Is it something in the water in Malibu, Calif.? Once again, a Pepperdine University administrator has been hired as a university president, this time at Lubbock Christian in Texas. Tim Perrin, vice dean and professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law, was introduced last week as president-elect of his Texas alma matter.

Maxine Timmerman, a pioneering missionary to the French-speaking world, died Feb. 6 at a nursing home in Searcy, Ark. A memorial service is planned for Feb. 11. Timmerman and her husband, Samuel “S.F.” Timmerman, moved to Belgium in 1948 to serve as the first missionaries there for Churches of Christ. The couple spent 16 years in the European nation.

In the midst of responding to one natural disaster, church members in the Philippines face a new one. I received an e-mail from Salvador Cariaga, a longtime Filipino missionary, about a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that struck his home country Feb. 6. Cariaga oversees a ministry that provides goats, farming techniques and micro-loans to Filipinos in need. The quake’s epicenter was in the central Negros Oriental province, where there is a large concentration of Churches of Christ

Sunday’s Super Bowl attendance: 68,658. Decline in the number of men, women and children in the pews of Churches of Christ in the U.S. since 2003: 102,138. That’s the big number revealed by the latest national survey by 21st Century Christian, the Nashville, Tenn.-based publisher of the directory Churches of Christ in the United States.

John deSteiguer, senior vice president for advancement at Oklahoma Christian University, will move into the president’s office this summer. Trustees for the 2,200-student Christian university chose deSteiguer today to succeed retiring President Mike O’Neal, who announced plans in 2010 to step down at the end of this academic year.

L. Timothy Perrin, a 1984 graduate of Lubbock Christian University in Texas, has been tapped to serve as his alma mater’s sixth president. Perrin, vice dean and professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, Calif., will succeed Ken Jones, who served as Lubbock Christian president for 18 years before transitioning to the role of chancellor last year.

Lubbock Christian University and Oklahoma Christian University plan to name new presidents over the next few days. Meanwhile, Harding University has launched a website to accept applications and recommendations for its presidency.

Financially beleaguered Western Christian College and High School — a pillar of Churches of Christ in Canada — will close at the end of this academic year. Academic dean Bill Schwarz confirmed the news today in an e-mail to The Christian Chronicle. The Society that oversees the high school and college in Regina, Saskatchewan, voted Saturday to cease operations indefinitely in June, Schwarz said.

As Charles Siburt battles cancer, friends and ministers mentored by him plan a day of prayer and fasting Friday, Feb. 3. Siburt, associate dean for ministry programs and services at Abilene Christian University in Texas, is a well-known leader among Churches of Christ.

Marie Gage, an 82-year-old member of the Westbury Church of Christ in Houston, was robbed and killed in her home Thursday night. Her husband, Bill, 84, a fellow Westbury member, survived the attack. The couple’s daughter Loa Glenn tells Houston-area media that the family relies on its faith and knows God has a plan. Loa’s husband, Greg Glenn, is head of school at Westbury Christian School, next to the church.