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Pioneering holiness education: The legacy of Olive Winchester

zvineyard — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 05:54:47 +0000

Olive Winchester would probably never regard herself as a pioneer. The fact that her personal journey resulted in opening doors for others to walk through would, to her, have been a happy coincidence. To Olive, her life’s calling wasn’t a destination but an excursion to be lived out one day at a time, closely following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Born on November 22, 1879 in Monson, Maine, Olive May Winchester was the daughter of Charles and Sarah (Blackstone) Winchester. Although brought up in a modest home, Olive was the niece of Oliver Winchester and as such, an heiress to a portion of his Winchester repeating rifle fortune. This and other inheritances would open doors later in life to pursue her calling.

A few years after her father’s untimely death, Winchester became a Christian as a young teenager and an early member of the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America (which later merged with the Church of the Nazarene). This decision was a pivotal moment in Olive’s journey, as it laid the foundation for her insatiable hunger for scripture and knowledge of this new faith.

I’m sending out my students into the stream of life and society. Years from now, away down that river, they will bring ashore my precepts and my teaching. My prayer is that my influence will carry the influence of Christian ideals learned here at NNC into many a distant port there to bless this and coming generations of humanity.”

Using her inheritances, Olive financed her own education first at Radcliffe Ladies College (then a division of Harvard University) in Cambridge, Mass. graduating cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in Hebrew and Arabic; then at the University of Glasgow, in Glasgow, Scotland where she earned a bachelor of divinity; next, at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif. where she graduated magna cum laude with a master of sacred theology; and finally at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, where she earned a doctor of theology from the Divinity School.

During her lifetime she broke several gender barriers: for being the first woman to be admitted to the University of Glasgow in Scotland and graduate with a bachelor of divinity; becoming the first woman to be ordained in the United Kingdom for Christian Ministry; and finally, being the first woman to graduate with a Th.D. from Drew University.

A tenacious woman, Olive’s experience both in the church and in academia gave her a powerful longing to see religious education perpetuate holiness work. Highly educated, full of integrity, and extraordinarily zealous, these qualities made her a coveted instructor and led to teaching positions at several colleges. During her tenure at the Pacific School of Religion, she became fast friends with H. Orton Wiley, who, at the time was pastor of the Berkeley Church of the Nazarene. He later went on to become president of Northwest Nazarene College and was so moved by Winchester’s breadth of knowledge and passion for transformative faith in education that he asked Olive to join him at NNC teaching biblical literature and theology (later adding sociology and religious education).

The first professor at NNC with an earned doctorate, Olive was a “confident woman, ambitious, and one who did not suffer easily by those who sternly or off-handedly tried to bully her or other professors” (Seeking First the Kingdom). A “rock of stability and devotion,” Olive took her position as instructor (and later, dean and vice president of NNC) very seriously, assigning students 25-page research papers and book reports on collateral reading, believing the information would be useful for a lifetime. She was demanding yet fair in her expectations. Former student Ross Price once noted, “The student always felt he earned whatever grade he made for the course.”

“Winchester was not the only woman to teach religion at Nazarene colleges, but [she] far surpassed the others in academic background and achievement,” said Stan Ingersol (Our Nazarene Foremothers). In a history of Northwest’s first quarter-century, it was said of Olive that “she contributed very much to the development of the right attitude toward scholastic standards …and had much to do with the internal organization of the institution.” Also noted, “At the center of her legacy stood the undeniable fact that she was a pivotal figure in the transition of Northwest Nazarene College from a sagebrush academy to a sound academic institution.”

Olive firmly believed in the marriage of sound holiness theology with superior higher education. She once said of education, “We feel that a good, wholesome religious life administers to educational standards.” To her, there was no difference between the two—they simply went hand-in-hand, and she worked diligently to indoctrinate those standards.

Winchester’s mark on NNC was profound and her contributions throughout history global. During her lifetime she taught and/or held administrative positions at three Nazarene colleges and Parkhead Holiness Bible School; she was instrumental in the merger of the Pentecostal Church of Scotland and the Church of the Nazarene, and she spent much of her time and money furthering missions projects both locally and abroad.

Olive’s own words, spoken when her portrait was dedicated at NNC, provide perhaps the best indication of what motivated her accomplishments: “I’m sending out my students into the stream of life and society. Years from now, away down that river, they will bring ashore my precepts and my teaching. My prayer is that my influence will carry the influence of Christian ideals learned here at NNC into many a distant port there to bless this and coming generations of humanity.” ■

Perseverance and blessings

zvineyard — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 05:54:19 +0000

Reflecting on Trevor Hall’s (’00) early college years, NNU Chair of the Department of Psychology Dr. Glena Andrews recalls, “Trevor was very interested in and very skilled in snowboarding, and at times, coursework came second. This priority changed during his later years at NNU.”

Fast-forward eight years to 2008 when Trevor returned to campus as the keynote speaker at NNU’s Psychology Research Forum. At the time, he was conducting research on the correlation between autism and cholesterol metabolism at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Parents at the forum shared their struggles with local care, and the discussion weighed heavy on his heart. It wasn’t long afterward that Trevor received a job offer from a group wanting to start an integrated care clinic in Boise.

"We are a resource and a checkpoint for families as they develop community ties and meet the developmental challenges of home, school, the community and the workplace," Trevor explains.

Trevor, Psy.D., moved his wife, Carrie, and two boys, Jadon and Ian, to Boise, but by December 2008, the clinic was failing. “Seeing the writing on the wall, I filed paperwork with the State of Idaho to bring Northwest Neurobehavioral Health (NNH) into existence,” Trevor says.

“All along I had maintained my faculty position at OHSU so the temptation to go ‘home’ was great. My thoughts swirled with, What am I going to do? I am not cut out to be in private practice. Did God really call us here? This is when I felt like Peter—I had jumped out of the boat and was starting to sink,” Trevor shares. “I was also reminded of how in the early church there was often a pattern—first the call, second the resistance, third the perseverance and then fourth the blessing.”

Enter Jeff Hall (’01) and his wife Rebekah Ponsford-Hall (’01). The couple had recently moved back to the Boise Valley to complete Jeff’s pre-doctoral internship and Rebekah’s post-doctoral fellowship at a Boise counseling center run by the Children’s Home Society of Idaho (CHS). It was this connection that would allow NNH to take its next step toward formation.

Jeff and Trevor were close friends during their undergraduate years at NNU and began meeting weekly to discuss “geek speak”—their term for theology and science. As the two shared life, Trevor’s desire to develop a multidisciplinary clinic connected with Jeff’s interest in autism from his time working in home therapy. Eventually this led Jeff to introduce Trevor to the board of directors at CHS.

The board decided to fund the integrated clinic for the first year, but by spring 2010, it was apparent that CHS could not support the project anymore, and the clinic faced closing its doors. It was then that these two NNU psychology graduates and seven other clinicians bought into NNH, LLC as partners. Together they are changing the way complex care is given to children in the Boise Valley with developmental, emotional and behavioral differences like autism spectrum, anxiety, mood, impulse control and central nervous system disorders.

Trevor explains, “The power of an integrated program is the communication and collaboration available within person-centered therapies, and psychological and medical interventions. We are a resource and a checkpoint for families as they develop community ties and meet the developmental challenges of home, school, the community and the workplace.”

Just over two years after its formation, NNH, LLC is a premier diagnostic and treatment center that combines under one roof the expertise of a number of practitioners with specialties ranging from subspecialty medical care to occupational therapy. NNH practices state-of-the-art diagnostic procedures that allow for a multi-layered look at a person’s biological, neurobehavioral and individual skills. Ultimately, the team aims to offer evidence-based therapy and medical services to improve patient functioning and quality of life.

“I tell parents I care about the diagnosis, but what I really care about is what’s next—the ‘what do we do from here,’” says Jeff Hall, Ph.D. and licensed clinical psychologist. He expands on the favorite part of his job: “It’s that moment when parents see their kids as God created them to be.”

His wife Rebekah works part-time as a licensed psychologist at NNH. She shares, “I can’t separate my faith from what I do and the way I encourage people to help themselves. I feel like what I do is God’s work because I’m helping my patients to know themselves better, repair relationships and practice communication, patience, love and understanding.”

Jeff continues, “I see what I do as a nontraditional ministry. Caring for people in their times of hurt and brokenness is active participation in Christ’s redemption of the world—His redemption of creation. My role in that is being with families in their suffering.”

It is clear that perseverance has paid off. God is working through the hearts and expertise of the clinicians at NNH and is pouring out His blessings. In return, NNH is blessing the children it helps, the families that support those children and the community’s health systems. Their example of going beyond the standard of care in their field is truly “a more excellent way.”

MORE ON NNH

NNH’s multidisciplinary clinic model is catching on fast, leading to substantial growth. In just two years, NNH has expanded available services and nearly doubled the number of office visits. Today the number of professional clinicians has grown from 13 to 33, and the clinic maintains research collaborations with Oregon Health & Science University, Harvard Mass General and the Center for Disease Control to name a few.

“NNH is the gold standard of diagnosis autism spectrum disorders,” Dr. Glena Andrews explains. “Trevor, Jeff and Rebekah along with a very capable team of professionals are providing evaluations of children that go beyond the standard of care in their fields. They are demonstrating ‘the more excellent way’ of assessment for these children and their families.”

The “golden standard” she refers to is NNH’s Autism Spectrum Disorders Diagnostic Clinic—an intensive, all-day screening by a multi-disciplinary team of specialists. Children are observed and assessed in physical/neurological wellbeing, cognitive development, motor abilities and behavioral adjustment along with their social, play and

communication skills. This early intervention provides families with a comprehensive evaluation and day-of recommendations on how to move forward with a treatment plan.

Beyond working with their patients, NNH aims to fundamentally change the systems of care provided by the state to improve patient care beyond their facility. Partnerships with outside agencies like the Disability Counsel and the Utah Regional Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (URLEND) program are the first steps of this movement. Jeff trains other professionals through URLEND, a network that trains future leaders in healthcare and health policy from five rural states (Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota).

Trevor remains on staff at OHSU as an Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics maintaining his research program from here in Idaho; he has also consulted in Africa and to the government of Saudi Arabia about how to effectively recognize and treat Autism Spectrum Disorders. Trevor and Jeff both lead training seminars at various times throughout the year. ■

Remembering Samaritan Hospital

zvineyard — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 04:30:34 +0000

Built on the grounds of what now belongs to Northwest Nazarene University, Samaritan Hospital was established as a school for nurses in 1920 by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Mangum. Its particular emphasis was to provide medical training for nurses going to the mission field. Although the school was not directly connected to Northwest Nazarene College, its students were able to participate in the life of the college by taking several courses there in addition to their nursing classes. Until 1926, the hospital and school were located in a house built by the Mangums; but that same year, NNU’s current Fine Arts Building was constructed and the nursing academic program was fully accredited by the state of Idaho.

"We learned that the patient was more than their diagnosis. The patient was a person with a diagnosis. And you don’t treat the diagnosis, you treat the patient.” Wardlaw said.

The school provided an excellent education for its time and especially for the region. Mary Wardlaw came to the hospital as a student in 1947 with the hope of becoming a missionary, and she recalls that the students’ daily schedules were rigorous. Each day began at 6 a.m. in the hospital’s prayer chapel where the students gathered for a time of communion and prayer. Work—assisting in patient care—started at 7 a.m. sharp.

“We’d meet in the stairway between the first and second floors to sing,” she said, “and the patients seemed to like that. The prayer chapel, breakfast and singing got us started too.” Younger students took classes during the mornings, and the older students traded places with them in the afternoon. Each junior class spent six months of their studies in Colorado: three at a children’s hospital in Denver followed by three more at a psychiatric hospital in Colorado Springs.

Students served in a variety of areas of the hospital, and Wardlaw remembers having very little downtime. “We were assigned to bathe patients and change the linens and take care of whatever needs they had. Upperclassmen learned how to give medications and were assigned just to do that. And then we worked three months each in the operating room, obstetrics department, surgical floor and medical floor.”

SAMARITAN HOSPITAL

Take a look back in time at the people and places that made Samaritan Hospital what it was. Select the 'i' in the upper left-hand corner for captions.

The oddest job, however, proved to be cooking for the patients. “We worked in the diet kitchen, and that was interesting. The cooks in the hospital only had to cook the food that was for general diets, but there were a lot of patients on special diets, so we had to cook those. Samaritan was the only hospital I knew of that would have nurses do that.”

Wardlaw reflects that the hospital had a definite family atmosphere, that everyone helped each other and got along, and that the doctors were very accommodating with the students —something she would come to appreciate when working in other hospitals.

Most of all, Wardlaw said that the hospital kept spiritual growth a priority. “We not only had physical concerns to manage but spiritual concerns as well. We learned that the patient was more than their diagnosis. The patient was a person with a diagnosis. And you don’t treat the diagnosis, you treat the patient.”

Over time, raising the necessary financial support was increasingly difficult. Additionally, new government regulations following WWII requiring experience in five different clinical areas could not be met and the nursing school closed in 1954 after the last student graduated. Although patient care continued at the hospital until 1967, the closing of the nursing school was an unfortunate since the quality of training the school had provided was no longer available in the region—specifically, training with a missional emphasis intended to prepare students for the medical field in the larger view of God’s kingdom. ■

Athletic news

zvineyard — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 04:00:59 +0000

Known as a dynamic combination of professional athletic talent and business aptitude, Bill Rapp, 1982 alumnus, was named as the University’s new athletic director beginning in October.

“NNU anticipates benefiting greatly from Bill’s extensive professional experience in sports management. He is a leader who brings vision and development skills to support and expand on our legacy of athletic and academic achievement,” commented Alexander.

Bill brings 30 years of experience with the SAP Open (ATP World Tour) and professional tennis tournaments in the Bay Area and 11 years as the tournament director with Sharks Sports & Entertainment. Bill was the first USPTA pro to become a director of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Early in his career in San Jose, he also managed ticket sales for the San Jose Sharks (NHL).

As the SAP Open tournament director, Bill signed all professional players, including Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray.

President Alexander said, “Bill Rapp is a unique hire for NNU’s intercollegiate athletic program. Not only was he a student-athlete at NNU, he has a successful record as a sports entrepreneur. Bill Rapp will grow NNU athletics.”

Excited for the opportunity, Bill stated, “When I graduated from NNU I felt prepared for whatever was next. God led me to a rewarding career in teaching, coaching, sports marketing and tournament management. Most importantly, He allowed me opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others.”

He continued, “Now, three decades later, I am excited to partner with NNU coaches, staff, alumni and community. Together we will focus on our athletes’ academic, physical and spiritual development. Our athletes will train intensely, compete fiercely and will compete and win with class.”

Bill and his wife Sherra have three sons, Spencer, Jensen and Anderson.

The Crusader men’s soccer team was named the GNAC Team of the Week and defender Stephen Marshall was named the Red Lion/GNAC Defensive Player of the Week after the Crusaders defeated nationally 12th-ranked Simon Fraser University 2-1 on Sept. 15.

NNU battled Western Washington University to a 0-0 tie in Bellingham, Wash., and then stunned Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C., ending SFU’s GNAC-record 24-game unbeaten streak during the impressive road trip.

“Stephen (Marshall) showed why he is one of the best defenders in the region,” NNU head coach Coe Michaelson commented. “His leadership and ability to read the game are second to none.”

It was the first GNAC Team of the Week honors for an NNU team this year.

The Crusader volleyball team finished the 2012 pre-season with a 6-3 record opening play at the Point Loma Seaside Invitational.

The tournament featured wins for the Crusaders against Point Loma Nazarene (3-0), Cal State Stanislaus (3-1) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (3-0). “Pre-season tournaments are all about learning who you are as a team,” commented NNU head coach Jared Sliger. “We learned some important lessons this weekend.”

The Crusaders then traveled to the Route 92 Showdown in Hayward, Calif., and earned eighth-year head coach Sliger his 100th career win with a victory over Notre Dame de Namur University.

“Getting to 100 wins either means you have been coaching a really long time, or your teams have been pretty good. It has been a little of both for me. I am so fortunate to coach at this institution,” Sliger added.

Senior Carly Dranginis added, “It is an honor to have been a part of such a huge milestone for him in his coaching career. I am thankful for all he has done for me and our program.”

Freshman Haley Gochnour struck the first competitive shot for the Crusaders at 3:14 p.m. on September 13th as the NNU women’s golf team played their inaugural match against The College of Idaho at River Bend Golf Course.

Gochnour, who is from Boise and attended Cole Valley Christian School, went on to lead the NNU team effort with an 85. “It was fun to play our first match and get the season started,” commented 14th-year head coach Craig Stensgaard. Gochnour joins teammates Carleigh Sturm (Colo.), Jessica Knight (Idaho) and Krista Gaona (Idaho).

The Crusaders will travel to the MSUB Yellowjacket Invitational in Billings, Mont., and then play in both the Saint Martin’s University Invitational and Western Washington Viking Invitational during the fall season.

The NNU cross country program hosted the 5th annual Roger Curran Invitational this September at West Park in Nampa.

The event, which continues its steady growth in the cross country landscape, welcomed six college teams and grew to 26 middle school, high school junior varsity and high school varsity teams this year. A community run/walk was also featured during the morning races.

Named in memorial to the late Dr. Roger Curran of Nampa, all proceeds benefit the H.E.L.P. (Health Education and Leadership Program) scholarship program that provides scholarships to students seeking degrees in a healthcare related field.

Defining “a more excellent way”

zvineyard — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:40:42 +0000

Centennial. One hundred years. How do you calculate and appreciate all that has occurred across one hundred years? So many presidents, professors, students, staff, churches, pastors, laity. What guided them? What connected them?

The path and purpose of the University have not been charted by those seeking personal gain or worldly glory."

As we look back in history’s hindsight, patterns and priorities begin to emerge:

A selfless, Christ-centered faculty and administration are assembled
A guiding motto is chosen—Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
A growing group of churches and families makes sacrifices for its children
A commitment to join heartfelt faith with academic rigor is established
A passionate calling to serve a lost world motivates student preparation

The things that describe the history of Northwest Nazarene University are the things that define NNU. The path and purpose of the University have not been charted by those seeking personal gain or worldly glory. Rather, the people we now call our founders, our leaders, our visionaries were guided by God. In the words of the Apostle Paul, they chose to pursue “a more excellent way.” (I Cor. 12:31b)

A More Excellent Way—the Centennial theme of Northwest Nazarene University—a phrase that describes our accomplishments and our aspirations. The words declare that for one hundred years the people of NNU have sought to be the people of God. For one hundred years God’s will and way have been the guiding force in the school’s direction and desire.

H. ORTON WILEY

In 1920, H. Orton Wiley, our first president, took Matthew 6:33 seriously. He poured over the Bible pictured above seeking God’s will for NNU and penned his vision for this college: "[It] seeks not to conform to the ideals of worldly institutions; it seeks rather in all things the Kingdom of God."

The stories that follow are examples of NNU students and NNU alumni living out the pursuit of A More Excellent Way. Over the next year and a half, we want to trace the hand of God in the life of NNU and tell the stories of your pursuit of a more excellent way. We invite you to submit your stories to nnu.edu/100.

Building blocks of love

zvineyard — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:35:27 +0000

The motto for NNU’s Department of Engineering’s first missional engineering capstone design project is found in Matthew 16:18: “On this foundation I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” They take it literally.

This project is really at the heart of what we’re all about in engineering at NNU," said Dr. Parke, "the opportunity to apply our skills to advance God’s kingdom and to meet human needs in both the third world and the U.S.”

Extreme Nazarene first approached NNU in the fall of 2010. Thirty fellowships in Peru had been identified as being ready for a church, but traditional building materials were not strong enough and required masonry skill. They needed a stronger substance that could be produced on-site by local unskilled laborers. The answer? Styrofoam.

The original plan was to build the churches using polystyrene blocks (IFCs). These foam building blocks, much like Legos, fit together to create walls, benches, tables and chairs and are then reinforced with concrete and rebar to build strong yet inexpensive structures. However, shipping the blocks to Peru was expensive and not a feasible long-term plan. The NNU team was challenged to design, build and deliver a portable block-molding plant powered by a diesel generator that could produce the ICFs on-site.

“This project is really at the heart of what we’re all about in engineering at NNU: the opportunity to apply our skills to advance God’s kingdom and to meet human needs in both the third world and the U.S.,” said Dr. Stephen Parke, professor of engineering. “We’re excited to design new technologies to build churches both in Peru and in other third-world countries as well.”

Dr. Parke and his colleagues at the University are deeply committed to the work to which God has called them. And, their students take notice.

“It’s really exciting to come here and see the professors not only passionate about teaching the subject matter—be it engineering, math or English—but also to see them so excited and on fire for God. That instills a fire for God in me,” sophomore David Vinson (Wash.) explained.

Under the guidance of Dr. Parke, the team investigated and tested many different production methods and companies for both polystyrene and polyurethane blocks. A team of seniors went to Peru in the summer of 2011 to help build the first two churches with the polystyrene blocks and gain insight into the building process. They began their senior year fall 2011 with a new plan and enthusiasm for what God is doing in Peru.

EXTREME ENGINEERING IN PERU

Follow Dr. Parke, David Vincent and Jesse Baggenstos as they venture from Nampa, Idaho to Arequipa, Peru and put their block building machine in to action.

“Getting to know the people by working with them and sharing stories with them was an amazing experience,” said senior Andrew Peterson (Wash.). “This project was an answer to their prayers from God. Their passion and faith really made me want to become more involved on the project.”

The difference in this project and this team was immediately recognizable.

We are using the creative aspects of engineering to build a foundation for eternal change and building blocks for God, in love of his people," said senior Michael Whiting.

“I’m used to students working hard on senior projects—that’s true for all the majors at NNU—but you can really tell when it goes from being a project and becomes a real, personal commitment and encounter with serving the Lord,” said Dr. Parke.

Throughout the school year the seniors worked to perfect the process, even staying up until 1 a.m. during spring break to make sure it would be ready to send to the mission field in the summer.

This experience allowed the students to love people they had never met while using their God-given talents and what they learned throughout their time at NNU. In the end it was difficult to tell whether it was the Peruvians or the students who felt most blessed by the experience.

Senior Michael Whiting (Idaho) described the project this way: “It is not self-seeking, but seeking to serve people through the love that God instills in us. We are using the creative aspects of engineering to build a foundation for eternal change and building blocks for God, in love of his people.”

In the weeks following commencement, the team delivered a block-molding plant that allows blocks to be made on-site using polyurethane, representing a 20-percent savings over the polystyrene blocks with which they started. While there, the team helped set up and trained the Peruvians to use the new equipment and establish a small-scale production. Over the next two years, more than 20 more churches will be completed. In the future, it is hoped that the technology will expand and be used in other third-world countries around the globe.

“Knowledge and vital piety,” a discussion

zvineyard — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:30:02 +0000

Dr. Mark Maddix: The famous quotation of Charles Wesley, “Unite the pair so long disjoined: Knowledge and vital piety,” is displayed in Swayne Auditorium on NNU’s campus. It succinctly and poetically states the importance of knowledge and love that elaborates fully the necessity of Christian discipleship. Knowledge, learning and truth conjoined with piety, holiness and love portray people who live in total dedication to God. Wesley’s famous phrase reflects the heart and passion of the faculty in the School of Theology and Christian Ministries (STCM). We are deeply committed both to the process of forming men and women as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ and to rigorous scholarship in the pursuit of knowledge.

Dr. Diane Leclerc: Absolutely. I see my scholarship as a part of my vocation and my calling. Whether I am writing more “academically” or more “devotionally,” I see the Spirit guiding my mind and heart as I write.

The more you study the more you realize you do not know. We pursue knowledge for wisdom, and we pursue wisdom for the glory of God: to help us to learn to love better, to be more fully Christian, to be more faithful to God and to be better lovers of those in our world."

Dr. Brent Peterson: Yes, my calling as a pastor is not just teaching students in the classroom but also writing and publishing to teach, encourage, inspire and prophetically challenge. I hope that what I write is for God’s glory. I hope that it helps to inspire and encourage folks to fall more deeply in love with Christ.

MM: NNU’s STCM faculty is actively engaged in writing books and academic articles in the areas of biblical studies, theology, practical theology and philosophy. Our faculty is recognized around the world for their excellent scholarship in their respective disciplines. We believe that the pursuit of knowledge is central in the life of a Christian disciple. Jesus affirmed that the greatest command was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37, NRSV) Some Christians view the pursuit of knowledge as inconsistent with matters of faith, but we believe that our role is to integrate knowledge and vital piety. We affirm that faith is seeking understanding. We explore new ideas in order to develop our understanding and to ground our faith. When this takes place, faith and reason are not in opposition but are complementary. We want to help Christians explore the deep questions of faith as informed by Scripture, reason, tradition and experience.

DL: As a historical theologian, I attempt to take facts and ask the “so what” question. This happened—now what are the implications for us today? What has gone before influences who we are and what we do in the present. It is important that we place ourselves in a historical context as the Church. We do not create theology in a historical vacuum.

BP: We do not pursue data or knowledge to lord it over others. The more you study the more you realize you do not know. We pursue knowledge for wisdom, and we pursue wisdom for the glory of God: to help us to learn to love better, to be more fully Christian, to be more faithful to God and to be better lovers of those in our world.

RECENT FACULTY PUBLICATIONS

Galatians: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition

George Lyons

Created to Worship: God’s Invitation to Become Fully Human

Brent D. Peterson

Discovering our Christian Holiness: The Heart of Wesleyan-Holiness Theology

Diane LeClerc

Free Will: Sourcehood and Its Alternatives

Kevin Timpe

The Nature of Love: A Theology

Thomas Jay Oord

We affirm that all truth ultimately leads us not to abstract concepts, but to a deeper devotion to God and each other. This is what is meant by bringing together 'the pair so long disjoined: knowledge and vital piety.'"

MM: Recently our faculty has participated in presenting chapters from the book “Spiritual Formation: A Wesleyan Paradigm” (2011), edited by Diane Leclerc and myself, at several local Nazarene congregations. Our faculty and the leaders in NNU’s Office of Spiritual Formation wrote the book’s chapters, and it’s a great example of the integration of scholarship and Christian practice. It is a resource for pastors and laity who want to grow in their relationship with God. This book is helping Christians expand their theological knowledge and to grow in holiness of heart and life.

Our scholarship is also a reflection of our worship of God. We believe that God has called us to serve the Church through our scholarship. Our role as professors is to continue to be engaged in exploring knowledge that helps to serve the Church of the Nazarene and the universal church. We want to be faithful to our calling as professors at Northwest Nazarene University through the forming of faithful disciples and engaging in scholarship.

DL: We affirm that all truth ultimately leads us not to abstract concepts, but to a deeper devotion to God and each other. This is what is meant by bringing together “the pair so long disjoined: knowledge and vital piety.”

BP: The goal isn’t to be the celebrity professor or the celebrity author. It’s to be faithful to the inspiration God has given us and to encourage the Church to fall in love with God more deeply. It’s to help Christians to love the church so that they could be equipped then to better love their neighbor.

CRU Awards signify excellence

zvineyard — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:25:52 +0000

Athletics served as the best classroom in my life.” These words, spoken by 2006 NNU alumnus and student-athlete Tyler Layne, signified the vision behind the first annual CRU Awards showcasing both current student-athletes and alumni.

A longtime vision of Athletic Director Rich Sanders, the CRU (short for Crusader) Awards became a reality April 2012 thanks to a community partnership between NNU’s athletic department and Northwestern Mutual Financial Network (NMFN).

Athletics served as the best classroom in my life and taught me life lessons that I apply today. Having to be accountable to my team, or in my sport (track), the clock, was a great learning experience for me,” Layne said.

Hilary Hughes and Layne, both members of the Northwestern Mutual team, were welcomed back to campus to honor student-athlete excellence both on the fields of play and in the community.

While there were numerous awards and accolades recognized during the evening, most notable were the Hopkins-Humphrey Female Athlete Award and the Orrin E. Hills Award. Both honors were presented to senior athletes who embody the effort and passion for NNU of their namesake’s tradition.

In honor of Faculty Emerita Martha Hopkins and NNU Board of Trustee Member/Alumna Minnie (Humphrey) Richards, Joy Warrington received the Hopkins-Humphrey award for completing her collegiate career as a six-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) individual event champion and the holder of three NNU school records.

Maurus Hope claimed the Orrin E. Hills Sports Trophy, as he amassed a career record that included four GNAC individual event championships and the 2009 GNAC Indoor Track Freshman-of-the-Year award, and was named the 2012 GNAC Male Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. This award was named in honor of alumnus Orrin E. Hills who served NNU for 19 years as a coach and athletic director and is a member of the NNU Athletic Hall of Fame.

THE CRU CARPET

See who showed up this year for the CRU Awards. Select the 'i' in the upper left-hand corner for captions.

View full gallery

Layne provided the keynote address for the CRU Awards event and shared that his great-grandparents moved to the Kuna, Idaho, area specifically so his grandfather could attend NNC.

“I’m a third-generation NNU/NNC product, and I am thankful for my NNU experience because of the people who surrounded me … It helped shape my life,” Layne added. “I feel honored to come back to campus and help recognize the current student-athletes.”

We are excited to partner with NNU because the student-athletes at NNU have a value structure unlike any other," said Brian Bailey.

Layne, who graduated from NNU with a degree in physics and holds four NNU Top-10 all-time performances on the track, continues excellence in his position as a wealth management advisor at Northwestern Mutual. Awarded the Platinum Leader of the West award this year, Layne was the highest-producing financial advisor in the 16-state West region, and in 2010 he was honored as a West region Top-50 performer at NMFN.

“Athletics served as the best classroom in my life and taught me life lessons that I apply today. Having to be accountable to my team, or in my sport (track), the clock was a great learning experience for me,” Layne said.

Hughes echoed these sentiments about NNU: “My soccer coaches here were pivotal in helping me start my career and even find my first internship.” Hughes graduated with a degree in kinesiology and was a two-time GNAC All-Conference Award winner on the field and a three-time GNAC All-Academic team member in the classroom. Successfully converting her on-the-field drive and focus, she is now the director of recruiting and development for NMFN.

As the festivities of the CRU Awards banquet continued, Brian Bailey, managing partner for Northwestern Mutual Idaho, commented to the more than 425 student-athletes, coaches and boosters in attendance: “We are excited to partner with NNU because the student-athletes at NNU have a value structure unlike any other. You just don’t see the values in everyday society that you see when you are on this campus, and that is exciting.”

Bailey continued, “The opportunity to be a student-athlete at NNU is a real blessing in your life.”

Senior earns silver in Pan Am Games

zvineyard — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:46:28 +0000

NNU senior Monica Garcia-Espino recently had the experience of a lifetime when she returned to her hometown in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, for two weeks in October to play basketball with the Mexican national women’s basketball team in the Pan American Games. Held every four years, the Pan Am Games are the world’s second largest multisport event, next to the Olympics.

“Playing for the Mexican team was the most challenging team I have ever been on,” Monica said. “But playing in front of my friends and family was worth all the sacrifices I made to be there.”

Garcia-Espino was one of about 6,000 athletes from 42 nations participating in 36 sports during the 2011 games. Her Mexican national team competed in the championship game against Puerto Rico and received the silver medal.

Garcia-Espino said that the experience was particularly meaningful since this year’s games were held in her hometown, and many of her friends and family were able to see her play.

“The experience was life-changing for me,” said Garcia-Espino. “It helped me grow as a person and as a player; having my family at the tournament helped me have the best international tournament I’ve ever had. At the end of each game, I ran to give them a hug.”

As starting point guard for the team, Garcia-Espino experienced the intensity of the Pan Am Games as they played five games in five days. She said she really appreciated having her NNU coaches, friends and mentors cheer her on back in the U.S.A. Her stateside fans were able to watch one of the games televised on ESPN when the Mexican team played the U.S. team, and they were able to watch her other games on the Internet.

“It meant a lot to me to have their support because they knew how much it meant to me to play in my hometown and in front of my family. I had my hard times, and they were always there for me when I needed to talk,” she said.

“Playing for the Mexican team was the most challenging team I have ever been on,” Garcia-Espino said. “But playing in front of my friends and family was worth all the sacrifices I made to be there.”

Garcia-Espino’s journey to a silver medal in the Pan Am Games began 15 years ago when she first started playing basketball. Her skills on the basketball court have given her the opportunity to play on many different teams, including a junior college team in California, the NNU women’s basketball team and the Mexican national team.

Garcia-Espino hopes to participate in the Pan Am Games again in 2015 in Brazil. In the meantime, she will be busy completing her final year at NNU, earning a degree in computer science.

THE ROAD TO VICTORY

Follow the Mexican national team as they compete and earn silver.

Engineering program takes flight

zvineyard — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:45:45 +0000

It’s not every day that NASA calls and asks you to participate in one of its elite student programs. In NNU’s Department of Engineering, however, two groups of students were chosen to do just that, and students are taking away valuable experience that could land them back at NASA someday.

Dr. Dan Lawrence, chair of engineering and physics at NNU, states, "I am thrilled! Our students are ambitious and deserve these opportunities of distinction."

After researcher Dr. John Simpson introduced NNU engineering students to his hydrophobic material developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory last year, students began brainstorming potential uses. Not only did Team Super-Hydro test the material during the 2011 Microgravity University Systems Engineering Educational Discovery (SEED) program, a second NNU engineering team, RockSat, decided to further test the material in one of its experiments.

Developed in partnership with NASA and the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, the RockSat program guides faculty and students from across the United States through the construction of a rocket payload before launching the rocket composed of payloads from various universities. Participants built a computer board and a scientific experiment (Geiger Counter), programmed the system and mechanically integrated it into the RockSat payload canister at a workshop last summer.

NNU’s RockSat team is now in the process of building two experiments into its rocket payload that will be launched in June when the team flies to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Va. After the payload is recovered, the team will compare the before and after samples of each experiment.

The first experiment will test the superhydrophobic material in a high-vibration, high-acceleration environment to determine the feasibility of using the material on future space missions.

“Essentially, the material is tiny glass cones that cause water to ball up and roll off. We are testing if the high forces and vibration of a rocket flight would damage the surface to the point where it wouldn’t repel water effectively,” Ben Gordon, sophomore team member from Oakridge, Ore., shared.

The second experiment partners the RockSat team with company engineers at American Semiconductor Inc. to test radiation-hardened chips. “Sometimes chips have errors when processing data. These errors can increase when radiation is present (like in space). We are hoping that these new chips will have fewer errors compared to regular chips,” Gordon continued.

TEAM SUPER-HYDRO RECAP

Watch Team Super-Hydro's experiment from Microgravity University 2011.

Find out more about the research and see updates from our two NASA teams online.

Team RockSat

Team Super-Hydro

Team Super-Hydro is working on a 2012 experiment that will expand last year’s research on the superhydrophobic material. Now that the team knows the material will hold up in zero gravity, they can focus on the material’s application in water-purification systems aboard spacecraft. Microgravity University is designed to expose these promising young engineers to NASA operations, enabling them to gain research experience and to play a role in advancing America’s space program.

Team Super-Hydro will work to separate water vapor from liquid water in a passive, phase-separation system. In this process, the impurities stay behind in the liquid while the vapor is cleaned, condensed and reused.

NNU’s student team leader Kevin Halle explains, “NASA’s Waste Management department wants us to test how the maximum amount of water, vapor or liquid can be retrieved from the waste “brine” produced in the space station’s filtration system. The current water purification method leaves a small amount of brine behind. Our experiment tests a possible add-on to the current system that will recover even more water without using a significant amount of additional energy.”

Dr. Dan Lawrence, NNU’s chair of engineering and physics, states, “I am thrilled. Both RockSat and Microgravity University are incredible opportunities for our students and faculty. It shows the significant educational research experience all of our students receive under the guidance of their professors. Our students are ambitious and deserve these opportunities of distinction.”

Heart-to-heart learning

zvineyard — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:55:59 +0000

When Gary Young first enrolled in the online MBA program at NNU in 2008, he didn’t realize that he and his daughter JJ would end up sharing a graduation day in spring 2012. But, as part of a long line of NNU graduates in his wife’s family, perhaps he should have guessed it. For the Bryson/Young family, NNU has always been a family affair.

The Bryson family legacy began at NNU in the 1920s with Cyrus Virgil Bryson and has continued down through his son Carl Bryson in the 1950s, his grandchildren Phil Bryson and Jana (Bryson) Young in the 1980s, and now his great-grandchildren Lacey Engle and JJ Young.

For Young, his own journey to NNU came after several decades of interacting with the NNU community by marrying into the Bryson family. He first visited the campus during his senior year at Portland State University when he came to see his soon-to-be wife Jana while they were dating.

“I visited NNU several times that year and became rather jealous of the small college atmosphere that was such a huge change from PSU,” Young said.

Thirty years and three daughters later, the Youngs are continuing the Bryson family tradition at NNU. This time, Jana is cheering on her husband, as he’s working toward his MBA at NNU.

“Jana has been very supportive of this whole process,” Young said. “She has patiently put up with my hiding with books and my laptop and muttering about assignments. The fact that we will both have degrees from NNU is a pretty cool thing.”

"It's been interesting to compare notes because we're in two very different programs—business and social work, graduated and undergraduate—and I'm on campus while he's online," said JJ.

Two of their three daughters are also NNU alumni. Their oldest daughter Lacey graduated from NNU with a mathematics degree in 2008 and married 2009 NNU graduate David Engle. The Young’s middle daughter JJ is completing her senior year of study for a bachelor’s degree in social work and plans to graduate from NNU the same day her dad graduates with his MBA.

She said that throughout their four years of studying, she and her dad helped cheer each other on toward graduation.

“There have been times when one of us would get frustrated or tired of homework, and we would remind each other that we had to walk together,” Young expressed. “It was a great motivator for when times got tough.”

Both Young’s said that although their individual academic programs are unique to their interests and stages of life, it’s been fun to talk about their studies together.

“It’s been interesting to compare notes because we’re in two very different programs–business and social work, graduate and undergraduate–and I’m on campus while he’s online,” said JJ. “The fact that we are both racing to the finish line is the best part,” Young stated. Grandparents, dads, sisters: We’re all NNU

When Young first began her college selection process in high school, she wasn’t overly excited about becoming part of the Bryson family tradition at NNU. In fact, she said that at first her family’s deep roots with NNU were actually a deterrent to her desire to attend the University.

“The expectation from people that I would go upset me, and I was determined for a while not to go to NNU,” Young said. “But God distinctly told me to go to NNU. As with many things, I don’t know why God has asked me to do them, but when I do, I don’t regret my decisions.” Young shared that watching her go through that decision-making process was just the beginning of her growth at NNU.

“JJ continues to display a strong Christian faith,” her dad said. “She readily shares the story of how she didn’t want to go to NNU, but God had other ideas; and she has come to see that God rarely loses arguments.”

THE YOUNG FAMILY

Visit the Young family in their hometown, Portland, Oregon. Select the 'i' in the upper left-hand corner for captions.

Another growing experience for both daughters came through their travel overseas with Youth In Mission while students at NNU. Lacey traveled to Africa, and JJ traveled to Argentina to work with missionaries.

“Going to Argentina was one of the best experiences of my life,” Young said. “What can be more beautiful than going to another culture and being enveloped in it while you fellowship with other believers? So many times it’s hard to know what your place is in life and in the body of Christ. I wouldn’t trade my time in Argentina for the world. I think I found my place there. Support is what I know how to do, and I do it well. My job in life is to be a behind-the-scenes supportive person for whatever God is doing. That was so exciting to discover.”

Now that Young is wrapping up her degree in social work, she hopes to use what she’s learned at NNU about herself and her field to pursue a career in social work in the Nampa area after graduation.

For Young, the decision to pursue his MBA at NNU was all about challenging himself academically and positioning himself for a promotion in his career.

“The challenge for me was to see if I could compete academically with the current generation of students,” he shared.

Young works as a senior business analyst in information technology for Portland General Electric, where he has been for 32 years. He said that when he was looking for an MBA program, the spiritual focus of the NNU professors appealed to him.

“Several of my co-workers have earned MBAs through a university here in Portland. While I wanted to work towards the MBA, I didn’t want to do the same old program everyone else was doing,” Gary said. “Also, the support and focus of my NNU professors on spiritual life has been a great addition to the program. Even the simple thing of having a spot on the class discussion board to post prayer concerns has been wonderful. NNU is fundamentally a very good place to learn and a very supportive environment for the students.”

Young said he appreciates the close relational ties throughout the NNU community. For example, he said that Dr. Ralph Neil, the pastor who officiated his and Jana’s wedding, later went on to teach at NNU. Decades later, Dr. Neil also performed the wedding ceremony for their daughter Lacey and her husband, David, in 2008. Four generations and counting

In November, Northwest Nazarene University will kick off its centennial celebration: 100 years of NNU tradition in Christian higher education. With four generations of NNU graduates in their family, the Bryson/Young family’s history with NNU stretches back over the vast majority of the last century at NNU. For the Brysons and Youngs, NNU is not just their alma mater–it’s a family legacy.

“It’s kind of neat to be a fourth generation of something,” said Young. “I don’t know exactly why God wanted me at NNU, but there has been so much learning, growing and just plain beautiful things that have happened since I came to Nampa. There have been difficult things, too, of course, but God uses everything. I’m glad God brought me here.”

Mass communication majors take on Hollywood

zvineyard — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:46:50 +0000

On a hot Los Angeles afternoon, two entertainment industry “up-and-comers” got together for networking and lunch. One works for DreamWorks Animation SKG, helping to create animated films, and the other is interning with FOXSports Interactive, hoping to break into the cable sports news scene. Strangely enough, their connection doesn’t come through Hollywood but rather through Nampa, Idaho. They each got their start in NNU’s mass communication program where they developed their skills and started making the necessary connections to find work in an industry that is all about who you know.

As Lynelle Thompson showed senior mass communication major Zac Kinman around the DreamWorks campus, he picked her brain about her experiences while en route to Hollywood and sought her advice on how to make it in this highly competitive profession. Lynelle definitely had advice to share.

Hailing from Post Falls, Idaho, Lynelle never envisioned herself working for a well-known Hollywood studio like DreamWorks. In fact, she arrived at NNU without a declared major and ended up in the mass communication department, only after randomly being placed in an elective video/audio course.

“I wouldn’t have had experience in many aspects of my current position without my internship,” Lynelle says. “Not to mention the connections it helped me to make.”

Lynelle tried her hand at many different aspects of media production, including producing, script writing, directing and filming, and discovered that her strengths and passions lay in organizing, scheduling and producing. Wishing to put these to use in a television/film career, she knew she would have to get closer to the action to make that happen. To this end, she took advantage of one of the BestSemester off-campus programs through the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities and studied at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center. This program allowed Lynelle to showcase the skills she had been honing at NNU and the experiences she had acquired with the department (traveling to Europe, visiting the Sundance Film Festival and working on shows like “An Idaho Family Christmas”) in an internship.

That fortunate internship was with DreamWorks Animation Studios where she assisted with effects on the animated feature “Shrek Forever After.” This opportunity proved essential to Lynelle recognizing in what direction she wanted to begin her career. “I wouldn’t have had experience in many aspects of my current position without my internship,” she says. “Not to mention the connections it helped me to make.”

After graduation, Lynelle contacted her friends and colleagues from DreamWorks and waited for an opportunity to apply for a long-term position. A few months later she was hired and has since worked on projects like “Megamind” and “Puss in Boots in The Three Diablos.” Despite these well-known credits, Lynelle insists that day-to-day activity at a major motion picture studio is not always as glamorous as it sounds. She says it’s a lot of hard and sometimes mundane work, but her studies at NNU prepared her for hard work and much more. The mass communication department recognized Lynelle with the Platinum Slate Award for putting in more than 500 hours on various film and television productions outside of her regular class work.

Professor Ytreeide shared, “Besides being one of my all-time top teacher aides, Lynelle was a great student, and it was fun to work with her. She has a great talent for producing, which is to say she knows how to make things happen and get things done — qualities I’m sure DreamWorks noticed.”

During their networking meeting, she shared a little of her experience with fellow NNUer, Zac Kinman. Certainly not without credentials of his own, Zac spent his summer in L.A. taking advantage of every opportunity — one of those being to make connections with people, like Lynelle, who are already successful in the media field. He went to L.A. as a recipient of a prestigious internship through the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation.

This academy selects only 39 outstanding students per year from universities across the country and matches them with television, film and media companies looking for interns. This well-respected organization seeks to connect students to positions in their area of interest. For Zac, that meant an internship with FOXSports Interactive Media, where he worked as a camera operator and video editor. He logged, edited, organized and published content toward a collective effort of covering all the sports action in the day. He also worked with sports analysts and interacted with professional athletes. On his days off, he spent time observing on the sets of a number of FOXSports original content shows in the “Lunch with Benefits” series.

“The one piece of advice I would give someone trying to get into this industry is to do an internship,” Lynelle shares.

Zac was recruited to play basketball at both NNU and Eastern Washington University. He chose NNU because of the reputation of the mass communication department. Now in his senior year, he has tried to make himself as well-rounded as possible, in pursuit of his goal to work in production for a major sports news network. During the school year, he works as the sports editor for the campus newspaper. He has also done freelance jobs with ABC News/ESPN Sports, NBC Sports’ VERSUS and Path 1 Productions. Being in L.A. this summer has given him easy access to pursue these side ventures.

Needless to say, Zac has been busy. But this is no different than when class is in session at NNU, and he spends countless hours on school shoots and other classroom projects. Professor Ytreeide shares that one of Zac’s major contributions to the department has been his work on building a production truck for shooting sport events: “Zac epitomizes what it takes to make it in the film and television industries. He has a great attitude, a great work ethic, a passion to learn and a willingness to do whatever it takes to make the show a success.”

“The NNU mass communication department is like a family. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it,” Zac says. He credits the mentorship of department aides (like alumnus Troy Watters) and outstanding faculty (like Professor Ytreeide) for encouraging him and helping him to grasp opportunities like the one he had this summer. Zac understands that hard work and talent alone are not enough to be successful in the film and television industries, but that having the right connections is essential. NNU’s mass communication department, along with many individuals investing in Zac, have helped him along the way and will continue to help him as he launches his career after graduating in May 2012.

“I understand more now than ever that the opportunities I’ve been blessed with are not because of me. These opportunities are the reflection of others investing their time, energy and belief in me as a person, enabling me to succeed through hard work, perseverance and humility,” says Zac of his summer internship position and his time spent at NNU.

While Lynelle and Zac are currently working on different ends of the entertainment industry spectrum, they share a common background that has been proven invaluable for both. They each distinguished themselves in NNU’s mass communication department and took advantage of an available internship opportunity. “The one piece of advice I would give someone trying to get into this industry is to do an internship,” Lynelle shares. “It’s the best way to find your niche and get noticed.” Zac is already busy taking this advice and is definitely getting noticed in the process.