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Alumni Association Award Recipient: Martha Olango

Alumni Association Award Recipient: Martha Olango

“Martha’s ministry has reached thousands of people with the gospel.” 

Martha Olango was this year’s Alumni Association Award recipient due to her outstanding ministry impact in Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) in East and Central Africa.  

Martha’s ministry journey took flight when God called her to start working for CEF. She began a job within Mombasa, Kenya, and then moved to Nairobi in 1999 to later work as an education director in 2000. When she felt the need to earn a degree in biblical education, Martha attended Calvary University. When reflecting on her biblical education, Martha states: “With Calvary’s training, I was motivated and equipped to serve effectively, prepared to lead with confidence, and ready to serve with integrity.” After graduation, Martha moved back to Kenya where she worked for a short time as an assistant to CEF’s Regional Education Director and later took on the position full-time in 2010.

In her current role as Regional Education Director for East and Central Africa, Martha has played a wildly influential role in teaching children, training teachers, and developing instructors and leaders for CEF, and has gone into very dangerous areas to do so. A specific ministry Martha has made a great impact on is CEF’s Christian Youth in Action program (CYIA), where she has faithfully trained teenagers to reach other children with the gospel. This training program began in Kenya but has now been developed in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Burundi and DR Congo. Before Covid, nearly 500 teens were trained each year. Within her local church, Martha has served in children’s ministry as well as organized a ministry to help meet the needs of single, young women in the church, known as EPIC. She has also extended great love and care for those in her local community, helping support several disadvantaged young people and being a light of Christ to those in her neighborhood. 

Eidene Anderson, a friend of Martha and former missionary stated: “Martha’s ministry has reached thousands of people with the gospel. She has impacted people personally as well as trained godly leaders who are maturing in their faith so that they too can share the gospel.” Whether it is her impact on CYIA or reaching out to people within her community, Martha is known by those around her as a faithful servant who is continually studying, training others in ministry, and being courageous in her faith. In gratitude for her years of ministry and service to God, Calvary was beyond honored to present Martha with this year’s Alumni Association Award.

 

2020 Grad Joins Calvary’s International Student Services

2020 Grad Joins Calvary’s International Student Services

Talitha Jones is stepping into the role of Director of International Services.

“I think that when you start to cross different cultural bridges you find a lot of beauty… our Creator shines through each culture in a new way.”

 

Talitha Jones graduated this spring with her bachelor’s degree in Bible and Theology and a minor in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Prior to graduation, Jones worked with Calvary’s International Student Services department, “doing a lot of the campus life, English help [and] everyday support for our international students.” Now, as Director of International Services, Jones will work with admissions and international students, “overseeing the visa processes and providing support needed to receive and maintain valid visas, as well as supporting our international students with their needs and with their campus life.”

Jones understands the culture shock of studying in a foreign country from her own time studying overseas. She said, “It’s a big step and, even though each journey is different, there is a level of understanding that I think I am able to use when working alongside our students while they adjust to their new life at Calvary.” Her studies in TESOL also prepared her for her new position. Jones said her minor is especially useful “because I hold conversation groups with our international students, where we discuss grammar, read articles, talk about phrasal verbs, and just practice speaking English.”

Working with International Services originally attracted Jones with the beauty of its diversity, and how “In every culture there is something to learn.” As she prepares for the coming school-year, Jones is excited to learn and grow as she helps Calvary’s students with the logistics of a new culture. “I think that when you start to cross different cultural bridges you find a lot of beauty. I think that our Creator shines through each culture in a new way, so as you begin to learn about different ones, you begin to see God in a new and awesome light.”

Jones graduated with her bachelor’s degree this spring.

Jones and Ai Matsueda prepare a meal at Calvary’s International Club.

Graduating with Highest Honors, Jones was recognized for Excellence in Missions and the Bible and Theology Award, among others.

Calvary Student Reflects on Year Studying Abroad

Calvary Student Reflects on Year Studying Abroad

Calvary student Elise Godsey studied in Greece this year as part of an articulation agreement with Greek Bible College.

“My walk with God definitely grew…”

Calvary Junior Elise Godsey spent the 2019-2020 school year studying in Athens, Greece through Calvary’s articulation agreement with Greek Bible College. She attended for two semesters, studying with other students in the school’s international program (ISP). Godsey said, “This year especially, we got to have a really diverse group,” with students from Greece, America, Canada, Macedonia, South Africa, and Hong Kong.

Calvary’s articulation agreement allows students to function as transfer students, taking courses through Greek Bible College and transferring them toward their degree at Calvary. Godsey said not every course transfers, but “it’s class-by-class figuring it out.” She was enrolled full time, and audited courses of interest that wouldn’t transfer towards her degree. She said the cost of attending added up to be “about the same as a semester at Calvary” and the school environment was very similar to her experiences at Calvary, “a laid-back type of atmosphere, and the professors were very personable.”

Greek Bible College rotates through courses, and Godsey was able to take classes on Bible survey, history of missions, apostles, and the Greek language. Chapel services were held in Greek with a translator, but “all of the classes were in English; everyone knew English really well.”

The ISP students also visited several significant sites around Greece, including Nicopolis, Patmos, Meteora, Delphi, Thessaloniki, and Philippi. Godsey emphasized that, “It’s not just a trip, it’s living there. So many other [study abroad programs] that I’ve heard about were like a one month trip spent traveling… What I loved about mine was that I was living there. It wasn’t a trip.”

Godsey quickly became involved in many ministry opportunities in the community there. She said, “The thing that affected my faith more than anything else was getting to learn from the people in the different ministries I was a part of. I learned a lot of facts at the school, but my walk with God definitely grew seeing what he’s doing in the believers there in Athens.”

See also: 

Calvary Student Enjoys Semester Abroad in Greece” (October 2019 post written by Elise Godsey).

Calvary Student to Spend Semester in Greece

Calvary University has an articulation agreement with Greek Bible College. For more information, click on the image of the GBC website.

Sunrise over Pikermi

Mt. Parnitha

The Parthenon at the Acropolis.

Join Calvary in the Philippines next Summer!

Join Calvary in the Philippines next Summer!

Serving orphans and “street kids” growing up in poverty

Calvary University’s Intercultural Studies, Education, and TESOL studies programs are teaming up to provide a conversational English program at Cuatro Christian Academy in the Philippines in the summer of 2020!

Cuatro is part of Kids International Ministry (KIM), a dynamic, Gospel-centered ministry that has specialized in serving orphans and “street kids” growing up in the poverty stricken areas around Manila.  Orphans, street-kids, and the children of Philippine believers study together in this unique environment nurtured by a committed Christian community.

Calvary faculty and staff recently visited KIM, stayed in their guest housing, and had the joy of interacting with Cuatro students at KIM’s orphan home.   We are EXCITED to take KIM up on this opportunity to serve.

We will be working primarily with students in the upper grades.  These students are taught in a dual-language environment, but need to have their conversation and pronunciation skills sharpened.  Your involvement could be a step in helping these students have opportunities outside of high school that can lift them out of poverty.  You will also have plenty of opportunity to interact with the children at the orphanage itself, as our group will provide devotionals and activities for these children as part of our service.

Our TESOL studies program at Calvary will be working with Cuatro to design the curriculum.   If you are willing to be trained in how to effectively lead a conversation group, and to raise the necessary support, we would love to have you apply!  Space will be limited to 12 total, with priority given to Education, TESOL studies and Intercultural Studies students.  

Calvary University’s Intercultural Studies, Education, and TESOL studies programs are teaming up to provide a conversational English program at Cuatro Christian Academy in the Philippines in the summer of 2020!

Click for Info about all the trips Calvary is offering this summer.

Dates: July 9-26, 2020
Location: Philippines
Cost: $2,500 (covers airfare, housing and meals)
Contact Tim Hange (below) to apply!

Contact Tim Hange

6 + 3 =

Calvary Student to Spend Semester in Greece

Calvary Student to Spend Semester in Greece

Almost a year ago, Calvary entered into a partnership with Greek Bible College in Athens to allow our students the opportunity to spend up to year studying abroad in Greece. This partnership came on the heels of recent opportunities that Calvary has had to take students on tours of the biblical sites of Greece and walk in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. For the Fall semester of 2019, Elise Godsey (Intercultural Studies/ELL major) will be stepping out to take advantage of this opportunity and spending a semester in Greece, these are her thoughts...

“My name is Elise Godsey and I am a sophomore here at Calvary University majoring in Intercultural Studies and English Language Learner. I just started attending Calvary in January, for the Spring 2019 semester, and I already am beyond blessed by this college! I learned about Calvary at the beginning of Fall 2018, while I was attending my community college, and I was encouraged by Calvary staff to go ahead and apply to start attending right in January instead of waiting until the next year, and I am very glad I did because I have already had so many wonderful opportunities and experiences here.

Elise is second from the left.

While I was exploring the Calvary website last Fall to learn more about it I also learned about the opportunity to study abroad at the Greek Bible College in Athens, Greece. This really caught my attention and I instantly knew that I would love to have that opportunity. When I came to visit the school at the end of September, I was told that this study abroad opportunity was brand new and no one had done it yet, and this just made me all the more excited to pioneer this new program at Calvary!

I will be attending the Greek Bible College for the Fall 2019 semester, and I will be taking 3 classes that will directly transfer into the biblical studies part of my planner. The fourth class I take will be New Testament Greek, and that will count as an elective. It is so wonderful that I am getting to complete these Bible class requirements in a land of the Bible!

This chance to go attend college in Greece is one of the many reasons that I chose to attend Calvary, and I am so thankful that I will get to do it and for all the help I am receiving as I get ready! I am beyond excited to see what the Lord has planned for me to learn as I study there and for the ministry opportunities I may get as well! I appreciate your prayers as I embark on this new adventure in my life!” – Elise Godsey

More Information on this opportunity can be found here: Burnham Center for Global Engagement

Calvary and Greek Bible College Sign Articulation Agreement

Calvary and Greek Bible College Sign Articulation Agreement

Image result for pics of GreeceCalvary University and Greek Bible College in Athens recently signed an articulation agreement allowing for the acceptance of credits for students at Calvary from Greek Bible College. This agreement allows for Calvary students to participate in Greek Bible College’s International Student Program, The English Alpha Program. This will further enrich Calvary’s Study Abroad options for its students. “The International Student Program is a one-year course in the Bible designed to equip students to understand the Word of God and its significance for life and Ministry.” Greek Bible College ISP

Courses include:

Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey, Corinthians, Hebrews, Genesis, Evangelism, Survey of Theology and more, including four courses in Greek! All courses are taught in English.

What could be better than learning Greek in Greece!

For more information on this unique opportunity check out Greek Bible College’s Website

Or contact the Director of the Burnham Center for Global Engagement, Joshua Paxton.