Evangel magazine // Fall 2018

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EVANG E L.E DU

| 800. EVA NGEL

College of Arts & Sciences College of Adult & Graduate Studies Assemblies of God Theological Seminary

evan g el. e d u • 8 0 0 . EVA N G EL

CONTENTS 08 CENTERED ON COMPASSION

New center springs out of Evangel’s DNA

10 FOSTERED IN CHRIST

Once a victim, teacher helps children heal

14 A HOPE DEALER

In Jesus, ‘junkies & felons’ join the saints

26 A WIN OFF THE FIELD

Athlete keeps at-risk students in focus

28 GOOD WORK, GOD WORK

An entrepreneur launches unique church

36 Q&A: ‘GOD WILL GUIDE ME’

Alumna holds onto faith in a divided capital

On the cover, from left: EU students Seth Wynn, Melissa Rivera, Jonathan Carlson, Cecilia Corbin, Cherish Ward, and Caleb Wagner.

All serve on the ministry board of Crosswalk Student Ministries on campus.

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dr. Carol Taylor President, Evangel University

ROOTED IN TRUTH University’s legacy is generations of alumni who faithfully serve their communities he first thing guests see when they enter my office is a painting of the famous Angel Oak outside of Charleston, South Carolina. A brass plate hangs on the frame inscribed with Isaiah 61:3:

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor.

The painting was a gift from parents of a current student.

I had mentioned the Isaiah passage when they asked about my vision for Evangel, and they commissioned artist Courtney Miles to paint the massive Angel Oak. A gracious gift, the painting was an affirmation of the vision:

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to raise strong men and women who will serve Christ in their generation.

As we launch our first magazine that unites the stories of Evangel University, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and our Central Bible College alumni, I am drawn again to Isaiah 61 and this image of why Evangel exists.

Historically, Evangel, AGTS, and CBC have always been about equipping men and women to be the presence of Christ in the world. In Luke 4:16-21, Christ is in the synagogue and reads Isaiah 61, in which the prophet declares that the Spirit of the Lord is on him to proclaim good news to the poor and free the oppressed. Then, Luke writes that Christ rolled up the scroll, sat down,

The first thing guests see when they enter my office is a painting of the famous Angel Oak outside of Charleston, South Carolina.

generations and are a powerful image of enduring beauty, strength, and shelter.

I dream of a campus where we love God passionately with our minds, our hearts, and our hands extended in service, where we equip men and women to be the presence of Christ in the world, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

and announced, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Christ’s listeners would have known what Isaiah wrote next: that God’s people would be called “oaks of righteousness.”

When I was praying about returning to my alma mater to lead the implementation of the consolidation of Evangel, AGTS, and CBC, I journaled some of the things that I dreamed and prayed for the consolidated university.

From time to time, I return to my journal and again offer this dream as a prayer:

I dream of a comprehensive university where Isaiah 61 becomes a reality. I dream of God working in our classrooms, dorms, chapels, athletic fields, labs, and performance halls and declaring over our students, faculty, staff, and community… They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

The painting is a daily reminder of what we do at Evangel. Although it now stands over 66 feet tall, the Angel Oak started as a tiny acorn. Like an oak, a human life starts small but with a strong root system can grow into tremendous potential. I often think of time spent at the university as nurturing a strong root system that will grow and sustain our graduates throughout a life of Spirit-empowered service.

This is why the painting of the oak tree and the stories in this magazine are important. The legacy of the alumni of Evangel, AGTS, and CBC will not be judged in human terms but in terms of what God can do through people willing to submit to Him and grow where they’re planted as oaks of righteousness, displaying God’s splendor in a world desperately in need of the hope of Christ.

May God bless you and may He bless Evangel.

I dream of a campus that produces mighty oaks of righteousness, these majestic trees that grow over

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FROM THE EDITOR

LIVING THE LEGACY New Evangel magazine celebrates the good work EU, AGTS, CBC alumni do to answer the call

I

n 1913, evangelist Rachel Sizelove was praying at a farmhouse east of what’s now the campus of Evangel University, and she said the Lord spoke to her telling her, “I’m going to do a mighty work in Springfield that will astound the world.”

She saw a vision of a “beautiful, bubbling, sparkling fountain in the heart of the City of Springfield,” adding that the water “kept flowing until the whole land was deluged with living water.”

That was a year before the Assemblies of God was born with the pledge to do “the greatest evangelism the world has ever seen.” Five years after her vision, the fellowship moved to Springfield, which to Sizelove was just confirmation of what she saw and heard.

Matt Hufman (AGTS ’17) Executive Editor

The past century has certainly demonstrated that. Not only have pastors, missionaries, and church planters moved through Springfield and gone around the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ but also teachers, nurses, and business people, among others, have served as light and salt in their communities. Many of those people came to Springfield – to Evangel University, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and Central Bible College – for the skills, training, and education to prepare them for their callings.

This is the first edition of the magazine of the consolidated university, and it is designed to tell and celebrate the stories of the students and alumni of Evangel, AGTS, and CBC. The main focus of this issue is the new Center for Compassion, a partnership between Evangel and Convoy of Hope, the international compassion organization that has long ties to the university. Following that story is a series of profiles of compassion of Evangel, AGTS, and CBC alumni who are doing compassion work in some unique ways. For example: Samantha Orr (EU ’17) suffered terrible abuse at the hands of her biological parents but today is a teacher who ministers to others who come out of abuse. Tim Hayes (EU ’89) is a personal injury attorney who helps people suffering in warzones around the world. John Alarid (CBC ’13, AGTS ’16) and his wife, Hannah (EU ’18) opened a church specifically to help addicts and the down and out.

In addition, in this magazine, beautifully designed by David Mayne (EU ’97), you’ll also see stories about things going on in campus and alumni news.

But through it all, you’ll see the legacy of what God has done and is doing through the consolidated Evangel University and the legacies that alumni from Evangel, AGTS, and CBC have built and continue to build.

Rachel Sizelove’s vision was correct. God has done a mighty work in and through Springfield, and He’s not done yet. In the years to come, I hope you’ll look forward to future issues and celebrating the stories of what God continues to do through Evangel and its alumni.

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EVANGEL UNIVERSITY

TURN A UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

Dr. Carol Taylor (EU ’73, AGTS ’78) EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, PROVOST

Dr. Michael McCorcle (EU ’78) VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT

Dr. Michael Kolstad (EU ’88) VICE PRESIDENT FOR BUSINESS AND FINANCE, CFO

Ms. Linda Allen (EU ’83) VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

Dr. Sheri Phillips (EU ’81) VICE PRESIDENT FOR ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

Mr. Chris Belcher VICE PRESIDENT, DEAN OF AGTS

Dr. Timothy Hager (AGTS ’89, ’02) VICE PRESIDENT FOR STRATEGY AND INNOVATION, CIO

Mr. Gary Blackard CHIEF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

Dr. Patricia Hansen EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Matt Hufman (AGTS ’17)

DREAM INTO A

REALITY Help a student answer their God-given calling at Evangel.

The Evangel and AGTS Impact Grants go directly to scholarships.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS/EDITORS

Paul Logsdon (EU ’77), Kelby Lorenz, Alyssah Morrison (EU ’18).

CREATIVE DIRECTION

D. Mayne Design PHOTOGRAPHY

Beth Solano Photography

OUR MISSION

Evangel University is a comprehensive Christian university committed to excellence in education and equipping students to become Spirit-empowered servants of God who impact the Church and society globally.

Evangel is a free publication mailed to alumni, donors, and friends of Evangel University and its seminary, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and Central Bible College.

Evangel University is the national university of the Assemblies of God and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and The Association of Theological Schools.

Evangel is endorsed by the Alliance for the Assemblies of God Higher Education and a member of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities.

EVANGEL UNIVERSITY 1111 N. Glenstone Ave. Springfield, MO 65802 800.EVANGEL info@evangel.edu www.evangel.edu

D ON AT E T O DAY CALL 417.865.2815 EXT. 7290 OR GO ONLINE TO EVANGEL.THANKYOU4CARING.ORG

CENTER FOR COMPASSION

PART OF EVANGEL’S

DNA

by Matt Hufman

A

Center for Compassion plans to take university’s work to a new level in preparing servant-leaders

fter last year’s homecoming, Convoy of Hope founder Hal Donaldson met with Evangel University President Carol Taylor to explain a dream he had to raise the next generation of Christian servant leaders for compassion ministries. It would start at Evangel.

For Taylor (EU ’73, AGTS ’78), it didn’t require much more of an explanation. It made perfect sense.

“Evangel has always been about committing students for service,” Taylor said. “This is part of our DNA.” After Taylor and Donaldson met, Evangel and Convoy, the international faith-based compassion organization, started to explore how to flesh out the vision. They created a task force of board members, faculty, staff, and leaders of local compassion ministries to study the idea.

After months of work, the boards of Evangel and Convoy this spring approved a plan to move forward together.

As a result, Evangel University this fall launched the Center for Compassion in partnership with Convoy of Hope, thanks to an anonymous donation that will fund the first two years of operations. The center, which is expected to serve as a model for other universities, will train students, coordinate student outreach work,

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and become a clearinghouse for research into compassion ministries.

“Although Evangel has always done this, the launch of this center is allowing us to take it to the next level,” Taylor said. “We will ensure – in a very thoughtful, planned way – that every student who graduates from Evangel University does so with a theological foundation for how we are the presence of Christ in the world and a lifelong commitment to serving in the communities in which they live as well as supporting compassion care around the globe.”

Evangel has always been about committing students for service.

The center will bring together under one umbrella a variety of campus activities and outreaches that already exist, including volunteer projects, internships, and practicums. It will also more intentionally integrate teaching on compassion into the curriculum. This fall, incoming freshmen will all take a seminar focused on compassion.

Dr. Donna Washburn (EU ’98), the center’s founding director, said the multi-faceted vision for the center starts with “infusing a theology of compassion to all students that come into Evangel, seated and online, from undergrad to doctoral students.”

“We want them to not only understand the theology of compassion but learn how to live that out in their lives, as students, and as they move out into citizens of the world,” Washburn said.

Students will have further opportunities to serve in compassion ministries through the center. In the past three years alone, Evangel students have compiled more than 50,000 hours of volunteer service.

Washburn also said the center wants to research and compile information about compassion ministries and act as a clearinghouse so people can see best practices and what works for compassion ministries. Washburn, who was chair of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Department before being asked to lead the new center, noted that Evangel students and faculty for years have done empirical research and projects in compassion fields. Evangel hopes to add a Pentecostal perspective to the growing body of work on the theology of compassion.

Before Donaldson and Taylor met to discuss the vision that became the Center for Compassion, Donaldson laid out part of his vision in his 2017 commencement speech.

Donaldson, who studied at Evangel, said that God wanted His people to feed the hungry, liberate the enslaved, and heal the wounded, and he told graduates that doing so required not only a close personal relationship with Jesus but also a change in thinking.

“Repeatedly you have been told that it’s your job to bring the world to the church,” Donaldson said. “Let me suggest to you that it’s your job to bring the church to the world.

If ever the world needed a revolution of compassion and kindness, it needs one now.”

To open the school year, new students spent a day volunteering at churches, compassion ministries, and Convoy of Hope.

Donaldson, whose organization has helped more than 100 million people worldwide since its creation in 1994, then told graduates that they had a choice.

“Your diploma can become nothing more than a wall ornament that collects dust,” he said, “or it can be your marching orders to deliver hope to a desperate world.”

The Center for Compassion could provide that clear choice for Evangel students for years to come.

“I can honestly say that Evangel changed the course of my life,” Donaldson said, “and really laid the foundation for the work of Convoy of Hope.”

FOR MORE:

Center for Compassion evangel.edu/compassion Convoy of Hope convoyofhope.org/

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PROFILES OF COMPASSION

LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND Once badly abused and in foster care, Samantha Orr gives foster children hope

by Matt Hufman

S

amantha Orr remembers her early Christmases this way: Her biological mother would buy 25 gifts and every day leading up to Christmas give Samantha an option.

Samantha could give a present away to a sibling or take one and receive whatever form of punishment her mother could dream up.

“It was easier to give gifts away,” Samantha said. “She said I didn’t deserve these gifts, I wasn’t worthy, and I should give them away.”

Although Samantha gave the gifts away, she couldn’t avoid the abuse.

By the time she was 8 years old, Samantha had repeatedly and viciously been abused – sexually, physically, and mentally – and she was routinely singled out among six other siblings for bizarre and cruel punishments. Her biological mother and her “dads” – her biological father and her mother’s boyfriend – even forced her siblings to beat Samantha.

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An anonymous phone call to authorities finally ended it. Tipped off, police and social workers showed up, and they were stunned by the abuse Samantha suffered, calling her case the worst in the history of Greene County, Missouri. Samantha and her siblings were put into foster care.

The next summer, Samantha found herself at Royal Family KIDS camp, which is designed for foster kids, and it became a life-changing experience. There, she heard the story of Jesus and she found people who genuinely showered her with love. She also spent time with Dr. Jean Orr, a psychologist and Evangel professor, who would become her foster and then adoptive mother.

“If Samantha had not been taken out of her original home she probably would have wound up dead at some point and nobody would have known and nobody would have missed her because nobody knew about her,” said Dr. Orr (EU ’86).

If Samantha had not been taken out of her original home she probably would have wound up dead.

Today, Samantha Orr (EU ’17) is a middle school math teacher and a volunteer and advocate for Royal Family KIDS, spending several weeks in the summer working camps. She also leads a monthly Royal Family KIDS gathering to mentor foster children at Evangel Temple church in Springfield, Missouri.

the Southern California mountains, and 37 foster children came.

“As an adult, it really does break my heart seeing how young some of these kids are and the extreme things that have happened to them,” she said. “Their childhood has been ruined. It has been taken away. I really want to do anything I can to help them.”

Tesch started to pray Psalm 40:1-3, in which the psalmist writes that God “lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire.” He saw it as a prayer for a foster child who pleads, “Lord, take me out of this mess that I’m in.”

A vision to ‘get muddy’ Royal Family KIDS started 33 years ago in Orange County, California, under Wayne and Diane Tesch, both Evangel alumni. As a child, Wayne Tesch (EU ’69) had a vision of children from different ethnic backgrounds together worshipping God. A few years after graduation, he was the director of Christian education at a church in Southern California, working for Dr. George O. Wood (EU ’62).

Tesch prayed, asking God for leading in his role, and as he prayed, he saw the same vision. He started a series of summer camps to minister to children.

In 1985, after seeing an overwhelming need to help children from broken homes, Tesch felt an incredible sense of compassion and was impressed to start a camp for foster kids. He and his wife arranged a camp in

“When I looked at the 37 kids, I saw the dream fulfilled: black, Asian, Caucasian, and Hispanic children were there,” he said. “And God spoke to me, ‘This is what I raised you to do. This is your calling.’”

“That’s only going to happen because God’s people reach down in the mud and get muddy with them,” Tesch said.

“We need to be active in our faith and get muddy with them and do whatever it takes to care for the child.”

In the years since, Royal Family KIDS has taken off, training churches and volunteers to run camps for foster kids from 6 to 12 years old. The churches take the lead, raising money, arranging campsites and working with foster care systems, and the children attend at no cost.

The camps are designed to make children feel special and loved.

This past year, more than 9,000 children attended 223 camps throughout the United States, and there’s an international program with churches involved in Africa, Australia, and Europe. As well, churches can also offer year-round mentoring programs and a club for teenagers in foster care. With more than half a million children

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As a child, Samantha Orr found acceptance at a Royal Family KIDS camp in 2004, which included a tea party.

in state foster care systems, Tesch said there is plenty of opportunity for churches to help.

“We’re at the corner of church and state streets,” Tesch said. “Here’s what the church can do to work with the state. This is an opportunity for the church to step up, and I think Royal Family KIDS has been the first part of that.”

Four years ago, Tesch transitioned from the daily operations of Royal Family KIDS to the For the Children Foundation, which raises legacy gifts for the ministry.

That’s a lesson, he said, that went back to Evangel University and the teaching of Dr. George O. Wood (EU ’62), the former superintendent of the Assemblies of God and current chancellor of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

“George taught me in college that I’m the steward of the dream, not the owner,” Tesch said. “All ministry is God’s ministry. I’m just the steward.”

As he continues to build a financial legacy for the ministry, the practical legacy for Tesch’s dream is evident in his travels, in which he regularly runs into people who were part of camp. People like Samantha Orr.

Healing in a new family Soon after attending her first Royal Family KIDS camp, Samantha moved in with the Orrs, Jean and Daryle, (EU ’91), and their family. Samantha shared a room with the Orrs’ daughter, Alyssah, who would crawl into Samantha’s bed to cuddle. Alyssah said she would then ask Samantha to tell stories of her previous family.

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“Samantha would try to shrug me off because she’s older, but we would have story time,” said Alyssah (Orr) Morrison (EU ’18). “They were all horrific, but they were fictional to me at the time. I think the only reason Samantha let me sleep with her was because she got to let someone in who didn’t have any sort of ulterior motive for her life. I think it became an act of healing, and it connected us.”

Initially, Jean and Daryle Orr had concerns about how the two girls, Alyssah, then 6, and Samantha, then 8, would react and how the family would blend. Jean Orr had her answer when she peaked into the girls’ bedroom.

“I knew things would be OK when Alyssah would be in the same bed with her arm around Samantha,” Jean Orr said. “I feel like God gave Samantha to us. It was a gift. She was such a neat kid.”

Going into the adoption, the prognosis for Samantha wasn’t good. She had missed about three years of school, she had a speech impediment, and she had been badly hurt in every which way. And case workers said she had a below-average IQ score.

“There wasn’t a lot of hope that Samantha was going to accomplish too much,” Orr said.

But Samantha Orr worked hard to overcome, and she was named valedictorian of her high school class, and she went on to get a degree at Evangel magna cum laude. Along the way, she has been volunteering for Royal Family KIDS in various leadership roles, and this past summer, she took training so she can eventually lead a camp.

She also learned to forgive.

At just 9, she asked her new mother to pray with her to forgive her “dads” – the two men who sexually abused her, one of whom would lay a gun on the nightstand when he raped her, threatening to use it if she told anyone. Jean Orr was stunned by the girl’s request.

“It was amazing,” Orr said. “It was hard given what they did, but she understood the Christian concept. She got that early.”

Jean Orr went to pray with her daughter, which Samantha said came after she had a “battle with God” over forgiving those who harmed her.

“I forgave them because I wanted to trust that God would forgive me and that He would take care of me,” she said.

Orr said forgiving has been a process over her life as memories come back. But she wants foster children to find the healing she has in Jesus.

“I want them to know they are important and loved, but you can’t be healed unless you see worth in yourself,” she said. “I want them to feel confident, heal, and move forward.

She also learned to forgive.

“I can give back Jesus’ love and model what human love is supposed to be, so when they go back to foster care, they can have different memories than what they grew up with.”

She knows because it happened to her.

The gift of love At Samantha’s first Royal Family KIDS camp, the staff threw a birthday party for all of the children, including cake and a pile of gifts for each camper. Orr opened her presents but quickly repackaged them. Her counselor asked what she was doing.

“I’m not supposed to have gifts,” Orr recalled saying, her biological mother’s words echoing in her head. She told the counselor that she was going to give the gifts to a biological sibling who was also at the camp.

“The counselor said, ‘No,’ and unpacked the box,” Orr said.

“That’s when I knew they really did love me.”

FOR MORE: Royal Family KIDS: rfk.org For the Children Foundation: rfk.org/for-the-children-foundation Evangel’s Behavioral and Social Sciences Department: evangel.edu/departments/behavioral-social-sciences

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PROFILES OF COMPASSION

All are Welcome

John and Hannah Alarid bring hope to the hopeless and left behind

by Matt Hufman

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J

Alarid expected to open the church in Grant Beach, a rough-and-tumble Springfield neighborhood, but a landlord backed out just a couple of weeks before launch. ohn Alarid sits in a wooden kitchen chair in the living room of a rural Missouri home, surrounded by a dozen ex-cons, recovering junkies, and castoffs. Alarid calls out names, asking several men to tell their stories.

On one couch is Scotty, a 20-something from Southern California, who used to sell drugs to pay the bills thinking, “I was a good person by providing for my family.”

Marvin, a 50-something former gang member from St. Louis, straightens up when called. He has lived most of his life behind bars in what he says has been a cycle of “drugs, violence, and prison.”

Across the room is Shawn, from the Missouri Ozarks and in his 30s, who proudly says he never did heroin before admitting to a list of other things that left him with serious legal troubles and a broken family.

They all live at the house, a home that Alarid established for men getting out of prison. It may be their last chance at sobriety, much less freedom, and they live by a strict set of rules to keep them clean and sober.

They’re also closely discipled by the staff of the home and members of Freedom City Church Springfield, the church Alarid and his wife planted.

In Alarid, they’ve found more than a pastor. They’ve found someone who knows what it’s like to be in their shoes. Alarid is an ex-con and former junkie, someone who never thought he would see the day he was a pastor leading men and women to know Jesus, much less sobriety. By his count, between prison and church ministry, he has seen more than a thousand people come to Christ in the past few years.

A few days later, Hausfeld offered the seminary’s wellapportioned chapel. Alarid saw it as an answer to an urgent prayer. But, then he had another thought: “Will our people show up to the Assemblies of God’s seminary?”

That was a very real concern. Many of the people who had been attracted to Alarid’s evangelistic ministry and saved through it were those with addictions, criminal records, and histories and who might not feel comfortable in a church, much less a seminary.

But they came. And they’ve been coming since.

In the past two years, Alarid’s church has bought a building in Grant Beach and opened four homes – two for women, two for men – that help people either coming out from prison or trying to live sober lives. He has seen hundreds of people come to Jesus and lives transformed by the power of the Gospel. Services, which have grown to more than 450 people, have included altar calls in which people have left illegal drugs at the altar to follow Jesus.

The ministry has boomed, in part because outreach is at the center of the church culture. Hausfeld said the church consistently looks to reach the unreached.

John Alarid regularly preaches in jails and prisons. His testimony resonates with inmates.

“It’s been a move of God,” said Alarid, who believes God has called him to raise up “an army of outcasts, a Lazarus generation.” “I’m so grateful.”

Planting in a ‘seedbed’ Alarid (CBC ’13, AGTS ’16) and his wife, Hannah (EU ’18), planted Freedom City Church Springfield at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in 2016. For Dr. Mark Hausfeld, then president of AGTS, it made perfect sense, noting the word seminary means “seedbed.” And, Alarid’s ministry plan came out of seminary papers he did for Hausfeld and Dr. Jay Taylor.

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PROFILES OF COMPASSION “There are a lot of churches in Springfield, but not a lot in the trenches like in the early days of the Assemblies of God intentionally engaging people,” said Hausfeld (EU ’80, AGTS ’83), a professor of urban and Islamic studies. “John’s church will go out and find people.

That’s their missiology.”

In addition to his church work, Alarid continues to do prison and jail ministry throughout the region, and the church has regular festivals and community outreach events. And, they do plenty of street evangelism and outreach to the down and out.

“For us, compassion ministries is a main focus,” he said.

“Looking at Matthew 25, how we treat the prisoners, the hopeless, the lost, the least of these – this is Jesus’ heart.”

‘The church with the sign’ Alarid’s outreach strategy for the least of these is clear, judging alone by his church’s sign, which boldly announces: WELCOME JUNKIES & FELONS & SAINTS Alarid said that he has several people in his church who came because of the sign, including one man who had vowed never to go back to a church. He only relented to his wife’s repeated requests, but he told her he would only go to “the church with the sign.” Now, they’re both saved, baptized, and serving in the church.

For Alarid and his wife, the sign is a message of Jesus’ love and redemption for all people, as well as a reminder of their calling. Both of them came to Christ through recovery ministries. Alarid, who was once a drug dealer and heroin addict, found Jesus through Victory Outreach in California. Hannah, who struggled with drugs and alcohol, was saved through Teen Challenge in Long Island, New York.

“The church is the vision God gave to us, but it’s really our job to nurture what God intended,” said Hannah Alarid, who studied music at Evangel and oversees worship and

For us, compassion ministries is a main focus. media for the church. “There are amazing churches in the area, but the idea of a new church that is for a specific and unique body of people is what makes it exciting.”

The Alarids are finding support throughout the community, including their alma maters – Dr. Michael Jaffe (CBC ’76, AGTS ’04), for example, leads a Bible study at the home for men coming out of prison. They’re seeing people come to Jesus each week. They’re seeing miracles – people are healed and delivered in church services, as well as in the four homes for people coming out of prison or addictions. God is putting lives back together.

“The community at large sees the church as all talk and no compassion,” Alarid said. “When they see you feeding the homeless, opening the door to post-incarcerated and sex-trafficking victims, they take another look.”

Dr. Jim Bradford, pastors the 111-year-old Central Assembly of God, which is just a few blocks from Freedom City, and he has worked to partner with the Alarids’ ministry.

“I’m so grateful that they’re there,” said Bradford, a member of the Evangel University Board of Trustees who served until recently as the general secretary of the

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sentence before a dramatic encounter with Jesus. God turned his life around, and Schwyart started serving in church and prayed for a pastor who would see him as “a human being, not an ex-maniac.” He then met Alarid.

“John is very, very aware of some of the very toxic things that are happening under the surface that are destroying people’s lives.”

Finding god in prison Alarid understands the toxic things because he has lived them. He grew up as the son of missionaries to Latin America. His parents’ divorce, though, sent him spinning and off on the wrong path. Alarid eventually became a drug dealer, ran with gangs, and worked with Mexican drug cartels. He came to Jesus, went to a ministry school, and worked as a missionary in the Philippines, but his life went out of control after he returned to America and was arrested on an old criminal case.

“The government couldn’t change me, the prison couldn’t change me, only Jesus could change me.”

Alarid does understand. Completely.

“The Bible says he who is forgiven much, loves much,” said Alarid, eyes misting over, “and we just want to help others and show them compassion.”

FOR MORE: freedomcitychurch.org Seminary programs: agts.edu Worship leadership at Evangel: evangel.edu/programs/worship-leadership/

Hannah Alarid

Assemblies of God. “John’s just a thoroughly converted individual, and he has a gift for people coming off the streets and coming out of addictions.

“A normal pastor couldn’t run this church unless they’ve been around,” he said. “It takes people like Pastor John who understands.

While fighting the case, he backslid and returned to drugs, and he ended up in prison in New Mexico. He arranged to have drugs snuck into prison and continued to use them, until he was sent to solitary confinement in 2008 and cried out to God. “I was in last place if any place at all,” he said.

In solitary for five months, he had a powerful encounter with God. In his autobiography, “My Prison Became a Palace,” he said it felt like “waves of liquid love flowing over me.”

It was a transformational experience. Alarid spent his time reading the Bble and praying. He felt God speak to him. And, when he walked out, he was cured of any desire for drugs.

After his release, he was healed of Hepatitis C and he eventually headed to Central Bible College, where he met his wife. He also found Springfield ripe for ministry.

A heart of compassion At the home for men coming out of prison, Jason Schwyhart, 45, handles the daily operations. Stout with graying hair and beard, he looks the part when he describes himself as the descendent of a line of Ozark Mountain “outlaws.” Schwyhart served more than two decades in federal prison and once faced a death

John and Hannah Alarid, with their daughter, Brooklyn.

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PROFILES OF COMPASSION

by Matt Hufman

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EVANGEL UNIVERSITY

O

n a clear winter day, attorney Tim Hayes sat in the front room of a Springfield, Missouri, home, intently watching the young man in dark glasses.

Yousif “Malo” Shaheen, 27, typically had trouble in bright light. A Yazidi soldier in the Peshmerga forces of northern Iraq and Kurdistan, Shaheen suffered shrapnel wounds to both eyes fighting the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS. He was all-but-blind in one eye.

Through what could be described as a series of miracles, Hayes (EU ’89) brought Shaheen to America and arranged for a surgeon to try to restore his sight. As sunlight streamed in from the windows, Hayes carefully watched to see if it paid off.

Shaheen spoke softly in Arabic: I can see.

A huge sense of relief washed over Hayes.

“He lives in a world in which sometimes your religion, creed, or faith might end up with you getting a different level of service,” Hayes said, noting that Shaheen’s Yazidi are a persecuted minority. “That’s why the relief was there.

He felt we delivered on what he really thought we could give him, and he put his trust in us.”

When he left the Army, he continued his law practice and studied at night to get his emergency medical technician license, wondering what else God had in store. He ended up on the phone with a former Green Beret named David Eubank, who had left the Army to get a seminary education and then founded the Free Burma Rangers.

Eubank’s group started to help civilians affected by civil war in Burma, now known as Myanmar, but has since branched out into other conflict zones, including Sudan and Iraq. The group takes supplies into conflicts and provides medical help for people where relief and aid agencies won’t go because of the danger.

Eubank recruits highly trained medical professionals and experienced soldiers, not attorneys. But Eubanks said he felt God wanted Hayes to visit him in Iraq. A few weeks later, Hayes was in Iraq, wondering what he was doing. His wife, Janis (Jackson) Hayes (EU ’89), sensed God’s calling.

“When he said Iraq, I said that’s crazy, but that’s Tim,” she said. “I know God opened the door.

“Compassion is definitely a motivator in this. Tim has a prophet’s motivation, but mercy is mixed in. He can’t rest until he’s tried to beat down the door.”

Over the past few years, Hayes has taken time off a successful law practice to travel at his own expense into combat zones in Iraq and Myanmar where he helps civilians who often are caught in the crossfire. It’s an outside-the-box ministry that he wasn’t looking for, but with a heart for the vulnerable, he has followed opportunities as they’ve opened, including bringing Shaheen – who had never heard the gospel – to the United States.

“If you try to help people, the Holy Spirit will say if you’ve overshot your target,” he said, “but you’ll never know unless you make yourself uncomfortable.”

A calling to iraq The son of international evangelists, Hayes went to Evangel to prepare for law school with a clear mission.

“I was going to change the Supreme Court ruling on abortion for Jesus,” he said.

Hayes went on to the University of Missouri’s law school, but arguing in the U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t happened.

Instead, he taught at Evangel before his successful personal injury law practice took off. Then, after 9/11, he joined the Army Reserves as an attorney and was deployed to the Middle East.

Mobilizing help Tim Hayes has since made several trips to Iraq and Myanmar, handling logistics and doing anything he can. He has seen grisly things, had bullets whiz by, and witnessed the best and worst in humanity.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, but like with Shaheen coming over, you don’t know until you try,” he said.

In the case of Shaheen, it meant trying to get a rare visa, arrange medical care, and line up travel for a man who had never been on a plane and didn’t speak English. In other cases, it has meant persuading medical professionals to travel with him overseas, often at Hayes’

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PROFILES OF COMPASSION expense. This has been a journey of faith for which he doesn’t see himself terribly well suited.

“I have an EMT license that’s about to expire, and I’m a personal injury attorney,” he said. “About the only skill I have in this is putting my butt in a plane next to someone with the skill to help the Iraqi people, and they’re like, ‘At least Tim Hayes will die with me.’”

The first time Hayes went to Iraq, he looked for trouble around every corner. Now, while still careful, he feels much more confident in navigating his work, and he has brought several medical professionals, including two of his daughters, with him. He has also opened up a small pipeline for volunteers, medical experts, and help for those working in the region, and he has started networking with Christian churches in Iraq. He has found God’s favor as people are responding.

Showing the love of Jesus The key, Hayes said, is compassion, noting the long line of missionaries, church planters, and preachers who went around the world spreading the gospel by helping people.

Dr. Charlie Self, a professor of church history at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, notes that compassion ministry “whether accidental or planned” has long been a critical ingredient in missions.

“Over the past 300 years of modern missions, where Christians have gone the compassion part has just been baked in, and that’s helped the church grow,” Self said.

“How many stories have you heard of Christians digging wells and the local imam saying, ‘We need to listen to what you have to say’? Many.”

In Shaheen’s case, the news of what Hayes arranged has rippled through the tight-knit Yazidi community. The Yazidi, who largely live in northern Iraq and Turkey, are a small ethnic and religious minority who have been persecuted by ISIS, which declared the Yazidi religion “demonic.” Shaheen said they also felt pressure and persecution from local Muslims.

Hayes had connected with Shaheen’s family because Shaheen’s brother was an interpreter for the Free Burma Rangers and was fatally wounded saving a child who had

A flock of sheep outside of Mosul, Iraq, in 2017. Tim Hayes bought a sheep from the flock for a team dinner.

Tim Hayes with a shepherd near Mount Sinjar in 2016.

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been shot by ISIS snipers. Hayes has spent time with the family and built a relationship.

Building the relationship and bringing Shaheen over was an arduous process that took plenty of time and money.

He’s now considered an uncle in the family. For Janis Hayes, it all boiled down to “showing the love of Jesus.”

“These people have seen and lived horrors we cannot imagine,” she said. “It’s all we know to do to help. If we can help heal them physically, bring them food, or just stand with them and love on them it will let them know they are not forgotten. It’s amazing how even the Muslims are open to us praying for them in the name of Jesus. They are hurting and welcome it.”

Shaheen spent time with the Hayes family and stayed with an Iraqi family in Springfield that attends an Assemblies of God church. He went home with a Bible in Arabic, and he could read it.

“It’s been so rewarding just helping with Shaheen and to see what God has done,” Janis Hayes said. “You never know the ripple effect. Shaheen didn’t become a Christian here, but he sat in church and heard the gospel.”

Tim Hayes and his wife, Janis, with their two youngest children, Gabby and Jack.

YOUR CHURCH. THEIR CALLING. O UR HELP. From an associate’s to a doctoral degree, Evangel’s church partnership program prepares your members for their callings without leaving home. Partner programs are:

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EU AND THE CHURCH Expanding the Kingdom of God one student at a time.

Contact Dr. Lisa Tyson to learn more: 800.EVANGEL | tysonl@evangel.edu

PROFILES OF COMPASSION

FOR THE LEAST OF THESE Evangel, AGTS alum help churches reach broken families, care for children

by Matt Hufman

O

n a bright summer afternoon, Ashley Grant enjoys a rare day off with an even rarer nap.

Her life is typically in a constant swirl of motion between a very fulltime job in the foster care system and an even fuller-time life as a single mother of three.

Now working for the Assemblies of God’s Compact Family Services, she’s part of a cutting-edge initiative that could revolutionize foster and crisis care for the American church. Compact Family Services rolled out CompaCare last year to train churches and volunteers to provide care that wraps around foster families and others in need.

But she says there’s a sense of God-given calm in it, even among the hectic, if not chaotic, pace.

“The opportunity we have as a church is we don’t have to go across the ocean to extend the arms of Christ to people that are hurting,” said Grant, the Missouri director for CompaCare. “There’s enough right here in the United States to keep us busy until the Lord returns.”

“People see peace in our family, the blessing of God, and humor,” she said, her voice cutting through the squeals of children playing around her. “That’s not my personality.

I’m a redhead – type A, everything in order – but for some reason that can only be supernatural God has given me some kind of grace to empathize with the children in the system.”

A fourth generation Assemblies of God preacher’s kid with a calling to foster care, Grant, who studied at Evangel, knows the system in ways few others do: She’s a foster mom, case manager, and adoptive mother of two foster kids with special needs.

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EVANGEL UNIVERSITY

Social service experts say that on the whole the American family is in crisis, noting the nation’s high rate of divorce, a drug epidemic, and rampant domestic violence that are tearing at the roots of families. As a result, children are in the crosshairs and the foster care system is stretched beyond its capacity.

Dr. Johan Mostert, the national director of CompaCare, said more than half a million children are in foster care across the nation yet not one state is in compliance with all seven of the federal child safety and well-being

standards, and no state met more than two of the seven standards. A psychologist and former pastor, Mostert became a recognized expert in the church’s response to orphans, families, and AIDS victims while working in his native South Africa for the Pentecostal Apostolic Faith Mission.

Now, Mostert, professor emeritus of community psychology at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, sees a great need in his adopted homeland.

“In America, the rich West, the church is still the answer to the societal crisis that people are experiencing,” said Mostert, who helped write the CompaCare plan. “The foster care system is in massive disarray. They’re trying to do something that government bureaucracies were never intended to do: replace the family.”

CompaCare trains churches to create a support network that comes around families, led by a family advocate.

The family advocate coordinates care to bring people in to help in any number of ways, from providing meals to tutoring children. The CompaCare model can be expanded by churches to help in a variety of situations, including families dealing with a military deployment, a sudden loss, or divorce.

Jay Mooney, the director of Compact Family Services, led the creation of CompaCare and said the model can also help the church minister to those in crisis, including parents who have had children taken away and put in foster care. To Mooney, the family is “the new mission field” in America.

“There’s only one institution that has the capacity in America to resolve this crisis and that’s the church,” said Mooney, who spent much of his career as a pastor. “I find it ironic that the church, the only institution that God created in the New Testament, has the ability to redeem the family, the institution that God created in Genesis.”

Lance Nelson, the CompaCare director for Arkansas, said when he talks to other pastors they think foster care ministry is a good idea but they may not have the ability to take on another ministry.

“But when I talk about the fallout and the breakdown of the family, that’s something every pastor deals with,” said Nelson, who wrapped up a master’s in pastoral leadership at AGTS this past summer. “When I talk about how the family’s under attack, the casualties of the family meltdown is the children. They’re out there, and they need a home. That message is resonating.”

Nelson tailored his master’s studies at AGTS to the family and the church’s response to the crisis in American families.

Ashley Grant’s children are, from left, Jaxon, 5, Callum, 2, and Alee, 6.

“Substance abuse, parenting, anger management and all of those things are areas the church can speak into,” he said.

Mooney said research Compact Family Services commissioned found that many pastors would make foster care a top priority “if they only knew what to do.”

With CompaCare, the church has a plan to fulfill the biblical mandate to take care of the vulnerable, and for Mooney, that can mean healing families in crisis.

“What if you can redeem these families?” Mooney said.

“If you’ve redeemed the fathers and mothers, you redeem the lives of these children. That’s what the gospel is all about.”

For Grant, the way churches handle foster children and families speak to the gospel itself. She noted that many families with foster and special needs children have difficulty attending church because staff and volunteers aren’t trained in how to understand or deal with special needs children.

“You would think in the Bible Belt people wouldn’t have a problem finding a church, but some families can’t even come to church,” said Grant, who has had to leave two churches because staff and volunteers didn’t understand her children.

Grant, who has written a book on foster care, knows well that the ministry to broken families isn’t easy, but she’s passionate about reaching the vulnerable with the gospel.

“People think of compassion as nice, soft hugs, and ‘Let me help you feel better,’” Grant said. “It’s not. It’s really fighting for the souls of families.”

FOR MORE: compactfamilyservices.org/ministries/compacare

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PROFILES OF COMPASSION

Jim&Moira Hernando

MOVED TO ACTION Not content in his office, seminary professor takes his work to Nicaragua to help

by Matt Hufman

A

decade ago, AGTS professor Dr. Jim Hernando accepted the invitation of a former student to go on a week-long missions trip to Nicaragua. There, he found himself back in the classroom, but instead of teaching seminary students, he was working with rural pastors who had little, if any, formal education in the Bible and theology.

After seeing the need to train pastors, not to mention the widespread poverty in the country, Hernando felt a deep sense of compassion – and a calling. So, he and his wife, Moira, went to work. Every year since, they have helped gathered people and supplies and traveled to Nicaragua during the seminary’s fall study week. They have brought Evangel, AGTS, and Central Bible College students and alumni with them.

Jim Hernando (AGTS ’78) teaches Nicaraguan church leaders and gives Spanish study Bibles and theological books to pastors who have never had access to such

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books. And Moira Hernando, who studied at Evangel, leads a team that ministers to families, particularly children and those who live in and around garbage dumps and scavenge for recyclables to pay for something to eat. They also provide uniforms, backpacks, shoes, and school supplies, which are too expensive for many Nicaraguans. Without those things, children are not allowed to attend public schools.

“In rural Nicaragua, their poverty is subsistence,” said Jim Hernando, who has been a professor of New Testament since 1990. “And, if they don’t get an education, they’re destined to this life of abject poverty.”

After retiring this year as a professor emeritus at AGTS, Hernando, who will still teach part time, is looking forward to continuing and growing the ministry “for as long as the Lord allows.”

The Hernandos’ church, King’s Chapel in Springfield, Missouri, and AGTS plan to honor the Hernandos and keep their legacy alive as well. The church has

church. The collection of books he brings has become the standard curriculum of at least one Bible college in Nicaragua.

This year, due to the turbulent political situation in Nicaragua, the Hernandos and their team expect to stay home because Assemblies of God missionaries had been pulled out of the country. But they still planned to ship goods for children this year, hoping to collect at least 500 backpacks. spearheaded an effort to raise $25,000 to put the Hernandos on the seminary’s Pillars of Faith. The money will create an endowed scholarship fund, which seminary officials said will be open to donations “until Jesus returns.”

In kicking off the scholarship drive this summer at King’s Chapel, former AGTS President Dr. Byron Klaus, the seminary’s longest-serving president, compared Hernando to Barnabas, the “son of encouragement” in the book of Acts.

“Jim is a person who has been constantly working, constantly seeking people to encourage along the way,” Klaus said. “How do you replace a Jim Hernando at the seminary? The truth is you don’t replace him, but what you can do is replicate him.”

King’s Chapel Pastor Matt Schmidly (CBC ’00, AGTS ’16) said one of the church’s core values is investing in the future and said the scholarship effort was “a way we could invest in the next generation of pastors, ministers, missionaries, professors, and church planters.”

Moira Hernando said she recently saw a picture of a Nicaraguan schoolchild with a backpack that she knew her team sent. The child’s mother was in the background of the photo, crying.

“She had been praying that her children could go to school because she’d never had the money to buy the rudimentary supplies for him to be allowed to get his ‘free’ education,” Moira Hernando said. “Seeing the picture, how can I not get excited by that?”

FOR MORE: To give to the Pillar of Faith, go to: evangel.thankyou4caring.org/ (designate “other” and write in “Hernando Pillar of Faith”) To give to the Nicaragua ministry: bit.ly/KingsNicaragua

“The thing with Jim Hernando is that he didn’t just go teach his class and sit in his office and go home,” said Schmidly, who has been to Nicaragua with the Hernandos. “He had people in his home, met people for lunch or coffee, and he got personally involved in the lives of his students.”

Reaching out to students and staying connected with them has been a hallmark of Hernando’s tenure at AGTS. The relationship he formed with Rev. Bill Parks (CBC ’78, AGTS ’08), a pastor in Indiana, led to his ministry in Nicaragua. Parks first invited Hernando. When Parks died of cancer in 2016, the Hernandos, with the help of their church, picked up the ministry.

“We don’t try to take credit for it, we just took it over,” Hernando said. “It really is a God-anointed ministry there.”

The Hernandos have worked with Ken and Kendra Doutt, Assemblies of God missionaries in Nicaragua, and have seen the ministry increase in recent years. When he started, he struggled to get 50 pastors, but with the Doutts’ network, Hernando last year taught nearly 300

School supplies sent by the team the Hernandos work with helped 4-year-old Marjaray get out of a dump and go to school.

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PROFILES OF COMPASSION

By Kelby Lorenz

EU football players mentor next generation through lunch buddy program 26

EVANGEL UNIVERSITY

T

elacey Wilder (EU ’19), a senior defensive end on Evangel’s football team, loves game day, especially the energy on a bus ride home after a big win. But this past year, he found a new passion off the field mentoring an elementary school student.

GO CRUSADERS! MEN’S SPORTS Baseball

He met a fifth-grader named Terrel and became his mentor through a program in which the football team visits local elementary schools.

Basketball

“He reminded me of myself because he was kind of troubled and he would act up,” Wilder said. “I remember getting in trouble, and I had someone to guide me to get me through school, and to remind me that I can get past this. So, I felt like I understood him.”

Cross Country Football

Weller Elementary School in Springfield, Missouri, gave him an award for his work with Terrel, which shocked Wilder. But Edward Sands (EU ’10), Evangel’s defensive backs coach and community liaison, said that Wilder deserved the award.

Golf Soccer

“He became a mentor for a student that needed some serious guidance,” Sands said. “At this stage in life, it’s easy for players to be about themselves. So, for them to take what limited time they have during the season and spend it doing something for someone else is major. It reassures us that we are recruiting the right type of people.”

Wilder came to Evangel at the urging of his best friend, senior defensive back Dante Young. The two grew up together in Pensacola, Florida. The decision proved to be the right move for Wilder. He said his time on campus has shaped his outlook in a new and positive way, letting him feel like he was making the right decisions when mentoring a group of fifth graders.

Track & Field

WOMEN’S SPORTS Basketball Cheer

“It’s impacted my journey as a man with so many great male role models around me,” Wilder said, pointing to his coaches and fellow players. “They’re showing me the right way to be a man and how to teach that to others.”

Cross Country Golf

Head football coach Chuck Hepola (EU ’91) said the mentoring program is something Evangel athletes should do.

Soccer

“We want our players to be servant leaders,” he said. “We want them to be able to put others first. We even use the phrase: ‘We don’t want to be takers. We want to be givers.’”

Softball

In his third year as head coach, Hepola remains impressed by the student athletes.

Track & Field

“It’s very refreshing to be around these types of kids,” Hepola said, “the kids that are motivated academically, athletically, and in their social lives. It’s just a breath of fresh air to be around kids like that.”

Volleyball Support EU Athletics:

www.evangelathletics.com

FAITH, WORKS & ECONOMICS

Svetlana Papazov

Dr. Svetlana Papazov

An entrepreneur and pastor, Papazov finds her place – and her church – in the middle of the workplace

by Matt Hufman

D

r. Svetlana Papazov introduces herself in business circles as an entrepreneur, but when it comes time to exchange cards, she casually mentions she has another role noted on the back: pastor.

Dr. Tim Hager, vice president and dean of AGTS, noted that as followers of Christ and people of the Spirit, Pentecostals “seek to live for Jesus and be led by the Spirit 24 hours a day.”

The two-sided business card is necessary. A veteran entrepreneur, Papazov (AGTS ’13) is leading two startups outside of Richmond, Virginia – a business incubator and a church plant – that share the same space.

“It is vital that the church disciples believers to fully live their faith and calling in every context and location,” Hager said. “AGTS is empowering church leaders to effectively breathe life into congregations and deploy Christ followers into their mission fields – their places of work.”

“I see myself as a missionary among businesses and entrepreneurs,” said Papazov, who also does business consulting. “Entrepreneurs are risk takers, and they need spirituality to be empowered to go after things. They’re reaching out to a higher power that unfortunately too often is not the Christian God. “To them, I’m just another spiritual guru who can help.”

Papazov’s business background is the entry point for her to talk about the gospel, and that’s by design. She and her husband, Michael, have planted the business incubator and church to reach the people in their occupations. Papazov’s doctoral work at AGTS, which focused on finding ways to bridge the so-called “SundayMonday gap” between church and the marketplace, is part of the seminary’s growing and groundbreaking work in the field of Pentecostal faith, work, and economics.

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Dr. Charlie Self, a professor of church history at the seminary, is a leading voice on Pentecostal faith, work, and economics. He has authored a book and several articles on the subject and lectures widely. His work includes sitting on the steering committee of the Oikonomia Network, which explores faith, work, and economics, and he has served as a senior adviser and faculty member of the Action Institute for Religion and Liberty, a think tank that studies the integration of faith and economics.

“God’s work in the world takes place through people who spend their day working,” Self said. “At our best, we believe the Holy Spirit is poured out on all people, classes, and cultures so there are no insignificant people, work, or tasks when they’re brought to God.”

AGTS scholars including Drs. Roger Cotton, Deborah Gill, James Hernando, and Randy Walls have done work on scriptural views of faith, work, and economics, and Self and Dr. Johan Mostert, professor emeritus of community psychology, developed the Discipleship Dynamics Assessment, which includes work as a measure of discipleship. The seminary’s courses also include an integration of teaching on faith, work, and economics.

“At a fundamental level, the empowerment of the Spirit includes empowerment for all the tasks God’s

After several years, Papazov felt led into a new season of life, and during a lengthy session of prayer, she had a vision of something that on the outside looked like a business but on the inside looked like a church.

“I couldn’t even grasp that,” she said. “There was no model for it.”

As she understood a calling to meld church and business, she went to prepare and earned a doctor of ministry degree in leadership at AGTS. The result for Papazov is Real Life Church and Real Life Center for Entrepreneurial and Leadership Excellence. Housed alongside a small lake, the church and incubator are reaching people, many of whom have never heard or understood the gospel. The business incubator offers space to entrepreneurs, as well as training, and discussion groups that offer emotional and spiritual support.

The incubator also offers training to children and teenagers in summer camps to teach them entrepreneurial skills.

people undertake,” Self said. “It’s the empowerment for missions which includes God’s mission at work. All the manifestations of the Spirit are accessible at work – not only wisdom but also wisdom for doing the work, handling difficult situations, and insights on how to pray.”

Papazov is just one of several AGTS students who have done extensive work in faith, work, and economics. She started to see business as a mission field when she and her husband and their 9-month-old daughter came from Bulgaria to the United States as political refugees during the Cold War. A Christian who had started preaching at 14 years old, Papazov was excited at the prospect of going to Bible college where she could study free from the strictures of Communism.

“When we came, I said to God, ‘Which Bible school do you want me to go to?’” said Papazov, who came armed with a master’s degree in landscape architecture. “The Lord said, ‘There are so many people willing to work on the inside of the church but not willing to go on the outside where the need is. I need you on the outside.’”

So, she and her husband opened a landscape architecture business, which then led to a series of thriving businesses.

The plan for the church plant, Papazov said, was to “come along holistically to support entrepreneurs.”

“We care for their souls and celebrate weekly on Sundays,” she said.

Papazov and her husband continue to work to support themselves and the church and business incubator, giving them greater reach into the business world. She said the majority of people who have attended the church have come in through the business incubator, either from one of the businesses the incubator has helped or through one of the outreaches the incubator does to help entrepreneurs and businesses.

“It has been amazing to me to watch what God can do,” Papazov said. “I had one Christian who looked at this model say, ‘You’re talking about an inside-out church.’

That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

FOR MORE: Real Life Church: reallifechurchrva.org/ Business incubator: realliferva.com/ Seminary programs: agts.edu

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FAITH, WORKS & ECONOMICS

Dr. Chris Bauman

TIME TO LEAD EU degree leads educator to top school district job

By Alyssah Morrison

I

n 2014, Chris Bauman joined Evangel University’s first cohort for its doctor of education program, coming in with plenty of classroom and leadership experience from working the schools in Ozark, Missouri.

“Evangel’s doctoral program was attractive to me because it focused on education,” he said. “Other programs only push you toward administration, but there are teachers who want to be strong leaders too.

“The advantage is that anyone who wants to be a leader in their area can benefit greatly from Evangel’s program.”

Bauman entered the program as an administrator in the Ozark School District, working with a lot of “great teachers that want to be teacher leaders.” As he was moving toward finishing his degree, the superintendent in Ozark suddenly retired. Bauman, who had been the district’s executive director of operations, worked with Evangel faculty as he prepared for the potential job.

“While working on my dissertation, I learned about the hiring process, and this changed my approach for my own interview,” Bauman said. “I structured my responses differently and clearly communicated my ideas and goals for the school.”

This spring, shortly before he was awarded his doctoral degree, Bauman was named superintendent of the district.

For Bauman, the doctoral program challenged him and provided him with new skills as well as a community to grow and learn with.

“Going through a faith-based school brings a dimension of comfort and community,” Bauman said. “You are not alone. Through the cohort and the professors, you are pushed to succeed.”

Dr. Shonna Crawford, head of Evangel’s Education Department, called Bauman’s story “inspiring.”

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“God used his dissertation work to propel him forward in his career in a prominent school district with a great reputation,” she said. “His story is a testament to the strength of the program.”

In June 2019, Evangel will be adding a fully online track to the doctorate program while also maintaining the current half-seated and half-online structure.

Dr. Susan Langston, who oversees Evangel’s graduate education programs, said the doctoral program is “dynamic” and helps students take their leadership and abilities to the next level, particularly with its focus on curriculum and technology.

“It’s an innovative practical degree,” Langston said, noting the program’s focus on cutting-edge technology. “The program is preparing people for what’s happening right now and where education is going in the future.”

She noted how Bauman used his dissertation research during his job interview to show how he would lead. Now, Bauman has big plans for Ozark schools, and he said he is well equipped due to his education. Asked how the program helped him in his career, he summed it up simply: “Well, to be honest, it helped me get my job!”

FOR MORE: evangel.edu/departments/education/about-thedepartment/

REBRANDING BIBLE Alumni hope clean design, small size will give the the

gospels a new audience with younger readers

By Alyssah Morrison

O

n the fifth floor of the historic Holland Building in downtown Springfield, Missouri, two young men sit in thrifted office chairs in a room of retro furnishings, bent over MacBooks.

Jesse Tyler and Giancarlo “G.O.” Ospina (EU ’13), the founders of All True, a branding and web-design studio, are redesigning and rebranding the Bible.

Last year, they introduced Manuscripts, a collection of cleanly designed pocket-sized versions of the gospels last year, and they quickly caught the attention of the Internet. They hit their initial fundraising goal of $12,000 on Kickstarter in just five hours to move ahead with production. They have sold more than 1,500 sets of the four gospels.

The idea behind Manuscripts is to cut through any intimidation people have of reading the Bible, particularly due to its size. Manuscripts uses the text of the New American Standard Bible but without chapter or verse numbers. Instead, the gospels look and read like small books.

“We know younger people aren’t reading the Word, and we want to change that,” Ospina said. “Millennials have short attention spans. We watch two minute videos, we like 140 or so characters, we like scrollable images, so maybe we like bite-sized books versus 66 books in one binding.”

Assemblies of God General Superintendent Doug E. Clay welcomed Manuscripts.

“It excites me to see this project emerging, because I believe in instilling a core value of biblical literacy among the next generation of Assemblies of God adherents,” Clay said in a statement.

Ospina and Tyler met each other while they were both attending James River College, which partners with Evangel. There, Ospina connected with Dr. Jon Spence, the former director of the college and now the director of the center for student success at Evangel.

“There is no ceiling to G.O.’s dreams and his ability to create,” Spence said. “It is not surprising that he is crafting new ways to make the gospels more accessible. He is living out the gospel in his everyday life.”

Manuscripts caught not only the attention on Kickstarter but also in the media, seeing stories in Relevant magazine, Slate, and National Public Radio.

“In the end, we just want to see more people reading the Bible,” Ospina said. “These books are a way for people to add scripture to their daily lives without feeling guilty.

And for those who have never read the Bible, they are a chance to experience the gospels for the first time without the stigmas.”

Ospina and Tyler are most concerned with people reading the text and falling in love with the biblical narrative.

“Millennials are gravitating toward these books,” Tyler said, “and Millennials are a group that Bible publishing companies and ministries are having a hard time reaching.”

Giancarlo “G.O.” Ospina (EU ‘13), left, and Jesse Tyler are the founders of Manuscripts, a new Bible project.

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CAMPUS NEWS

CAMPUS NEWS

Business department opens BKD Innovative Learning Center

Evangel’s business department unveiled the BKD Innovative Learning Center to open the year, having transformed an outdated computer lab into a contemporary and comfortable student study area. The center has room for individual study and group projects.

Travis Bradshaw (EU ‘06) of BKD with EU professor Becky Rhoades and Dr. Eveline Lewis, chair of the business department.

Funding came from BKD employees who are Evangel graduates, primarily Eric Hansen (’84), BKD’s chief operating officer, and Mike Burlew (’86), BKD regional managing partner. BKD is one of the largest national CPA and advisory firms in the country.

Rob Sapp (EU ’92) designed the space, saying he wanted it to look “unique and fresh, like nothing else on campus. I think we accomplished that.”

New book from AGTS professors opens up research methods

A team of professors affiliated with AGTS have written a new textbook designed to teach methods of academic research. The book, “Missiological Research: Interdisciplinary Foundations, Methods, and Integration,” considers biblical, theological and missions-specific research. It can also be used in other areas of the social sciences.

Dr. Paul Lewis, associate dean of the seminary, Dr. Alan R. Johnson, an associate professor of anthropology at AGTS, and Dr. Marvin Gilbert, a former AGTS faculty member, edited the book. Other current or former AGTS faculty members who contributed to the volume were Drs. Anita Koeshall, Mark Hausfeld, Beth Grant, DeLonn Rance, Charlie Self, Johan Mostert, Warren Newberry and John Easter, all current or former AGTS faculty members.

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EVANGEL UNIVERSITY

EU professors break ground in Christian counseling study

Two Evangel counseling and psychology professors have had the results of their latest research published in the current issue of Spirituality in Clinical Practice, a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Drs. Heather Kelly and Geoffrey Sutton of Evangel collaborated with three other researchers to write the article, “Satisfaction with Christian Psychotherapy and Well-Being: Contributions of Hope, Personality, and Spirituality.” The research was designed to better understand the practice of Christian counseling and psychotherapy from clients’ perspectives.

The researchers found that hope was the best predictor for a patient’s outcome. And a person’s relationship with God was also a notable factor.

Record number of EU, AGTS students spend summer studying in Israel

For three weeks this summer, more than 20 students, faculty and staff from Evangel University and its seminary, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, traveled to Israel and participated in a special on-site study of scripture through the Springfield-based Center for Holy Lands Studies.

Dr. Wave Nunnally, professor of early Judaism and Christian origins at Evangel, said it was the largest contingent from the school on a center-led study trip.

On the trip, students studied the culture, history, land, and the spiritual beliefs of the biblical times. Dr. Vince Medina, a professor of Old Testament at Evangel, also took part in the trip.

Lisa Tyson elected president of national association for Christian adult ed

Dr. Lisa Tyson, director of the College of Adult and Graduate Studies, has gained national recognition for the programs offered at Evangel, and in mid-June, she was elected president of the Christian Adult Higher Education Association.

CAHEA provides a platform for discussion, research and the exchange of ideas on educating nontraditional students. Founded in 1995, the association has 60 members. Tyson (EU ’93, ’09) started work at Evangel in 2004.

Top: A group of students in the Holy Lands.

Middle: Dr. Lisa Tyson.

More than 1,000 adults have completed their bachelor’s degrees at Evangel since 2001, and nearly 800 have earned master’s degrees since 1998.

Bottom: Dr. Shonna Crawford, standing.

CONNEC T W ITH US : Evangel University @evangel_university @evangelUniv

Reading clinic helps refugees, students, provides a ‘win-win’ experience for all

Three refugee teenagers from the Congo joined with 65 local K-12 students to benefit from Evangel University’s annual free reading clinic.

Local teachers who are enrolled in the Master of Education in Literacy program at Evangel also gained real-world experience while serving as tutors. The teachers worked one-on-one and in small groups, and each student received 16 hourlong reading sessions.

Dr. Shonna Crawford, chair of the department of education at Evangel, called it a “win-win” as grad students gained experience while students received help.

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CAMPUS NEWS

Evan Masters, left, and Joshua Clark.

Students win top Enactus awards

Evangel students won two of three new national Enactus USA Leader of the Year awards at the group’s annual meeting in May. Joshua Clark, a senior accounting major, was named the first-ever Executive Leader of the Year. Evan Masters, a senior finance and management double major, was named the first-ever Project Leader of the Year.

Their awards topped a big year for Evangel’s Enactus group. An EU team that went to the national competition was judged to be one of the top 32 teams out of 444 teams.

Enactus is an international organization that helps college students connect what they are learning in the classroom to real life through entrepreneurial projects and community outreaches.

M.Ed. in leadership changes

Beginning this fall, graduate students at Evangel University will be able to earn a master’s degree and meet Missouri’s state certification requirements for elementary or secondary principals with 30 credits of coursework. The program is fully online.

The Master of Education in Educational Leadership prepares students to become building-level administrators. The degree has historically required 35-37 credit hours.

Former WNBA standout Megan Leuzinger named women’s basketball coach

Former Liberty University All-American and WNBA standout Megan Leuzinger has been named the fifth head coach in the history of Evangel women’s basketball.

She comes to Springfield after two seasons on the sidelines at Valparaiso University as an assistant coach.

During her time with the Crusaders, they made the move to the Missouri Valley Conference where they upset Loyola-Chicago in the first round of the conference tournament in 2018.

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EVANGEL UNIVERSITY

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vangel’s Launch weekend, which kicks off the school year, brings a series of high-energy events that culminate in IgNight, a tradition that started in 2013 under President Carol Taylor. IgNight blends a pep rally with a candlelight service to commission students into the new academic year.

Taylor encouraged students this year to take part in what she call “an epic story called Evangel,” pointing to the generations of alumni who have served God throughout the world.

President Carol Taylor commissioned students into the new academic year during a candlelight service.

“We love God passionately with our minds and our hearts and our hands extended in service,” she said. “We stand as men and women who proclaim the Good News of Christ.”

Taylor then charged the students to live passionately for Christ, calling them to commit to be beacons of hope for a world desperately in need of it. And, as candles were lit, spreading light across the quad, she proclaimed: “Let your light shine, EU!”

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ALUMNI NEWS

Shila Cooch FA I TH F UL L Y SE RV I NG IN WAS HINGTON ARE THERE DEFINING MOMENTS WHEN YOU THINK: “THIS IS MY CALLING”?

Shila Cooch

Those moments sometimes come as a message from an old colleague or staff member thanking me for something I said or did. I didn’t do anything special, but to them it was everything. Simple things such as helping to unjam a printer, taking an interest in their lives or, merely saying “thank you,” can mean the world to someone. People are always watching and listening to what you say.

WAS THERE A CERTAIN CLASS, PROFESSOR OR EXPERIENCE THAT HELPED GUIDE THE PATH TOWARD YOUR FIRST JOB?

Shila (Ressler) Cooch (EU’01) is the chief of staff to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s chief information officer. She deals with the daily operation of an office that has about 500 federal employees. She started her career as a communications assistant in the U.S. Senate.

WHO ARE SOME OF THE INFLUENCERS WHO HELPED YOU DECIDE YOUR CAREER PATH? While I was working on Capitol Hill, I was able to meet Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President George W. Bush. I can remember walking up to him and saying, “I want your job. How do I get it?” He laughed and then said three things that I will never forget: ❶ Don’t rush to get somewhere else. You will miss the journey along the way. ❷ Know a little bit about a lot of things – unless you are a subject-matter expert you won’t have to go too deep in any one subject. ❸ Your name is all you have. Make sure you keep your reputation intact by following through on your promises.

In Washington, D.C., your reputation is who you are, and right or wrong, it goes before you in every situation. It is a small town, and many of the positions I have held were because of how others viewed me and the work I accomplished.

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EVANGEL UNIVERSITY

(Former) Evangel Professor Dr. Bryan Sanders was instrumental in getting me to Capitol Hill. Because I was always at the student government meetings, reporting for the Lance, he invited me to apply for the Washington studies trip. I applied and was accepted. I can remember getting on the plane and realizing that I was entirely out of my comfort zone. I was apprehensive about going, but I am thankful I went. It was on this trip that I fell in love with Washington, D.C. and the legislative process.

WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK AS A CHRISTIAN IN A HIGHLY DIVISIVE CLIMATE? It is very difficult. We live in a world that is very different from what I remember growing up in. It is deeply divided and very little grace or mercy is given. I learned early on that I would need to define my boundaries and hold to them. I have learned that while I have my belief and know my strength is in Christ, most of the world isn’t interested in “because the Bible says” statements. Instead, I am able to approach a problem or situation with Godly values and, at the same time provide information and guidance affecting the organizations way forward.

HOW DO YOU MANAGE ANY HARDSHIPS OR CHALLENGES IN YOUR WORK? As cliché as it sounds, I take a deep breath, say a quick prayer and jump in. I know that God will guide me. I try to make the best decision based on the information given, and I can only do my best.

CLASS NOTES CAREERS Bill Hennessy (EU ’81) was elected to represent International Ministries at the Assemblies of God General Presbytery meeting in August 2017.

Rick (CBC ‘83) and Gloria (Lehmann) McCartney are serving as missionaries with the Assemblies of God World Missions in Malta in southern Europe.

Joe Rine (EU ’86) is now the director of strings and choral at Keller-Saginaw High School: International Leadership of Texas.

Suzy (Richter) Bose (EU ’86) and her husband, David, are celebrating 30 years of marriage this year.

Debbie Stephens (EU ’86) has retired as a business teacher in Carthage, Missouri after 20 years within the school district.

Chuck McGlothlen (EU ’86) is now the chief financial officer for Valley Joist+Deck in Fort Payne, Alabama.

Allen White (EU ’87, ’90) has just published his second book, “Leading Healthy Groups: A Guide for Small Group Leaders.” He also coaches churches around the world through his ministry.

Kelly (Glugosh) Loney (EU ’87) is now working as a high school English literacy teacher in the Los Angeles area. She works with a variety of students, including teen moms, juvenile offenders, homeless youth, and international students.

Mary (Smith) Engelman (EU ’89) is the executive director of the Michigan Women’s Commission.

Mark Melnich (EU ’90) has been named the executive director of workforce strategic partnerships for Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana.

Alexandra (Holland) Ziegenmier (EU ’95) is now writing for godlattesandrunning.com in Salt Lake City, Utah.

ALUMNI BLOG: blog.evangel.edu/cultivate/

Paul J. Russell (EU ’96) on Jan. 9, 2018, was elected as the vice president of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, a federally recognized Native American tribe in southern Arizona.

Dr. Alina (Black) Lehnert (EU ’97) received the Kenworthy Award in June from Leadership Springfield in Springfield, Missouri. Lehnert is a former Evangel faculty member and now is a member of the Springfield Public Schools Board of Directors.

DJ and Rachel Crist (EU ‘98) are now serving as missionaries in the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) program in Kona, Hawaii. They met as students at Evangel.

Christina (Ashforth) Wilkins (EU ’01) was recently awarded the “Power of One” award at Pipkin Middle School in Springfield, Missouri, where she serves as the library media specialist.

Matthew Roepcke (EU ’02) completed his second APICS certification in Logistics Transportation and Distribution in June. He is also certified in Supply Chain and Planning while working as the crop protection distribution requirements planner for Monsanto in St. Louis, Missouri.

Army Major Joel Maxwell (EU ’02) was selected for advanced civil schooling and will spend 18 months pursuing his master’s degree in criminal justice at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky.

Ryan Panariso (EU ’02) works as the vice president of commercial lending for five branches of ANB Bank located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Kelsey Bardwell (EU ’03) received the Rising Star award from the Harrison Regional Chamber of Commerce. She is the managing partner of the law firm of Sprott, Golden & Bardwell. In 2017, she was appointed by Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to serve on the State Review Committee for Historic Preservation. She and her husband, Michael, have four children.

SUBMIT YOUR NEWS: evangel.edu/alumni/alumniupdate/

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ALUMNI NEWS Julia (Gilbert) Coggins (EU ’03) is principal of Locust Street Expressive Arts Elementary School in Columbia, Missouri. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Missouri and William Woods University, and she and her husband have three children.

Camille (Button) Kochs (CBC ’03) was named as an instructor of nursing at Southwest Baptist University’s nursing program on its Springfield campus.

Lisa (Petachi) Richardson (EU ’04) accepted a position as executive director of Sunspire Health Hyde Park, a women’s behavioral health facility in Florida.

Stephanie (Howell) Cooper (EU ’05) graduated with a M.A. in Old Testament from Denver Seminary in Denver, Colorado in May. She began her Ph.D. program in Hebrew Bible/Northwest Semitic Philology at John Hopkins University in August.

Christa (Willemsen) Wenger (EU ’05) graduated with her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instructional Leadership and English from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in May.

Dr. Meleah (Crockett) Morales (EU ’11) recently started as a pediatrician at Jordan Valley Community Health Center.

On Aug. 7, 2017, she and her husband, Ricardo Morales (EU ’11), welcomed the birth of their child, Catalina Jane.

Eric Osner (EU ’11, ’15) in May was named baseball coach at North Arkansas College.

Dr. Megan Rooney (EU ’06) started a new position at CoxHealth in Springfield, Missouri, within the areas of obstetrics and gynecology.

Daniel J. Smith Jr. (EU ’11) is the youth and small groups pastor at Effingham Assembly in Illinois. He was ordained in May by the Assemblies of God.

Chase Tacker (EU’06) was named “Enactus USA’s Over 30 Alumnus of the year.” He is vice president of finance and pricing for ClarusONE Sourcing Services, a joint venture of Walmart and McKesson, and is based in London.

Shawn Downey (EU ’12, AGTS ’15) was ordained and endorsed as a chaplain by the Assemblies of God this year. He and his wife, Jerrilyn (McCoy) Downey (EU ’08) have a 2-year-old daughter Silicia.

Brett Tracy (EU ’07) started a new position as vice president of revenue cycle at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia.

Marquisa (Keke) Rover (EU ’12) is the director for Ambassadors for Children, an outreach service of the Council of Churches that provides physical and emotional relief for foster children in Greene, Christian, and Taney counties in Missouri.

Jaymes Wapp (EU ’08, ’10) was named high school principal in the Laclede County R-1 School Board in Conway, Arkansas. He is pursuing his doctorate of educational leadership at Evangel.

Joseph M. Lear (EU ’08) published his new book “What Shall We Do?” this year. Lear is married to Holly (Hammar) Lear (EU ’09) and is the lead pastor at Resurrection Assembly of God in Iowa City, Iowa.

AL U MN I

CON N E C T ION S Evangel University Alumni Assemblies of God Theological Seminary Central Bible College Official Page

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Bill Hennessy (EU ’81)

EVANGEL UNIVERSITY

Daniel Garten (EU’13) was named an instructor of exercise science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri.

Mehleena (Edmonds) Maigi (EU ’13) is director of development and marketing at the Lost & Found Grief Center in Springfield, Missouri.

Shana Ramsey (EU ’13) is the sponsorship and pro staff marketing manager at T-H Marine Supplies, Inc., in Huntsville, Alabama. This organization is a leading manufacturer in boat parts and accessories.

Laura (Hawkins) Scott (CBC ’13, AGTS ’18) was ordained in April and endorsed as a chaplain in May by the Assemblies of God. Christine Temple (EU ’13) was named features editor and audience development director at the Springfield Business Journal in Springfield, Missouri.

Michael Coble (EU ’14) in 2016 stepped into his role of transportation director at Convoy of Hope, a faith-based nonprofit organization based in Springfield, Missouri.

Jennifer Walk (EU ’15) is a junior copywriter at AKA NYC, an advertising agency located in Times Square that specializes in advertising for Broadway shows.

Hannah Beers (EU ’16) joined Clout Public Affairs, a subsidiary of Axiom Strategies, as a senior associate in Jefferson City, Missouri. She previously served as chief of staff for a Missouri state senator.

Laura Prosapio (EU ’16) started a new position in September as a hospital chaplain resident at Elmhurst Hospital in Elmhurst, Illinois.

Stephanie (Steen-Martinez) Whitaker (EU ’16) was hired in June 2018 as the communications assistant to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.

Chris Knoth (EU ’17) received his white coat at University of Missouri Medical School in Columbia, Missouri on Friday, Aug. 3, 2018.

Allison Swanson (EU ’17) was named Miss Omaha and was third runner-up as Miss Nebraska. She won the overall interview award and the Miss Nebraska Community Service Award.

Janelle Reed (EU ’18) is the recipient of the 2018 “Captain Springfield” award by a vote of Springfield NewsLeader readers. She is the outreach and special events manager for Victory Mission in Springfield, Missouri, and she founded SingleMomzRock, which supports single mothers in the Springfield area.

Caitlin J. O’Guin (EU ’18) works as a research assistant at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Unit at WrightPatterson Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio, and has started graduate studies at Ohio State University.

MEMORIALS Juanita M. Creek (CBC ’45) of Belleville, Illinois, died July 19, 2018. She was 92. Creek was a teacher for 25 years and ministered with her husband at Calvary Assembly of God until retirement. She is survived by two sons, David Creek and Terry Creek, and five grandchildren.

Rev. Robert M. Graber (CBC ’47) died July 20, 2018, in Canton, Ohio. She was 93. He began his pastoral ministry in Mauston, Wisconsin, and became senior pastor at Bethel Temple Assemblies of God Church in Canton in 1959. Graber is survived by his wife of 68 years, Lois (Wannenmacher) Graber.

Rev. Warren Forrest McPherson (CBC ’50) died on Dec. 25, 2017. He was 92. McPherson was a soldier in the US Army Air Corps in World War II and an ordained minister who served at the Assemblies of God national office for 20 years. He is survived by his wife of more than 65 years, Betty, and sons David and Philip.

Rev. Paul Eugene Bellinger (CBC ’51) died on March 19, 2018, in Springfield, Missouri. Bellinger had a 48-year career with Gospel Publish House of the Assemblies of God. In 2017, he was recognized for 50 years as an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God. Barbara (Fussell) Waldee (CBC ’53) died on Jan. 30, 2018, in Columbus, Georgia. She was 85. Waldee and her husband Charles Fussell served as pastors in various churches in the United States. She also served as an Assemblies of God missionary in Brussels, Belgium, for five years. She was preceded in death by husbands Charles Fussell and Clifford Waldee. She is survived by two brothers, Fancis Lymburner and Charles Lymburner, her children Candace Williams, Dr. Glenn Fussell, MD, and John “Jack” Fussell, and five grandchildren.

Rev. William Bliss (CBC ’54) died on Dec. 18, 2017, in Springfield, Missouri.

Allen White (EU ’87, ’90)

Rev. Corwin G. Lowe (CBC ’58) died on Nov. 18, 2017, in Appleton, Wisconsin. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and was discharged in 1952. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Dorothy, sons, Robert H. Lowe and Brian T. Lowe, and daughter, Jodi A. Hellman.

J. Eugene (Gene) Davis (EU ’59) died on July 16, 2018.

Rev. Evan O. Paul (CBC ’59) died on March 30, 2018. He was 79. His ministry spanned nearly 60 years, including serving as a pastor and a leader in a variety of Assemblies of God roles. He and his wife, Marjorie, were married for 58 years. She survives him along with their daughter and two grandchildren.

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ALUMNI NEWS Rev. Wesley Dean Davis (CBC ’63) died on March 1, 2018, in Newark, Delaware. He was 76.

Rev. Thomas F. Sanders (CBC ’63) died on Feb. 1, 2018, three days shy of his 84th birthday. He served as a pastor and worked for 37 years at the Assemblies of God national office in a variety of leadership roles. He is survived by his wife, Louise, three daughters, and seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Pastor Woodson D. Moore (EU ’67) died on Dec. 24, 2017, surrounded by his family and friends of Fairton Christian Center in Fairton, New Jersey. He was 72. Pastor Moore is survived by his wife of 51 years, Shirley (Bennett) Moore, and his children Dale R. Moore II and Jean Louise Hider.

Hilda Tajbel Giles (EU ’68) died on Jan. 6, 2018, at her home in Hewitt, Texas. She was an accomplished artist and professor. Giles is survived by her husband of 57 years, Stan Giles, and children, Stan Giles II, Sonja Giles Childress, and Gregg Giles.

received her degree in Deaf Ministries. She is survived by her husband, Brian, and two children, Amanda and Traben.

Mary “Jewell” Wagener (EU ’69), of Pittsfield, Illinois, died on July 17, 2018, in the Illini Community Hospital in Pittsefiled. She was 77 years old. Jewell began teaching in Pittsfield in 1969 and retired in 2005. She is survived by her siblings Ronald Wagener, Carolyn Mills, Janet Proesel, and Robert Wagener.

Rev. W. Paul Ferrin, a longtime music minister and leader in the Assemblies of God, died on Feb. 23, 2018, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was 83. His family asked for memorial gifts to be sent to a scholarship fund in his name at Evangel.

Chaplain Roy Lynn Bebee (EU ’69) died on July 14, 2018, at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was 70. Bebee served a total of 33 years in the U.S. Navy and retired in 2004. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Barbara, and their four children, Elissa Long, Troy Bebee, Trisha DeYoung, William Bebee, and 19 grandchildren.

Virginia Mae Wilson, a longtime member of Evangel’s staff, died on June 25, 2018. She was 93 years old. She received Evangel’s distinguished service award in 1993.

She is survived by her son, Randy, who retired from Evangel, and her daughter, Judith (Wilson) Gold (EU ’73).

Daughter-in-law Conne Grunlein Wilson and grandson James P. Wilson are also alumni.

Edward L. MacAlmon (CBC ’69) died on May 14, 2018. He was 70. He taught at Evangel while working on a PhD in philosophy. He worked in substance abuse treatment, as photographer, and spent time as a DJ for a Christian radio station. He is survived by wife, Teresa, and three children.

Broc MacFee (EU ’18) and Haven Arnzen (EU ’18)

Chera (Kee) FitzGibbon (EU ’80) died June 1, 2017, in Midlothian, Virginia. She is survived by her husband, Timothy, and son, Benjamin.

Paul Walters (EU ’81) died July 7, 2018, in Landenberg, Pennsylvania.

Pastor Paul Callaway (CBC ’83) died Dec. 6, 2017, in Davenport, Iowa.

Mary Ellen (Staton) Gitthens (EU ’87) died Aug. 8, 2018, in Springfield, Missouri at the age of 61. She is survived by her husband, Billy, her two daughters Sharon and Billie Jo, her son Jonathan and her grandson, Josiah.

Susan (Maranville) Delaney (CBC ’95) died on May 24, 2018, at the age of 52. She attended CBC, where she

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Jared Statler (EU ’17) and Rachel Smith (EU ’17)

EVANGEL UNIVERSITY

2 0 1 8 - 1 9 Kenneth A. Smith, a former mathematics professor, died Aug. 2, 2018, in Springfield, Missouri. He was 84. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Doris Jean.

ALUMNI OF THE YEAR

Neil Eskelin, a former Evangel professor and administrator, died on Aug. 21, 2018. He was 80. He helped establish the broadcasting program and served as director of development. He was also a well-known author. He is survived by wife, Anne, and son, Ian.

WEDDINGS Amy Durrett (EU ’17) married Grady Pence (EU ’16) on May 18, 2016. Grady and Amy reside in Gilbert, Arizona where Grady is a worship/band teacher and Amy is an art teacher, both at Chandler Christian Academy.

Jared Statler (EU ’17) married Rachel Smith (EU ’17) on April 22, 2018, in Kansas City, Missouri. They live in Springfield, Missouri, where they own a media company called Statler Visual Co. Rachel is also the community engagement manager at A Color Story.

Caleb Boston (EU ’18) married Jenni Repschleger on July 1, 2018. They both live in Springfield, Missouri where Caleb is currently working on his master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling at Evangel University.

EU OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNUS

Heather Rooney McBride ’03

CBC OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUM

George Carballo ’09

Broc MacFee (EU ’18) and Haven Arnzen (EU ’18) were married June 24, 2018, in Springfield, Missouri. Broc is now the general manager of Reborn Co. Alyssah Orr (EU ’18) and Jason Morrison (EU ’17) were married March 10, 2018, in Springfield, Missouri.

Sirena Delaune (EU ’18) married Andrew Lovell (EU ’18) on June 23, 2018, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sierna also accepted a fourth-grade teaching position at Ozark East Elementary School in Ozark, Missouri.

AGTS ALUM OF THE YEAR

Dr. Dick Brogden ’14

EU DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS

Dr. Barry Corey ’84

Alyssah Orr (EU ’18) and Jason Morrison (EU ’17)

CBC DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS

Dr. Mark Batterson ’92

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ALUMNI NEWS

BABIES Samuel Soren was born Sept. 13, 2017, to Mark (EU ’07) and Charity (Waltner) Fahlstrom (EU ’99, ’09). He joins siblings Caleb, 9, Annalynn, 7, Benjamin, 4, and Victoria, 3.

Lincoln Shaver was born on May 1, 2017, to David and Jennifer (Armstrong) Shaver (EU ’01). He joins his brother Graham, 1. The Shavers currently live in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, where Jennifer is a freelance performer and voice-over artist.

Kya Chau was born Oct. 14, 2017, to Dr. Jamie Lochner (EU ’06) and his wife, Thao. Kya joins Lily Kim, 2. They reside in Jacksonville, Florida where Dr. Lochner is a pediatric infectious diseases fellow at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

Adelaide Mae was born Dec. 8, 2017, to Aaron and Erica (Ensign) Harper (EU ’08).

Amos James and Lilah Faye were born June 14, 2018, to Derek Logsdon (EU ’08) and his wife, Amber. They join older sister Ivy Alice, 2.

Elizabeth Jean was born on Oct. 7, 2016, to Michael (EU ’10) and Monica (Pederson) Campbell (EU ’08).

Tristan Leonidas was born on July 16, 2018, to Brian and Holly (Bass) Wilbur (EU ’08). Tristan joins sisters Madi, 13, Haley, 3, and Harley, 1.

Declan Obadiah was born on May 7, 2018, to Adam and Kelly (Bevill) McGuffie (EU ’10 and AGTS ’12).

Eleanor Love was born on Oct. 4, 2017, to Dustin and Brianna (Goode) Wilson (EU ’11).

Autumn Rose was born in August 2017 to Sam (EU ’13, ’15) and Allison (Drewitz) Blevins (EU ’13). She joins big sister Lyla Ruth.

Adalee Jade was born to Travis and Brittany (Cottam) Baker (EU ’15, ’18) on May 30, 2018. The couple was married on May 21, 2017.

Tristan Leonidas Wilbur, top Catalina Jane Morales with parents, Dr. Meleah (Crockett) and Ricardo Morales (both EU ’11) Declan Obadiah McGuffie, bottom

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PAID

Springfield, MO Permit No. 1239

1111 N. Glenstone Ave. Springfield, MO 65802 800.EVANGEL • evangel.edu

1

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,

3

and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.