August 5, 2016
By Paul Joseph, Paragon News Director –
Corn Bible Academy school board recently hired a new school superintendent.
Dr. Greg Giles, from Bemidji, Minnesota, assumed the responsibility of School Administrator effective August 1.
Coming most recently from another small, Christian school, a college, Giles has vast experience having performed many duties and worn many hats over the years.
Corn Bible Academy, or CBA, is the oldest Christian school west of the Mississippi River, serving students in grades 7 through 12. The academy was started by the Corn Mennonite Brethren Church in 1902 and the church continues to be active in the academy’s direction even though the academy is now its own separate non-profit corporation.
Dr. Giles earned his Ph.D. in Educational Studies at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois and has served as a missionary and Christian educator around the world, including nine years in Liberia, four months in Bangladesh, four years in China in addition to serving at Oak Hills.
He has been at Oak Hills Christian College for the better part of 26 years most recently serving as interim dean.
Giles brings years of experience to the CBA superintendent position and looks forward to the school’s future. “I’m amazed at the academic and athletic success of a school this size, but the most important aspect of CBA is that kids have strong role models and a strong relationship with Christ.”
Though he’s been a Minnesotan for many years, Oklahoma won’t be a big transition as he’s seen a number of different cultures, first hand, over the years.
The academy will soon start construction of a new building and a new campus as they relocate the 113-year-old school from Corn to Clinton.
A new 43,000-square-foot building and campus will soon be built on a 40-acre site immediately north of the Western Oklahoma Christian School at the south edge of Clinton outside the city limits.
Over the coming years, Giles hopes expand the academy’s ministry to international students.
The Christ-centered school has an enrollment of approximately 100 students and school leaders are hoping to double that over the next 10 years. The new building is designed for 200 and could be finished in time for the fall 2017, school year.
While in China, Giles wrote a daily devotional book, A New Life, A New Relationship, A New You, intended to help new Chinese Christians understand and follow the Bible. He currently is working on a textbook that compares six major religious worldviews.
Giles follows Curt Cloud as superintendent. Cloud announced his resignation in April in a letter to the Corn Bible Academy and its board of directors. He told them in a letter announcing his resignation that God has challenges for him and his wife, elsewhere.
Corn Bible Academy classes will resume in Corn on August 11.
– 30 –