Faculty Contacts

Nordby, Kenneth

HS English

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What a privilege it is for me to serve on the faculty at Grace and instruct our students in English! I appreciate the freedom here to pursue academics while recognizing God as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and the Source of all knowledge. My objective is to help our students master their language and literature skills while expanding their awareness of God's ownership of the world and discovering their place in it.

I confess that I am fascinated by language, and I will endeavor to impart that fascination to your child. English gives us not only great works of literature but also practical communication skills t hat we need throughout life. Most importantly, God chose to communicate with us through language. Even if for no other reason, English language skills need to be learned so we can understand the Scriptures. My standard English curriculum includes a study of American literature as well as exercises to cultivate reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and writing skills. My electives focus on specific types of language skills, such as college writing, creative writing, and public speaking.

Exploring the Gospel of John with students is another dimension of my experience at Grace. In this class we investigate the panorama of Christ’s life as seen through the eyes of the beloved disciple. By comparing John to the Synoptics we learn about John’s unique presentation of Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Every relevant topic is fair game in this class, including Bible history, geography, culture, and languages, but most important is John’s insistence that Jesus came to give eternal life.

Wheaton College was the home of my undergraduate work, where I majored in Greek. Later I received master’s degrees from Southern Illinois University and Dallas Theological Seminary, in English and in Bible. Most of my professional life was spent working with a different sort of language – computer programming languages – but in 2006 I fulfilled a lifelong dream by becoming a teacher. I taught college freshmen at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh and at The College at Southeastern in Wake Forest before joining the faculty at Grace.

My wife and I are originally from the Midwest, and we have also lived in the Dallas area. Since 1995 we have really enjoyed living in Cary, North Carolina. We have three grown sons, and one grandson only ten minutes away. We love to go to the coast, and we especially like relaxing in the town of Beaufort, North Carolina.