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Calvary’s Online Master’s Program in Top 25

Calvary’s Online Master’s Program in Top 25

BestMastersPrograms.org recently awarded Calvary University with the #20 spot for its online Master’s degrees.

To determine the ranking, “the editors at Best Master’s Programs started with a pool of Evangelical and mainline Protestant colleges and universities offering online graduate programs. From there, they were ranked according to cost, alumni salary, and variety of offerings.”

The ranking explained, “As one of the Midwest’s best online Christian universities, Calvary University offers three graduate degrees through the school’s online system.” Calvary University provides a Master of Science (MS) in Worship Arts, a Master of Science (MSEd) in Education, and a Master of Science (MS) in Organizational Development. “Calvary University offers tuition discounts to military members or those who are currently working full-time in a ministerial position.”

Calvary Welcomes Three Adjunct Faculty

Calvary Welcomes Three Adjunct Faculty

Kurt Bricker, Dr. Thomas Cragoe and Douglas Geiger (left to right).

Calvary’s Bible & Theology, Biblical Counseling, and STEM departments add some “fuel”

Dr. Thomas Cragoe, Bible & Theology

Dr. Cragoe will be teaching Systematic Theology from Calvary’s Colorado extension. Cragoe said, “I’ve had a respect for Calvary for a long time, but most recently, my wife and I retired from Clarks Summit University to be nearer family… I explored the possibility of helping out.”

Cragoe served in the pastorate for twelve years before transitioning to the academic field. He taught for twenty years at various institutions, including Cedarville University and Moody Bible Institute. He said he loves “when students get hooked on studying the Scriptures and fall in love with the Lord… there’s that ‘aha’ moment when the light goes off.” Cragoe looks forward to “meeting new students, and hoping to fuel that same love for the Lord and his Word.”

Douglas Geiger, Biblical Counseling

Douglas Geiger is joining the Counseling department to teach, including the course Theories in Group Counseling, and to head up the department’s internship program. Geiger said, “I’ve had many friends in Kansas City that have gone to Calvary, so that’s how I knew of it from a long time ago. But also, I’ve known Jeff Cox, who’s the director of the Graduate Counseling program… and we’ve done ministry together.”

Geiger has his own counseling practice, and works as a state-appointed supervisor for counseling licensure at Abundant Life’s Counseling Center, where he helps “various students from different universities complete their internships. I’m excited about bringing that internship at Abundant Life to partner with Calvary.”

He added, “For the Biblical Counseling program, what I am really excited about is bringing practical application courses to the program. [The courses have] already been there, but I’m going to get to teach more hands-on learning for counselors so they’ll learn the theory, but also learn how to apply that in counseling.”

Kurt Bricker, STEM

Kurt Bricker discovered Calvary University through his friendship with Calvary alum Kurt Seboe, Pastor of Northmoreland Baptist Church in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. Bricker said, “He introduced me to the school through our meeting together as fellow pastors to help sharpen one another. I viewed the Calvary website and looked at job openings to see if there might be a place where I could contribute and saw that they were looking for a Physics instructor in the STEM department.”

Bricker earned his degrees in electrical engineering and worked in that field for almost 20 years before attending seminary. He said, “For the past seven years I have been teaching part-time—adjunct for a few different schools, including Clarks Summit University, in the areas of Bible and Biblical Languages, Physics, and Chemistry. I truly enjoy both pastoral ministry and teaching ministry! I look forward to continuing in both—including new opportunities at Calvary.”

Join us online for 2020 Commencement Events

Join us online for 2020 Commencement Events

Links to Live Stream Events June 26-27:

Baccalaureate

2 p.m. Friday, June 26

Liberty Chapel

Awards Banquet

6:30 p.m. Friday, June 26

Student Life Center

Commencement

10 a.m.  Saturday, June 27

Student Life Center

Celebrate the Class of 2020

Due to Coronavirus restrictions and social distancing over the past few months, Calvary University was unable to celebrate commencement in May for the first time in our school’s history.

Fortunately, those restrictions are being lifted enough for CU to celebrate this week. On June 26 we will hold Baccalaureate and an Awards Banquet. The next day, Saturday, June 27, we will celebrate Commencement. Since there are still some restrictions, in-person attendance is by invitation only — mostly for graduates and their immediate families.

However, we invite all family, friends, faculty, staff, alumni, churches and supporters to join us via live stream (see links below) to celebrate the accomplishments of the Class of 2020.

We also invite you to visit and explore our 2020 Commencement Yearbook page which will compile the names, awards, stories, pictures and videos from this important and historic celebration.

Congratulations to the Class of 2020!

Calvary Prof Publishes Work on Discipleship

Calvary Prof Publishes Work on Discipleship

Dr. Daniel Goepfrich, adjunct professor of Greek at Calvary, recently published a book titled, Biblical Discipleship: The Path For Helping People Follow Jesus. The book arose out of his long-standing desire to write a work focusing on salvation and discipleship together, as well as a desire to have useful resources for his church. Goepfrich, who pastors Oak Tree Community Church, said, “As a pastor, it’s very important to me that we have something our people could follow.” He said other curriculums seemed to focus on one area, “and I wanted to see something that was quite a bit more complete… to show that the Bible does lay out the path for genuine discipleship.”

The book has been in progress for over a decade now as Goepfrich has been developing information and resources on discipleship. He said, “I love to write and to think that way. One of my lifelong goals was always to write a couple of certain books… and it finally compiled into a book.” The book includes study questions to adapt it for personal study, small groups, bible studies, and other formats.

Goepfrich hopes the book will push people to change how they think about what discipleship is and how to do it. He said, “Revival doesn’t start in the academies. Revival doesn’t start in the seminaries. Revival starts in the churches, when everyday people come back to the Scriptures and say, ‘We need to do this better.’”

Check out this interview with Dr. Goepfrich about his book:

Dr. Washington Transitions to Chair Business Department

Dr. Washington Transitions to Chair Business Department

“I love teaching courses that can help students to think strategically.”

Dr. Germaine Washington, a professor in the Business Department since 2016, is moving into a new role as department chair. Washington earned her associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in Criminal Justice from Missouri Western State University, and worked in the substance abuse and mental health field for nearly 20 years before pursuing graduate education in Business Management. She said, “I always wanted to get my master’s, so I was searching around.” When she looked into Phoenix University, her admissions rep suggested she pursue an M.B.A. Washington disregarded the idea, but “she kept calling. And I just gave up. So I said, ‘God, this must be what you want me to, do because she won’t leave me alone.”

Washington dove into the program, graduated in a year and a half with her M.B.A., and came back a few years later to earned her Doctorate. “I ended up loving writing, and research, meeting new people, learning how to network. I felt that I just found me.”

A connection with Dr. Skip Hessel, the chair of the department, brought Washington to Calvary to teach in the expanding program. “Dr. Skip asked me, ‘Have you ever thought about being a college professor and teaching business?’ [I had been] praying, asking God, ‘What do you want me to do with this degree?’ …It was like God just smiled on me.”

Washington came to teach at Calvary in 2016. She said, “I came to find out I had a love for teaching. I enjoy giving back what was given to me when I was in school.” Washington is excited to watch the department grow and watch Calvary alumni building successful businesses. “I’ve had several graduates come to Dr. Skip and I saying they’ve learned so much in the business program.”

As she steps into her new role as chair, Washington is excited for the overall direction the department is heading. “In the umbrella of the Business Department, I love it all. I love teaching courses that can help students to think strategically. I love pulling talent out of the students when they tap into talent they didn’t know they had. And working with the students helping them to master their craft.”

Are Models Accurate?

Are Models Accurate?

Chris Basel  

M.S.

Department Chair of STEM, Assistant Professor of Chemistry 

During the past few months, we have heard a lot about “models” that predict what’s going to happen during the Covid-19 pandemic. We have all become familiar with phrases like “flattening the curve” and “will there be a second peak?” The models are designed to predict such things as the number of people that will be infected by the virus or the number of deaths from the virus. That is a somewhat gruesome business. But what are models and how are they made? Perhaps more importantly, how reliable are they?

For the last 20 years, I spent my professional life developing pharmacological models. These models help predict what happens to drugs in the body and how effective they are. Some of the models are useful, some are not. A brief look into the basics of modeling will help clarify this confusing field.

A model is typically a mathematical prediction that is based on information related to what you are trying to predict. Some models are very simple, some are very complex. They can be divided into two major types: “top down” and “bottom up” models.

Let us take a simple example to gain a better understanding of what is going on. By searching the internet, you can easily find a calculator that will predict how tall an infant will grow to be. How do they do that? One way is to collect the height of infants (say 2 years old) and check their height later (say when they are 18 years old). After gathering this clinical data, a mathematician then would create a relationship between a typical two-year-old’s height and a typical 18-year-old’s height.  Wait a minute – what is a “typical” person? The more limited you make your model by defining what you mean by “typical” or breaking this down into different groups (for example, one model for males, another for females), the better the model. This is a top down model – using actual measured height data to generate a prediction tool.

On the other hand, another way you could predict how tall an infant will grow is to look at their genetic makeup, the environment they live in, what you expect their diet to be, and so forth. With the knowledge of which genes control height and how the environment and diet typically affect height enables one to make predictions of how tall someone will grow. The better you understand how this information affects height, the better the model.  This is a bottom up model – using the factors that affect the phenomenon (in this case, height) to generate a prediction tool.

Anyone who has worked with models very long learns that the accuracy of models can vary greatly. It is a tricky business and creating good models typically takes a long time. Biological variability (we are not all the same!), unknown factors, and inaccurate data are just a few things that lead to poor models. In reality, models are an educated guess and might work even if they have nothing to do with the phenomenon (height in the examples above). This has led to the common aphorism that “all models are wrong, but some are useful” (first attributed to the statistician George Box).

Models can be useful, sometimes very useful, in making predictions. In our current situation, most of the models have been created quickly and changed frequently as more data is collected. There are many factors at play and honest experts in the field state the obvious – they are not sure what is going to happen. As much as possible, avoid stressing over models – but do not ignore advice from scientists and medical professionals! And never forget that the Lord is in control.