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.

Lubbock Christian University has invited two candidates to visit with the search committee seeking the university’s next president: L. Tim Perrin and Brian Starr. Perrin is vice dean and professor of law at Pepperdine University’s School of Law in Malibu, Calif. Starr is executive vice president and professor of economics and investments at Lubbock Christian.

Harding University President David B. Burks announced today that he will retire at the end of the 2012-13 academic year, after 26 years at the helm of the Searcy, Ark., university. Burks’ decision means three major universities associated with Churches of Christ — Harding, Oklahoma Christian and Lubbock Christian — are in the hunt for new presidents.

It took 23 years of college courses and 80 years of living, but Betty Simmons finally got to move the tassel across her graduation mortarboard Saturday. Simmons, the first octogenarian to graduate from Lubbock Christian University, was among nearly 270 students who received degrees from the university during its spring commencement ceremony in the Rip Griffin Center, the Avalanche-Journal reports.

“My whole career I was looking for a guy like Josh,” said Larry Hays, former coach of Lubbock Christian University and Texas Tech. “And now you’re here and it’s not doing me any good.” Texas Rangers star outfielder Josh Hamilton, his wife, Katie, and the soldout crowd in Lubbock Christian University’s McDonald Moody Auditorium erupted in laughter. Josh and Katie Hamilton spoke at LCU’s baseball program, titled “Heart and Soul of Baseball.” Hays hosted the program, balancing levity with gravitas in the hour-and-a-half long conversation.

Lubbock Christian University President Ken Jones has assumed the role of chancellor and CEO. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports that Jones is expected to remain in that role for the next year while LCU searches for its next president. Lubbock Christian University President Ken Jones has assumed the role of chancellor and CEO. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports that Jones is expected to remain in that role for the next year while LCU searches for its next president. Oklahoma Christian University President Mike O’Neal earlier announced plans to step down by June 2012, so at least two major universities associated with Churches of Christ will be seeking new presidents at the same time.

With the beautiful Rocky Mountains as a backdrop, Colorado Springs, Colo., this week welcomed hundreds of youth ministers from Churches of Christ. They’re here for the annual National Conference on Youth Ministries (NCYM), which features prominent speakers from within our fellowship as well as leading thinkers and experts from the wider world of evangelical Christianity. “We are really concentrating on family this year, in an attempt to turn what has been called conventional youth ministry into a more generational approach to doing ministry,” said Dudley Chancey, an NCYM executive board member and a youth ministry professor at Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City.

Rescuers hiked through the night – through sleet, snow and rain, fog and pitch black – to rescue four Lubbock Christian University students, a New Mexico newspaper reports. A helicopter was used in the rescue of two of the girls, who were barely conscious and had spent the night on a cliff.

It’s taken John Copeland 30 years to amass 444 wins on the basketball court. In the span of two days this past weekend, he won six figures in the rodeo ring. Copeland, the longtime men’s basketball coach at Lubbock Christian University, won the No. 10 amateur division at the World Series of Team Roping on Saturday in Las Vegas. The title came with a check for $200,000, which he split with his partner.