Cedarville Stories

Escaping a War Zone    Leah Harper had dreamed of serving as a missionary since she was a kid. When she graduated from Cedarville in 2020 and then from The Ohio State University in 2021 with a master’s degree, she combined that long-held desire with her new degrees and moved to Romania to serve as a social worker.     She could not have expected that she would find herself helping refugees fleeing...

Four Times the Change  The Clark quadruplets have been together their whole lives, attending the First Baptist Church in Mt. Washington, Kentucky, where their dad, Jason, is senior pastor. Minus one. All the Clark kids are at Cedarville except for Logan, who is pursuing his passion for aviation at Eastern Kentucky University.  It was the first time all four of them were not in the same place, and...

Embracing Life With No Hands Sophomore psychology major Marissa Conrad is a typical Cedarville undergrad in many ways. She has a wide array of interests and gifts — she’s a talented artist, enjoys knitting, and plays the cello. Her parents made sure she gave everything a try growing up, from rock climbing to football to skiing. And while all of that is notable, it becomes remarkable when you consi...

Buzzer Beater Found His Beat    If he closes his eyes, he can see it all like it happened yesterday: coming off a screen, he drives toward the basket, receives the pass, stops and pops from 15 feet, then swish. Pandemonium. Ears ringing from the cheers. And Mark Womack’s name is forever connected with one of Yellow Jacket men’s basketball biggest victories, a giant 80-78 district championship W ov...

Where Life Matters Most   Cedarville Artist-in-Residence Matt Papa has toured with Keith and Kristyn Getty, written songs like His Mercy Is More that are sung in churches across the country and around the world, and his friends include Christian musical artists Matt Redman and Matt Boswell. As great as these opportunities and connections have been, Matt knows that what really matters the most are...

Voice for God, Heart of Forgiveness   Beth Cram Porter, Chair of the Department of Music and Worship, has the voice of an angel, the whistle of Ohio’s state bird, and a powerful story of forgiveness that sings God’s praise.     Beth came to Cedarville in 1997 and has impacted hundreds of voice and music students since. Her reputation for loving her students generously and unconditionally has earne...

Unorthodox Journey With a Faithful Lord Rapper, basketball player, graduate student. Tytist Dean, M.B.A. ’23 has a wide array of interests and talents. But there’s been one guide throughout his unorthodox journey: Jesus. Tytist played his last high school game without a college offer. As the clocked ticked to double zero, the crushing reality that this part of his life was likely over began to sin...

Marvelous Mayor Mays Maybe 2008 Cedarville alumna Sarah Mays should wear a giant ‘M’ on the front of her clothing for mom, mentor, and, last but not least — mayor. Sarah wears many hats. She is an amazing wife to her husband, Adam, and marvelous mom to three kids — Freddy, Layla, and August. She is a ministry assistant at her lifelong church home, Emmanuel Baptist in Xenia, Ohio, where she also in...

Five years ago tomorrow, on January 20, 2017, Logan Cole’s life changed forever. Logan, who is a senior IT management major, was then a senior at West Liberty High School near Urbana, Ohio, about 40 miles north of Cedarville. On a school day where he was prepping for a mock trial, he headed to the restroom to check his hair. That’s when everything changed in an instant. As he came around the divid...

Living for God on the Job The ways of God are often surprising, regularly amazing, and always inspiring. Just ask Dr. Daryl Smith, Associate Professor of Management. And as Daryl has discovered, this amazement and inspiration with the ways of the Lord should permeate all of life, especially in our careers, where a great majority of our waking hours are spent. Before his tenure at Cedarville, Daryl...

In The Long Run  You might say that Cedarville University senior Arielle Wenig has a knack for keeping her eyes on a goal that’s way down the road. She’s shown that quality both in her college education and in a very recent accomplishment.    While most students begin their college search in high school, Arielle, with that clear-minded ability to look ahead, began her higher education pursuit when...

Biblical Worldview Warrior    Dr. Murray Murdoch is a Cedarville legend. For the past 56 years, he has been a model of steadfast devotion, a stalwart of biblical integration, clarion voice for biblical justice and racial equality, a champion tennis coach, dedicated department chair, insightful teacher, calm counselor, and ready friend.   Murray announced his retirement this fall. He and his wife o...

Redemption Is Drawing Near     Cedarville alumna Donna VanLiere loves Christmas. As a mom and wife, it’s a special time for her with husband Troy and their three children: Grace, Kate, and David.   Christmas holds a special place for another reason: as a New York times and USA Today bestseller, many of her novels have a Christmas-based story. Six of her titles have made the transition to televisio...

Desiring to Bring Christ Glory     At the beginning of 2020, Taylor and Rachel Hartley were living out their callings as a photographer (Taylor) and a nurse (Rachel). When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, Rachel, a 2015 B.S.N. and 2020 Master of Science in Nursing alumna, was serving as a preoperative surgical nurse in Lynchburg, Virginia.      Taylor and Rachel saw the increasing need in pandemic-rava...

Reaching for the Stars 1995 alumna Cindy Hasselbring has been dreaming of NASA since she visited Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a family vacation when she was a child. A visit to Cedarville in the 80s deepened that passion for the stars when she purchased a poster of an astronaut on a spacewalk with the inspirational phrase, “And those who dare to dream, dare to do.” Cindy is now living her dr...

Reluctant and Faithful   2004 alumnus Philip Miller never wanted to serve as a pastor, and now, he’s serving in one of the most high-profile pulpits in America.   Philip began serving as senior pastor at The Moody Church in downtown Chicago in July 2020. He follows in the footsteps of 16 legendary men of God, including long-time Cedarville friend and guest chapel speaker Dr. Warren Wiersbe, whose...

Thankful for a Bonus Round of Life In this season when we pause to give thanks to God for all of his many, many blessings, our podcast guest, Dr. Michael McKay , Assistant Professor of Biblical Theology, understands full well that the Lord is his sustainer, provider, and a worker of miracles.     During a laidback and relaxed Saturday morning in June, Michael knew he wasn’t feeling exactly right b...

Trusting God’s Care for Sons in Harm’s Way Jeff Reep, Director of Cedarville Career Services, and his wife, Criss, are coaches. Jeff coached college basketball for 22 years, including head coach of the Yellow Jacket men’s team from 1995-2000. He is also a vocational coach in his role as Director of Career Services. Criss and he coach young couples through the University’s Fit to Be Tied program. C...

One Year Later It has already been a year since we lost a dedicated colleague and dear friend, Dr. Michael Firmin, Distinguished Professor of Psychology. He passed away from a heart attack on October 27, just 12 days after he recorded this conversation with Cedarville Stories host Mark Weinstein.   With the full support and agreement of his family, we aired this podcast on November 18, 2020, and t...

Finding the Right Chemistry     Chemistry is an important part of life. Finding the right team chemistry in sports. The chemistry between a future husband and wife. And for Dr. Justin Coby, it’s the reason he ended up in his current role as Director of Cedar Care Village Pharmacy.    Coby had considered a career in engineering, but when his college professors suggested a pivot to pharmacy, it was...

Creating a Space to Receive Grace Bubbly. Energetic. Positive. Visionary. Kim Ahlgrim is a dynamo. As director of The Cove, the University’s academic enrichment center, she and her staff have created an environment where students can be themselves and share the challenges they are facing academically, personally, and spiritually. Kim was named Member of the Year by the National Tutoring Associatio...

Spearheading a Historic Campaign    Will Smallwood is Cedarville’s new Vice President for Advancement. The Cedarville University Board of Trustees approved him for this role during their traditional homecoming weekend meeting.    Will is leading the University’s One Thousand Days Transformed: The Campaign for Cedarville , which was announced at homecoming weekend. The $125 million dollar campaign,...

A Sheepdog Feeding on the Word    Bruce Upchurch, the new director of campus security at Cedarville, brings more than 30 years of law enforcement experience to his role, which includes the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and the Oakwood Public Safety Department. He has been a K9 handler for criminal investigations and a sniper with a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) unit.     He has been pushed t...

Being Healed and Healing Others Best-selling author Dannah Gresh, a 1989 graduate of Cedarville University, was surprised when she was notified that she was selected as this year’s Alumna of the Year. In fact, she thought it might be a mistake.  But Dannah has come to learn from years of personal experience and ministry that has touched thousands upon thousands of girls, moms, boys, and dads, that...