teachers to enroll in the classes. About half of the classes will be taught by working school administrators and superintendents in the area. The initial graduate level courses are “Issues in Education” and “Foundations of Education.” To apply for the graduate level courses contact Teresa Graham, graduate admissions officer, at graham@mcpherson.edu or 620-242-0485. More information about the program is at www.mcpherson.edu/mastersed.

Source:5/16/2012 Newsline

Seminary and College Commencement Ceremonies Set for May

Bethany Theological Seminary will be holding its graduation ceremony on May 5, in Richmond, Ind., just one of several Church of the Brethren-related schools that have announced May commencement ceremonies.

This will be Bethany’s 107th commencement, and 16 graduates will be recognized. The academic ceremony for conferring degrees will take place in Nicarry Chapel at 10 a.m., with admittance by ticket only. A worship service, open to the public, will be held in Nicarry Chapel at 2:30 p.m. Nadine S. Pence, a former member of the Bethany faculty and currently director of the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion in Crawfordsville, Ind., will give the commencement address. Graduates Rebekah Houff, Jeanne Davies, and Andrew Duffey will speak during the afternoon worship service.

At Bridgewater (Va.) College, Robert Neff, president emeritus of Juniata College and a former general secretary of the Church of the Brethren and past faculty at Bethany Seminary, will deliver the message at a baccalaureate service at 6 p.m. on May 11 in Nininger Hall. Darla K. Deardorff, a Bridgewater alumna who is executive director of the Association of International Education Administrators and an authority on intercultural competence, will deliver the commencement address at 10 a.m. on May 12 on the campus mall.

Elizabethtown (Pa.) College holds its 109th commencement May 19, with traditional and adult learning programs celebrating graduates. There will be two ceremonies: at 11 a.m. the commencement ceremony for about 450 traditional undergraduate students held in the Dell will feature speaker Pauline Yu, president of the American Council of Learned Societies; at 4 p.m. the commencement ceremony for the 170-some Edward R. Murphy Center for Continuing Education and Distance Learning undergraduate students will hear from speaker Edward R. Murphy of the Board of Trustees, in the Leffler Chapel. This is the first time at the college that adult learners--students who have earned an undergraduate degree through the non-traditional degree program--will have a separate commencement.

At Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., James Madara, chief executive officer of the American Medical Association and a nationally known expert of epithelial cell biology and gastrointestinal disease and also a 1971 Juniata graduate, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree and deliver the commencement address at 10 a.m. on May 12. Others to receive honorary degrees from Juniata are Timothy Statton, retired president of Bechtel Power Corporation and a former member of the board of directors of Bechtel Group Inc., and Henry H. Gibbel, chairman and chief executive officer of Lititz Mutual Insurance Co.

Manchester College in North Manchester, Ind., will laud Dow Chemical Co. scientist and Manchester sciences benefactor Herbert E. Chinworth with an honorary Doctor of Science degree at commencement on Sunday afternoon, May 20. Chinworth, who attended Manchester in the early ’40s, also is the speaker for the 2:30 p.m. ceremony, before the college confers more than 250 bachelor’s degrees and two Masters in Athletic Training degrees.

At McPherson (Kan.) College, the 2012 Commencement Day is scheduled for May 20. Also on the weekend of May 18-20 is McPherson’s Alumni Weekend with class reunions for 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1972, and 1977. At the annual Alumni Awards Luncheon, Harold and Lynda Connell (’62 and ’61), John Ferrell (’51), and Eldred Kingery (’72) will be presented the distinguished Citation of Merit.

University of La Verne, Calif., will hold its Commencement Weekend on May 25-26.

Source:5/3/2012 Newsline

McPherson College -l “Blake Reed Miracle Mile”

McPherson College holds its second annual “Blake Reed Miracle Mile” on May 12. The event remembers Blake Reed, manager for the college football team, who died at age 22 on Aug. 3, 2010 from complications of muscular dystrophy. On May 4, the college’s C.A.R.S. Club Show features an open house reception in the popular automotive restoration facility and a presentation by Wayne Carini, host of “Chasing Classic Cars” on the new Velocity Channel by Discovery.

Source:5/3/2012 Newsline

McPherson College in Final Four Appearance

The McPherson (Kan.) College Bulldogs recently celebrated a first Final Four appearance. “With a come-from-behind victory with less than a minute to go against Dordt College in the NAIA DII Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Men’s Basketball Team logged the first Final Four appearance for Bulldogs Basketball,” said an e-mail newsletter for McPherson alumni. “They lost to the No. 1 seed Northwood University in the semifinals, but achieved a run that will go into the record books of MC Athletics.” Watch the comeback at www.youtube.com/McPhersonCollege.

Source:4/19/2012 Newsline

Crain hired by McPherson College as new campus minister.

McPherson (Kan.) College has chosen a new campus minister with deep roots in both the spiritual and the scientific--Steve Crain.

The campus minister is responsible for the spiritual life of the McPherson College campus. Among the responsibilities are creating spiritual formation programs, supporting students of faith, and connecting students in need to available resources. The campus minister helps create the connection between the intellectual and spiritual at the college.

Crain comes to McPherson College from Fort Wayne, Ind., where he has served as director of Christian formation at Trinity Episcopal Church; co-chaplain for Timbercrest Senior Living Community, a Church of the Brethren retirement community; and adjunct faculty at the Department of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Saint Francis. He also has previous experience as a campus pastor at Manchester College in North Manchester, Ind.

Ordained in the Church of the Brethren, he holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Stanford, a master’s degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a master’s in history and philosophy of science from the University of Notre Dame from which he also received his doctorate in theology. His academic focus has been on the relationship between theology and natural science. In his spare time, he is a passionate reader and outdoorsman.

-- Adam Pracht is coordinator of development communications for McPherson College.

Source:3/7/2012 Newsline

McPherson College Service Opportunities

McPherson (Kan.) College is offering students at least three service opportunities with Church of the Brethren organizations during Spring break: in Lybrook, N.M., at a mission site related to Western Plains District; at the district’s Camp Mount Hermon in Kansas; and at a Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding project in Arab, Ala. The college’s Spring break is March 17-24.

Source:3/7/2012 Newsline

Regional Youth Conference at McPherson College - 3/30 - 4/1

Regional Youth Conference will be held at McPherson (Kan.) College on March 30-April 1 on the theme “For All of You Are One” (Galatians 3:26-28). For more information and to register, go to www.mcpherson.edu/ryc . Registration is due by March 19. For questions, call McPherson College dean of students LaMonte Rothrock at 620-242-0501.

Source:3/7/2012 Newsline