Stillpoint Fall 2006

Fall 2006

The Magazine of Gordon College

STILLPOINT

COVER STORY Painting the Lothl贸rien Chair 6 8 A New Look for Gordon

12 Two Wise Men and a Shepherd

14 Crossing into Iraqi Airspace

Photo Daniel Kiyoi ’08

BUILDING A NEW STILLPOINT

Features 6

In the Design Center workroom, Tim Ferguson Sauder, creative director, discusses layout options with illustrator Grant Hanna ’05, while editor Patricia Hanlon goes over page proofs with graphic designer Kirsten Keister ’04. .

Thoughts on Setting Out by Bruce Herman After 22 years of building an art department at Gordon, Bruce Herman prepares for an unusual adventure.

6

Bruce Herman Installed as Lothlórien Distinguished Chair

by Cyndi McMahon Gordon’s first fully endowed chair is a landmark appointment for Art Department professor Bruce Herman and for the College.

8

A New Look Built on a Century of Tradition by Patricia A. Jones Gordon’s new graphic identity highlights the distinctive features of the College.

11

A New Direction—Our New Website by Robert Van Cleef ’94 Robert Van Cleef believes that his liberal arts education was good preparation for leading the new Gordon website project.

12

Two Wise Men and a Shepherd in Cape Town by James Zingarelli Art professor and department chair James Zingarelli will never forget the day he spent with three sculptors in the Township of Nyanga in Cape Town, South Africa.

14

Crossing into Iraqi Airspace by Sara Johnson-Steffey ’00 Sara Johnson-Steffey’s passion for democracy led to five months in Iraq in 2005 assisting with the drafting of the new Iraqi Constitution.

Photo Essay #004 Ethiopia 2006 | Sarah Childs view this and other photo journals online at: www.gordon.edu/photojournals

IN EACH ISSUE 1

Up Front with President Carlberg Deep Roots

2

Letters

3

SPORKS informative fauxlosophy

21 In Focus Faculty 22 In Focus Students 23 In Focus Alumni 24 Encounters

Articles

Alumni

4 Amazing Grace

26 Beyond Short-Term Missions: Making the Transition by Kristin Schwabauer ’04

Kevin Belmonte ’90 was the lead historical consultant for Amazing Grace, a new Walden Media film celebrating the life and legacy of abolitionist William Wilberforce.

18 The Accidental Chaplain by Robert Whittet ’78 In his 18 years in the pastorate, youth ministries assocate professor Robert Whittet had made plenty of hospital calls, but never one like this.

20 Blue Like Jazz Author Visits Campus

by Lauren Stouffer For Donald Miller, being “subversive” means acknowledging a God who is more interested in helping people to become mature than in making them feel good about themselves.

ON THE COVER Art Department professor Bruce Herman in his studio in West Gloucester, Massachusetts, working on a painting that explores the relationship between Jesus and His mother.

Cover Photo Daniel Nystedt ’06

Short-term missions and overseas programs can be eye-opening for Gordon students.

Here’s how some recent alumni responded to their experiences.

28 Homecoming and Family Weekend 2006 On a beautiful fall weekend, alumni and friends of the College reconnected.

30 2006 Alumni Awards 31 Alumni News 41 Partners Program Grows Leaders 43 Giving Back to Gordon

Inspiration If you’ve visited campus recently or received mail from Gordon, you will have noticed we have a new visual identity, one faithful to our heritage as a quality Christian liberal arts college, and also looking forward to our future. The new look of STILLPOINT is but one aspect of the overall rebranding of the College. The magazine’s purpose, however, is the same as it’s always been— to keep alumni and friends of the College connected as an extended family.

Volume 22 Number 1

We hope you’ll enjoy the magazine’s new look. It now contains alumni news and class notes, and expanded sections of short features about faculty, alumni, current students and College programs and events. Beginning with this issue, STILLPOINT will

“At the still point of the turning world.”

T.S. Eliot, referring to God in his poem Four Quartets

be available as a fully functioning online publication. Look for links throughout the magazine to various features available in expanded form on the Gordon website. The series of photo journals (see Ethiopia 2006 on the Table of Contents page) is just one example.

Editorial

ALUMNI NEWS

Patricia C. Hanlon Editor

James H. Grumbine ’01 Director of Alumni, Parent and Church Relations

This column will feature a different writer from the Gordon community in every issue, each writer reflecting on what he or she

CREATIVE

has been inspired by. The list below represents just a few of mine.

Tim Ferguson Sauder Creative Director

Editor Patricia C. Hanlon

Stacks to Read

Kirsten Keister ’04 Publication Design

them, and bought at least one extra copy—sometimes two or more—to pass on to friends.

R. Judson Carlberg President Patricia A. Jones Director of College Communications

CONTACT

ONLINE

Address changes Development Office jamie.hokanson@gordon.edu

www.gordon.edu/stillpoint

Every book in this stack passed two stringent tests: I’ve read and reread

ADMINISTRATION

other correspondence Editor, STILLPOINT Gordon College 255 Grapevine Road Wenham MA 01984 stillpoint@gordon.edu

PRINTING AM Lithography Corporation Chicopee, Massachusetts

AWARDS Award of Excellence for 2005 Evangelical Press Association

Favorite Gordon College Ponds Parking Lot Pond—on summer mornings you can spot turtles sunning themselves among the lily pads. In the fall, the trail around Coy Pond is a dazzling and necessary break from computer screens—yellow birch leaves against the bright blue sky. And Norwood Pond over at West Campus—straight out of a Monet painting.

Advice for Life

STILLPOINT, the magazine for alumni and friends of the united college of Gordon and Barrington, is published three times a year and has a circulation of over 22,000.

Gordon College is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, or national or ethnic origin.

Bob and Mary Hanlon, my in-laws, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. My mother-in-law on marriage: “Be sure you are ‘over the moon’ in love before you get married.

Slide over the stuff that really doesn’t matter, and be reasonable about what does matter.

Actually, forget all the above—the secret of a good marriage is for Christ to be at its center.”

Reproduction of STILLPOINT in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

view the complete list online at: www.gordon.edu/stillpoint/inspiration

UP FRONT

with president Carlberg

Deep Roots “To engage the world effectively as Christians . . . we need to be well grounded in truth.”

As I walked to my office one morning in August,

Greater Boston area. Indeed, New England is

I saw huge machines reaching their arms out

our classroom, with a variety of cultures and a

toward Wood Hall, grasping a windowsill here, a

range of rural, urban and suburban contexts for

supporting truss there. The old dorm crumbled

learning and service.

into a mass of rubble. It was time to begin building the Ken Olsen Science Center. But first, tons of dirt had to be hauled away. Why? A beautiful building has to have deep roots, a sure footing.

The Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Colossians, “And now just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the Truth you were taught and you will overflow with thankfulness” (2:6–7, New Living Translation).

At Gordon, students learn to become ambassadors of hope and reconciliation, to be engaged with the Church worldwide, to become agents of transformation in our world; Christians who promote biblical shalom, justice, grace, righteousness and human flourishing.

To engage the world effectively as Christians, however, we need to be well grounded in truth.

At Gordon College we embrace “freedom within a framework of faith.” Here scholarship seeks truth. We have the freedom to search for truth because we are rooted in the Truth.

Christianity as a foundation for our learning

becoming engaged in the world, not isolated

and exploration. We do not advocate empty

from its challenges. God uses people and life

philosophies or high-sounding nonsense that

experiences to help us grow in Him. That’s

fails the test of biblical authority. Instead we

what a Gordon College education is about.

humbly seek to be rooted in Christ and grow in

Here is an environment that focuses upon

knowledge of His creation.

fostering beautiful creations.

Science Center. As funding for Phase One of the construction nears completion, the concrete is being poured. View current construction through a live webcam at www.gordon.edu/webcam.

Here we have commitment to historical, biblical

Paul knew that developing deep roots involves

growing roots, building foundations and

PUTTING DOWN ROOTS The foundation has figuratively and literally been laid for the new Ken Olsen

On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., I walked near Dupont Circle by the Indian Embassy,

For us a good starting place for engagement is

and looked up at a beautiful statue that

the nearby city of Lynn, where many students

depicted a wizened, bent, thin man, clothed

will volunteer this year to serve children and

in tattered garments, grasping a walking stick.

youth through after-school programs, tutoring,

The man was Mahatma Gandhi, the unelected

soup kitchens or other important avenues of

but towering leader of the Indian nation in

outreach. By engaging with people in places

the 1930s and ’40s. He died a martyr at the

like Lynn, students are digging roots deeper in

hands of an assassin in 1948, but not before

Christ, laying sure footings for life, developing a

he brought freedom through nonviolent and

global vision and learning about other cultures

peaceful means to hundreds of millions of

and people.

people living under English colonial rule in India.

The Gordon in Lynn program is one of many

I stopped at the statue and reflected. There at

unique opportunities right here in New

the base was this simple quote by Gandhi: “My

England to become rooted and built up in

life is my message.” Gordon students, rooted in

Christ. New England is a place of heritage

Christ, are learning the truth beyond the saying.

ESTABLISHED IN LYNN Over 500 Gordon students are participating in various programs in Lynn this year. The College opened its first residence hall in the city, where 21 students are living in intentional community as part of the Gordon in Lynn program.

with ties to both the religious vision of New England’s first settlers and, indeed, America’s first higher education institutions and the

President

residential liberal arts tradition that continues

R. Judson Carlberg, Ph.D.

to this day to flourish here. Today New England is a place of innovation where Gordon students have opportunities to partner with artistic organizations, academic institutions, professional societies and the renowned

HISTORY IN BOSTON The College began in Boston and is still there today. Our Gordon in Boston program allows students to work, serve and study in the inner city.

centers of science and technology in the

President’s Page www.gordon.edu/presidentspage

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT

LETTERS

to the editor

“The Bridgeport National Bindery in Agawam, Massachusetts, the bindery chosen to save Marv Wilson’s Bible, was begun by my father . . . ”

I would like to comment on President Carlberg’s “Up Front” column (“Expanding Interfaith Conversation in a Post-9/11 World,” Summer 2006). Dr. Carlberg states that “fundamentalism, wherever it is found, distorts, destroys and denigrates God’s creation.” The truth is that, as a label, “fundamentalism” is found in many places with many meanings.

As a charismatic, liberal-arts educated, amicable Christian, I have been surprised to find myself feeling the barb of the label

The Bridgeport National Bindery

Regarding the article

“fundamentalist” simply because I believe

in Agawam, Massachusetts, the bindery

“Beach Reading at Best?” (Summer

that Jesus was telling the truth when He

chosen to save Marv Wilson’s Bible (“Saving

2006, by David Mathewson and Steven

said “I am the way, the truth, and the life;

Marv’s Bible,” Summer 2006), was begun by

Hunt), I would question the authors’

no one comes to the Father but by Me”

my father, Magnus Larsen (now deceased).

recommendation that in order to get

(John 14:6). Perhaps rather than adopting

My brother Jim Larsen and I now run the

involved in this conversation people “must

the worst of the world’s definitions,

company and are dedicated to doing

have the courage to read the book and/or

we should discuss the meanings of

business in a Christ-honoring way. But here

see the movie.” Did Jesus have to study

“fundamentalism” and look at the

is the rest of the story: Jim first met

the doctrines of demons to confront the

Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy

Dr. Wilson as his counselor in 1958 at Camp

demons? The Apostle Paul admonishes us

within Christianity—from which the term

Brookwoods for Boys in New Hampshire.

in Philippians 4 to meditate on whatsoever

sprang—as a part of our interfaith dialogue.

Jim was 12 years old then, and “Uncle Marv,”

things are true, honorable, lovely, of good

as he was affectionately known, was in his

report and praiseworthy. He also said “If any

20s. Later Jim had Dr. Wilson as his Bible

one is preaching to you a gospel contrary

professor at Barrington. There is no question

to that which you received, let him be

in my mind that the driving force behind our

accursed” (RSV). We should rather meditate

restoration of Marv’s Bible was my brother’s

on God’s Word so we have an answer for

deep, abiding respect for Dr. Wilson, both

everyone regarding the truth of Christ—

as an impressionable young camper and as

Who He is, what He accomplished for us,

an equally impressionable college student.

and what He is now doing at the Father’s

We are both deeply appreciative of “Uncle

right hand.

Marv,” who has been faithful to his God and his students over the long haul of a life well lived.

—Pastor Marty Larsen ’70B

—Phil Alajajian Editor’s note: Not everyone can in good conscience read The DaVinci Code, nor are all of us called to get into the conversation

Editor’s note: Thanks for sharing these

about this book and its claims. On the other

memories of Dr. Wilson’s influence on your

hand, our Lord knew very well the false

family’s life. The story certainly illustrates

teaching of Pharisees and Sadducees, and

the power of one individual to shape and

Paul knew and quoted pagan poets. So if

inspire. We’re grateful for the continuing

we want to engage those whose writings or

influence of Dr. Wilson and his colleagues at

teachings communicate lies and half-truths,

Gordon.

we must know who they are and what they actually say in order to “give an answer for the hope that is in us” (I Peter 3:15b).

—Randall Long ’94 Editor’s note: As we see it, “fundamentalism” has two primary meanings in the history of modern Christianity. The first is that reaffirmation of the five fundamentals of the Christian faith in response to the denial of these basic beliefs by liberal theologians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Gordon College Statement of Faith clearly agrees with these fundamentals of orthodox Christian belief. The second primary meaning is cultural. In reaction to the ethical confusion in early 20th-century American culture and the social gospel of major denominational leaders, many fundamentalists began to call for separation from the culture and from any and all denominations, congregations and individual Christians with whom they disagreed. Gordon College unabashedly holds to the fundamental beliefs of our historic orthodox and evangelical faith, while rejecting all forms of fundamentalism that would add legalistic rules to the gospel of grace expressed in the Word of God.

STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

Story bryan parys ’04 Illustration Grant Hanna ’06

Installation 1: The Dawhmehtory

I stood there, pretending I was enjoying the smoked salmon that lay before me, while my landlady festively played an angry phone message she had recorded from my neighbor. The fuming female—who referred to my wife, Natalie, and me as “gypsies”— was upset that we had hung a string of white Christmas lights on our back porch.

The house that we called home—our second rental since Gordon—was being derogatorily referred to as “the Dawhmehtory” (translation: dormitory). If only Terry Charek, dean of housing at Gordon could see us now. . . .

Community At Gordon I lived two years in HUD halls, one year abroad in England and my senior year in a two-room hobbit hole in Gloucester that I shared with my wife (yes, I was one of those married students . . .). I was a resident advisor my sophomore year, and, even in my senior year off campus, I still frequented my friend’s apartment in Tavilla Hall for lunch almost every day. You could say I was doing what Gordon hoped: being intentional about community.

But once I was out on my own, intramural competitions and “cheese nights” were replaced by grown professionals obsessing about how close I was parked to their fence. After my band had its first rehearsal in the basement (which was more rock than Rachmaninoff, I might add), any chance at intentional community hotfooted angrily to detentional.

Actuality Which brings me to our third rental: a seasonal, Methodist cottage community that not only had its own library, coffee shop and chapel, but, yes, that most necessary of necessities, a dirtfloored Swedish tabernacle. Other than the uncharacteristically cheap rent, Natalie and I were interested in becoming part of a community again, even if we were the only ones between the ages of 15 and 42.

Busy schedules being what they are in your twentysomethings, life pretty much thwarted our attempts at joining the annual road race, lobster bake and weekly Vespers services. As we drove through our community (at seven miles an hour, mind you—allowing even Mrs. Vendicoot’s toy poodle enough time to beat us to our cottage), the awkward initial waves “hello” turned to awkward stares. I recalled the words of one of the board members who interviewed us prior to living there: “We get very disappointed when people live here and don’t take part. . . .”

We were suddenly the bad kids—like preteens who would rather sleep in than dress up for church. I felt guilty. I wanted to take

part—I really did—but it would have been only to fulfill their definition of community. So, is community possible when you’re not forced to share a bathroom with 17 other people?

Iced Tea As it turned out, our only neighbor—the rest of the cottages around us were decrepit homes to carpenter ants—wasn’t afraid of Christmas lights. Through conversations in between weedwhacking, we got to know Jim a little. Enough so that I found out he liked iced tea and he found out I wished I had taken biblical Hebrew. So I brought him a glass or two—for which he was very thankful. A week later he returned the favor by presenting us with a box of gourmet tea bags. He also—shovel aimed at my head—made me promise to look into taking Hebrew, since there was no good reason why I shouldn’t pursue it, having the resources at Gordon in front of me. I’d seen the way he used that shovel, so I knew he meant business. It was the kind of raging conviction that made you feel you were letting him down by not constantly pursuing your own life’s goals.

So if you hear the question, or pose it yourself: “Who is my neighbor?” then you’re going to have to ask those around you if they are or not. And there’s a good chance they’ll make it clear that the answer is “No, I don’t like putting up with your shenanigans.” But community is not lost.

On the last Sunday of the summer I noticed that the clock had waned past 4:30 p.m.—Vespers was half-over. I had lost track of time memorizing the Hebrew alphabet for the class I was now auditing. I looked up from my textbook and saw Jim in his Sunday best: dirty overalls and a bleach-stained sweatshirt, digging up weeds with his rusty shovel. He waved. I returned the gesture, and went back to fumbling over the language of the First Testament.

bryan parys doesn’t like to capitalize his name and holds a B.A. in English. He is currently the web editor at Gordon and has become close friends with his computer screen as a result. He resides (for now) in Rockport, Massachusetts, with his wife and three plants.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT

how Steve Knight undertook the task of crafting his script—especially through the kinds of questions he asked me, questions framed with a view toward making Wilberforce and his times come alive, taught me things I hope to carry forward as a writer.

SP: Why, according to Wilberforce, should Christians be involved in political life?

Amazing Grace Walden Media’s Amazing Grace is based on the true story of William Wilberforce’s 20-year crusade to abolish the British slave trade, finally accomplished by Parliament in 1807. Kevin Belmonte ’90, whose biography of Wilberforce, Hero for Humanity (2002), was conceived as a “literary handshake” reintroducing Wilberforce to a contemporary audience, was the lead historical consultant for the film. Amazing Grace will open in the spring of 2007, on the 200th anniversary of this legislation. STILLPOINT interviewed Kevin from his home in York, Maine.

STILLPOINT: Can you comment on the power of film to convey stories?

SP: What’s gained and what’s lost in translation from written text to film?

Kevin Belmonte: I remember vividly watching Richard Harris’ portrayal of Oliver Cromwell when I was in junior high school. There in Mr. True’s class, history came alive for me, and I began to have some notion of how films can stimulate a person’s historical imagination. I experienced much the same thing when watching Ken Burns’ miniseries The Civil War. I have often thought such experiences can serve as what Wilberforce called “launchers”— they can be catalysts for important and instructive discussions. Films can also prompt an exploration of literature or other forms of art—and other disciplines such as history.

KB: As to what may be lost, one does, for example, lose the wealth of detail presented in a biography. But then, films have the ability to cast in sharp relief overarching themes and moments that might be somewhat obscured in a highly detailed or lengthy biography.

In the making of Amazing Grace, I have observed a process of distillation to essential elements—economy of language in particular but also of selection of characters or scenes. These things remind me in some ways of the craft of poetry, where one can only use so many words to communicate ideas or feelings. Yet the best poems succeed amidst the constraints. Seeing

STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

KB: Wilberforce believed—as Oxford scholar Robin Furneaux has put it—that “Christianity should be carried into every corner of life and be allowed to fill it.”

Wilberforce rejected the notion that “full-time Christian service” only applies to the ministry or the mission field. He would agree with Abraham Kuyper, the great Dutch reformer, who said, “There is not a corner of the world of which Christ does not say ‘This is mine.’”

As a Member of Parliament, Wilberforce represented the most powerful constituency in Great Britain. To have stepped down from that position of power and influence would have been a great loss—with hindsight we can see just how great a loss.

SP: Wilberforce was an enormously creative and forceful individual, but he was also sustained by a dynamic network of other believers. The “communion of saints” was a vibrant, present reality for him.

KB: Yes—when Wilberforce was in the midst of his embrace of evangelical Christianity in the mid-1780s, some friends urged him to retire from public life and consider entering the ministry.

But it was John Newton, the hymn writer and parson who had once been a slave ship captain—a man guilty of crimes against humanity—who became Wilberforce’s spiritual counselor and set his young protégé on the path of service to humanity. Invoking the deliverance language of the Old Testament Book of Esther, and the examples of Daniel,

Interview Patricia Hanlon Photos Walden Media, L.L.C.

Joseph and other biblical heroes, Newton told Wilberforce it was for “such a time as this” that he had been placed in a position as a powerful Member of Parliament to secure the abolition of the slave trade. It was in the House of Commons, Newton stated, that he could best serve God. Besides Newton, Wilberforce had a group of friends and politicians with whom he worked. It is generally agreed today that he and his Clapham Circle colleagues did more than any other group of political reformers to make Britain a more just and humane society.

SP: What does the “communion of saints” look like in your own life?

KB: Os Guinness’ friendship has meant a great deal to me—we share a common devotion to Wilberforce’s legacy. Os has said that Wilberforce is the greatest reformer in history. It was many years before I received the opportunity to write my Wilberforce biography, but Os has always been there offering encouragement, pushing me to write, giving forthright counsel and the gift of a listening ear.

I have also been blessed by my relationship with my 83-year-old cousin, Joseph Frost. We’re both cousins of Robert Frost, and in addition to the many works by Frost we’ve looked at together, we’ve also read or recited the poetry of Longfellow (another of our cousins), and one of my favorite poets, William Cowper. Joe has so much poetry stored in his memory and continues to be a student of history—always curious, always grateful to learn. It means a great deal to me that he has come to revere William Wilberforce’s memory and writings.

But my most profound debt is to my wife, Kelly. I know, and God knows, what she has sacrificed to make Hero for Humanity, as well as my part in Amazing Grace, a reality. I bless the day she became my wife, and I thank Him for all the days we have shared.

Chuck Colson is another staunch friend who has had a longstanding interest in Wilberforce. In many respects Wilberforce is a model for the work Chuck, Prison Fellowship and the Wilberforce Forum have sought to do. While I was doing research for my master’s thesis, I learned of Chuck’s interest in Wilberforce. He wrote a Foreword and an Introduction for two of my books and remains a friend to any effort seeking to foster a renaissance of interest in Wilberforce. His book How Now Shall We Live? continues the literary tradition established by Wilberforce’s A Practical View of Christianity; that is to say, a book that sets forth the gospel and then explains how Christianity can be applied to every area of life.

Above: Detail from a film poster of Amazing Grace.

Facing page: William Wilberforce, played

by Ioan Gruffudd, relates the battle to end slavery to a hero-worshiping Barbara Spooner (Ramola Garai).

John Newton (Albert Finney) contemplates his complicity in the slave trade and what he can do to end it.

Wilberforce unrolls a massive petition in the House of Commons decrying the slave trade.

Kevin Belmonte was an English major at Gordon and met his wife, Kelly (Griswold) ’88, there. He holds an M.A. in church history from GordonConwell. Besides Hero for Humanity (forthcoming in January 2007), Kevin is the author of Travels with William Wilberforce: The Friend of Humanity; 365 Days with Wilberforce: A Collection of Daily Readings from

Wilberforce aboard a slave ship docked in port. © 2006 Walden Media, L.L.C. Used by permission.

the Writings of William Wilberforce, and editor of William Wilberforce, A Practical View of Christianity. The Belmontes live in York, Maine, with their son, Sam, born March 6, 2006.

www.patriciaheatononline.com/Amazing_Grace_movie

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT

Story Bruce Herman Photos Tim Ferguson Sauder

Daniel Nystedt ’06

Thoughts on Setting Out My graduate school mentor, the New York painter Philip Guston, once told me a story from his life that helped galvanize my own sense of purpose as an artist. Guston had been given the prestigious Prix de Rome, a scholarship for art students, and was living in Italy, painting and touring and generally enjoying his good fortune. In Arezzo, Tuscany, he had the chance to visit Piero della Francesca’s masterpiece, the mural cycle in Cappella de San Francesco, The Legend of the True Cross. He looked up at the magnificent and complex set of images surrounding the little chapel and he wept. When his friends asked him what was wrong, he replied, “We don’t have a story. These Christians—they had a story.”

Yet we Christians in the 21st century also find ourselves in a confused and confusing story with the instability that naturally results from a cut-and-paste culture of “preferences”— one that affords little sense of belonging (ethos) or meaning (telos). The sort of narrative fragmentation that has gotten into our bones needs examination. We need to carefully critique ourselves and our times—our kairos—and not be drawn unconsciously into the spirit of our age. What are the long-range effects of instinctive incoherence— that habit of mind that sees all knowledge as mere information, all stories as neutral scrapbook items for random assemblage?

The tangled plotlines we all contend with have their resolution and untangling in the Bible’s majestic story: a rough little tribe with no particular talent or brilliance is chosen by God

Bruce Herman Installed as Lothlórien Distinguished Chair in the Fine Arts

to be the recipient of a transcendent inheritance—to become the adopted children of a King far greater than Pharaoh. This little rag-tag bunch is not only offered a temporary homeland in Canaan, but that very “promised” land points toward another country, the one mentioned in chapter 11 of Hebrews: “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.”

The Bible points toward a sometimes hidden but then surprisingly uncovered storyline whose ultimate end is joy and communion, communion with the Creator and communion with each other. Believing in the God of the Bible invites you to see your story as part of a larger story unfolding in human history— a story whose hero doesn’t have to be

Story Cyndi McMahon

Professor of art Bruce Herman, M.F.A., was installed as the Lothlórien Distinguished Chair in the Fine Arts on August 30, 2006. The Lothlórien Chair is the first fully endowed chair appointment at Gordon and was made possible by the generosity of Walter and Darlene Hansen, longtime supporters of the arts and of faculty development in Christian higher education.

“This is a landmark appointment for Gordon College in many ways,” says College Provost Mark Sargent. “Not only is it our first fully endowed chair, it also reaffirms Gordon’s leadership role in the visual arts both within our region and within the Christian community nationwide.”

Bruce Herman with Darlene and Walter Hansen at an evening reception held at the Barrington Center for the Arts celebrating Bruce’s installation.

STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

The Hansens chose to name the chair for the “golden wood” of mallorntrees in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Overseen by Galadriel, the

yourself, and one with an alternative plotline that makes the mud puddle of your life seem bottomless—like the Loch Ness that is small in terms of surface area but very deep. Miles deep.

Our little loch opens at the bottom onto the wide and mysterious sea of God’s telos. That deep sea is really the only safe haven, despite its fearsome aspect: God’s holiness and otherness.

At the end of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Return of the King, Frodo’s home can no longer be the Shire, as he has seen too much.

Likewise, even though we cannot return to the halcyon days of 1950s America, we may follow Frodo into the West—into an unknown but meaningful future that God has for us if we keep faith with His purposes here in (Middle) Earth.

I think all musicians, poets, painters and filmmakers are trying to get at that Story whose plotlines are mysteriously transcendent, yet as near to us as our own breath. Having faith in Jesus and His invitation to be part of that Story is an incalculable advantage, artistically speaking—that is, if you are willing to do all the hard work to unpack and live into that invitation.

Bruce Herman, M.F.A., professor of art, is a painter living and working in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Meg, have two grown children, Ben and Sarah, and two grandsons, Will (4) and Jack (2). They are longtime members of the Lanesville Congregational Church in Gloucester, where Bruce serves as an elder. More of his work can be found online at www.brucehermanonline.com.

most powerful elf of her age, and her husband, Celeborn, Lothlórien was

evocative images. Stir up our emotions. Lead us through a catharsis to

a place of great beauty and peace, far from evil and danger, and resistant

purify our spirits and wills.”

to the slow decay of time. Lothlórien, in the words of Tolkien, opened a “window that looked on a vanished world.” Full of “gold and white and blue and green,” Lothlórien was a place of great color and beauty—it provided sojourners a waking dream of ancient days and a vision of hope.

Dr. Hansen addressed Herman and his friends and colleagues at an evening reception held at the Barrington Center for the Arts. He began his remarks by saying, “Bruce, imagine you are sitting in a beautiful chair called the Lothlórien Chair. Inscribed upon its four legs are four lines from J. R. R. Tolkien’s book The Fellowship of the Ring. These four lines are the mandate for your mission as the occupant of the Lothlórien Chair.”

These four mandates, in brief, are as follows: 1. None who encounter the Lothlórien Chair will escape unchanged.

“Bruce, here is your mission: Don’t let us escape unchanged. Bring us under the spell of art to break the spell of the world. Fill our minds with

2. The Lothlórien Chair brings us inside a song. “Bruce, bring us inside the song! We feel lonely outside, knocking on locked doors but not getting inside. Give us open windows and open doors so we can get inside the song. We want to live inside the song.”

3. The Lothlórien Chair leads artists to touch and delight in wood . . . and marble and gold and all the basic elements of creation. “Bruce, lead us to delight in God’s creation. Lead us to exalt in the goodness, beauty and truth of wood. Lead us to smell the wood and to rub our fingers on the wood until we feel the life within the wood.”

4. The Lothlórien Chair teaches artists to put the thought of all that they love into all that they make. “Bruce, teach us to live and work and create from love. Teach us unconditional generosity; to give not only our work, but also to give of ourselves in and through our work.”

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT

Story Patricia A. Jones Photo Daniel Kiyoi ’08

A New Look Built on a Century of Tradition Developing the Gordon College Brand

Last fall Gordon College completed a comprehensive survey of all its constituencies—current students, their parents, alumni, donors and prospective students. The results were encouraging. Among people who know Gordon best—people who have studied here and their parents—the satisfaction rate was high, with more than 80% of respondents reporting that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their experience or their child’s experience at Gordon. These numbers would be quite enviable for any institution of higher education.

We also learned that people who did not have a personal connection to Gordon were not aware of the full dimensions of the College. There was high awareness of Gordon as a Christian college with a strong ethos of open inquiry. There was dramatically lower awareness of the quality of our academics, our global engagement and our preparation of leaders to serve in a wide array of professions. Our faculty report that students who enroll at Gordon are surprised at how much more difficult the curriculum is than they expected. Clearly, we have not presented a complete picture of ourselves.

backgrounds and races—for service in the world. This heritage is both reassuring and meaningful.

Based on this research and our conversations, we have designed a new graphic identity that allows for a broader portrayal of the many aspects of the College. The heart of this identity is a new logo. The new mark features the seal in the tradition of the most academically rigorous institutions of higher education. It also includes a new typeface that represents a forward-thinking, global organization. The typeface has interest in and of itself. It’s a relatively new one that is currently being used by the World Trade Center Memorial.

The graphics are the first step. The next is to engage in a constituency-wide conversation about the distinctives of Gordon College, particularly as it relates to our current tagline, “Freedom within a Framework of Faith.” The questions we are asking this semester are: Does our tagline represent the full experience of Gordon? Is it clear in describing our ethos of openness? What is the essence of who we are? We would appreciate hearing from you as well.

Our first step in addressing this perception gap was to examine our materials and our graphic identity. We learned a lot about how students make decisions about colleges.

Tradition matters, heritage matters and quality matters.

Focus groups with current students and discussions with faculty members confirmed that the Gordon College seal has real meaning to them in representing their time here.

The symbols within it are affirmatively and unwaveringly Christian. But it also conveys our New England-based tradition of quality academics. Unlike many Christian colleges, Gordon has more than a century of history preparing young Christians—men and women of varied

www.gordon.edu

Pat Jones is the director of college communications and leads the effort to revitalize Gordon’s image.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT

A New Logo—Our Traditional Seal A quick look at Gordon’s history shows that the new logo launched this year provides a new look, but honors our past.

While the new seal that is the centerpiece of the logo has been redrawn, the basic elements are still included. Creative Director Tim Ferguson Sauder says, “By combining a new version of the original seal with a bold and clear font, we’ve established a logo that can speak both to the great history and tradition of Gordon College and to the promise of where the school is going.”

ʹΙησυς

1916

1960

1969

2006

1997

A New Brand Emerges The rebranding process for Gordon College started with a new logo, but it also involved thinking about how to communicate who we are in a clear, dynamic way to our internal community and to those beyond the campus. We established a new color palette and visual standards. Below are some of the changes—in publications, signage and on the web—that we’ve made to support the new brand of Gordon College. We hope this branding process will be completed within the next year.

IN PRINT From business cards to magazine ads—all printed materials depicting the Gordon logo have been redesigned.

Stationery

Admissions Materials

STILLPOINT

Program Brochures

Magazine Ads

Posters

ON CAMPUS Everything on campus needed to bear the new logo, from road signs to campus flags, to ensure a consistent campus appearance.

Road Signage

Campus Flags

ON THE WEB The new website and podcast site were designed to reflect Gordon’s new look and to be easy to navigate. Both are frequently updated, and provide a great window into College life.

Website—www.gordon.edu

Podcast Site—www.gordon.edu/podcast

Campus Vehicles

ID Cards

Bookstore Merchandise

Staff Uniforms

A New Direction—Our New Website

Story Robert Van Cleef ’94

Developing the Gordon College Website On October 6 Gordon College launched a new website in coordination with its branding campaign, representing two years and more than 4,600 person-hours of labor. While it is a marketing outreach to prospective students, it also has many features alumni and friends of the College will enjoy: easier navigation, attractive graphic design and photography, banners and photo galleries, online journals, and interactive features such as “email a friend” and “email the author.”

I am sometimes asked how a liberal arts major ended up doing this kind of highly technical work. The short answer is God’s providence, or perhaps God’s sense of humor. While I was a student at Gordon College, I hated computers.

I considered them a necessary evil that I would eventually have to learn. But after graduating from Gordon with a sociology major, and from GordonConwell Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Theology, I took jobs that were increasingly technology-related and operations-focused. I returned to Gordon College in March 2003 as an administrative programmer/analyst.

In the fall of 2004 I began to interview different College departments and to put together a plan to allow everyone a space that could easily be found on the website. By the end of 2004 we had drafted a website map (a road map for the pages we would need) and the first set of wireframes (a blueprint for web pages). We tested page design and

site navigation with focus groups of Christian high school students.

We had a long list of capabilities we wanted for the new website. We wanted it to be more dynamic and interesting than the old website yet easier to maintain. We wanted an approval system to help ensure the quality of website content; for content to have expiration dates so it could be taken down automatically, thus avoiding the problem of out-of-date pages; capability to share content between pages—for special events like music concerts to be posted once yet appear on several pages as appropriate. All of these considerations pointed us toward a database architecture for the new site rather than the traditional HTML architecture.

The Lord was gracious in providing skilled craftspeople for each aspect of the website development process. In the summer of 2005 we began to formally build a project team to deliver the website. Gordon’s Information Systems Group—Jon Williams ’91, director; Dan Savlon, David Andrade ’89 and Paul Bruce, systems developers; Kevin Wellwood ’05, student programmer extraordinaire; and myself, project manager—were the primary architects and builders of the website. The Network Support Group—Russ Leathe, director; and Brian Vienneau ’04, systems manager—provided servers and support for the website deployment.

The Design Center—Tim Ferguson Sauder, creative director; and Kirsten Keister ’04, graphic designer—provided the website’s graphic design. June Bodoni ’82, director of the Center for Educational Technologies, trained faculty and staff in the use of the new editing software. Bryan Parys ’04, of the College Communications Office, became Gordon’s first web editor, editing and drafting content for 900+ web pages, and working with various College departments in the revamping of their sites.

Because of the sheer size and complexity of the project, doing the work within departmental “silos” was simply not possible. We had to create an interdisciplinary team, all committed to one goal. My liberal arts education at Gordon gave me the intellectual freedom and capacity to relate to all members of the project team, whether we were rewriting content, confronting a graphic design problem or solving a logic issue in the code.

Rob Van Cleef is a project manager for Gordon College and lives in Beverly, Massachusetts, with his wife and son.

WHAT’S NEW

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Here are just some of the features of the new Gordon College website: 1 A new overall design—not only a new look, but a complete reorganization of information and navigation.

2 A rebuilt and improved search function.

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3 A current student login button, allowing quick access to the Go.Gordon site (go.gordon.edu).

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4 Promotional banners—refreshed every time you visit a page—have been added to the site’s home pages, emphasizing new and upcoming events.

5 Images rotate, creating a dynamic look—most pages refresh with a new image or series of images every time you visit them.

4 FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 11

Two Wise Men and a Shepherd in Cape Town Wednesday, May 24: Nyanga, Cape Town I will never forget the day I spent with three black sculptors in the Township of Nyanga in Cape Town. They were two wise men and a shepherd—named Isaac, Amos, and yes, Shephard. These men took the entire day to take me around the township—thousands of shacks and makeshift constructions that people called home, alleyways and muddy sand, remnants of fires and the smell of refuse.

And in the midst of this, they carved sculptures and made paintings of great import: portraits of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu carved from stinkwood (the remainders of old railroad ties); dolls carved and stained a deep ebony so children “can play with dolls which look like themselves”; elephants, furniture, paintings that record a new history for South Africa while not forgetting its horrific apartheid past. Amos told me, “Forgetting the past is like a tree without roots, or leaves without a tree.” A new history must be created in light of what has already occurred.

Their studios? Cinder blocks without a roof and still under construction; a shack made from old fencing posts; or a pocket in one’s

Above: Windows into Jim Zingarelli’s memorable day in Cape Town with Isaac, Amos and Shephard, three sculptors. Pictured is some of their work—carved heads attached to stuffed bodies.

These men produce beautiful work with limited resources— roofless cinder block studios and a few chip-carving chisels. They hope for an arts and crafts studio some day, and an art school for the young people in the township.

12 STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

jacket with a chisel to carve while in transit

by Kombi (van taxis/buses). Their tools? A few chip-carving chisels, an old flat chisel—no mallets or sharpening stones from what I saw.

And with all of this, still hope: “Sculpture can be made from anything. The burnt coal over there—that too can become a sculpture,” Amos said, pointing to a burnt cinder heap along one of the meandering roads.

“I have a hope for an arts and crafts shop,” said Isaac, the elder statesman of the three and Amos’ artistic “father” and mentor. “I hope too for an art school where these young people who have no jobs—who just sit around without anything to do, who have no hope— can come to be trained and learn what they do not know they can do.”

I asked, “How often do the young people come to your studio?” The response: “Every day, looking for something to do. And I teach them without pay, but how long can I keep on doing this?”

Change is not happening fast enough in Nyanga. “For two weeks I have not been able to work,” said Shephard. “My chisels, all broken. I wake up and think I am going to go crazy. You have an idea but no tools or materials to make it.” With the frustration, however, there is also great faith in a God who is our Creator, and created us to be cocreators with him. “This ability and desire to make sculpture comes from God,” said Amos. It is—as I also experience as a sculptor—an inner need, a compulsion, a tug to the materials that God has given as a resource.

Story and Photos James Zingarelli

How can we, called as God’s servants, help to provide those resources to sculptors in Nyanga? How can we too learn from their desire to see black, white and colored artists working and cooperating together in making works of art for a new South Africa?

Reflections I often had along with my fellow colleagues and students: Once these three weeks are concluded, how will we respond to the needs of what we’ve seen? What can we take to our country of what the South Africans are learning about truth, forgiveness, and reconciliation? Two big questions among many. These seeds have been planted now in each of us.

Jim Zingarelli, M.F.A., is a professor of

Gordon in South Africa Planned for Spring 2008 This past summer a team of Gordon faculty and students spent seven weeks in Cape Town, South Africa, participating in the pilot seminar of a proposed semester abroad program, tentatively scheduled to begin in the spring of 2008. For four weeks, the students lived with South African families in the Township of Khayelitsha and were placed in South African NGOs (nongovernmental organizations), which became a major part of their learning experience.

Faculty members were matched up with local academics or practitioners in their fields and encouraged to consider possibilities for future engagement. Five of the participating faculty members were supported through a generous grant from the Lilly Foundation.

The Gordon in South Africa semester program will be led by the Sociology Department at Gordon and will focus on issues of peace, justice and reconciliation. It will also include opportunities for students to engage in the areas of art, biology, social work and education. The department anticipates that the South Africa program will move to additional venues besides Cape Town and will continue some level of homestay experience. In anticipation of this future launch, Gordon will be offering a second pilot seminar in summer 2007.

art and the newly-appointed chair of the Art Department at Gordon. This

Above: A view of rooftops in Cape Town.

past summer he was part of a facultystudent team that spent seven weeks in South Africa.

www.gordon.edu/insouthafrica

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 13

Story and Photos Sara Johnson-Steffey ’00

Crossing into Iraqi Airspace You are blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That is when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

Matthew 5:9 (The Message)

Crossing into Iraqi airspace actually wasn’t very momentous. The red desert sands of Jordan blended seamlessly into the endless horizon of swirling dust. Unfortunately, during our flight the dust turned into a thick dust storm, and the Baghdad tower refused our landing request. We—myself and a half dozen NGO (nongovernmental organization) workers and contractors—flew back into the setting sun, back to the safety zone of the luxury hotel in Amman with its lovely pool and cool breezes.

I learned later that calling off flights because of “weather” held various meanings—like rocket launches and nearby mortar attacks. Our second attempt into Baghdad was successful.

Because I had been briefed so thoroughly beforehand about the tight spiral maneuver necessary for landing, the actual corkscrew as we plunged toward the landing strip felt fairly mild. Another thing I had been briefed on—and that lived up to its potential—was the 120° air that hit me as I stepped off the plane onto the baking tarmac.

From the air, Baghdad hardly looked like an ominous war zone—just dusty, with a haze of film hanging over the city that reminded me of southern California. On the ground, however, the “war zone” part became clear. Outside the airport I was handed body armor by a team of security personnel and tucked safely inside an armored SUV—part of a high-profile convoy, I later learned. We passed through a half dozen checkpoints just to leave the airport, each time showing security badges and submitting to dog searches.

Minnesota, however, where there were few options for an international affairs major. I ended up fundraising at a local college while working with ICLAD from a distance as I was able.

One of my professors from Brandeis, April Powell-Willingham, also served on ICLAD’s board and had become a friend and mentor. She had left to work in Iraq as director of the Constitutional Support Program for NDI, an organization I had long admired. As director of this program, she was working on the drafting of the new Iraqi Constitution with the Iraqi National Assembly’s Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC). The NDI program was gearing up to support the CDC through the drafting process in the intense months leading to the August 15 deadline. In my boredom at my new job, I jokingly asked her if I could go to Iraq to carry her briefcase

The road from Baghdad International Airport to the International Zone (IZ) is one of the most dangerous in the world. As we left the protection of the airport walls and merged onto the road, I could feel stress mounting in the vehicle. From the three-inch-thick tinted windows, the glimpses of Baghdad flashing by were of a city on hold, everything frozen: construction projects halted; vehicles abandoned on the sides of roads; weeds in what used to be manicured parks; streets blocked with jersey barriers. Before the days of Saddam’s lunacy, before years of war with Iran, the city had been renowned for its architecture, its cosmopolitan culture, its intellectual life. Now there were no children, no marketplaces, no signs of life—just the realities of war, evident throughout the once-thriving city.

I had come to Iraq to work with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working with the U.S. Agency for International Development to promote a democratic culture and functioning government in Iraq. Quite a grand objective for any country, let alone one still mired in ongoing conflict. More than anything, NDI seeks to support the nascent efforts of Iraqis themselves as they struggle forward in their democratic goals—working with all political parties, civil society organizations, women’s groups, and the interim legislature and executive branches.

I was an international affairs major at Gordon and took many economic development and social-change classes from Professors Ivy George and Stephen Smith. From Gordon I went to Brandeis University, graduating in 2004 with a master’s in sustainable international development. The Brandeis program led me to combine my interests in law, development, civil society and good governance. After graduating I worked with a group of professors from Boston University School of Law to develop the International Consortium for Law and Development (ICLAD), serving as a founding board member and workshop trainer. I went with ICLAD to Indonesia, Brazil and Vietnam, conducting workshops with government officials and civil society members in drafting legislation to promote democratic social change. My husband and I soon moved to

Top: This boy is one of many children living in poverty in the IZ (International Zone) in downtown Baghdad.

Bottom: The Baghdad skyline at night. The road from Baghdad International Airport to the IZ is one of the most dangerous in the world.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 15

Constitution better than my own. We also analyzed draft legislation that was written to implement the Constitution.

Because of the vagueness of the Constitution document, this legislation is hugely important to the rights of Iraqis and to the functioning of democracy in the country.

Many memorable days stand out. The day of the first constitutional deadline, August 15, we waited until midnight in the National Assembly Hall, surrounded by National Assembly members and their aides, anxious for word from the political party leaders negotiating the many sticking points. Rockets hurtled toward us from outside the Green Zone. Security personnel surrounded us the whole day just in case one of the rockets came too close. The feeling in the room was a mix of anticipation, anxiety, hope, and some disdain. Of course the negotiations failed at the last minute, and the Assembly declared an “extension,” which was extended again and again over the coming months.

Top: October 15, 2005—Iraqi citizens who have just voted in the Constitutional Referendum show their ink-stained purple fingers.

Bottom: August 28, 2005, at the National Assembly. The “final” version of the Constitution is read from the podium; however, it was revised three times after this.

or something. In response, April told me that, in fact, she needed help shepherding a dozen internationally renowned constitutional scholars into the country to advise the Iraqi government during the drafting process.

I was supposed to stay for eight weeks; I stayed for more than five months. The Constitution was supposed to be done by August 15; it was still being rewritten October 13, two days before the countrywide referendum to vote on its passage.

Over those months I tracked the draft Constitution as it changed through negotiations; analyzed the initial draft and subsequent versions as it pertained to human rights, women’s rights, elections, federalism, and a myriad of other topics of concern to Iraqis and to the work of NDI across its programs.

We also assisted with outreach efforts, writing educational materials on the content of the Constitution and holding informational sessions.

Despite the efforts of NDI, the United Nations, and other nonprofits to make the document accessible to the public, the last-minute negotiations made full disclosure of the contents very difficult. So we served as references to answer questions on the content of the draft. I often joked that I knew the Iraqi

16 STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

In mid-September changes were finalized, and then finalized again October 13. On October 15 the country came together to vote for the Constitution—another memorable day, “the day of the purple fingers.” I trooped around to polling stations within the Green Zone as an international monitor (within the IZ there are 5,000 to 7,000 Iraqis) to watch as the country finally came together to vote on the founding document of their new country, dipping their fingers in purple ink after voting and proudly holding them up for all to see. Even after all our work on the draft with the National Assembly, I wasn’t sure what to hope for. The Constitution could work, but it had flaws. All I really wanted was the best outcome for the country as well as a peaceful day free from incident, one that would allow the Iraqi people to really think about democracy, stability and their future. Observing the process was incredible—to see all the work of the drafting committee and the political negotiations finally put to the people.

As I prepared to leave Iraq, I spent my final week teaching a workshop on legislative drafting to a group of Iraqi women with the help of a wonderful NDI Iraqi translator. The goal of NDI in working with these women was to assist their coalition of women’s nonprofits in drafting a law on the status of women, the code that determines how to reconcile Islamic family law with secular law. This is a difficult topic to navigate given the differences between the liberal Kurds and Sunnis and the conservative Shia who make up the majority of the population. The group hoped to draft a better law than the one written 40 years ago but had a hard time grappling with the fundamental question: How do we reconcile our religious beliefs with what in practice those beliefs end up doing to women? Many of these women are lawyers and other professionals, not willing to see their rights slowly ebb away from them. And yet there was a feeling that this withdrawal of rights was like a receding tide that couldn’t be stopped.

I was 29 years old, explaining to intelligent, well-educated women twice my age democratic concepts such as compromise, public input into policy, and the role of the

legislature. They had no concept of democracy, what political representation means, how a legislature works, or how an elected government could give them voice and an access to power they had never had—or even dreamed of having. It was humbling. At the end one of them said, “We are not used to thinking about using law to change things—law is just a force Saddam used to get his way.” Saddam was the law, and they joked that they now were all mini-Saddams inside, all wanting to have their way and not wanting to hear the other side.

Despite their jokes, they soaked up newly found concepts.

Without any men present, they were free to take charge, battle and debate each other, and vent their problems—the democratic process in action. These women who distrusted me at the beginning of the week eventually came to call me “habiti” or “dear one.” They will always be in my heart.

The Constitution was voted in October 15, 2005, and eventually confirmed October 26. The permanent government of Iraq was approved December 15, four days after I flew out of the country to return home. The Constitution was hardly the social compact needed to bring together the various factions of the disjointed country. Revisions are still being made by yet another committee of the new Assembly—a last-minute change to try to entice the Sunni groups into the process. The government is now beginning the long road of negotiations and consensus-building necessary to bring together this divided country whose only common denominator in the past was the ousted dictator who controlled every aspect of their lives.

Without that bind, Iraqis are trying to rediscover their commonalities beyond repression and fear—the ties that hold them together as countrymen. Today, however, that commonality of dictatorial fear has been replaced by the fear of terror and brutality as well as the common complaint of unemployment, lack of electricity, and poor health and educational facilities. Rather than redirecting this fear and frustration toward the goal of building a country and national identity, it seems to have been redirected into distrust of opposing ethnic groups—a concept fed by radical and conservative religious leaders, voices of authority often more trusted than the government due to the government’s corruption and ineptitude at local levels.

I want to be so hopeful—I am hopeful—but I believe it is going to take years if not decades to rebuild what was destroyed by Saddam. First the war; now the terror that rules the streets.

My heart aches for them and their struggle, and the dwindling support they will receive from Western democracies at the most crucial point of their journey.

I still shudder at doors slamming in the distance or the severe weather sirens that sound off once a week here in the Midwest.

My mind immediately thinks “small arms fire!” or “rocket launched into the IZ!” Images of war or terrorism in movies are no longer entertainment. I cry when I hear of soldiers readjusting to life at home; when my church prays each week for our servicemen with whom I somehow feel a kinship, even though my exposure to conflict and violence was much

www.iclad-law.org

less than theirs. I loathe the sensationalized version of the war—whether liberal or conservative in slant—that the media is feeding Americans.

I have come to appreciate the complexities of our involvement in the Middle East. Don’t I think it was right that we went in now, my conservative relatives ask? Not necessarily, I respond.

Do Iraqis seem to think we should have gone in? Without exception, every one of them I met thinks so. Don’t I think we should leave now, my liberal friends ask? No—please no.

Iraq needs peacemakers right now. Not just foreign diplomats forcing their own countries’ viewpoints, but Iraqi men and women to assist in building a national consensus on the huge issues facing the country today: revising the Constitution; dividing oil resources; ensuring women’s rights; holding government accountable; providing human and social services.

Meanwhile, I am at home struggling to justify why I am here in this democracy we take for granted and they are there risking their lives to establish a democratic government. My life has changed so much since then. One year ago today I was scrambling around the National Assembly Hall trying to find out the status of the latest draft of the Constitution. Who was holding up negotiations? What issues were left to tackle?

Today as I type I am listening to the quiet sighs of my newborn son—only two weeks old, yet already changing my world.

I will return to Iraq someday. It has gotten under my skin.

Towards the end of my time in Iraq, I stood on the roof of my hotel one Friday evening, looking out over the city at the smoggy sunset—the call to prayer echoing in the distance, the song reverberating from mosque to mosque around the city; that city alive with a cry out to God, gunshots echoing in the night as exclamation points to their call. “Hear us God!” they seemed to cry. “Listen to our pain. Come near to us! Save us!”

A call of agony shared by all, in their very blood, with Iraq— including me.

Sara Johnson-Steffey is working as a fundraising consultant for a variety of nonprofits in Minneapolis, where she lives with her husband, Steven, and new son Jackson.

She continues to work with the International Consortium for Law and Development (ICLAD) and hopes to return to the Middle East within the next year to facilitate continued trainings in legislative drafting and civil society empowerment.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 17

The Accidental Chaplain Landstuhl Hospital, Germany

It was a beautiful Monday in May. My academic robe and hood were back in my closet; my final grades had been turned in. I was ankle deep in cement, helping my colleague, Mark Cannister, pour a cement slab at his house in South Hamilton, when I received a phone call from the administrator at Bethany Church in Greenland, New Hampshire.

I was surprised by his question: Was I available to fly to Germany immediately, hopefully by the end of the day?

We had heard the day before that Sgt. Conan Marchi, a former member of my youth group and student leadership team, had been shot and critically wounded by a sniper in the city of Hit, Iraq. I’d led prayer for Conan, his wife, Hope, and parents, Bob and Jolene during worship that Sunday morning.

The administrator explained, now, that word had come that Conan was on his way to the Landstuhl Hospital at Ramstein Air Force Base in southern Germany. He was in critical condition, with a life-threatening straight-through gunshot wound to his abdomen. His wife and parents were on the way. It would be important for Conan and his family to have someone from Bethany on scene—and the pastoral staff felt I was that person.

After I hung up I said to Mark, who was looking at me quizzically, “I think I need to go to Germany . . . right now.”

Mark and I gave the cement one last skimming; I jumped in my car for the hour-long trip home to Rye, New Hampshire. In the car I called my wife, Jean, and then my travel agent, asking him to please get me on the first available flight later that day. He called back with the news that there was one seat available on a Continental flight to Frankfurt, scheduled to leave Boston at 3:30. I glanced down at my watch—it was one o’clock, and I was in Salisbury, Massachusetts, northbound. Once at

18 STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

home, I changed my cement-covered clothes, literally tossed a few things into a suitcase, and grabbed my passport in the kitchen on my way out the door.

At Logan Airport I was quickly ticketed and then sprinted for the gate, where the flight was already boarding. Settling into my seat, heart pounding, I rubbed my face and realized I hadn’t shaved while I was at home. In fact, I hadn’t shaved in three days—after all, it was the beginning of summer.

A soldier’s story On the ground in Frankfurt, I made a quick stop at the Budget counter to get a car and a map, eager to get to the hospital before dark. The Autobahn, with its average middle-lane speed of 105 miles per hour, was just what I needed.

Clearing security at Gate 3 to Ramstein AFB with what appeared to be divine intervention (I had no idea how I was going to get onto the base), I came upon Landstuhl Hospital, the largest U.S. military hospital outside of the United States. I wound through the long corridors with a tall sergeant from Georgia who had offered to help me find Sgt. Marchi. I began to wonder what awaited me when I got to the room. In 18 years in the pastorate, I’d made plenty of hospital calls, but never one like this.

We entered Conan’s room. The young man whom I’d first met as a gangly middle school student, and whose wedding I’d officiated at five years ago, lay there under a plethora of IV bags and pints of transfusing blood. When our eyes met, his jaw dropped. “Conan, don’t worry,” I said. “This doesn’t mean you are going to die.”

After we’d had a few hours to pray and visit together he asked, “Do you want to hear what happened?”

I said that I did, indeed. I had to wonder if Conan was mad at God for allowing the serious wound he had suffered. But as I listened to his story of what had happened three days before, it quickly became evident that just the opposite was true.

Four months into their 12-month deployment, he and his squad of five soldiers and their Iraqi translator had been on patrol on the streets of Hit, looking for weapon caches. His squad walked up the street, three in front of him and two behind. Conan was momentarily distracted by something and happened to glance down. It was exactly then that he felt something rip into his hip, as if he’d been hit by a baseball bat. His legs went out from underneath him and he collapsed on the street, hearing a gunshot ring out from up the street. A second shot then hit the translator in the knee—again there was a delay between the arrival of the bullet and the sound of the shot. Saving him from a possible follow-up kill shot, one of the men in the squad grabbed Conan by the loop on top of his armored vest and threw him behind some metal barricades off the side of the street as others fired their weapons in covering fire. Another, a medic, worked feverishly to control Conan’s bleeding until the rescue patrol arrived with an armored vehicle to evacuate him.

Conan said of the sniper, “He was really good, placing that bullet less than one inch under the bottom of my armored vest from that distance.” The sniper had been an expert marksman, shooting a high-powered rifle from possibly as far away as a half mile, which explained the delay in hearing the sound of the gunshots. “But God saved my life,” Conan went on. The momentary distraction that had caused him to look down took away the possibility of the fatal forehead shot—the favorite of snipers. Glancing down at just that

Story Robert Whittet ’78

moment had also tipped his bulletproof helmet down, leaving the second-best shot that the sniper hopes will hit your femoral artery. The shot missed Conan’s artery by less than half an inch.

Conan recounted his subsequent airlifting to a medical facility in Iraq where he had the first two surgeries

his toes before striking him in the jaw.

His feet were healing. He had had some reconstructive surgery done on his jaw, but would need more.

“I need to go to Walter Reed to get my good looks back so I can get back to my unit,” he explained to me.

“Conan, don’t worry,” I said. “This doesn’t mean you are going to die.” required to save his life. Another round of surgery the following morning stabilized and prepared him for the medical evacuation flight to Germany.

Upon arriving in Germany it was another trip to surgery. By the time I arrived on Tuesday afternoon he was already up to his eighth surgery. Little did either of us know then that the surgeries required to battle against infection would eventually number more than 20.

A world of its own Over the course of my visit, I came to realize that the military is a community unto itself, with its own language and customs. After the fourth straight person I was introduced to greeted me as “chaplain,” I decided to go with it, and took on the role of chaplain not just for Conan and his family, but for a steady stream of visitors who stopped by, many of them fellow wounded who were also recovering in the hospital.

Most of the wounded were victims of shrapnel from roadside bombs and IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

One soldier moved briskly around in his wheelchair. It was his third time to Landstuhl to be treated for wounds. This time he had been driving a Humvee up a street when he ran over an explosive device. The shrapnel passed up through the floorboards and took off three of

Every soldier that I had opportunity to talk with at Landstuhl talked of getting back to his or her unit in Iraq. As I heard their stories, I could not escape the reality of people like these whom most of us will never meet, who are willing to serve and sacrifice on behalf of all of us.

The ravages and the uncertainties of war were exemplified in Conan’s up-anddown recovery. His temperature would be 99° one minute and 104° less than an hour later as infection in his wounds festered—usually requiring yet another trip to the operating room. I watched him panic when someone opened the curtains in his room to check the weather. “Exposure!” he yelled. His body was in Germany, but his mind was still in the war zone where something as simple as opening the curtain can be a fatal decision, as you expose yourself to a sniper. Plucked from the pressures of combat, it would take him some time to realize he was now safe. He would eventually decompress and begin to look forward to heading home.

I returned home several days later to continue my summer, blessed by the high honor of bringing spiritual comfort to some extraordinary people, the wounded members of our military.

Sgt. Conan Marchi, who received a Purple Heart for being wounded in action, continues to recover from his injuries at the Landstuhl Hospital in Germany. He is in daily physical therapy and working hard to be able to walk and move about normally.

Having joined the military after high school, he is looking forward to starting college studies after he is discharged, and is considering Gordon College.

Bob Whittet, M.Div., serves on the faculty as an associate professor of youth ministries. He resides in Rye, New Hampshire, with his wife, Jean ’81. They have four children: Ethan ’04, Justin (Westmont ’07), Aaron ’09 and Amanda ’09.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 19

Story Lauren Stouffer Photo SJ Harmon

BOOKS BY DONALD MILLER Miller’s books have focused on Christian faith as a relationship, and on the history of God’s involvement with humankind through friendships with biblical characters like Adam, Abraham and Moses.

Blue Like Jazz Author Visits Campus “God is more interested in your maturity as one of His children than He is in pleasing you.”

Blue Like Jazz Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality

Searching for God Knows What

Through Painted Deserts Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road

To Own a Dragon Reflections on Growing Up Without a Father

20 STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

Donald Miller’s chapel address on October 6 challenged the Gordon community. Miller spoke about the need for Christians to be subversive, suggesting that the church should offer positive alternatives to the spirituality of consumerism that he identifies in the contemporary American evangelical subculture. Instead of packaging Christianity as a product to meet people’s needs, Miller suggests, Christians should speak of their spirituality as a relationship with God; instead of expecting the Christian life to be carefree and exciting, Christians should expect to experience periods of painful growth. Christianity, asserts Miller, should not be marketed as some kind of a pill that will fix people’s problems. Being subversive means acknowledging a God who is more interested in helping people to become mature than in making them feel good about themselves.

The A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel was filled to capacity for Miller’s visit. In addition to speaking in chapel, Miller was available for a book signing and a lunch with a small group of men on campus. Miller is a favorite author

www.donaldmillerwords.com

among many young evangelicals. His books include Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What, Through Painted Deserts, and To Own a Dragon.

Tim Lewis ’08, the student director of the Campus Events Council (CEC), was instrumental in coordinating Miller’s visit to Gordon. Lewis comments: “One of CEC’s goals is to develop programming that is not just entertainment based, to be a part of creating and shaping culture on campus. Don has a candid, beautiful and poetic way of articulating his faith. I’ve wanted to bring Don to campus since I read Blue Like Jazz last summer. His belief that our interaction with God is not formulaic resonates with a lot of people.”

Lewis noted that during a small-group discussion after chapel, Miller suggested that it was possible to have bad theology and be a Christian, and to have good theology and not be a Christian.

“This statement was immediately challenged, and a constructive discussion ensued. Hopefully it is a discussion that will move out of that room and to the rest of the campus.”

IN FOCUS

faculty

Trilogy Launched Communication arts professor Jo Kadlecek, M.A., recently launched a fiction trilogy with NavPress. The first in the series, A Mile from Sunday, explores faith in a pluralistic society through the eyes of narrator Jonna Lightfoot McLaughlin, a young religion reporter. Kadlecek says, “Though this is a wonderfully diverse culture, it’s often polarized. People too often point at others and say ‘us versus them’—politically, spiritually and ideologically. Jonna’s character wants to bridge that gap and bring people together.” The second book in the trilogy, A Quarter after Tuesday, is expected to be released in spring 2007.

Brooks and Herman at C. S. Lewis Summer Institute In July 2006 the C. S. Lewis Summer Institute made its first appearance in North America since its beginnings in Oxford in the summer of 1988.

The 10-day conference, held at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, was titled “Love among the Ruins: On the Renewal of Character and Culture.” Thomas Brooks, M.M., professor of music, and Bruce Herman, M.F.A., professor of art, were presenters. The Summer Institute is an important biennial gathering comprising a wide range of Christian traditions. T. Grady Spires, Ph.D., professor of philosophy emeritus, has served on the Institute’s Board of Directors since its beginnings.

Sabbatical at the Whitehead Institute

National Science Foundation Grant New Funding for Gordon Professor’s Research Michael Veatch, Ph.D., professor of mathematics at Gordon College, was awarded a highly competitive grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant will fund his research in creating mathematical tools that will help solve complex network control problems in manufacturing processes, supply chains, service operations and computer networks— enabling many industries to provide products and services more efficiently and cost-effectively.

The grant is from the engineering division of NSF, where the success rate for applicants is one in seven and funding for research at liberal arts colleges is rare. “It is gratifying that Gordon College can participate alongside larger universities in important scientific research at the undergraduate level that prepares more students to pursue careers in science and engineering,” said Veatch. “The project will incorporate student researchers, providing them invaluable experience as they prepare for graduate school.”

The NSF award comes as the College begins construction on its Ken Olsen Science Center, an 80,000-square-foot complex that will house the Science, Mathematics, Psychology and Computer Science Departments. The first phase of the facility is expected to be completed by early 2008.

Craig Story, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, is doing sabbatical research at the

IN THEIR WORDS

prestigious Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, affiliated with Massachusetts Institute

“At Gordon, our students hear about the

of Technology (MIT). He is working with

dangerous idea that they can make a

postdoctoral advisor, Hidde L. Ploegh, Ph.D., one

difference in the world through their faith

of the world’s leading researchers in immune

in Jesus Christ.”

system function. Dr. Story’s current projects include investigating the involvement of viruses

—Michael Veatch, Ph.D.

in the rare tropical disease podoconiosis and

Professor of mathematics at Gordon College

working on generating antibodies for diagnosis of malaria in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Science with a Mission (www. sciencewithamission.org), founded by Alynne MacLean ’86.

The Lightfoot Trilogy www.lamppostmedia.net Science with a Mission www.sciencewithamission.org

IN FOCUS

STUDENTS

IN THEIR WORDS

“One of my goals this year, as captain of the golf team, was to win at least one of our tournaments. I started off our season by coming in fourth at the University of New England Invitational. It was a good way to start—I experienced what it was like to be close to a win, and that gave me the drive to try harder.”

—Mike Drake ’08 Mike Drake finished first and the team finished fourth at the Gordon College Fighting Scots Invitational held at Turner Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts, on October 4, 2006.

Andrew Breton’s Super Mario Brothers Reenactment Goes National What started as a Golden Goose talent show performance for junior Andrew Breton has blossomed into an Internet sensation on Google Video and YouTube. It was aired on MTV’s Total Request Live Segment on July 25, 2006, and the video was also featured on VH-1 and VH-1’s Best Week Ever website.

Breton, a youth ministries major, cocreated and starred in a real-life production of the Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers video game, specifically Level 1-1. Breton, dressed as Mario, runs through scenes jumping on turtle shells, squashing goombas, throwing fire balls, jumping into green tunnels and even pausing halfway through the level. “My favorite part was probably when I jumped into the tube for the first time and heard people laughing.

The crowd reaction was fantastic, and the standing ovation was definitely a highlight.”

A Study in Contrasts Timothy Lewis ’08

Stories have always been a kind of fuel in my

Golden Goose is an annual event at Gordon, and is held in A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel. “We never would have pulled this off without all the people involved,” says Breton. In fact, he had eight ninjas, two costume artists, four stage hands, a prop and set designer, and a camera man helping out.

life. Dinnertime at my house lasted as long

While Breton and his friends have considered creating another performance reenacting a different level of Super Mario Brothers, there are no plans currently underway. Says Breton, “It wouldn’t be like us college students to plan ahead, right?”

Through my internship with the South African

as three hours, each of us sharing what had happened in our day in the most dramatic fashion possible. Stories and their impact on our lives and culture—this is what directed me to study communications and media at Gordon.

Council of Churches this past summer, I sat in on parliamentary hearings on the welfare of the elderly and the state of correctional facilities.

On safari, our group had a Jurassic Park-like experience with an angst-ridden, vision-impaired teenage elephant. I experienced beautiful people living in both poverty and disease, and flourishing wealth. I’d like to prescribe some wisdom that the program or the country had to offer, but I’m afraid I’m unable. I trust that God will provide the most appropriate time to explore the stories that He has placed in that box.

Super Mario Live Video www.gordon.edu/goldengoose Tim Lewis’ Photo Journal www.gordon.edu/photojournals

Tim Lewis is the student director of the Campus Events Council (CEC) at Gordon and participated in South Africa Seminar in summer 2006.

IN FOCUS

Alumni

IN THEIR WORDS

“It’s wonderful to see people learn English and as they do so, about life. But the greatest joy is to see lives changed by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word of Jesus Christ, and to see them equipped to preach that Word. I am so excited to be involved in beginning a new work in an unreached land.”

—Sam Folta ’87 University professor and missionary mentor in China

A Small World

Heidi Driesens (right) and Katie Amico in front of the El Deir Temple.

Heidi Driesens ’04 I spent the past year in Cairo as a youth worker at Maadi Community Church, composed of 1,500 people from at least 50 different countries. At the end of my year I traveled to Jordan and Israel. For a Western woman to travel alone is generally not recommended in the Middle East, and as I sat in the bus station in Cairo at 5 a.m., I asked God for at least one other female to be on the bus for the eight-hour ride to the Israeli border.

When the bus pulled up, I sleepily climbed on board and saw three other foreigners about my age, one girl and two guys. I sat down near them and tried to guess who they were and what they were doing in Egypt.

When we stopped a few hours later, I went over and introduced myself.

Katie Amico and I quickly narrowed down our American geography from north of Boston to Wenham—we couldn’t believe that we both went to Gordon College! I had not expected such a great answer to prayer.

Katie had just spent five weeks teaching English to college sophomores and working in orphanages in China through Gordon’s Summer Missions Program. Her older brother, Peter, and his friend, Matt, were Taylor University alumni on their way to a friend’s wedding in Israel. We quickly became acquainted and decided to travel together. It was a great arrangement because I didn’t have a place to sleep that night, and Katie was desperately in need of some female company after spending the past two weeks traveling with two guys. We stayed at the home of some missionary friends in Aquaba and then went on to Wadi Musa, near Petra, Jordan.

We walked into Petra at 6 a.m., before the tourists, summer heat and overbearing vendors had destroyed the magic. We hiked around for a few hours and took this picture in front of the El Deir Temple, also called the Monastery. It’s the largest structure in the ancient Nabataean city of Petra.

Heidi Driesens lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and works for a social service agency on Boston’s North Shore. Katie Amico ’09 is an international affairs major.

A 2010-Kilometer Hike for AIDS Orphans Ryan McDonnell ’04

Along with six other international students, Ryan McDonnell recently set off on a 2010-kilometer hike from Johannesburg to Cape Town, South Africa. The charity hike is sponsored by Rotarians for Fighting AIDS, and will highlight the needs of AIDS orphans and raise critical funds for children left homeless and at risk by the pandemic. As the team hikes across South Africa, they will speak to schools and community groups; visit programs assisting AIDS orphans, child-headed families and vulnerable children; raise awareness with media interviews; and distribute educational materials.

Ryan, a political studies major while at Gordon, states, “The need is completely overwhelming, and I am so glad to be a part of this project.”

The 20-day charity hike will commence following World AIDS Day on December 1 and will end as the group arrives in Cape Town on December 21.

Ryan has worked with World Relief and CURE International and is currently completing his master’s in international development at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 23

ENCOUNTERS

Evangelicalism, Catholicism and the Future of Christian Learning What do evangelical scholars and educators have to learn from their Roman Catholic counterparts and vice versa? Why this topic? Why now?

On September 25 two leading scholars of American religion and higher education—Mark Noll and James Turner, both of the University of Notre Dame—visited Gordon College for a one-day conference sponsored by the Jerusalem and Athens Forum. Titled “Evangelicalism, Catholicism and the Future of Christian Learning,” the conference explored these and other questions. Noll, a noted author, is a professor of history and formerly the holder of the McManis Chair in Christian Thought at Wheaton College.

Turner is the John J. Cavanaugh Professor of Humanities at Notre Dame.

Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard, associate professor of history and director of the Critical Loyalty Lilly Project at Gordon, was moderator.

Noll’s presentation argued that “because of recent developments within Catholicism, within evangelicalism and within American intellectual culture, American Catholics and evangelicals—in order to advance the cause of Christian learning—now have special need for what the other offers.”

IN THEIR WORDS

“The ending of the Cold War, the attacks of September 11 and the war in Iraq have certainly roiled transatlantic relations. But the divide between the Old World and the New is more fruitfully examined by looking at deeper cultural factors and the accretion of perceptions and interpretations over a much longer stretch of time. Contemporary European anti-Americanism must be understood against a backdrop of historical precedents—much of which has to do with religion. We ignore this at our peril.”

—Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard, Ph.D. From the essay “Why Europe Hates Us” in First Things, November 2006. Dr. Howard is an associate professor of history at Gordon.

Turner made the point that “evangelicals and Catholics conceive very differently what it means to be a Christian college or university.” However, Turner stressed that he was “speaking of tendencies and leanings. There’s nothing exclusivist about either evangelical or Catholic characteristics, nothing to prevent us from raiding each other’s refrigerators.”

An Invitation to Search

A book by the same title, edited and with an introduction by Howard, is forthcoming from Brazos Press in 2007.

mountain of knowledge; it’s learning how to

G. Walter Hansen

Liberal arts is not so much amassing a great climb. It was not really at the beginning of my college time that I began my liberal arts education. It was a year and a half into it that suddenly I woke up. I wasn’t totally asleep until then, only semi-somnolent. But then, in an introduction to philosophy class at Wheaton College, Dr. Arthur Holmes poked and probed and questioned. He chased me down the corridors of my mind and my heart. We read the Apology of Socrates: What is an examined

Gordon in Lynn Goes Residential The growing partnership between the City of Lynn and Gordon College has become even more tangible by the opening of a new student residence, Barton Hall. On September 7 the 22 Lynn student residents met Virginia Barton, a lifelong resident of Lynn and an influential educator and activist, for whom the hall is named. Barton Hall is a living and learning community; faculty Joshua and Kristen Kansiewicz live alongside the students. Resident Jen Richardson says, “Living in Lynn helps me put my Gordon experience into the context of ‘real world’ ministry; it provides application for the lessons learned at Gordon.”

life? Why is an unexamined life not worth living?

I wrote papers—sophomoric papers to be sure, superficial papers, but the great value of those papers was that in their margins were Dr. Holmes’ searching, probing questions. . . .

That’s what a liberal arts education is about. The root meaning of “liberal” is “to liberate”—to set free from the darkness of pride and prejudice, misconceptions, preconceptions. You are free to ask and search and probe. Jesus invites you.

Jesus says, “Come here, probe, question, search.”

From an address given at Gordon’s Community Celebration Chapel, August 30, 2006. G. Walter Hansen, M.Div., Th.D., is seminary professor for global theological education at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Gordon in Lynn www.gordon.edu/inlynn

ENCOUNTERS

Upcoming Speakers at Gordon February 15–16, 2007 Barrington Annual Seminar II with Richard Cizik February 15: “For the Health of the Nation” February 16: “For God’s Sake” February 27, 2007 Faith Seeking Understanding Lecture Series “Culture Wars and Legal Wars” with William Stuntz March 21, 2007 Faith Seeking Understanding Lecture Series Tracy Kidder on his book Mountains Beyond Mountains

Gordon in Belize

Mayan ruins in Lamani, Belize.

Planned for Fall 2007

March 26, 2007 Faith Seeking Understanding Lecture Series “Islam, Toleration and the Future of Europe” with James Kennedy

In the fall of 2007 a select group of Gordon students will engage in the new Gordon in Belize program, which will be housed in the beautiful rainforest area of central Belize near the capital city of Belmopan. The program will bring together 14 Gordon students with four Belizean students from a broad variety of major disciplines. They will engage in a challenging curriculum of courses and seminars taught almost exclusively

by Belizean faculty. Students will be introduced to watershed ecology but throughout the semester will engage the broad themes of social development, economics, peace, justice and reconciliation. An internship with a Belizean NGO (nongovernmental organization) will also be part of course requirements, as will a final seminar that will include a host of special guests from government, World Bank, IMF (International Monetary Fund), native councils and the academy.

Gordon College Cited among Top Ten “Powerbrokers in the Renewal of the Arts” Arts pastor David Taylor of Hope Chapel in Austin, Texas, has mentioned Gordon College and CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts) in his weblog “Diary of an Arts Pastor” as being among the “top ten powerbrokers in the renewal of the arts” within the church in North America.

His list of “primary landscape-shapers”:

Summer Music Academy Launched The Department of Music launched its Summer Music Academy (SMA) in July 2006. The program targeted children in fourth through ninth grades who had an interest in challenging their musical potential and developing skills in a serious but fun environment. Classes and workshops offered included music theory, solfege, sight-singing, reading rhythms and notes, eurhythmics, African drumming, performance lab and music technology lab. Students also participated in a large-group choir as well as smallgroup sectionals, and received individualized attention in small-group lessons. SMA 2006 was made possible thanks to the generous gift of an anonymous donor whose children participate in children’s music programs at the College. Planning is currently underway for SMA 2007.

b Regent College Vancouver, British Columbia b Fuller Seminary Pasadena, California b Calvin College Grand Rapids, Michigan Gordon College Wenham, Massachusetts b St. Andrews University Fife, Scotland b the Emergent movement b the Ecumenicals Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical dialogues, including IMAGE journal b ARTS a mainline denominational publication b CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts)

Gordon in Belize

a Gordon College partner organization

www.gordon.edu/inbelize Summer Music Academy P 978 867 4818 E sandra.doneski@gordon.edu David Taylor’s Personal Blog artspastor.blogspot.com

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 25

Beyond Short-Term Missions: Making the Transition Pablolito. His huge eyes darted from face to face, looking for me, panicked. He had rarely let me out of his sight all week, but right now I didn’t want to see him.

I wouldn’t be able to put him to bed at night anymore. I couldn’t sit at his table at dinner and feed him. But then he saw me, pumped his little arms rapidly, and ran and jumped into my embrace as he had so many times before that week. I told him I would miss him—in English— but knew that he didn’t know what I was saying and wouldn’t understand why I was gone. “Te amo,” I said in Spanish, kissing him goodbye. His little hand held mine tightly until my friends pulled me into the van, tearing his fingers away from mine.

After returning, in my sophomore year at Gordon, from a short-term mission trip to La Casa de la Esperanza, an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico, thoughts of Pablo plagued my days and nights. I couldn’t sleep or eat or go to class or socialize with my friends. I shut down except to talk about or show pictures of this little orphan boy. Why hadn’t I tried harder to take him home with me, to adopt him, to become a single parent? It didn’t matter that I was a student. I could sacrifice that—and I wanted to.

“I try to give students a realistic view of the world. I also remind them of the long-term investment of our missionary heroes and the realities of sacrifice and suffering that might await them if they decide to serve elsewhere.”

Paul Borthwick, M.Div. Adjunct Professor of Youth Ministries

from Paul Borthwick, adjunct professor of youth ministries at Gordon. “The biggest difference between long-term and short-term missions is the focus,” he told me. “Short-term missions exist to accomplish short-term tasks, but their primary impact and rationale is the life change and worldview change of the participants.” I knew he spoke truth. My life had certainly changed after a week in Mexico.

“Long-term missions,” he went on, “are the long-term actions of people responding to these needs and opportunities. Both short and long terms can be Kingdom-focused, but long-term missions can have a greater impact on the people being served.” I am not the only alum who has wrestled with these kinds of questions.

Daphne Hollinger ’03 Daphne Hollinger has recently returned from a year abroad in Burkina Faso, West Africa, with Village of Hope, an organization that began in 2002 to serve impoverished and orphaned children.

I experienced the reverse culture shock and confused emotions that many experience after a short-term trip.

But going to Mexico had opened my eyes. I understood the need to go for longer and give more. After I graduated from Gordon, I accepted a position at International School in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, as a fourth-grade teacher.

Images of Pablo haunted me and pushed me forward.

Daphne’s involvement in short-term overseas work at Gordon shaped her desire to serve internationally after graduation. A Pike Scholar specializing in biology and community development, she spent two semesters abroad.

In Belize she studied ecological stewardship, and in Nepal, culture and development. People also led her abroad: her family; a woman she worked with in college who aided refugees in Kosovo and Afghanistan; Grace Ju and Dorothy Boorse, both biology professors; and Paul Borthwick.

Before deciding to accept the position in Honduras, however, I sought advice

Because of her experience as an agricultural intern at ECHO (Educational

Top: Daphne Hollinger ’03 gives a gardening lesson to children at the Village of Hope in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Middle: Jenna Mering ’00 with colleagues at CURE International Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya. The hospital performs free surgeries for disabled children, and ministers to their spiritual needs as well.

Bottom: Pablolito lives in La Casa de la Esperanza, an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico.

26 STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

Story Kristin Schwabauer ’04

Concerns for Hunger Organization), Daphne was asked to help start an agricultural project at the Village of Hope. Her goals in Burkina Faso were to cultivate vegetables to improve the children’s nutrition and to train both workers and the children in traditional and innovative techniques for gardening and better nutrition.

She found great joy in her work, involving children in daily watering and caring for the agriculture meant to sustain them. She participated in planning for the future of this project with community leaders. And she grew to embrace life in Burkina Faso with ease and commitment. However, life in Burkina Faso was not easy. Daphne says, “I was faced with the more profound culture shock that comes from working closely with a staff of nationals, and communicating daily with people whose attitudes toward social hierarchy and the spiritual world are quite different from those I am accustomed to. I am grateful, though, for an increased understanding of how others operate as well as how I react in different situations.”

It took Daphne a while to realize what she needed to give and receive to be effective in her work in Burkina Faso.

“It takes time to start a farm. It takes time to learn languages. It takes time for people to observe a life consistently— albeit far from perfectly lived—in pursuit of Jesus. It is for these reasons I am drawn to a longer-term commitment to a people and place,” she says.

Now Daphne is studying at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, for a master’s in crosscultural studies with a concentration in international development. Recently she won the 2006 Citizen Science Writing Competition. Her paper, “Agroforestry Development: Traditional Mountain Farming in Nepal,” was presented at the United Nations 14th Commission on Sustainable Development May 11, 2006.

She plans to work abroad long-term in the future.

Jenna Mering ’00 Jenna Mering also understands the importance of committing to a place for a long period of time. As a student at Gordon she participated in short-term trips to Honduras, India and Boston.

Those trips and a semester at the San Francisco urban studies program in California fed her desire to do more long-term work, allowing relationships and time to strengthen and impact her ministry.

She has worked with CURE International in Kijabe, Kenya, since June 2005 and plans to remain until at least June 2007. CURE International is a nonprofit, Christian organization that performs operations for disabled children whose families cannot pay for their surgery. The hospital also provides spiritual healing and support for children in two-thirds world countries by offering daily chapel services where the gospel is presented in practical, tangible ways.

Jenna is the assistant to the executive director of the hospital in Kijabe— responsible for the quarterly report that circulates to donors and others by request. Jenna also organizes donated medical supplies and helps with writing grants. “Being part of an organization I feel proud to be involved in gives me daily joy and peace that this is the right place for me. Knowing everyone here loves Jesus, wants to make this hospital the best in Kenya, and to shine His love and serve disabled children—that’s something very exciting to be a part of.”

Like Daphne, Jenna’s experiences at Gordon helped push her toward longterm international work after graduating.

As a student she majored in English and minored in biblical studies and missions, and did a Mission Year in Oakland, California, after Gordon. Because Jenna realized relationships were foundational to making an impact on the people she was serving in Oakland, she stayed an additional four years to continue the work. Her time there indirectly led her to CURE.

Like me, Jenna attributes her preparedness for long-term international work to Paul Borthwick and his missions classes at Gordon. Borthwick tells his students that living abroad is not glamorous and can be quite hard. The most difficult transition Jenna had was limited communication with family and friends. Phones are unreliable and expensive, and she had to rely on a new community of friends for support.

But Jenna worked hard on her new community and is content to stay in Kenya until God calls her elsewhere.

“Developing new friends took time and patience. I finally feel like a real sense of friendship and community has been developed with some of the Kenyan doctors who are here on the station.”

While Jenna is still abroad, Daphne and I have returned for the time being.

Daphne is preparing to go abroad again, but I am still asking God what He wants for me next as I make decisions vocationally and think about how to serve God daily. Paul Borthwick was right. My short trip to Tijuana opened my eyes and changed me, and that is a big part of missions.

Pablo continues to plague me. He drives me forward. He won’t let me settle into life comfortably in the U.S. I have gone back to visit him since that first trip, hoping to find answers. While I don’t know what God has for me in the future, I am open to going again—for longer if He asks.

Kristin Schwabauer graduated from Gordon in 2004 with an English major, and works in the Office of College Communications. In March 2007 she will return to La Casa de la Esperanza for another visit with Pablo.

www.cureinternational.org

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 27

Homecoming and Family Weekend

Homecoming and Family Weekend 2006 took place October 6–7 and provided an opportunity for Gordon and Barrington alumni to gather with old friends and former professors and mentors. It was also an opportunity for parents and families to visit the College and connect with their students.

1

The weekend began with Friday morning’s convocation in A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel. Darlene Kuzmak ’74, winner of this year’s Jack Good Community Service Award, discussed sharing Christ by living a life of example. Convocation was followed by a free clam chowder lunch outside Lane Student Center.

Highlights of this year’s Homecoming included the Alumni Awards Banquet, Gordon’s 5th through 20th reunion lunch, Barrington’s 20th through 45th reunion lunch, Gordon’s 25th reunion dinner, and the 1st reunion for the class of 2006. Guests also enjoyed a cookout on the quad, a science carnival, a family camping trip slideshow, rock climbing, and many athletic events for both spectators and participants—including men’s and women’s flag football, men’s lacrosse, alumni baseball, and Gordon College soccer, tennis and field hockey team matches.

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Academic reunions provided venues for alumni to reconnect with those in their majors. There were also a number of musical events including a jazz band concert, a performance by the alumni band RADKA, and a College Choir and Symphony Orchestra concert.

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45th Reunion – Gordon Class of 1961

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40th Reunion – Gordon Class of 1966

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30th Reunion – Gordon Class of 1976

4. 25th Reunion – Gordon Class of 1981 .

5th–20th Reunion – Gordon Class of 2001 to 1986

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45th Reunion – Barrington Class of 1961

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Barrington Connection Reunion

Photos Daniel Nystedt ’06 and Daniel Kiyoi ’08

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FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 29

ALUMNI

awards

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1. Alumnus of the Year James Roberts ’66 President, Armbrust International

James started his career as a factory worker fresh out of high school but decades later became president of the company. He has served on the Board of Trustees for both Barrington and Gordon, and spoke at the dedication ceremony for the Barrington Center for the Arts. He is a 50-year member of Norwood Baptist Church in Warwick, Rhode Island, and founded a shelter for homeless families. Despite his many accomplishments, James still has the heart of that ambitious young factory worker—a true servant leader.

2. Jack Good Community Service

3. A. J. Gordon Missionary Service Award Marcia (MacGregor) Duncan ’65

Ann C. Young ’66

Retired Missionary

Kindergarten Teacher, Faith Academy, Philippines

Wife, mother and a scholar of languages, Marcia has always had a heart for missions.

She taught in Padua, Italy, and served among the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux tribe in Sisseton, South Dakota. After joining Africa Evangelical Fellowship in 1982, Marcia served in four major areas within Angola, including Kalukembe, Menogue, Lubango and Jamba Mineira. She taught at and served on the administrative council for the Advanced Institute of Evangelical Theology in Lubango. Today she is still active as a women’s Bible study lecturer and core group leader.

While at Barrington College, Ann chose as her life verse Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go.

I will guide you with My eye.” Little did she know where these words would take her. At a missions conference Ann learned that one of the greatest challenges missionaries face is the education of their children. Since 1972 she has taught at Faith Academy, which has the largest concentration of missionary children in the world.

Darlene (Dinzik) Kuzmak ’74 Director of Ongoing Education, Community Bible Study

Darlene Kuzmak has a passion for Bible study. Since 1987 she has been in leadership in Community Bible Study (CBS). In her current role as director of ongoing education she travels throughout the United States helping to host conferences for thousands of CBS leaders. Darlene and her husband also lead The Partners Scholarship Program at Gordon. Their encouragement of others to give generously to Partners has enabled thousands of students to receive the financial aid they need to complete their education.

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5. Winifred Currie Award in Education

4. A. J. Gordon Missionary Service Award Scott MacGregor ’67 Missionary, Summer Institute of Linguistics/ Wycliffe Bible Translators

Staying committed for the long haul aptly describes Scott MacGregor. After seminary and linguistics training, Scott relocated to the Palawan Province in the Philippines, where he helped initiate the Kagayanen Language Project in 1976. By 1981 his team had successfully translated the Gospel according to Luke. Scott continues to work with the Kagayanen Project and colabors with his wife on the New Testament team.

They anticipate completing the New Testament and Genesis in 2007—more than 30 years after it all began.

6. Lifetime Achievement Award William Harper ’62 Retired Professor of Political Studies, Gordon College

Lillian (Bennett) Harper ’60 Program Assistant, Global Education Office, Gordon College

Bill and Lillian love God and the young people they have been privileged to teach. Together they have helped shape generations of Gordon students. Bill taught European politics and Christian political thought and practice, and according to Provost Mark Sargent “has been one of the principal voices shaping the vision and curriculum of Gordon College.” Lillian taught third, fourth and fifth grades at public schools in local communities and later guided Gordon students as they participated in global studies programs.

Both have been extraordinarily active in leadership at Christ Church of Hamilton and Wenham.

ALUMNI

NEWS

1940s Morgan Kinney ’43B enjoyed his 83 birthday with a celebration at the Church of Solsburg, VA, where he and members of the church he pastored for 52 years remembered his decades of service. rd

John Hubley ’48 had his second book, Running the River of Praise: Wading in Pools of Worship, published by Xulon Press.

This unique presentation of the evolution of praise and worship from Genesis to Revelation is directed to pastors, worship leaders and laity in the local church.

Information about this book along with the author’s first publication, Decisive Praise and Worship: Actualizing Our Devotion to the Lord, can be found at www.mindheart.com.

1950s Marjorie Buck ’50 has recently traveled to the Xochistlahuaca area of Mexico to continue the translation of the Old Testament into the Amzugo language through Wycliffe Bible Translators. Her Amzugo reading book is in the final proofreading pending publishing.

L to R: Al ’51 and Myrtle (Gamblin) ’52 Bannister, Darrell ’55 and Betty (Crossman) ’55 Chase, and Bob ’52 and Barbara (Hollstein) ’53 Chapman renewed Gordon friendships around lunch in Sussex, New Brunswick.

Stanley Allaby ’53 recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination at Quidnessett Baptist Church in North Kinstown, RI. He was presented with a citation from the governor of Rhode Island in recognition for the decades of service he spent with Gordon College, Gordon Divinity School, the National Association of Evangelicals and Serving in Mission. He is the professor of homiletics at Bethel Seminary of the East, Auburn, MA, a theological editor for Zondervan Press, and preaches somewhere almost every Sunday.

Chuck Davis ’56 works as the national representative for Africa Inland Mission.

He speaks at schools, meetings and conferences around the U.S. and the world, including the Moody Bible Missionary Conference this fall. He and his wife, Muriel (Leonard) ’60, ask for continued support and prayer, especially in Africa Inland Mission’s work with AIM-Air, an aircraft ministry, and AIM-Care, a psychological organization for missionary support.

Pauline (Klodinski) Brown ’59 has had her book Jars of Clay: Ordinary Christians in an Extraordinary Southern Pakistan published

by Doorlight Publications. Jars of Clay is a “sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes hilarious story of three clergymen, their families and the others who joined them to live and work in the desert of southern Pakistan.” This book can be ordered at Barnes & Noble, and more information is available at www.stonybrookchurch.org/icfb.

Arthur Harvey ’59 retired from the University of Hawaii, completing 47 years of teaching. Dr. Harvey is internationally known as an authority in music for special needs individuals, music and the brain, music and learning, and music and health. Known as “the singing doctor,” he also directs music at Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church, worked to reestablish VSA Arts program for the disabled and helped create Sounding Joy Music Therapy Inc. These and other accomplishments, including numerous books and CDs, have earned him a commendation from the governor of Hawaii.

He and his wife, Patricia (Wilgus) ’59, will be moving to Ellenton, FL.

L to R (seated): Nancy (Paine) Murdoch ’52, Marjorie (Holms) Buck ’50, Marion (Johnson) Allaby ’53, Margaret (Smith) Murdoch ’53, Mary Jordon ’47B. Standing: Ralph Brown ’50, Pauline (Klodinski) Brown ’50, Elmer “Doc” Murdoch ’50, Henry Bock Jr. ’50, Stanley Allaby ’53, Elsie Porter, Wayne Porter ’49 and Larry Jordan. These classmates and friends recently met at Warren’s Lobster House, Kittery, ME, for a Gordon get-together of the late ’40s and early ’50s era.

1960s Betty Camp ’60B resides in Brazil, where she is translating the Bible for the Bakairi ethnic group. She hopes for completion of the New Testament by 2010. She asks for prayer in finding Bakairi people to assist in the translation, finances to support them and good health to see completion of the translation.

Dorothy “Dannie” (Ruark) Engstrom ’60 retired from the management team of Rockhill Mennonite Community, a retirement community in Bucks County, PA. After 28 years of service, she now has time to pursue her hobby of photographing lighthouses.

She would love to hear from old friends at drengstrom@verizon.net.

Margaret (Calderwood) Kronmeyer ’61 retired as preschool teacher at Forcey Christian School in Silver Spring, MD. She had surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor in October 2005 and is continuing with radiation and chemotherapy for a year at Georgetown University Hospital, where she is doing well.

Sandra-Lee (Blake) Parent ’61 is enjoying retired life in Florida, volunteering for Southeastern Guidedogs Inc., and singing with the Anna Maria Island Community Chorus and Orchestra and the Key Chorale in Sarasota, which is going on a European concert tour in 2007. She also participates in traditional line dancing several times a week.

Russell Reinert ’61 retired after 38 years of service with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Mexico and Peru, 36 of which were spent as the personnel director in Peru.

Nicholas Woodbury ’61 is the director of Christ for Miami, a ministry of the Latin America Mission.

Marlene LeFever ’64B is the vice president of educations development for Cook Communications Ministries, Colorado Springs, CO. She previously directed Cook’s International Christian Publishers Institute, which trains developing-world publishers in leadership skills, sales and marketing, and finance.

Kendall Merriam ’65 wrote and directed Claire’s Song, a compelling play about the life of a Maine sardine packer. The play was presented as a part of the 2006 Maine Playwright Series.

Merryl (Butler) Chabot ’66 provides hour-long music programs several times each week in nursing homes around South Attleboro, MA, as well as central, southeast Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

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NEWS

Robert Crippen ’66 of Willow Grove, PA, is senior analytical chemist at Sunoco Chemicals, where he has gained product development experience in chromatography and laboratory information systems. In 2005 he applied for U.S. and international patents.

Dale Herman ’66 retired from his position as director of North Carolina Central Church Registry and is serving, along with his wife, as co-country representatives and administering the program of the Mennonite Central Committee in Uganda.

Ralph Keeler III ’66 retired June 2005 and lives with his wife, Carolyn (Goldthwaite) ’66, in Lansdowne, PA, where he participates in his church’s assembly.

Glenn Plimpton ’66 retired from his position as principal engineer at Raytheon Corp., where he worked on missile and naval and maritime radar. Prior to that employment he was a Navy submarine and admiral’s staff officer, serving in the Vietnam War. He married Judith Wilson A. Plimpton in 1969.

They have three grown children: Amy, Darryl and Justin.

Diane (Aylesworth) Runion ’66B lives in Binghamton, NY, with her husband, John.

Last Christmas she headed an ambitious Christmas program which was well attended by the community. They are the proud grandparents of five grandchildren.

Ann Christiana Young ’66B teaches at Faith Academy in the Philippines, where she has worked since 1972 educating the children of missionaries. In addition, she leads Bible studies with her Filipino neighbors and takes great joy in seeing them trust in Christ as their personal Savior.

Douglas Moss ’68 completed a D.Min. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in May 2006. He retired his position as senior pastor in western Michigan and is pursuing ministry options in the south Florida area.

Russ ’69 and Ramona (Hersey) ’68 Simons have lived in the Philippines since 1974.

Ramona is the founder and director of 180 Degrees Music Team, a nonprofit organization for Filipino youth, training them in cross-cultural missions. They use music to reach other youth throughout Southeast Asia. Russ is a regional advisor for Interdev Partnership Associates, which trains in partnership development for those reaching the least reached in Indonesia, Malaysia and southern Philippines.

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Victoria L. (Nystrom) Kempf ’69B received a D.Min. from the Graduate Theological Foundation. Her doctoral project, “Congregational Cosmogenesis: Creating New Life in Communities of Faith,” applies metaphors and images from quantum physics to congregational development and spirituality. She resides in Fort Collins, CO, offers retreats and workshops, and is a congregational development and discernment consultant for the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado.

1970s Carol (Templeton) ’71B and James ’70B Brix are grandparents to 2-year-old Caden and 1-year-old Kindred, with two more grandchildren coming in 2006.

Jackie (Moss) Eubanks ’71 has been in the U.S. since 1991. Prior to that she and her husband, Rev. Michael T. Eubanks, helped start two churches in Austria.

Judith (Curtis) Larkins ’71 has worked for 25 years as a nurse for Pitt County Memorial Hospital, NC. Her painting Walkway was juried in the North Carolina Watercolor Society Art Show, and her painting Koi (mixed media) was on the cover of Arts Alive for eastern North Carolina.

Wesley Love ’71 retired from the Valley Central School District in Montgomery, NY. He will continue to work part-time at the local credit union.

Jann (Jackson) McMurry ’73B graduated with a D.Min. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary CUME, Boston. Her thesis was entitled “Developing Urban Worship Leaders.”

Diane (Cooper) Holzmann ’75 and her husband, Ted, continue to work for TEAM Mission in Mainburg, Germany. Along with establishing the Freie Evangelische Gemeinde Church in Mainburg, the Holzmans provided special services and family programs during the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Cynthia (Stacey) Bailey ’76 is northeast region early education coordinator for the Association of Christian Schools International following 20 years of service at The Master’s School in Simsbury, CT. Jo Anne (Cooney) Cripe ’76 has been a tenured faculty member at Butte College for six years. She serves as department chair in Family and Consumer Sciences and sits on the Academic Senate Executive Board. Her husband, Jeff, and two teenage sons, Robin and Matt, enjoy life on their 90-acre walnut orchard in northern California.

Karen Dresser ’76 held a staged theatrical reading April 9, 2006, based on her thesis for an M.Div. from Wake Forest University Divinity School. The performance was titled “Say You Are My Sister: Re-Membering the Avrahamic Saga through Post-Holocaust Theology, Literature and Women’s Memoirs.”

Melody (McIntyre) Nichols ’71 set up the Educational Resource Center in Ghana while on sabbatical leave. While employed at Guth Elementary School in Perkasie, PA, she has held the positions of elementary teacher, reading specialist, K–12 language arts supervisor and elementary principal. She also authored a children’s book through the Institute for Creation Research and holds adjunct professorships at Penn State and Lehigh University.

Elizabeth (Holmes) Harrington ’76 recorded the 15th anniversary of her double lung transplant, the first to be completed at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Ellen (Theodora) ’71B and Peter ’65B Tompkins celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on July 23, 2006. Both Ellen and Peter are retired, having given decades of service to the educational systems of Vassalboro and Winslow, ME.

Joy (Stokey) Lott ’76 has taught on Long Island and in Virginia (where she met her husband), and then in Texas, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. She has been blessed with three children: Christopher, Kristy and Matthew.

Michael Wilderman ’71B is serving on advisory boards for Citizens Bank, ACCESS Scholarship, and Scholarship America— Dollars for Scholars.

Nancy (Albert) Maguire ’76 transitioned from her job of 25 years at AXA Equitable and is now pursuing her lifelong dream of being a full-time watercolor artist. She also provides assistance on a consulting basis in the areas of research, archiving, schools, literary/historical societies and individuals.

Ernest Vermont ’71B will be retiring from his position as U.S. Army chaplain in April 2007. He and his wife, Audrey (Philbrick) ’68B, recently became new grandparents of granddaughter Chloe Grace Fowler.

Gordon Gartrell ’76 returned to Brazil with his wife, Dorothy, to continue as missionaries with the Presbyterian Church in church planting and evangelism. They plan to start a brand new church in an uppermiddle-class neighborhood.

Norman Pederson ’76 received a master’s in special education at Mount Saint Mary College.

ALUMNI

NEWS

Lynne (Fleischmann) Randall ’76 has not only maintained a faith-based counseling practice but has been part of a start-up group opening the second hospice house in New Hampshire. She continues to have oversight for the counseling and social service needs of patients in hospice houses, home hospice and nursing home hospices.

Margot (Bergmann) Rox ’76 became the director of women’s ministries at the Hamilton Congregational Church in February 2005. Her husband, David W. ’76, entered his 25th year as a member of the music faculty at Gordon College.

Edwin Aponte ’79 has accepted the position of vice president of academic affairs and dean at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, PA. Previously he was associate professor of Christianity and culture, and director of advanced studies at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX.

1980s Paul Bartoswicz ’80 signed a contract for his book A Journey in Life: Reflections of a Common Man, a collection of poetry he has been working on for the last 25 years. It includes several religious poems including one titled “I Saw God.” Diane (Briggs) Barringer ’81B has been actively working in her church, Fredericktowne Baptist of Frederick, MD. She was privileged to speak at the women’s retreat on the topic “One Anothers of the Scripture” and followed that with a monthly ministry called One Anothers.

Kathy (Campbell) Coburn ’81 is happily a stay-at-home mom. Previously she spent more than 15 years as a licensed optician and worked as an analyst in the Underwriting Department for Trustmark Health Insurance. She is married to Dr. Charles E. Coburn and is mother to three children: Lauren, Teddy and Brendan.

Deborah (Lipari) Creath ’81 has taught in Christian and public schools and homeschool for 26 years. When not reading, cooking or gardening, she teaches Bible studies and is the bridal coordinator at Grace Bible Presbyterian Church in Sharonville, OH. She is married to Dr. Curtis J. Creath, and they have a son, Andrew.

Cynthia (Knowlton) ’81 and Michael Doll ’82 recently celebrated their 23rd anniversary.

Cindy has been teaching preschool for the past 11 years, and Mike works in the travel industry arranging corporate travel. They have two children: Dan, a college student, and Sarah, a junior in high school.

Janice (Brickett) Howe ’81 was instrumental in responding to a devastating flood that hit her town of Alstead, NH. The Third Congregational Church of Alstead, in which she ministers, set up a flood fund to give direct aid to the 80–100 families affected by the disaster.

Margaret Letendre ’81B is a supervisor in a home-based treatment program for autstic children. She is also enrolled in a sign language program, working towards a certificate in fluency.

Patricia (Licitra) Knudsen ’81 and her husband, Philip, regularly perform their poetry and music throughout the Boston Metrowest area’s open-mike and folk community. They encourage everyone to go to www.trishandphil-music.com to find out where they are singing and reading poetry.

Robert ’81 and Nancy (Greene) ’83 Lourie recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. They moved from Alaska to Altoona, PA, where Robert became the pastor of St. George Orthodox Church.

Judith Mank ’81 teaches music in the community of Monmouth, ME. She is director of the Mentor Program for Youth Children’s Choir as well as a member of the Kennebec Performing Arts Company and the Renaissance Winds woodwind trio.

She published an article in the Maine Music Educators Journal entitled “The Classroom Music Environment and the ADHD Student.”

Marc Morisseau ’81B is the owner and director of Kidz Galaxy LLC, an after-school program in Warwick, RI. Peter Nee ’81 retired early after 20 years of working with Bank of Boston, BankBoston and FleetBoston. In 2003 he joined Merrill Lynch and began a management practice specializing in socially responsible investments and working with families of children with disabilities.

Wendy (Lyon) Wright ’81 serves as the principal of Faith Christian Academy, a school for students PreK through 8th grade in Poughkeepsie, NY. Being a wife and the mother of two teenagers keeps her busy as well.

Sarah Fisher ’83 received an M.A. in ministry from Biblical Seminary in Hatfield, PA, in May 2006.

Paul ’86 and Cheryl (Moriarty) ’86 Amabile works in Washington, D.C., for Lou Engle and The Cause, leading teams of young adults who are interning on Capitol Hill in the Justice House of Prayer.

Alumni 24/7 Vocation after Gordon “Bottom line: If you’re serious about a career in newspapers, you have to get yourself into a newsroom and be willing to do anything. Be obsessive about details. Ask questions. Check your work. Pay attention to the changes your editor makes and try to learn from that experience. And save everything you write.”

Ben Adelman ’97, assignment editor for The Salem News “I have no desire to nail down what I want to do for the rest of my life. And that works for me.”

Lori Evans ’99, sales and functions manager at Finz, a seafood restaurant in Salem, Massachusetts “It’s wonderful to see people learn English and as they do so, about life.

But the greatest joy is to see lives changed by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word of Jesus Christ, and to see them equipped to preach that Word. I am so excited to be involved in beginning a new work in an unreached land.”

Sam Folta ’87, university professor and missionary mentor in China “I just know how to talk to people and treat them with respect. That is something I have always been good at, and now that is what my job is based upon.”

Adam Doughty ’04, tri-sport athlete, now operations manager for a tugboat in Maine “You teach what you are interested in and what you are good at.”

Stephen Bjork ’01, math and science teacher at the Waring School, Beverly, Massachusetts “The immediacy of making theatre has been a good antidote for me because I had gotten a little too precious with my drawing and painting. You can’t paint over or erase your acting. How well you’ve prepared, how truthful you are—it’s all out there for everyone to see.”

Kristina (Wacome) Stevick ’97, artistic director of History Alive, the professional acting branch of Gordon’s Theatre Department

These quotations from alumni were provided by students in Jo Kadlecek’s Writing for the Media class.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 33

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NEWS

Timothy Askew ’86 completed 10 years of living with and ministering to the Nakui tribe of western Papua New Guinea. During that time a small church of Christian believers was established.

Adam Maguire ’92 was featured in an article entitled “The Business of Financial Advice.” He founded the Financial Coach in Boothbay Harbor, ME, where he works as a private financial and investment advisor.

Victoria (McGonagle) Norris ’86 was recognized for 15 years of teaching in MSAD #61, Naples, ME. Since 2003 she has led a public music ministry, playing in churches, coffeehouses and festivals. She also celebrated 20 years of marriage to Peter J. Norris.

Martin Hughes ’93 received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Arizona in May 2006. In the fall of 2005 he joined the sociology faculty at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Suzanne (Lampon) Vasquez ’86 made a miraculous recovery in 1999 from a serious illness, four-month hospital stay and medically induced coma. Her long-term infertility subsequently ended, and she gave birth to two healthy babies: Carlos Alexander (2001) and Zoe Gracia (2003).

John Cannon ’87 opened a new chiropractic office, Total Health Chiropractic, in Dover, NH. Sandra (Kimon) Brattstrom ’89 is serving as the CEO for Make a Wish Foundation, Australia.

1990s Laura Andrews ’91 was promoted to senior associate director of admissions at Antioch University New England in July 2006.

Sherri Lynn Cannon ’91 serves on shortterm missions trips. She will be taking her fourth trip to Ireland, helping with sports, and arts and crafts camps.

Sharon (Krueger) Hemstrought ’91 started the Christian rock band Chasin’ Him with her husband, Andrew Hemstrought, in 2004. Along with singing and recording their original music, they homeschool their daughter, Olivia.

Joseph A. Kenyon ’91 celebrated 12 years of youth ministry at his church, East Glenville Community Church in Glenville, NY. William Martel ’91 was accepted in 2006 to the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s D.Min. program for leadership and ethics in the marketplace.

Michael Groat ’92 was promoted to advanced psychology fellow at the Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, MA, where he continues to receive comprehensive training in clinical treatment of people with severe mental illness. He graduated from the University of Albany in 2003 with a Ph.D. in counseling psychology.

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Pamela (Bennett) Alexander ’95 is living in Overland Park, KS, where her husband, Jeff, is family life pastor at First Baptist Church of Shawnee. They both lead small groups and direct a marriage mentoring program for engaged and newly married couples.

Cynthia Steele ’95 is orchestra manager of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. She and her husband welcomed a baby girl, Sabrina Meredith, in 2006.

Mike Bolinder ’96 was appointed by the Board of the Future Fishermen Foundation, a nonprofit in Alexandria, VA, to serve as the foundation’s executive director. The Future Fishermen Foundation teaches fishing, boating and conservation skills to young people nationwide. Visit www. futurefisherman.org for more information.

Lisa (Terlizzi) Givens ’96 was honored for “Outstanding Service” at the Department of Mental Retardation’s Family Advisory Board’s Annual Legislative Breakfast in April 2006.

Navid Mahooti ’96 received his medical degree and master’s in public health, and is chairing a committee to open a faith-based health center in Hartford, CT (The Christian Medical Fellowship Health Center). He also has worked as a youth pastor for two years, played professional baseball in Germany and is engaged to Lisa Fenn, a features producer at ESPN. Shelby Sundling ’96 worked as senior production coordinator on the 78th Annual Academy Awards.

Rebecca Swanson ’96 graduated from West Chester University in West Chester, PA, with an M.Ed. in reading and shortly thereafter obtained a Reading Specialist Certificate.

For the past eight years she has taught second and third grade in Broomall, PA. Robin ’96 and Jeremy ’96 VeenstraVanderweele moved to Nashville, TN, where Jeremy has taken a job at Vanderbilt University. They celebrated the birth of their second child, Julian, earlier this year and encourage all to visit or send an email update to robin_vvw@hotmail.com.

Jessica Rexroth ’98 serves as a missionary with Youth for Christ and moved to Colorado to pursue a master’s in counseling at Denver Seminary this fall.

Sarah (Plumb) Bowler ’99 moved to Qingdao, China, for two years with her husband, Samuel, and two children, Lucy and Toby. Sarah will be teaching second and third grades at Yew Chung International School.

2000s Regina (Gagnon) Bailey ’01 is seeking a Ph.D. in communication studies at New England College, where she is also employed in her dream job as a college professor.

John Beeson ’01 received his M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary in May. He has accepted the pastoral call to Westerly Road Church of Princeton, NJ. His wife, Angel, received her M.A. from Westminster Theological Seminary and will be a counselor in the area.

Amy (Bascom) Brereton ’01 received an M.Phil. in education research from St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge University, in 2002 and completed a Ph.D. in July 2006.

She teaches at St. Barnabas School in Bainbridge Island, WA, where she and her husband reside.

Sara (Closson) Farnsworth ’01 graduated from Lesley University in May 2006 with an M.Ed. in curriculum, instruction and assessment.

Sarah Hine ’01 trekked through the Great Himalayan National Park of India in September and ran her first marathon in October.

Thomas Lake ’01 gained employment in April 2006 at the St. Petersburg Times, the largest newspaper in Florida and consistently ranked among the nation’s 10 best.

Kathleen (Cobb) Leonard ’01 is thrilled to be teaching part-time at Gordon College in 2006–07 while completing postdoctoral research at the Institute for Applied Youth Development Studies at Tufts University.

Kathryn (Lara) Tingley ’01 is finance manager for the Pawtucket Red Sox, the AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.

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Maren Oslund ’02 received her master’s in social work from California State University, garnering several awards including Outstanding Graduate Student and Best Thesis Award. Recently she assisted her family in creating a nonprofit organization to raise funds for an orphanage in India.

April Gonet ’05 is serving with National Civilian Community Corps, an AmeriCorps program. She will be completing a series of six to eight week-long service projects as part of a 10–12-person team. Her first project will be supporting the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Texas Hill Country in Fredericksburg, TX.

Bethany Bailey ’03 moved to Dallas, TX, to begin an internship with Frontiers, a mission organization that focuses on reaching the Muslim world. She plans to join a longterm overseas mission and currently works as a mobilizer, increasing awareness and spreading the vision at college campuses and churches throughout the region.

Francis Vigeant ’04: An Unexpected Calling Story Elisabeth Coen ’07

Getting children engaged with the

Abigail Baird ’03 graduated cum laude from Boston College Law School in May 2006 and began her career this fall with Ropes & Gray in Boston.

sciences is an important challenge for educators. Francis Vigeant ’04 (pictured right) never saw himself working with kids long term. After

Courtney (Fitzgerald) Maggs ’03 received an M.A. in theatre education from Emerson College in August 2005.

Raymond Nainggolan ’03 has been living in Sydney, Australia, since 2005, where he works as an underwriter for Allianz Australia. He also performs in Sydney as a rock-reggae artist and has released two demos, downloadable at www.raynco.com.

Charles Arthur ’04 graduated in May 2006 with honors from Boston University’s School of Theology with a master’s in psychology and religion.

Monique Boivin ’04 was recognized by the University of Michigan School of Public Health for her studies in health behavior and health education. She was awarded the scholarship based on her work with anti-retroviral treatments in Uganda and South Africa.

graduating from Gordon he taught math in Lynn, but always asked himself “What’s next?” Then a Grant Hanna ’06 designed the album art for the new album What I Have To Give, Let It Be Enough, by Gordon’s indie rock darlings After The Sirens. The band consists of seniors Ryan Heidorn, Thomas Deyesso, Ryan Hussey, Jon Misarski and Jason Lefever. After The Sirens has a broad fan base in the New England area and, among other accomplishments, won the Rolling Stone magazine 2004 Battle of the Bands contest for the state of Massachusetts.

Lauren Whitnah ’04 is working on her master’s in medieval history at the University of Oxford.

Michael Frechette ’05 is studying at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics in Dallas, TX, towards his master’s as well as preparing for an overseas assignment from Wycliffe Bible Translators.

a hands-on science exhibit at an aquarium with his children and asked Vigeant if he could replicate something similar at his young son’s birthday party. Vigeant recalls, “I initially could not see it.

I thought, ‘I don’t want to wreck anyone’s birthday!’”

Quite the opposite happened. His presentation was a hit, and that was the birth of his passion for making

Weddings

science accessible to every child.

He began conducting hands-on science classes on Wednesdays after school. At first he had about 10 children in his class, and the number doubled in the next few

Amy (Cram) Kuiken ’04 is working on her master’s in linguistics at Boston College.

She also serves as youth fellowship leader at Cliftondale Congregational Church and as the Boston College Slavic Club graduate representative. She recently spent time in Bulgaria studying Bulgarian.

Ryan McDonnell ’04 has served as microfinance technical advisor in Liberia, West Africa, for World Relief and is Rotary International ambassadorial scholar for 2005–06 in South Africa.

friend approached him after visiting

weeks. Soon Vigeant developed a curriculum for the summer and worked with about 200 children that first year. “I enjoyed seeing them take on new projects and make them their own.”

Vigeant now works with seven Michelle Pavlick ’95 and Gordon Arthur Graham. Alumni participating in the ceremony include Elaine Shank ’95, Lisa Terlizzi ’96 and Jennifer Curran ’97.

Sarah Arendas ’96 and Mitch Roberts, April 1, 2006. Sarah teaches sixth grade and science at Grace Academy of Georgetown, TX, where the couple resides.

schools on Boston’s North Shore, using their space and complementing the schools’ science curricula in after-school programs.

“In order to develop curricula you must think like a child and know your audience,” he says.

At 23, just three years after graduation, Vigeant is content with his career. “Working with kids is a calling. Making it all happen is a calling as well.”

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 35

ALUMNI

NEWS

Rachel Fuchs ’96 and Michael Sankovich, May 7, 2005. The couple resides in Colorado Springs, CO.

Courtney Batson ’99 and Erik Pederson, July 9, 2005, in Portsmouth, NH. The couple resides in Portsmouth, where Courtney works in children’s ministry at Grace Community Chapel and Erik is a software engineer at Liberty Mutual.

Laura Hawk and Stephen Brown ’00, March 12, 2005. Participating in the ceremony was Sam Carroll ’03. The couple resides in Westford, MA, were Sephen is employed as a clinician in a learning center.

Bethany Campbell and Tom Greenwood ’00, April 30, 2005, on Sanibel Island, FL. Bethany is a senior vice president in the FINPRO Department at Marsh. Tom is in manufacturing management for Wyeth.

They live in Andover, MA.

Melissa Allison ’01 and David E. Brown, July 9, 2006, in Philadelphia, PA. Mikayla Stephens ’01 was a bridesmaid. The couple resides in Glen Mills, PA. Melissa is director of relationship education at Amnion Crisis Pregnancy Center in Bryn Mawr, PA, and Dave is an art director at Bank of America in Wilmington, DE. Angela James and Jeremy Biggs ’01, March 6, 2004, in Centerville, MA. Alumni participating in the ceremony included Justin Biggs ’05, Peter ’01 and Rebecca (Lowe) ’01 Wood, and Bob Genuario ’01.

Jeremy is a sales manager for Staples, and Angela is an accountant for Sonnax Industries in Bellows Falls, VT. The couple resides in Claremont, NH. Kimberly Crandall ’01 and Pablo Munoz, December 17, 2005. Kim teaches K–6 Bilingual Gifted and Talented Education in Dallas, TX, where the couple resides.

Emily Hilton ’99 and Jonathan Tribula, July 23, 2005, at A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel.

Gordon alumni participating in the wedding included Alison (Bache) Trout ’97, Megan Studley ’99, Kathryn (South) Robertson ’00, Cheryl Gallant ’02, Kellie (Hitchings) Frank ’02, Andrew Hilton ’03 and Amy Foster ’06. Jonathan is completing his Master of Divinity at Gordon-Conwell, and Emily is a second-grade teacher at Eagle Heights Academy in Revere, MA. The couple resides in Beverly, MA.

Carla Brillouet ’00 and Josh Evans ’01, July 8, 2006, at Byfield Parish Church in Byfield, MA. Alumni participating in the wedding were Melissa Bixler ’02, Chrissa (Heckman) Thonus ’01, Liz Evans ’05, Becky Evans ’08, Tom Routhe ’01, Tim Erickson ’00 and Trey Hulsey ’02. The reception also included Kiera Erickson, Adam Prue, Jess (Tress) Hulsey ’00, Meghan Darrell ’00, Ruth (Lambertson) Prue ’00, Hannah Prue, Jon ’00 and Betsy (Eyres) ’00 Siegal.

36 STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

Kristy Gilberto ’00 and Mark Rautiola, October 8, 2005. Kristy can be reached at kristy.rautiola@gordon.edu.

Carrie Conley ’01 and Bradley J. Kearns, September 24, 2005, in Falmouth, MA. Carrie works for the State of Nevada as a psychiatric caseworker and Bradley for T-Mobile as a field engineer. The couple resides in Henderson, NV.

Melissa Dupree ’01 and Alexander Williams, August 9, 2003, in Andover, MA. Melissa works as a librarian at Gorham High School in Gorham, ME, and Alexander is employed as a State of Maine billings accounts representative. The couple resides in Portland, ME. Noreen Leavitt ’01 and Aharon HaCohen, June 18, 2006, at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. Alumni included in the ceremony were JulieAnn Neuberger ’01, Christine (Reeder) McNichols ’01, Tiffany Clarke ’02 and Theresa (Darrow) Keyser ’01. Noreen is employed by Triangle Inc. of Malden, MA, as a residential program manager for adults with special needs, and Aharon is a student at Brandeis University in Waltham. The couple resides in Reading, MA. Katrina M. Hornbacker ’02 and Erik Larsen, May 21, 2006. The couple resides in Colorado Springs, CO.

ALUMNI

NEWS Elizabeth Murtie ’05 and Bryce Chaffee, March 11, 2006. Participating in the wedding was alumna Melissa Roberts ’04. The couple resides in Essex, VT.

Bryn Limmer ’02 and Joel Brunner ’99, July 18, 2005, in Rutland, VT. Alumni participating in the wedding were Amanda Benson ’00, Kendra Nicholas ’02, Jason Brunner ’04 and Adam Cappen ’99. Bryn is an editor at EBSCO Publishing in Ipswich, MA. Joel is a graduate student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary studying counseling.

The couple resides in Hamilton, MA. Deborah Readyoff ’02 and Paul DiToro, May 27, 2006, in Holmes, NY. Deborah is working as a children’s pastor, and Paul is employed as youth pastor in the same church. The couple resides in Wappingers Falls, NY. Kelly Border ’03 and David Mann, April 8, 2006. Kelly is attending nursing school in New York, and David is employed by IBM. The couple resides in Endicott, NY.

Gurpreet Ahluwalia and Jonathan Lopez ’03, August 11, 2006, in Montauk, NY. Jonathan is in his final year in medical school at SUNY Health Science Center in Brooklyn, NY, and preparing for residency in neurology and pediatric neurology.

Jen Menzel ’03 and Adam Buinicky ’04, April 23, 2005, in Barrington, NH. Alumni participating in the ceremony included Debbie Taylor ’03. The couple resides in Dover, NH. Melissa Riley ’03 and Kirk Gibbons, June 18, 2005, on Cape Cod, MA. Melissa is employed as a caseworker in the Juvenile District Court in Oklahoma City, OK, where the couple resides.

Mary Beth Roberts ’04 and Steven Nolt ’04, January 8, 2005, in Springville, ME. The couple resides in Ipswich, MA.

Courtney Angione ’05 and Jeff Dyksen ’04, August 20, 2005, in Wyckoff, NJ. Alumni participating in the wedding included Kate Ambrose ’05, Geoff Zini ’04 and Jon Kuiken ’04.

Vanessa Corbett ’05 and John Pillen ’04, April 15, 2006, at the Greater Framingham Community Church in Framingham, MA. The couple resides in Richmond, TX. Allyson Parillo ’05 and Nathan Foor ’06, January 7, 2006. Allyson is employed by the American Cancer Society as a community executive for Cancer Control, and Nathan is employed by Digipodge, LLC as a video producer. The couple lives in Nashua, NH.

Story Gustafson ’04 and Josiah Jones ’04, August 13, 2005, at The Falls Church (Episcopal) in Falls Church, VA. Gordon alumni participating include the father of the groom, Harold “Dewey” Jones ’74, Peter Amadon ’04, Geoffrey Jones ’07, Nicole St. James ’04, and Janna Scheflen ’04. Josiah and Story reside in Arlington, VA, where Story is a nurse and Josiah teaches English at a Christian school.

Caryl Horne ’03 and Jacob Pawlusiak, July 31, 2005, in Concord, NH. The maid of honor was Laurie Tomczyk ’03. The couple resides in Manchester, NH, where Jacob is a junior high school teacher and Caryl teaches first grade.

Rachel Imbriglio ’03 and Ryan Bean ’03, September 18, 2005, at Lynch Park’s Rose Garden in Beverly, MA. Alumni participating in the ceremony included Timmy LaRosa ’04, Amber Primm ’04, Jon Chubb ’04, Laura Dyro ’04, Angela Swarr ’03, Mark Imbriglio ’06, Jason Silverman ’02 and Chuck ’01 and Hannah (Woodham) ’03 Bartholomew. The couple resides in Melrose, MA.

Michelle Daniels ’06 and Greg Martin, June 10, 2006. Michelle works as an employment specialist for Educational Resource Network, and Greg is a teaching assistant at Natick Rehabilitation School. The couple resides in Ipswich, MA.

Katie Scott ’04 and Hanway Yang, April 8, 2006. Alumni participating in the wedding included Cassandra Peterson ’04, Lauren (Moore) James ’04 and Jennifer (Anderson) Reynolds ’04. The couple resides in Hudson, MA.

Lauren Khoyi ’06 and Daniel Noyes, August 6, 2005, at Byfield Parish Church in Georgetown, MA. Alumni participating in the wedding included groomsman Tom Kingston ’00, and photographers Laura Welch ’06 and Joel Peck ’03. The couple resides in Merrimac, MA, where Dan works as a boat designer and Lauren as a science tutor.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 37

ALUMNI

NEWS

Jennifer Specht ’06 and Timothy Easley ’06, June 17, 2006, at Grace Chapel in Lexington, MA. Alumni participating in the wedding included Kayla Haiss ’06 and Daniel Ashley ’07. The couple resides in Salem, NH.

Daughter Lea Elizabeth adopted by Brad ’91 and Sharon (Harbinson) ’92 Salmon, June 15, 2006. Brad is director of inventory management at Oce Imagistics in Trumbull, CT. Sharon took time off work to be home with their daughter in Fairfield, CT.

Daugher Lillyanna Faith to Jason and Kelly (Gage) ’95 Kaminski, July 27, 2005. She joins siblings Emmalisa Jay and Caleb Daniel in Ocala, FL, where Kelly teaches fourth grade at Marion Charter School and Jason is pursuing a call to ministry.

Births and Adoptions

Daughter Sara Jane to Frank and Lisa (Blount) ’92 White, June 24, 2005. She joins sister Emma.

Daughter Sabrina Meredith to Jonathan and Cynthia ’95 Steele, February 8, 2006.

Daughter Lily Ava to Inge ’85 and Debbie Halvorsen, January 8, 2005.

Son Seth Andrew to Andrew and Joanne (Frost) ’86 Gehr, March 24, 2006. He joins siblings Aaron, Brian, Rachel and godmother Abbie Cobb ’04.

Son Marvin adopted by Gary Wernsing and Dorothy Boorse ’87, April 18, 2006. Marvin joins brother Galahad.

Son Samuel Charles to Kevin ’90 and Kelly (Griswold) ’88 Belmonte, March 6, 2006.

Kevin recently launched his latest book, A Travel Guide to Wilberforce’s England, in conjunction with a speech he gave at the Houses of Parliament in London, England.

Kelly works as deputy program director at Dare Mighty Things in Portsmouth, NH. The family resides in York, ME. Son Alvah Sinnett to Scott and Kimberley (Dickerman) ’90 Johnson, March 7, 2006.

He joins sister Alexandra and brother Orrin.

The family resides in Bailey Island, ME, where Scott is a lobsterman and Kim is building her business, Digital Diva Solutions.

Daughter Mary-Aza to William ’96 and Nicole ’92 Whittlesey, January 17, 2006. She joins siblings Charles, Jack and Will Jr.

Daughter Madeline Grace to John ’96 and Wendy (Simays) ’95 Lippmann, September 15, 2005. She joins brother Jack.

Son Nathaniel Dewey to Michael ’99 and Kimberly ’93 Ray, December 26, 2005. The family resides in Manchester, MA. Son David Aaron to Martin ’93 and Bethany Hughes, February 20, 2006. He joins siblings Gabriel and Mark.

Daughter Ruth Alysia to Dana and Meadow Rue (Lincoln) ’94 Merrill, adopted February 14, 2006. Ruth was adopted from Uganda and is 3 years old. She joins siblings Judah, Gabriel and Lydia.

Son Michael Thomas to Mark ’93 and Elisa (Ayers) ’94 Pitkin, May 3, 2006. He joins brother Matthew.

Daughter Ella Mae to Tom and Cheri (Fountain) ’94 Hustead, January 23, 2006.

She joins siblings Brandon and Mackenzie.

Son Andrew Jason George to Doug ’95 and Amy Beth (Faul) ’96 Morrison, grandson of George ’65 and Karen (Lundell) ’65 Faul, December 20, 2005.

Daughter Elizabeth Louise to Craig and Christina (Stoddard) ’96 Gustafson, February 9, 2005.

Son Jacob Matthew to Christopher ’96 and Jean Mullins, March 15, 2006. He joins brother Joshua Christopher.

Daughter Clairice Mira to Jeff ’90 and Slivana Hebert, June 4, 2006.

Daughter Abigail Faith to James ’95 and Raquel (Morales) ’96 Verrengia, June 13, 2006. She joins sister Rebecca.

Son Matthew to Joseph ’91 and Sharon Kenyon, March 6, 2005.

Son Wesley Owen to David and Emily (Dubeau) ’96 Shrader, November 19, 2005.

He joins sister Mae Leigh.

Son Julian to Jeremy and Robin ’96 Veenstra-VanderWeele, February 7, 2006.

He joins sister Charlotte.

Daughter Josefina “Josie” Maria to Francisco and Heidi (Haynes) ’94 Cuevas, May 22, 2006. She joins brother Alejandro.

Daughter Isabella Fu Fang Yan adopted

by Harry ’91 and Stacie (Sutherland) ’91 Capone, January 19, 2006, in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. She joins siblings Gabrielle, Collin and Julianne.

Son Timothy Michael to Christopher and Leslie (Day) ’92 Soria, March 24, 2006. He joins sister Emily. The family has relocated to Reading, MA.

38 STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

Son Caleb Michael to Michael ’96 and Noelle (Aitken) ’95 Faris, February 2, 2006.

He joins sister Kennedy, who is 3 years old.

Son Sean Michael to John and Kristin (Cockerham) ’95 Pardue, May 12, 2006. He joins brother Connor.

Daughter Molly Clara to Jason ’96 and Emily Wallace, September 22, 2005. She joins siblings Maren and Jaden.

Daughter Anna to Boris ’96 and Dessi Ivanov, November 18, 2005.

Daughter Savanah Maylyn to Nathaniel ’97 and Kendra (Arbaugh) ’97 Williams, May 25, 2006. She joins brother Wyatt Buchanan.

Daughter Chloe Anna-Lnn to Marc and Stacey (Hallman) ’98 Blaisdell, June 5, 2006. She joins brother Noah Aaron.

ALUMNI

NEWS Florence Munson ’42, January 9, 2006, at age 91.

Daughter Anna Jeanne to Matthew and Molly (Fitzgerald) ’98 Bonaventura, May 18, 2006. She joins sister Sara in North Plainfield, NJ, where Matthew works in insurance sales and Molly is a stay-athome mother.

Son Soren Elijah Beeson to John ’01 and Angel Beeson, November 17, 2005. He joins sister Camille.

Daughter Ava Grace to Roger and Jessica (Laliberte) ’99 Zaleski, July 7, 2005.

Daughter Olivia Constance Marie to Taiwana (Owens) Walker ’02 and her husband, June 18, 2004.

Lillian Hopkins ’45, April 11, 2006, at age 87. She taught sixth grade in Montgomery County, MD, for many years. After retiring she worked with Prescott Christian Academy of Prescott, AZ, and later Campus Crusade, teaching other teachers as far away as Belarus and Ukraine.

Son Joshua Ryan to David ’03 and Danielle Ambrose, July 17, 2006. He joins brother Noah.

Betty (Froberg) Coster ’45B, 48, July 19, 2006. She is survived by her husband, James ’50.

Daughter Elise Margaret to David and Sarah (Corbitt) ’00 Anderson, August 6, 2005.

She joins sister Charis Joy. Son Mark David to Peter and Janice (Dognazzi) ’00 LaRocca. He joins siblings Timothy James and Jennifer Lyn. Dauger Lenorah May to Ian and Suzi (Hamberg) ’00 Wanga, May 22, 2006. She joins brother Micah.

Son Dante Christopher to Brian and Andrea (Marchant) ’01 Campanale, February 23, 2005.

Daughter Molly Violet to Glenn ’01 and January (Tounge) ’01 Campbell, October 12, 2005. The couple was married September 19, 2003. They reside in Windham, ME. Son Dylan Curtis to Michael and Patricia (Candell) ’01 Curtis, December 21, 2005.

Son Brandon Thomas to Derek and Lisa (Fitzgerald) ’01 Nicolette, March 19, 2006.

The family resides in Port Saint Lucie, FL. Son Owen John to Eric ’01 and Sonja Needs, June 27, 2005.

Son Quintin Michael to Benjamin and Christina (Gant) ’01 Enger, January 11, 2006.

Son Lucas Daniel to Robert ’01 and Leah (Steenstra) ’01 Guenario, August 7, 2005.

Daughter Catherine Elinor to Peter ’01 and Rebecca (Lowe) ’01 Wood, May 26, 2006.

Son Noah Michael to Michael ’02 and Jillian (Trevathan) ’01 Wills, August 18, 2005.

Son Brady Michael to Seth ’01 and Emily (White) ’01 Vincent, June 20, 2005.

Son William Elyas to Brian ’01 and Elizabeth (Notley) ’01 Schweizer, March 4, 2006.

Daughter Hannah Dawn to Wayne and Sarah (Closson) ’01 Farnsworth, November 29, 2005.

Son Elijah Benjamin to Daniel ’00 and Lisa (Archibald) ’01 Sylvia, February 18, 2005.

He joins brother Josiah Daniel.

Son Nathan Gabriel to Gabe ’02 and Nicole (Brower) ’01 Corey, August 22, 2005.

In Memoriam Lois (Leathers) Stone ’32, March 22, 2006, at age 95. For many years she worked as a nurse for the New England Deaconness Hospital, Mercy Hospital in Portland, ME, Blue Cross and Blue Shield and for local physicians. She was a member of State Street Church, Portland, the local Women’s Woodford’s Club and the Centerboard Yacht Club. She is survived by her husband.

Florence W. Hunter ’35, December 20, 2005. She worked in textiles until 1968 when she moved to Beaumont, TX. There she attended Lamar University at age 55, earning her B.A. in English and history magna cum laude in 1971 and an M.A. in 1972. She served as a high school teacher until her retirement at age 70.

Erma Preble ’35, January 18, 1999.

Leslie Irving ’36, June 2, 2006, at age 94.

He began in the ministry in 1940 at Baptist Church, East Brookfield, MA. In addition to pastoring churches in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, he served as president of the Pawtucket, RI, Ministerial Association, the Andover Newton Alumni Association, the Allston-Brighton Ministerial Association, The Allston-Brighton Council of Churches, the Boston Council of Weekday Religious Education, the Massachusetts Baptist Charitable Society, the Conference of Baptist Ministers in Massachusetts, the Baptist Student Foundation in Cambridge, the Greater Lynn Ministerial Association and the Greater Lynn Council of Churches.

Francis Steeves ’36, March 1, 2006. He served as a pastor throughout Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Florida. His ministry also led him to become a chaplain in the New York State Hospital system, where he also served as president of the New York State Mental Health Chaplains. He is survived by his wife, Barbara ’40.

Richard Mercer Jr. ’45, March 6, 2006, at age 89. He attended Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and was ordained at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston. His ministry ranged from radio WTIV in Titusville, PA, to director of Christian Youth on Wheels in Trenton, NJ, and middle school and senior high camps in Pennsylvania.

John Udall Jr. ’45, March 15, 2006, at age 83. He attended both Gordon and Gordon Divinity School, and as a United Church of Christ clergyman pastored nine churches in the New England area. He was well remembered for his love of magic and his ministry to children through it.

Eleanor (Simler) Davies ’46B, June 21, 2006, at age 91.

Ruth Dexter ’47, June 18, 2005, at age 88.

After working in India with her husband as missionaries for 18 years, she returned to the U.S., where she was active in her church, First Baptist Church of Ottowa, KS. She later received her L.P.N. license.

Donald Knapp ’47B, October 27, 2002. He served the Rhawnhurst Baptist Church of Philadelphia, PA. Marjorie Voss ’47, June 30, 2006.

Doris Phillips ’48, April 2, 2006, at age 84.

She taught in elementary schools for 30 years.

Harold Andersen ’49, January 28, 2006, at age 84. He was ordained by the American Baptist Church U.S.A. in 1952 and pastored in six churches in the New England area. He is survived by his wife, Elsie (Parelius) ’50.

P. Bishop Covell Jr. ’49, December 3, 2005, at age 78. He was remembered at Warwick Central Baptist Church in Apponaug, RI, for his 25 years of service there and for his role as cofounder of Cornerstone Adult Services.

Adele Zale ’37, April 4, 2006, at age 90. She ran a general store and a ceramic shop where she taught classes. She was an artist and musician, and enjoyed playing the organ.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 39

ALUMNI

NEWS

Paul King ’49B, June 5, 2006. A Navy veteran of World War II, he served as a minister of Emmanuel Fellowship Church in Plainfield, CT. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Florence (Hobart) ’49B, and is survived by his wife, Elizabeth.

Roy Lundin ’49, March 30, 2006.

Roberta (Edgecomb) Strout ’49B, February 28, 2006, at age 85. She taught home economics for many years in Maine and was involved in numerous community, church and civic organizations. Besides teaching Sunday school, vacation Bible school and children’s clubs at several churches, including Dixfield Common Baptist Church and First Baptist Church of Mexico, both in Maine, she was very involved in Camp Berea in North Turner, ME. Dorothy (Greenleaf) Lethbridge ’50B, November 4, 2002, at age 77.

Mina Corey ’50, January 20, 2006, at age 79. She received her Master of Religious Education from Eastern Baptist Seminary and was ordained May 28, 1962. She served as a school chaplain, a youth minister, a pastor, and as a director of social services.

William Shorey ’50B, December 25, 2005, at age 82. He pastored at Pacific Union Congregational Church in Westport, NH. In 1952 Bill and his wife, Laura, went to Japan as missionaries under the Evangelical Mission Alliance and served for 20 years. He is survived by his wife, Laura (Currier) ’46B. Francis Emmons ’51, January 21, 2006.

Onalee (Rhodes) Wilson ’51B, January 25, 2006.

David Sheppard ’52, June 4, 2006. Before retiring he taught physics and math at Defiance College, Thiel College and West Virginia Wesleyan University. He is survived by his wife.

Allen Wheeler ’52B, July 5, 2006. He worked as a missionary in Tanganyika (later Tanzania) and taught for 30 years in the Lancaster City School District, PA. He is survived by his wife, Ellen ’52B. Reginald Winbush Jr. ’52B, October 12, 2005, at age 76. He attended Union University School of Theology and received his Master of Divinity in Florida. He was a resident of Elyria, OH, where he served as president of the Ministerial Alliance of American Baptist Churches, president of Elyria Kiwanis, and substitute teacher at local high schools.

June Somerset ’53B, November 3, 2004, at age 80. For 53 years June was the payroll advisor at Berkshire Hathaway in Rhode Island. She was a member of the Third Baptist Church of Fall River, RI, where she taught Sunday school and was a soloist for 15 years. She was also a member of the Fall River Symphony Board of Directors.

George Willsey ’53B, December 28, 2004, at age 77. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he worked as a missionary in Peru under South America Mission. He returned to Maine to work at Dexter Shoe and Northeast Folklore Archives, and at various homes for the developmentally delayed in the Bangor, ME, area and Sidney, NY. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn ’56B. Robert Ford Sr. ’54, February 23, 2006, at age 82. He continued his education at Southwestern Baptist Seminary. In 1976 he founded the Faith Christian Center in Bedford, NH, where he preached until his retirement in 1986.

Ronald Nash ’60B, March 10, 2006. He taught at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Oviedo, FL, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, and Houghton College. He was the first head of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Western Kentucky University and served for 27 years. Along with serving as a pastor throughout New England, he authored over 35 books on philosophy, theology, economics, politics and education, and spoke all around the world. He is survived by his wife, Betty Jane.

Joanne Sperr ’61, April 10, 2006, at age 67.

She received her master’s in education from Northeastern University. She taught in the Dedham, MA, school system for 21 years.

Cynthia Megginson ’63, August 1, 2006. She first taught and then served as principal of Norfolk Christian School in Virginia before she traveled to Ukraine. There she taught the Bible in the country’s public schools and helped to establish a church in Sevastpol.

Mary Sargent ’54B, June 24, 2006.

Barbara (Allen) Merriam ’63, August 1, 2004. She is survived by her husband, Robert Merriam ’60.

Dorothy Hutchins ’55B, February 22, 2006, at age 73. She taught psychiatric nursing at the State Medical Center of Rhode Island and also served in a variety of administrative positions. She loved music and studied voice for many years. She is survived by her husband, Herbert ’54B.

John Stuart Jr. ’63, February 10, 2006, at age 65. He received his master’s degree in criminal justice from Clark University. He worked for 37 years with the Department of Corrections/MCI as a parole social worker.

Joseph Sweeney ’55, January 20, 2006, at age 72. He served as pastor of Christ Methodist Church and Riverdale United Methodist Church in Palm Coast, FL. He also taught philosophy, world religion and history at Flagler College and Daytona Beach Community College, and served as adjunct professor at Harvard Divinity School.

Betty Burtsche ’56, December 1, 2005.

Betty served as a social service director at Middletown Mental Hospital in Connecticut for 35 years.

Donald Welt ’63, June 2, 2005. He is survived by his wife, Shirley.

McKendree Langley ’66, October 13, 2006. He taught history at all levels of education including Dordt College, IA; PhilMont Christian Academy, PA; City Center Academy, Philadelphia, PA; Barrington College; Free University, Amsterdam; Gordon College; Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS; Delaware County Community College, PA; and Eastern University. He was an expert on Christian democracy and the Dutch statesman Abraham Kuyper. He is survived by his wife, Sandra (Stone) ’66.

Marilyn Martin ’56B, September 20, 2004.

Roger Adams ’58B, March 2, 2006, at age 69. After serving in the U.S. Army, he worked for the U.S. Social Security Administration and the Nation Life Insurance Co. Roger is survived by his wife, Shirley ’59B. Arnold Jacobson ’58B, May 2, 2006. He served as pastor of Foster Center Baptist Church, RI, for 36 years and was also a talented artist and violinist.

James Rollins ’66B, February 5, 2006, at age 62. He served as an admissions counselor and director of alumni relations at Barrington for several years. He was general manager at Centre Court Tennis Club and a nationally ranked player and member of the U.S. Tennis Association.

Bruce Howe ’71B, June 2006.

Geraldine Van Twisk ’71B, March 2, 2006, at age 88. A piano teacher to generations of children, she is survived by her husband.

Cathy (MacDonald) Morse ’73, May 29, 2006, at age 54.

40 STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

ALUMNI

NEWS

Paul Murphy ’75B, March 27, 2006. He was a member of the U.S. Air Force, where he played in the Air Force Band. He was a professional land surveyor and an avid singer, singing with his church, Millington Baptist, NJ, and the New Life Singers. He is survived by his wife, Judy ’75.

Staff and Trustees In Memoriam Marjorie Mae Roberts at age 87. From 1947 to 1949 she was secretary to the president of Gordon College.

Robert Ware, April 25, 2006, at age 78.

Along with serving as a Gordon College trustee 1974–2001, he was on the boards of Fitchburg Gas & Electric Light, Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance, Walter E. Fernald State School, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center, Songtime Inc., Fitchburg Visiting Nurses Association, W.E. Putney Insurance Agency, R.W. Bickford Insurance Agency, Fitchburg Art Museum, and the Wachusett Camp of Gideon International. During his tenure at Gordon he oversaw a period of rapid campus expansion including new dormitories, class and office space and A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel. He became trustee emeritus in 2001. He is survived by his wife.

Submission Guidelines STILLPOINT welcomes your alumni news (wedding announcements, birth announcements, advanced degrees, awards, promotions, etc.). We accept color and black and white photographs or high-resolution digital photos for publication.

MAIL Gordon College Office of Alumni and Parent Relations 255 Grapevine Road, Wenham MA 01984 EMAIL alumni.office@gordon.edu ONLINE www.gordon.edu/alumninews

V. Simpson Turner ’45, August 9, 2006. The Reverend Dr. Turner served as an esteemed member of Gordon’s Board of Trustees for many years. He was the first AfricanAmerican to serve on the board, and was an early and influential mentor and advocate for students of color at Gordon. He was pastor for 40 years of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York. It was through Simpson’s encouragement that Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes, pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts, came to Gordon.

STILLPOINT reserves the right to edit letters, images and alumni news for clarity and space. No engagements, please.

Phone 978.867.4238 or fax 978.867.4656 with address changes and questions.

Remember to send in your alumni news

by January 10, 2007, if you would like it to appear in the next STILLPOINT.

Correction In the article “Top Honors Go to Coach Schauer,” AlmaMatters, Summer 2006, the statement, “In the 30 years prior to Schauer’s arrival, the majority of which was under the tutelage of Gordon legend Hal Murdoch, the team amassed an overall record of 237–434 . . .” is incorrect.

Coach Hal led the team for only two years during that 30-year period. Hal’s winning percentage during his two decades as head coach was .654. We apologize for this error.

Partners Program Grows Leaders Story Jonathan Tymann ’83

Katelyn Anfuso is a wonderful example of what The Partners Program at Gordon College is all about. A senior majoring in both political science and international affairs, Katelyn has made the most of the scholarship help she has received from Partners by becoming a standout among her peers and excelling in her academic pursuits.

Last year she participated in the Gordon in Oxford program, studying under some of the world’s top scholars and becoming a member of Oxford Women in Politics. The year before that she was among the first students in the Jerusalem and Athens Forum, Gordon’s new honors program. She also recently served as a White House intern in Washington, D.C., and after graduating from Gordon she will return to the nation’s capital to be an intern at the State Department.

Katelyn is among hundreds of students who receive Partners support—a scholarship fund that has grown from $40,000 in 1989 to almost $700,000 today. This year we are attempting to cross the $1 million threshold with an expanded program that incorporates support for participants in Gordon’s New City Scholars Program—talented students who come mostly from the inner city and are such a special part of the campus community.

The reason for this kind of growth? Individuals who give to Partners recognize the value of their investment in the lives of these students—young Christians, like Kate, who are developing into effective leaders and servants and becoming stewards of the Christian faith within their chosen professions.

To become a Partner or to increase the amount of your annual Partners gift, contact Jon Tymann at 978.867.4039 or email jon.tymann@gordon.edu.

Giving to Partners provides financial aid to students who need it most as they earnestly pursue God’s call upon their lives through their experience at Gordon. If you currently contribute to The Partners Program, you should know how thankful the students and all of us are for your help and encouragement.

With your help we can achieve our $1 million goal for this academic year, and most importantly, more students can benefit from your generosity.

FALL 2006 | STILLPOINT 41

Ronald and Barbara Burwell

Dwayne Huebner

Dolores ’72 and Malcolm Reid

Daryl and Elizabeth Butcher

Roger ’80 and Barbara Huseland

Kathleen ’73 and Thomas

Charles and Elaine Cadle

Ellis and Pamela Ingram

Nancy ’85 and Gregory Cannon

Shelley and Mary Ellen Ivey

Walter ’49B and Audrey ’53 Rice

R. Judson and Janice Carlberg

Frederick ’59B and Alma ’75 Ivor-Campbell

Douglas Rieck ’75

Roy and Barbara Carlson

Margaret Jensen

G. Willard ’72 and Margie Lou ’72 Roaf

Priscilla ’60 and William Carter

William ’78 and Ann Johnson

Chad ’94 and Jenny ’93 Robinson

John ’69 and Jean Chang

Ross and Emily Jones

Richard ’53 and Dorothy ’50 Rung

Mary ’49 and Wendell Chestnut

Ruth Jones

David ’74B and Joyce ’75 Ruppell

FOUNDERS

John ’85 and Nancy ’85 Cissel

Robert and Meredith Joss

Dan and Kathleen Russ

Marlan and Katharine Allen

Lisa Coderre ’84

Jesus and Dominga Jusino

Grosvenor and Marjorie Rust

Jane and Robb Austin

David ’81 and Kim ’80 Collins

Deborah Kalafian ’83

Mark and Arlyne Sargent

Marion Bean ’50B

Randall ’67 and Patricia ’68 Collins

John and Jean Kalafian

Warren ’57 and Joan Sawyer

Peter and Diana Bennett

Hazel Costa

Sally and William Kanaga

Ruth Schmidt

Kenneth and Polly Ann Brown

Mary Cowperthwaite ’69

Howard ’52 and Hazel Keeley

Scott ’90 and Karyn Schneider

Linda ’70 and David Carlson

William and Patricia Crawley

Kirsten ’90 and Andrew Keith

Olli ’68 and Denise Silander

Donald and Barbara Chase

William and Ellen Cross

Steven ’79 and Wendy ’80 Lane

Barbara Skinner

Chatlos Foundation

Linda ’71 and Doug Crowell

Veronica Lanier ’54

Bradley ’88 and Claudia ’90 Small

Stephen ’84 and Brenda ’85 DeVos

John ’84 and Linda ’84 Cyr

John and Deborah Lawrence

Derk ’81 and Amy ’93 Smid

Charles and Nola Falcone

Edna Della Barba ’51

Pamela ’81 and Charlie Lazarakis

David ’79 and Elizabeth Smith

Dale and Ann Fowler

Thomas and Barbara Denmark

Priscilla Leavitt ’62B

Herman ’70 and Denise Smith

Fredrick and Nancy Gale

Edward and Janet Dietz

Edward and Judy Ann LeNormand

Warren ’98 and Tressa ’98 Smith

Roger and Sherley Hannay

Daniel and Flo Dinzik

Calvin Leung

William Snow ’49

Dennis and Lisa Hardiman

Dennis and Wendy Dixon

Joseph and Lanayre Liggera

John and Brenda Soucy

David Jodice ’75

Brian ’98 and Jean ’96 Donaldson

Eric ’91 and Catherine ’94 Lindsay

Thomas and Mary Stadt

Patricia Jones and John MacCray

Deighton ’50B and Alice ’50 Douglin

Martha ’73 and Michael Linehan

G. Alan and Jane Steuber

Jack Kallis

Roger and Deborah Drost

Richard and Carolyn Lippmann

Peter Stine

Arjan Kraan ’89

Kenneth and Cheryl Durgin

Byron ’90 and Kristin ’92 List

Mark ’78 and Judy Stockwell

Daniel ’74 and Darlene ’74 Kuzmak

Arnold ’61 and Mary ’60 Ellsworth

Bronwyn ’87 and Caleb III Loring

Bradford ’76 and Marla ’75 Stringer

David and Sheila Larson

Thomas and Sue Englund

Barry and Donna Loy

Andrew ’01 and Rebecca ’02 Stuart

Raymond and Priscilla Lee

Timothy ’00 and Kiera Erickson

Mark ’84 and Suzanne Lynch

David and Marcia Swenson

Caleb Loring Jr.

Curtis ’81 and Joanne ’83 Ersing

Gordon and Gail MacDonald

Brock ’84 and Gina Swetland

Richard and Sandie MacDonald

Earl ’74 and Linda Farmer

James and Joyce MacDonald

Stephen and Vera Sypko

R. Preston ’85 and Pamela Mason

Barbara Faulkner ’54B

Bruce MacKilligan ’58B

Ann Tappan

Pat ’75B and Roger McClelland

David ’45B, ’61 and Muriel Franz

Robin and Stephen MacLeod

Virginia Tavilla ’55

George ’85 and Terisa Means

Dorothy Galbraith

Michael and Kina Mallard

Mark and Carol Taylor

Stephen Oliver

Thomas and Jutta Gerendas

Michelle ’02 and Raji Manasseh

Janice ’96 and Stanley Tedford

Ellen ’90 and Charles Pepin

Paige Gibbs ’69

Kenneth and Susan Martin

Richard and Cynthia Terry

John and Sheelagh Ryan

Michael and Ann Givens

Joshua ’95 and Sara ’94 Martinelli

Lorie ’90 and Brian Thomas

Schrafft Charitable Trust

Jerry ’94 and Molly Gould

Charles IV ’76 and Robin Masland

Gary ’76 and Patricia ’76 Thorburn

David and Esther Schultz

Noelle ’93 and Mike Graves

Kirk ’97 and Hannah McClelland

William ’80 and Donna ’80 Thorburn

Mary and David Shahian

Gary and Deborah Green

Marjorie McClintock ’90

Nancy ’65 and John Tobey

Thomas and Lyn Shields

Robert Greene ’51B

Karen McHugh ’83

Harold and Diane Toothman

Stephen and Claire Tavilla

Frederick and Juliet Griffin

R. Bancroft ’68B and Kathleen McKittrick

Eva and Christian Trefz

Lloyd G. Balfour Trust

Jeremy ’98 and Lindsay ’98 Grim

Jerrold and Jolene McNatt

Russell and Jean Tupper

Philip and Sherry Tupper

Robert ’81 and Barbara ’81 Grinnell

Edward and Ava Memmen

Daniel and Andrea Tymann

Clyde ’58 and Nancy Wynia

Kenneth ’04 and Lauren Grogan

Eric ’81 and Lois ’80 Meyer

Jonathan ’83 and Carlene Tymann

David and Suzy Young

Francis and Rita Grosso

Steven and Janet Miller

Nathan ’91 and Linda ’91 Tymann

Thomas ’77 and Carol ’78 Gruen

David Milley ’75

William ’52 and Nancy ’55 Udall

PARTNERS

James ’01 and Emily ’02 Grumbine

Linda and Robert Monroe

Raymond and Norma Unsworth

A.P. Vending & Amusement Co.

Paul and Rebecca Gyra

Margaret Montalvo

James and Barbara Vander Mey

Elizabeth ’85 and Ralph Aarons

Steven and Jane Hager

Doreen Morris ’74 and Bert Hodges

Stephen and Kathy VanWylen

Peter Allen ’69

David ’77 and Beverly ’71 Hall

David ’76 and Debra ’76 Myers

Silvio ’87 and Theresa ’86 Vazquez

Joyce ’58 and Harold Anderson

David ’89 and Sandra ’89 Hall

Cathy ’80 and Frank Nackel

Deborah and Raymond Vorce

Dean and June Arnold

Eldon and Grace Hall

Darlene and Jeffrey Neil

Richard and Jayne Waddell

Kevin Ashley ’97

Victor and Elizabeth Hanson

David ’71 and Helgi Nelson

Wallace Wadman

Thomas and Jean Askew

Steven ’74 and Debra Harding

Donald ’90 and Theresa Nelson

Joanne Waldner ’74

Manuel ’47 and Madelyn Avila

Scott ’81 and Karen ’81 Harrison

Raymond ’54B and Doris ’52 Nickerson

Meirwyn and Nina Walters

James ’81 and Katherine Bagley

Charles ’86 and Lisa ’89 Harvey

W. and Chelle Nickerson

Kirk and Linda Ware

Jeffrey ’81 and Blanca Baker

Heidi ’85 and Douglas Hawkins

James ’84 and Linda ’86 Nooney

Nance Ware

Charles ’65 and Gail ’64 Ball

David ’84 and Elaine Hayes

W. Terry and Janice Overton

Eric and Edris Watson

Samuel and Susan Ballam

Laura Headley

Robert and Kathleen Parlee

Wendell and Jolene Weaver

Andrew Beauregard ’83

Martha ’77 and Steven Heassler

Malcolm and Joyce Patterson

Bruce and Susan Webb

Chuck and Becky Hendricks

Emily Perkins ’04

Thomas Weis ’83

David A. Belman

Stephen Hendrickson

Ronald Perry ’65

Shirley Welt

Ruth Bennett ’65B

Carol Herrick

Leonard and Judy Peterson

Gary Wernsing

Paul and Joan Bergmann

Robert and Betty Herrmann

Americo and Elsie Petrocelli

Robert ’73 and Shirley Werth

Phillip ’64 and Linda ’65 Bonard

Herbert and Betty Hess

Eric and Cynthia Phillips

Ruth ’71 and Richard Wight-Caron

Dawn ’01 and Jonathan Bosland

Ronald and Donna Hilton

Kenneth and Donna Phillips

Pauline ’57 and Marvin Wilson

Robert ’66 and Sandra Bowden

Robert ’56 and Frances ’56 Hinckley

Thomas and Gertrude Phillips

Richard and Gail Wilson

Thales and Sally Bowen

Diane ’86 and Ken Hodge

Charles and Sarah Pickell

Barbara ’64 and Roger Winn

Robert and Nancy Bradley

Roy and Beverly Honeywell

Gordon ’60 and Doris Pierce

M. McCormick Wolf

Delbert and Lynn ’83B Brown

Arlene ’04 and Gordon Hood

Tracy and Dan Pierce

Theodore and Susan Wood

Peter ’83 and Julie ’81 Bruno

David ’65 and Irmgard Howard

Richard and Carol Quinn

Timothy ’73 and Georgette Woodruff

Charles ’61 and Carole Brutto

Donald Howard

Richard Reed

Thomas ’68 and Linda ’69 Zieger

Cedric ’87 and Lisa ’87 Buettner

Lynn ’82 and Michael Huber

William and Evie Reed

William ’78 and Laurie ’78 Zimmerman

Current contributors

and Sarah Prescott ’82

42 STILLPOINT | FALL 2006

Renehan Waters

“It should be illegal having this much fun serving the Lord.”

Giving Back to Gordon Darlene and Dan Kuzmak Darlene (Dinzik) Kuzmak ’74 and husband Dan ’74 cochair The Partners Scholarship Program at Gordon College.

Their encouragement of other alumni and friends to give generously to Partners has enabled thousands of students to receive the financial aid they need to complete their education. Dan is group vice president of finance– construction for the Terex Corporation Inc. The Kuzmaks’ daughters, Daryl Anne ’03 and Dawn ’01 Bosland, are also Gordon alumni.

Darlene, who recently received the Jack Good Community Service Award, currently serves in leadership development as the director of ongoing education for Community Bible Study (CBS), headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In this role she travels throughout the United States working with her team to host leadership conferences for CBS leaders.

STILLPOINT spoke with Darlene in November, when she was in Colorado Springs assisting at CBS Leadership Training for 450 new leaders of Community Bible Study classes. Here are some of her thoughts.

On leadership In CBS it’s actually not considered a promotion to serve the organization at the national level. The men and women serving at the local class level are touching lives every week by modeling Christ and teaching God’s Word—they’re the real pulse of CBS. I see my current position simply as a call to a role, serving the Lord for however long He wants me there. We’re called to lead as servant-shepherd leaders.

Good reads Bill Hybels’ Courageous Leadership; Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life; Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God Day by Day; Kenneth Boa’s The Perfect Leader.

That’s a start anyway.

Leisure Definitely gardening. There’s our jungle of houseplants, of course, and outside we have landscaping projects and perennial gardens. Recently we installed two waterfalls in the backyard. And we spend lots of time with our kids.

The essentials We’re all faced with choices every day.

What will our lives look like ultimately?

Have we taken on God’s agenda and set aside our own? We need to be living a contagious lifestyle, one that attracts others. My passion is seeing lives changed by the Word and entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

We’re seeing the lives of our neighbors changed as they study the Bible and apply its principles to their lives.

On giving Early on in our marriage when we didn’t have a nickel to spare, we heard the saying “You can never out-give God.” That set our hearts on the right track.

If you believe that everything you own is God’s anyway, it’s not so hard to give away 10 percent of your income—and even more.

Why the Partners Program?

Partners is a good fit for us. It seemed so right to give back—we were blessed to leave college without any debt.

We also wanted to stay connected to Gordon College. We need to make sure the places that have touched our lives are taken care of while we’re alive as well as making provision for them in our wills.

Man and His Works: Powerplants (Legger potessi in me) from the series From the New World watercolor, gouache and gold leaf on paper © 2006

Grant Hanna ’06 illustrator and graphic designer

Grant Hanna ’06 was born and raised in Thailand, where his parents are missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

From the time he was very young, he wanted to be an artist. Upon arriving at Gordon in 2002 he declared an art major and pursued concentrations in graphic design, sculpture, drawing and printmaking.

“Powerplants,” Grant explains, “is drawn from a series, From the New World, which uses the concept of the universe’s creation, history and eventual destruction and recreation as a springboard. Powerplants’ subtitle, Legger potessi in me, is drawn from the Italian libretto to Gaetano Donizetti’s opera Anna Bolena, and can be translated ‘If you could read within me.’”

Grant lives in Beverly, Massachusetts, and works as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. More of his art can be found online at www.granthanna.com.

255 Grapevine Road, Wenham MA 01984-1899 www.gordon.edu

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