Lake Wales, FL—U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Colleges for 2009 has once again recognized Warner Southern College as leader in the south region. The college is ranked 5th in the Ethnic Diversity of its student population. Warner Southern, a Tier 3 institution, has also consistently been recognized for its low student to faculty ratio, which is 16:1. The ranking is found in the category of Baccalaureate Colleges in the South.

The rankings, available in the September issue of the magazine and on-line at http://www.usnews.com/sections/rankings/  offer an opportunity for parents and potential students to compare the nation’s colleges and universities on the basis of various statistics such as SAT scores, class size, retention, acceptance rates, alumni contribution rates, and other such information that is important in determining an institution of choice. Factors that are considered in determining rankings include peer assessment, retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and graduation rate.

By Deborah Lilly

In the early 1970s, the General Assembly of the Church of God expressed concern over the lack of ongoing education for Church of God pastors. The assembly charged the Anderson University School of Theology to develop a program to meet the needs of working pastors. The seminary has done that and more. Creating the Center for Pastoral Studies, now the Center for Christian Leadership, the seminary has furthered the church’s ability to equip pastors and laypeople to be disciples for kingdom work and created a network through which believers can come together and study.

Over the years, T. Franklin Miller, Jerry Grubbs, and Jim Bradley have guided the program. By 2000, the program was running virtually on its own, offering pastors the same sort of courses it had for the past 18 years. It was in 2000 that SOT Dean David Sebastian, Vice President and Dean Carl Caldwell, and Vice President Sena Landey discussed whether or not the program had run its course or if it could be revived. They decided to ask David Neidert to step up as center director and refresh the program.

CHICO, CA – Recent Royal graduate Ben Shockey signed a professional baseball contract with the Chico (CA) Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League, an independent league based out of Dublin, California.

Shockey, who was a four-year player for the Royals, came to Warner Southern as a walk-on his freshmen year and quickly established himself as one of the anchors in the Royals pitching staff, doing whatever was asked of him, whether as a starter or pitching in relief. Throughout his career at Warner Southern, Shockey continued to show improvement and this past season all his hard work came into fruition as he led the team in several statistical categories including: wins (7), game appearances (19), games started (10), saves (4), innings pitched (85.2) and strikeouts (79). He compiled a collegiate career low 3.05 ERA in his 19 appearances this season. Homeruns for the opposition were scarce when facing Shockey, as he only allowed one homerun all season, while logging a team leading 330 at bats.