Emmanuel College hosted its annual Alpha Weekend August 12-15. This yearly event helps students start the academic year with a biblical focus through teaching, prayer, and worship. This year's services were built around the school's 2010-2011 theme: Honoring Our Past, Building Our Future.

Campus Pastor Chris Maxwell spoke in all services and EC students led in worship and shared their testimonies and experiences with God. Area churches were also invited to participate.

Here is what students had to say about the services:

Alpha Weekend reminded me that God teaches me the most in my darkest times. I am unsure of the future, but in everything, I am trying to enjoy the moments with God. My entire being is in Christ, even when I feel as though He has forgotten me. As His Word says, 'He will never leave nor forsake me.' I am clinging to that. I trust that He is who He claims to be. He is and will prove faithful through all circumstance. - Anne MacMillan, Senior

This Alpha Weekend was right on time for so many of us students! It is so easy to carry our baggage and struggles with us into college. Many of us fool ourselves into believing that we have truly let go of our past, yet we still seem to find ourselves struggling with it internally. Pastor Chris talked about how we must recognize where and what we have come from in order for it to propel us into our future. Our caves of desperation and fear are often our most intimate times with God! - Courtney Blythe

This was my third Alpha weekend and fifth opening weekend experience. I can say that this past Alpha Weekend has by far been the most challenging. Pastor Chris Maxwell is a brilliant teacher, pastor and mentor. Over the past two years I have seen and experienced a significant growth in his heart for Christ and his heart for the students at Emmanuel College. Alpha weekend was very enlightening and helped us to all see that we aren't just a team of people with heirarchical caste systems, but a group of sinners, that are all equal in the eyes of our Father, that we have a hope beyond what our past has dictated over us, that we are loved with a love that will never be changed or shaken. That out of the mess we have created, God finds the beauty and creates a masterpiece from chaos. - Jessica Wooten, Junior

BETHANY –According to a recent publication from the College Board (www.collegeboard.com), tuition and fees at colleges and universities across the country have increased by 35 percent over the last five years, the largest such increase since the College Board began keeping data in the 1970s.

In light of these facts and current economic issues, Southwestern Christian University in Bethany, Oklahoma has announced that undergraduate tuition and fee rates will not be increased for the upcoming 2010-2011 fiscal year. University president, Dr. Ed Huckeby, stated “we are taking a ‘leap of faith’ by not raising undergraduate tuition in the midst of this current economy. However, we feel it is important to give our current and incoming students, and their parents, a financial break.” As a ‘tuition-driven’ private university, SCU made the decision several months ago to focus on new student markets and improved recruiting techniques to increase enrollment rather than increase tuition costs. According to Huckeby, who began his tenure at Southwestern in January after a 40-year career in public education, SCU enrollment for the upcoming fall semester is projected to increase by as much as 50% due to these new efforts. “It is our goal to provide SCU students every opportunity to graduate with as little student debt as possible,” Huckeby added. “We cannot control the economy, but we can control our reaction to it.”

Southwestern Christian University is currently one of the least expensive private Christian liberal-arts universities in the region. “It is very important for us to remain competitive in the higher education market. As a fully-accredited private Christian university, we provide a unique educational option for students who wish to learn, and exercise their faith, in a more intimate environment,” said Huckeby.

Accredited by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges, Southwestern Christian University is a private Christian liberal-arts university located in Bethany, Oklahoma. Since its founding in 1946, Southwestern has continued to focus on its primary mission of providing students a Christ-centered education, equipping them for a life of learning, leadership and service.

For more information about Southwestern Christian University, visit the website at www.swcu.edu.

BETHANY – Southwestern Christian University announces the selection of Dr. Terry Tramel as the Dean of the Graduate School of Ministry, effective July 1st. Current Graduate School Dean, John Chasteen, was recently named the Executive Director of the newly established LifeCoaching Institute at SCU. Dr. Tramel has served at Southwestern Christian University since 2000 as a professor. In 2006 he was named the chair of the undergraduate Theology and Missions Department and most recently has served as a full-time faculty member in the SCU Graduate School of Ministry.

Tramel has a B.S. in Pastoral Ministry from Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a Master of Arts in Theology from Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma, and a Doctor of Ministry in Pentecostal Leadership from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri. Tramel also recently published a book entitled, “The Beauty of the Balance”, which looks at efforts towards a balanced Evangelical-Pentecostal theology. "I am honored to be given the opportunity to serve in this capacity. My hope is to build on the work of those who have served before me in leading the Graduate School of Ministry into a brighter future of training Christian leaders", said Tramel.

About SCU
Accredited by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges, Southwestern Christian University is a private Christian liberal-arts university located in Bethany, Oklahoma. Since its founding in 1946, Southwestern has continued to focus on its primary mission of providing students a Christ-centered education, equipping them for a life of learning, leadership and service through the integration of faith, learning and living.