Campus for Christ

Location: Senate Chamber

Trey and Lea Morgan

Class 1: “5 Things Every Marriage In Ministry Needs”

Marriage is tough and often even tougher for those in ministry. There are unique challenges and stresses on marriages and families in ministry. In this class we’ll look at five things “ministry marriages” need to do.)

Class 2: “Healthy Marriages Make Healthy Ministries”

In this class we’ll be talking about how healthy marriages make healthy families, churches and ministries. We’ll look at specifics on how to build healthy marriages. This class will be fun and practical.)

Trey and Lea have been in ministry for 25 years. The past 14 they have worked in Childress Texas, where Trey has serves as the senior minister at the Childress Church of Christ. Trey and his wife of Lea have been married for 28 years and have four boys.  Trey & Lea are actively involved in marriage ministry. He and his wife do weekend workshops for churches called Stronger Marriage Workshops. They speak to 1000’s of couples each year on how to build Godly, healthy marriages and healthy families.

Location: West Texas Room

Preston Conder and Corey Harrison

Students involved in campus ministries often minimize their ability to influence other students, and they certainly doubt their ability to help transform their entire ministry. But campus ministry apprentices Preston Conder and Corey Harrison will show you how any student, regardless of personality, position, or age, can greatly increase his or her influence for God’s glory.

Corey Harrison is campus minister at the University of Central Arkansas through University Church of Christ in Conway, Arkansas. A 2015 graduate of Harding University, he is pursuing a Master of Divinity degree through Harding School of Theology. He is married to his best friend, Melissa.

Preston Conder just finished two years as an apprentice campus minister of the CCSC at Arkansas Tech University. He played quarterback for the ATU football team and was involved in the CCSC as a student, intern, and apprentice. Preston is passionate about empowering leaders to win the campus for Christ. In his free time, Preston loves to work out with his girlfriend. He also enjoys bobbing for pig’s feet, and loves listening to audiobooks at 2x the normal speed. 

Location: Eternal Flame Room

Greg Swinney

International student enrollment is at an all-time high with more than a million internationals from 230 nations on our college and university campuses. This class gives a specific plan for how to receive free grant funds…..yes, that’s right…free grant funds you can use to expand your current outreach to international students or to launch a new ministry to reach the nations who are coming our way!

Greg Swinney serves as the National Representative for the Association of College Ministries, an organization of 120 Independent Christian church campus ministries. His passion is reaching international students, and he leads Crossroads International Student Ministries which helped sponsor the RISE Project (Refugee & International Student Engagement). His campus ministry work, spread over 30 years, has included ministry at a single-staff campus ministry, a regional director overseeing five campus ministries, and a national facilitator of international student ministries. Greg is married to Laurie, an accounting professor, but he tells us that he still balances the checkbook!

Location: Maroon Room

Matt Mills

Whether you are a student intern, graduate assistant, apprentice, secretary, international campus minister, office manager, events coordinator, volunteer, deacon, etc., you may know the challenges of campus ministry leadership from the “second chair.” At his campus ministry at OSU, Matt Mills has served as student intern, international minister, and now as campus minister at OSU. As campus minister, he serves under the leadership of a campus director. Come learn from Matt how to serve within your “second chair” role while avoiding the temptation to struggle for power, credit or glory.

Matt has served Oklahoma State University thru the Stillwater Church of Christ and the UCatOKSTATE campus ministry in various roles since 2003, including his current role as campus minister. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University in Family Relations and Child Development and a Master’s in Ministry from Oklahoma Christian. His wife, Melissa, is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at OSU. They have a son named Tucker (7) and a daughter Paige (5).

Location: Buff Branding Room

Bob Shepard and Jerry Klein

Some of us should plan to serve in campus ministry for life! Bob Shepherd is one of our fellowship’s longest-serving campus ministers. Let him share with you some thoughts about how he was able to sustain such longevity. He will talk about preparing for ministry, recognizing God’s will in ministry, finding the place you minister best, appreciating the joys and challenges of campus ministry, keeping current, and adapting to the changing seasons of ministry as we age.

Bob Shepard grew up in West Texas. He graduated from Texas Tech with a degree in chemistry in May 1965. He was active in the Tech Bible Chair. He married Linda Speer, who has been a partner in ministry ever since. They have two married children and three grandchildren. Bob received a Masters of Theology from Harding Graduate School in 1968. He served as Campus minister at Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Durant, OK) from 1968-1972. He then became Campus Minister at Central State (Edmond, OK) for one year. During his year at Edmond, the Canyon, Texas elders asked him to consider becoming the Bible Chair Director at West Texas. He accepted their invitation and began his work there in June 1973. He continued to serve as Bible Chair director and campus minister until January 31, 2009. Bob was a campus minister for 40 years. He has also served as an elder for the University Church for the last 33 years.

Jerry Klein’s first experience with campus ministry was when he was a Freshman at Cameron College (now university), and enrolled in a bible class at the Church of Christ Bible Chair in 1965. He was inspired by his teacher, Eugene Byrd, to want to be a Bible Chair director/campus minister too. Through college, Jerry was blessed to learn from three campus ministers and meet many more. From 1965 forward, all he ever wanted was to be a campus minister. Jerry moved to Amarillo to direct the bible chair at Amarillo College in 1982, and he retired this spring after fifty years of ministry. Jerry is married to Janie, his partner in this ministry, and they have two sons and four grandchildren.

Location: Senate Chamber

Cade Richards

Last fall, Cade Richards took over the leadership of a campus ministry at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith that had been severely under-performing for many years. Come hear more about what he and his team did during his first year to hit the reset button that has helped give that ministry new direction and new life.

Cade attended Arkansas Tech University where Jesus changed his life forever through the campus ministry. After college graduation, he completed a two-year apprenticeship at the campus ministry at Arkansas Tech University and began to pursue a Master’s degree in Christian Ministry. He then spent a year in Nashville, Tenn., learning church planting at Ethos Church, then returned to Arkansas to resurrect the Lions For Christ campus ministry at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. He is married to Rachel. 

Location: Maroon Room

David Lough

Sermons to the college student audience represent a unique challenge. In this class—for preachers, student leaders, campus ministers, and anyone who might preach to students, veteran preacher David Lough will talk about deciding what to preach, figuring out how to preach it, and knowing when to preach it.

Dr. David Lough has served as preaching minister of the University Church of Christ in Canyon, Texas, since 1993. He received Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Abilene Christian University. He and Lynette, married 43 years, have three sons, two daughters-in-law, and one particularly sweet grand-daughter, Presley. Born in Oklahoma, raised in New Mexico, graduated from New Mexico State University in 1976. Ministries in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, since 1977. Loves to read, build furniture, and fish.

Location: West Texas Room

Doug Johnson

Campus ministry life is invaluable to students! So, it can be heart-breaking if students immersed in the formative college experience consider our invested ministries as mere less-important side options. In this class, a return to my stomping grounds conjures sobering, surprising, and encouraging reminders for us of the driving forces of students, as well as how Christian commitment became the tangible, central theme of my college experience.

Doug has served as campus minister at Angelo State University for 10 years. His path into ministry involved his time as a student and eventually an intern with the Buffs for Christ during his undergraduate studies at West Texas A&M University. Loyalties are a fun challenge to manage after attending and working with a handful of universities in the Lone Star Conference, including master’s work at Abilene Christian. He and his wife, TaLisha, celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary this year and are blessed with three awesome children.