The Experience magazine - Winter 2010

THE EXPERIENCE

THE MAGAZINE OF WARNER PACIFIC COLLEGE

WINTER 2010

DEFINING MOMENTS President Cook Inauguration - 4 Knights are conference champs - 6 Act Six scholars ready to learn and lead - 10 Alija Sacorivich ’12 (in white) and the men’s soccer team capture their first Cascade Conference championship.

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Embracing our urban identity

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President Andrea P. Cook, Ph.D.

his past fall was momentous for our college community. I was honored and humbled to be inaugurated as Warner Pacific’s seventh president on Sept 20, 2009. As I explained in my inaugural address, I am committed – with God as my strength – to giving my all to lead the college to a new level of engagement with the city of Portland. God did not place Warner Pacific College in the heart of this vibrant city for us to keep to ourselves. He is calling us to be a force for change—a community that demonstrates inclusion and diversity and that is unafraid to address issues of injustice and need in our community.

In the last four years, Warner Pacific College’s urban mission has become increasingly clear. Our mission states that Warner Pacific is an urban Christian liberal arts college. However, it is only recently that we have begun to fully embrace all of the complexities that this statement encompasses … urban … Christian … liberal arts.

We prepare teachers, business leaders, social workers, pastors, accountants, and effective community members. But, more importantly, at the center of it all, is a unique liberal arts core that weaves faith, morality, and civic responsibility into the fabric of our education. Students are challenged to engage in the broad philosophical questions of humanity while developing skills in logic and critical thinking, with the intent of preparing them to engage a global marketplace rapidly evolving at a pace we’ve never seen before.

To serve the city is to live out our calling with excellence. We will prepare graduates who think well, believe deeply, and serve diligently. We will not seek answers to big questions as an academic exercise, but will take into account how the answers immediately impact our city.

I am proud to serve an institution that demonstrates the right priorities when considering a philosophical approach to education. We will be a Christian liberal arts college that makes our urban identity our institutional priority. I am anxious to see what work God has before us. Thank you for your partnership.

Warmly,

Andrea P. Cook, Ph.D. President

THE EXPERIENCE

TheExperience@warnerpacific.edu

503-517-1123

EDITOR SCOTT A. THOMPSON sthompson@warnerpacific.edu 503-517-1123

VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT KEVIN BRYANT

Warner Pacific is an urban, Christ-centered liberal arts college dedicated to providing students from diverse backgrounds an education that prepares them for the spiritual, moral, social, vocational, and technological challenges of the 21st Century. WPC is affiliated with the Church of God, Anderson, Ind.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS NATE ERION ’10 TERRY BAKER ’81 DR. LUKE GOBLE PHOTOGRAPHY SCOTT A. THOMPSON T. SCOTT BEYSTRUM ’11

Cover photograph by Scott A. Thompson

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COLLEGE RELATIONS LANI E. FAITH

“The Experience” is produced three times a year by Warner Pacific College for alumni and constituents. Opinions expressed are those of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect official policies of Warner Pacific College.

Warner Pacific College 2219 SE th Ave Portland, OR 97215 503-517-1020 www.warnerpacific.edu ©2010 Warner Pacific College

THE EXPERIENCE

MAKING HISTORY President Andrea P. Cook , Ph.D. is sworn in as Warner Pacific’s seventh - and first female - president.

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MEN’S SOCCER TEAM CAPTURES CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP The Knights hold off six-time defending champion Concordia University 5 - 3.

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A CALL TO PARTNERSHIP, NOT CHARITY Dr. Robert Lupton urges churches to create two-way relationships with the poor, preservng the dignity of all.

READY TO LEARN AND LEAD Warner Pacific forges a partnership with Act Six, an urban scholarship initiative designed to transform the college campus and the community beyond.

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Scott A. Thompson

President Andrea P. Cook receives applause from President Emeritus Jay A. Barber ’64, Warner Pacific Board member Dr. T. Allen Bethel, and the audience during her Inauguration, Sept. 20, 2009.

Winter 2010

FIRST PERSON: DIFFERENCE THAT MATTERS Higher education and theology in a postmodern world.

By Terry Baker ’81 and Dr. Luke Goble DEPARTMENTS 4

College News

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Alumni News

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En Memoriam

Would you prefer to read “The Experience” exclusively online? Send an email to dkoeth@warnerpacific.edu and we’ll switch you to our new e-mail list. Visit www.warnerpacific.edu to read the latest issue.

Winter 2010

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COLLEGE NEWS

President Cook takes the oath of office from (left) WP Board Chair Jim Teague ’75 as her father, Wayne Cook, looks on during the Sept. 20 inauguration ceremony.

Photos by Scott A. Thompson

Making History

President Andrea P. Cook , Ph.D., shares her vision for Warner Pacific College’s future as she is sworn in as the college’s seventh - and first female - president.

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arner Pacific College inaugurated Andrea P. Cook, Ph.D. as its seventh president Sept. 20 before an audience of approximately 500 guests in McGuire Auditorium, on the college’s Mt. Tabor campus. President Cook is the first female president to lead the college since its founding in 1937. She originally served as the college’s vice president for institutional advancement from 2005 to 2008 and as interim president for the last year.

Following the opening procession of faculty, university delegates, and board members, Warner Pacific student and current Miss Portland Alexandria Henderson ’12 sang a passionate rendition of the national anthem. Then a series of speakers brought greetings on behalf of students, staff, faculty, alumni, the City of Portland, and the Church of God (Anderson, Ind.).

Rob Ingram ’09, the Director of the City of Portland’s Office of Youth Violence Prevention and a current WPC student, read a letter on behalf of Portland Mayor Sam Adams, who was unable to attend.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to congratulate Dr. Andrea P. Cook on her new role as President of Warner Pacific College,” Adams wrote. “I am looking forward to seeing what her fresh leadership will bring to Warner Pacific and to [the] city.”

Ron Duncan, General Director of Church of God Ministries, said that President Cook’s leadership exhibited “a combination of spirit and mind, character and creativity, initiative and caring.”

Special guest speaker Dr. Bob Lupton, president of FCS Urban Ministries in Atlanta, Ga., described the importance of ministries finding innovative ways to help the poor achieve greater independence and pride in their communities. “[Warner Pacific] is ideally situated to become a world-class center for equipping a new breed of . . . young leaders who understand the city and who understand what it 4

The Experience

means to engage redemptively in that city,” said Lupton.

Following Dr. Lupton’s remarks, President Cook took the oath of office from Board Chair Jim Teague ’75, with President Emeritus Jay Barber ’64 and her father, Wayne Cook, of Enterprise, Ore., joining her on stage. President Cook then gave her inaugural address, in which she shared her vision of Warner Pacific Col-

“As an urban, Christcentered, liberal arts institution, our mission must embrace this crisis in the city.”

President Andrea P. Cook, Ph.D

lege being a force for positive change in the City of Portland.

“If we take seriously the calling to seek peace, prosperity, and shalom for our city, our imperative is to get involved in finding solutions instead of hedging against the impact of the problem,” she said. “As an urban, Christ-centered, liberal arts institution, our mission must embrace this crisis in the city.”

View video highlights from the Presidential inauguration and read President Cook’s full inauguration address at at www.warnerpacific.edu

A new college seal for a new era

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s part of inauguration activities, last September, Warner Pacific unveiled a new seal designed to better emulate the college’s motto “Where faith and scholarship lead to service.” Designed by the college’s marketing firm, RHB - The Agency, the seal incorporates a more comprehensive set of images than the previous seal, which featured an open book, a cross, and a flame.

The new seal expands on the old by adding an urban skyline and a globe to reflect Warner Pacific’s role with engaging the city of Portland. At the same time, the college prepares students to employ their God-given strengths around the globe.

The flame hearkens to the college’s Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) heritage and suggests the light of Christ, as well as the light of learning. The book represents the Word of God and stands as a universal symbol of scholarship and study. The light rays (the top two of which contain crosses) suggest a “carrying outward” of faith and learning.

Finally, the seal’s oval shape suggests the holistic nature of the liberal arts, but in a distinctive, slightly out-of-the-ordinary way.

(L to R) Sarah Wood ’12, Kimberly Radosevich ’09, and Nicki Walker ’12 clear a creek of debris in Allen, S.D. during a 2009 mission trip.

Students connect with South Dakota church, community during summer trip An eight-member mission team from Warner Pacific journeyed to Allen, S.D. in May 2009 to work on a number of construction and clean-up projects with Pass Creek Church of God, located in one of the poorest regions in the United States. Led by professor Luke Goble, the team hung drywall at the church, painted a post office, and cleared a polluted creek of debris. They also participated in worship and fellowship gatherings with townspeople, many of whom are members of the Lakota nation.

“We set out to [share] life together and be intentional about community in a different cultural context,” said Goble.

Witnessing the extreme poverty the Lakota face was daunting for members of the team, but there were moments of poignancy and hope, as well. Nicki Walker ’12 recalls a conversation she had with a 1 -year-old Lakota girl who was doing well in school and looking forward to attending a special summer program on a college campus in the area.

“In a place that was so hopeless, it was nice to see that she had hope and that her going to that program was so big for her,” said Walker.

Unimpressed with textbook choices, professor writes his own

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ast spring, Dr. Steven Carver, the Milo Chapman Chair of Biblical Studies, wasn’t happy with the textbook choices available for the intensive, five-week-long “Bible as Literature” course he was teaching in the college’s Adult Degree Program. He needed a taut, but thorough, textbook that would present a survey of the Bible - including its content, authorship, and literary forms - in less than 200 pages, but nothing he found fit the bill.

After Carver shared his frustration with his students, they encouraged him to write the textbook himself. The result is Carver’s 188-page nugget “An Introduction to the Literature of the Bible,” which he completed in October.

“I was initially very hesitant to take on

this project, because it involved writing a textbook … that would give students enough information to help them to establish a foundation upon which they could build a lifetime of biblical learning,” said Carver, who is affectionately known as the “Bible Ninja” to his students. “However, once I began writing the book, my confidence grew, and I felt that I was able to bring together the key aspects in a readable fashion. I believe my textbook will be very beneficial to students of all ages.”

Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Cole Dawson, with whom Carver consulted while researching the book, lauds Winter 2010

Carver’s resulting work.

“The text is accessible, clear and wonderfully informative,” said Dawson.

“Those unfamiliar with the Bible and those with considerable experience with scripture will be equally rewarded and challenged.”

Carver has made copies of his textbook available for loan from the Otto F. Linn Library, as well as for purchase in the Warner Pacific bookstore, located in the lower level of Egtvedt Hall.

Dr. Steven Carver

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COLLEGE NEWS The 2009 men’s soccer team celebrates after defeating Concordia University 5 - 3 in the conference championship match.

Photos by Scott A. Thompson

Knights capture first Cascade Conference crown After earning the #1 seed in the conference tournament, the men’s soccer team holds off six-time defending champion Concordia University 5 - 3 in double overtime in the championship match.

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arner Pacific goalkeeper Sean Ervin ’11 turned aside two penalty kicks to push the Warner Pacific men’s soccer team (13-5-1) to a 5-3 victory over six-time defending champion and #2-seed Concordia University to claim its first ever Cascade Conference tournament championship, Nov. 14, at David Douglas High School, in Portland.

Given that the two teams had split their regular season games, a nip and tuck game was expected - and the two teams didn’t disappoint. Forward Alija Sacirovic ’12 finally broke through for the Knights in the 70th minute, lacing an eight yard strike past Cavalier keeper Claudio Lazar. Undeterred, the Cavaliers’ Jared Brace tied the match 1 - 1 just six minutes later.

The tie score held through the end of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime play, setting up Ervin’s heroics in the shootout. While the Knights connected on all four of their penalty kicks, Ervin easily kicked away two attempts by the Cavaliers, the last one sending the Knight bench on to the field in a frenzy.

“The shootout was crazy,” said Ervin. “You don’t really think while it’s happening. You just react because it all happens so fast.”

The Knights secured the regular season championship as well, finishing with a conference record of 11-2-1, the best since men’s soccer was reinstated in 2000. The Knights led the conference in shot attempts (254).

The victory in the tournament brought an automatic berth into the 2009 NAIA National Tournament. The Knights faced Simon Fraser, the same team they had lost to 6 -1 in their season opener August 20. This time, the Knights put up a strong challenge, but lost 1-0. Simon Fraser went on to win the national championship.

Five WP players received post-season honors from the conference. Sacirovic and senior Zack Barron ’09 were named to the all-conference first team.

Barron was also voted as the defensive player of the year and an honorable mention All-American. Julian Esquivel ’11 and Juan Castillo ’12 were named to the 2nd Team All-CCC and Ervin received Honorable Mention.

“What made my senior season memorable was the team and coaching staff,” said Barron. “It was a great group of guys who really came together after some adversity early in the season. It was a good combination of fun and hard work that made our season a successful one.”

The Experience

Forward Alija Sacirovic ’12 (left) and mid-fielder Zack Barron ’09 were named First Team All-Cascade Conference. Sacirovic led the Knights with eight goals.

Barron was also honored as the top defender in the conference.

“You don’t really think while it’s happening. You just react because it all happens so fast.”

- WP goalie Sean Ervin ’11, who blocked two penalty kicks in the Knights 5-3 victory over Concordia University in the Cascade Conference championship game on Nov. 14, in Portland.

Warner Pacific makes “Great Schools, Great Prices” list Warner Pacific College was again ranked #12 in the West for Best Baccalaureate Colleges by U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges 2010” edition.

The college was also listed for the first time on the “Great Schools, Great Prices” list for colleges considered to offer the best value based on the school’s academic quality and the 2008-09 academic year net cost of attendance for students receiving need-based financial aid. Finally, WPC is also on the list of colleges with the highest proportion of classes with under 20 students.

McGuire Auditorium gets summer make-over For faithful alumni and friends who remember the original gold-colored pews that had graced McGuire Auditorium since 1975, they are now history (donated to a local church). In their place are removable chairs resting on a newly refinished floor. The updates were made in time for the inauguration of President Cook.

ADP’s Enos records CD with local jazz group ADP Academic Counselor Megan Enos, who moonlights as a jazz vocalist, recorded a CD with her Portland-based jazz group Mosaique. WP professor of music Dr. Dennis Plies was a featured guest on the vibes for a few tunes. Enos specifically requested that Plies perform, as he was the person who originally introduced her to the band years ago.

Nike comes to the rescue after thieves swipe basketball gear The WP women’s basketball team suffered a momentary setback Oct. 4 when thieves swiped 15 pairs of shoes and a

Common Day of Service turns five

T. Scott Beystrum ’11

handful of custom-designed uniforms worth a total of over $2,000. A Portland recreational basketball league was renting C.C. Perry Gym at the time of the incident.

However, in a swift turn of events, a Nike employee who was playing in the gym that day sent an internal e-mail inquiring if Nike might help. Sure enough, Jill Pizzotti, the Manager of Women’s College Sports Marketing at Nike, agreed to donate 15 brand new pairs of sneakers to the Lady Knights.

“We felt it was the right thing to do under unfortunate circumstances,” said Pizzotti.

Also to show good will, the recreational league RecBasketball chipped in an additional $500.

Education student competes on game show “Wheel of Fortune” Master of Education student Jeff Dahlin ’10 competed on the hit game show “Wheel of Fortune” Nov. 4, 2009. The episode will air nationally March 18, 2010.

As far as earnings, Dahlin says he solved a few puzzles and essentially broke even, as contestants must pay for their own transportation and lodging.

“It was a once in a lifetime experience,” said Dahlin. “Roughly one million people apply and they do 250 shows a year. I was one of 750 people out of a million.”

Winter 2010

The fifth annual Common Day of Service, Sept. 1 , saw teams of students and employees head out to various work sites at nearby elementary schools and Mt. Tabor Park, as well as a wildlife refuge in Clark County for the college’s annual community service outreach. Teams removed invasive plants, organized library books, hung out with children during recess, and painted murals.

A group of students representing the Urban Studies Program hauled rocks by hand out of a narrow channel in the Clackamas River, allowing sheriff rescue boats to pass. For its efforts, the group was featured in the “Clackamas Review” newspaper.

Alumni Phone-a-thon a success Thanks to all of the generous alumni who have pledged to give for the 2009 Phone-a-thon. Current pledges for student scholarships have topped $10,000 — twice as much as last year’s contributions.

Speakers / Events February 9

John Perkins

19, 20 Alumni Weekend 23

Jose Rojas

March 9

Shane Claiborne

5 - 14

Spring Play “A Doll’s House”

April 17

Vickie Norris

Find event schedules at www.warnerpacific.edu

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MINISTRY

A call for partnership, not charity During a campus lecture, urban ministry expert Dr. Robert Lupton urges churches and ministries to create two-way relationships with the poor, preserving the dignity of all.

By Dr. Robert Lupton

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hen I was drafted to serve in Vietnam, I thought it would be the most wasted year of my life. However, in short, it became a time when God shaped within me a sense of calling to work with troubled young men.

When I got out of the military, I found a way to begin a program with the juvenile court in Atlanta, Ga., to work with young men who were on probation.

I was commuting from the suburbs to work with kids and families in their community and it became increasingly apparent that if I wanted to have optimal impact, I needed to become a part of that community. How do you tell your wife that you think we should move with our two kids into the inner city? That was a difficult decision for my family.

The short story is that we moved in to the inner city and built our home on the site of a burned down boarding house and became neighbors in the city. That was clearly the most significant decision we as a family ever made and it was clearly the most significant that affected our ministry going forward.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that this call to the city was as much about my own salvation as it was the salvation of those I was coming to serve. It was an invitation from Christ to come in a little closer and be touched by those who society devalues and in that process, discover myself in ways I wouldn’t otherwise.

The market matters I knew people needed decent clothes, and so one of the first things we did in our church was set up a free clothes closet. It was a wonderful spirit until we actually opened the doors. Then folks came in and started grabbing and stuffing as many clothes in as many bags as they could carry. The spirit went. We set up some rules, and in no time we were behaving like temple police, guarding the resources of the kingdom against the very folks we were there to serve. It turned into an adversarial relationship very quickly.

I was explaining the dilemma to a suburban church men’s group. They said, “There’s a simple answer to that. It’s called the market. You put a fair rate of exchange on a desired commodity and it cuts all that out.”

They took that on as a mission’s project and set that clothes closet up as a retail store.

It became a place where the community could purchase very affordable clothing. The one-way giving seemed to elicit negative responses. It played to the greed of people.

But in a store, everyone loves a bargain. That’s universal. And it doesn’t matter how good a bargain it is. The better the bargain, the happier you are. There’s pride in that process, there’s dignity in that process of exchange.

What I had not seen before was how human dignity was eroded through the process of one-way giving. It subtly communicated to the recipients, “You have nothing of value which I desire in return. Just be grateful.”

Free gifts come with a price We saw a similar kind of thing the first Christmas I was in the city. We always did an “adopt a family” program and got folks from our partner churches all over the city to take the names of kid’s families and go shopping. Then on Christmas

The Experience

Eve we delivered the gifts to needy families that would not get much otherwise.

But the first time I was in the homes of some of the recipient families, I saw something that I had never seen before. The kids were all excited. The moms were generally gracious but reserved, and if there was a dad in the household, he just disappeared. He was gone out the back door.

It dawned on me that these parents were being exposed for their own inability to provide right in front of their own kids in their own living rooms. It was more than the dads could handle. The moms would endure that indignity for the sake of the kids. But I said, “There’s got to be a better way to do our charity than this.”

Saving face The following Christmas when folks called in to adopt their families, I said, “Would you give an extra gift this year? Would you give the gift of dignity to the dads? Go shopping, get the toys, but don’t wrap them. Bring them in to our little store, and we’ll put somewhere between a garage sale and a wholesale price on those toys. We’ll invite parents to come in and go shopping.

and they’ve got about enough to survive on. But their response defined what priority a well was to them. And they came up with the equivalent of $2,300. Where they came up with that money I have no idea. And we said, “We’ll invest with you. We’ll give you a longer term loan so that you can pay that back over time so long as you do all of the labor to dig the trenches, install the pipes, and then of course, your engineer will do the more sophisticated work.”

In that process, we said that the loan was contingent upon them setting up a system of collecting water bills from 250 homes. We were helpful in establishing an elected water commission to figure out how much it would cost each person for the amount of water they used. Was that enough money to pay the loan payment? Was it enough money to set aside for future repairs and replacements on the well? And a business plan emerged out of that.

We did the deal and six months later we came back to a village celebration where they pulled the switch, started the engine, and water flowed out to the 250 homes. It was euphoria.

They discovered that they had more water in that well than the village needed, and so they started making a deal with an

What I had not seen before was how human dignity was eroded through the process of one-way giving. It subtly communicated to the recipients, “You have nothing of value which I desire in return. Just be grateful.”

Dr. Robert Lupton, author and urban ministry expert And if they don’t have any money we can employ them with the proceeds from the purchased items so that even those that don’t have money can buy toys for their kids.”

It is a quantum leap from giving gifts to needy children to giving gifts to an organization that will sell those gifts, but we explained to the donors, “You know the joy that you get when you see those kids get your gifts? We want you to give that gift of joy to the parents, so that parents can purchase that special gift that they know will delight their kids. They can wrap it and put it under the tree and they will have, on Christmas morning, the same kind of joy that most parents do in seeing their kids open gifts earned through the efforts of their own hands.”

That changed the dynamics of giving. It replaced a formula that devalued people and eroded their sense of humanity with one that turned them into consumers. There was a process of exchange that is full of human dignity. We discovered that folks would rather work for and buy gifts for their children than stand in the free toy lines with their proof of poverty. Nobody in our community is so poor that they have nothing to contribute to the life of the community. Everybody has something to give. And so the challenge is to establish methods of reciprocal giving in the community. It’s like Jesus saying, “Come on in a little closer, I want to show you some things about the kingdom.”

A community takes ownership In Nicaragua, a little village we became involved with needed a well, so we connected them with an engineering firm that told them how much it would cost. We said, “How much money do you have to put into this?” This is a dirt poor rural environment

adjacent village. Now they have a wealth-producing asset in their community that they own, that they maintain. It’s gone down several times in the past two years, but they had the money set aside to do the repairs. The difference in engaging in partnerships with people versus doing things for them is striking.

No more one-way charity One-way charity almost always causes people to be unmotivated and dependent, whereas partnerships enhance their sense of entrepreneurism. Churches should be going on insight trips to help start enterprises that folks can own and that increases their ability to move out of poverty. The diverse family of faith coming together releases kingdom energy. If God should call you to live in an economically diverse community, you should feel highly blessed.

That’s a call of God to know Him and experience Him in a way that you will never know and experience Him otherwise. It’s a gift.

Where I thought I was going in to bring the light of the Gospel, it was the darkness in my life that the Gospel was exposing, and I feel very highly blessed that God would favor me with a call to live in a diverse community and learn to, in some ways, practice the unity of the Body of Christ and so fulfill the law of God. This article was based on an edited transcript of a lecture Dr. Robert Lupton gave on Sept. 21, 2009 in McGuire Auditorium. Dr. Lupton is President of FCS Ministry Services in Atlanta, Ga. and has written several books on urban ministry.

Learn more at www.fcsministries.org.

Winter 2010

Incoming Warner Pacific Act Six scholars (R to L) TyAnna Paschal, Adam Ristick, and Hunter Leonard.

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Photo by Anthony Jordan

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here was a time when the odds of future Warner Pacific student Adam Ristick graduating from high school – let alone attending college – were steep. As a freshman at Portland’s Cleveland High School, Ristick struggled in his classes, managing C’s and D’s while navigating an unstable home life. His parents were addicted to drugs and his two older brothers had already dropped out of high school.

“I came from a very dysfunctional home, so I didn’t have a lot of structure,” said Ristick, currently a 19 year-old Portland Community College student. “I was raised by my grandparents, but my parents were in the home, so it was crazy. I liked school but I didn’t have the structure I needed at home.

I didn’t have a lot to look up to.”

The turning point in Ristick’s life came his sophomore year, when he became involved with the youth ministry Portland Central Young Life (PCYL). He found mentorship and a stable peer group and graduated in 2008. He then became a Young Life leader himself, mentoring high school students at Portland’s Marshall High School.

When Ristick finishes at PCC, he will transfer to Warner Pacific, thanks to the innovative scholarship program Act Six, 10

which partners with faith-based colleges and universities to recruit underrepresented students who demonstrate leadership in their urban schools or communities. In addition to a full-need scholarship, Act Six scholars receive extensive life-skills training from Act Six staff that prepares them both to succeed in the classroom and to step out in leadership on their campuses.

“I would love to be a high school English teacher,” Ristick said. “I have a younger brother who is 16 and if I can’t show him that I can get out of [our economic situation], what can he do? I’m just excited and I’m up for the challenge.”

Distinctly urban Headquartered in Tacoma, Wash., Act Six’s national office operates under the ausThe Experience

pices of the Northwest Leadership Foundation, a Christian-based organization that seeks to address issues of inequality and injustice in urban settings. Act Six recruits students of color and those from low-income situations, trains them for a year prior to college entrance, secures scholarship funding, and then supports them throughout their college experience.

The name Act Six refers to the sixth chapter of the book of Acts, in the New Testament, which describes a moment when the early Christian church experienced cultural tensions from within. Greek believers complained that their widows were being overlooked in the distribution of food. In response, Jesus’ disciples, who were the first leaders of the church, appointed seven Greek-speaking men to work out a solution.

“The disciples choose seven folks from an underrepresented part of the body who are brought to the center of the community and empowered —that’s the [Act Six] model,“ said Tim Herron, National Act Six Director.

“Access to higher education in America, and in particular the church, is pretty unequal.

But rather than [ask] how we get more kids

of color to come, how do we empower a group of students to help us figure this out?’”

A former high school math teacher in inner-city Tacoma, Herron watched many promising students go off to college, only to return home disillusioned and without a degree. They described feeling out of place in school, lacking a sufficient peer group that understood what they were going through.

Strength in numbers Through his research, Herron learned of a New York-based foundation that had success sending a group of urban students to the same school. Using that model, Herron recruited ten students of color from Tacoma to become the first group of Act Six scholars in 2002. They enrolled at Whitworth University, in Spokane, Wash. Since then, Act Six has developed partnerships with Pacific Lutheran University, Northwest University, Gonzaga University, Trinity Lutheran College, George Fox University, and now Warner Pacific College.

And the success of the program is remarkable. Among the 107 students who have participated in Act Six thus far, 93 percent have either graduated or are still enrolled. In fact, two of the last three student body presidents at Whitworth have been Act Six scholars.

Act Six’s graduation figures stand in contrast to lower national college graduation rates. According to a 2007 study by the U.S. Department of Education, Asian/Pacific Islanders had the highest graduation rate within six years (67 percent), followed by Whites (60 percent), Hispanics (49 percent), African-Americans (42 percent), and American Indians/Alaska Natives (40 percent).

“Act Six students will come to campus with a sense of purpose that is really unusual for incoming students,” said Herron. “Traditionally, scholarship programs for urban kids of color have [said] ‘Man, it’s too bad you’ve had it rough. Here we’ll give you this money and you can come and get this great education,’ which is certainly true. But we need [Act Six scholars] for the education of all of our students. It becomes a hub for cultural change on a college campus.”

Independent chapters Act Six is growing nationally through the creation of local, independent chapters. Currently chapters exist in Tacoma, Spokane, Portland, and Memphis. Act Six Portland was founded in 2004 by the co-directors of Portland Central Young Life (PCYL), Ben Sand and Anthony Jordan. PCYL began 13 years ago and serves over 800 high school kids in the Portland area. In their work, Sand and Jordan came to realize that addressing the spiritual needs of their kids wasn’t enough. The students also wanted a better economic future - something a college education could provide. However, their students weren’t necessarily prepared academically out of the gate.

In 2003, Jordan and Sand learned about Act Six and drove to Tacoma to meet with Herron. A year later, Act Six Portland was born. It is now housed under the non-profit organization Portland Leadership Foundation, which Jordan and Sands also run.

“Every kid needs Jesus, but Jesus is not all kids need,” said Sand.

“When a kid believes that he or she cannot go to college, we say yes you can, and here is how you do it: by leading in your community and being committed to growing in that leadership development process.”

Two-year scholarship Act Six Portland’s first partner school was George Fox University, in Newberg, Ore., which has seen 31 students attend. Warner Pacific is now the second. However, while the George Fox students receive four-year scholarships, the Warner Pacific cadre will first attend two years of community college. This “Urban Service” track also calls for nine months of weekly training by Act Six staff that covers crucial life skills— everything from money management and study skills to race relations.

“It’s like boot camp,” said Jordan. “It’s very intense. It’s very similar to an athlete that gets a scholarship to play a sport. You’re going to be

“We need [Act Six scholars] for the education of all of our students. It becomes a hub for cultural change on a college campus.”

- Tim Herron, National Act Six Director expected to do ‘x, y, and z’ because we’re extending this opportunity for you to come and lead [on campus] and get your education.”

Students shocked TyAnna Paschal, a 2008 graduate of Benson High School, was floored when she learned last year that she was receiving a Warner Pacific / Act Six scholarship. Paschal also works with Portland Central Young Life, mentoring 13 girls at Grant High School. She is one of nine children in a blended family. One Sunday night last year, during a regular PCYL gathering, Paschal, Ristick, and a third Young Life leader, Hunter Leonard, were invited forward to meet Warner Pacific President Andrea P. Cook, who announced that the trio had been accepted into the first Act Six cadre.

“I was shocked,” Paschal said. “I had no idea a scholarship was going to come through. We cried like little babies.”

Leonard, a 2008 graduate of Cleveland High School, says college wasn’t on his horizon until the Act Six program materialized. Now he is looking forward to attending Warner Pacific with his fellow Act Six scholars and, like Ristick, studying to be a teacher.

“You have this cadre that you’re going to school with as a support team,” said Leonard. “I feel like they are an extension of my family, almost.”

First cadre formed In December, Warner Pacific selected the remaining seven Act Six scholars from among twenty students from Oregon schools in Portland, Woodburn, Scappoose, McMinnville, and Corvallis, and one student from Ridgefield, Wash. The scholars will officially start classes in the fall of 2011, although they will live on campus this coming fall while they take community college courses elsewhere.

Subsequent cadres will be selected each year.

Shannon Mackey, Warner Pacific’s Executive Director for Enrollment Management, is eager to see the Act Six program get off the ground. However, she adds that Warner Pacific already serves a number of students who come from diverse and challenging backgrounds.

Act Six is serving to bring the issue more to the forefront.

“Students like these are here already,” said Mackey. “We are about to usher in ten more. They’re going to keep coming and they are going to transform who we are. To know that we are a gateway to a better future [for students], I don’t know how it gets better than that.”

WPC / ACT SIX “URBAN SERVICE” CADRE ONE Ariana Gamino Selam Kahassay Hunter Leonard Patricia Lewis Jaques Montgomery TyAnna Paschal Eddie Petrie Adam Ristick Jazzie Tuli Nia Whitfield

Winter 2010

Roosevelt H.S. Benson H.S. Cleveland H.S. David Douglas H.S. Grant H.S. Benson H.S. Cleveland H.S. Cleveland H.S. David Douglas H.S. Corvallis H.S.

Learn more at www.actsix.org

11

ALUMNI NEWS 50’s Cast and crew shoot a scene from the Christian-themed film “The River Within.”

Richard ’50 and wife Marian (Jacobs) Lander ’49 celebrated their 60 th wedding anniversary last summer. They are retired in Vancouver, Wash.

Retired Church of God missionaries Keith ’50 and Gloria (Corbin) Plank ’49, celebrated 60 years of marriage. They live in Anderson, Ind. Wayne ’51 and Shirley (Wilson) Dickinson ’49 enjoyed their 60th wedding anniversary this year. They live in Flint, Mich.

Oliver ’53 and his wife Blanche (Seekins) Bittleston ’52 celebrated Oliver’s 80th birthday on October 18. Oliver was also honored last summer by the Church of God for 55 years of ministerial work.

Joyce (Elias) Hartman ’56 is retired and living with her husband, Larry, in Garden Grove, Calif.

0’s Lorraine (Ellison) Holmes ’62 is a leader of the Grace and Peace Quilting Ministry of Saddleback Church in Southern California. Quilts are donated to needy children locally and worldwide.

Karen (Moore) Helsel ’68 is senior pastor at the Sunnyside Church of God in Sunnyside, Wash. She and her husband previously served in Thailand for twelve years with the Missionary Board of the Church of God. Ragena (Early) Ensley ’69 recently retired after 27 years as an elementary school teacher, the last 11 spent in special education.

Howard Schwarz ’69 retired from the Defense Finance and Accounting Services in Indianapolis, Ind. in 2008, where he had been an accountant for 35 years. He visits shut-ins and makes hospital calls to members of Church at the Crossing in Indianapolis.

After 32 years of ministry at Centralia Community Church of God, in Centralia, Wash., Rev. Darcy Fast ’69 is retiring. He will be replaced by his nephew, Mark Fast ’93, who recently celebrated his 5 th year as pastor of LifePoint Church, in Renton, Wash., which he and his wife Lori (Reed) Fast ’94 launched together.

70’s Bob Tate ’70 has returned to Yakima, Wash. after working for three years at West Indies Theological College, in Trinadad. In 2008, his wife, JoAnn (Shields) ’70 passed away in Trinidad.

Kathi (Kennemer) Sellers ’73 is doing Global 12

Filmmaking couple produces inspiring film about finding one’s purpose in life.

K

erry (Cissna) Heath ’00 and husband Zac braved exhausting heat and humidity, poisonous spider bites, and untimely rain showers to make their first independent feature film, “The River Within” on location in Arkansas in 2008. Zac wrote and directed and Kerry served as executive producer.

The drama tells the story of a law school graduate who returns to the small Southern town where he grew The Heaths up to study for the bar exam. He reluctantly takes a part-time youth director job in the interim, and comes to reconsider his faith and the direction of “I have no doubt that Christians his life.

“I have no doubt will be encouraged and challenged that Christians will be by this film.” encouraged and chal- Kerry (Cissna) Heath ’00 lenged by this film and yet it is not a film made Executive Producer of “The River Within” exclusively for Christians,” Kerry wrote via e-mail.

After meeting at Asbury College, in Wilmore, Ky., the Heaths moved to Los Angeles where Zac worked on film crews and Kerry joined the residence life staff at Pepperdine University in Malibu. They co-founded their production company Inspired Life Films in 2007 and a year later, with a lean budget of $40,000, shot “The River Within” in 17 days.

“As a religion major at Warner Pacific, I discovered my call to ministry but could not really define it,” wrote Kerry. “ I had no idea that I would one day have the opportunity to produce a film and watch God working in Hollywood.”

Visit www.theriverwithinmovie.com for more information.

Missions work in Missionary Recruitment and Care in Anderson, Ind. with Church of God Missions. Her husband Wayne Sellers ’74 is doing interim pastorate work through New Church Specialties.

Dalyn Helbling ’74 has been a pastor in Bastrop, La. for almost six years.

Randy Irwin ’75 is currently teaching The Experience

World History and ELL (English Language Learners) at Washington High School in Phoenix, Ariz., where he is also the varsity track coach. His wife, Sandi (Tanner) Irwin ’75, is a guidance counselor at Thunderbird High School, also in Phoenix.

Terri (Wood) Jestrab ’75 taught K-3 for 32 years in the Vancouver School District before retiring in June 2008.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

Honoring our 2010 Distinguished Alumni At our 2010 Alumni Weekend, we have the privilege of honoring this year’s distinguished alumni recipients. These individuals demonstrate excellence, perseverance, allegiance and often personal sacrifice. Each one goes to great lengths, setting themselves apart while demonstrating their willingness to place others before themselves. Warner Pacific College is honored to introduce our recipients: Ministry Award: Paul ’53 & Nova (Petersen) Hutchins ’53 Legacy Award: Herb ’61 & Leta (Moore) Lewis ’61 Service Award: Candi (Hemenway) Didier ’86 Young Alumnus Award: Erik Brink ’01

Dana McGuire, Director of Alumni, Church, & Parent Relations

Many of you have spent much time with these distinguished alumni. Let’s surround these friends as we create a wonderful day to celebrate their accomplishments. Our honoring ceremony will take place at the Celebration Luncheon at 12 noon, Saturday, February 20th. Register online at www.warnerpacific.edu and I’ll see you there.

Bradley Bramlet ’77, pastor of New Bridges Community Church in Lewiston, Idaho, recently wrote a book entitled “Stories from the Big Dog Chair.” More information is available at bigdogchair.com.

Sandy (Robinson) Davie ’79 has worked as a social worker for the last 30 years and as a juvenile probation officer at Lane County Department of Youth Services for the last ten. She serves as an administrative pastor at Friendly Street Church of God, in Eugene, Ore.

0’s Sue (Calkins) Melum ’80 has spent 14 years working as a School Psychologist in the Edmonds School District, in Edmonds, Wash.

best. His wife, Kris (Stoute) Davisson ’87 and many friends cheered him to victory. The Davissons have been serving in Tulare for the past 14 years. They have two daughters.

Steve Stecker ’86 pastors Rainier Community Church of God and wife Rhonda (Buckle) Stecker ’89 is a school counselor at Clatskanie Middle High School.

Melissa (Hager) Leembruggen ’88 of Troy, Ohio published her newest book “Benny the Baffled Behemoth” last year. She also has a new book being released in January 2010 about micro-businesses in Jamaica.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19TH

90’s

:00 pm

Janet (Sherman) Howard ’81 won her age group in the 2009 World Championship duathlon last September, which involved two five km runs and a 40 km bike ride.

Kay (Perry) Winter ’81 married Roger Winter on August 1, 2009 and they reside in the Indianapolis area where Kay chairs the English Department at Anderson High School.

Raynette Yoshida ’91 is the executive assistant to the President of Mario’s Luxury Specialty Retailer, in Portland, and serves as the Eucharistic Minister at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Gresham, Ore.

Cindy (Fagan) ’84 and Bernie Buckle ’85 own Buckle’s Collision Center in S.E. Portland and celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in June, 2009.

Mark Fast ’93 and his wife Lori (Reed) Fast ’94 have accepted the senior pastorate position for Centralia Community Church of God in Centralia, Wash., replacing Mark’s uncle, Rev. Darcy Fast ’69, who is retiring.

Jerry Davisson ’85, senior Pastor in Tulare, Calif., completed his second marathon - the Two Cities Marathon - in Fresno, Calif., in November in 3 hours and 42 minutes – a personal

5:00 pm 5:30 pm

7:30 pm

Mandy (Clark) Iraha ’91 works as a church secretary and also volunteers as a birth doula at Oregon Health and Science University, in Portland, Ore. She previously had spent two years in ministry in Russia.

Warren Lynn ’84 is a council member for Veriditas, an international organization facilitating the use of labyrinths as a spiritual, educational, and therapeutic tool.

ALUMNI WEEKEND 2010

Jennifer (Walters) Davis ’94 is currently the Vice President of Planar Systems, located in Beaverton, Ore. She also runs Remarkable Tributes, which helps families create tribute books for special occasions.

Delores (Ford) Dillard ’95 went to Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya last year to encourage the counselors of the Oregon-based Good Samaritan Ministries.

Open House Dinner Class of 19 5 Reunion Women’s Basketball ADP Reunion Social Science Reunion Men’s Basketball

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 20TH 10:00 am Worship and Praise Mark Kowalko ’ 3, speaker 12:00 pm Celebration Luncheon / Alumni Awards 5:00 pm Open House Dinner 5:30 pm Class Reunions 1990 & 2000 Women’s Basketball 7:30 pm Men’s Basketball COST Early Bird Discount Package $29 each (includes all events) available through Jan. 29, 2010.

Questions? 503 - 517 - 102 Register at www.warnerpacific.edu SIGN UP EARLY!

Continued on page 14 Winter 2010

13

ALUMNI NEWS

EN MEMORIAM

Continued from pg. 13 Annette (Kraus) Mattson ’96 was re-elected to a four-year term on the David Douglas School Board, in Portland, Ore., and is concluding her year as the 2009 President of the Oregon School Boards Association.

Chuck Calhoun ’97 is the new varsity wrestling coach at Milwaukie High School, in Milwaukie, Ore.

00’s Kezia (Enos) Zamora ’01 and husband Jeff gave birth to son Jasper on May 2, 2009, Kezia’s birthday. Kezia works as a mental health therapist at Portland Natural Health and also teaches in Warner Pacific’s Adult Degree Program.

Brian ’01 and Jessie (Fox) Passon ’01 gave birth to their second daughter, Claire Joyce, on Oct. 26, 2009, in Hartford, Conn. The family also has a twoyear-old daughter named Ava. Michelle (Roosa) ’03 and Tyler Toney ’04 gave birth to son Tanner Matthew on Oct. 27, 2009. Michelle is the lead teacher at Warner Pacific’s Early Learning Center.

Tyler is a sales representative for Brand Athletics, in Portland.

Scott Galloway ’04 married Dr. Melissa Coombs on Oct. 12, 2007 in Maui. He is the Vice President of West Coast Drape in Portland, Ore. Daniel Head ’04 married Alexis Ulrri last October. Head is a middle school counselor in the Longview (Wash.) School District.

Aaron Marvin ’04 and April (Beykovsky) Marvin ’04 gave birth to Carson Aaron Marvin on Oct. 7th. Carson weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 21.5 inches long.

Logan ’04 and Kerian (Soley) Walton ’04, MMOL ’08 welcomed their son Sawyer Kent, born on Nov. 11, 2009 in Vancouver, Wash.

Becky ’05 and Byron Gudino celebrated the birth of their first child, Caleb Mark, on October 13, 2009 in Ecuador, where the Gudinos work in ministry.

David Christian ’06 finished 32 nd in the 2009 Portland Marathon, Oct 4, with a time of 2 hours, 46 minutes, and 27 seconds. He is a medical interpreter in Portland. His wife, Destinee (Kohl) ’08 is a nanny.

Alexandra (Kuechler) Caffall ’07 is a graduate student in the Drama Master of Fine Arts program for Direct14

Gene C. Amondson ’66 Gene C. Amondson ’66 passed away on June 20, 2009 in Vashon, Wash. Amondson was born Oct. 15, 1943 near Mt. Ranier, Wash.. He worked in the Pacific Northwest as a logger and later graduated from Warner Pacific. A landscape artist and woodcarver, Amondson served as the presidential candidate for the Prohibition Party slate in 2004 and 2008. Survivors include brother Jerry Amondson ’68 of Tempe, Ariz, and sister Dawn (Amondson) Adkisson ’68 of Portland, Ore. Robert L. Hemenway ’47 Robert L. Hemenway passed away on Aug. 15, 2009 in Portland. He was born on Aug. 13, 1923 in Montana. He met his wife Waldean (Porterfield) ’47 in 1945.

He filled pastoral positions in California, Oregon, and Alaska. He is survived by his wife, and his children Claudia Hemenway ’71, Craig Hemenway ’81, and Candace (Hemenway) Didier ’86.

Neva C. Nelson ’67 Neva C. Nelson passed away at her home in Gresham, Ore. on October 1, 2009 from cancer. Neva was born Nov. 29, 1945 in Louisville, Ky., but later moved to Kennewick, Wash. She married Dwight Nelson in 1967 and worked in ministry in the Foursquare Church for most of her life. Survivors include her husband, two children, and four grandchildren. The family invites people to make a donation to the WPC Scholarship Fund in Neva’s memory.

Steven C. Riley ’80 Steven C. Riley died in Hermiston, Ore. on May 26, 2009 due to a brain aneurism. He was born March 30, 1957 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His family later moved to Pendleton, Ore. Riley served as principal at two Christian schools in rural Oregon. He later began his own business, Freedom Financial Services, in 2006.

Riley is survived by his wife, Louise, and three children.

William Clay Shrout, Jr. William C. Shrout, Jr. passed away on Aug. 25, 2009 in Clackamas, Ore. He was 82. Shrout was born Oct. 11, 1926 in Akron, Ind. He served in the military during WW II. He married his wife Julia ’68 on Feb. 8, 1947. Bill served as business manager and administrative Vice President for WPC for eleven years. He is survived by Julia; daughter Linda (Shrout) Villava ’72, Terry Shrout ’75, and Rick Shrout ’85 and several grandchildren who are alumni. The family has created an endowed scholarship fund in Shrout’s name.

Arnold Christensen College supporter and volunteer Arnold Christensen died Nov. 12, 2009. He was born in Chicago on Sept. 2, 1915. He was a career machinist with General Motors and Boeing. He also volunteered in the Warner Pacific maintenance department.

He is survived by sons Dr. Marshall Christensen ’65, Rev. Robert Christensen ’67, and Carl Christensen, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. ing at The New School in New York City.

Her husband, Tyler Caffall ’06, is studying acting at the same school.

Jesse Slick ’07 married Stephenie (Blakeley) Slick ’09. The couple lives in Vancouver, Wash. Jesse teaches 6th grade at the Reynolds Arthur Academy in Troutdale, Ore. Lance Chamberlain ’07 married Lindsay Adams ’08 on Sept. 26, 2009. Lance is a financial aid counselor at Warner Pacific and Lindsay works at Sonbeam Preschool and Daycare in Portland.

Dianna Huhn ’08 published her first book “Of the Heart: When Words Cannot be Spoken,” in March 2009. She is currently in a Master of Art in Psychology program through the University of the Rockies.

The Experience

Carley White ’07 works with emotionally challenged students as a counselor at the Columbia Branch of Pioneer Special School, part of Portland Public Schools in Portland, Ore. She holds a master’s degree in clinical social work from Fordham University, in New York, N.Y.

Please send alumi updates to alumni@warnerpacific.edu.

It may take up to two issues for news to be printed. Read up-t0-date class notes under the alumni tabs at www. warnerpacific.edu.

FIRST PERSON

Difference that Matters Higher education and theology in a postmodern world

I

By Terry Baker ’81 and Luke Goble, Ph.D.

f, as an institution of higher learning, Warner Pacific is to remain both faithful to its tradition and relevant to students and society, we need a path by which we can negotiate the concrete realities of the postmodern world we find ourselves in without accepting them wholesale. Increasingly, young people (and their parents) look at college as a place to train for a particular career. They wonder, first and foremost, how a college degree is going to “cash out.” This outlook and approach to college learning is quite consistent with the consumerist pattern of our day.

It may not seem like anything is wrong with this picture of education, as it is generally the status quo in our society. However, if part of our founding tradition involves thinking about knowledge through lenses of scripture, reason, tradition, and experience, then part of the difference that Warner Pacific makes ought to be a recovery of the holistic function of education.

Throughout its seventy-three-year history, Warner Pacific College has navigated its way between the influences of the Church of God and an ever-changing society. The college’s academic vision - grounded in the Wesleyan / holiness tradition - obliges us to make a difference in the world. The education that Warner Pacific College works hard to deliver should be different from anywhere else, precisely because of our specific faith tradition. And yet, as with our students, the college and the Wesleyan / holiness tradition do not exist in a vacuum.

When Pacific Bible College (PBC) was founded in Spokane, Washington in 1937, its purpose was to train young ministers for the church. Enrollment grew rapidly and the college moved to Portland in 1940 as it provided a more central location where the college had room to grow. Three years later, the General Ministerial Assembly of the Church of God formally recognized PBC with the caveat that the college place itself under the assembly’s authority – something PBC’s founding president Albert F. Gray fought against on both legal and spiritual grounds.

Gray saw the purpose of the college as eventually evolving from that of primarily training ministers and church workers to serving a broader constituency as a liberal arts college that remained aligned with the work of the church. In his autobiography, he writes, “[There] is a widespread feeling that the duty of the church does not end with the training of its spiritual workers, but extends to all of its young people.”

In other words, Gray faced the challenge of maintaining the Bible and religion as the college’s central teaching while also responding to students’ growing concerns about the perceived quality and marketability of their degrees outside the church.

Eventually, in the mid-1950s, Gray and his Academic Dean Otto F. Linn considered whether the college should pursue regional accreditation, and, therefore, go beyond the college’s original purpose.

They faced what the writer Walker Percy calls a “predicament.”

Like the thinkers of eras past, Gray and Linn were in need of clarity – what Percy calls “news” - in their effort to do the right

thing regarding the relationship between the college and society.

In 1959, Gray’s successor, President Milo Chapman, and the college’s Board of Trustees changed the school’s name to Warner Pacific College to better position it to receive accreditation, which occurred two years later.

These decisions took place in a historical context that brought into tension a past in which belief in God as the source of all truth was widely accepted and a contemporary context that put greater

The postmodern moment opens up new opportunities for us as Christians to be different—again. value on the human powers of observation and inductive reasoning. The historical period that these latter values helped shape has become known as modernity.

As modernity took shape, it faced the predicament of knowing how to deal with a contested understanding of the church and the more universal rise of experimental science. To historically modern thinkers, a question like “Why does the universe exist?” is meaningless. However, contemporary philosophers see it as a meaningful question, again, regardless of one’s belief - or lack thereof - in God. The postmodern context allows for the retrieval of such questions and responses from their exile under modernity.

From a Christian standpoint, postmodernity opens new opportunities to tell the gospel story to a world in transition, a historical moment struggling with its own mix of shifting foundations.

As an institution of higher education and the church, Warner Pacific College exists to encourage and support students as they encounter this world and seek to make a difference in it, guided by the Good News.

The postmodern moment opens up new opportunities for us as Christians to be different—again. It creates space for the reintegration of these different ways of knowing in the world. It beckons communities (as opposed to individuals) of conviction to be intentional about their purpose, to challenge and sharpen each other, and proceed. And, it requires us to see “the world” not as something to be separate from, but as a complex and diverse whole that needs what we have to offer. Instead of the narrowly unifying project that characterized much of modernity, postmodernity affords us the opportunity to be different in a way that matters over the long haul.

Terry Baker ’81 and Luke Goble are professors in Warner Pacific’s Humanities Department. This essay was a summary of a year-long conversation among faculty regarding Warner Pacific College’s core philosophy and educational practices

Winter 2010

15

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CONCERT CHOIR TOUR May 9 - 16, 2010 Photo illustration by Scott A. Thompson

5 / 9 Albany, Ore.

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Crossroads Comm.

ChOG 5 / 12 Modesto , Calif.

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Oakhurst, Calif.

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5 / 14 Fresno, Calif.

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Info at 503-517-1026

Farewell to “The Flip” The conclusion of the men’s soccer team’s championship season also meant the last of the acrobatic throw-ins of senior Andrew Scott ’10, seen here in a time-lapse photograph.

Using a technique he simply calls “the flip,” Scott presses the ball to his head and then somersaults, catapulting the ball in front of opposing team’s goals. Scott led the team with six assists this season, four of which came as a result of his throw-in. The Human Biology major taught himself the manuever when he played soccer at Milwaukie High School, in Milwaukie, Ore. through sheer trial and error. “I practiced on my family’s trampoline so I wouldn’t hurt myself,” said Scott.

We can help with your estate plans

Warner Pacific College can help you leverage your longterm assets through planned giving. In some cases, you can eliminate capital gains, earn significant tax deductions, and ensure a steady income for life. Contact Kevin Bryant, V.P. for Institutional Advancement, at 503-517-1220 to learn how WPC can become a part of your financial plan.