Moving Days in Abilene
When we moved to Abilene my colleagues came to help us with unloading the moving truck. I was very grateful for their help that I decided I would be there for my colleagues when they are in need of my help. Inviting them back for Korean BBQ was just the beginning of repaying the debt I owe to them. I was always there to be the first of the welcoming party whenever we had a new faculty move in to town. I was there to welcome Richard Wright, Amanda Pittman, and John Boyles when they moved to Abilene. When Jonathan Huddleston purchased a house, I was there to help him move in, and I helped again when he moved away. When Jeanene Reese moved, not only did I help her on the moving day but also on other numerous occasions when she needed some minor repairs in the house. She may think she owes me big time, but I was glad to help my colleague and friend. Letter from Jeanene Reese
On the Mountain Top
When Cascade College was about to close its doors, my colleagues and church family often asked me the same question: “What are you going to do?” Without missing a beat I used to answer as if the closure were not a big deal for me at all: “Oh, I am going to take off a couple of years, work on the textbook project I had already started, and publish it. Then I will look for a job.” In actuality, I had no idea what I was going to do. Well, I learned a lesson or two. For one I better watch out what I say. It took me exactly two years to find my dream job. As Cascade’s closure came closer and closer, I used to remind myself to trust in God and never doubt his providence. At times, it was not easy – especially when OC did not offer me a position, when Ohio Valley University chose somebody else, when I could not even land an adjunct position in Oregon, etc. Little did I know that God had a better plan for me – my dream job at my dream school! What more do I need? I am already on top of the mountain. It was a homecoming. I have finally come back home. My colleagues consist of my former teachers, my classmates and a few new faces.
Since my arrival in Abilene I have been privileged to be part of a small weekly prayer fellowship with Jeff Childers, Doug Foster, David Wray and John Willis. They have been so gracious to extend their invitation to include me to fellowship with and to be mentored by them. John and Doug were my teachers in the 1990s. It has been a significant blessing for me to have this esteemed group of colleagues to mentor me. I feel like Peter sharing the same feeling, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters” – As for me I would have to put up more shelters. With the Lord’s presence through my humble, esteemed colleagues I am truly on top of the mountain! Letter from Jeff Childers Letter from Doug Foster_Weekly Prayer Group
Keeping Good Company
When I was a kid, my mom used to say, “Always keep good company.” Second Century Seminar is another occasion for me to be obedient to my late mom by surrounding myself with great minds like Everett Ferguson, James Thompson, and Wendell Willis. Whenever I go to this quarterly meeting usually in the metro area, we ride together with Wendell as our chaperone, discuss the paper together, and ritually take a detour to eat ice cream at Braum’s. For the most part, I am simply gleaning their wisdom by keeping good company.
The Legend of the Nimrods
At Cascade College where I taught for five years, I was the only Old Testament faculty. There was no one with whom to bounce off my ideas. I am now blessed with several Old Testament faculty – John Willis, Mark Hamilton, Mindi Thompson, Rodney Ashlock, and Glenn Pemberton. Soon after I joined the ACU faculty Glenn Pemberton came up with this idea of an Old Testament colloquy to share our research informally and have fellowship once or twice a semester and called it the Nimrods. It has been a while since we met last time, but I’ve enjoyed our gathering and have been gleaning much of their wisdom.
The Bible, Justice and Law
In 2014 Tim Sensing asked me to teach an interdisciplinary graduate course, so I invited Andy Little to work with me on this new course we entitled The Bible, Justice and Law. We spent quite a bit of time developing the course for January 2015. In the exchange of ideas I came up with an idea of convening some sessions at the Christian Scholars Conference, so I started inviting scholars from diverse fields and institutions – Old Testament, New Testament, Social Work, Law, Business, Economics, theology, to name some. Participants include Mark Hamilton, Andy Little, Katie Wick, Stephanie Hamm, Monty Lynn, David Perkins and Mindi Thompson from ACU, and from other institutions came Tim Willis (Pepperdine), Chip Kooi (OC), Kelsey Herndon (OC) Ron Clark (George Fox), and Charles Rix (OC), to name several. The GST course in January 2014 didn’t make due to lack of interest, but we had three sessions at the CSC in 2015 and two sessions in 2016 and plan to have two more years of presentations. With this project I have been able to interact with my colleagues in different disciplines, and that interaction will expand in the next two years as more presenters are scheduled to participate. Letter from Andy Little David Fleer is very appreciative of my effort of convening sessions, and he once said, “Kilnam, thank you very much. In the past few years you put together more sessions than anybody, besides Tom Albright.” I could have him put it in writing, but I didn’t want to bother him to do so because he has been dealing with a terrible loss of his loved one. Instead, David Fleer’s simple thank you card may be sufficient. Thank You Card from David Fleer
In 2015 upon request by Tim Sensing to teach an interdisciplinary GST course, I asked Kyle Tippens of COBA to work with me on this. We developed together BIBL 640 Biblical Perspectives on Stewardship and taught the class in January 2016. It was my pleasure to work with Kyle. Letter from Kyle Tippens From time to time I invite my colleagues to my classes as guest speakers, who would provide their expertise from a different perspective and discipline that would strengthen the messages of the Bible. The list includes Ron and Janine Morgan, John Xu, Gary Green, Larry Henderson, and Yann Opsitch, to name several. Occasionally, I’ve visited somebody else’s classes. Chris Hutson’s Church History was one, Doctor of Ministry class taught by Randy Harris and David Wray was another. Thank You Card from David Wray and Randy Harris
Since I am deeply involved with mission work in China, I’ve been working closely with Dr. John Xu and Berlin Fang in several contexts. They started weekly Chinese Bible Study last year, and they invite Bible faculty to teach that class. I know Mindi Thompson and Doug Foster have been their guest teachers. I have taught the class three times thus far. Thank You Card from Chinese Bible Study I’ve also invited Dr. John Xu and Berlin Fang as guest speakers to Ebed, the weekly Korea-China mission interest chapel group I sponsor so that they can educate my students to be culturally competent. I also invited Dr. John Xu, Dr. Fei Gao of Hardin-Simmons, and Dr. Daqing Yuan to work with me on a three-part Summit presentation in 2014. I also work closely with WWW and enlist the expertise of Larry Henderson and Gary Green to prepare my students for mission trips to Korea and China. They also introduce me to contacts in China. Letter from Phil Vardiman
The Korean term for family literally means “eating mouth,” implying that family is somebody with whom you share meals. I’ve invited many of my colleagues for dinner, both from our college and outside the CBS. It would take too long to name all who have been to my house for Korean BBQ, and some of them came multiple times. My wife and I have also been to many of my colleagues’ homes to share meals and fellowship. The list of the homes includes the Ashlocks, the Hamiltons, the Littles, the Pembertons, the Popes, the Reeves, and the Thompsons, to names several. When Ken and Karen Cukrowski visited Korea in this past July to attend the Society of Biblical Literature International Conference, I worked as their host and tour guide. Letter from Ken Cukrowski
Faculty Intramural Team Sports
I’ve been actively involved in faculty intramural team sports. The Sunflowers of Death was the first team I was part of for four years. Members include Ryan Jessup, Matt Garver, Don Pope, Andy Little, Brent Reeves, Kyle Tippens and David Kneip, to name several regulars. Ray Petit, Dwayne Towell, Neal Coates, James Prather, Houston Heflin, Vic McCracken and numerous staff, GST and undergraduate students have played with us. Andy Little named the team the Sunflowers of Death. I am currently sitting out due to my knee injury, but we play twice a week for a couple of hours each time. It has been a great way to strengthen collegiality and exercise. 
We play against student teams when intramural season begins, and we went to the championship game four times in the past, only to be beaten by the our opponents who apparently never age – they are always between eighteen to twenty-two years of age whereas we age each year.
When competition got too fierce in the Fall of 2015, a graduate student wanted to join my team. Apparently, there was a rumor that I was forming a new team that would focus on fellowshipping and having fun together, not winning at all cost. That was how I started a new faculty team the Ten Plagues with Pope’s blessing – our (Don) Pope, not the one in Vatican City. Again the naming right belonged to Andy Little. New faculty members like Nathan Gibbs and Nil Santana were added to some former Sunflowers Kyle Tippens, Don Pope, and me. 
The rest of the team members are GST students, most of whom are foreign students like my GA, so this provides a good avenue for them to interact with our faculty in an informal setting. We’ve played two seasons thus far, won some games and lost some, but most importantly “enjoyed playing together immensely,” to use Kyle Tippens’s words. Letter from Kyle Tippens_Collegiality
Also I was one of those who helped release the beast in Vic McCracken and Jon Camp in our faculty dodgeball team. Vic asked me to join the team, and we played for two seasons. The beast in Vic was quite tame, but the beast in Jon was completely manifested and uncontrollable. We were just goofing around for our students’ benefit for the most part, and students loved Jon as he taunted and dared them to get him out. It is too bad we don’t have a video of our games, but our students thoroughly enjoyed watching us make fun of ourselves on their behalf.
Obviously, I have not yet crossed paths with many of our faculty and staff members. Yet I appreciate my colleagues’ collegiality in many different contexts and hope to strengthen the sense of unity and camaraderie and widen it in the coming years.
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