Cedarville Stories

An Answer to Prayer Three months and one kidney later, beloved Cedarville professor Dr. Chuck Elliott is feeling better than he has in years, all thanks to thousands of answered prayers and the selfless sacrifice of his brother-in-law, Jon Enright, pastor of Troy Christian Chapel in suburban Detroit, Michigan.  This road to good health for Chuck has been a long one with its ups and downs. After ye...

Advancing Ministry He lives a life that is centered on relationships. This is what drives him personally, professionally, and spiritually. Kevin Howells understands how the saving work of Jesus in his life transformed him into the leader he is today. And, as a member of the leadership team with Good News Jail and Prison Ministry, Kevin spends his days building new, and strengthening existing, rela...

From Student to Local Pharmacy Owner Katie Perry wanted nothing more than to make the Cedarville Yellow Jackets softball team. She spent many evenings practicing with her parents in their yard. Her dreams came true when she made the roster in 2014.  But after driving back to campus after a short weekend trip back home, she experienced a minor accident that caused her a number of injuries, forcing...

Politics for God’s Glory For many people, politics can be a divisive topic. But for state Senator John Arch of Nebraska, he believes it doesn’t have to be that way. The father of two Cedarville graduates, Cameron and Nick Arch, John believes firmly in prioritizing his faith — even in the political context of the state legislature of Nebraska.  But John didn’t always see himself as a politician. Or...

Bryson the Brave Bison  When an Army ROTC student and an aspiring college basketball player met on Cedarville’s baseball team, they would have never guessed they would one day co-author a children’s book. But that’s exactly what Luke Freshwater and Nate Davenport have done, and the book is generating favorable reviews across the country. Nate, a 2013 alum, came to Cedarville with a hope of securin...

Roommates to New Hampshire What started as a vague, crazy idea in their sophomore year of college turned into a 1,000-mile bicycle ride they would never forget. Jonathan Viaud-Murat and Eli Wicker peddled from Cedarville, Ohio, to Keane, New Hampshire, just in time for a friend’s wedding.  Why? Why not? Jonathan, a 2023 mechanical engineering graduate, and Eli, a 2022 biology graduate, have been f...

Overcoming Rejection Kary Oberbrunner was an angry kid who questioned God at every turn. But at the age of 12, he accepted Christ and wanted to grow in his faith. However, this didn’t end his doubts and debilitating battle with guilt that drove him to self-harm.  It was a deep dive into the Psalms that started to turn Kary’s life around. The psalmist’s real struggles with faith encouraged him to j...

Military as Missions A young David Carr didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. He was a standout basketball player for Cedarville High School, and later at the local university.   After graduating from Cedarville University in 1983 and marrying Stephanie Frank three days later, the couple moved to Tacoma, Washington, as David pursued a degree at Northwest Baptist Seminary. He knew that he...

Life is Messy Today's podcast is shared in memory of Coach Ken Erny, who passed away on Sunday, June 4, 2023 after a three-year battle with ALS. Life can be messy, which coach Ken Erny, a 1978 graduate of Cedarville University, knew firsthand.  Ken first learned the messiness of life as a member of the men’s tennis team. He withstood snow, rain, and 70-mile-per-hour winds during a tennis match in...

A Capital Opportunity Sage Showers has faced rejection. When she was seeking an internship in Washington, D.C., she heard a lot of 'Nos'. Undaunted, she kept going until she finally heard a 'Yes.' That one positive response has opened one door and perhaps many more doors yet to come.    Showers is a junior political science major from Hammon, Oklahoma, who spent the fall participating in Cedarvill...

A Heart for Adoption When Phil Graves graduated from Cedarville University in 1994 with a degree in history, he never anticipated that he would end up meeting his wife eight years later while serving at a small church in Knoxville, Maryland.  Phil and Kristie started dating on August 26, 2002, got engaged nine days later, and by April 12, 2003, the two were married.  The Graves have had an interes...

All Things Through Christ It’s all about relationships for Farris Welsh. So much so that when the United States government needed someone to mend a broken relationship between the U.S. and the King of Thailand in the early 2000s, the Department of Defense called on Farris to be part of the DOD’s relationship-mending team. Farris’ career as a contract negotiator with the United States government ca...

God’s Timing Is Perfect Farris Welsh opened her refrigerator door to find she had no milk for her kids. She checked the pantry, and there wasn’t much there, either.  Not knowing how she would feed her family dinner, Farris heard a knock on the door, and when she and her young son opened it to find two bags of groceries, she knew God provided for their needs.  Farris has lived anything but a normal...

Stories for a Purpose Conrad Weaver started out as a premed major at Cedarville. He later switched to psychology, graduating in 1988, he found himself the president of Conjo Studios and an award-winning filmmaker.  How did this psychologist end up making documentaries? It all boils down to a central mission: helping people.  Shortly after pursuing a career in psychology, Conrad found a new skillse...

Life’s Unexpected Challenges Roscoe Smith never wanted to have a career in higher education, but the opportunity to pursue a relationship with his future wife, Rhonda, was too compelling for the New York native. After graduating from then Cedarville College, and knowing Rhonda was a year behind him, Roscoe did everything he could to maintain the relationship. So, he accepted a position in the Univ...

Deep Calls for Life Good health is not something to take for granted. Just ask Dr. Chuck Elliott, Senior Professor of Communication at Cedarville University.  Throughout his life, he’s been a model of good health. That was until he began experiencing severe headaches and uncontrollable high blood pressure while teaching in Hong Kong. Ultimately, the high blood pressure left significant damage to C...

"I Shall Not Die, But Live" Cedarville trustee Hayes Wicker has been a relentless and tireless servant of the Lord as a church pastor and now a seminary professor at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Matthews, North Carolina. Yet his legacy almost came to an earthly close as he battled COVID-19. Hayes was near death. He was almost placed on a ventilator when the Lord used a stern and challenging nu...

Christ Is All He Needs For Paul Dixon, from the beginning of his relationship with God through all the decades of his leadership at Cedarville to his retirement years when he continues to impact the lives of many, Christ is all he needs. Dr. Dixon was first known on the campus of Cedarville College as a frequent speaker in chapel. He was often invited to preach by then-president Dr. James T. Jerem...

To Worship God Jim Cato quickly learned as a young man that his skills were better used off the field than playing football. So he tried Bible college, which didn’t work out either, and he eventually dropped out.  But after getting married, he and his new wife learned about this small school called Cedarville College in Ohio. They packed up their belongings and moved to Ohio, before even applying...

It Runs in the Family Like father, like son. For years, Derek Luke, a police officer in Kearney, Nebraska, valiantly tried to dissuade his son, Braylen, from pursuing a career in law enforcement.  Derek and his wife, Sarah, knew that there were less dangerous careers for their son to pursue, and they knew Braylen also had an interest in engineering. So, why not gently lead him away from law enforc...

Flying Across the World The brotherhood of the United States Air Force is evident when listening to Dr. Daryl Smith and Walt Price interact. Clearly, they share a common bond from their many years of flying together on strategic missions that centered on national security. Their bond is even stronger because of their shared faith in Jesus Christ. Smith, now a professor at Cedarville University, re...

And now, here’s your host! In this undercover April Fools’ Day episode, you’ll get a glimpse into the voice you hear every week. Our very own podcast host, Mark Weinstein, unsuspectedly told his story on the Cedarville Stories Podcast.  Mark, executive director of public relations at Cedarville University, wasn’t always interested in PR. He remembers Saturday afternoons as a child, listening with...

Time 2 Man Up Life didn’t go quite as planned for Shawn Hess. When he graduated from Cedarville in 1990 with a degree in business, he never expected to earn a master’s degree in ministry from a seminary just seven years later. Complicating matters for Shawn was the fact that he was the odd one out at seminary. He was the business guy who hung out with a rougher crowd than his Bible-major seminary...

From Mascot to Manning Up When Shawn Hess reflects on his time as a student at Cedarville, he’s met with two very distinct sets of memories: his early years of defiance and his later years of dedication to the Lord. Back in the late ‘80s, there wasn’t much to do on campus but go to basketball games, which Shawn did frequently — but he wasn’t always dressed like everyone else.  As a senior, Shawn t...

Cookies for Ministry She grew up in the southern shadows of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and if you carefully listen to Morgan Rubosky, you can still hear some of her lifelong Pittsburghese language spill out in a conversation. As an introvert, Morgan always imagined she’d stay close to home for her college education, but when she heard about Cedarville University — located four hours from her Pleasa...