6/30/2009 9:36:00 AM Nebraska Christian College adapts to new home
COURTESY PHOTORichard Milliken, president of Nebraska Christian College, stands outside one of the college’s new buildings near Papillion in Sarpy County. The college moved from Norfolk in 2006.
Tracking the college
The men and women who conceived the idea of building a Bible college in Norfolk were riding the crest of a movement that was sweeping across the Plains at the time.
Bible colleges had already been founded in Minnesota and the Dakotas.
In October 1944, they met in Wymore to discuss the idea of founding a similar college here in Norfolk.
Nebraska Christian College was incorporated in 1944, and classes began in the fall of 1945. Guy B. Dunning was named the first president. He and his wife also served as two of the school's first teachers.
The student body of 20 attended classes in a building at 909 Park Ave. In 1958, the school was moved to a larger building at 910 Park Ave. - now Johnson-Stonacek Funeral Chapel - to accommodate its 80 students.
Ground was broken for the Norfolk campus in the fall of 1968. By then, the student population was more than 150. Four years later, the dormitory and campus were completed.
At one time, more than 200 students attended the four-year college, earning both associate's and bachelor's degrees.
PAPILLION - They miss the famous onion rings and thick chocolate malts at the former Double K restaurant. They miss the late-night runs through Wal-Mart's empty aisles, the crab rangoons at the Super China Buffet and Ricardo's restaurant's Tex-Mex flair.
But what the students and faculty of Nebraska Christian College, which was uprooted from Norfolk to Papillion three years ago, miss most about their former longtime home has nothing to do with the comfort of fried food.
"I miss the people in Norfolk," said Judy Gillen, a Nebraska Christian alum and longtime receptionist for the college.
New beginnings
The college was founded in Norfolk in 1944 in a converted apartment house near Ninth Street and Park Avenue. About 15 years later, as enrollment swelled and facilities tightened, overflow space was added across the street.
In the early 1970s, Nebraska Christian gradually migrated from its cramped downtown quarters to 85 acres of untouched land along Norfolk's northwest edge, where it remained until its move to Sarpy County in 2006.
The somewhat remote location - in the early '70s - mirrors the college's current one in the Omaha metro area, said President Richard Milliken and Chief Development Officer Jim Hardy.
The college's current 80-acre campus is perched among vast fields of deep green corn, along a gravel road a few miles west of the bustle of Papillion. Bright red, yellow and pink flowers dot the roughly 20 developed acres.
Although, as Milliken admitted, it's strange for a college to be situated along a gravel road, he said it's no different from the Norfolk campus. When Nebraska Christian moved in the '70s, the roads surrounding it had yet to be paved, he said.
Looking east from the main building, Papillion's homes and buildings peek above the horizon. But the campus - at least for now - seems untouched by the city. Although it creeps closer each day, city noise has yet to drown out the songs of birds and the deep croaks of frogs.
Yes, in case you've yet to notice, the place is serene.
Moving up
The aging Norfolk campus had plenty of room for expansion - Milliken said only about 15 acres were being used - but the existing buildings were more than 30 years old by the time the college relocated to Sarpy County. They required lots of upkeep, and new windows were on tap. Roofs had already been replaced on two of the three main buildings, Milliken said.
The six classrooms were spread throughout two separate buildings, and spaces were smaller and less flexible than those on the new campus, which boasts six in one building and five others available for teaching use.
"We have a lot more square footage here," Milliken said. "There's more shop maintenance room, dorm space and office space here."
The buildings were constructed to tailor to the college's anticipated growth. The main facility - divided into two wings for administrative offices, student housing, a small student center and classrooms - will eventually be completely converted into residential units.
Some offices are in what will become housing suites, and plumbing was installed beneath the floors in the open space between other offices to accommodate conversion.
But some major amenities are lacking since the move: a gym or other facility to host major events and a large, full-service cafeteria. Those construction projects, administrators pray, will be on the docket in the near future.
While the fresh digs are certainly a plus for the college, Milliken contends the shift from Norfolk to Papillion was unrelated to its facilities.
A necessary change
Nebraska Christian had forged relationships with several area churches and connected with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Norfolk community members and leaders, Milliken said.
But in a town of nearly 25,000, there are limited opportunities for students to train in spreading the faith, and the college "needed to be in the Omaha area."
In 1997, a board of trustees member "talked about dreams and what Nebraska Christian could be if it were in Lincoln or Omaha." Shortly after, the college started shopping for land and decided on the plot near Papillion in 2002. Three years later, the board opted to make the move.
"Our program was so focused on ministry," Milliken said, "that our students had to be able to get hands-on experience. . . . The move down here put us in a bigger cluster of churches."
In Norfolk, about 10 supporting churches were within an hour's drive, Milliken said, compared with the 42 surrounding Papillion. "That allows our students to get plugged into church ministries, rescue missions and working with troubled families," he said.
Hardy added, "Now we have more opportunities for internships than we do kids to fill the spots."
Looking to the future
The decision to move was met with, in some cases, extreme caution and skepticism, Milliken said. Longtime faculty members were hesitant to leave behind their homes, and students wondered how they'd live - and drive - in Omaha. Some Norfolkans feared the campus would be among the gun-slinging gangs and crime of the big city.
"Being outside of town, it eases their minds," Milliken said of residents anxious about the danger.
Since then, much of the reluctance has subsided, and "the majority of people who've been on our new campus feel a great, renewed pride in their school," Milliken said.
And college enrollment is growing. Last year's student body of 165 was the second largest in the past 25 years, Milliken said.
He and other administrators are moving forward to expand the campus. Hardy said they have plans to develop 40 of the plot's 80 acres. The rest may be used by supporting churches or as an investment opportunity for the college.
A $3 million capital campaign is under way for a "Ministry Equipping Center," which will house a 500-seat chapel, preaching lab and specialized classrooms for the worship arts program. Hardy said about $800,000 has been raised so far.
Within three to five years, they'd like to build an activities center with a gym and cafeteria. A later third project will be an administration building.
"God's ways are better than our ways, so we'll just have to keep hoping for all of this," Milliken said. "If we are doing the right thing, God will take care of us."
Missing home
Nebraska Christian is in a new chapter, but Milliken, Hardy and Gillen say it doesn't erase the college's long history in Norfolk.
"I think it's important that everybody knows that (the move) was never an attempt to get away from Norfolk," Gillen said. "Norfolk was great. I'll never forget it."
She misses Godfather's Pizza - the one in Papillion just doesn't stack up - and Prenger's and the mall. Gillen misses her friends from church and the small-town atmosphere.
But Gillen said she believes God has called her and Nebraska Christian to the Omaha metro area, and she's happy to do his work there.
"I feel like God has led us to this place," Gillen said, "and he certainly has blessed us here."
