During June and July, we have two “midmesters”. These are two week courses that meet daily for extended periods. The face-to-face time of the classroom is the same as in a semester-long course, but condensed into two weeks. This makes courses more challenging, but also allows for focused attention on the subject without the distractions of multiple courses or work.
All of this year’s midmester courses were taught by visiting lecturers from throughout the world.
Dr. Charles Rix – Old Testament Survey / Hebrew Bible
For the second year in a row, Dr. Rix came to teach our Old Testament course and brought along a group of undergraduate students from Oklahoma Christian University (Edmond, Oklahoma, USA). These four OC students — Brad, Israel, Matt, and Zekariah — also took the course with ACC students.
This course is a foundational course for our first year students and a partnership with OC that we hope to continue for many years.
Dr. Rix is Associate Professor of Bible at Oklahoma Christian University (USA).
Dr. Jerry Taylor, Byron Martin, Erinn Harris, and Lawrence Rodgers – Vision, Unity & Leadership in Philippians
This group of Christian men taught our third year students (who are about to graduate) from the book of Philippians with a focus on being Christian leaders. Using additional materials from Stephen Covey and George Barna, this class challenged students about the work they will do as community leaders, ministers, and counsellors.
One student said about the course: “The class has not only helped me academically, but also challenged me spiritually.” That’s the type of courses we want to offer.
Dr. Taylor is Associate Professor of Bible, Missions and Ministry at Abilene Christian University (USA). Byron Martin is Director of Multicultural Enrichment at ACU. Erinn Harris is a MDiv student at Pepperdine University. Lawrence Rodgers is the preaching minister for the Westside Church of Christ, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Abby Degge – Developmental Psychology
Abby has a graduate degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and has worked professionally and volunteered in hospitals and organizations. She joined us from Budapest, Hungary to teach our developmental psychology class to our second year counselling majors. Abby first visited African Christian College five years ago with her father, Charles Rix.
“We had a wonderful course and lecturer. The course itself helped me to understand how people develop and why they develop that way. It also helped me understand how I can help them,” wrote one of the students in this course.
Kelly Barneche – Community Development
Our second year leadership majors focused on asset-based development strategies to move beyond relief and benevolence work in their communities. This is an important course in their future ministries in hurting communities throughout Africa.
Kelly was a well-prepared and effective lecturer for this course. She has her graduate social work degree from Columbia University and has worked with international refugees. She joined us from Lausanne, Switzerland to work with us.
Importance of visiting lecturers
Our visiting lecturers provide relief to our faculty, new energy to campus, new faces and styles in the classrooms, and fill important gaps in our academic curricula. In addition to the commitment of time and resources to teach their courses, they also serve in other ways by working with local congregations, volunteering with local events, and mentoring students throughout the day.