Breckenridge, Dr. Lillian J. (Vande Krol) 1941-2018

BRECKENRIDGE, VANDE KROL

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 7/13/2021 at 21:35:31

Lillian J. (Vande Krol) Breckenridge
Oct 19, 1941 ~ Mar 24, 2018 (AGE 76)

Dr. Lillian Breckenridge, retired Professor Emeritus of Christian Education and Director of Theological Program Assessment at Oral Roberts University, passed away Saturday, March 24, at 76 years of age at of natural causes. Services are pending in her hometown of Sully, Iowa. She was a tenured professor of Christian education and taught courses in both Christian Education and Christian Counseling.

Developmental psychology and sociology of religion were two of Dr. Breckenridge's favorite academic disciplines. She was passionate about building the kingdom of God through Christian education, which she believed provides everyone an opportunity for a new beginning and greater personal fulfillment. "Changed lives are possible because we change through what we know and how we adapt," she once observed. "We live more completely through enriched mental perceptions." She taught marriage conferences across the country and was a qualified administrator of the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator, used for facilitating effectiveness in relationships and educational settings.

Her writing and research projects focused on how contextual influences affect families, marriage, and spiritual formation, and include multiple articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. She and her husband, Dr. James Breckenridge, professor of Theology at ORU, also coauthored a book on cross-cultural ministry, titled What Color Is Your God?

Dr. Breckenridge has four earned degrees: BA., M.R.E., M.A.L.S., and Ph.D. Throughout her career, she received multiple honors, including ORU's overall Outstanding Faculty Member in 2011 and Outstanding Graduate School of Theology and Ministry Faculty Member in 2005 and 2011, but perhaps the words of one of her students, writing about his seminary experience, best sum up her legacy of passion and purpose:
“I truly know the importance of being a Christian educator now ... with all the tools necessary to create and teach for the 21st century." ~ The Wallace Family Funeral Home, Newton, Iowa 24 Mar 2018.