Awards for grads of Evangel, AGTS & CBC
The alumni board of directors from Evangel University will honor five alumni this week during the Homecoming ’18 Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 20. The alumni awards will be presented during a banquet at the Bass Pro White River Conference Center, starting at 6:30 p.m.
The alumni association presents Distinguished Alumnus awards annually at homecoming to honor those from Evangel and Central Bible College who have made significant contributions to their chosen field, church, community, state, nation, or to the university.
They also recognize that many young alumni have enjoyed significant achievements in the few years since their graduation, although they may not yet have reached the height of their accomplishments. The Outstanding Young Alumnus awards are presented to those in this category.
The Assemblies of God Theological Seminary at Evangel University will also present the AGTS Graduate of the Year during the Homecoming 2018 Celebration Banquet.
• EU Distinguished Alumnus
Dr. Barry Corey, a 1984 graduate, demonstrated servant-leadership during his senior year at Evangel when he was student body president. As a Fulbright Scholar, he served a year in Bangladesh. As an educator, he taught at Boston College; served as V.P. of Gordon-Conwell Seminary; and currently serves as president of Biola University. “(Barry) is a national and international voice of influence within both Christian and secular communities, leading with the virtues he describes in his book Love Kindness,” says Dr. Carol Taylor, president of Evangel. Barry and his wife, Paula, have three children. Read about how he stays level in a full-length story on the EU website.
• EU Outstanding Young Alumna
Springfield native Heather Rooney McBride is founding partner of Rooney McBride & Smith LLC. She graduated from Evangel summa cum laude in 2003 and finished second in her class at Drake University Law School. Heather is admitted to practice law in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, representing business clients in commercial transactions and litigation matters, and individual clients in estate planning matters. A patron of the arts, she currently serves on the board of the Springfield Regional Arts Council. Heather and her husband, Ben, have one daughter. He owns McBride Law and is an adjunct professor at Evangel. Read about how she integrates music with her life, on the EU website.
• AGTS Alumnus of the Year
Dr. Dick Brogden was born and raised in Kenya. After college, he pastored a multi-tribal church there, worked among the nomadic Samburu, and then moved to Sudan, where he served for 15 years. Dick completed his Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies at AGTS in 2014 and said he was impressed with his AGTS experience, including “incredible classes, erudite professors and challenging reading.” It was during that time that he developed the Live Dead Journal. Dick lives in Cairo, Egypt, with his wife, Jennifer, and their two sons. They oversee both the Cairo Training Team and the Live Dead Arab World program, as AG World Missionaries. Read Dick’s story about jumping into shark-inhabited waters, on the EU website.
• CBC Distinguished Alumnus
Dr. Mark Batterson, a 1992 graduate, is an accomplished author, pastor and businessman. He serves as lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington D.C., which was recognized in 2008 as one of the “Most Innovative and Most Influential Churches in America” by Outreach Magazine. Ten years later, NCC has seven campuses and 10 services. Mark has authored 15 books, including The New York Times best-seller The Circle Maker. “I have a little mantra,” he said. “If your sermons are boring it’s probably because your life is boring. If you want to preach better sermons, get a life.” Mark and his wife, Lora, have three children. Read about Mark and the entrepreneurial outreach of his congregation on the EU website.
• CBC Outstanding Young Alumnus
The Rev. George Carballo, a 2009 graduate, has served as the district youth director for the Texas Louisiana Hispanic District of the Assemblies of God since 2010. He has also held positions such young adults pastor, sectional youth director and bible school teacher. He regularly speaks to cross-cultural groups throughout the United States and other countries. George and his wife, Rocio, are now preparing to launch a new church plant in Houston—the fourth largest city in the U.S. with a population of more than 6 million. Read more about George’s vision on the EU website.
EU Homecoming 2018 Honorees
Informative, feature-length articles have been written about each of the five awardees. Click at the end of their summaries above or on the list below.
- EU Distinguished Alumnus – Dr. Barry Corey ’84
- EU Outstanding Young Alumnus – Heather Rooney McBride, J.D. ’03
- AGTS Alumnus of the Year – Dr. Dick Brogden ’14
- CBC Distinguished Alumnus – Dr. Mark Batterson ’92
- CBC Outstanding Young Alumnus – George Carballo ’09
For more information, contact Evangel University Alumni Relations Department at (417) 865-2811, ext. 7333.
#####