July 2021 vol.
The
MUSTANG CONNECTION
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no. 7
A PUBLICATION of THE MASTER’S UNIVERSITY
TMU GRAD SCOTT MABS NEVER PLANNED ON BEING THE CEO OF AN ORGANIC FRUIT COMPANY.
HIS GOAL WAS JUST TO BE FAITHFUL.
WELCOME to THE MUSTANG CONNECTION. NOT EVERYONE WHO GRADUATES FROM THE MASTER’S UNIVERSITY LEAVES KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT TO DO FOR A CAREER (MAYBE YOU CAN RELATE). What they do have is a strong foundation in their area of study and a clear understanding of the excellence Scripture calls them to in the workplace, the church and the home. So, it’s always encouraging to hear stories about alumni like Scott Mabs — who you’ll meet on page 11 — who are shining as lights for Christ in every area God has called them to. Mabs, the CEO of Homegrown Organic Farms in Porterville, California, wasn’t sure what God had in store for him after graduating in 1995. But Scott was committed to trusting Christ every step of the way (even when it cost him). We hope you’ll be inspired by his journey — and by the nutrition and fitness tips offered on page 7 by David Larsen, the chair of TMU’s Department of Kinesiology. If you haven’t already, we’d love it if you signed up at masters.edu/the-mustang-connection to receive this magazine via email each month. C O V E R P H OT O BY M A R K F I N S T E R
CONTENTS
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Right Out of the Gate
M A S T E R’S I N M I N I S T RY:
Nicolas & Venessa Ellen
The Definition of Health by P R O F. D AV I D L A R S E N
A Refreshing Perspective
Some Viruses Can Be … Good?
Alumni Job Board
Scholarship Highlight July
2021
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RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE
CAMPUS
HIGHLIGHTS 01
D R . M AT T H E W M C L A I N S P E N T PA RT OF HIS SUMMER ON A DINOSAUR DIG
This summer, Dr. Matthew McLain was out in Wyoming participating in a dinosaur dig, alongside TMU alumna Noël Grimes and current student Charles Frederico. McLain also recently had an article published in the journal PALAIOS about another dinosaur bonebed he has worked on in the past, and TMU grad Keifer Bohnstedt was included on the publication.
IN WYOMING.
02 CAMPUS UPGRADES continue as we get ready for the semester to start next month. The library is undergoing a considerable renovation, complete with new collaboration rooms. Outside, the new Under the Oaks patio area is expected to be ready for students when they return in August. In addition, residents of Waldock and Hotchkiss will notice updates to their dorm interiors.
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03 TMU’S SUMMER SPORTS CAMPS have been a huge success, with some of them completely maxing out their capacity. As always, the school is enjoying the opportunity to serve the local community with its facilities and the expertise of the Mustang athletic teams.
04 Last month, Dr. Grant Horner and staff member Jacob Cervantes represented TMU’s classical liberal arts program at Repairing the Ruins, a classical Christian education conference in Dallas sponsored by the Association of Classical Christian Schools. TMU's booth interacted with educators, schools, parents and students who already appreciate the value of private Christian education.
UPCOMING
EVENTS JULY 28–31
The Origins 2021 conference is happening July 28–31. This is a joint meeting of the Creation Biology, Creation Geology, and Creation Theology societies. The event will be in a hybrid format this year, with the option to attend online or at one of three locations, including TMU’s campus. The science faculty of Master’s will be attending, and registration is open to the public. For those interested, tickets are available at https://bit.ly/3xhfkNb.
SEPTEMBER 11
On Sept. 11, TMU will host TheoTech 2021: God, Technology, and Man, a conference that will explore technology from the standpoint of biblical theology. The event will take place at Placerita Bible Church (adjacent to TMU’s campus). Speakers include Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. Abner Chou, Dr. Tai-Danae Bradley, Dr. Joe Francis and Dr. Joey Kim. For more information, visit masters.edu/theotech.
AUGUST 11
TMU’s student-athletes always get an early jump on the semester. Before all of the school’s returning students make it back to campus on August 28, the fall athletes will be moving back into the dorms and beginning their training for the season. TMU’s first event of the year will be a men’s soccer scrimmage in Bakersfield on August 11. You can find schedules for TMU’s fall athletic teams at gomustangs.com.
AUGUST 20
On August 20 at 7 p.m., TMU will host a concert honoring the school’s past and present music faculty. Over the years, Dr. Ken Mays has written hymn arrangements dedicated to his colleagues, and in August they will be performed in honor of these saints’ faithful service to the Lord. You are invited to join them in the Music Recital Hall for this unique event. For more details, email music@masters.edu.
AUGUST 21
August 21 will mark the first day of the Week of Welcome for fall 2021, and TMU is very excited to have its incoming students on campus. In the meantime, resident directors will be on their yearly retreat from July 26 to August 6, and resident assistants will have their retreat from August 9 to August 14. The rest of the student leadership team will be returning on August 16. July
2021
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FEATURE BEST OF
THE WEB MASTER’S IN MINISTRY
VIDEO
NICOLAS & VENESSA ELLEN
Watch at masters.edu/tmu-media
ALUMNI FOCUS: SCOTT MABS
PODCASTS
EP. 6: PROF. DAVID CRATER ON WHETHER A.I. SHOULD HAVE HUMAN RIGHTS
6 Listen at masters.edu/tmu-media
EP.122: TEACHING WHAT IS GOOD — A Q&A ON TITUS 2:3-5
EP. 24: AN INTERVIEW with AQUATICS DIRECTOR GABE WOODWARD
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NEWS ARTICLES
Read the full stories at masters.edu/news
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As a high-schooler, Chloe Johnson spent time with volleyball players from The Master's University. After that, she says she knew exactly where she wanted to go to school.
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Allison Pari has always loved animals. But until a few years ago, she never thought seriously about becoming a veterinarian. Now she's headed to UC Davis, the top veterinary school in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report.
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NICOLAS (MABC, ’06) VENESSA (MABC, ’08)
CHILDREN LINDSEY - 34 VENEZIA - 32
GRANDCHILDREN JEREMIAH - 14 BLAKE - 13 ELIZA - 9 ANDREW - 7
I AM THE SENIOR PASTOR OF COMMUNITY OF FAITH BIBLE CHURCH IN HOUSTON, TEXAS. I planted the church over 11 years ago. My wife, Venessa, is the church administrator and women’s ministry director. Venessa also established a ministry called Real Life Women’s Ministry, where she ministers to women through her cooking show
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Community of Faith Bible Church
7000 Regency Square Blvd. #220, Houston, TX 77036 Nicolas Ellen, Senior Pastor Venessa Ellen, Women’s Ministry Director
Vertical Life Church
(Real Life Cooking), talk show (Real Life Conversations) and her Bible study for women (Real Life Convictions). We also have a biblical counseling training center called Expository Counseling Training
12414 N Eldridge Parkway, Cypress, TX 77429 John Kiningham, Lead Pastor
Center, where we train people around
Founders Baptist Church
biblical counseling. Please pray that God
the world in the premise and practice of
24724 Aldine Westfield Rd., Spring, TX 77373 Richard Caldwell, Pastor-Teacher
would bless us with a church building.
Grace Community Bible Church
for the last five years. Also pray that God
24422 Kuykendahl Rd, Tomball, TX 77375 Jason Whitley, Senior Pastor
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Second Baptist Church-North Campus
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Lakeside Bible Church
We have been meeting at a local school would sustain our health and ministry work for years to come.
22770 US-59, Houston, TX 77339 James R. Brooks, Bible Study Teacher
18940 Freeport Drive, Montgomery, TX 77356 Ken Ramey, Pastor-Teacher Kyle Jenison, Student Pastor
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2021
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OFFICE HOURS
In some ways, defining health can be as difficult as actually staying healthy. by P R O F. D A V I D L A R S E N
Age, location, socioeconomic status, social norms and the barrage of misinformation available collectively make defining health elusive. How does one strive for something that is so difficult to define and understand a concept with so many different facets? With insight from Scripture, we learn that physical health is part of worship, and that worship is the appropriate motivation for a healthy lifestyle. As Christ followers, we have a clear narrative for spiritual health in Scripture. Luke 10:27 says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” A heart, soul, mind and strength continually inclined toward the Lord demonstrate a healthy relationship with Him. As believers, we might contemplate whether physical health has any importance when compared to spiritual health. Do we ignore or regard other aspects of health as less important? Or does Scripture inform us that they are all integrally linked? Looking again at Luke 10:27, Scripture tells us to love the Lord God with everything He has given us: soul, mind and body. And we are to do this with “all our strength.” This does not specifically mean only bodily efforts but instead mirrors the exhortation of 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” While bodily care is not our top priority as believers, we are commanded to wisely take care of what we have been given. Since we are called to good stewardship, what does taking care of the body we have been given look like? As with other areas of life, we must identify a balance. Scripture encourages hard work and warns of the sin of idleness (2 Thessalonians 3:10-11; 2 Timothy 2:6; Proverbs 21:25; 1 Timothy 4:8). Conversely, orthorexia is a diagnosis that involves “an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy.” The “some value” of 1 Timothy 4:8 speaks to the balance we need as we approach fitness and nutrition. The pursuit of fitness cannot be allconsuming. We need to understand that spiritual health is the priority but that there is value in pursuing fitness. In light of that, here are some practical exercise and nutrition tips I hope you’ll find helpful.
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Exercise Tips: Exercise Tips: Exercise 1 Tips:
establish your motive: Pursue fitness with the right motivation — worshipping the Creator.
2 find an exercise partner: Find a friend or family member to share in your quest for fitness. Accountability is essential.
3 warm up and cool down: We tend to forget these important aspects of working out. But as you age, it will be increasingly difficult to meet the goals of your exercise routine without a warm-up and cool-down, as the risk of excessive soreness and injury will increase.
6 find a pro: Invest in a high-quality program. Supervision is critical for proper technique, and you will benefit from someone else’s expertise. I recommend working with a personal trainer at first until you have mastered movements and exercises and have created a habit.
nutrition Tips: nutrition Tips: nutrition 1 Tips:
establish your motive: As with exercise, we must pursue proper nutrition with the right motive — worship.
2 keep it simple: 4 keep it simple and fun: Park farther away from your destination. Use the stairs instead of an elevator. Find an active hobby or join a community fitness class. Walk at least 10-15 minutes after meals.
5 train movements, not muscles:
Focus on functional, ground-based, whole-body exercises (squats, lunges, burpees, and standing pushing and pulling activities) instead of singlejoint exercises. Training the core should involve anti-rotation and anti-extension exercises. Core exercises (sit-ups) and stretching exercises that involve lumbar spine flexion or too much rotation can be injurious to intervertebral discs. Exercises such as front planks and side planks are a better option for core, as you perform them with a neutral core.
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Eat different colors of fruits and vegetables daily. This ensures that you are getting a wide range of essential nutrients and fiber.
3 focus on quality: Eat high-quality carbohydrates (whole grains), proteins (lean animal and/or plant-based) and fats (mono and polyunsaturated) for each meal.
4 hydrate: Drink water throughout the day. Since the body’s make-up consists of a high percentage of water, staying well-hydrated benefits all your systems. It also helps prevent a variety of conditions such as heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
5 real foods: Try eating “real” foods for a week. Avoid anything prepackaged and see how you feel. You might not go back.
A SHORT READING LIST
on WORLD WAR I
6 plan: Use an app like Mealime to plan your meals and snacks well in advance. This will help with quality and quantity of food consumption and may help save time throughout the week.
The Guns of August
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BARBARA W. TUCHMAN
make it fun:
This book centers on the first month of WWI (decisive), then a military history. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for publication year 1963.
Enjoy the process. Have your long-term goals in mind, but have fun with the preparation. Involve family and friends when you are shopping and preparing meals. The fellowship and accountability will go a long way toward reaching long-term goals.
8 be discerning: Eat for what you need, not for what you want. With the convenience and abundance of unhealthy foods, we must stay vigilant in our daily choices.
The First World War JOHN KEEGAN
Keegan is a respected military historian (26 years at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst), so it’s no surprise that this is a highly regarded and often recommended account.
The First World War HEW STRACHAN
An esteemed military historian, Strachan served at both Oxford and St. Andrews. In 2016, he won the Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
DAVID LARSEN Chair, Department of Kinesiology
composed by DR. CLYDE GREER Chair, Department of History and Political Studies PROF. JEFFREY JENSEN Associate Professor, History
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2021
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COVER STORY
In a world where work is often king, TMU grad Scott Mabs sees his role as a CEO as a profession — not his purpose
by M A S O N N E S B I T T
July
2021
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Scott Mabs never set out to be the CEO of an organic fruit company that’s based in one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. In fact, when Mabs graduated from The Master’s University in 1995, he says he still didn’t know precisely what he wanted to do. What he did know was that he wanted a challenge. He wanted to learn. He wanted to apply the skills and abilities God had blessed him with in a way that would allow him to provide for his family. And to do it all while prioritizing Christ, the church and relationships.
*** The San Joaquin Valley stretches north from Bakersfield up toward Sacramento. But the area’s agricultural shadow extends much further. According to a state report, the valley produced $36.5 billion in agriculture in 2019. “It’s the number one ag center, literally in the world,” Mabs says. It was here — in tiny Ducor, California — that Mabs grew up on a citrus ranch. He spent many days spraying weeds and checking irrigation, with temperatures often reaching 100 degrees. In the process, Mabs learned two things: the value of hard work, and that farming wasn’t something he wanted to do forever. It was also around this time that God revealed something else to Mabs. For years, he’d wavered between following Christ and running after the world’s temptations. But after his junior year of high school, Mabs committed to wholeheartedly following Christ.
By all accounts, Mabs has checked each of those boxes during a career that’s taken him first to Indiana — where he received a crash course in business — and then back to his hometown in California’s San Joaquin Valley, where he now leads Homegrown Organic Farms. The company harvests and packages thousands of acres of citrus, blueberries and tree fruit on behalf of more than 100 farmers, selling the produce to retailers like Costco and Trader Joe’s. The business has continued to grow, and it falls to Mabs, as CEO, to set a vision for the future. Still, he says he never saw this coming. His goal was only to be faithful. “I really just took one small step after another,” he says. "I kept following the Lord, and I ended up here. But I didn’t write my story.”
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Scott and Christy met at TMU (then TMC) and got married shortly after Scott graduated.
As a result, he decided to attend The Master’s University to receive a firm grounding in biblical truth. The plan was to stay for a year or so. But because of the godly friendships he formed and the teaching he received, Mabs found it impossible to leave. He enjoyed learning about God’s creation from biology professors who were in lockstep about the age of the Earth and the way the world came to be. He began to submit to the Bible as the authority over every area of his life.
children, Mabs said that was untenable. He decided to trust the Lord and look for a new job — even if, by the world’s standards, that meant taking a step backward.
“I had ideas of going to a (state school) to get a diploma with a name on it that might be recognized in the world system,” Mabs says. “But really it came down to understanding that I just need to trust the Lord, and He’s going to provide what I need."
As it turned out, the best opportunity for Mabs was in California. And by the time he returned home to the San Joaquin Valley, his perspective on farming had changed. He saw that there was a place within the industry for his business acumen.
Something else kept Mabs at TMU, too.
After working for two companies that helped him understand the lay of the land, he came to Homegrown Organic Farms in 2008. He was thrilled to work for owners who ran things based on Christian values.
During his sophomore year, he met his future wife, Christy. “After that, I wasn’t going anywhere,” he says. Scott and Christy married shortly after graduation and moved to Indiana, where Christy’s parents lived. There, Scott landed a position at Endress+Hauser, a global instrumentation company. The job didn’t directly correlate to his degree at Master’s, but Scott found that he’d been equipped with a bevy of relevant skills. At Master’s, he learned to think critically and to problem-solve, and he’d navigated some of the school’s most rigorous classes as a biology student. Endress+Hauser was more than happy to supply knowledge specific to its industry; Scott was ready to soak it up. “College helps you learn how to learn. It helps you learn how to teach yourself,” he says. “It’s a discipline that’s so important.” Over the next five years, Mabs worked in customer service, product management and business development. He earned promotions and positioned himself for further growth. There was just one problem: the company wanted him to travel 40% of the year. With a wife and two young
“Every time there’s a decision to be made,” Christy says, “it’s always been weighed in light of, does it line up with our priorities?” ***
“ The only reputation worth having is for God to say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’
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After five years as the director of sales and marketing, Mabs became CEO. Since then, the company’s yearly sales have grown considerably, and it now sells and markets organic fruit on behalf of 120 growers, representing roughly 7,000 acres of farmland.
W AT C H A N A L U M N I F O C U S VIDEO HIGHLIGHTING MABS’ STORY AT M A S T E R S . E D U / T M U - M E D I A
The success hasn’t changed Mabs’ focus. After his promotion, he helped the company codify and communicate its mission statement. “Our mission is to exceed our customers’ expectations, to return the best money back to the grower, and to display the love and grace of Jesus to all,” he says.
Mabs has also maintained his commitment to his family and the church. He serves as an elder, and he continues to prioritize time with Christy and their four children, two of whom have graduated from TMU, with another enrolling as a freshman in the fall.
Relationships are crucial to any business. But at Homegrown, they’re also a vehicle for the gospel.
Mabs encourages his employees to keep a similar lifework balance.
“We have a job to do, you bet. We have expectations that we want our team members to meet,” Mabs says. “But these are people who need to understand who Christ is. Whether or not they believe in Christ as the Son of God, they have to make that decision. But I want them to at least understand who He is and what the gospel is about. Living out the gospel in our actions and helping people be thoughtful about that, that’s our task every day.”
Mason Brady, Homegrown’s chief financial officer, remembers his first week on the job in 2014. At around 4:30 p.m., Mabs encouraged everyone to go home to their families. “In the agriculture business, I’d never heard of that,” Brady says. “Scott really wants us to have healthy lives at home.” What Mabs wants more than anything is to continue to faithfully pursue Christ. “The only reputation worth having is for God to say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’” he says.
Scott and Christy, far right, returned to TMU to watch their son, Trent, graduate in May. MASON NESBITT is the communications manager at The Master’s University. 15
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FA C U LT Y F O C U S
DR. JOE FRANCIS SHARES SOME OF HIS RESEARCH AND EXPLAINS WHY HANDS-ON EXPERIENCES A R E S O I M P O RTA N T F O R S C I E N C E S T U D E N T S AT T M U
GOOD? SOME VIRUSES CAN BE …
by K A E LY N P E A Y
For the faculty in TMU’s biological and physical sciences department, research isn’t just something they did to earn their doctorates. It is integral to their lives as professors, and it is fundamental to what they teach and how they teach it. Dr. Joe Francis, dean of the School of Science, Mathematics, Technology & Health, even started a dedicated research course in 2003. This class is designed to teach students how to perform their own research, as well as give them an opportunity to contribute to ongoing faculty projects. We’ve invited Francis to discuss one such undertaking. Francis is a cellular immunologist and medical microbiologist. Basically, he does a lot of work with viruses, bacteria and the human immune system. Q: Dr. Francis, tell us about the microbiology research you’re currently working on? A: So, the most numerous cellular organism on earth is bacteria, with an estimated 30 million species. And
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each species can grow into millions and millions of individuals. And researchers are thinking that every bacterium on Earth has an associated virus — and some may have five or 10 viruses. That means the most numerous creatures on Earth are the viruses. They’re everywhere. They are God’s most abundant biological creation. If God made viruses to attack us, or if nature turned them against us, we would be dead. We really shouldn’t be alive. And this sort of contradicts the evolution story, which says that it took hundreds of thousands of years for humans to develop. Over that span of time, evolution would predict that viruses should have eventually mutated to become deadly and killed us off. It appears, then, that viruses actually weren’t designed to kill humans and animals. And based on how intricate some viruses are, I believe they were here before the Fall; they were part of God’s original good creation. My research has focused on viruses that may have good functions.
Q: Can you give us an example of a good virus? A: In our lab here we’ve been working on a project related to the human microbiome, which is made up of the microbes that live on us, including bacteria. The bacteria in your gut are part of the most dense ecosystem on Earth. There are billions of individuals from a thousand or so different species in a normal human gut. And if each one of those bacteria has one or two virus partners, that means we also have a tremendous number of viruses living in us. But here’s an interesting thing: all bacteria actually have a toxic coating on them. If you took normal, beneficial bacteria from our microbiome, put it in a test tube, and broke it all open, the resulting toxins would be deadly. And that got me thinking, “Wait a minute. That means our system must have a way of sequestering that toxin, because otherwise it would kill us or make us very sick all the time.” Then I remembered this virology textbook from back in my college days. It had these pictures of bacteria, including gut bacteria, with thousands of viruses coating them. And I thought, “Hold on. What if the viruses are actually hiding those bad particles so that they won’t be harmful when the bacteria break up?” Because most of those bacterial particles that make us sick are found on the outside of the bacterium. And I called this idea the cloaking theory. To study this theory, we’ve been trying some models in the classroom to grow these viruses and their associated bacteria. Q: How do you get funding for your projects? A: Large institutions work by a federal grant model, but we don’t work that way. We’ve been making progress on a more private funding model. We’ve had private donors give to our research, which we’ve been really, really grateful for. Q: Why do you involve your students in the research you’re doing? A: One big reason is the fact that medical schools recognize those experiences as important. Most medical school applications look the same — they’re always, “I took this set of courses, I got these high grades, I worked in my community,” etcetera. And that tells the
medical school how well a student performs in class and in society. But in medicine, you have to solve problems in the heat of the moment. And research is one of the few times that an undergraduate student practices doing that. Graduates of our program have written to me and said, “Now I understand the value of that experience.” It puts them in a place where they have to solve a problem without having a professor in the room and without having extensive background knowledge. We tell them, “Go figure it out,” and they think, “Oh my goodness, this is like the real world. I actually have to solve this.” And medical schools have recognized that. Q: What other research goes on in TMU’s biological and physical sciences department? A: Dr. Ross Anderson is a biochemist, so he studies the interaction of molecules in the context of organisms. Students in Dr. Anderson’s lab have won awards for their research. Dr. Matthew McLain is a paleontologist who has published work in geology and paleontology journals. His recent publication in the Journal of the California Academy of Science includes TMU students as coauthors, and it discusses the discovery of a sea cow fossil in Santa Clarita. Dr. Joey Kim, a Caltech graduate, has done extensive research in the areas of chemistry, materials science and nanotechnology. Professor Michael Kornoff worked at USC on developing chemotherapeutic agents to fight cancer. Professor Dawn Okonowski has done research in rehabilitative physiology and is currently working toward her Ph.D. For more information on TMU’s biological and physical sciences department, visit masters.edu/science.
KAELYN PEAY is a writer in the marketing department at The Master’s University. July
2021
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MASTER’S CONNECT This is where you’ll find a monthly alumni newsletter, a church directory, a job board, and the opportunity to network with other members of the TMU family. All in one place. stay connected at masters.edu/alumni
JOB BOARD
ALUMNI
JOB BOARD Account Manager A P P LY N O W
Transaction Coordinator A P P LY N O W
Real Estate Coordinator A P P LY N O W
Grace Women Ministry Associate A P P LY N O W
Outreach & Connections Administrative Assistant A P P LY N O W
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SCHOLARSHIP HIGHLIGHT
THE GENERATIONS ENDOWMENT This endowed scholarship has been established by donors to provide scholarship assistance to students coming from faithful churches to The Master’s University & Seminary to be trained for generational influence for the Kingdom of God. The intent of the endowed fund also contributes to financial sustainability to assure that TMUS can continue to maintain its mission in steadfastly teaching the next generation of young men and women in sound biblical truth. The fund provides financial assistance to deserving students at either The Master’s University or The Master’s Seminary who show progress toward completion of a degree at TMUS.
TO LEARN MORE, VISIT MASTERS.EDU/GENERATIONS-ENDOWMENT
