Changing Keys

Throughout the years, Central has seen various musicians come and go. Most of them join a band at some point in their college career, resulting in typical band behaviors, such as late nights at rehearsal, intentional run-ins at the cafeteria, and crazy road trips to faraway places. All which lead to the almost inevitable band break-up due to either a falling out or the ultimate end: graduation.

Central’s worship teams experience the changes that go with being in a college band every year. This year is no exception. In a short interview, several of the band leaders shared just a little bit of what changes they have already undergone since the end of last year.

The question “What is the name of your band?”, often thought to be an easier question, was met with stony silence by several band leaders as they confessed that they had not found “the one” just yet. One band, which shall remain nameless, is entering their second year together still pondering this question. “Some names were tossed out but not agreed upon, and we have not pursued it any further. It’s apparently not a band value for us,” says leader Jason Palmer. Other bands wasted no time in making a decision. The traveling ministry team, for instance, has committed to the name “Silent Willow.” Inspired first by the discovery of a paint in a store called “White Willow,” the name evolved from observations made by one of the members on a walk about how God made all things to praise him in their own way. Sara Still explained it, “Trees…they’re silent, they don’t move, they don’t do anything, but they’re worshipping God.”

    Band practices typically run an hour and a half to two hours once or twice a week. There are two Vespers Bands that alternate playing on Sunday nights, as well as both a Tuesday and a Friday Chapel band that play weekly. The traveling ministry team will soon begin visiting and leading worship at several of the band members’ home churches as well as some of the churches in the McPherson community. In the past, the traveling team has also led campus worship during interterm.

Though the bands are sporting many new faces this year, there are a number of returners in each band adding an element of familiarity throughout. Both of the Vespers Bands have members that have stuck it out through thick and thin. Seniors Micah Barriball and Caleb Chase have been part of the band known as “Sweetly Broken” since freshman year. Lauren Dinsmore, Laura Smith, and Liz Cantu are juniors who have, up to this point, made up the core of the band “Elle,” which began initially as a lab band during their freshman year. The two Chapel Bands have currently only added three new students to make a combined total of eleven Chapel musicians. Jason Palmer is the leader of Tuesday’s Chapel Band, previously known as Friday’s Chapel band, who lost valued drummer, Michael Gemmer, to graduation. This led to the switch of Ryan Massey from bass to drums.  The other chapel band, headed up by Andrew Tuszynski who formerly led the traveling ministry, is a new combination of musicians drawn from backgrounds in other bands as well as songwriter’s lab. Sara Still has taken over as the new leader of the traveling team. She and longtime bandmate, Tisa Burton, are joined this year by Abigail Waddle and Joanie Magallanes to make up the aforementioned band “Silent Willow.”

    As with any group endeavor, there have been challenges along the way. The worship bands have dealt with new or different levels of skills than previous years, time constraints, lacking necessary musicians, and just trying to find better ways to reach out through music. Despite the issues, they are continuing to learn and grow together as a community.

“Be with people you enjoy. Remember that you’re there to lead people in worship, but also have fun.”

-Andrew Tuszynski

“Be able to play the songs on your own without anybody… so when you come to practice you can hold your own.” -Jason Palmer

“Make sure you give people their space… Everyone can’t always be right.” –Lauren Dinsmore

“Communication is really important… When you’re focusing on worship rather than how you sound, everything else will fall into place.” -Sara Still

BY: Andrea Ruiz

Andy Addis: The Lord’s Prayer

The last two Tuesday Chapel services at Central Christian College have had Andy Addis as a guest speaker. He is doing a three part series on “The Lord’s Prayer”. This Tuesday will be the end of the series and we will use all we’ve learned about the Lord’s Prayer to partake in communion. Andy says that “prayer is the highest honor and greatest responsibility” for believers. He is teaching us about the Lord’s Prayer because it is an example of how to pray instead what to pray. This year, Central has an overall theme of prayer and Andy’s series about the Lord’s Prayer fits. Justin Mourn asked Andy if he would be willing to come speak for Chapel, and we were blessed with him for three weeks. Andy is always quick to mention how much he loves Central; he loves to speak here, and wants to come. The students at Central share this mutual like and appreciation of Andy.  He is very well received for many reasons. One reason is that, during his sermon he has everyone repeat words back to him so that the message can sink in.  Everyone can tell that he is doing this to benefit God and not himself, and he has been receiving emails and messages on Facebook from students that have questions proving that the students are engaged in preaching and hungry to learn more. So, anytime you have something important to share Andy, let us know and we will listen.

Come see Andy for his final sermon in a series on "The Lord's Prayer" Tuesday October 1st and join us in Communion.
By: Laura Smith

See You At The Pole


Matthew 6:9-13

This, then, is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from the evil one.
    See You At The Pole is an annual, international gathering of Christian students at the flagpole of their school to pray.


Central students gathered around the flag pole in front of Science Hall yesterday morning (very, very early). We went through The Lord’s Prayer, dwelling on each verse, and applying them to specific needs in our lives as we met with God together.


We praised God for His goodness, sovereignty, sacrifice, power, and the revival we see sparking at this school. We prayed there would be less of us and more of Him, and welcomed Him to build His kingdom here (in spite of all our own little castles we try to build). We thanked Him that He not only provides for our physical daily bread but our spiritual bread as well, and asked Him to produce in us passionate desire to know Him more. We covered Kenya and Pakistan in prayer because of the tragedies taking place there. We repented for sinning against Him, and asked Him to help us forgive.


There may have been only a few of us, but it’s little groups like ours that prove God is all we need for victory. In Judges 7, the odds of Gideon and his 300 men winning the battle against the enemy were 450 to 1. As it turned out, that 300 against 135,000 was such a ridiculously crazy win, no one could possibly credit anyone BUT God. The more impossible a situation, the more elbow room God has to show off. And God always did favored the underdogs.


I see new sparks at Central Christian College.


The faithful few will rise again.

By: Ariana Matty

Graduating Debt Free? A President's Vision!

Paying a grand total of $4000 for all four years of college and graduating debt free? Sounds pretty good to me.
The President’s Opportunity Grant is a program currently underway at Central Christian College. Students only have to pay $1000 tuition each year, and in exchange, they work 15 hours a week every semester at a prescribed Central job, on or off campus. During their college career, students can also gain training via experience in a job pertaining to their chosen field of study, starting right up into their freshmen year, if they wanted to. Not only will they graduate with a degree in that field, they’ll graduate with a fat and happy resume.

There are seven students currently going through this program at CCC. Many of them were young adults for whom college was not in their future plans, mainly because they couldn’t afford it.
President Hal Hoxie said he has identified at least forty jobs students can take on as internships. As far as future plans go, he hopes other business around McPherson will want to get involved also. For example, since CCC bought The Well, it is now available for students who are interested in earning a business degree.  The Prez says top future goals include allowing every Central student to graduate debt free.By: Ariana Matty

Central Christian College launches NEW business!

As part of the Presidential Opportunity Grant at Central Christian College, the College is launching a new business - Two Tigers and a Truck.

The business will offer the following services:

Lawn Care, Snow Removal, Junk Removal, Moving Services, Janitorial Services and Real Estate Management

Two Tigers and a Truck will provide full service lawn care including mowing, trimming, edging and cleaning sidewalks when done.  If your lawn should need to be thatched, aerated or over-seeded, Two Tigers have you covered.

Two Tigers and a Truck will provide snow removal of your driveway, parking lot or sidewalks.

Do you have junk or debris that needs to go to the McPherson Area Solid Waste?  Two Tigers are available to help.

Are you relocating in the McPherson area where you just need help to get your belongings from one place to another, call on Two Tigers and a Truck.

Do you have rental property and would like some help with lawn care, collecting rent and general maintenance?  Two Tigers and a Truck can help you with Real Estate Management.

For more information about the services provided by Two Tigers and a Truck, please call 620-245-4019.

Two Tigers and Truck is affiliated with Central Christian College and the Presidential Opportunity Grant that allows students the opportunity to mentor and have a debt free education while attending Central Christian College.

By: Scott D. Seirer

Babysitters ‘R Us (Central, That Is)

            Central is a veritable babysitters mill.  The campus is full of so many children; it’s handy to have so many students on hand to take care of them.  Just today, I happened to stop by Student Development for a mid-morning pick me up, when I was propositioned to babysit.  Just like that!  I was minding my own business, lamenting the fact that there was absolutely no chocolate left, when three faces of the staff nature turned my way.  Hesitantly, I asked what the job entailed.  Hey, I’m not against earning a few bucks on the side—I am the proverbial broke college student, after all.  But, as soon as, “…7:30 am to 6:30 pm this Saturday” was mentioned, I basically zoned out with a look of “I’m trying to be polite and listen to you, but that sounds horrifying” on my face.  Needless to say, I turned the wonderful opportunity to spend all day with a sweet five year old girl down.  This resulted in the immediate need for a replacement option and the rundown of a very short list of people suitable for the job. 

            Now, I’m not trying to criticize this system of foisting children in need of supervision on mostly clueless college students.  Hey, if they’re brave enough to leave those kids with us, more power to them!  I just think it’s kind of funny how often this happens.  I’ve been with certain friends who receive a call asking if they can babysit in fifteen minutes or just babysit for a random hour.  We are a convenient resource.  I understand, and it’s okay.  But, maybe we need a better system for this kind of thing.  Instead of trying to randomly pick a person, why don’t we start some kind of babysitting sign-up sheet.  If girls are interested in that sort of thing, have done it in the past, or whatever, they can just put their name and number on a list, and voila, a set group of people ready and willing to watch your kids.  I would have been politically correct and said “girls or guys,” but really do any of the guys on this campus babysit?  My follow-up article: “The Secret Every Guy Is Hiding:  Let Me Babysit Your Children, Because I Love Kids!”  Okay, that sounded a lot weirder typed out.  Anyhow, that’s something to think about: create a babysitter’s list!  In the meantime, if anyone’s interested in this current gig, feel free to talk to Amy Burrill, Lyndsi Romero, or Missy Mayse!
By: Stephanie Harper

Pushing Towards Change

 

Central’s volleyball team has had a few hard seasons in recent years. This year they are pushing towards change. Already they have proven that they are moving forward as they beat last year’s record. The previous season ended with a single win for the Lady Tigers. This year the team of thirteen girls has already secured two wins inspiring a new confidence. A major change that has been influential in the team’s current success is the new face in the position of coach. In the last couple of years there have been a few new coaches of the women’s volleyball team. This year Christina Ludwig has taken over the job and so far has been doing a phenomenal job. “Christina is extremely motivated, she’s very good at what she does… she cares about us and she wants us to succeed” says libero, Kathryn Lott.  Captain Brittany Bergstrom was chosen at the beginning of the year by the coach and is also new to the team. The ladies themselves have seen a major improvement in their skills as a whole.  There is more focus and they feel that this year they have the ability to go much further than last year. One of the more prominent challenges they face is finishing strong. Since last year the team dynamic has changed quite a bit. Senior Jessica Massie states, “There are usually little circles within circles and this year there’s not.” Overall the team is looking very different and we are anxious to see what the season has in store for them.
By: Andrea Ruiz

East Side Dorms Take Home the Victory

At the 2013 All-School Picnic Kline and Gillespie contain the winners. North Kline and Gillespie Second North took home the trophies by winning a variety of events. North Kline got first place in the dizzy bat race, three legged race, and the egg toss. Gillespie Second North won first in the tug of war and the egg toss which gave them enough points for their win. The dizzy bat race, three legged race, and tug of war are team events but the egg toss is won with pairs. For North Kline, Amanda Curtis and Shawna Hash were the final two. A second year resident of North Kline, Lauren Dinsmore, said “We worked really well together this year! We knew how important the egg toss would be and made sure that the pairs that played were pairs that would win”. Then, for Gillespie Second North, Dylan Neal and Spencer Balmer-Logan had to throw the egg nearly half way across the beach before they won. The Resident Assistant for Gillespie, Micah Church, says “He’s proud off all his guys on the way that they helped in different ways to make the win possible. It was great to have six seniors on the wing to finish the all school picnic with a victory”. All of the wings worked very hard and everyone seemed to have fun. This year’s All-School Picnic did what it was supposed to do and brought everyone together.
By Laura Smith

Dig Deep, and You’ll Find Central

Well, it’s happened.  Central Christian College has managed to snag one of the top pieces of real estate in all of McPherson.  That’s right; I’m talking about The Well.  That special coffee heaven that Central students have single-handedly kept open since the beginning of time, or so it seems, according to former student, Krista Bohnenblust.  In fact, if likes, comments, and shares are the judge, this new acquisition is going to boom into an even more popular place to hang out.  Because now that we, Central, actually own that fine slice of business, that was my attempt at a very bad pun, we are fully invested in its future.  I foresee an increase in classes, meetings, and just general events being held at The Well from now on.  But, why did this all come about?  What makes this transition really seem like nothing is changing at all?  Community.  One word that is the driving force behind everything Central does and a large part of what The Well set out to accomplish. 

                After years of trying to find a solution to our “need to branch out” problem, Central has hit upon a goldmine.  The Well, nicely situated on Main Street, provides the perfect atmosphere and opportunity for growth.  The growth of Central’s impact on McPherson, and the eventual, fingers crossed, increase in projects where everyone is involved—Central and McPherson, both as one.  After all, don’t we all really want a unified city?  This “third space” as former Manager, Jerry Rogers, calls it offers the unique position of a neutral ground, despite Central’s ownership.  Everyone can come, learn, and above all else, build community.  “Be a river, not a reservoir,” as Clinton Sides so eloquently put it.  Central doesn’t want to hoard all of its resources; it wants to spread the love, so to speak.  Show McPherson what we’re all about: Christ-centered education for character, the Fit Four, community, all that good stuff.  And, if the cheering during chapel when it was announced that The Well was under new management is any indication, the students are one hundred percent on board with that mission, too.  So, congratulations, Central; here’s to the beginning of a new and wonderful future.
By: Stephanie Harper