“I’ve seen a lot of healing happen, and just community and fellowship that comes from drinking a cup of coffee with another person.”

On July 20th, Calvary Grad Moriah Roberts opened a new coffee shop in Independence, Missouri. Roberts said the shop, called Joy Coffee, has been in development for a year and a half now. It is the fruition of Roberts’ long-time dream. She said, “That was always kind of the end goal, to open a coffee shop and to provide high quality coffee, a high quality environment, and high quality service.”

Roberts graduated from Calvary in 2015 with a degree in Advanced Biblical Studies and a minor in Theatre Arts. She said, “I felt like if I wanted to eventually be in coffee ministry, I really wanted to get a good foundation of the Bible and Scripture. And what I loved about the Advanced Biblical Studies program was the way that [our department head] pushed us to work out our theology and be able to defend it on our own.”

Before she began work on starting her shop, Roberts managed Calvary’s Warrior Café for four years. She said, “There’s something beautiful about the fellowship that happened around a cup of coffee, or hot chocolate, or tea… I’ve seen a lot of healing happen, and just community and fellowship that comes from drinking a cup of coffee with another person.” Roberts expressed her excitement to see conversations, community, mentoring happen through Joy Coffee. “I’m just excited that we can be a small part of someone else’s story.”

Interim President Jeff Campa presents the Alumnus of the Year award to Cory Young on June 27.

“The free grace and the dispensational theology that I came out of Calvary with drives everything that I have done.”

Cory Young, a Calvary graduate of 2003, was given the Calvary University Alumnus of the Year Award at the 2020 Commencement ceremony on June 27. Young serves as a rodeo chaplain through Golden Spurs Ministries. He explained, “[Rodeos are] a subculture in the U.S. that, because of their lifestyle, they’re on the road a lot, so it’s a needed thing.” Interim president Jeff Campa presented the award to Young, who said, “The free grace and the dispensational theology that I came out of Calvary with drives everything that I have done.”

Young grew up near Belton, Missouri, just south of Calvary’s campus. Horses and rodeos were a part of his life from a very young age. He said, “I grew up in that world, and that was kind of part of my family.” Young was raised in a church that “didn’t really preach the gospel,” so when he attended a rodeo Bible camp at age 16, he heard the gospel for the first time. He expected to learn his sport better and thought he was “good on the church stuff,” but when he heard the gospel explained, he said, “I was an easy sell.”

Young came to Calvary to earn his bachelor’s degree in Missions and Pastoral Studies and said, “When I did my internship, I never thought I could do my rodeo ministry… but I ended up with a rodeo chaplain—the only guy that did it—and I actually did my internship with the same guy that led me to Christ.”

After graduating, Young worked for Calvary’s maintenance department and served as a youth pastor in Belton. “After that, I just started hitting I think ten rodeo Bible camps in the summer.” Young quickly became involved in the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA), serving at the National High School Finals Rodeo and National Junior High Finals Rodeo for the past 15 years.

As Young developed his outreach, he formed Golden Spur Ministries. Young and his wife, Leslie, are currently the only members on staff, but they have trained other leaders who went on to Bible college and other ministries.

Young said 17 years down the road, his time at Calvary is still impacting his ministry. “I’m still going back and using resources and notes, and that foundation is essential.” He noted that, “I had to take Greek and a lot of hermeneutics, and it taught me how to learn. I rely on that every day. On the flipside, having the missions program’s courses on culture has really informed a lot of my ministry. Even though this is not as stark of a difference [in culture], it still trained me to look at things through the culture.”

President Trump recognized Robin Schneider’s NICU advocacy during his 2020 State of the Union Address.

During his 2020 State of the Union Address back on February 4, President Trump recognized Calvary alumna Robin Schneider for her efforts advocating for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) infants. Schneider graduated from Calvary in 2011 with her Life Track One-Year Certificate. In 2017, Robin’s daughter, Ellie, was born at 21 weeks.

In the State of the Union Address, Trump said this about Ellie: “In 2017, doctors at St. Luke’s hospital in Kansas City delivered one of the earliest premature babies ever to survive. Born at just 21 weeks and 6 days, and weighing less than a pound, Ellie Schneider was born a fighter. Through the skill of her doctors — and the prayers of her parents — little Ellie kept on winning the battle for life.”

Schneider said, “I was first told that I would lose Ellie at 17 weeks pregnant. When we told our church that, they immediately rallied around us and helped find babysitting for our older son, food, prayers, and visits.” The Schneiders visited several hospitals, “and each one told me that there was no hope and that they would not admit me.” Finally, at 19 weeks, St. Luke’s admitted her, “even though there was no hope for viability at that gestation.”

St. Luke’s hospital staff provided high-quality care and encouragement to the Schneider family. Schneider said, “When Ellie was born, I was told she had a 0% chance of survival no matter what they did, but that they would give me the option to attempt life saving measures, and when I said we did want that they worked extremely hard and saved her life. Throughout her entire 5 month stay they were extremely encouraging and helpful.”

Schneider pointed out, “Ellie is an anomaly not only in the fact that she survived, but that she has almost no complications, and none of her complications are serious.” All of the prognoses offered at Ellie’s birth included lengthy lists of side-effects and probable surgeries, but Ellie only had one complication that required a surgery, and now Ellie is a healthy toddler. In his address, President Trump said, “Ellie reminds us that every child is a miracle of life… Our goal should be to ensure that every baby has the best chance to thrive and grow just like Ellie.”

The months spent in the hospital with Ellie have greatly shaped Schneider. “All my life I was looking for my purpose, and was frustrated for many years. After Ellie was born and I spent all that time in the NICU, I discovered that my passion was advocating for these babies and their parents.” Now, Schneider has been able to use her family’s NICU journey “to help families, to encourage and draw them to Jesus, and to help bring miracles to others.”