The HCJB Saga:

From ICCM To RPADD

Eric Morse (2008) (left) and Tim VanReenen (2007) (right) colaborate on RPADD project.

At the 16th annual International Conference on Computing and Mission (ICCM) in 2005, Dr. Felix Aguilar shared his goal for an increase in missions-related projects that Taylor students could work on throughout the year. Dan Anderson, a missionary with HCJB Global, approached Dr. Aguilar about building a Radio Planning and Development Database (RPADD) that would help them keep track of their partnership ministries worldwide. So began the collaboration between HCJB and Taylor University.

That fall, students enrolled in SYS 390, Information System Analysis (ISA) began analyzing the project and creating conceptual designs for RPADD. During the spring semester, students enrolled in SYS 394, Information System Design (ISD) took these designs and began developing working prototypes. "The whole thrust of this [latter] course," says Dr. Aguilar, instructor for both courses, "is to learn by doing, to do something real."

Students Tim VanReenen and Nate Todd worked as interns that summer at the HCJB Global Technology Center, located in Elkhart, Indiana. During the fall and spring semesters of the 2006-2007 year, Dr. Aguilar taught a special Projects class to continue development on RPADD, which had turned out to be much more involved than anyone had foreseen.

"During the first two classes [ISA/ISD], I served primarily as 'client', answering questions and providing information to the design teams as they worked," explains Joshua Gee, Director of Information Security at HCJB Global. "Over the course of the last year, I have been working more and more closely with the students involved in the project. Despite the fact that this has pushed students far out of their academic comfort zone, they have had a consistent "can-do" attitude about the new challenges they've been facing."

The summer of 2007 saw the return of Taylor students to the HCJB Technology Center: VanReenen, along with Eric Morse, spent their summer working on additional features for RPADD. As of September 2007, VanReenen became a part-time employee for HCJB Global, and will continue working on RPADD through next summer.

Taylor’s involvement with HCJB Global over the last two years has proved that it is possible to integrate missions work and computer science. As Dr. Aguilar says, "there is a desperate need for technical skills on the missions field."

"If it weren't for the enthusiasm and commitment of Taylor University faculty and students, this project would more than likely still be waiting for someone to have time to work on it," says Gee. "Their excitement and dedication to seeing this project through to completion has been an enormous encouragement to me, and their efforts have provided HCJB Global with a valuable tool."

Read more about how Eric Morse (2008) did his practicum in missions and computing at HCJB Global...