Ecclesia College President Interviewed OnDavid Barton's WallBuilders' Program

President Oren Paris explained the meaning of Earn While You Learn on WallBuilders Live.

WallBuilders Live! dealt with two major issues on the program - Earn While You Learn - linked here on their website.

One concern is the secular content of higher education, which trains students apart from or against Biblical truths.

The Ecclesia College statement says:

We are called to study all disciplines in light of the Scriptures to “show ourselves approved unto God, workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” learning to think and walk honestly before Him in the light of His truth according to our ever-increasing frame of reference.

A second concern is the spiraling cost of a bachelor's degree and the burden of student loan debt at graduation.

President Paris noted that the average student loan debt is now $25,000, while the average at Ecclesia College is under $6,000 - lower than almost any other school. Ecclesia does not put a cap on parental earnings, so no student is rejected for having too much family income.

Ecclesia is a a work-college, often called a work-study college. The students are required to work 15 hours a week and learn good work habits. Paris said, "They are held accountable for their work, and learn good work habits."

More details are available from podcast audio file - Earn While You Learn.

Music and sports are important components of Ecclesia College's mission.

Thou Wilt Shew Me the Path of Life - Psalm 16:11

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For Thus Saith the Lord That Created the Heavens - Isaiah 45:18

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Red-Breasted Nuthatch

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For Unto You Is Born This Day - Luke 2:11

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Away in a Manger - Twila Paris - Ecclesia College Spokesperson

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Come Thou Long Expected Jesus - Twila Paris - Ecclesia College Spokesperson

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Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Text: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

Tune: HYFRYDOL, Meter: 87.87 D
1. Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

2. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

Silent Night - Twila Paris - Ecclesia College Spokesperson

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"Silent Night! Holy Night!"
by Joseph Mohr, 1792-1848

1. Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright,
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

2. Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing, Alleluia.
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Christ, the Savior, is born!

3. Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.


Text: Luke 2:8
Author: Joseph Mohr, 1818
Translated by: unknown
Titled: "Stille Nacht"
Composer: Franz Gruber, 1818
Tune: "Stille Nacht"

God's Creation - Winter Wonderland

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For God's Own Child, In Mercy Mild, Joins Thee to Him;How Greatly God Must Love Thee!

"O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is"
by Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676

1. O Jesus Christ,
Thy manger is
My paradise at which my soul reclineth.
For there, O Lord,
Doth lie the Word
Made flesh for us; herein Thy grace
forth shineth.

2. He whom the sea
And wind obey
Doth come to serve the sinner in great
meekness.
Thou, God's own Son,
With us art one,
Dost join us and our children in our
weekness.

3. Thy light and grace
Our guilt efface,
Thy heavenly riches all our loss
retrieving.
Immanuel,
Thy birth doth quell
The power of hell and Satan's bold
deceiving.

4. Thou Christian heart,
Whoe'er thou art,
Be of good cheer and let no sorrow move
thee!
For God's own Child,
In mercy mild,
Joins thee to Him;-how greatly God must
love thee!

5. Remember thou
What glory now
The Lord prepared thee for all earthly
sadness.
The angel host
Can never boast
Of greater glory, greater bliss or gladness.

6. The world may hold
Her wealth and gold;
But thou, my heart, keep Christ as thy true
Treasure.
To Him hold fast
Until at last
A crown be thine and honor in full
measure.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #81
Text: Luke 2: 7
Author: Paul Gerhardt, 1653, cento
Translated by: composite
Titled: O Jesu Christ, dein Kripplein ist
Composer: Johann Crueger, 1653
Tune: O Jesu Christ, dein Kripplein

Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming

"Behold, a Branch is Growing"
by Unknown, c. 1500
Translated by Harriet R. Spaeth, 1845-1925; stanzas 1-4
Translated by John C. Mattes, 1876-1948; stanza 5

1. Behold a branch is growing
As of loveliest form and grace,
As prophets sung, foreknowing;
It springs from Jesse's race
And bears one little Flower
In midst of coldest winter,
At deepest midnight hour.

2. Isaiah hath foretold It
In words of promise sure,
And Mary' s arms enfold It,
A virgin meek and pure.
Through God's eternal will
This Child to her is given
At midnight calm and still.

3. The shepherds heard the story,
Proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of Glory,
Was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped
And in the manger found him,
As angel heralds said.

4. This Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere.
True Man, yet very God;
From sin and death He saves us
And lightens every load.

5. 0 Savior, Child of Mary,
Who felt our human woe;
Savior, King of Glory.
Who dost our weakness know,
Bring us at length, we pray.
To the bright courts of heaven
And to the endless day.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #645
Text: Is. 11:1-2
Author: Unknown, c. 1500
Translated by: Harriet R. Spaeth, 1875; stanzas 1-4
Translated by: John C. Mattes,1914; stanza 5
Titled: "Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen"
Tune: "Es ist ein' Ros'"
1st Published in: _Alte geistliche Kirchengesaeng_
Town: Cologne, 1599

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Twila Paris - Top of the Hill

Top of the Hill

At the Top of the Hill

By Twila Paris

During the Vancouver Olympics, I watched, along with millions, as the USA-1 bobsledding team, led by Steven Holcomb, won the four-man bobsled competition in the Winter Games for the first time since 1948. I don't know much about bobsledding, but I've always enjoyed watching the precision teamwork and the crazy downhill ride that apparently can only be produced by runners on ice.

I have seen enough bobsledding to know that a great start is really important. Of course, this is true in any form of racing. However, it's not enough to begin well. You also have to finish well, and avoid the many potential pitfalls between the start and finish. And all the while, if you're bobsledding, the track itself moves you along at speeds beyond your control, faster than your ability to think. Your choices have to be so well rehearsed that they've become second nature, almost instinctive.

You've probably heard about the Whistler track. It's the fastest ever, to the point of being very dangerous. By the final day of bobsledding, they had purposely worked to slow the track a little. Even so, Steven Holcomb and the “Night Train” crew finished at a speed of 94 miles per hour.

There is one particular turn the announcers kept referring to as the 50/50 turn. I thought that must be some sport-specific terminology I hadn’t heard before. Then they explained that Holcomb had nicknamed the turn last year during initial practice runs, because approximately half the sleds were crashing at that point on the track.

When it was time for their final run, the USA-1 team was in the lead. At the top of the track, they performed with beautiful synchronicity—pushing, running, popping into the sled, heads down—they were off to an amazing start! This gave them a physical and psychological advantage. Now the task was to maintain focus, keep the standard where it had already been established, and finish the way they began. And they did it! An American team won the Olympic gold medal in four-man bobsledding for the first time in 62 years! Over the celebration, the announcer shouted, "They won the race at the top of the hill!"

We're all familiar with the Apostle Paul's reference to this life as a race. He finished well, and we want to do the same. In this race, too, an important part of a great finish is a great beginning. Sure, you can start badly and still finish well. God's grace and mercy see to that. But I don't think you can start badly and finish as well as you would have. This is why God gives us parents and says, "Train up a child in the way he should go..."

Children can't make their own good start. It's up to their parents to give them one. So we feed and clothe them and keep them out of the street and teach them to wash their hands. And as Christian parents, we model and teach true Christianity in our homes and communities. We know the track is dangerous, and we try to slow it a little, but still it carries our children along at an incredible pace.

So we teach them the eternal truths "when we're sitting in our homes, when we're walking in the way, when we lie down and when we rise up." We make the time for family worship even when we're exhausted. We prepare them with a godly education. A growing number of us are educating them at home so that we can personally assure every human aspect of that good beginning. And daily, we commit them to God.

Doing these things requires wisdom, intentionality, and sacrifice. It requires faithfulness and sometimes the willingness to humble ourselves, ask forgiveness, and start over. My parents did these things for me. And you and I do them for our children so that one day, by God's grace, it can be said of them, of an entire generation of Christian young people, and of their children too, "They won the race at the top of the hill."

Visit Twila's Website!

The Parable of the Tares. Matthew 13:25-29

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Faith As a Mustard Seed. Luke 17:6

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Let Us Hold Fast the Profession of Our Faith. Hebrews 10:23-24

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The Holy Family

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He Appointed the Moon for Seasons. Psalm 104:19-20

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The Word of the Lord Shall Stand Forever. Isaiah 40:8

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Baptized of John in Jordan. Mark 1:9-11

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For the Lord Is Good; His Mercy Is Everlasting - Psalm 100:5

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And God Saw That It Was Good. Genesis 1:11-13

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KJV Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

In the Beginning Was the Word. John 1:1

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That Ye May With One Mind and One Mouth Glorify God.Romans 15:6

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With Trumpets and Sound of Cornet - Psalm 98:6

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The Fruit of the Spirit Is....Galatians 5:22-23

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For the Kingdom Is the Lord's - Psalm 22:28

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Let Your Light Shine Before Men - Matthew 5:16

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Our Conversation (Citizenship) Is in Heaven - Philippians 3:20

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The Donkey Poem, by G. K. Chesterton

The Donkey -

a poem by G.K. Chesterton

WHEN fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will,
Starve, scourge, deride me I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools, for I also had my hour,
One far fierce hour and sweet,
There was a shout about my ears
And palms before my feet.

How Often Would I Have Gathered Thy Children Together. Matthew 23:37-39

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The Good Shepherd and the Lamb

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Blessed Are They Whose Iniquities Are Forgiven

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Children of the Heavenly Father

Jesus Loves Me

Hebrews 1, 2, and 3 Illustrated

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Hebrews 4 and 5 Illustrated

Hebrews 6 and 7 Illustrated

Hebrews 8 and 9 Illustrated