Lebanon Christian School

ELCA superintendent's contract not renewed

LEBANON — East Linn Christian Academy is moving forward with searching for a successor for its superintendent, Jim Hill.

The private Christian school’s board of directors decided this spring not to renew its contract with Hill, a 24-year employee who has been superintendent since 2007.

Hill said board members told him they want to hire a superintendent-principal who will take a greater role in marketing and fundraising.

“We’re not at odds with each other,” Hill said. “I think they appreciate the work I’ve done and that I’ve made a difference in children’s lives in one way or the other, but they’re looking for just a different type of leadership right now.”

In a written statement from the board, Chairman Jay Horner said directors greatly appreciate Hill’s 24 years of service.

“As with any institution, there are seasons for change.  We feel very excited about the future of ELCA as we move forward,” Horner wrote.

Hill’s departure is not expected to affect ELCA’s capital campaign to construct a new elementary building, Horner said. Concrete for the building has just been poured.

Formerly a coach at West Coast Christian College in California, Hill, 48, joined the East Linn faculty in 1987 as a seventh-grade teacher. He started coaching basketball in 1989.

For the next several years, Hill taught Bible, math, science, history, health and physical education to grades 7-12. He stopped teaching full time when he became athletic director in 1991. He was named vice principal-athletic director in 1995, principal in 1998 and superintendent in 2007.

He and his wife have two sons, Parker, a senior at ELCA, and J.D., a 2002 graduate now working on campus as a math teacher and athletic director.

Hill said he’s proud of the way the academy has grown academically. High school students can earn college credits through College Now, an on-campus program, or through College Access, a partnership with Linn-Benton Community College similar to Lebanon High School’s Beyond LHS.

At the elementary school, Hill said, he has concentrated on hiring staff who could “take us to the next level academically.”

“I’m pretty proud of that, how dynamic our elementary school is now,” he said. “It’s one of the best around.”

Hill said he will miss his fellow coaches and working with students the most. And he’ll miss graduations, which always seemed like Christmas — “Except I get to see all the gifts that they (the students) have attained in themselves.

Be Part of Those Eager to Make a Difference, Costa Urges Seniors ...

The world is full of people representing three groups—observers, those fearful of venturing out and those eager to make a difference, Lebanese denominational leader and educator Nabil K. Costa told Samford University graduates Saturday, May 14.

            Costa, executive director of the Lebanese Baptist Society, said observers are content to sit back, relax and watch life pass them by.  He quoted Thomas Edison, who said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

            Fearful people, he said, “are interested in what goes on, but are too afraid to venture there themselves.

            “A third group—which I hope you are a part of—is made up of people who are eager to set out and make a difference, ready to pay the price,” Costa told the seniors.

            The Middle Eastern religion leader addressed an audience of more than 5,000 in Samford’s Pete Hanna Center. Graduates from Samford’s largest school, the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, received diplomas, along with seniors from its School of the Arts and Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education and Professional Studies—432 in all.

            A total of more than 400 other graduates received degrees during commencement programs for its business, law, nursing and pharmacy schools Friday, May 13, and its divinity school May 4.

            Costa, a former businessman called to full-time ministry in 1998, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Samford during the ceremony.  In presenting the degree, Samford President Andrew Westmoreland described Costa as “a leading humanitarian in a strife-torn part of the world.”   Costa is general secretary of an association of evangelical Christian schools enrolling about 25,000 students in Lebanon, and recently was elected a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance.

            “God is doing amazing things in our region, and is calling on us—and you—to be prepared for the colossal work that needs to be met,” he said.  He told the graduates that they, as Christians, have what the rest of the world needs.

            “As you follow God’s leading, should He give you a heart for our part of the world, know that there are incredible opportunities awaiting you,” he said.

            Costa said Christians are making a difference in the Middle East.  “Don’t underestimate the impact of a small amount of yeast on a large loaf of bread!” he said.

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