I’m A Blogger

Let’s face it.  The economy is a mess.  While it may be true that gas prices are lower, that isn’t the case with everything.  The unemployment rate is extremely high.  People can’t pay their rent.  Cars are being repossessed.  Like I said, the economy is a mess. 

In modern society, we don’t ever see that churches or christian organizations such as colleges as being strained, but this week there have been some interesting news articles that say different.  Take Oral Roberts University for an example.  They announced that they would lay off 100 people early next year.

“These are tough economic times for us all,” Interim President Ralph Fagin said in a news release. “Like any business , a university cannot spend more revenue that in collects. We have a responsibility to the ORU family to be good stewards of our resources.”

The report is due to the effort of balancing their budget.

ORU isn’t the only organization that is struggling.  “Focus on the Family” is elimination 202 jobs, a cut of 18% in the workforce there.  They say that these layoffs are needed mainly due to donations and controbutions being down severly.

“It’s a sign of the times,” said Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. President Mike Kazmierski. “In the case of Focus, we believe it’s part of the economy, and as the economy recovers we expect a lot of those jobs to come back.”

Another Christian Organization affected is Cascade College in Portland Oregon.

For 15 years, Cascade College in Portland, Ore., struggled to find the financial necessities for any college: students to pay tuition and donors to help build an endowment.

Then came the global economic crisis, and suddenly that struggle became an impossibility.

Late last month, the small Christian college with just 280 students and $4 million in debt announced that it would shut down at the end of the current academic year.

“Our hearts would have said we would like to continue trying,” said Cascade president Bill Goad, somberly adding he never imagined his duties would include closing the school. But on top of their long-term challenges, “small colleges like Cascade just don’t have the slack to survive those kinds of impacts,” he said.

What will these, and many other, organizations do?  One thing that separates them from secular companies, is faith.  Let’s hope that they don’t give up on believeing in the One that they strive to serve.

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