Stillpoint Spring 2009

SPRING 2009

The Magazine of Gordon College

STILLPOINT

COVER STORY European Seminar Celebrates 50 Years of Global Education Programs 10 8 A Conversation with Dallas Willard

12 Gordon in Boston: What the “In” Means

14 The Dorchester Project

Photo Liesl Smith

Orvieto and the Great tradition

Features

The Gordon in Orvieto program, located in the central-Italian region of Umbria, is one of many global learning opportunities at Gordon. Recent participants included (from left) Elizabeth Newell ’10, Doug Belley ’10, Kimberly Crawford, Lydia Sheldon ’09, Caroline Meditz ’10 and John Skillen, director.

10 Into the World: European Seminar Celebrates 50 Years of Global Education Programs by Jo Kadlecek

Global education at Gordon began 50 years ago on a shoestring budget. But its true beginnings go back even further.

12 Gordon in Boston: What the “in” Means by Craig McMullen How is Gordon College in Boston? Craig McMullen, director of the Gordon in Boston program, counts the ways Gordon continues to be deeply rooted there.

13 Gordon in Boston: As Real as It Gets by Peter Lee ’08 A recent graduate discovered “global” in Boston during an internship semester that included ministry, Kung Fu and Harvard University.

14 The Dorchester Project by David Goss ’74 Dorchester’s Second Church, home base for the Gordon in Boston program, also houses some significant historical treasures.

15

Signs of Life in a Cemetery The Codman Burying Ground Restoration Project has involved a network of Gordon alumni and current Gordon students.

On the Cover Dr. David Franz, pictured here with European Seminar students in Rome’s Forum, is one of the pioneers of global education at Gordon.

He conveyed his own interest in world history to generations of Gordon students, and laid the groundwork for the vast array of global learning opportunities enjoyed by students today.

Photo Essay #023 Galapagos | Karl Giberson, director, Forum on Faith and Science view this and other photo journals online at: www.gordon.edu/photojournals

IN EACH ISSUE 2 Inspiration 3

Up Front with President Carlberg

4

Letters

5

SPORKS informative fauxlosophy

20 In Focus Faculty 22 In Focus Students 24 In Focus Alumni 26 Encounters 28 Top Six

Articles

Alumni

29 Alumni News

6 Cancer and the Care of the Soul by Kathy and Dan Russ Kathy Russ had excellent medical care when she was diagnosed with cancer. But her Christian community provided quality care for her soul.

8 The Man behind the (Divine) Conspiracy: A Conversation with Dallas Willard Dallas Willard explains how he stumbled into the spiritual disciplines, how spirituality involves the body, and how Catholics and Protestants can find common ground.

16 The Oxymoron of Proximate Justice by Christen Borgman Yates

Students in Gordon’s urban programs often wrestle with injustices that have no immediate solutions.

18 A Dream Realized—Gordon Community Celebrates Ken Olsen Science Center Opening Highlights of this past fall’s celebration of the Olsen Center dedication, and a look at how the new spaces and equipment are being used by students and faculty.

News and notes about the lives of Gordon graduates.

34 Have a Seat: Gordon College Bench Program A new giving program aims to benefit the campus and provide opportunities to honor a favorite professor, pastor or friend.

36 Gordon College Partners Join the growing list of alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the College who help make a Gordon education possible for deserving students.

37 A Community That Keeps On Giving Jim ’01 and Emily (Cushing) ’02 Grumbine continue to network with the Gordon community.

The Partners Program is a natural outgrowth of that connection.

Inspiration Turning 80 years old this year has given me cause to reflect on my time at Gordon. I first came to Gordon in 1953—55 years ago! Fresh out of Westminster Seminary, newly married and just beginning doctoral work at Harvard, I started out as an “instructor” in the Philosophy Department, commuting to Gordon from Cambridge. I remember working days at Gordon and nights at a local inn to help pay the bills and provide for the baby that came along shortly.

Life was busy and full, but I taught because I felt firmly committed to Christian higher education and because I was drawn so deeply to Gordon’s integration of life, faith and teaching.

Gordon has changed over the years, but, if anything, I have seen it grow into a more mature plant.

from Miami to the conference center in Georgia where my high school friend had invited me to stay and work for the summer. I’d had to quit the Dade County All-Star baseball team I’d been elected to play on as well as my summer job. My folks weren’t so happy about that, but it ended up being a good decision. It put me in touch for the first time with the idea of a personal faith. Hitchhiking back to Miami at the summer’s end, I was often picked up by Christians. The car-ride conversations cemented my faith and gave me cause to seek Christ throughout the rest of my life.

Grady Spires Professor of Philosophy grady.spires@gordon.edu

the Scriptures I learned in my youth to pray every day and

seen God face to face

spend quiet time in the

and my life is preserved”

Scriptures, and I’ve tried to

(Genesis 32:30). The little

stick by that.

Christian camp and center in upstate New York by the same name—which I came to as a young man and through which

The Works

I met my first wife—has consistently been a

of Herman

place for me to encounter God as well. Peniel,

Dooyeweerd

more than any other place, has taught me that

Dooyeweerd was a

God dwells within me and walks with me.

Dutch philosopher who felt all thought is religious in character and Christians

Shore

should allow this orientation to affect how

In 1954, we started

doctoral work was based on Dooyeweerd’s

it has sustained me throughout the years.

2 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

Kristin Schwabauer ’04 Assistant Editor

CREATIVE Tim Ferguson Sauder Creative Director Rebecca Powell Amy Harrell Publication Design

ADMINISTRATION R. Judson Carlberg President Daniel B. Tymann Executive Vice President for Advancement, Communications and Technology

Development Office jamie.hokanson@gordon.edu

other correspondence

NOVA Partners | Gorham, Maine

“Peniel,” saying, “I have

growth and thankful for how as a community

Nancy Mering Director of Alumni and Parent Relations

PRINTING

where he encounters God

home in Hamilton. I am astounded by its solid

ALUMNI NEWS

Patricia C. Hanlon Editor

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

Jacob names the spot

Church out of a

Editorial

Address changes

Daily Prayer and Time in

First Presbyterian

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

granddaughter, Janel (Stockwell) Wright ’05

Peniel

Church of the North

“At the still point of the turning world.”

Written in collaboration with Grady’s

As I’ve reflected on my life, I can see God’s hand so clearly. I remember the first time I came to understand what it really meant to give my life to Jesus.

It was in the days when gasoline was rationed, so I’d hitchhiked 750 miles

First Presbyterian

Volume 24 Number 1

AWARDS Award of Excellence Winner, 13th Annual Communicator Awards 2007 Print Competition Gold Award for External Organizational Publication, 22nd Annual Admissions Advertising Awards (2007) 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. Opinions expressed in STILLPOINT are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Gordon College administration.

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

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

they understand the world. Much of my ideas. Though I lost my thesis when my office burned, I’m still inspired by this man’s philosophy.

This magazine is printed on Mohawk Opaque paper which contains 10% postconsumer waste fiber, is manufactured with windpower and is certified by Green Seal.

www.gordon.edu/stillpoint

UP FRONT

with president Carlberg

“It almost seemed the few Irish believers in the pews with us were, like Patrick and his fellow monks, still charged with the daunting task of saving civilization.”

Church History Visited—and Revisited Last summer Jan and I visited Ireland for the first time. Landing in Dublin on a Saturday afternoon was the beginning of an adventure that included locating churches in which to share and celebrate the presence of God in our lives. Our first Sunday morning found us in the heart of Dublin at Christ Church, the Church of Ireland’s cathedral and the oldest building in the city. In midafternoon the tourists were sent away and those of us there to worship were invited into that magnificent place for Evensong—a time of prayer, the singing of ancient anthems, and spiritual reflection.

Yet we couldn’t help wondering how long this cultural anomaly will persist.

Only a handful of others were around us in that large, centrally located cathedral. It was then that Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization came to mind. In it he sketches out the important role Irish monks played in preserving Christian culture after the fall of Rome. As Germanic tribes overran one region after another on their way toward Rome, monks fled in the opposite direction, carrying their treasured manuscripts to safety.

Eventually these monks had no place to go but Ireland, itself a distant outpost of civilization and vulnerable to attack.

The best-known of these Irish monks was Patrick, an escaped shepherd slave

turned missionary from England. He and his fellow theologians, historians and Christian writers hid their treasures in Irish monasteries and in high towers that dotted the coastal regions of the Emerald Isle. It almost seemed the few Irish believers in the pews with us were, like Patrick and his fellow monks, still charged with the daunting task of saving civilization.

The next Sunday we worshipped at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London, a Church of England worship center with an evangelical heritage instilled by Dr. John Stott, who served as rector there for decades. All Souls now has a praise band and an easy, friendly informality. Take away the location and the accents and you have a budding megachurch. At least half the worshippers were from African or Asian countries, reminding us how the Global South is setting the tone and the agenda for the evangelical Church once dominated by the Northern Hemisphere.

After returning home to New England, we continued to think about the contemporary evangelical Church and its challenges. Invited to the Coast of Maine for a weekend with dear friends, we joined them at their small church, housed in what might have once been a roadside bar. The congregation numbered perhaps 40 men, women and children. Their bivocational pastor

President’s Page www.gordon.edu/presidentspage

sported a long ponytail, shorts and a T-shirt, and the service reflected his life as a West Coast composer of worship songs. But it was his teaching that was the most striking thing about him. It was anchored in deep fidelity to God’s Word and to the work of the Holy Spirit.

I thought, “Here is yet another Christian outpost amidst a sea of secularity.” As president of Gordon for more than 15 years now, I have seen firsthand that our students rarely come from vibrant churches shaping the culture; too often the culture is shaping their churches.

More and more it is falling to us to help shape our students’ ethics, values and behavior without resorting to narrow indoctrination. There are fewer and fewer places in our culture where learning to see all truth as God’s truth is faithfully and creatively taught.

We have no precious manuscripts hidden away here in Frost Hall, but we have living treasures. I remain convinced that if we are going to save civilization, we must begin at home.

Right here at Gordon.

President R. Judson Carlberg, Ph.D.

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 3

LETTERS

to the editor

“Latin American Evangelicals: Made in Whose Image?” was of interest to me, having served with Latin American Mission since 1950.”

Editor’s Note: As you have probably noticed, you did not receive a Fall 2008 issue of STILLPOINT. This was a precautionary cost-saving measure during uncertain economic times, but we are now back on a normal three-issue publication schedule for the 2009–10 academic year.

Many readers have expressed interest in receiving only the online version of the magazine. If that is your preference, sign up online at www.gordon.edu/stillpoint_online.

Though the publishing world is shifting in dramatic ways, we will continue to offer STILLPOINT in print form even as we

As a 1977 Gordon graduate, I am

in a wide range of vocations. Preparing

develop new online publications and other

amazed at and grateful for the College’s

leaders who enter the military with Christian

electronic resources to keep you in touch

progress in scholarship, spirituality and

perspectives is not the same as supporting

with the ongoing life of the College.

service over the last 30-plus years.

the military strategy of a given political

A directory of these may be accessed at

All of these are once again beautifully

administration. As a broadly evangelical

www.gordon.edu/about/publications.

depicted in the excellent Summer 2008 issue of STILLPOINT. A profound sadness overcame me, however, when I saw the small but searing photo of ROTC cadets on campus—a sight my eyes never encountered at Gordon. The association of a prominent,

Christian college, we recognize a legitimate range of sincerely held convictions on the just This is both an institutional strength and a challenge. We invite continuing dialogue on these matters from our alumni and friends.

progressive, evangelical Christian college

The article “Latin American

with the American military will suggest to

Evangelicals: Made in Whose Image?”

many around the country and the world

(Spring 2008) was of particular interest

that evangelical Christianity is an agent of

to me, having served with Latin American

both nationalism and imperialism.

Mission since 1950. I am now retired. It’s

The College’s commitments to postcolonial

encouraging to see Ruth and Dennis

Christian mission, the global Church, the education of international students, justice, the Kingdom of God, and the lordship of Jesus are all compromised by the presence of the ROTC program. As Christian leaders, the College’s alums, faculty, administration and Board of Trustees need to reexamine this relationship with the military. To raise a favorite evangelical question, “What would Jesus do?”

—Mike Gorman ’77, Dean and Professor of Sacred Scripture, The Ecumenical Institute of Theology, St. Mary’s Seminary & University

Melkonian’s refutation of Stoll and others who attribute so much of evangelical church growth in Latin America to U.S. influences.

U.S. pop culture certainly is influential down here, but an increasing number of Latin America’s leaders are looking for economic, political and cultural ideas in Europe. As for religious ideas, leadership in the mainline denominations is quite autochthonous now. There has been a strong Pentecostal/ charismatic influence from the North, but this is waning as local leadership comes to

The ROTC program itself is at MIT; we are a cooperating institution. Gordon College has an obligation to prepare students for leadership

Gordon on iTunes U Your pipeline to life at Gordon, including chapels, convocations, visiting speakers, athletics and student life. www.gordon.edu/itunes

FAITH + IDEAS = A biweekly e-conversation with Gordon faculty on issues of current concern. www.gordon.edu/faith+ideas To subscribe: jo.kadlecek@gordon.edu

Notes Along the Way A running commentary on life at Gordon, both on and off campus. http://gordoncollegegrapevine. blogspot.com

Athletics News and Notes News about Gordon’s Fighting Scots. www.gordon.edu/athletics/news.cfm

the fore.

President Jud Carlberg’s Page

Again, my appreciation of STILLPOINT. May

www.gordon.edu/presidentspage

the Lord bless you all.

Editor’s Note: Thanks for your thoughtful letter.

Here are just a few highlights:

war/pacifism question and other thorny issues.

—Paul Pretiz ’49, Costa Rica

First Lady Jan Carlberg’s Page www.gordon.edu/jancarlberg

Palimpsest An online journal by and about the artists, poets, playwrights and scholars who have participated in the Studio for Art, Faith and History in Orvieto. http://safhpalimpsest.blogspot.com

4 Write STILLPOINT Spring 2009 a letter| stillpoint@gordon.edu

Story bryan parys ’04 Illustration Grant Hanna ’06

Installation 7: “We Do” (All Sorts of Odd Things) For a while now I’ve wanted to write something about weddings. The number I’ve attended in the last eight years easily surpasses the times I’ve visited the dentist within that same span. So as I walked into an Episcopal church not far from Gordon’s campus to witness the nuptials of fellow alumni, my mind was already thinking, “Pay attention now.

You don’t want to miss any details that might be humorously poignant.” It being a full-on liturgical service, however, I soon found most of my critical faculties were spent making sure my wife, Natalie, and I didn’t lose our place in the bulletin. I grew up in a gymnasium-based church (see Installation 6) where the word “‘lent” was only used by parishioners as a verb, as in “Here’s that casserole dish you lent me, Marjorie. I got most of the chicken tetrazzini off. You may have to soak it a while longer.”

Around Act II or III of the ceremony we arrived at “The Peace” and knew this meant we’d have to talk to people we didn’t know. For someone who hides when the pizza guy knocks on the door, this always makes for a little awkward anticipation. I took comfort in the fact that at least it was a scripted exchange. Natalie, in her own way, boldly sloughed off the usual “Peace be with you” in order to appear genuinely congenial, and turned to a stranger in the row behind us and let loose a lilty “Helloooo” as if she’d just run into her favorite aunt. This of course left the poor patron smiling silently, clearly wondering how to deal with a fellow actor who’d forgotten her line.

When I got a few minutes to reflect, I thought about the homily. A mix of eloquence, humor and insight, it was one of the more memorable “what love really means” talks I’ve heard.

I still found myself thinking, “If I have to hear about how love is self-sacrificial one more time, I’m just going to lose it.” But I realized I’m more than likely in the minority that hears it since Natalie and I got hitched at the culturally young age of 21. For almost everyone I’ve met in my program at the University of New Hampshire, that’s a bit odd.

At a writer’s conference last January in New York City, one of my friends from the program, who is originally from the City, graciously and excitedly showed me the sights and people during free time. Every time she introduced me to someone new, she began with “This is Bryan. He’s married and a Christian.” The smiles on their faces retreated to slight panic, leaving me a brief window to ease the tension with some selfdeprecating remark like “You’ll have to excuse me—I just gave out my last tract.”

My friend said she was worried that if her friends didn’t “know,” they might say something offensive. But I couldn’t help feeling like some relic of the past in robes and sandals asking questions about American culture, like “What is hot dog? I eat this dog that is heated, yes?”

When Natalie and I got married, our young age was well within the context we’d grown up in—in fact, many thought we’d put it off for far too long. But whenever we interacted outside this context, the surprised looks and comments never ceased. “You’re how old?” “Don’t you want to test drive a few other cars before you buy?”

The assumption about marriage is that you’ve given something up, and not in the positive, sacrificial/redemptive way.

A coworker at my summer job asked me, “So, do you and your lady get along okay?” It made me realize the assumption about marriage is that you’ve given something up, and not in the positive, sacrificial/redemptive way. Incorporating someone else’s life seems to mean your own life doesn’t matter anymore and that you’ve ceased to progress as a human. You stop going to mixers and register for the kind that comes with a dough hook. But I think a common misunderstanding of the long-term implications of love is only part of the problem. The real menace is that phrase “settling down”—it implies that movement stops, and you let life happen while you’re busy making dinner plans.

So if it’s death that parts us, wouldn’t it also be helpful to remember that it’s life—in all its progressive activity—that keeps us together?

bryan parys doesn’t like to capitalize his name and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction at the University of New Hampshire. bryan.parys@gordon.edu

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 5

Dan and I asked for prayer from our church’s healing prayer ministry, and we regularly went to healing prayer at the end of church services. Before my first consultation with the coordinating doctor, one of our pastors anointed us both with oil and prayed with Dan and me; after his prayer, I was truly filled with the peace that passes all understanding.

Cancer and the Care of the Soul Kathy and Dan Russ, married 38 years, faced Kathy’s cancer diagnosis together. Here they take turns reflecting on what they learned along the way—about marriage, community, and the strange beauty of scars.

Kathy In January 2007, after an exhilarating Christmas vacation, I walked in the door of our house and poked the answering machine button: “Please call the mammogram clinic; the doctor wants to talk to Kathleen about the results of the mammogram.” And so began my nine-month journey through the organized and competent world of breast cancer treatment, thanks to the billions of dollars poured into breast cancer research and the millions of women (and men) who went before me.

Gone are the days of finding out you have breast cancer, getting surgery, and waking up with two breasts missing— the horror stories of old. But I didn’t know all that at the time. All I knew was panic.

A few weeks later I sat in my office at Hendrickson Publishers—a Christian publishing house—my whole body tense, waiting for the first oncologist to call to let me know whether or not my biopsy was normal. At that very

6 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

moment Dan called and asked how I was feeling. I said I felt like that soldier from The Lady and the Tiger who had to pick which door; would it be the beautiful lady or the devouring tiger?

Dan replied quietly, “Kathy, the same Person is behind each door.” The phone call came. It was cancer, and after a few more tests it would be bilateral breast cancer—cancer in both breasts. Dan’s phone call had reminded me there were two dimensions to my cancer treatment: the medical care and the care of the soul. I trusted the medical community, but I enlisted the Christian community for the care of my soul.

Dan and I told everyone we worked with what I was facing. I emailed all my friends and told the church, which put me on the prayer list. The praying ladies of Gordon College knit a prayer shawl for me. We received loving cards, flowers and emails from our children, old friends, the church and our neighbors. Dan’s students sent a card signed by every student in his class.

I had one friend in particular whom I asked to be my prayer guide through the cancer; I called her “Strider” after the great hero in the Lord of the Rings epic. I trusted my care to her because she had suffered greatly—abandoned by her “prominent, Christian” husband, going through a terrible divorce; she had, as a result, a godly character refined by fire. She took her calling as Strider very seriously as I knew she would, and wrote me regular emails that included a prayer specifically for what I was going through at that moment.

I also had a very practical friend, herself an advanced-stage breast cancer survivor, who advised me to shave my head as soon as my hair started to fall out, get some good makeup, and have Dan buy me a flashy gift once I finished!

I obeyed her, too, and Dan bought gifts—flashy earrings—throughout my treatment.

Dan During this long ordeal of walking through the valley of the shadow of death—for this side of Heaven death always has a shadow—Kathy gave me the gift of accompanying her on the journey. We talked, cried, laughed and prayed together. While I could not make the journey for her, it was a privilege to shave off our hair together, sit, talk and read during chemotherapy together, and take that 6:45 a.m. trip every morning to her radiation treatments.

While she underwent these treatments, I sat in the lobby doing my devotions.

Story Dan and Kathy Russ Photo Dan Russ

“Her scars participate in the love of Jesus and transform painful experiences into grace-filled memories and signs of hope.”

Before we knew of Kathy’s cancer, I had committed to writing a book on the humanity of Jesus—Flesh-and-Blood Jesus: Learning to Be Fully Human from the Son of Man. I will never know the ways that accompanying her on her journey informed the content and tone of this book. But allow me to share one obvious example of her influence, taken from the chapter “Scarred for Life: The Stories Our Wounds Tell”: Scars are crucial memorials that mark our crises and turning points. As I type these words on my computer, I look down at my 58-year-old hands, which are slowly revealing scars that I had forgotten: the inch-long scar in my left wrist with the pencil lead color still visible.

In junior high I stuck my pencil in my pocket and forgot that it was there until later, when showing off in front of my friends. I jammed my hands in my jeans pockets, and out came my wrist with a #2 pencil dangling from it! (I will not even discuss the pencil wound from when Jimmy put a pencil under me as I sat down at my desk.) When I look in the mirror, my face reveals the scar on my lower lip from when I slipped on the ice and my tooth bit through my lip.

Recently I recalled my appendicitis operation when I was 10 years old; my appendix burst as they were taking it out. I spent two weeks in the hospital while they fought the infection and two more weeks at home recovering.

The reason I recently recalled that surgery is that I am accompanying Kathy through the difficult journey of early-stage breast cancer, two surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

As I have watched her face this harsh reality with authentic faith in Jesus

and with her amazing sense of humor intact, I have recalled the other scars she has borne during our 37 years together: the emergency D&C after Marie’s birth, when she almost bled to death as I drove to the hospital at over 100 miles per hour; her car accident— which she still does not remember— when she was cut out of the car and care-flighted to the hospital, spending 11 days there followed by two months of recovery; her hysterectomy five years later; and now the cancer surgery. All of these make her beautiful body a living memorial to God’s faithfulness and an offering as a living sacrifice to God. Her scars participate in the love of Jesus and transform painful experiences into grace-filled memories and signs of hope.

I do not pretend to understand what it means that our Lord’s scars from his sacrifice on the cross remained on his resurrected body, I assume for eternity. But I know it implies that our resurrected bodies may very well reflect our scars, our stories. Perhaps in Heaven, like children, we will want others to see our “boo-boos” so we can tell the story of how each of us embody God’s grace and love.

healing, what we discovered is that it was the Christian community that could help us see and believe the whole truth.

While the medical community barely acknowledged the reality of God’s grace and presence, our pastors, prayer team, friends and family were daily thanking God for those whose medical skills and scientific education served as instruments of God’s healing power.

Even as we have come to know and love the doctors and nurses who attend to Kathy’s health, walking into those clinics and offices still makes us a bit nervous, and we are happy to be told not to come back for six months. By contrast, walking into the church each week—even though we are reminded there almost weekly of sin and death as well as grace and eternal life—brings joy, peace and love. For the God who created us, the Savior who died for us, and the Holy Spirit who indwells, created all of reality, and God is behind every door.

Dan and Kathy We want to share a final reflection about our ongoing journey of trusting God through gifted medical professionals and the gift of praying and loving people. We accept both groups as gifts from the God who gave human beings both the scientific imagination and medical skills to participate in the healing of the body, and the faithful imagination and spiritual skills to care for both body and soul. While we can never repay those medical professionals who still attend to Kathy’s ongoing

Kathy and Dan Russ live in Danvers, Massachusetts. Kathy is an advertising and production associate at Hendrickson Publishers. Dan directs Gordon’s Center for Christian Studies and is the author of Fleshand-Blood Jesus: Learning to Be Fully Human from the Son of Man (Baker, 2008). dan.russ@gordon.edu

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 7

Interview

big part of the journey for me. These autobiographical writings helped me to see that all of the wonderful material talked about in the Scriptures can actually be used; they are not just distant ideas that only make you feel guilty. I returned to Scripture and had greater access to the whole book. A picture emerges of what spiritual life is—you can live it, work with it, teach others—it actually works.

The Man behind the (Divine) Conspiracy: A Conversation with Dallas Willard He is soft-spoken and unassuming, but there’s no mistaking the influence of Dallas Willard. Best-known for his three books on spiritual formation—The Spirit of the Disciplines (1988), The Divine Conspiracy (1998) and Renovation of the Heart (2002)—Willard’s work is far reaching.

He’s a philosophy professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and also a popular speaker across the country. STILLPOINT interviewed him during a recent visit to campus.

STILLPOINT: How did a Southern Baptist become interested in the classical spiritual disciplines?

Dallas Willard: As a young Southern Baptist pastor I tried to do the best I could with what I had—and it wasn’t very much. The most serious people in my congregation were the ones I seemed unable to help. I could evangelize and do a lot of things, but when it came to spiritual growth, I honestly had nothing to say. That’s what led me to understand the role of spiritual disciplines and spiritual growth first of all for myself. Over time I came to understand how that integrated into the work of pastoring and teaching.

It took me a number of years to back

8 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

my way into those things. I had a lot of resistance at the conscious level. I didn’t understand the relationships that are appropriate between grace and works. I have to say the Lord led me into one thing after another that I had not enough sense to figure out myself.

The experience of lengthy periods of solitude and silence, for example, and learning what it’s like to memorize passages of Scripture instead of verses.

Thomas a Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ captured me from the first line: “He that followeth me walketh not in darkness, saith the Lord.” And I picked up others—a wide range of Christians who, in different ways, actually used what I would later understand to be the spiritual disciplines. Fasting was a

SP: Your chapter “St. Paul’s Psychology of Redemption” in The Spirit of the Disciplines was enormously helpful to me in understanding the body’s role in our spiritual lives.

DW: Psychology is bodily. The body is a primary spiritual resource. I love this quotation from Sir William Ramsey’s St. Paul, the Traveler and Roman Citizen: “In Paul, for the first time since Aristotle, Greek philosophy made a genuine step forward.” It’s so appropriate to put him in that context because it’s actually true.

Ramsey was able to help me see Paul in a different light, to see how really bodily spirituality is. Paul really meant it. Take those passages like “I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.”

That doesn’t mean asceticism—just sensible training of the whole person to do the will of God. SP: There’s so much you miss in the Pauline writings if you’re only looking at him through the lenses we often see him through.

DW: Before I began studying the spiritual disciplines, I was reading St. Paul through the lens of dispensational theology. Basically what that does is relieve us of any genuine responsibilities to do anything except believe correct doctrine. That’s important, but that’s not life. I had to get past the idea that grace had only to do with forgiveness; that grace was opposed to effort—

Interview Patricia Hanlon

which it isn’t; its opposed to earning— and to understand the power of grace as an activity and a life . . . that was difficult coming from the theological sources I had.

SP: You are also a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, and have studied and written extensively about the phenomenologist Edmund Husserl. In a sense you’ve lived two careers, two writing lives. Is there a connection between your academic work and your work on spiritual formation?

DW: Yes. Phenomenology is interested in the life of the person, the mind, the soul. There’s very little good writing on this in philosophy. Most of what we read of the subject in the

SP: So you became a university professor after you were a pastor?

DW: I didn’t ever intend to become a university professor. I’m just a peasant from the Ozarks—I never thought about anything like that. I’d already graduated from Baylor University and didn’t intend to take a higher degree.

But while I was an assistant pastor I became convicted about my ignorance of God and the soul. I decided to do a couple years of graduate study and then return to the pastorate. But after I finished my degree at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, they asked me to stay and teach. I was pastoring a couple little Congregational churches out in the countryside. And the Lord said to me, “If you stay in the churches the

in a Catholic monastery in Southern California, mainly for Protestants.

It’s usually one of the greatest things they’ve ever experienced.

They’re able to have long periods of solitude and silence—they experience the reality of things they’ve never experienced before.

SP: You also talk about the purpose of the gifts of the Spirit.

DW: It’s so important to understand that the gifts are given for service. They don’t mean you are necessarily a very advanced person; they mean that God has something he wants accomplished, and though you’re on the spot, he judges you to be able to bear this.

When we study gifts of the Spirit we need to also study people like Samson,

I’ve come to call obedience to Christ the true ecumenicity. Because that is the meeting place. great philosophers—like Locke, Kant, or Hegel—is miserably poor in its description of the human soul. They’re obsessed with a few problems, and they do not fill out a picture of life in the world. But that’s just what Husserl is focused on: life in the world. That means a description of the mind and how it works, but not of a disembodied something like that which Descartes and others seem to be talking about.

So Husserl’s focus fits right in with spiritual disciplines, spiritual growth— it’s really very much the same topic.

In much recent Protestant theology too they often talk as if all that matters is what you believe. In my work I try to bring in the whole person—the will, the feelings, the thoughts, the body, the social life, the emotions—and then the soul as the integrative part of the self. Husserl himself was a convert to Lutheranism and died in the care of the Catholic Church—he was serious about his faith, though, like many philosophers, almost impossible to understand. Anyway, that’s the connection.

university will be closed to you; but if you stay at the university the churches will be open to you.” I had no idea what was going to happen, but I said okay— we’ll take it a year at a time. I took a position at USC 42 years ago, and it’s been wonderful.

SP: There’s still quite a gap between Protestants and Catholics. Do you see yourself as having been called into that gap?

DW: I do believe that. What I have found, when dealing with Catholics or Protestants, is that living the spiritual life is common ground. If you get into transubstantiation, consubstantiation— all those “stantiations”—that’s the end of the discussion. But when you’re talking about prayer, holiness, virtue, following Jesus, living the life—you’re right on common ground. I’ve come to call obedience to Christ the true ecumenicity. Because that is the meeting place. And as long as people focus on that, there will be very few arguments. One of the highlights of my year is holding a two-week retreat

who was not exactly an admirable character, but the Spirit came upon him for things that God wanted done—and that’s what the gifts are for: to serve one another. In 1 Corinthians Paul says they are “distributed severally” to the people. One of the main things that holds the community together is the way we serve one another in our gifts.

Dallas Willard is a professor in the School of Philosophy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He has taught at USC since 1965. Aside from his many books on spirituality, his has written scholarly works in the areas of epistemology, the philosophy of mind and of logic, and on the philosophy of Edmund Husserl.

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 9

Into the World:

European Seminar Celebrates 50 Years of Global Education Programs

Adoniram Judson Gordon would be happy about this. The vision he had for sending students into the world was, after all, the point of the missionary school he began in 1889. And nearly 70 years after his college was born, that vision for global education was formally integrated into the academic experience when Professor David L. Franz ’61, ’45B began what was then called European Seminar.

Franz spent several months researching in Holland and England following his faculty appointment in 1951 and was so affected by his studies abroad that he began to weave into his lectures references to places he’d visited. His students in turn began to wonder why they couldn’t take some of the same trips. Though Gordon administrators at the time encouraged such travels, they simply couldn’t afford to support the idea financially. If Franz and his students wanted to create a travel program, their budget would have to become self-sustaining, a principle that would be maintained throughout its history.

Humble beginnings But in 1958, navigating the world presented its own challenges. Airliners, for instance, had barely replaced ocean liners as the preferred means of crossing the Atlantic. The possibility of a travel program throughout Europe seemed nothing short of radical—and consistent with Gordon’s mission.

So the young history professor took a chance: he gathered 18 students and a few colleagues and sailed from New York to Europe on a converted World War II troop ship in June of 1958. They spent less than $600 per person for an eight-week trip, traveling, studying and camping throughout Europe.

They discovered the Christian roots of the West, entered the medieval world of castles and cathedrals, and traveled the roads of the Protestant Reformation. That trip laid the foundation for European Seminar.

“The spark came out of my own study experiences,” Franz wrote in a manuscript, now stored in Gordon’s library archives.

“I had seen the damage of the war all over the place. When we got to Paris, I began to feel a sense of excitement for being in

10 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

Europe, aware of how abstractly I had studied history before, but how alive it came by actually being there.”

Franz’s students seemed to experience the same excitement; the October issue of the Tartan—Gordon’s student newspaper, which also began in 1958—included “European Seminar Issue” on the masthead. Throughout the newspaper student reporters described the Brussels World’s Fair, the various customs and foods, the monuments and adventures they experienced following heroes like “Zwingli, Farel, Luther and Calvin” on “exciting trails into eight different countries.”

On a shoestring budget By the early 1960s enrollment for the seminar exploded and the study route grew. A leadership team was formed which included Diane Blake ’58, who had been a student on that first seminar, Lillian (Bennett) Harper ’60 and William Harper ’62. Some time later Blake returned to campus with her Ph.D. and played a critical role in the program’s development as administrator, historian and eventually associate director of European Seminar until 1986. Until 2006 Lillian Harper worked in the office that evolved into what we know today as the Global Education Office. Blake also wrote numerous guidebooks for the group and helped the team recruit student leaders and organize tours, including several years of renting houseboats for over 100 students on the Rhine River. The redesigned barges with prefabricated cabins served as the seminar’s base of operation, stopping at historic points along the river for lectures, short trips and explorations.

“It was a groundbreaking program for its time—first that it existed at all, second for its duration. Eight weeks was a substantial tour,” says Bill Harper, retired political studies professor, who went on his first European Seminar in 1961 as a student and returned 15 times in all as a faculty member. “It was also very economical. We had a shoestring budget—$58 in personal spending money that first trip in 1961—and it had to last for the 56 days of the tour. But you could get a fairly satisfying meal—steak, French fries and a Coke—in Europe then for 35 cents. It was a different world: there were no credit

Left to Right: 1. Diane Blake ’58, David Franz, and William ’60 and Lillian (Bennett) ’62 Harper 2. On the Rhine 3. Red Square 4. Athens 5. Bruges

Story Jo Kadlecek Photos Gordon archives

Summer 2008 marked 50 years of global education at Gordon, but the roots of Gordon’s global vision go even further back.

cards to fall back on. You had to manage your money and make it work.”

As the tours evolved, the seminar’s reputation for integrating Christian faith with academic topics became its distinction.

Students researched specific topics as they related to European and Protestant history, and eventually the program included political studies trips studying comparative governments, geography and educational systems as well, all while attracting students from Christian colleges across the country, not just from Gordon.

“There’s nothing like being there, seeing it, feeling it yourself,” says Nancy Mering, current director of alumni relations, who

wrote. “It’s very instructive for students to see the tenseness of the world situation as well as discover their Christian—and in some cases family—roots,” referring to how one young woman’s trip to Italy helped her embrace her heritage.

By the early 1970s hundreds of students and faculty from over 46 colleges had joined the seminars—so many that they’d begun to charter their own planes and hire Volkswagen vans and buses for travel. Each year students and faculty alike discovered what happened when books and stories and history become colors and shapes and buildings only steps away; a mission still at the heart of Gordon’s academic experience.

“It was a different world. There were no credit cards to fall back on. You had to manage your money and make it work.” joined European Seminar in 1967 when she heard classmates at Wheaton College talk about that “Gordon tour.” (Two years later Mering came to Gordon to work as the first office assistant for the program.) “I learned church history from personal encounter. We prepared beforehand, but when we visited each place on the Reformation tour, or when we heard Peter Stine quoting Wordsworth at Wordsworth’s home, we began to understand the common foundations of our lives as Christians.”

Bringing texts to life By 1969 students on European Seminar had already seen their share of world-changing events. The year before, they’d watched Soviet troops and tanks line up to invade Czechoslovakia. They’d traveled to Israel just as the seven-day war broke out, forcing them to detour to Turkey. They’d gone through East Berlin, passed guards and palpable animosity toward the West, and watched smugglers on board trains in Yugoslavia throw bundles out the windows when conductors came through. They visited the beaches at Normandy, mindful of the many personal relatives who’d fought there, and they visited the death camps at Auschwitz, the Christian communities in Rome and the literary landscapes in Ireland.

Each experience was valuable. “It becomes very contemporary when students can actually see what is happening,” Franz

“In part because of our rich history with European Seminar, Gordon continues to see these experiences as a key part of our identity as an institution,” says Dr. Cliff Hersey, director of today’s Global Education Office, which now oversees student involvement in a broad range of programs in dozens of countries. “Gordon is still a key leader in making international and domestic culture crossing accessible for students. Global education, both as a department and as a vision, is at the center of who we are, largely because as a Christian college we have a larger incentive, one that goes beyond the simple economic realities of job preparation in a global society; it goes into the philosophy of what it means to be a world Christian and helps us define ourselves as a community.”

A. J. Gordon would indeed be happy about this.

Jo Kadlecek, M.A, is a former waitress and soccer coach who backpacked throughout Europe during her undergraduate days and somehow ended up at L’Abri. Now as a senior writer at Gordon, she wishes she could have gone on any of the European seminars. She has master’s degrees in humanities and in communication. jo.kadlecek@gordon.edu

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 11 Global Education www.gordon.edu/geo

Story and photos Craig W. McMullen

It’s more than just a program title. Urban pastor Craig McMullen explains the many ways Gordon is “in” Boston.

Gordon in Boston: What the “in” Means Every morning over a million commuters make their way into the city of Boston to work, and before the end of the day this same number hurry to beat the traffic out of town. Since January 2002 the Gordon in Boston semester program in urban studies has led the way for Gordon College to make a permanent return to its roots in Boston.

One of my greatest joys as director of Gordon in Boston is developing the programs and relationships that define what it means to be in Boston. For over 20 years as an urban pastor

discovered a grant that resulted in a million dollars for community youth programs!

Gordon is also in Boston through its annual sponsorship of the Urban Youth Leaders Institute’s RELOAD urban youth pastors’ conference. Last year this one day of training brought together over 200 youth leaders from urban centers throughout New England and New York. This effort has helped support the growth of the citywide urban youth network program NeXus, a partnership that gives Gordon the

For over 20 years as an urban pastor in Boston, I have learned the importance of being present for the needs of people in our community. in Boston, I have learned the importance of being present for the needs of people in our community. Gordon College has made a commitment to have a consistent presence in Boston by making a way for urban semester program students to live together in an intentional community; they are part of the urban ministries of the Salvation Army’s Jubilee House and the historic Second Church, both in Boston’s largest inner-city neighborhood of Dorchester.

Each of these students weekly volunteers among the outreach ministries of these churches as well as engages in their career path through professional internship throughout the city.

Internships range from working at the Boston Ballet to Fidelity Investments, from the State Senate Chambers to Community Health Centers, and as advocates at Oxfam America to Boston Public Schools. In its first six years Gordon in Boston students have served over 14,000 hours in over 100 different internships. The lead instructor for the Gordon in Boston’s Urban Studies course is Professor Larry Mayes, chief of Health and Human Services for the City of Boston. Professor Mayes’ Boston City Hall office is next to Mayor Thomas M. Menino. Each semester he utilizes the urban semester students to develop community partners as they complete neighborhood analysis projects. One year their research

opportunity to share its commitment to urban youth through its Clarendon Scholars full-tuition scholarship program for urban students.

Another way Gordon encourages urban high school students is by bringing the National Christian College Fair to Boston.

Some 35 Christian colleges sent their admissions counselors to the first fair of its kind in Boston, and for so many of these schools it was their first time in Boston. What a wonderful opportunity it was to share Gordon with many young people desiring to study at a Christian college.

Finally, Gordon in Boston has coordinated opportunities for Gordon’s Center for Christian Studies (CCS) to partner with the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston to minister to the hardworking urban pastors in Boston. In fall 2006 Dan Russ, director of CCS, invited a gathering of pastors to travel to Wenham to attend the opening lecture for the Race Matters conference with Dr. Cornel West. Next year the CCS will host several urban roundtable discussions with national speakers at Gordon.

The roots of Gordon College have not only been reconnected but are growing deep into the city of Boston.

Rev. Dr. Craig McMullen (above, left) is director of the Gordon in Boston program.

12 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

craig.mcmullen@gordon.edu

Story Peter Lee ’08

Peter Lee wanted “global,” but he got it in unexpected ways.

Gordon in Boston: As Real as It Gets When I found out my application for the Gordon in Orvieto program had been rejected, I only grudgingly accepted my admission into another global education program—Gordon in Boston. I thought Boston was far from qualifying as a “real” abroad program; I wouldn’t have to learn another language, exchange my money, or long for home since I’d be only 40 minutes from the Gordon campus. I also assumed that Boston and inner-city areas in general were poverty-ridden and plagued by crime-committing minorities.

we pursued an art form that was more than three and a half centuries old, based on the movements of the praying mantis.

It demanded discipline and a full awareness of its history.

At Harvard, it was an honor to study in the same halls that produced for this country John F. Kennedy, W.E.B. Dubois, and Natalie Portman. However, I confess that it was often a struggle not to confuse learning with the smell of cold stone.

Over the course of the semester, the Old South Church became my favorite place to pray. The Central Library in

The Old South Church became my favorite place to pray. The Central Library in Copley Square provided everything for my studies.

I began my semester working for The Boston Project Ministries as a counselor for youth groups from around the country, helping expose them to aspects of ministry they might not have witnessed otherwise. In due time they began to understand how a community develops in close quarters, what it means for a person to be black but not identify as African, and how a bribe-taking senator or Enron executive may need just as much if not more love from God’s children than a man sleeping on Boston Common.

But ministry is in no way restricted to themes of social justice. As an assistant to the pastor of the Second Church of Dorchester, I found myself leading Bible studies and various parts of Sunday services while helping to coordinate communication among the church, Gordon and The Boston Project. It was a challenge preaching to an unfamiliar and bilingual congregation and spiritually leading those more seasoned than myself. In time and with grace I found myself adopted, and my suggestions began to carry respected weight.

Copley Square provided everything for my studies. And Sushi Express by Boston University always settled my dietary rumblings. At the beginning of my semester I hadn’t wanted Boston. I wanted Pompeii, gondoliers and the Etruscan countryside. I wanted Italy. Or rather, I wanted a world so far removed from my own that all I would have been able to do was stand back and watch. But as it turned out, I didn’t need to travel to the far side of the world in order to find—and, more importantly, make—a world of difference. In many ways our closest neighbors are more alien to us than the most remote corners of the earth. Trust me—my time “abroad” was as real as it gets.

Peter Lee is a native of New York City and is currently pursuing his Master of Divinity at GordonConwell Theological Seminary. peter.lee@gordon.edu

Apart from ministry, I had the opportunity to accomplish two longstanding dreams: attending a Chinese martial arts school and enrolling at Harvard University. Every week in Kung Fu

www.gordon.edu/inboston

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 13

Story David Goss ’74 Photo Kristin Schwabauer ’04

Dorchester’s historic Second Church is now home base for the Gordon in Boston program. A little-used room in this impressive building recently yielded some unexpected treasures.

The Dorchester Project In March of 2008 I received a call from Cliff Hersey, director of global education at Gordon, concerning a problem with the archives at Second Church (Congregational) of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Cliff knew I was involved with the creation of an archival database at the estate of General George S. Patton as a part of the new Public History Institute at Gordon. He wondered what might be done to organize a similar collection of materials in Dorchester. I agreed to visit the church and give him an assessment. It would prove to be an incredible learning experience for us both.

certainly possible but would require time, effort and a team of the right people. I agreed to help recruit that team and to help manage the project.

By April things had improved. Cliff was committed to being involved and immediately began construction of a muchneeded, new inner-city classroom facility featuring a secure, archival storage area. One of my museum studies students, Brian Schober ’12, was planning to spend the summer in Dorchester as part of the inner-city program, and he volunteered to assist. From Gordon’s library staff, Martha

Cliff smiled as I took in the sheer variety and volume of this assortment of old stuff. “We have to make sense of this,” he said.

The impressive, though somewhat neglected, early 19thcentury edifice known as Second Church was the famous church presided over for many years by the equally famous Reverend John Codman, perhaps Boston’s most notable evangelical minister of the 19th century. It had, during the previous decade, finally closed its doors and by a vote of the few surviving members been given to the Church of the Nazarene. Through Cliff’s involvement with that organization, the building had recently become the headquarters of the Gordon in Boston program as well as serving as a place of worship for several ethnic congregations.

Cliff took me on a grand tour of the labyrinthine interior, concluding with a large parlor in the c. 1840 rear addition behind two massive sliding doors. Within this 40- by 20-foot room was a staggering array of largely unrecorded material culture and historical ephemera. Scattered upon the floor, covering several large tables, filling massive bookcases, piled high, bundled, boxed and balanced everywhere were thousands of church records and various religious documents, books, journals, diaries, ledgers, flags, maps, pamphlets, prints, paintings and artifacts of every description.

Cliff smiled as I took in the sheer variety and volume of this assortment of old stuff. “We have to make sense of this,” he said. And I surveyed it all in wonder, remarking that it was 14 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

Crain offered her considerable professional skills. The church secretary, Olive Knight, offered to help identify church-related materials as did David Tierney, a former member of Second Church. The final and key team member, Carol Mori, a former chairperson of the Beverly Archival Program and archivist of Dane Street Congregational Church in Beverly, agreed to lead a training session and help oversee the organization of the collection and its storage.

By the start of May semester, as I was about to teach my course on cemetery studies at Second Church, the team had already emptied the room of the materials. Most were inventoried and placed in labeled, acid-free boxes on shelves in the newly created archival storage. The development of an archival database would need to wait until September, but an interesting collection of items was discovered in the process.

Among the many 18th- and early 19th-century books were titles from Rev. Codman’s personal library as well as sermon notes and letters in his own handwriting. We discovered a number of Civil War-era relics including a handpainted, wooden grave marker brought back from Virginia by Dorchester soldiers bearing the faded photograph of their young commanding officer—later buried in nearby Codman Cemetery. Among many maps we found a large, hand-drawn diagram showing the original seating plan and names of pew holders and

annual prices they paid for their seats. Most exciting was the discovery of two 20-foot, muslin, political campaign banners.

The first bore the names of Grant and Colfax, the successful Republican candidates for president and vice president in 1868. The second was a similar banner bearing the names of Lincoln and Johnson, elected in the 1864 campaign. Attached notes explained that both banners had been flown in front of Second Church.

Signs of Life in a Cemetery

The first public display developed out of the archive collection was “Second Church and the Civil War.” The display opened at the church on February 6, 2009, followed by a special bicentennial Lincoln birthday party gathering for the community on February 12. The display tells the story of the 54 members of Second Church in Dorchester who served in the Civil War—15 who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

The Rev. Dr. Victor Price arrived at Second Church in 2004 with an

On the following day, Friday, February 13, the Lincoln banner traveled to the Salem Old Town Hall, where Gordon’s Institute for Public History hosted an afternoon open house and an evening invitation-only Lincoln bicentennial gathering. The event featured period music and dance, an appearance by “President Lincoln” in the guise of John Sarrouf, costumed members of the Civil War Club, a color guard, speeches and lots of fun.

Two weeks later Paul Malkemes ’95, executive director of The

For the Second Church archives, this is only the first phase of a multiyear archival process. With Carol Mori and Cliff Hersey continuing to drive the project through the next academic year, the final result will be a well-organized and significant collection of previously unknown materials ready to be used by researchers to help tell the story of Boston, Massachusetts, and in particular the community of Dorchester.

The Codman Burying Ground in Dorchester, part of Second Church, had seen better days. Kids had sneaked over the weed-covered fence, and trash filled the grounds. Neighbors witnessed illegal activity and loathed the destruction of gravestones. The church lacked money to pay for cemetery maintenance and members took on the job—a daunting task for a small parish. exciting new vision. He foresaw the cemetery as “a place of light and life,” believing its revitalization would be an inspiration to the area.

But it was a massive project that would cost thousands of dollars the church did not have. They sat amongst the weeds and prayed for the wisdom and resources to care for the properties entrusted to them.

Then they waited.

Boston Project, called with an idea. He proposed working together to rebeautify the cemetery. Paul knew The Boston Project’s focus on community development matched the need to revitalize neglected open space and that this large-scale project would impact the entire community.

The Boston Project Ministries was founded in 1995 when Paul and Glenna (Aron) ’94 launched a Summer Missions Program that took 16 teenagers to the city for service, outreach and discipleship. By the time Paul made that phone call to Second Church, The Boston Project had grown into a Christian community development ministry involving a staff of over 25 students and alumni and hosting dozens of fellow Gordon alumni as volunteers.

Gordon’s involvement in the cemetery renewal project deepened this past May when David Goss (assistant professor of history) and Cliff Hersey (director of global education) had their class study regional history through local cemeteries, including Codman Burying Ground. Students explored gravestone symbolism, learned how to

David Goss, M.A., assistant professor of history,

do rubbings and assessed the conservation needs of this particular

and codirector of the Gordon Institute for Public

burying ground. These projects helped to restore the history and

History, teaches museum studies, public history,

legacy of this site and provided parameters for its future care.

and early American maritime and intellectual history. His book Salem Witchcraft Trials was published this year by Greenwood Press (New York). A new book, Daily Life during the Salem Witch Trials, is forthcoming.

Neighbors are talking about the visible changes in the cemetery— disappearing barbed wire, newly cleared pathways and flowering trees—and about the teamwork that has bridged divides across age, race and class to tackle a God-sized project.

david.goss@gordon.edu

Institute for Public History www.gordon.edu/public-history

www.codmanburyingground.org

The Oxymoron of Proximate Justice Ox•y•mo•ron (noun): A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

Oxymorons always unsettle me. They compel me to mull them over again and again, attempting to unpack layers juxtaposing two contradictory terms.

about the Kingdom wears us out. At the same time, we could use it as a corrective from taking ourselves or our cause too seriously.

“Proximate justice” is an uncomfortable oxymoron at first. Isn’t justice by its very nature meant to be full and absolute, right or wrong? Doesn’t the integrity of the term demand our full commitment, our faith in the possibility of real justice?

In the book Political Holiness: A Spirituality of Liberation, Pedro Casaldáliga and José María Vigil warn us of the idol of justice. They write, “Social justice (however important it may be, and it is) can also be an idol, and we have to purify ourselves from it in order to declare clearly that God alone suffices, and in this way give justice too the fullness of its meaning.”

Perhaps proximate justice is ultimately

Recently I had the opportunity to hear Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners, speak in Boston on his book tour for The Great Awakening. One thing I

Our works for justice—the God-honoring parts—are not all in vain and will not all disappear. appreciate about Wallis is that he is extremely consistent and persistent.

He’s talked about wedding personal faith with social justice now for over 30 years. When he says there is a revival of justice across the country, I’m inclined to take the man at his word.

According to Wallis, revivals of justice occur when “Billy Graham meets Martin Luther King,” and toward this end Wallis has inspired folks to join grassroots movements that push political structures from below while praying for open doors from above.

As I considered proximate justice, I wondered whether it would be a compelling selling point for signing people on to a movement. Movements have an all-or-nothing feel to them, and it’s likely the burden our abolitionist, social gospel, or civil rights predecessors felt at times: that they were the ones who had to bring the Kingdom of God here, and now.

We do need an understanding of proximate justice to keep us from utter despair and cynicism, especially when the daily grind of working to bring

16 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

an acknowledgment of humility and faith—faith that this work of bringing about the Kingdom is not entirely on our shoulders after all; that there is a rhythm of work and then rest, signaled by prayer, contemplation and weekly Sabbaths.

To be sure, we don’t strive for proximate justice. Who wants to strive for an incomplete or imperfect Kingdom?

By its very definition shalom means all things as they should be, in right relationship. But we do need an understanding of proximate justice to help us wait until then, even as we strive daily toward shalom in all corners of creation.

(En)countering Cynicism My students in the Gordon in Lynn program, engaged in community development work, know all too well these dual tendencies—the idolatry of our justice work on the one hand, or the cynicism that paralyzes on the other. As they study the complexities of injustice, travel to the developing world to visit people, learn about the production of goods, and return here for urban

engagement, Christian students are especially exposed to the “bad news” of glaring examples of injustice. They are also mindful of the ways we play a part in all this, like no other generation before us. They are simultaneously driven to right an injustice (fair trade coffee only on campus now!) and stalled by the fear that nothing will ever change. This then is the predicament: Why do anything if it will be tainted by some injustice—if the landfill will increase; if CO2 will be emitted; if a child will be subject to sweatshop labor or sexual trafficking or HIV/AIDS? We can’t work to see these issues approximately solved. We want justice in that child’s life completely, not approximately. What motivation based on compromise would sign us up for a justice revival or even compel us to go to work day in and day out? But that mindset is not sustainable and can be sinful when we shoulder it alone. We must remember that we will not see complete justice this side of Heaven. We strive to climb to the mountain summit, not just below it; but we rest often because without resting there’s no way we could keep going. It’s just too hard.

Our students start their year reading a selection of Paul Marshall’s book Heaven Is Not My Home because it provides for our work in the community an important foundation that encourages us away from the tendencies toward idolatry and despair. He writes: Our works, here and now, are not all transitory. The good that we have done will not simply disappear and be forgotten. This world is not a passing and futile phase; it will be taken up in God’s new world. Our good buildings, our great inventions, our acts of healing, our best writings, our creative art, our finest clothes, our greatest treasures will not simply pass away. If they represent the greatest works of God’s imagebearers, they will adorn the world to come.

Story Christen Borgman Yates

Gordon in Lynn Community Partnerships Community partnerships are mutually beneficial relationships that connect Lynn with the Gordon community.

The following organizations engage Gordon students in weekly service opportunities:

Daily Reminders Our works for justice—the Godhonoring parts—are not all in vain and will not all disappear. This is truly good and life-giving news, news we must remind ourselves of day in and day out within our various vocations.

Recently one of our students came to realize the injustice within our urban public schools; she couldn’t believe art and music had been cut from many of the younger grades. Her middle-class upbringing had been richly blessed by the arts and fostered in her a love for the theatre. Her strongest desire was to change the system right away! But, understanding more the complexities that go into these injustices, she knew change wouldn’t happen quickly. With her desire for systemic change still in mind, she set about establishing a theatre program with one of our community partners to teach theatre to young girls. Knowing that so many thousands of children in Lynn could benefit from arts enrichment like this, she’s making peace with her corner of creation: the essential work of teaching drama to 13 girls.

Boys & Girls Club—Afterschool haven for over 300 Lynn children every day Boys & Girls Club

Bridgewell—Habilitation site that works alongside teens and adults with disabilities College Bound—Tutoring and mentoring program for first- to fifth-graders Community Minority Cultural Center— Afterschool program to help those in need

Community Minority Cultural Center

East Coast International Church— Community-focused church that makes Lynn a better place to live The Food Project—Mobilizes urban and suburban youth around sustainable agriculture The Ford School—Unique “community school” that provides ESL, GED and enrichment programs Girls Inc.—National organization that inspires girls to be strong, smart and bold

The food Project

She’s making peace with proximate justice.

International Rescue Committee (IRC)—Organization that helps refugees become self-sufficient La Vida Y.E.S. (Youth Enrichment Services)—Afterschool program for Hispanic middle and high school youths in Lynn

Girls Inc.

Christen Borgman Yates is the associate director of the College’s

New American Center—Organization that provides ESL and citizenship training for youth and adults Project Yes, North Shore Community College—Gang prevention program for fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade students in Lynn

Gordon in Lynn Program. christen.yates@gordon.edu

This essay originally appeared in Comment. www.cardus.ca/comment

My Brother’s Table (MBT)—Mission to provide hot, nutritious meals to those in need

La Vida Y.E.S

Washington Street Baptist Church— Multicultural church seeking to be faithful to Jesus and His mission in the heart of Lynn

Gordon in Lynn www.gordon.edu/gordoninlynn

Story Jo Kadlecek Photos Gabe Davis ’02

A Dream Realized—Gordon Community Celebrates Ken Olsen Science Center Opening

Hundreds gathered on September 27 to celebrate the dedication of the new Ken Olsen Science Center. Professors from neighboring campuses, including Harvard and MIT, joined national science writers, executives from Olsen’s company— Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)—and Gordon faculty, alumni and students for a daylong commemoration of the newest addition to the Gordon campus.

Following a ribbon cutting ceremony in the Science Center, the dedication service took place in A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel. Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, spoke on “Genomics and the Human Condition.”

As director, Collins took a remarkable scientific project to completion—a project mapping the human genome with its billions of letters. According to Karl Giberson, director of Gordon’s Forum on Faith and Science, the Genome Project is “one to be compared with the building of the atomic bomb or putting a man on the moon, though with far more benefit to humanity.”

Along with his formal address, Collins was also interviewed informally by Gordon Provost Mark Sargent. Sargent, in a recent essay, has expressed the hope that the new Olsen Center will provide the Gordon community with “new

opportunities to think about the alliance of faith, science and democracy in our own culture.”

Among other questions, Sargent asked Collins: “What do you see as the greatest good that can come from the future in the field of genetics, and what are those ethical dilemmas right around the corner?”

Collins’ response: “Having our own human DNA instruction book provides us with a foundation to understand medical problems at a level not dreamed of before. Soon that should put us in a position to offer people the chance to practice much more effective prevention by knowing what’s written into their DNA code that ought to be attended to, in terms of what specific actions they might take concerning diet and lifestyle and medical surveillance.

“Along with that comes an ethical mandate to handle this information in a way that is benevolent, that reaches out to help people and does not distort other aspects of society or create inequities or do harm.

“I think we are gradually—not immediately—going to need to face up to what we want to do about enhancements that might actually affect us as a species. Those could become possible in another 100 years. Are we prepared to go that route or is there a line we don’t want to cross?”

Left: The ribbon-cutting ceremony in the DEC Loggia: (L to R) George Marsh, Bowdoin Construction Company; President R. Judson Carlberg; Kurt Keilhacker, Chair of the Gordon College Board of Trustees. Right, top: Francis Collins addressed the Gordon community with his talk “Genomics and the Human Condition” (available on Gordon’s iTunesU site: www.gordon.edu/itunes). Right, bottom: Many former DEC employees attended the dedication.

18 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

Photos Kristin Schwabauer ’04

New Spaces and Equipment = New Possibilities

2

1

1

A Microengraving Microscope

Gordon has a new Olympus IX-81 inverted fluorescent microscope. This state-of-the-art microscope will be used to image fluorescently labeled cells as part of Dr. Craig Story’s microengraving research—the focus of his recent sabbatical at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. The microscope is also equipped with a motorized stage and micromanipulator, which allows the retrieval of cells for preservation or expansion.

Microengraving provides an extraordinarily detailed snapshot of how thousands of single immune cells respond to vaccination by separating each cell into a microscopic chamber and collecting its secretions for analysis. With this new technology, vaccines can be researched and made available far more quickly than in the past. Biology and chemistry students have participated in Story’s research by cataloging cells, conducting protein analyses and running Western blots to analyze hepatitis B antibodies obtained by microengraving.

2

A Dedicated Engineering Lab

The new Robert W. Bowden Engineering Lab in the Ken Olsen Science Center is now in use by students in Gordon’s 3-2 engineering and physics programs. “The flexibility and capabilities built into the space will serve our students well for years to come,” said David S. Lee, associate professor of physics, department chair and 3-2 engineering program coordinator. Among the many notable features of the facility are the 64 linear feet of sliding glass markerboards and

3

porcelain-coated steel whiteboards; plenty of room for group problem-solving sessions, complex equations and graphical illustrations. “I don’t have to spend class time erasing, and students can snap a cell phone picture of a board for later reference,” Lee said. The student here is tackling quantum mechanics. Soon afterward the boards were covered with design ideas for a wireless, joystick-controlled Lego robot.

3

Global Ecosystems—A New View

Most jobs in ecology or environmental science require knowledge of the geographic information system (GIS).

Students interested in landscape ecology or conservation biology can use new computers and massive flat screen monitors to analyze global ecosystems in the Ken Olsen Science Center. By downloading digital satellite images from the Internet from anywhere in the world, they are able to link broad-scale processes to data collected in the field.

This tool is valuable for class projects. Students in Landscape Ecology and GIS were able to look at purple loosestrife distribution as it is affected by vegetation changes along the Merrimac River; or chipmunk behavior in different ecosystems. This tool is also important for research projects; students are helping Greg Keller, associate professor of conservation biology, to link foraging behavior and abundance of declining populations of migratory songbirds to landscape fragmentation, and to compare chickadee and titmouse behavior in different habitats at a landscape scale. Gordon students are answering important questions about how humans impact natural systems.

Ken Olsen Science Center www.gordon.edu/kosc

IN FOCUS

Faculty

Faculty books Jo Kadlecek, communication arts, released the final book in The Lightfoot Trilogy in May. A Minute before Friday (NavPress, May 2008) is the story of religion reporter Jonna Lightfoot MacLaughlin, who trades her beat at a New Orleans newspaper (Book 2, A Quarter after Tuesday), for her dream job in New York City, where she finds herself face to face with religious differences in our culture.

Derrida und danach?

“Why Gordon?”

Three New Faculty Respond

Literaturtheoretische

Photo Calen Rubin

Diskurse der Gegenwart— translation: Derrida and Thereafter? Essays on Contemporary Literary

Calen Rubin

Theory—(Deutscher Universitätsverlag/VS

It was like a job interview all over again for Gordon’s three newest faculty when asked “Why Gordon College?”

Roger Johnson (center), at Messiah College for 24 years, will be a visiting economics professor for the 2008–2009 academic year; Andrew Logemann (right) recently completed his Ph.D. in English while teaching at Indiana University; and Kent Seibert (left) taught at Wheaton College for 13 years and now looks forward to teaching economics long-term at Gordon. What attracted these faculty—all with different goals and at different points in their careers—to Gordon?

Research, August 2008),

by Gregor Thuswaldner, German and linguistics, addresses the hesitant reception of Derrida’s oeuvre in the German-speaking world and highlights his contributions to literary theory.

He also investigates the current state of literary theory in Germany and North America.

In Saving Darwin (HarperOne, June 2008)

Roger Johnson first met Stephen Smith, chair of economics and business, 20 years ago in Hong Kong. After years of meeting at international conferences, Smith invited Johnson to Gordon as a visiting professor.

Johnson will teach four economics courses, including Principles of Microeconomics and Labor Economics. His research interests include political economy and the Mondragón cooperatives in Spain.

Andrew Logemann did his undergraduate studies at Wheaton College.

He enjoyed the Christian environment and wanted to have that “deeper level of connection between faculty and students” in his teaching career. A proud father of twin baby girls, he is thankful to be teaching at Gordon this year.

Kent Seibert fell in love with Gordon 17 years ago while completing his doctorate at Boston University. He taught one class at Gordon during that time, and, as his first experience with a Christian college, he loved the idea of “integrating faith with study.” He looks forward to teaching two new business courses, among others, on leadership and organizational behavior. His research interests focus on the transition from college to the workplace and the idea of business as missions.

Department chairs Stephen Smith, economics and business, and Andrea Frankwitz, English, hope to use the expertise of these new colleagues in new courses in the future. Smith says, “This is a terrific step forward for our departments.”

20 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

scientist Karl Giberson, director of Gordon’s Forum on Faith and Science and adjunct professor in science and culture, shows how and why it’s possible to believe in God and evolution simultaneously. With an introduction by Francis S. Collins, Saving Darwin explains why this controversy is so intense but offers a way to reconcile the ever-growing divide between science and religious belief.

Order Your Copy All books are available online or through local bookstores. Derrida und danach? can be purchased at bookstores in Germany or online at www.schoenhofs.com or www.ibiservice.com.

IN FOCUS

Faculty

IN THEIR WORDS

“The education that happens here—in the classroom, outside the classroom—looks far beyond the matter of what jobs our students will get, what careers they will be able to pursue. It goes so far as to help them ask and answer that most pivotal question, ‘Given what I have learned, how should I live?’ ” —Daniel Johnson Associate Professor of Sociology

An Hour with the Constitution Two hundred and twenty-one years ago, 39 men signed a document that forever changed the direction of the United States. On that same day hundreds of years later, Paul Brink, associate professor of political studies, had 32 freshmen in his American National Politics class spend the entire hour reading this document—in one sitting; out loud; in their own voices.

In honor of Constitution Day, Brink had his students take turns standing and reading, skipping over italicized text—sections that resulted in amendments from the original document. “My main goal is for students to know the Constitution, and to have read and heard it with some care at least once,” explains Brink. “Both the right and the left see it as the bedrock of American politics, and both sides also appeal to it. So students need to have more than a passing acquaintance with the Constitution.”

The skipped sections will be used as discussion material later in the class.

Ray Loring 1943–2008 A well-loved adjunct music professor and famous composer, Charles “Ray” Loring III, passed away after suffering a heart attack on a hike in September. Loring taught courses at Gordon in music composition, music theory and instrumental arrangement beginning in 2006.

Brink thinks his oral reading is “a great discussion starter” with his students, since hearing the Constitution out loud can raise questions for political studies students who, like many citizens, may only know passing references to the Constitution. “It leads us to ask questions like ‘Should we read the Bill of Rights? Should these amendments be considered part of the Constitution? Would you have signed the Constitution without the Bill of Rights?’”

Also an accomplished composer, he scored

Brink said his students also wrestle over the phrase in Article 1, the famous “three-fifths of other persons” description, which was included for determining a state’s number of representatives and for taxation purposes, identifying slaves as only three-fifths of a human being.

Truman. At 28 he wrote the score for the

“That’s a hard question for our global students today,” Brink said. “And more comparative questions emerge as well: the United Kingdom doesn’t have a written constitution—at least not in a single document—and yet the country apparently is a healthy democracy. So how important is our Constitution anyway?”

nearly 100 episodes for the NOVA series Saving The National Treasures as well as numerous other PBS commissions, including Frontline, The History Channel and The Discovery Channel.

A classically trained pianist, Loring studied with Fred Noonan, the White House pianist for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry film Ruby.

“Gracious, kindhearted, and always ready to do more to serve others, Ray was greatly appreciated by students and colleagues,” said Provost Mark Sargent. “His passing is an occasion for sadness, but we can also celebrate a life of dedication, service and kindness.”

“He was able to recognize talent and encourage creativity in many students,” said Dr. Stephen Price, one of Loring’s closest friends. “Ray had a deep faith and recognized that in his success he never left God out as he walked passionately, yet humbly with his Creator” (Deuteronomy 8:6–18).

Political Studies www.gordon.edu/academics/politicalstudies

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 21

IN FOCUS

Students

IN THEIR WORDS

“Instead of applying to the field of linguistics what I’ve learned in other classes, I’ve found more often that I am able to apply what I’ve learned in linguistics to most of my other classes at Gordon.”

—Gabe DiMauro ’10 Pike scholar, history, French and linguistics major

A Woman’s Concern; A Student’s Devotion

Photo Meg Lynch ’10

Meg Lynch ’10 A Beverly, Massachusetts, organization is handing out baby bottles—to adults—and Gordon student Leanne Burnett ’09 is overseeing this initiative. Burnett, a youth ministry major, has chosen A Woman’s Concern (AWC), an unlikely internship within her major, and is currently heading the Baby Bottle Campaign, encouraging parishioners in area churches to fill the bottles with change.

AWC is a free pregnancy resource center offering services to women and couples struggling with life changes of unplanned pregnancies.

Burnett’s internship tasks include office duties, administering tests, counseling clients, and sitting in on pregnancy tests, counseling sessions and ultrasounds.

Seeing With New Eyes Sarah Durfey ’09 This photo was taken in Garbage City, a section of Cairo, Egypt, where all the garbage is organically recycled, as I observed on my semester abroad with the Middle East Studies Program. People make a living by sorting through trash and creating new things. I took this picture while standing on the roof of a center for women who make rugs, paper, soaps and sewn items from recycled trash. This building shows the brightness of life in Cairo; even in the midst of great poverty, color explodes from unexpected corners. These women watch me—wondering why a strange foreigner is taking their picture; but perhaps they do know why.

Sarah is the 2008 winner of the Global Education Photo Contest “Seeing with New Eyes.”

22 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

Her devotion to the women has enabled her to garner much experience from various facets of AWC. One of her favorite aspects is empowering women with information that will encourage them to make good decisions.

Burnett’s work with AWC is also a testament to how versatile the youth ministry curriculum at Gordon College truly is. More importantly, AWC has impacted her, and through her hard work and devotion she has become a valuable asset to the center.

“My favorite memory has been watching the transformation in clients from being determined to have an abortion to choosing to be a parent—and a great parent at that,” says Burnett. “I have seen a few clients go through this transformation, and while it’s just the beginning—and I know they have many difficulties ahead—I also know they made a decision that will change their lives for good, choosing life over death.”

Burnett’s loving concern for each woman has created a mutually beneficial relationship for her and the organization. She has become an asset to those she serves and finds great reward in being a part of the ministry.

“It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience,” she says. “It is my hope that other students may see what a life-giving ministry AWC has, and that it’s definitely one way to pursue nontraditional youth ministry!” (Note: As a result of her excellent work, Burnett was offered a job after graduation.)

IN FOCUS

Students

Recent Student Research Brittney Howell ’09 presented her research, “Effect of Social Support, Academic Locus of Control and Distance from Home on Adjustment to College” at the New England Psychological Association. Howell focused on adjustment to college for students who attend close to home and far from home. She found that those who felt a high level of support and felt competent in their academics had a more positive adjustment.

Since she had a smaller sample size of students who were further from home, descriptive statistics showed that those who felt far from home had a lower adjustment rate.

An Ecumenical Eye Opener

Reaching Out to Troubled Kids: A Youth Ministry Internship It’s not every day a college student chooses to spend her time in a group home with 10–12 teenage boys who struggle with anger issues, abuse and crime, and often come from troubled homes. But senior Katy Keith, youth ministry major, considered this a privilege.

Last summer Keith spent 10 weeks in Memphis, Tennessee, at Youth Villages, a large organization that works with children who come from troubled homes. Her responsibilities included guiding the residents as they sifted through their dark pasts. “The most difficult thing I did was help the residents complete a required task, even if it meant upsetting them,” says Keith. “Often I had to ignore the fact that I was being yelled at. I was trained to not take anything personally because it was not me they were necessarily angry with—I just happened to be there to get the blow.”

One of her favorite memories was assisting a resident with filling out a college application.

“I could see the anxious hope in his eyes and the desire to make his life better. It felt great to encourage this young man to accomplish what most of his peers believe they cannot accomplish. I know for a fact that he is going against the odds, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

Ecumenical dialogue has been a central experience for students in the Gordon in Orvieto program since its inception. In Italy the presence of Protestant Christian students is unusual, yet the program has been welcomed. Orvieto’s Catholic bishop has given his tangible support to the presence of a Protestant-Episcopal parish, and students are regularly invited to a Catholic charismatic community’s praise services.

It was the vision of professors Tal and Agnes Howard and John Skillen to build on these ecumenical encounters during the spring 2008 semester.

The Howards cotaught a course called Protestantism, Catholicism and Ecumenism, and along with Skillen planned a series of trips to Rome so students could see further examples of ecumenism in action.

In Rome students attended mass with an English-speaking congregation whose goal is to foster better relations between Catholics and Protestants.

The group met briefly with Keith Pecklers, professor of the history of liturgy at the Gregorian University and ABC correspondent for Vatican affairs during the pope’s visit to the U.S. last spring.

Students also visited several baroque Jesuit churches and spoke with the Vatican’s Don Bolen of the Papal Commission on Promoting Christian Unity about the ecumenical councils he coordinates to encourage greater unity with Anglicans and Methodists.

On a final trip to Rome, Gordon students were invited to a papal audience.

“We were sitting next to nuns from Senegal, behind German pilgrims and in front of Italian school children,” Nicole Lucey ’10, Lauren Enright ’09, Amber Seppala ’10 and Sarah Boyle from Azusa Pacific recall. “It was truly the Body of Christ in action!”

“There remain significant differences between Protestants and Catholics,” says Tal Howard, “but without these kinds of endeavors Protestants and Catholics will remain in a haze of ignorance and suspicion about each other, unable to work toward Christ’s goal of unity among Christians.”

IN THEIR WORDS

“We were no longer the Protestants and Catholics but fellow brethren.”

—Bethany Dries ’09, Dana Ramsey ’10 and Nick Hanlon ’09

IN FOCUS

Alumni

Victory Deferred The Smithsonian National Museum of American History recently accepted the Victory Deferred collection by John-Manuel Andriote ’80. It includes audio recorded interviews, transcripts, research materials and manuscript drafts related to his book Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America (University of Chicago Press, 1999). The museum describes the collection as “one of the most comprehensive HIV/AIDS archives” in America. Andriote is coproducing with BBC Radio on How AIDS Changed America, a program featuring excerpts from his Victory Deferred interviews.

A Third View Information courtesy of Harold Heie, founding director of the Center for Christian Studies Recently Roy Clouser ’61 delivered the annual Kuyper Lecture sponsored by the Center for Public Justice. The lecture, entitled “A Third View of Rights and Law: A Critical Assessment of the Assumptions behind the Declaration and the Constitution,” argued that the Declaration and the Constitution are at odds over the nature of rights and the basis for lawmaking, and that any adequate account of the foundations of law must include Abraham Kuyper’s Christian principle “sphere sovereignty.”

Clouser said the Declaration assumes a version of “natural law” theory, claiming that rights can neither be created nor destroyed by humans, making them “unalienable.” The Constitution, on the other hand, does not contain a single unalienable right; every right it mentions is an amendment that can be repealed. Clouser maintained that these documents contain important truths, but that those truths are skewed and by themselves are still inadequate and need to be supplemented by a “third view” of the basis for rights and laws.

This third view acknowledges a universal norm of justice but points out that it is too vague to help with the shortcomings of each document. The “sphere sovereignty” principle guides the norm of justice by opposing individualism and collectivism. It also limits governmental authority by recognizing authorities in other “spheres” of life such as families, churches, businesses, schools, etc. According to sphere sovereignty, each of these (and other) organizations should be free to regulate its internal affairs without interference by others, and it is a duty of government to ensure that freedom.

The lecture, delivered at Harvard Law School, had a question and answer session immediately following, where an excellent discussion ensued.

Clouser, a philosophy major while at Gordon, attended Harvard Graduate School and later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his Ph.D. He is professor emeritus in the Philosophy Department of The College of New Jersey.

A Scholarly Community Calen Rubin Graduate school looks bright for Ian Corbin ’06 and Kirstin Hasler ’07 (pictured above), who received fellowships from the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program last spring.

Awarded to 15 graduates who are entering doctoral programs in arts and humanities and are seriously considering working within churchrelated academic institutions in the United States, the fellowship provides funding and the support of a scholarly community.

After graduating summa cum laude from Gordon, Corbin and Hasler completed master’s degrees at Yale Divinity School and Queens University Belfast respectively, and began Ph.D. and doctoral programs this fall.

Corbin is studying political philosophy and philosophy of art at Boston College. “The decision to spend five years on a Ph.D. is an exciting one, but it comes with definite costs and difficulties,” he says. He hopes to write and teach in the future.

Hasler entered Notre Dame to study international relations and political theory. She hopes to teach at a small liberal arts college and is grateful for the opportunity to study with fellows “who all have the common vision of being well-rounded scholars and teachers.”

A Scholarly Community www.lillyfellows.org

IN FOCUS

Alumni

Alumni Books Designed by God, by Regina (Smith) Franklin ’95, encourages honest talk about beauty, modesty and self-image among young women, challenging them to live out life as treasured children, pointing them back to Christ (Discovery House Publishers, January 2007).

Kay (Thorpe) Bannon ’71 wrote How Gimble Gopher Tortoise Found a New Home (DST Creative, June 2008), a story about a displaced,

Behind the Award: An Enduring Hero

endangered, ancient reptile

Calen Rubin

with adventure and hope, to

who goes on a journey filled a new place.

Jack Good ’66 is known mainly for two things: his selfless, friendly demeanor and his endless professional and charitable contributions to the local North Shore communities. Longtime friend Jon Tymann ’83, senior director of development at Gordon, says, “Jack is the consummate volunteer. He’s on every committee, every board, and not for accolades but because of the work he can do for others.”

With The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice, from the Civil Rights Movement to Today (Basic Books, August 2006), Charles Marsh ’81

Good received the 2008 Enduring Hero award at the Sixth Annual American Red Cross Community Heroes Breakfast held at the Danversport Yacht Club (Massachusetts). The award, according to the American Red Cross website, is given to “an individual who has a significant history of making a difference in the community through his or her professional and/or volunteer activities.” The award describes Good—a generous contributor to his community and its individuals—perfectly.

lays out an exuberant vision for Christian activism and simultaneously reclaims the centrality of faith in the quest for social justice.

Marc A. Pitman ’95 recently published Ask without

Good’s professional contributions include serving as executive vice president of Beverly National Bank and vice president of community relations, marketing and development at both Gordon College and Beverly Hospital/Northeast Health Systems. He also served as national chairman for the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy and chairman of the board for the American Heart Association, Massachusetts Affiliate Inc.

Fear! A Simple Guide to

The award not only honored Good’s many professional and charitable contributions, but his exemplary stature in his personal life as well. Good has innumerable friends and is known as the “go-to guy” for people new and looking to acclimate to the area. For the past 25 years Good and his family have also accompanied Santa to Beverly Hospital on Christmas morning.

members, employees and

Connecting Donors with What Matters to Them Most (Executive Books, April 2008). This book was written to make fundraising less daunting for nonprofit board volunteers.

Contact the Authors Regina | regina.franklin@gmail.com Kay | gtortoise@comcast.net Charles | cmarsh@virginia.edu

Despite his many accomplishments, Good remains humble. He says, “God has blessed me through each of my job and volunteer experiences over the years and has given me the love and support of a wonderful wife and family.”

Marc | marc@fundraisingcoach.com

To the people close to Good, he has a reputation for being “a great listener and advice-giver,” selfless, generous, and an example of “integrity, humility, energy and compassion” in his community.

a New Home is available at The Bookstore in

Order Your Copy All books are available online or through local bookstores. How Gimble Gopher Tortoise Found Gloucester, Massachusetts, Toad Hall Bookstore in Rockport, Massachusetts, and PayPal via www.gimblegophertortoise.com.

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 25

Encounters

Mark Sargent Receives Top Chief Academic Officer Award The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) recently named Provost Mark Sargent its 2008 top annual academic officer for assisting new deans and provosts, his research and writing, and his work developing national programs. He recently served a three-year term on the CIC Chief Academic Officers Task Force, chairing the group in his final year.

“Mark Sargent is an incredibly gifted leader,” said President Carlberg, “He’s one of those rare individuals who genuinely makes the community of higher education better for everyone.”

Since 1996 Sargent has not only overseen faculty and academic programs but also given guidance to directors and deans of athletic, student development, ministry and admissions programs at Gordon. Sargent said, “The CIC has helped me see educational trends, global issues and federal mandates through the lenses of our distinctive missions. I come away thinking less about simply producing graduates and more about strategies for awakening the moral imagination of our students.”

Sport: An Interdisciplinary Perspective Calen Rubin Valerie Gin, associate professor of recreation and leisure studies, has introduced a sport studies concentration/minor that will give a broad perspective on the interdisciplinary nature of sport. Students will study sport from psychological, sociological, historical and philosophical perspectives, helping prepare them for careers in sport-related fields. The concentration suits students interested in sport and fits particularly well with business, psychology, communications, education and youth ministry majors. Twenty students have already added the new concentration or minor this semester.”

Photo Steve Charest ’10

New Linguistics Major Launches

Junior Gabe DiMauro was studying applied linguistics at the Summer Institute for Linguistics when he heard Gordon was launching a new linguistics major. A Kenneth Pike scholar who studied linguistics independently (because a major didn’t exist at Gordon) can now attend classes with other students who are passionate about linguistics. He also studies history, French and a minor in the classics.

The linguistics major teaches students the main pillars of linguistics— syntax, morphology, phonetics, phonology, semantics and pragmatics— and is codirected by Dr. Graeme Bird and Dr. Gregor Thuswaldner in the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics. These two men are passionate about linguistics and qualified for the job. Bird, who was a teaching fellow in Harvard’s Classics Department, has a Master of Arts in Linguistics from Harvard; Thuswaldner wrote his master’s thesis on German sociolinguistics at the University of Vienna.

Linguistics, which looks at the structure and usage of language, naturally combines with majors in fields such as education, psychology, sociology, English, computer science, philosophy, other languages and biblical studies. “The study of languages and linguistics,” says Bird, “has natural and obvious connections with such diverse fields as biblical exegesis, computer programming and psychology. The range of options students will have in choosing their areas of study will be greatly enhanced.”

The new major reconnects Gordon with the work of Kenneth Pike ’33, a major pioneer in the field of linguistics and one of Gordon’s most famous alumni. Pike is also one of the founders of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize 15 years in a row. Gordon’s new program will have significant links to the program at SIL, allowing students to spend one or more summers studying at SIL and applying credits toward their major.

Students will also have opportunities for co-ops with Transparent, a well-known language software company located in Nashua, New Hampshire. Thuswaldner says, “Working on the development of language learning software will significantly enhance a student’s academic experience at Gordon.”

Languages and Linguistics www.gordon.edu/academics/languages 26 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

Sport Studies www.gordon.edu/sportstudies

Encounters

Nonprofit Organization Management and Social Entrepreneurship Minor Offered Ted Wood and Casey Cooper, economics and business professors, with a team of others, recently launched a new minor in nonprofit organization management and social entrepreneurship. The Center for Nonprofit Organization Studies and Philanthropy, which offers courses unlike others at Christian colleges across the nation, was also established.

The minor is designed to augment students’ majors across disciplines by providing an understanding of the function and management of nonprofits in society. Whether studying youth ministry, social work, recreation or the arts, the new minor will equip students for careers in nonprofits across a broad array of interests.

“Gordon graduates often take jobs with relief organizations, hospitals, museums, community service providers and a host of other nonprofit organizations,” Wood said. “We began to ask, ‘Why wouldn’t Gordon help students better understand the opportunities for administrative ministry within nonprofit organizations?’

Our hope is that participants will be better contributors in their chosen fields and discover that leadership positions within nonprofit organizations present attractive options.”

Joe Krivickas, an entrepreneur with an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, provided generous help for the program’s launch. “Partnering with Gordon allows my family and me to invest in our passion to develop young people into leaders,” Krivickas said. “It’s exciting to be part of a project like this.”

“Individuals often see nonprofits as a place to make contributions through the gifts they develop,” Cooper said. “This program provides the training needed to understand the operational characteristics of organizations that have captured their hearts.”

Chester’s Place

Photo Mike Hevesy

Dale and Ann Fowler, friends and generous donors of the College, recently transformed the President’s Dining Room (PDR) into Chester’s Place, a cozy, tavern-like coffee shop and favorite hangout. Over the years students have expressed a need for this kind of space, and, because of the Fowlers’ generosity, students can use Chester’s to eat meals, have coffee, build relationships and study. The Organizational Dining Room (ODR)— next door to Chester’s—was transformed into the Lion’s Den, a conference room for students.

The space has exposed ceiling beams that give it an old tavern feel, a coffee bar in the corner, booths along the sides of the room with electrical and data outlets at each booth, and tables that fill the main area. Gordon memorabilia hang on the walls, and students also have wireless access.

“Chester’s Place offers a hangout space that makes students feel like they are spending time off campus,” says junior Meg Lynch. “This is great because students without cars often don’t get to experience this.”

The design is reminiscent of an 18th-century New England meeting place with wide pine floorboards, a large fireplace, and wood décor throughout.

Because Gordon has frequent national and international visitors, the Fowlers wanted campus guests to experience quintessential New England through Chester’s Place. “I really like Chester’s because it provides a comfortable and friendly place for my friends and I to hang out when every other place on campus is closed,” says senior Dustin Foss.

“It has a great New England feel to it too—like it’s always been a part of our campus.”

The Lion’s Den has the same cozy feel as the coffee shop, where students can meet, work on projects and study in a quieter setting. This space will be used and managed by the student government (GCSA) and has a large conference table and chairs.

“The student body greatly appreciates the deep investment of time, energy and resources the Fowlers have dedicated to the future of Gordon College and the well-being of its students,” says senior and GCSA Executive President Joe Guidi. “Chester’s Place creates a much-needed student space and will not only add to the aesthetic value of the College but will enrich it through the friendships fostered there.”

Nonprofit Minor www.gordon.edu/nonprofitminor

TOP SIX

Story Natalie Ferjulian ’10

A Few of OUR favorite things

Trips of a Lifetime Travels are among our most highly anticipated as well as easily remembered experiences.

They have a way of diffusing jaded perceptions of the world and stirring curiosities. It was my privilege to ask a few Gordon College professors about the travels they have appreciated most in their lifetimes.

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 | Freedom in Simplicity

3 | A Balcony View

5 | A Paradigm Shift

During my sabbatical in 1989 I went to

In 2004 I went to Cambodia for six weeks

When I went to Cape Town, South Africa,

Nairobi, Kenya, to teach math at Daystar

as a faculty advisor for Gordon students.

I thought, “What am I doing? I’m not the

University. Mostly I think about the people.

I taught at a school and at an orphanage,

adventurous type. I’m the grandmother

I listened to the Africans sing praises in

practicing conversational English. We lived

type.” I came to understand that when we

Swahili—letting loose in a way they couldn’t

in Phnom Penh, where my most memorable

diminish others we diminish ourselves. This

in English. The people had such a zest for

moments were of the early mornings. I

is a worldwide phenomenon. I had gone

life, a sense of commitment to serving Jesus

would sit on our balcony, watching a street

to evaluate the Gordon in South Africa

that is different in our culture. We lived

market below being set up during the

program, but instead of learning something

without a car; my wife walked to the market

sunrise—watching the city come to life.

academic, I experienced a deep, spiritual,

every day. But I remember thinking, “Who

Rini Cobbey Associate Professor of

life-changing concept.

needs more than this?”

Richard Stout Professor of Mathematics

Communication Arts

4 | Sister Cities

2 | D-Day Memories

In 1981 Duluth, Minnesota, along with

Normally 10 minutes on the beach is enough

Petrosavski, Russia, entered into a program

for me. But in 2002 I stood on the beaches

called Our Sister Cities. We were the first

of Normandy with a group of Gordon

non-Russians many of the people had ever

alumni. We listened to Dick Rung ’53, a

met, but their hospitality was like none I

Navy veteran, tell the story of D-Day from

had experienced. They gave banquets when

the site where he had landed on Omaha

they literally had nothing to give except

Beach. There were also two men who had

their stories and a desire to share their

been a part of the bombing raids—Rice

culture. Growing up during the Cold War, I

Nutting (professor emeritus of music) and

had the attitude that the Russians were the

Cecil Bretton ’52. It was incredible to see

enemy; this trip diffused those thoughts.

and hear firsthand about the sights I studied

Judith Oleson Associate Professor of

and lectured on as a history professor.

Social Work

Russ Bishop Professor Emeritus of History, Stephen Phillips Chair of History

28 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

Donna Robinson Associate Professor of Education

6 | Close to Home Simplicity, quietness, and beauty of landscape are what I appreciate in a vacation. A venture to Nova Scotia, Canada, is my most relaxing trip because there aren’t the complexities of a foreign place.

The people are French speaking and the pace of life is slower, making it somewhat exotic yet easy to assimilate into. I didn’t feel a sense of obligation to see all the sights because Nova Scotia isn’t known for its history. Being there was simple, pleasant, and only a seven-hour car ride from home.

Michael Monroe Assistant Professor of Music

ALUMNI

NEWS

1930s Carolyn (Snell) Purchase ’35PBI celebrated her 100th birthday on October 10, 2008. Her husband, Richard E. Purchase ’35PBI, served five Baptist churches in Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maine. The couple has retired and are residents of Quarryville Presbyterian Home in Quarryville, PA. Their 73rd wedding anniversary was celebrated September 10 and Richard’s 98th birthday September 6, 2008.

1950s Donald Baron ’53 has been preaching regularly at the Chinese Lutheran Church of Honolulu and working as an adjunct professor at the Bible Institute of Hawaii.

Veronica Lanier ’54 celebrated her 90th birthday on September 28, 2008.

Guests from all over the country were in attendance. After graduating college, Veronica involved herself in home missions for the American Baptist Church.

She is being rewarded for a lifetime of serving others in missions and numerous other volunteer positions.

Ruth Brain ’55 has been diagnosed with cancer, but thanks to treatment and great care her condition is stable and optimistic.

Earlier this year she was able to reunite with fellow Gordon alumna Marjorie Buck ’50 and Betty Jane Nash, wife of Ronald Nash ’58. The three women worked together 50 years ago in Corning, NY, teaching children in released-time classes.

Dorothy (Loyte) Blackman ’56 had her first novel, New York Patriots, published

by North Country Books. The book is a story of the historically accurate lives of 15 adventurous heroes, depicted as true patriots in search of American independence. Mrs. Blackman has also been published in Seventeen Magazine and Mohawk Valley USA, a regional publication that featured some of the short stories appearing in her novel.

1960s David and Yvonne (Amey) ’60 Watkins celebrated their 50th anniversary June 15, 2008, with family and friends.

Deborah Hueston ’64B attended Bryant & Stratton College in New York. She raised two children as a single mother and has two grandchildren. She resides in North Kingstown, RI, and is a singer.

couple served as church planters in Canada and then with Mission to the World in Lyon, France. They reside in Iowa while on leave. Donna and Francis have five children and four grandchildren.

Carol (Wilson) Schenk ’65 returned to Turkey on September 5, 2008. She is grateful for all the friends she was able to see during her time home.

Bryan ’77 and Jennifer (Petty) ’78 Moore moved four years ago to Boyertown, PA, where Bryan is the senior pastor of Shepherd of the Hills (United Church of Christ). They have two children, Bryan ’09 and Nichole ’12, attending Gordon College.

Dr. Moore enjoys athletics and plays on two softball teams during the summer. A highlight for Bryan last year was coaching and playing on Gordon’s alumni baseball team in an epic battle against the Fighting Scots squad. Jennifer is a sign language interpreter and is employed in the Reading, PA, school system. They would love to hear from their Gordon friends. pastorsoth1@aol.com

Harvey Olney ’66 received his 35year service pin at Texas Tech Health Science Center in Lubbock, TX, as an instrumentation specialist. He volunteers as a video camera operator at Trinity Church in Lubbock.

David Reed ’66B recently published In Jesus’ Name—The History and Beliefs of Oneness Pentecostals (Deo Publishing, 2008). This is the first comprehensive study of the origins, history and theology of the third stream of Pentecostalism that emerged during the formative years of the Pentecostal Revival.

Barbara (Wilkie) Waites ’66 lives with her husband, Doug, in Bethlehem, NH. She retired from teaching in North Reading, MA, after 36 years. The couple leads short-term mission trips to Mexico.

John Weliczko ’66 was asked to participate in Bill Clinton’s 2009 Global Initiative Study on the homeless on the Gulf Coast in conjunction with the Harvard School of Public Health.

Ann Young ’66B ended her 36 years of teaching missionary children in the Philippines. Ann has been blessed with many things in her retirement, such as visits with old friends and being provided with transportation. She asks for prayer for safety and wisdom.

Marilyn (Arnold) Cooney ’68 and her husband, Jim, are working with Fiji Deaf Ministries teaching at the Gospel School for the Deaf. Enrollment at the school is at its highest ever.

Kenneth Wallace ’69 retired in June 2008 after 14 years as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Waltham, MA, and 20 years in manufacturing.

1970s

Lucinda (Pellegrino) Olmstead ’63B chaired the English Department at Bryant & Stratton College in Albany, NY. She and her husband, Robert, have two daughters.

Patty Hershey ’72 retired from full-time teaching. She is the assistant to the head of school at Columbia County Christian School in Bloomsburg, PA.

George Cottenden ’64 retired as pastor of Trinity Church in Hatboro, PA, after almost 27 years. He and his wife, Barbara (Benson) ’64, have moved to North Wales, PA.

Donna (Rapacz) Foucachon ’74 worked as a French teacher at Winter Park High School in Winter Park, FL. In 1978 she married Francis Foucachon of Lyon, France. He attended Reformed Theological Seminary in Aix-en-Provence, France. After Francis’ ordination in the Presbyterian Church in America, the

Julie (Zine) Coleman ’79 graduated from Capital Bible Seminary in Lanham, MD, with a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies in May 2007. She ended a career as a school teacher to pursue a ministry of writing and speaking for women. She writes daily devotional thoughts online, has a weekly email ministry and has been published in a variety of magazines. Her website is www.juliecoleman.org.

Barbara (Doolan) Heins ’79 is working for Wycliffe Bible Translators with the Fieldworks program as a linguistics teacher. She is posted in Brazil as an interpreter of the My Hope project.

1980s Paul ’81 and Lucinda (Rowe) ’79 Bentley are missionaries serving in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In November 2008 they started a five-week work trip during which they shared a report and study session at a conference in Ontario for Pioneers, an outreach mission to ethnic groups in Canada.

Ben Merrill ’81 was named director of marketing and community relations at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, VT. Ben lives in Randolph with his wife, Mardee, and their four children.

Janet (Hammer) Huarac ’82, along with Wycliffe Bible translators, completed the translation of the Huaylas Quechua New Testament, which is currently being distributed to the people. They have begun work on several additional books.

In June 2008 Janet and her husband, Oscar, left Wycliffe to accept an offer from International Teams, a nondenominational missionary organization. They are still working with the people of Peru.

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 29

ALUMNI

NEWS

Sarah (Griffin) Pemberton ’82 returned to Russia with The Barnabas Foundation team on July 21 to teach at their annual Bible camp in Tver, Russia. She will return to the camp in 2009. Email contacts from alumni or professors are welcome. kylensarah@bellsouth.net Donna (Griffin) Kuflik ’83 took a position as a paralegal to the attorney general for the Mohegan Tribe of Indians in Connecticut after 20 years at a similar position in New Londonderry, CT. Donna is pursuing her black belt in karate. She and her husband, Greg, have two children.

Lisa (Tilton) Chick ’84 received National Board Certification for teaching in November 2007. She attended a reception honoring Alabama’s new recipients at the governor’s mansion in Montgomery, AL. She was also nominated as a Jacksonville State Teacher of the Year by her colleagues and continues to teach first grade.

David Just ’85 opened a Domino’s Pizza franchise in Somersworth, NH, on May 19, 2008. His wife handles the human resources and administrative issues.

Additional stores are slated to open in Epping, Candia and Hooksett, NH. Shelly (Sabean) ’85 and Daniel Young and family are on furlough for one year from missions work in Ensenada, Mexico.

They have settled in South Carolina for a short time and will spend the rest of their year stateside residing in Massachusetts.

The family plans to return to Mexico in the summer of 2009.

Ken Wilson ’86 was appointed associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University. He serves as the director of community partnerships for the Institute of Clinical and Translational Research and oversees research studies with adolescents using the Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) model, focusing on health disparities that affect African American and Latino teens. Dr. Wilson coauthored a journal publication, “Ethical Issues in HIV/AIDS Prevention Research with High Risk Youth: Providing Help, Preserving Validity, in Ethics and Behavior” (Ethics & Behavior, Volume 18, Issue 2 and 3 April 2008). He is also the director of psychology for the St. Ignatius School for Girls and maintains his private practice.

David Fenrick ’87 was elected secretarytreasurer of the Association of Professors of Mission. David teaches intercultural studies at Northwestern College, St. Paul, MN.

30 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

Vince ’88 and Ellen Morris, Dave ’88 and Kris (McNutt) ’88 Loomis, and Allan ’87 and Cindy Pavey met in Ontario, Canada, for a family vacation. Vince planned and led a four-day canoeing trip through Algonquin Park. Vince and Ellen live in Wheaton, IL; Allan and Cindy live in Grenoble, France; and Dave and Kris live in Cary, NC. Steven ’89 and Allyson (Orfitelli) ’91 Baldwin departed for Perth, Australia, in December to begin Youth With A Mission training. After their initial training period they plan to stay and begin work with Create International. In Sydney the Baldwins will be producing evangelistic films and media materials for unreached people throughout the world.

Brian Scott ’89 was stationed in Iraq at FOB Rustimiyah on the southeast side of Baghdad for a one-year deployment. In 1994 Brian married Jody Brandt after they met on La Vida staff; the couple has four boys. Upon his return stateside, Brian and his family moved to California, where he attends the Navy Post Graduate School in Monterey, CA. There Brian is pursuing a master’s in Middle Eastern studies and will be transferred in 2010 to teach Arabic at the United States Air Force Academy.

1990s Melissa (McFate) Randall ’90 moved to Byram, NJ, with her husband and three daughters. She teaches science at Byram Intermediate School as well as working on a master’s degree in special education.

Rebecca (Lilly) McMullan ’91 lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, Scott, and has been homeschooling her children four years.

Sandi (Shaeffer) Brouillette ’92 and her husband, Danny, have bought into the Roly Poly Wrap © sandwich franchise.

They own their own location at downtown Nashville’s Vanderbilt College/Hospital.

The Brouillettes reside in Nashville, TN, with their two children.

Jennie-Rebecca (Stine) Falcetta ’92 received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Connecticut in May 2007.

She is assistant professor of English at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. Jennie-Rebecca and her husband, Anthony ’92, a professional visual artist, reside in Manchester, CT, with their son, Nico (see Births).

Benjamin Eng ’93 launched his own line of luxury men’s tailored clothing this fall on his website: www.eHaberdasher.com.

He has been in the business of selling high-end Italian men’s clothing over the Internet for the past seven years.

Randy Wambold ’93 has been named agency partner at Chen PR, joining founding principals and cofounders Chris Carleton, Barbara Heffner and Barbara Ewen.

Lee Winton ’94 and friends from the class of 1994 have had reunions across the nation since 1996. They have been to the following locations: Londonderry, NH; Seattle, WA; Louisville, KY; Ft. Belvoir, VA; Washington, D.C.; Stratham, NH; Barnegat, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Morrisville, VT; and Ft. Myers, FL. These reunions are mainly oriented towards catching up and having quality “family” time together.

Spring Gouette ’95 released a new CD in June 2008. A song was selected to be on a compilation CD put out by the Eastern Region of Vineyard Churches.

Lanette (Grovesteen) Lepper ’95 is cofounder of the newly formed Military Spouse Business Association (www. milspousebiz.org). Her husband returned from a year’s tour in Afghanistan. The couple is posted at the Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois.

Mark Pitman ’95 is thrilled to announce the publication of his first book, Ask without Fear! A simple guide to connecting donors with what matters to them most. The book was written to ease fundraising worries for nonprofit board members and volunteers. He has also started an online radio show by the same name as his website (www.fundraisingcoach.com), available through iTunes.

Kristin (Goetz) Rodriguez ’96 joined the administrative staff as director of curriculum and instruction in the Georgetown, MA, public school system.

She received her master’s degree in education from Gordon College and her bachelor’s degree in education from Boston University.

Stephen and Joleen (Begin) ’96 Spencer moved to Bowling Green, KY, with their children.

Grace (Hughes) Brockmeyer ’98 released her debut album, Right at Home, in August. The album is a collection of songs influenced by her passion for soul, gospel, jazz and blues. The CD is available on CDbaby.com and Dig Station.com under her artist name, Grace Hughes. Visit her website, www.gracehughes.com, for more information.

David Roberts ’98 graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with a Master of Science in Software Engineering in May 2008. In June, David, his wife, Christy, and their three children moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where he is a

ALUMNI senior applications development engineer with the MITRE Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD).

MITRE CAASD is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center with an international reputation for technical excellence and innovation.

Matthew Rogers ’98 is crafting handmade bass guitars in his workshop in Magnolia, MA. All his guitars are genuine, one-of-akind basses. He considers his guitars to be not only musical instruments but works of art.

Eileen (DesAutels) Wiltshire ’98 is on the Adult Education Curriculum Committee and the Public Relations Committee at Hope Lutheran Church in Virginia Beach, VA. She teaches adult Bible study classes and adult classes.

Eileen and her husband, Leo, are in the process of trying to adopt a child out of the state Foster Care System.

Whitney Hall ’99 recently completed a Master of Divinity and a Master of Business Management at North Park Theological Seminary. She graduated in May 2008 with honors and received the seminary field award. She is copastor of the Covenant Congregational Church of North Easton, MA.

2000s Erin Reeves Kafferlin ’00 moved to Bangor, ME, where her husband, Kurt, is a clerk for the state court system. They have two children.

Sarah Hine ’01 has returned to India as cofounder of Pharma Secure. She did so after completing a fellowship with the American Indian Foundation, a company working to stop the sale of counterfeit medicines in India and Uganda. She would love to hear from you at sarah.hine@gmail.com.

Julie-Ann Scott ’02 is a doctoral candidate in communication theory at the University of Maine. Her research, “Performing Unfeminine Femininity: Bulimic Women’s Personal Narratives as Performance of Identity,” has been published in the Peer Reviewed Academic Journal, Text and Performance Quarterly.

It was also chosen to be featured as a translation article in the National Communication Journal’s web-based periodical Communication Currents. JulieAnn is scheduled to graduate from the University of Maine in May of 2009.

Michael Webster ’02 earned a Master of Science degree in exercise physiology from Montana State University in 2007.

He published the abstract “Reliably Measuring Habitual Free-Living Physical Activity with Hip- and Wrist-Worn Activity Monitors” in Medicine and Science in

NEWS

Sports and Exercise, 40(Suppl), S199. He began a Master of Art program in print journalism at the University of Montana in August.

Practices in Four Puccini Arias: Tempo Choices and Choosers.” He was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society for music.

John Backiel ’03 was hired by the accounting and consulting firm Kosovsky Pratesi & Company LLC, an affiliate financial planning firm of Horizon Financial Advisors LLC. The firm is based in Farmington, CT.

Matthew F. Oosting ’05, a teacher at North Reading High School in North Reading, MA, has been awarded a James Madison Fellowship by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation of Washington, D.C. There were only 58 fellowships awarded nationwide in 2008.

The fellowship supports further study of American history by college graduates who aspire to be teachers of history, American government and social studies in the nation’s secondary schools.

Steven Beaudry ’03 is a third-year medical student at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. He has spent the past year working at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, studying malaria and tropical infectious diseases in a research laboratory. He was the recipient of a Howard Hughes Medical Institute research fellowship for medical students in 2007.

Brian Buell ’03 received his M.B.A. from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University with a concentration in social policy. He is the associate director of The Caleb Group, a nonprofit serving low and moderate income families, the elderly and persons with disabilities at housing communities throughout New England. The Caleb Group was cofounded by Warren Sawyer ’57.

Luke ’03 and Jennifer (Anderson) ’04 Reynolds will be published by Rutgers University Press in the spring/summer of 2009—an anthology for which they edited and collected stories. The anthology, entitled Rescuing Fire from the Rain, explores the theme of risk for positive change, and it will benefit The Save Darfur Coalition. Over 50 authors contributed original essays for the book, including Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer, Pulitzer Prize winners Frank McCourt and Jane Smiley, and bestselling authors Kim Edwards and Barry Glassner.

Jennifer Fry ’04 graduated from the University of Oxford with a master’s degree in Byzantine studies in 2006 and has since worked at an art gallery in Laguna Beach, CA. She is attending law school at Chapman University in Orange County, CA, this fall.

Jessica Stanley ’05 completed a Master of Library and Information Science from Dominican University in River Forest, IL, in May 2008.

Lucas Armstrong ’05 graduated in May from University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, CO, with a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree.

Rachel Studley ’06 has been a missionary in Belize since the end of July.

Weddings Barbara (Parsons) Smith ’55 and W. Norman MacFarlane, Gordon Divinity School ’55, December 12, 2007. The wedding took place in Klamath Falls, OR. Barbara is a retired teacher and Norman is pastor of Westmore Community Church in Lake Willoughby, VT. The couple resides in Orleans, VT. Nanci Rivers and Gordon Potter ’77, November 22, 2007. Nanci works for Life Skills International, an organization that brings healing to wounds from childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, rejection and incest. Gordon and Nanci have a vision to build a vocational ranch community for former prisoners, single moms, battered women and orphans, and integrate the vocational and faith experience of seniors to mentor those coming in. Gordon works at Quincy Place Retirement Community in south Denver. The couple live in Bennett, CO. Jerry Perisella ’79 and Anna Mkhitar, May 24, 2008, at the Saint Jean Baptiste Church in Manhattan, New York. The couple honeymooned at the Saint James Club in Antigua, Caribbean Islands.

Linda Coan ’81B and Frederick Eisman, June 24, 2006, at Biagetti’s restaurant in West Haven, CT. The couple were high school sweethearts and reunited 27 years later. Linda’s oldest daughter, June Coan, was maid of honor, and her younger daughter, Joy Coan, was a bridesmaid.

Linda works at Stop & Shop in Seekonk, MA, and Fred works at Home Depot in West Palm Beach, FL. Linda currently lives in Rhode Island and Fred in Florida; they hope to reside together in West Palm Beach, FL, in the near future.

Joshua Neumann ’05 graduated with a Master of Music in Music History from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in May 2008. His thesis title was “Performance

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 31

ALUMNI

NEWS

Ruth Hariu and Adam Lahti ’98, June 14, 2008, at First Lutheran Church in Holyoke, MA. A reception at the Lord Jeffery Inn in Amherst followed the ceremony. David Lahti ’93 and Jason Fournier ’96 served as groomsmen. Ruth is a graduate student in the English Department at University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Adam is a financial services representative at TD Banknorth. The couple reside in Amherst, MA. Jenifer Laser and Rod Lundregan ’99, May 16, 2008. Rod is a casework supervisor for people with developmental disabilities, and Jeni is a manager for WilliamsSonoma. The couple lives in Reading, PA. Rod can be contacted at rlundregan@ sam-inc.org.

Maria Ahmad ’00 and Jonathan Douglas, August 7, 2004, in Lakewood, NJ. Alumnae in attendance were Sophia Ahmad ’04, Wendy (Mueller) Knosp ’00, Juliette (Hobbs) Rautenberg ’00, and Kathryn (South) Robertson ’00. Maria earned her master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Tyler, and is currently a stay-at-home mom. Jon is a senior mechanical engineer in the Advanced Technology group for Trane Residential Systems. The couple resides in Bullard, TX.

Kim Gregory ’01 and Jonathan Van Wieren, March 24, 2007, in Colorado Springs, CO. Kim is the daughter of Robert ’70B and Joanne (Schnitzer) ’70B Gregory and granddaughter of Dr. Carlton Gregory of Barrington. Kim works for a financial planning firm in Denver, and Jonathan is a police officer in Colorado Springs. The couple resides in Monument, CO.

Melanie Parker ’02 and Ryan Berg, July 12, 2008, at Denny Park Lutheran Church in Seattle, WA. Gordon alumni in attendance were Ben ’04 and Katie (Thomforde) ’02 Hanchett, Jennifer (Swenson) Coffey ’02 and Kelsey (Harris) Walny ’02. Melanie is a third-year resident in family medicine at the University of Washington. The Bergs reside in Seattle, WA.

Elizabeth Evans ’02 and Ben Lohnes, September 1, 2007, at Park Street Church in Boston. They live in Somerville, MA. Timothy Lawrence ’02 and Abigail Gehring ’04, May 10, 2008, in Windham, VT. Lauren Whitnah ’04 served as maid of honor. Rebekka Lidal ’04 was also part of the ceremony.

Audrey Stigall ’02 and Duane Johnsen, May 25, 2008, in Santa Barbara, CA. Alumni in attendance were Gwyneth Jones ’02, Trisha (Bebee) DeYoung ’02, Lisa (Schwabauer) Poblenz ’02, Andrea Arnold ’02, Sarah Pennell ’02, Josh ’02 and Amy (Taylor) ’02 Snead, Sarah Yoder ’06 and Chase Koop ’05. Audrey is the assistant director of residence life at Westmont College, and Duane is a finish carpenter. The couple lives in Santa Barbara, CA.

Priscila Goulart ’01 and Jeremy Anderson ’97, June 24, 2006. Alumni participating in the wedding party were Jeb Bos ’99, Adam MacLeod ’97, Ben Adams ’97, Bryn Gillette ’02, Peter Anderson ’07, Kirsten (Anderson) Gillette ’02, Seth ’00 and Karen (Morrison) ’00 Anderson and Cherri (Moultroup) Anderson ’08. The couple resides in Woburn, MA. Jeremy works as sales director for the Veracross division of Breuer & Co. in Wakefield, MA, and Priscila works as a conference planner at Resource Network Inc. in Framingham, MA. Rebekah Puz ’04 and William David Holland II, June 14, 2008, at Cresset Baptist Church. Participating in the wedding were Laura Johnson ’04, Kristin Schwabauer ’04, Bethany Blain ’04, Amy Puz ’06 and Jeremy Puz ’09.

32 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

ALUMNI Patricia Glennon and Geoffrey Zini ’04, July 28, 2007.

NEWS

Kaitlin Lechowicz ’08 and Daniel Finn ’06, January 19, 2008 in East Hampton, CT. The couple resides in Beverly, MA. Daniel works at the Cummings Center, and Kaitlin works for Starbucks.

Luke Suttmeier ’08 and Allison Kuhns ’09, May 24, 2008. The couple honeymooned in the White Mountains in New Hampshire and resides in Beverly, MA. Luke is working for EBSCO publishing in Ipswich, MA.

Julianne Bub ’05 and Matthew Rulison, April 12, 2008, at Bethlehem Community Church in Delmar, NY. The couple recently bought a house in Valatie, NY. Matt works as a project planner for a remodeling company, and Julianne is in her fourth year teaching high school math at a public school close to their home.

Benjamin Janey ’05 and Nicole Knaut ’05, June 20, 2008. The couple was married at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Rockport, MA. The wedding party was comprised entirely of Gordon alumni: maid of honor Krista Faulks ’04; bridesmaids Bethany Newman ’04 and Katie Burkush ’04; best man Timothy Buma ’05; groomsmen Christian Larsen ’07 and Benjamin Murray ’06.

Emily Bruins ’07 and Caleb Shoemaker ’05, May 25, 2008. Alumni participating in the wedding party were Ben Murray ’06, Emily Brunell ’07 and Sasha Irish ’08. Brian Lake ’04 and Sarah Viekman ’08 were photographers for the wedding, Ryan Wade ’05 was one of the musicians and Joshua Jenkins ’09 was the disc jockey. The couple resides in Michigan, where Caleb works as a director of student ministries for First Presbyterian Church in Trenton.

Christina Grimm ’07 and John Beebe ’06, July 20, 2008, in Doylestown, PA. The couple resides in Wayne, PA. Christina has one year left in graduate work at Villanova University, and John is working for PNC Global Investment Servicing. There were 32 Gordon alumni and two former staff at the wedding.

Daughter Emma Dru to James ’88 and Sandi (Nicol) ’90 Hickey, April 18, 2008.

The family resides in Manchester, MA. Daughter Haley Ella to Gary ’90 and Sandy Nelson, October 12, 2007. She joins sisters Emily and Rachel.

Son Nico James to Anthony ’92 and Jennie-Rebecca (Stine) ’94 Falcetta, August 24, 2008. Nico’s maternal grandfather is Dr. Peter W. Stine, recently retired from Gordon’s English Department.

Daughter Korli Lisette to Jeff ’94 and Karin Clapper, February 14, 2008. She joins big sisters Kayli, Kelsi and Kinsi. Karin is enjoying staying home with the children, and Jeff is teaching high school math in West York, PA, and college part-time as well as refereeing soccer games.

Daughter Anna Mei to Dano and Jennifer (Wolff) ’94 Jukanovich. Anna was adopted on September 18, 2007, in Jiangxi, China. Jennifer serves on the board of Children’s Hope Chest, an organization that provides orphan care to children in Russia, Swaziland and Uganda.

The family plans to travel this fall to see the work of Children’s Hope Chest in Uganda and visit Jennifer’s former Gordon roommate Anne (Ndunda) Mugofwa (here from Daystar, spring 1993) in Kenya.

Jill Conklin ’06 and Alexander Frazier ’05, October 28, 2007, in Philadelphia, PA. Alumni in the wedding party were Nathaniel Frazier ’06, Stuart Frazier ’09 and Greg Hood ’05. Alumni attending the event were Rebecca Lambertson ’05, Julie (McEwan) ’04 and Robbie ’04 Stevens, Megan Foster ’06, Ashley Feleen ’06, Dylan Ross ’06 and Jessica Lakeway ’06. The couple resides in Needham, MA.

Son Connor Nicholas to Jeff and Heidi (Scovill) ’96 Golden, November 19, 2007.

He joins sister Lillian Jane. The family resides in Portland, OR.

Kelly Kularski ’06 and Matthew Kilbourn, July 5, 2008, at the First Congregational Church in North Brookfield, MA. Members of the wedding party included Gordon alumnae Rachel (Laliberte) Tolley ’05, Heather (Morgan) Barse ’06 and Laura (Schweiger) Hohman ’06. Kelly and Matt live in Foxboro, MA, where Matt works as an engineer. Kelly teaches math at Douglas High School in Douglas, MA. Jaron Foster and Megan Pope ’06, July 5, 2008, in Barre, VT. Megan works as an administrative assistant at Washington South Supervisory Union in Northfield, VT. The couple resides in Montpelier, VT.

Births and Adoptions

Daughter Lilah Faith to Nicolas ’96 and Kerrin (Volk) ’97 Hage, July 29, 2008.

Lilah joins sisters Olivia and Ella-Amelia.

Daughter Abigail Corinne to Brian and Amy (Clemens) ’96 Jankins, January 24, 2008.

Kara Raychard ’07 and Benjamin Wu ’07, December 28, 2007. Alumni participating in the wedding were Michael Smith ’07 and Bethany (Raychard) Lindsey ’04. Ben and Kara reside in Hollis, ME.

Son Joshua Jadon to Timothy ’96 and Kara (Zambito) ’95 Osborne, June 8, 2008. The family resides in Little Falls, NJ. Tim has been the youth minister at Grace PCUSA in Montclair, NJ, for six years. Kara enjoys staying home to care for their boys.

Son Lucas Jacob to Stephen and Joleen (Begin) ’96 Spencer, January 23.

He joins siblings Stephen Wesley and Allyson Marion.

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 33

Daughter Abigail Grace to Cory ’97 and Melanie (LaPrade) ’97 Ward, May 23, 2008.

Daughter Charlotte Rachel to Luke ’98 and Kristiana (Melvin) ’00 Pekrul, September 21, 2007. She joins sisters Victoria and Madeline.

Have a Seat: Gordon College Bench Program Sometimes you just need to sit down. To review your notes one more time before an exam. To laugh with a new friend or read a letter from home. To reflect on what you just heard in chapel. . . .

With the hectic pace of college life, it’s important to slow down and sit every now and then.

Nothing signals this better than a wooden bench along the path.

That’s why Gordon College envisions placing over 100 new benches around campus. We want to invite students and faculty alike to have a seat, to take a break from the busy demands of college life and rest for a while.

And we’re looking for alumni and friends of Gordon College to help us. Perhaps you’d like to honor the memory of a favorite professor, pastor or friend. Or your alumni class is looking for a way to leave its mark and give back to Gordon.

Maybe you would like to honor or memorialize a family member.

With your tax-deductible gift of $5,000 you will help us purchase a commemorative outdoor bench to enhance the beauty of the Gordon College campus. Each bench will have a brass recognition plaque and be placed on campus in a place of your choosing. Truly, leaving a legacy at Gordon College has never been easier.

For more information Bob Grinnell Vice President for Development 978 867 4005 bob.grinnell@gordon.edu

Son Robin Alexander to Bobby and Sidney (Shelton) ’98 Youngs, August 3, 2007.

Daughter Eva Maisie to Ben ’99 and Denise (Haag) ’99 Gammell, September 5, 2007.

Son Matthias Gabriel to Joerg and Cheri (Waite) ’99 Haustein, June 10, 2008. He joins adoring big sister Emma. The family lives in Heidelberg, Germany.

Daughter Hannah Noemi to Aseiu and Noemi (Toth) ’99 Putsure, February 14, 2007.

Son Edras Justin to Justin and Kristen (Lucas) ’00 Bond, December 13, 2006.

Adopted from Guatemala August 9, 2007.

Daughter Caroline Judith to Jeffrey and Jennifer (Wironen) ’00 Corson, July 23, 2008. She joins sisters Ava and Natalie.

Daughter Brielle Grace to Maria (Ahmad) ’00 and Jonathan Douglas, June 17, 2008.

The family lives in Bullard, TX. Son Kristofor Brigham to Kris and Rachel (Bashaw) ’00 Elvgren, April 16, 2008.

Daughter Marilyn Jean to Mark and Lindsey (Webster) ’00 Ward, October 26, 2007. Mike Webster ’02 is her uncle. The Wards reside in Nevada City, CA. Son Jacob Daniel to Anders ’01 and Sarah Anderson, June 6, 2008. He joins sister Eliana Pelagie. The family resides in Tucson, AZ, where Anders and Sarah work for the University of Arizona.

Son Samuel Brenton to Stuart and Marnie (Shrader) ’01 Geltman, September 29, 2007. Marnie graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Master of Arts in Teaching in 2005 and resides in New York City, where she teaches second grade.

Son Preston James to Chris ’03 and Amy (Beers) ’04 Mason, May 29, 2008.

Daughter Bailey Rose to Jeremy and Angela (Linsalato) ’03 Shaw, May 22, 2008. They live in Westchester County, NY. Noah Chamberlain to Nick and Kate (Chamberlain) ’05 Clark, June 18, 2008.

In Memoriam Loring Peabody Wilkins ’46, May 16, 2008. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Lansdale, PA, and chaplain of Elm Terrace Gardens for several years.

He served a number of New England churches and was a chaplain in the U.S. Navy Reserves, eight and a half years on active duty in many different locations.

Prior to moving to Elm Terrace Gardens, he was chaplain at Christ’s Home in Warminster, PA, for 12 years.

Clara Meyer Hess ’47B, May 28, 2008.

She graduated from Lancaster General School of Nursing and Providence Bible School and is best remembered for her missionary career in Haiti 1947–1980.

Subsequent to her service in Haiti as a medical missionary with UFM International (now CROSSWORLD), Clara was instrumental in the founding of Dial-A-Prayer Ministry at her church, and for many years served as one of its counselors.

Helen Sension ’48, March 23, 2008.

Harry Egner ’49, May 16, 2008. He was an ordained minister for 50 years.

His ministry led him to churches in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Massachusetts.

Marion (Fletcher) Becker ’54, April 29, 2008. A realtor for many years on the North Shore, she retired in 2004. Marion was active in the First Congregational Church of Hamilton and the Church of the Nazarene, Beverly. Marion loved her family, enjoyed being with them and was very proud of all their accomplishments.

Lillian Munger ’54B, March 18, 2008. She resided in Clinton, MA, for most of her life and loved her little house there, sharing it with her brother until his death. Prior to her retirement in 1996 she worked at Cheeseborough Ponds and the Cramer Company as a switchboard operator and buyer. Lillian loved children, and although she never married and had children of her own, she was active for many years as a Sunday school teacher, as a Pioneer Girl leader and choir director. Lillian was an active member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Old Saybrook, MA. Her sweet singing voice is what those who knew her will remember best.

John Pressey ’55, August 8, 2008. He is survived by his son and five daughters. His career as an ordained minister spanned several decades in various churches in Maine and Massachusetts.

David Allan Hoffer ’61, May 9, 2008. He served in ministry for 47 years as a pastor in North Carolina, a missionary in Bolivia and a director of BCM International. He was also involved in several short-term mission trips all over the world.

Dan Jacques ’62, July 1, 2007, after a two-year battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He is survived by his wife, Judy x’64, and their three children.

ALUMNI Leslie Stiles Jr. ’71B, May 21, 2008.

Kenneth Gene Coan ’80B, June 2, 2008.

He is survived by his wife, Kori Reneke, and ex-wife Linda (Dowdell) Eisman ’81B, and daughters June and Joy Coan.

He worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Rhode Island as a technical support employee for 15 years. He relocated to Florida in 2002 for health reasons. He was a devoted Denver Broncos fan.

the game fun while producing winning and successful teams. In the early 1970s he went to great lengths to ensure the success of Title IX and equality for women in athletics. He is survived by his wife, Grace.

Robert Sutton ’50B, March 20, 2008.

His life motto, “You are never doing as well as you could be,” showed in his

NEWS

constant quest for self-improvement.

Robert achieved the rank of major in the United States Army and later led Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) in Gloucester, MA. His teaching career continued at Gordon College, where he was a professor of English. He also served as the vice-president at Endicott College and was dean of the graduate school at Lesley College.

Deborah (Barclay) Madeddu ’81B, June 17, 2007. She is the daughter of John Barclay ’54B. Melinda Sharpe ’07, June 3, 2008.

Melinda was an avid reader and writer.

She loved comedic films starring Lucille Ball and Bob Hope, and the music of Bing Crosby and Al Jolson. She is survived by her mother, Diane (Gosselin) Sharpe ’82, stepfather Bernie Mazza, her father Gary Sharpe ’78 and her twin sister, Carissa ’07.

Faculty and Staff in Memoriam Marion E. Carter, July 7, 2008.

Throughout her life Marion excelled in academics. She received her B.A. in French from Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, and her M.A. in romance languages and two Ph.D.s from Catholic University of America and Georgetown University, both in Washington, DC. Mary Evelyn Ketcham, February 3, 2009.

Longtime supporter and friend of the College, she was the wife of the late Leymon W. “Deak” Ketcham, director of development at Gordon from 1960 until his death in 1966. Among the many family members surviving her are alumni Margaret “Marnie” (Kerr) Ketcham ’66; David ’70 and Claudia (Houston) ’71 Ketcham; Wendell ’73 and Brooke (Mackie) ’75 Ketcham; Geoffrey Ketcham ’80; Jonathan Ketcham ’96; and Lindsey (Ketcham) Peabody ’01.

C. Raymond Loring, September 6, 2008.

Ray was an adjunct professor of music at Gordon, teaching music composition since 2006. He was an accomplished outdoorsman and hiker, completing the famous “New Hampshire 48” and “New England 67,” two lists of the region’s top trails. He studied piano with the White House pianist for presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Ray scored nearly 100 episodes for the PBS series NOVA as well as other programs for PBS and the History Channel. In recent years he served as a board member of Emmaus Road Ministries and was actively involved in local and international Christian ministries.

Miles Strodel, June 27, 2008. Miles was a former Gordon director of athletics.

When he was a basketball coach and camp director he was known to keep

Barrington Alumni Reconnect Barrington alumni, pictured in the Barrington Center for the Arts, reconnected during Homecoming Weekend. Among them are current Gordon faculty and staff: Jim Trent, sociology; Roger Green and Marvin Wilson, biblical and theological studies; Stephen MacLeod, college counsel. More reunion photos: www.gordon.edu/sabichphotos

Submission Guidelines We accept alumni news in any form—if possible, however, please send electronically: www.gordon.edu/alumninews.

Deadline for the Summer 2009 issue is May 1; for the Fall 2009 issue is September 1. bb Give graduation year and maiden names (if applicable) for all alumni mentioned, including wedding participants and deceased. bb Give exact position titles and company names, and locations (city and state) when appropriate. Spell out acronyms when appropriate.

STILLPOINT reserves the right to edit alumni news for clarity and space limitations. No engagements, please. We will not publish email addresses unless you give permission.

PHONE 978 867 4238

bb We publish photos primarily of weddings and alumni gatherings; we are no longer able to publish baby photos.

FAX 978 867 4672

bb Photos should be in focus and have good contrast. Digital photos should be

MAIL Gordon College Office of Alumni and Parent Relations 255 Grapevine Road, Wenham MA 01984

at least 300 dpi for best results in print.

Please send photos as attachments rather than embedded in the email.

ONLINE www.gordon.edu/alumninews

EMAIL alumni.office@gordon.edu

Spring 2009 | STILLPOINT 35

Barbara Faulkner ’54B David ’45B, ’61 and Muriel Franz

Audrey ’53B Rice

Gordon ’56 and Martha ’55 Danielson

David Milley ’75 Dean ’83 and Nancy Oliver

Dorothy Galbraith

Douglas ’75 and Karen Rieck

Judith Dean ’78

Ronald Perry ’65

Paige Gibbs ’69

David ’74B and

Donald ’53 and Elaine Dickinson

Rico and Elsie Petrocelli

Edward and Janet Dietz

Ken and Donna Phillips

Deighton ’50 and

Tracy and Dan Pierce

Lee Giobbie ’06

Joyce ’75B Ruppell

Robert Greene ’51B

Dan and Kathleen Russ

Frederick and Juliet Griffin

Bradford ’91 and

Barb ’81 and Bob ’81 Grinnell

Founder’s Circle

Walter ’49B and

Sharon ’92 Salmon

Alice ’50B Douglin

Mimi and Ronald Pruett

Debbie and Roger Drost

Richard Reed

Carol ’78 and Thomas ’77 Gruen

Warren ’57 and Joan Sawyer

Arnold ’61 and Mary ’60 Ellsworth

Chad ’94 and Jenny ’93 Robinson

Paul and Rebecca Gyra

Mark ’03 and

Thomas and Susan Englund

Jeffrey ’92 and Kari ’91 Rourke

Timothy ’00 and Kiera Erickson

Richard ’53 and

Steve and Jane Hager

Shannon ’06 Schreiber

Lloyd G. Balfour Trust

Eldon and Grace Hall

Schuyler ’76 and Johanna Shipley

Robert ’60 and Joyce Ferguson

Linda ’70 and David Carlson

Roger and Sherley Hannay

Barbara Skinner

Sherwood ’59 and Julie Frost

Grosvenor and Marjorie Rust

Barbara and Donald Chase

Steven ’74 and Debra Harding

Bradley ’88 and Claudia ’90 Small

Michael and Ann Givens

Robert Schisler ’85

Christian Book Distributors

Charles ’86 and Lisa ’89 Harvey

David ’79 and Elizabeth Smith

Stephanie ’98 and Simon Goodall

Ruth Schmidt

Thomas and Barbara Denmark

Heidi ’85 and Douglas Hawkins

Warren ’98 and Tressa ’98 Smith

Lois Goyer ’56B

Scott ’90 and Karyn Schneider

Nola and Charles Falcone

David ’84 and Elaine Hayes

Peter ’88 and Elizabeth ’89 Stahl

Laura Headley

Donald ’59 and Shelby ’61 Scott

Fred and Nancy Gale

Carol Herrick

G. Alan and Jane Steuber

Robert and Betty Herrmann

Chen ’86 and Alice Shi

King’s Grant Foundation

Peter and Jo Dee Herschend

Peter Stine

Ron and Donna Hilton

Linda ’64 and Robert Siddon

David Jodice ’75

Herbert Hess

James and Sally Stirling

Jeffrey ’88 and

Olli ’68 and Denise Silander

Jack Kallis

Robert ’56 and

Mark ’78 and Judy Stockwell

Frances ’56 Hinckley

Raymond and Priscilla Lee Ellen ’90 and Charles Pepin

Diane ’86 and Ken Hodge

Schrafft Charitable Trust

Doreen Morris ’74 and Bert Hodges

Mary and David Shahian

Jonna ’85 Horrigan

Dorothy ’50 Rung

Loren and Colleen Sloat

Richard and Martha Stout

Dwayne Huebner

John and Brenda Soucy

Marla ’75 and

Gordon and

Thomas and Mary Stadt

Bradford ’76 Stringer Rebecca ’02 and

Stephen and Vera Sypko

Shelley and Mary Ellen Ivey

Virginia Tavilla ’55

William ’78 and Ann Johnson

Janice ’96 and Stanley Tedford

Chris and Eva Trefz

Pearl Homme ’47

Brad and Pamela Warner

Roy and Beverly Honeywell

David and Marcia Swenson

John and Susan Kent

Elizabeth Thompson

Arlene ’04 and Gordon Hood

Brock ’84 and Gina Swetland

Jack and Deborah Lawrence

Harold and Diane Toothman

David ’65 and Irmgard Howard

Ann Tappan

Pam ’81 and Charlie Lazarakis

Laurie and John Truschel

James ’82 and Sydney Humphrey

Mark and Carol Taylor

Eric ’91 and Catherine ’94 Lindsay

Joanne Waldner ’74

Jane and Robb Austin

Roger ’80 and Barbara Huseland

Gary ’76 and

Richard and Carolyn Lippmann

Meirwyn and Nina Walters

Thomas and Patricia Gawlak

Skip Hussey ’63

Byron ’90 and Kristin ’92 List

Wendell and Jolene Weaver

John ’78 and Leslie Gurley

Randi ’85 and Tim Hutchinson

Nancy ’65 and John Tobey

Michael ’85 and

Dwayne and Cindy Webber

Darlene ’74 and

Frederick ’59 and

Russell and Jean Tupper

President’s Circle

Alma ’75 Ivor-Campbell

Daniel ’74 Kuzmak

Andrew ’01 Stuart

Jane Anne Hugenberger

Patricia ’76 Thorburn

Elizabeth ’87 Loomis

Thomas Weis ’83

Dan and Andrea Tymann

Barry and Donna Loy

Ruth Wessel ’49

David and Sheila Larson

Ross and Emily Jones

Jon ’83 and Carlene Tymann

Douglas and Maria MacDonald

Beth ’87 and Daniel White

R. Preston ’85 and Pamela Mason

Edward L. and Ruth Jones

William ’52 and Nancy ’55 Udall

Gordon and Gail MacDonald

John Willis ’03

Raymond and Norma Unsworth

Bruce MacKilligan ’58B

Barbara ’64 and Roger Winn

Charitable Trust

Stephen Oliver Emily ’04 and Andrew ’04 Ryan

Robert and Meredith Joss

James and Barbara Vander Mey

Richard ’75 and Susan Malloch

M. McCormick Wolf

Thomas and Lyn Shields

Howard ’52 and Hazel Keeley

Silvio Vazquez ’87 and Theresa

Jan ’78 and Wes McClure-Brown

Timothy ’73 and

Steve and Claire Tavilla

Kirsten ’90 and Andrew Keith

Lorie ’90 and Brian Thomas

Rob and Connie Lawrence

Richard and Jayne Waddell

Clyde ’58 and Nancy Wynia

Philip Lee ’82

Wallace Wadman

Suannah and David Young

Edward and

Eric and Edris Watson

Judy Ann LeNormand

Sponsor’s Circle

Martha ’73 and Michael Linehan

Morin-Vazquez ’86

Warren ’04 Wegrzyn Jay and Cathie Wegrzyn

Elizabeth ’85 and Ralph Aarons

Jim and Joyce MacDonald

John and Janice Weir

Katharine and Marlan Allen

Steve and Robin MacLeod

Robert ’73 and Shirley Werth

Joyce ’58 and Harold Anderson

Michelle ’02 and Raji Manasseh

Pauline ’57 and Marvin Wilson

Abigail Baird ’03

Kenneth and Susan Martin

Richard and Gail Wilson

Jeffrey ’81 and Blanca Baker

Sara ’94 and Joshua ’95 Martinelli

Theodore and Susan Wood

Marion Bean ’50B

Marjorie McClintock ’90

Thomas ’68 and Linda ’69 Zieger

John ’53 and Beverly Beauregard

Karen McHugh ’83

David Belman

R. Bancroft ’68B and

Henry ’77 and Maureen Beyer

Jolene Nakagura

Thales and Sally Bowen

at Gordon. bb A growing number of Gordon faculty and staff

students’ lives.

Cathy ’80 and Frank Nackel

Charlotte Baker ’64

Charles and Elaine Cadle

Nathaniel and Caroline Nash

Philip ’82 and Kathleen Beattie

Nancy ’85 and Gregory Cannon

David ’71 and Helgi Nelson

Ruth Bennett ’65B

Roy Carlson

Donald ’90 and Theresa Nelson

Eric ’89 and

Priscilla ’60 and William Carter

Bill and Chelle Nickerson

John ’69 and Jean Chang

Raymond ’54B and

Andrea ’89 Bergstrom Cinderella ’68 and James Berry Phillip ’64 and Linda ’65 Bonard

James ’84 and Linda ’86 Nooney

Charles ’61 and Carole Brutto

William and Patricia Crawley

Terry and Janice Overton

Nancy and William Burns

William and Ellen Cross

Jon Park ’03

Ronald and Barbara Burwell

Linda ’71 and Douglas Crowell

Kathleen Coyne and

Sandy ’93 and Dave Butters

Robert Parlee

of Gordon grads or students currently enrolled

support but also the blessing it is to be a part of

Cedric ’87 and Lisa ’87 Buettner

Edna Della Barba ’51

bb Nearly 30 percent of our Partners are parents

Peter Allen ’69 Thomas and Jean Askew

Randall ’67 Collins

faculty and staff, and friends.

A.P. Vending & Amusement Co.

David ’71 and Nancy Mering

Doris ’52B Nickerson

Partners include alumni, parents, trustees, Gordon

are joining Partners because they interact daily

Robert and Nancy Bradley

Patricia ’68 and

Who are Partners?

Associate’s Circle

Kathleen McKittrick Jerrold McNatt and

Georgette Woodruff

Danielle ’05 and

Caleb and Bronwyn ’87 Loring

Paul and Joan Bergmann

Steven and Janet Miller

with students, witnessing both the need to

bb Younger alumni—who received support from Partners—want to give back to a program that impacted them. bb New Partners—like you—are joining every day to help address the financial needs of our students.

Partners recipients are students who often work a summer job and a full-time job during the school year to help acquire the finances they need to attend

Ernest and Eileen Cecilia

Gordon but still fall short. They are inspired knowing

Daniel and Flo Dinzik

Malcolm and Joyce Patterson

Lisa Coderre ’84

our Partners contribute to their education without

Brian ’98 and Jean ’96 Donaldson

Eric and Cynthia Phillips

Casey Cooper ’03

Charles and Sarah Pickell

John ’84 and Linda ’84 Cyr

even knowing who they are. Will you be a part of

Kenneth and Helen Durgin Curtis ’81 and Joanne ’83 Ersing

Gordon ’60 and Doris Pierce

Matthew ’96 and Kristen ’96 Daly

Earl ’74 and Linda Farmer

Bill and Evie Reed

36 STILLPOINT | Spring 2009

their support system?

Photo Gabe Davis ’02

Gordon did an excellent job teaching us what it means to be part of a community—we still enjoy community through church, work and friends because of that. The people we met at Gordon are some of our closest friends.

Jim ’01 and Emily (Cushing) ’02 Grumbine

A Community That Keeps On Giving Jim and Emily Grumbine have a heart for community, people and Gordon.

Jim studied movement science, traveled with sports teams as an athletic trainer and played lacrosse; Emily was a communications major who toured Europe with the College Choir and did a summer internship with a Christian radio station.

Today both work and live on the North Shore of Boston, building on the community they established as students. In fact, Jim is about to launch a new clothing company. “One hundred percent of the people I have contracted with are Gordon graduates,” Jim says. Emily and Jim enjoy taking friends to College events to share a place they love. “We continue to be impressed with Gordon’s use of national speakers who challenge us to think outside our world—look at a global community that can be reached, learned from, and brought back and taught to others.”

Jim and Emily feel blessed with what Gordon gave and continues to give them. Because they want future students to enjoy these same blessings, they give to The Partners Program. “When a college is integral in the ongoing education and growth of its members long after they have left its grounds, it is truly committed to community building. If Gordon can continue to prepare students to do great things after they graduate, Emily and I want to support the College any way we can.”

The Partners Program The Partners Program provides scholarship support to financially deserving students, awarding every dollar directly to students who are studying to serve and lead in every career field, including the sciences, the arts, education, ministry, health care, social services, computer technology and others.

Giving If you’d like to make a gift to Gordon, contact John Willis, development gifts officer.

Contact John Willis 978 867 4574 john.willis@gordon.edu www.gordon.edu/partners

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

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Annunciation oil, acrylic and gold leaf on panel, 10 x 5 x 2 inches © 2006

Tanja Butler painter and printmaker

Annunciation depicts an intersection of time and eternity in the moment of decision offered Mary by the archangel Gabriel. Mary, by accepting God’s invitation, opens the door to God’s redemption, the door shut since the Fall.

The bottom panel depicts the biblical narrative within time and human history while the upper panel refers to the activity in eternity, symbolized by the gold background.

Mary’s conception has been likened in medieval and Byzantine theology to the image of the burning bush. Just as Mary contained God in her physical body, a miracle similar to the bush not consumed by the divine flame, the Japanese paper lamp behind Mary holds light within fragile, combustible material.

A ladder between history and eternity has now been established. The barren Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil recedes as faith and assent provide access to the Tree of Life, described as a folk art motif. The ladder from Jacob’s dream refers to the cross, a connection between heaven and earth.

Tanja Butler, M.A., associate professor of art, has displayed work in many solo and group exhibitions and participated in a number of print portfolios, including The Florence Portfolio, now part of the Armand Hammer Collection of Art and the Vatican Museum of Contemporary Religious Art.