Provost, Chaplain, and “a Man for All Seasons” – 31 Years at NBC
At a special retirement dinner to celebrate his time at NBC, some of Dr. Alan Lyke’s long-time colleagues shared memories and called him a “man for all seasons” in his more than 3 decades at Nazarene Bible College. One called him “an exceptionally versatile, reliable, and principled person” who had answered God’s call to be a Spirit-led leader who has helped shape the academic excellence of NBC.
Lyke is retiring as provost in June after serving in the top academic post since 2013.
Since 1995, he has held various roles at Nazarene Bible College. He began as professor of “Music and Bible” and then “Bible and Practics” until 2005, when he was named “Dr. Eugene and Fay Stowe Professor of Pastoral Care.” During this time, he also served as college chaplain for eleven years and completed a Doctor of Ministry degree from Drew University in 2006.
Dr. Lyke was first tapped to be Dean of Online Education in 2011, a position which was then expanded to Vice President for Academic Affairs in 2015. These responsibilities increased, and he was named Provost in 2021.
“I’ve had a sense of calling to Christian ministry since I was a teen” says Lyke. “The initial phase after college was a season as minister of music and deeply involved layman in a church in Green Bay, WI. The next season was as a seminary student and then pastor of a new congregation in Columbia, MO. The last, and longest, season was as a professor and then administrator at NBC, first in Colorado Springs and now in Olathe, KS. All along the way, from one season to the next, I tried to keep in step with the Lord’s leading as His servant in whatever role He led me to serve.”
Through these decades of service, Lyke helped build NBC into the Church of the Nazarene’s leading ministry training college. This effort included leading NBC through the transition of the college from being a campus based institution with an online presence to an online based institution with a campus presence, to being now an online school, while maintaining already high academic and spiritual expectations. Dr. Lyke has led the work to maintain NBC’s accreditation through the Association for Biblical Higher Education and the Higher Learning Commission. He has guided the Academic Department through necessary changes to our delivery of courses, degree and program offerings, and partnership with the COTN’s International Board of Education.
“One character trait that epitomizes Alan is consistency,” says retired NBC President Dr. Harold Graves, who appointed Lyke as Dean of Online Students. “First, his effective leadership in each responsibility assigned to him at the college level. Second, the respect he had garnered from faculty and staff. Third, his unwavering commitment to the mission of the college. Fourth, his trustworthiness as a confidential advisor to me as president. Fifth, his faithful and fruitful life as a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ. The thread that ties all this together is consistency. His consistency as a leader, as a confidant, as a Christ follower, and as a friend.”
“As our academic leader,” wrote NBC Board of Trustees Chair Dr. J. Philip Fuller to Lyke in honor of his retirement, “you facilitated the training of innumerable ministers of the gospel in the Church of the Nazarene and beyond. The influence of your ministry is, to us, untraceable. We can count apples on a tree, but only God can tell us about the trees in each apple! Your ministry has produced many ministers, and many seeds have been planted that will require eternity to fully explain the breadth of your impact.”
For Lyke, the most rewarding aspect of his years at NBC has been “watching and encouraging and contributing to the transformation of students who are in the process of saying “Yes” to Jesus and His will for their lives.” His decades of service at NBC mean that he is learning from some of those same students now as they are “fulfilling their callings in remarkable ways.”
He has expressed excitement for this next season of his life, “looking forward to being out from under the demands that come with the privilege of serving in my current position.” He plans to spend more time with his wife, Marylin, and their children and grandchildren. “I am looking forward to what comes next. In every transition of our lives there’s been a leading toward ‘this is what I have for you to do.’ I am not sure what that looks like but am excited to find out.”
We wish Dr. Lyke and his family God’s continued blessings! We are grateful!