Nebraska
Wind and worship
WICHITA, KAN. — I won’t say Sunday was windy, but I’m…
Small churches find right fit at Equip
Two-day conference at York University brings together leaders from the Midwest, the Plains and the Rocky Mountain states.
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YORK, NEB. — To prepare for a panel discussion on small-town and rural Churches of Christ, minister Jason Zaiger reached out to more than 20 church leaders in his home state of Iowa.
Zaiger, who with his wife, Ann, has served Hawkeye State congregations for 25 years, wanted to know more about his fellow Christians’ experiences.
This is part of a series exploring the identity of Churches of Christ. Read more here.
“I’ll be honest: I received more info on challenges maybe than opportunities,” he said last week at York University’s Equip Conference, which drew about 230 church leaders from 18 states and Canada to this Nebraska farming town.
But before detailing those challenges, Zaiger offered a glimpse into the hearts of Iowa’s Christians.
“In visiting with all of these people, something that I did hear was a love for God, a love for the truth and a love for the church,” he said. “I also heard in their voices a huge burden that they felt to share the Word and to help the church and to grow. … I heard passion, and I heard love.”
Ministers Zeboriah Carter from Kansas, Calvin Chapman from South Dakota and Rick Eldred from Nebraska joined Zaiger on the hourlong panel. Mike Cope, director of ministry outreach for Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., moderated the discussion.
Both York and Pepperdine are associated with Churches of Christ.
As part of his work with Pepperdine, Cope leads university initiatives funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., including a $7.5 million grant program to strengthen Churches of Christ in rural areas and small towns across the U.S.
Cope allotted $1 million of the rural and small towns grant to York after seeing a 2024 Christian Chronicle story about Equip.
“Just something clicked,” he said of reading that article. “It’s like, ‘I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. People are doing this good work. We can just partner with people.’”
Jason Zaiger, Calvin Chapman, moderator Mike Cope, Zeboriah Carter and Rick Eldred speak at York University’s Equip Conference on challenges and opportunities facing small-town and rural Churches of Christ.
Ministry center launched
With a population of about 8,000, the town of York sits at the intersection of Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 81.
Miles and miles of corn and soybean farms surround the agricultural hub, about 50 miles west of Lincoln.
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The university, started in 1890, has roots in Churches of Christ dating back to 1956. On-campus enrollment tops 400 with nearly 300 additional online and dual-credit students.
“People who know York … are using words like revival and renaissance” to describe its recent history, said Tim Westbrook, who joined the university as its 22nd president last summer.
President Tim Westbrook speaks during the Equip Conference at York University in Nebraska.
Westbrook came from Harding University in Searcy, Ark., where he’d worked since 2005 and directed the online program in Bible and ministry.
The Lilly funding has helped York University launch the new Kite Center for Ministry, led by co-executive directors Anessa Westbrook and Scott Laird, and enhance the Equip Conference.
Anessa Westbrook, Tim’s wife, is a former Bible professor at Harding and a leader in women’s ministry. The couple served as missionaries to Hungary before going to work at Harding.
Scott Laird talks about the new Kite Center for Ministry during a dinner at York University’s Equip Conference as Anessa Westbrook listens. Renew.org sponsored the meal at Chances “R” Restaurant in York, Neb.
Laird worked in full-time ministry for over four decades in Canada and Montana, including more than 30 years with the Great Falls Church of Christ. He serves on the Chronicle’s national board of trustees.
“We want to hear your ideas,” Anessa Westbrook told church leaders at Equip. “We want to hear your struggles and how we can help. We’re taking the time to build the center to make sure that it’s effective because one thing we’d really like is for it to make a long-term difference.”
A $2 million gift by an anonymous donor will allow York to renovate and enlarge its McGehee Hall, said Jared Stark, York’s executive vice president. That building will house the center for ministry and likely host the Equip Conference in future years.
Equip brings together top teachers and ministers from throughout the Midwest, the Plains and the Rocky Mountain states, said Garrett Best, chair of York’s Bible department.
The conference started with 85 attendees in 2023 and grew to 130 in 2024 and 185 in 2025. It began as a one-day event but expanded to two days the second year.
“It’s crazy,” Best said of the growth. “Every year as I watch the registrations come in, I’m just blown away.”
Garrett Best, chair of York University’s Bible department, presents the Minister’s Heart Award to Jim Coehoorn during the Equip Conference. Coehoorn is a longtime leader of the Elkhorn Church of Christ in Wisconsin and served as the Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp’s board president for 15 years.
Renae Delamarter, a member of the Richfield Church of Christ in the Minneapolis area, traveled nearly 500 miles with her husband, Ron, to participate in Equip.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s small churches, and we have a small church. And to hear the singing and get to network and talk to people — it’s really uplifting and fun.”
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Danny Jaekel, who makes a four-hour round trip from York to preach for a tiny congregation in Auburn, Neb., each Sunday, echoed Delamarter’s sentiments.
“It’s a big reunion for me,” Jaekel said of the fellow Christians he sees at Equip.
York University students and Equip Conference attendees gather for a chapel assembly in the university’s gymnasium.
Ministry longevity
“Faithful,” as described in Hebrews 10:23, served as last week’s conference theme.
In keeping with that focus, four church leaders with a combined 192 years of service — Laird, Warren Baldwin from Kansas, Bruce Goodwin from Minnesota and Wayne Hawley from Wisconsin — shared insights on ministry longevity.
“We live on a tumbleweed farm,” Baldwin said. “We’re in southwest Kansas, communing with nature … whether it’s hunting or just walking or hiking, and that’s been an important thing for us.”
Warren Baldwin, far right, talks about his 44 years in ministry during the Equip Conference at York University in Nebraska. Also pictured, from left, are Anessa Westbrook, Bruce Goodwin, Scott Laird and Wayne Hawley.
Besides preaching for the Ulysses Church of Christ, Baldwin teaches high school history and has coached youth soccer and baseball for decades.
“That’s not necessarily what you would consider a spiritual activity,” he said of that community involvement. “But when you’re doing it with family, friends and community, it becomes a spiritual thing that has been strengthening for us.”
Cheryl Baldwin, Warren’s wife of 44 years, made the 380-mile trip to York with him.
“We go to other lectureships, and they’re very good, but this is for small churches,” she told the Chronicle. “It’s just such a need.”
Kailyn Ruckman and other students at York University in Nebraska pray during a chapel assembly at the Equip Conference.
Mike Cope presents a keynote lesson during the Equip Conference at York University in Nebraska.
Scott Lambert, right, greets Walter Clark at the Equip Conference at York University in Nebraska.
The prayer chapel at York University in Nebraska.
Facing the challenges
In Zaiger’s survey of Iowa church leaders, shrinking membership was a frequently cited challenge.
So, too, was the difficulty finding preachers.
“But another response that I heard was that no preacher is better than the wrong preacher,” Zaiger said.
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Others concerns, he said, ranged from increasing politicization of the church to affluent members’ unwillingness to share their wealth to “the lack of strong male leadership in the church.”
Also mentioned often: the inability to win souls in a modern culture marked by technological advancement but profound spiritual disconnection.
“One said that in order to change this, we must unhitch the Gospel from the way things were done in the past,” Zaiger said. “Now, he didn’t elaborate on that.”
Iowa minister Jason Zaiger, center, makes a point during the panel discussion at York University’s Equip Conference.
But Zaiger said Christians have an opportunity to offer seekers “something true and real” that 21st century culture lacks.
“We offer a true relationship with the Lord,” he said.
When the Restoration Movement thrived, Zaiger said, the reason was that “people believed what they were doing. The Gospel came into Iowa through those early preachers. They were on fire.”
Now, he said, “What we need to do is call all people back to God and back to the Bible. They need to understand the truth of it, live it and share it. We can do it.”
Stephen Maxwell leads singing during chapel at the Equip Conference at York University in Nebraska.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to Nebraska to report this story. Reach him at [email protected].
