Naomi Tutu on Campus p. 3 | Homecoming 2010 p. 6 | Coach Johnson’s 150th Win p. 10

College of Arts & Sciences | College of Adult & Professional Studies | Graduate School | Bethel Seminary

Fall 2010

TheLight ofHope For those in

the shadows of depression,

Bethel shines

Fall 2010 Volume 2 Number 1

Senior Vice President for Communications and Marketing Sherie J. Lindvall ’70

Editor Heather Schnese

Senior Consulting Editor for Bethel Seminary Scott Wible S’02

Contributors Barb Carlson Nick Jones ’05 Kelsey Lundberg Dana Morrison ’12 Cindy Pfingsten Scott Streble Amanda Wanke Michelle Westlund ’83 Nicolle Westlund ’09 Joyce Venida ’13 Suzanne Yonker GS’09

Design Darin Jones ’97

Staff Photographer Woody Dahlberg ’69

President James (Jay) H. Barnes III

Vice President for Constituent Relations Ralph Gustafson ’74, S’78

Editorial Offices 3900 Bethel Drive St. Paul, MN 55112-6999 651.638.6233 651.638.6003 (fax) bethel-magazine@bethel.edu

Address Corrections Office of Alumni and Parent Services 651.638.6462 alumni@bethel.edu

Bethel Magazine is published three times a year by Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, MN 55112-6999.Postage paid at St. Paul, Minnesota, and additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA.

Copyright © 2010 Bethel University. All Rights Reserved.

Bethel University is sponsored by the churches of Converge Worldwide, formerly known as the Baptist General Conference. It is the policy of Bethel not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, age, gender, or disability in its educational programs, admissions, or employment policies as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments. Inquiries regarding compliance may be directed to: Compliance Officer, Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, MN 55112-6999.

From the editor

Bursting with LightAs a sophomore in college I’d wake up in my dorm room’s top bunk feeling like

I couldn’t breathe. It was only 7 a.m.; I hadn’t even gotten out of bed, let alone

encountered anybody or anything that could cause me stress. So, why, I wondered, was

my heart pounding out of my chest? Why did I just want to go back to sleep when the

weekend ahead held fun activities like football games and birthday parties? Why did

everything seem so daunting and dark?

After numerous trips to the doctor and tearful phone calls home, the verdict was in.

I was suffering from anxiety attacks, and the longevity of the suffering was causing

me to fall into a depression from which I could not, despite my best efforts and most

fervent prayers, pull myself out of.

I wish I had known at the time that I was not alone—that in fact nearly 25 percent of

us will experience some form of depression sometime in our lives, and that 15 percent

of college students report being diagnosed with depression. Unfortunately, Bethel is not

immune from these sobering statistics. Chances are that if you have not experienced

the condition yourself, someone close to you has. In “Out of the Darkness” (p. 14),

read how the Bethel community is bringing light to depression’s shadows by providing

medical help and counseling; offering numerous majors and degree programs across

all schools of Bethel for future counselors, therapists, and ministry leaders; and even

hosting a recent conference on Suicide Awareness, Prevention, and Family Care—all in

hopes of providing both resources for healing and preparation for healers.

In this issue, you’ll also read of God’s light shining in Kenya, where two alumni

help nurture and educate orphans through a community center aptly named Daylight

(“Lighting the Way,” p. 20). Find out how Bethel students have been praying for

revival—for God to brighten our campuses in unimaginable ways—through the Tent of

Meeting (p. 5), and how the words of Naomi Tutu, daughter of South Africa’s Archbishop

Desmond Tutu, challenged us in Reconciliation Day chapel to bring light to our own

areas of brokenness in order to achieve true reconciliation (p. 3).

Through meaningful conversations, supportive community, and

lots of prayer, God shines His light into our darkest places, as He

did in my own. I hope this issue reveals to you the recent ways

God’s light is bursting forth at and through Bethel.

“When darkness overtakes the godly, light will come bursting in”

(Psalm 112:4).

Heather J. Schnese

1Bethel University

DEPARTMENTS

Campus News 2A look at the Class of 2014, new College of Arts & Sciences

degrees, Alumni of the Year, revival on campus

Bookmarked 12Recently published books by Bethel faculty members

Profile 13Dan LePage ’10, Bethel Seminary of the East,

Master of Divinity graduate

PlaceMeant 26 The Royal Gardens, St. Paul campus

Alum News 28

FEATuRES

14 Out of the DarknessIn numerous ways, Bethel supports those in the shadows of depression and equips students who are called to minister to the hurting.

20 Lighting the WayBethel community members serve Kenyan orphans through a school and community center.

23 74 Tuesdays to a DegreeA cohort in Bethel’s College of Adult & Professional Studies gains a B.A. in Business Management and a supportive community.

See this icon? Go to www.bethel.edu for more.

phot

o by S

cott

Stre

ble

SING PRAISEOn Monday, September 20, Bethel Seminary San

Diego kicked off its 2010-2011 academic year with a celebratory chapel, including worship

and a message from Dean John Lillis.

Campus News

2 Fall 2010

Meet the Class of 2014!(College of Arts & Sciences)

642 freshmen

63% female, 37% male (last time freshman males outnumbered females: 1965)

9% students of color or international students

31 states represented, in addition to several countries including Cameroon, Canada, Germany, and Kenya

2% have last name Johnson

Most popular name for girls: sarah (17)

Most popular name for boys: daniel (10)

68 high school valedictorians and salutatorians

Average ACT score: 25.4 (highest average in Bethel history)

70% received an academic scholarship

5 sets of twins

Hospitality in High GearSome 800 new students and their parents were welcomed to

Bethel during Welcome Week 2010. Full of Bethel traditions, Welcome Week is packed with fun events and activities designed to transition students into Bethel with the love of Jesus Christ. President Jay and Barb Barnes greet families as they arrive on campus, and student volunteers unload and deliver freshman belongings—all while cheering and singing, of course!

3Bethel University

Campus News

Heard on CampusIf we’re going to do true reconciliation, we have to be willing to face pain and the challenge of being part of a broken world and carrying some of that brokenness within ourselves. I believe true reconciliation is possible. We have all we need to achieve it because we have one another and faith—we’ve all been called as one body, one family.

Nontombi Naomi Tutu,the third child of South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, spoke at Reconciliation Day chapel on October 6. Other events for the day, themed “We Are on Our Knees,” included a luncheon with Tutu, a small group discussion, and a showing of the film In Search of Shalom: White People in Reconciliation.

Reconciliation Studies Turns Five

Bethel’s Reconciliation Studies program celebrates its fifth birthday this fall! The program’s 125 graduates are involved in an amazing array of reconciliation efforts: sleeping in tents on the street to show solidarity with the peace movement; facilitating study abroad trips for Bethel students; teaching college ceramic classes in the West Bank of Palestine; helping low-income communities in the Twin Cities learn and utilize technology in their job searches; and much more. Started by Professor Curtiss DeYoung in 2005, the program is one of the few of its kind in the country and was designed to be part of a double major. DeYoung says the hope is that students will couple the reconciliation degree with a second interest, and use both in a future career.

Recent grad Beth Atim ’09 took her Reconciliation Studies major all the way to Ramallah, a West Bank city in Palestine. Through the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Atim assists teachers in English and art. She credits Bethel’s program with helping her assimilate to her Middle Eastern surroundings. “The transition from Bethel’s reconciliation program to living in Palestine was as natural as I could have asked for,” says Atim. “It prepared me to face the harsh realities of peace, justice, conflict, hatred, and forgiveness in a very unique way.”

For more information on the Reconciliation Studies program, visit cas.bethel.edu/dept/anthropology.

Bethel Goes to the FairThis year, nearly 1.8 million people braved the crowds to enjoy the Minnesota State

Fair. Many of them stopped by Bethel University’s booth, including 1,100 alumni and about 300 current students. In fact, Bethel booth volunteers distributed some 31,000 bracelets imprinted with one of Bethel’s seven core values in seven different colors. Alumni and students were also invited to sign a unique “guestbook”—a large billboard resembling a Facebook wall. Bethel community members could then see who stopped by and when.

Other unique ways Bethel was represented at the fair:• A sculpture of a beaver, made out of rubbish collected

from Minnesota’s public waters and displayed at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources booth, was created by current student Chip Addington ’11 and alumnus Caylon Hackwith ’10.

• Lisa Silmser, a Bethel alumna and an adjunct assistant professor in the Graduate School, won the Pillsbury Best Pie for New Entrants award for her fresh peach pie and made a number of appearances on local news broadcasts with her winning recipe.

• Kimberly Allmann, adjunct french horn instructor, received a blue ribbon for an ivory lace top she crocheted.

Campus News

4 Fall 2010

Bethel University was ranked 17th among Midwestern Universities in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” guide, released in late August. Bethel was included in a list of “A+ Schools for B Students.” A freshman retention rate of 85 percent, a graduation rate of 74 percent, and a 12:1 faculty-to-student ratio helped boost Bethel’s ranking.

Travel with Royal Pride!On your vehicle

Minnesota residents can now show their support for Bethel University on their cars, trucks, and vans. Special Bethel license plates can be purchased through the state of Minnesota, and proceeds help support scholarships for Bethel students. A Bethel license plate costs the annual registration fee plus a minimum $25 yearly donation, a one-time $10 plate fee, and an $8.50 one-time filing fee.

Visit dps.state.mn.us; fill out “Application for Special Plates;” and return to your local driver and vehicle services office or mail to the specified address.

On your luggagePack some Royal pride on your

next trip! Bethel will laminate your business card, attach it to a Bethel luggage tag, and send it back to you for your backpack, suitcase, duffel bag, or purse.

Send your business card to: Bobbie EricsonBethel University3900 Bethel DriveSt. Paul, MN 55112-6999

Want news on the go?Get regular updates on Bethel news

and events via email! Subscribe to Bethel eNews at bethel.edu/news-events/e-news.

17

New DegreesVarious Bethel academic departments have been busy throughout the past few years developing new programs; two debuted this fall.

Bachelor of Fine ArtsTo better prepare its students to follow their vocation in the 21st century, the

Department of Art now offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in addition to its cornerstone Bachelor of Arts program. The BFA establishes a robust knowledge and skill base in multimedia, enables students to develop stronger conceptual skills, and provides practical preparation for art careers or graduate education. “In the increasingly competitive world of MFA programs, gallery representation, and available grants, this new degree will enable Bethel art graduates to hold their own as they seek to express their vision to the world,” says Wayne Roosa, chair of the Department of Art. The BFA program requires 70 credits, including new courses at the freshman, sophomore, and senior levels, and its first students will graduate in 2014.

Linguistics Major Through a unique partnership, Bethel’s Department of Modern World Languages

and SIL International’s Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) at the University of North Dakota (UND) have created a linguistics major. The degree can be completed in three academic years on Bethel’s campus with two summer sessions at UND. Associate Deans Barrett Fisher and Deborah Sullivan-Trainor worked with Bethel Professor Donna LeGrand and SIL Director Albert Bickford to determine the requirements of the major and to create a relationship between the two institutions. “Partnering with SIL gives students the opportunity to take specialized courses that can’t be offered at Bethel. SIL is a highly respected program where Bethel students will receive excellent training,” says Sullivan-Trainor.

5Bethel University

Campus News Campus News

First FSU Cohort Celebrates Program Completion

The first cohort in Frogtown/Summit-University (FSU) celebrated their completion of the General Studies program in August. Part of the College of Adult & Professional Studies (CAPS), the group of eight learners began their program in September 2008 to fulfill their foundational course work to prepare for earning an Associate of Arts degree or to fulfill requirements to enter a degree-completion program. The group took courses in art appreciation, academic research and writing, western civilizations, and biblical studies, among others. “I have gained a rich insight and apply this knowledge to my daily life,” says Joan Gooden. “There was a meeting of the minds amongst individuals from various age groups, backgrounds, and cultures that kept class time enjoyable.”

Several students plan to continue on to complete their associate of arts degrees, while others intend to enroll in bachelor’s degree cohorts at Bethel or to attend other schools. “All of these students are possibility seekers,” says Melvin Giles, program coordinator for the Community Partnership office. “Only goodness can grow from here.”

Prayer in a Tent, Revival on CampusIf you walked by Kresge

Courtyard during late September or early October, you probably noticed a white tent. Set up by students, it was the Tent of Meeting in which Bethel community members prayed 24 hours a day for 40 days with a goal of revival. Senior Jay Quick, a communication studies major, was one of the students to spearhead the initiative. He tells us more:

How did you come up with the idea for the Tent of Meeting?My roommate [Chris Dirks] was the first person to have this idea. We thought, “We have to make this happen.” We had heard God’s whispers about this for a while, so we went to Campus Ministries.

What did Campus Ministries think of the idea?They fully supported it, but they wanted to wait until spring when it got warmer. But when the spirit moves, we’re called to respond. Campus Ministries said “OK.”

What was the response among students on campus when you first started the prayer initiative?So many people were willing to sacrifice for unified prayer. We were worried about filling the 1-5 a.m. time slots, but they were the first to go. Prayer is an individual thing, but we hoped to bring people together for growth as a whole for Bethel and the Twin Cities.

What was inside the tent?There was a cross where people pinned up prayers or thoughts. There was also an easel for people to draw or write on and a big roll of paper to write prayers on. We had a couple of journals and some Scripture reading to proclaim God’s Word over our campus.

What are you going to do with the journals and paintings?We’ve thought about putting them into a book. We’re going to keep the journals and probably give them to Campus Ministries, but we’re still thinking about what we’re going to do with everything.

Have you noticed revival throughout the campus?We’ve seen a lot of students experience forgiveness and true freedom, as well as realize their sense of worth and power through Christ. Students’ hearts have changed. They know the importance of [the tent]. They have tasted the presence of God and can’t get enough of it. A girl was in there from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. even though she hadn’t signed up for a time. People want more time with God.

How would you describe this experience for you personally?Our theme verse for the tent became James 4:8: “Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.” This is His promise, and we’re seeing it fulfilled at Bethel.

Tent ofMeeting

While they were praying, the place where they were meeting

trembled and shook. they were all filled with the holy spirit

and spoke God’s Word with fearless confidence.

Acts 4:31

Campus News

6 Fall 2010

Top Influencer in Children’s Ministry

Denise Muir Kjesbo, professor and lead faculty of the Master of Arts in Children’s and Family Ministry program at Bethel Seminary, was recently chosen as one of the “Top 20 Influencers in Children’s Ministry” over the last 20 years by Children’s Ministry Magazine. As a celebration of its 20th anniversary, the magazine included the listing and stated: “We believe that…children’s ministers in the daily trenches of ministry are true heroes. To kick off the celebration, we’re looking back at heroes who’ve made a significant, positive impact in children’s ministry.”

Kjesbo joined Bethel in 2000 after serving 13 years at North American Baptist Seminary in Sioux Falls, S.D. She has done adjunct teaching at North American Baptist College in Edmonton, Alberta, and at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has been involved in children’s and family ministry from small church plants to large established churches. She’s also

been a workshop presenter, traveling throughout the United States and Canada to train and equip those serving in children’s and family ministry; co-authored Women in the Church: A

Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry; and authored numerous magazine and journal articles. “I am humbled and honored by this commendation and give praise to God for this amazing adventure of preparing leaders to serve and partner with parents in the journey of spiritual formation,” says Kjesbo.

Homecoming 2010: Sunny and Warm

Fun was in the forecast for Homecoming, October 15-17, and the weekend’s activities lived up to the billing. More than 2,000 alumni weathered the trip back to Bethel to reconnect with friends, roommates, and professors and to participate in a diverse selection of meaningful events, including Homecoming chapel, where Alumnus of the Year Bruce Dahlman ’76 encouraged and challenged the Bethel community.

Alumni toured the campus, attended sample classes, and renewed their ties with like-minded friends at a number of special gatherings, including events for football, baseball, and hockey alumni; Coeval contributors; Depression House participants; and Royal Stadium Club members. Several departments sponsored open houses spotlighting their newest programs or facilities, including the library, television and radio studios, and nursing, biology, and business and economics departments.

More than 800 alumni celebrated their reunions together on Friday and Saturday nights, and a sold-out crowd enjoyed a special performance of the comedy Triple Espresso in Benson Great Hall on Friday evening. On Saturday morning, warm fellowship and sunny weather contributed to great participation in the Bethel Student Association’s 5K Run/Walk, and a full stadium was on hand that afternoon to see Coach Steve Johnson’s 150th win as the Royals pushing their record to 6-0 by beating Gustavus 20-0.

“The weekend was marked by strengthened connections and celebration of the Bethel legacy,” says Linda Schubring, director of alumni and parent services. “From Homecoming chapel, to the sold-out Triple Espresso, to the football win, to the gathering of reunion groups as the sun set over Lake Valentine, the weekend was successful in celebrating what God has done, is doing, and will do at Bethel.”

More faculty accomplishments at bethel.edu/news-events

7Bethel University

Campus News

Homecoming Challenge 2010More than 1,200 alumni, students,

and friends of Bethel cast their vote for their favorite residence hall in this year’s competition. As a result, Bodien Hall won the grand prize of $300 to put toward hall improvements. Bethel T-shirts, flash drives, and other prizes were given away to participants. Check out photos and comments on Bethel’s Facebook page: facebook.com/betheluniversity.

College of Arts & SciencesBruce Dahlman ’76 was honored as

Alumnus of the Year at chapel on October 15. Dahlman has followed Christ’s call as a missionary to Alaska and Africa, traveling to so many areas within Kenya that he has been called in Swahili “bwana safari,” or “ever-traveling guy.”

Dahlman graduated from Bethel with a degree in chemistry and then received an M.D. from the University of Minnesota, and family medicine training from the University of North Dakota. He recently completed a Master of Science in Health

Professionals Education degree at Maastricht University, Netherlands. He has worked tirelessly to establish family medicine as a recognized area of medical practice in Kenya and East Africa, serving as medical director at AIC

Kijabe Hospital and as director of the Institute of Family Medicine in Nairobi.

“As a doctor, Bruce has been concerned with much more than his patients’ physical wellbeing,” nominators said in their recommendation of Dahlman. “He is able to introduce the Masai and other Africans

to the one true God who always has been among them, as opposed to the Western ‘god’ they may see as associated with all of the trappings of Western culture.”

Dahlman passionately provides excellence in medical education while modeling Christ the healer in his mentoring role to African family physicians, equipping them to incorporate patients’ spiritual and personal needs into their total care. He challenges future health and service care workers to consider a life of significance in global and missionary service.

SeminaryThe Bethel Seminary Alumni Council

(SAC) unanimously recommended Rev. Stanley Rendahl as the 2010 Bethel Seminary Alumnus of the Year. Rendahl is a 1934 graduate of Bethel Academy and a 1941 graduate of Bethel Seminary.

Rendahl has served the Lord faithfully and inspirationally for more than 70 years as an evangelist, pastor, church planter, interim pastor, U.S. army chaplain, district executive officer, interim district executive officer, and Baptist General Conference adult ministries director. He has also served on several Converge Worldwide (Baptist General Conference) and Bethel

University committees.Frank Doten, retired pastor and

missionary, and an alumnus of both Bethel College and Bethel Seminary, nominated Rendahl: “He has completed faithful and effective ministry in different positions over a lifetime of service to God. He has love for and loyalty to Bethel, and has continued to stay active through prayer, student recruitment, and finances. Hearing Stan pray for Bethel is a moving experience.”

Rendahl served on the SAC for more than 10 years and continues to be a strong supporter and prayer warrior for Bethel. “Stan and [his wife] Lillian truly exemplify Bethel’s core values, and I personally believe they are great examples of humility, generosity, mercy, evangelism, and compassion,” says SAC Chair Brian Doten. “Stan has been a passionate servant of Jesus for more than seven decades, and he continues to do so to this day. He is truly deserving of the award.”

Alumni of the Year

View Homecoming 2010 photo galleryat bethel.edu/news-events

Campus News

8 Fall 2010

What’s with Bethel Magazine’s cover? The Office of Communications and Marketing answers readers’ questions.

Why did you change the cover? Will you go back to the old cover? Upon merging Focus and Heart & Mind magazines last fall, the communications and marketing team sought a new look and feel. We wanted readers to recognize

that they were receiving a different publication—one communicating what God is doing at and through all of the schools of Bethel University. The thoughtful feedback on the new magazine—and

its cover—proves we were successful! Thank you. We intend to print this kind of cover for this academic year’s issues.

Why does the cover feel funny? The different-feeling cover is not a particular kind of paper, but rather a water-based aqueous coating made with wax and polymers that is applied to the cover during printing.

Can you still recycle the magazine with this cover?The FSC logo you see on the inside front cover indicates that each company involved in the production of our magazine is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. This means the forestry company that grows and harvests the trees, paper mill, distributor, and printer are all working together to use our resources responsibly. The coating used on the cover is 100 percent recyclable.

Share your thoughts. Email us at

bethel-magazine@bethel.edu.

New Nursing Center Opens“It is incredible what a well-timed gift

to Bethel can do to elevate the excellence of our nursing programs,” said President Jay Barnes at the opening of the Larson Family Nursing Education Center. “Standing in this facility, we can envision a greater picture of what God is calling our students to be.”

More than 200 individuals toured the new 17,500-square-foot home of Bethel’s nursing programs during an open house and dedication program in September. The Larson Family Nursing Education Center, named in honor of donor Karin Larson and her family, who attended the dedication, is the result of Larson’s $1 million gift to Bethel University. The new space includes 29 offices, four classrooms, two labs, a

five-room simulation suite (complete with simulated patients who talk, cry, and even give birth), a conference room, and two debriefing rooms.

As part of the dedication, Joe Borward ’12, junior nursing student, shared his journey to Bethel. Borward was born in Liberia and, at a young age, lost his family during the country’s civil war. After spending time in various countries throughout Africa, Borward found his way to the United States and ultimately Minnesota. After taking a job at Regions Hospital, he received encouragement from a doctor to pursue his interest in nursing at Bethel University. He applied to a few schools in the Twin Cities, but it was Bethel who came through in accepting Borward to its program. “I wouldn’t say I chose Bethel—Bethel chose me,” he concluded.

Naomi Tutu on Campus p. 3 | Homecoming 2010 p. 6 | Coach Johnson’s 150th Win p. 10

College of Arts & Sciences | College of Adult & Professional Studies | Graduate School | Bethel Seminary

Fall 2010

TheLight ofHope For those in

the shadows of depression,

Bethel shines

9Bethel University

Campus News

Stewardship—a LifestyleDennis ’63 and Doris Johnson ’66 met

while singing in the Bethel College Choir. Dennis was a senior and president of the choir and Doris was a freshman. They joke that Dennis purposely invited Doris to join his church choir so he could see her more often. They married after Doris’ sophomore year and, following further schooling, the couple invested their God-given gifts into careers–Doris in domestic and international human resources and Dennis teaching chemistry and directing scientific research.

The Johnsons say they were both taught critical financial principles early in life: giving to God comes first; don’t spend your money until you have it; and save something each month, even if it’s a few dollars. Building on these principles contributed to what the Johnsons call a lifestyle of stewardship. “To us, this means managing, utilizing, and sharing everything in our lives. Not just finances, but also time, interests, and skills,” explains Doris.

It’s why they’ve opened up their home over the years to single-parent families as well as to college students needing a home away from home or a place to study. It’s why Dennis has given much of his retirement time to the worship ministry at their church. It’s why Doris has ministered in numerous leadership roles and is currently spearheading a letter-writing ministry, handwriting notes to people celebrating birthdays as well as those who are sick.

Crediting Bethel for their personal and spiritual development, the Johnsons began giving back to their alma mater early on, specifically to Bethel’s music program and the chemistry department. Then, upon retirement, they began giving to Bethel in more long-term ways. Since December 2002, they have donated monies toward various projects, and have

funded 18 charitable gift annuities; they receive a monthly check from Bethel, and upon their deaths, Bethel will benefit through additional scholarship funds. “Gift annuities have been a stabilizing piece in addition to our investment portfolio,” explains Doris. “The income from each annuity doesn’t increase over time, but it doesn’t decrease either! As a result, these annuities have given us peace of mind.”

Additionally, the Johnsons have set up a trust—their entire estate will go to Bethel in the form of scholarships. To the Johnsons, leaving a legacy means making a difference in the lives of others, now and for years to come. “Investment is not about selfishly trying to get rich,”

The Bethel Fund: Equipping Adventurous Christ-FollowersThe cost of providing a life-transforming, Christ-centered education is

expensive—more expensive than what student tuition alone can cover. That’s why the Bethel Fund* is crucial! It bridges this gap and helps provide: • Innovative academic programs and resources—cutting-edge technology for labs,

classroom resources, and scholarships • Spiritual formation opportunities—challenging chapel speakers, discipleship

programs, off-campus ministries• Faculty enrichment—grants, training/learning opportunities • A vital student life experience—health services, career services, student

activities and programsThis year, $2,500,000 is needed for the Bethel Fund. Whether your primary

connection with Bethel is through the College of Arts & Sciences, Bethel Seminary, the College of Adult & Professional Studies, or the Graduate School, you help Bethel thrive by giving to the Bethel Fund. Your gift equips adventurous Christ-followers!

*formerly the Annual Fund

says Doris. “It is about giving so that others can have a better future.”

For more information on planned giving or to give to the Bethel Fund, visit bethel.edu/development.

9Bethel University

10 Fall 2010

sports News

Coach Johnson Marks 150th Win“Christ is a great competitor and is the greatest victor…That’s what Steve Johnson gets. You want to win on the scoreboard, but ultimate victory is how we compete, how we win, and then the impact we can have with that win.”

Chris Meidt ’92Former Football Coach for

Bethel, St. Olaf, and the Washington Redskins

Winning is an integral part of the Bethel football team, but using those victories for the glory of God is at the heart of the team’s culture. When the Royals defeated Gustavus at the Homecoming football game on October 16, Head Coach Steve Johnson expanded the team’s winning streak and marked the 150th win of his 22-year career at Bethel. He is the most-winning head coach in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) behind St. John’s John Gagliardi, the winningest coach in all divisions of college football.

“One thing that sets Steve apart is his ability to create a culture of brotherly love on his team,” says Chris Meidt ’92, who played for Johnson, and coached both with and against him. “It doesn’t mean they’re always getting along and smiling; sometimes it means wrestling

and grappling, but he wants guys to be real and authentic. That culture he’s built is lived out in recruiting class after recruiting class. If you get good players, winning will take care of itself.”

Johnson has had a noteworthy coaching career, being named MIAC Coach of the Year five times and West Region Coach of the Year twice. He has led the Royals to four conference championships and has coached nine All-American players. “Amidst the recognition and success Steve has achieved, he filters it all through a spirit of humility,” says Bob Bjorklund, Bethel University athletic director. “Players admire him for his passion for the sport he coaches, but more so for his devotion to the God he loves. Steve’s quick wit and sense of humor have been the delight of many a coaches’ gathering. His gifts are great but his servant heart is even greater.”

11Bethel University

sports News

Follow the Royals:athletics.bethel.eduyoutube.com/user/bethelroyalsfacebook.com/bethelroyalstwitter.com/bethelroyals

SoccerThe Bethel women’s and

men’s soccer teams started their year under new leadership as Ryan Servaty took over the head coach position. Servaty came to Bethel with a wide variety of coaching and playing experience, including as assistant coach at Augsburg College, Minn., and co-head coach at Elk River High School, Elk River, Minn., where he led the Elks to their first state tournament appearance in seven years. Highlights of the season thus far include a key victory for the women’s team over St. Thomas for the first time in program history. On the men’s team, goalkeeper Leif Sundberg (Jr., Mahtomedi, Minn.) leads the conference in saves with 50, and Andreas Scott (Sr., Cedar, Minn.) ranks third in the conference in overall number of shots on the season.

GolfThe men’s and women’s golf teams also

find themselves with a new head coach in Trent Anderson, who has coached a variety of sports in the Centennial School District, Minn., at Bethel, and at Washburn High School, Minneapolis. Under his leadership the men’s team finished sixth in the conference golf championships for the second consecutive year. The Royals were led by Taylor Tollette (So., Andover, Minn.), who finished 16th, shooting a cumulative 15 over par for the 54-hole championship. In the third year as a varsity sport, the women’s golf team was led by Paige Lemieux (Jr., Fargo, N.D.), who finished the conference championships in a tie for 22nd place, while the team finished in 8th place.

VolleyballThe women’s volleyball team wrapped

up its season with several ups and downs.

A major highlight included a defeat of 12th-ranked St. Olaf. The team also led the MIAC in blocks; Amy Werner (So., Three Lakes, Wis.) was third in the conference in blocks; and Valerie Smith (So., Alexandria, Minn.) was fifth in the conference in digs. The team only loses a small number of seniors and looks to come back stronger next season.

Cross CountryDespite the loss of three national meet

qualifiers, both the men’s and women’s cross country programs have improved in depth this year. The men have been led by a group of three strong returners including Austin Hinrichs (Sr., Clara City, Minn.), Denny Meints (Sr., Pine Island, Minn.), and Zach Haskins (So., Maple Grove, Minn.). The women have been led by newcomer Cara Donohue (Fr., Bloomington, Minn.), who finished the 6k course at the UW-Oshkosh Brooks Invitational in 22:22, giving her the 6th fastest time in Bethel history. At the same meet, Haskins ran the 8k course in 25:29, putting him 4th in Bethel’s all-time cross country rankings.

Lydia Bergeson ’13

Zach Haskins ’13

Campus News

12 Fall 2010

BookmarkedRecently published books by Bethel University’s faculty

For many other books by Bethel faculty, visit the Campus Store at

bookstore.bethel.edu and click on “Bethel Authors.”

Key Terms in Philosophy of ReligionContinuum Publishingby Ray VanArragon, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Department Chair

This textbook offers a clear, concise, and accessible introduction to a central topic in philosophy, offering a comprehensive overview of the key terms, concepts, thinkers, and major works in the history of this critical area

of philosophical thought. It is ideal for first-year students. Integrating Active Games with Other SubjectsMGB Printingby Steven Henkel, Professor of Health and Physical EducationHenkel’s book contains nearly 70 games for elementary and middle-level children, aligned with national physical education standards and emphasizing the core subjects of language arts, math, science, and social studies. In addition, there are activities from six continents that teach about culture, and games that incorporate character values with discussion ideas for 16 virtues. Success for Kids in Active GamesMGB Printingby Steven Henkel, Professor of Health and Physical EducationThis book includes more than 90 games for elementary and middle-level students aligned with national physical education standards. With a balance between competitive and cooperative activities,

there is an emphasis on building self-esteem by including players of all abilities. The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible Fortress PressCo-edited by Curtiss DeYoung, Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, Department ChairThis textbook based on The Peoples’ Bible highlights the role of cultures in both the development of the Bible and in its subsequent reception around the world, enabling students to see how social location has figured in the ways particular peoples have understood the biblical text and helping them formulate their own social location as a key to understanding the Bible and its import for them.

Leadership and Nation Building in AfricaOutskirts Pressby Gregory Bownik, Teaching Partner, College of Adult & Professional Studies, Graduate SchoolIncludes essays by Associate Professor of Anthropology and Sociology Samuel Zalanga and Professor Emeritus (Political Science) Bill Johnson, and foreword by Bethel University President Jay Barnes.A collection of essays that adds to the ongoing academic discussion on how Africans can be trained as effective leaders who can initiate nation-building in their home countries. Readers are invited to analyze the perspectives and solutions included. “Only when African nations embark on an intensive nation-building effort, one that attempts to overcome the negative impact of decades

of corruption and poor leadership, will they be able to rebuild their civil societies and join the globalized world in seeking the best for their citizens who have suffered too much for too long,” says Bownik.

MBA Essentials for ExcellenceMcGraw HillChapters selected by TediAnn Hasapopoulos, Tom Judson, David Lowe, Steve Ogren, Albert Prentice, Vanessa Ranallo, and John RudbergBethel Graduate School professors created this text by selecting key chapters from several McGraw Hill business textbooks. The book is used in the MBA program as a guide for the prerequisite MBA skills seminars in finance, marketing, economics, and statistics, and to help learners brush up on key concepts.

5 Decades of Growth and ChangeHarvest BooksEdited by Jim and Carole SpickelmierNumerous Bethel stalwarts contributed to this book on the Baptist General Conference’s (BGC) history and growth. Some 30 volunteer writers cover topics including the histories of BGC district ministries, missions, and the expansion into multi-ethnic communities.

13Bethel University

proFile – dan Lepage by Heather Schnese

in Kosova, former president Bill Clinton is revered for his efforts to protect and liberate the Yugoslav province—now a country—that was being taken over by serbian Communist slobodan

milosevic in the early ’90s. similarly, among Kosovar church leaders, dan Lepage is esteemed for his work to educate and equip them.

Lepage, a recent Bethel seminary of the east (Bsoe) graduate, began his seminary work in winter 1999, but had to cut his studies short when a year later he was deployed to Kosova as a nato peacekeeper. While there, he befriended church leaders and returned to the united states feeling called to support their work, although he wasn’t quite sure how.

he picked up his seminary studies and in 2002, as missions leader at his church, Lepage organized a trip to the muslim country to find ways to help the local church. the trip germinated a vision for educating church leaders through the Kosova Bible institute, which would be modeled after Bsoe’s structure—a church-based program for those in full-time ministry. in 2003, Lepage returned to Kosova with denis Keith, Bsoe’s new england center director at the time, and the vision began to take shape.

after setbacks due to deployments to iraq, a divorce, a heart attack, and quadruple bypass surgery, Lepage received his master of divinity in June, and will head back to

Kosova in november to launch the institute at a church in pristina, Kosova’s capital.

“it’s been 10 years since i first met the confessing church leaders in Kosova,” says Lepage. “i’ve come to realize that you can’t rush god’s timing. he has shaped me through the events and circumstances in my life to serve him in this particular way right now.”

during his november trip, Lepage and noel sherry, Bsoe’s new england teaching Center director, will help six to eight Kosovar pastors and lay leaders begin the two-year evangelical training association curriculum, focusing on leadership skills, personal

spiritual growth, and outreach. Lepage and sherry plan to make the 10-hour flight to Kosova once a quarter (while seeking other faculty

and students to help) to lead evening classes for a week, and then students will complete the rest of the work on their own.

Lepage believes his seminary education prepared him for the work he has been called to do. “seminary equipped me spiritually and academically, and my

army career as an instructor equipped me as an educator,” Lepage explains. he’s also thankful that his previous time in Kosova affords him the ability to share more

easily and freely with its people.

planning to retire from his military career within the next two years, Lepage is an insurance agent and lives in middletown, Conn., with his wife and six children. But he will

continue to make frequent trips to the same part of the world where the apostle paul was called to minister. Lepage likens his call to that of paul’s in acts 16:9: “during the night paul had a vision of

a man of macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to macedonia and help us.’”

Dan and Lesa LePage with Noel Sherry, BSOE’s New England Teaching Center director

photo by Lesa LePage

14 Fall 201014 Fall 2010

by Michelle Westlund ’83

Outof theDarkness

Finding Hope in the Anguish of Depression

and Suicide

15Bethel University

“I REMEMBER BEGINNING TO CRY IF I COULDN’T FIND SOCKS THAT MATCHED, LET ALONE WHOLE OUTFITS, BECAUSE IF MY SOCKS DIDN’T MATCH, THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF CHANGING OUT OF MY PAJAMAS?” recalls Jacci Mikkelson ’09. She speaks with remarkable courage and candor about the effects of depression on her life while she attended Bethel. “Absolutely everything was overwhelming, paralyzing,” she continues. “There was no point to anything I was doing. I was convinced that God had abandoned me in my plight, and I had fleeting thoughts of ending my life.”

Mikkelson isn’t alone. Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting more than 120 million people, according to the World Health Organization. In fact, at some point in our lives, a quarter of us will face the darkness of depression in some form. “Up to 25 percent of U.S. adults meet the diagnostic criteria of depression during their lifetime,” says Dan Blazer, professor of psychiatry and behavior sciences at Duke University Medical Center. Blazer served as keynote speaker at Bethel Seminary’s recent Fall Conference on Suicide Awareness, Prevention, and Family Care (see p. 17). The conference is just one of the many ways Bethel is working to educate and support its hurting community members, as well as to equip students who are called to minister to those, like Mikkelson, who are facing depression.

What Is Depression?“Depression is not just sadness or sorrow,” writes Kathryn

Greene-McCreight in Christianity Today. Greene-McCreight is assistant priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church in New Haven, Conn., and is herself affected by chronic mental illness. Her book Darkness Is My Only Companion is filled with eloquent reflections on mental illness and suffering, a number of which were quoted by presenters at Bethel’s recent conference. “Depression is not just negative thinking,” she writes. “Depression is not just being ‘down.’ It’s walking barefoot on broken glass; the weight of one’s body grinds the glass further with every movement. So, the weight of my very existence grinds the shards of grief deeper into my soul. When I am depressed, every thought, every breath, every conscious moment hurts.”

Major depression is defined by the Mayo Clinic as a “medical illness involving the mind and body, affecting how you feel, think, and behave. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems…and may make you feel as if life isn’t worth living.” Its two key indicators, which occur consistently for at least two weeks, are a depressed mood and a lack of interest in

everyday activities. Major depression is the psychiatric diagnosis most commonly associated with suicide, according to the American Association of Suicidology, with the risk of suicide in people with major depression about 20 times that of the general population. Approximately two-thirds of people who commit suicide are suffering from depression at the time of their deaths.

Depression can be situational as well, according to Myrla Seibold, professor of psychology and clinical director of Bethel’s Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program. Situational depression is temporary, often caused by grief, change, or stress. Unresolved, however, it could develop into major depression.

Depression and College StudentsWith the combination of stressful circumstances college

students face—including academic pressure, homesickness, relationship worries, and major life decisions about the future—they can be at unique risk for depression. Indeed, the statistics on depression and suicide among college students are sobering. In a recent American College Health Association survey, 14.9 percent of college students reported that they had at some point been diagnosed with depression. And 30 percent of North American college counseling centers said they had at least one suicide in the previous year, according to psychologist Robert Gallagher of the University of Pittsburgh, whose survey results were highlighted in USA Today. Seibold cites statistics indicating that one in five college-age students will seriously consider or even attempt suicide, which is the second-leading cause of death, after accidents, in this age group. She adds that “suicidal feelings and thoughts are extremely common in the college-age population, although acting on them is not common.”

And Bethel is not immune. “Increased numbers of students are arriving on campus with some kind of depression in their past,” says Edee Schulze, vice president for student life at the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS). Once here, they face many of the same stresses as their peers in secular universities, and these challenges can sometimes lead to emotional upheaval.

“WE ARE COMMITTED TO BEING A CARING COMMUNITY THAT IS COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO REACH OUT TO OTHERS IN NEED.”

—EdEE SchulzE,VicE PrESidEnt for StudEnt lifE,

collEgE of ArtS & SciEncES

16 Fall 2010

Bethel Seminary students are also affected by depression, at about the same rate as graduate students in general. The seminary collects annual data on the spiritual and emotional well-being of its students, says Steve Sandage, professor of marriage and family studies at Bethel Seminary St. Paul. “Over each of the past six years, there is a consistent pattern of approximately 5-8 percent of our students reporting moderate or higher levels of symptoms of depression, and another 20-25 percent reporting mild symptoms,” he says. “These prevalence rates are consistent with research on graduate level students in other professions such as law and medicine.”

Help Is HereBethel students facing depression—or any mental, emotional,

or spiritual health issue—will find an open, caring community of support around them. “Caring for the emotional well-being of our students is essential to Bethel’s holistic developmental model,” says Schulze. “We are here to help students grow cognitively, of course. But we are also here to help them grow emotionally, relationally, spiritually, and in expanding their capacity to thrive in all that life brings their way. We are committed to being a caring community that is courageous enough to reach out to others in need.”

To that end, faculty, coaches, deans, and staff members in residence life, student life, campus ministries, and health services often collaborate to provide support to students who are struggling. “It’s not unusual for a dean to have a conversation with a faculty member about adjusting course load and deadlines when a student is dealing with depression,” says Schulze. There is even a software program used by the Office of Student Life that helps track students who experience depression, so that contact people can follow up to offer connection and support.

Staff frequently work with students themselves, or may make a referral to an appropriate resource. “Student life staff work closely in partnership with our excellent counseling center to assist students who are struggling with depression at levels that present challenges to their academics, relationships, or everyday life,” says Jim Fereira, dean of students and community life (CAS).

Counseling ResourcesBethel’s onsite counseling center, Counseling Services,

provides all Bethel students—whether undergraduate, graduate, or seminary—with free and confidential professional counseling and consultation. A variety of therapeutic approaches is offered, including cognitive behavioral therapy, which “helps identify unhealthy, negative beliefs and replace them with healthy, positive ones,” explains Seibold. Counselors may also encourage students to make behavioral changes. “Students are encouraged to balance their lives and structure their social interactions,” continues Seibold. Or counselors may partner with campus ministries staff to work with students on spiritual issues like doubt, owning their faith, and questioning God.

If Counseling Services staff determine that a student has a diagnosable depressive disorder, the student can be referred to Bethel’s Health Services, where a nurse practitioner and campus physician are available to prescribe medication, if necessary. According to Liz Miller, director of Health Services, the clinic also offers consultation and assessment for students struggling with depression. At some point in the near future, Bethel hopes to provide onsite psychiatry services, too. And when a student’s issues fall beyond the scope of on-campus resources, staff refer the student to professional services in the community.

At Bethel Seminary, the Office of Student Life helps students with counseling resources, both financially and with the appropriate support and referral. “We encourage students to contact Bethel’s Counseling Services as a first resource, and if that doesn’t meet their needs, the seminary will pay for up to six counseling sessions at another site,” says Dan Jass, director of student development.

Equipping HealersBethel not only provides resources for healing, but preparation

for healers. The College of Arts & Sciences offers majors in a variety of related fields, including psychology, nursing, social work, and youth ministries. The psychology major in particular is “foundational for preparation in the counseling field,” says Seibold. “Students then pursue at least a master’s degree in counseling or another specialty.”

In Bethel’s Graduate School, the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology integrates the discipline of psychology with its roots in science and theory, the art of counseling, and a Christian worldview. Students gain a wide range of counseling skills, wrestle with ethical issues related to the profession, explore theoretical and research bases of psychology, and apply their

“DEPRESSION AND ITS CONSEqUENCES CAN BE TRAGIC, BUT IT IS A TREATABLE CONDITION. THEREfORE, WHERE THERE IS DEPRESSION, THERE IS HOPE.”

—dAn BlAzEr

continued on p. 18

17Bethel University

BECAUSE OF SARAHSarah was bright and funny. She loved to sing. She had the

sensitive soul of an artist, and she befriended lonely kids and animals. And she took her own life on October 1, 2008, five days before her 15th birthday.

In the aftermath of this unbearable loss, Sarah Becker’s parents, Tim and Nancy, were both comforted and outraged by the response of friends, acquaintances, and the church. They realized there were things they wanted to know, and wanted others to know, about depression and suicide, things that weren’t being discussed at church or among believers.

So an idea was born, and came to fruition on October 1, 2010, exactly two years after Sarah’s death: hold an event that would raise awareness about depression and suicide, encourage the church to break the silence of outmoded taboos about these issues, and educate and equip pastors and ministry leaders to care for affected families in their congregations. The event was Bethel Seminary’s Fall Conference on Suicide Awareness, Prevention, and Family Care.

More than 300 pastors, therapists, ministry leaders, seminary students, and community members gathered to hear from a diverse group of highly qualified experts on the topics of depression and suicide. The Beckers shared their story of Sarah, remembering the exuberance with which she embraced life as well as her determination to keep her depression a secret that would only be revealed in her journals after she died.

Keynote speaker Dan Blazer, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center, presented an authoritative yet accessible overview of depression. Breakout sessions were arranged into three tracks, focusing on research, youth, and pastoral issues, and offered a wealth of practical information and resources. And a panel of six esteemed practitioners, including Dan Reidenberg, executive director of Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE), and Tom Ellis, executive director of the Center for Grief, Loss, & Transition, St. Paul, provided invaluable insight as they addressed questions from the audience.

Sarah Becker had a “to do” list. She started it in sixth grade, and it included the aspirations of any young teenager: go to college, get a driver’s permit, fall in love. It also contained some items that were uniquely Sarah: visit Norway and get a pet squirrel. And it included two goals that might have seemed a little ambitious at the time: change the world and save a life.

Discovered in her journals after her death, Sarah’s list has become her legacy. Through the courage and openness of her family and friends, Sarah’s story has begun a ripple effect in churches and communities. Depression and suicide are being discussed openly, perhaps for the first time. A little part of the world has changed. And out there somewhere, or even someplace much closer to home, maybe a life has been saved.

Content from the Bethel Seminary Fall Conference on Suicide Awareness, Prevention, and Family Care is available on iTunes U.

Recommended Resources on Depression and Suicide

BooksDarkness Is My Only Companion by Kathryn Greene-McCreight

Depression: Causes and Treatment (2nd ed.) by Aaron Beck and Brad Alford

Jesus Wept: When Faith and Depression Meet by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide by K.R. Jamison

Silent Grief: Living in the Wake of Suicide (rev. ed.) by C. Lukas and H.M. Seiden

Suicide Survivors: A Guide for Those Left Behind by Adina Wrobleski

WebsitesDepression and Bipolar Support Alliance (www.dbsalliance.org)

National Alliance on Mental Illness (www.nami.org)

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (www.save.org)

American Association of Suicidology (www.suicidology.org)

HotlinesNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800.273.TALK (8255)www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Crisis Connection: 612.379.6363 or 1.866.379.6363www.crisis.org

18 Fall 2010

knowledge and skills in a clinical setting. The program’s two tracks—generalist or child/adolescent specialty—both prepare graduates to meet the state of Minnesota requirements for Licensed Professional Counselor (Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy). “We take very seriously our responsibility to serve as a gatekeeper to our profession,” says Seibold. “We rigorously assess and evaluate students to ensure that they will be safe and effective practitioners once they graduate.”

Bethel Seminary St. Paul also offers relevant graduate education with its well-recognized Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy program. Designed for those wanting to work as marriage and family therapists, the program prepares students for licensure as well as for doctoral studies in marriage and family. Bethel Seminary San Diego offers a similar program, the Master of Arts in Marital and Family Therapy, which incorporates the distinctives necessary for licensure in California. Another option for further professional development

is the Post-Graduate Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy, offered in St. Paul. This certificate program is intended for master’s-level professionals who want more specialization in the area of marriage and family therapy, and includes supervised clinical experience as well as course work in marriage and family and formation.

Bethel Seminary St. Paul also offers a Master of Divinity degree with a concentration in pastoral care and counseling. This emphasis prepares students for the kind of counseling they will encounter in ministry settings, as well as for preventive educational efforts in the churches they serve. The degree uses the pastoral framework as it prepares students to reach out to hurting people, and “trains ministry leaders to have awareness of emotional struggles, including depression, as well as strategies for providing pastoral support and referrals,” explains Sandage.

Salt and LightBethel offers more than just academic preparation for

students entering counseling careers and ministries. Leadership opportunities, such as serving as a resident assistant (R.A.) in a residence hall or townhouse, offer practical experience in recognizing and addressing a variety of student concerns, including depression. “When students have a friend who is going through something challenging, it is often a teachable moment for everyone involved,” says Schulze.

The seminary’s Fall Conference on Suicide Awareness, Prevention, and Family Care is another example of the kind of enrichment opportunities available at Bethel. In October, a local family who lost their daughter to suicide partnered with Bethel Seminary to host a number of nationally known experts on depression and suicide. “This seminar caused me and my classmates to brush up against the real-life impact of suicide,” says Kris Doten, CAPS ’02, a graduate student in Bethel’s counseling psychology program. “We were exposed to critical skills and rich resources that can make the difference in saving a life and in coming alongside those weighed down by depression and the pain and loss that follow a suicide.”

Beyond structured academic experiences and enrichment opportunities, Bethel prepares future healers as a natural outgrowth of its core values. As a community rooted deeply in faith, Bethel strives to equip students to be salt and light to others, reflecting the love of Christ to a broken world. Jessica

Suicide Warning SignsA suicidal person may:• Talk about suicide, death, and/or no reason to live.• Be preoccupied with death and dying.• Withdraw from friends and/or social activities.• Have a recent severe loss (especially relationship) or

threat of a significant loss.• Experience drastic changes in behavior.• Lose interest in hobbies, work, school, etc.• Prepare for death by making out a will (unexpectedly)

and final arrangements.• Give away prized possessions.• Have attempted suicide before.• Take unnecessary risks; be reckless and/or impulsive.• Lose interest in their personal appearance.• Increase their use of alcohol or drugs.• Express a sense of hopelessness.• Be faced with a situation of humiliation or failure.• Have a history of violence or hostility.• Have been unwilling to “connect” with potential

helpers.

Source: American Association of Suicidology

“REACH OUT, NO MATTER HOW HARD IT IS. REACH OUT AND TALK TO ANYONE WHO COULD MAKE A DIffERENCE fOR YOU.”

—JAcci MikkElSon ’09

from p. 16

19Bethel University

Schommer, a 2008 psychology graduate who is pursuing a master’s degree in counseling student personnel psychology at the University of Minnesota, says her Bethel education went far beyond the scope of her psychology classes.

“My experience at Bethel as a whole—including chapel, being involved in the community, leadership opportunities, and study abroad experiences—taught me that my responsibility is to become the best, most well-trained counselor I can possibly be in order to help people,” she explains. “During my time at Bethel, I discovered how God created me with certain gifts that help deliver compassion and empathy to people during times of pain and crisis. I also developed the view that each person is created in the image of God and is worthy of love and understanding.”

Hope and HealingJacci Mikkelson is now in recovery from depression. She

graduated from Bethel in 2009 with a degree in psychology, and currently works at the Minnesota Autism Center, providing care and instruction for children with autism or Asperger’s syndrome. For her, healing came through the “right balance of medication and therapy, which I now know was orchestrated by God,” she says.

Mikkelson’s advice for students dealing with depression is simple, and is repeated by every expert in the field: reach out and get help. “No matter how hard it is, reach out and talk to anyone who could make a difference for you—your R.A., a professor, your advisor, or even an encouraging friend,” she urges. “If you take that initial step, the subsequent ones are much easier.”

Sandage agrees. “We try to work with students in learning

to process rather than ignore emotional turbulence,” he says, “and to connect authentically with God and trustworthy people during ‘dark nights of the soul’ rather than withdraw.”

For parents or friends who are concerned about someone who seems depressed, Mikkelson advocates the same openness. “Parents should approach the subject as tactfully and lovingly as possible,” she explains. “In being open, there comes a sense of relief for all involved. At that point, the family as a whole can decide if depression is an issue, and if so, what the next best step should be.”

Most importantly, people of faith can look to God and His Word for truth and strength, no matter what they might be facing. The Bible teaches that suffering is real, and none of us will escape its grasp in our lifetimes. But pain does not have to diminish faith; instead, suffering can ultimately deepen our connection to God in a way that nothing else can. “This is an exceedingly important lesson,” Greene-McCreight writes in Darkness Is My Only Companion. “Despair can live with Christian faith. Indeed, having despair while knowing in your heart God has conquered even that is a great form of faith, for it is tried by fire.”

Even in the darkest night of the soul, light shines when a community like Bethel offers openness, acceptance, and connection, recognizing Jesus as the source of all hope. “Depression and its consequences can be tragic,” says Blazer, “but it is a treatable condition. Therefore, where there is depression, there is hope.” BU

Symptoms of DepressionAt least five of these symptoms, including one of the first two, are present consistently for at least two weeks:• Depressed mood• Lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities• Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, or guilt• Diminished ability to concentrate or make decisions• Fatigue or loss of energy• Agitation, restlessness, or irritability• Insomnia or hypersomnia (sleeping too much)• Significant decrease or increase in weight or appetite• Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

Source: American Psychiatric Association

“EVEN THE DARKNESS WILL NOT BE DARK TO YOU; THE NIGHT WILL SHINE LIKE THE DAY, fOR DARKNESS IS AS LIGHT TO YOU.”

—PS. 139:12, niV

19Bethel University

20 Fall 2010

Michael Kimpur had never seen

ice before. The hard, cold

surface beneath his feet was

slippery and strange. As an exchange

student from Kenya in 2004, Kimpur said

“yes” when his Bethel classmate Nathan

Roberts ’05 asked him to play “broomball.”

Kimpur had no idea what this would

require of him! Although he never took up the sport, Kimpur and Roberts

became fast friends as Kimpur completed a master’s degree in organizational leadership through Bethel’s Graduate School and Roberts finished his bachelor of arts in the College of Arts & Sciences. Kimpur taught Roberts about his home tribe in Kenya; Roberts taught Kimpur how to drive and even co-signed an American bank account for him. The two discussed theology and challenged each other’s faith through their very different backgrounds. Their discussions often landed on issues of justice and poverty, and more specifically, how to help children in Kimpur’s native country gain safety and education. Now, nearly five years later, the two are using the skills and foundation Bethel provided to help bring compassion and education to Kenyan orphans with the support of many other Bethel community members.

Lighting the WayBethel equips an unlikely pair to minister to

Kenyan orphans through a school and community center

by Heather Schnese

20 Fall 2010

21Bethel University

Warring Country, Hurting PeopleWhen famine struck his nomadic tribe in the early 1980s,

10-year-old Kimpur ran 200 kilometers through the bush to a World Vision feeding camp. Volunteers there arranged for him to begin attending school. Upon completing grade school, he went to Daystar University, a Christian interdenominational institution in Nairobi and a partner of Bethel University. Through the partnership, Kimpur studied as an undergrad at Bethel for a semester. He later returned to Bethel to receive his master’s degree, and during that time stayed with Carole Cragg, Bethel’s associate director of libraries. “I never ceased to be amazed by Michael’s ability to make cultural leaps wider than even the ocean he crossed,” says Cragg. “He went from a child who didn’t know ‘what’ a white person was to a man who could joke in English and do graduate work!”

As Kimpur grew and studied in the United States, the tribal warfare in his country also grew. “All boys over the age of 15 carry AK-47s,” Kimpur explains. “And because the culture believes in polygamy, when one of the patriarchs is killed, many children are orphaned.”

It is these children—many starving and suffering from malaria—that Kimpur wanted to help. So, in 2008—new master’s degree in hand—he headed back to Kenya and started Daylight Center with a goal to work with local leaders to combat violence, including tribal wars, and lack of education. The center, currently in a rented four-room Baptist church, is a school and community outreach facility for children from across the country. “I wanted to help build a bridge to the future,” says

Kimpur. “I can identify with the children. I was abandoned, too.”Shortly after starting Daylight, Kimpur asked his Minnesotan

friend Roberts to join him in the project. Roberts began spreading the word among Bethel friends and visited Daylight himself in January 2010. “I met the kids, and I saw the big issues,” he explains. “I was the first white person many of them had ever seen!” He was also initiated into Kimpur’s tribe—one of only two non-Kenyans to ever have this opportunity.

Building Hopeful FuturesSeven-year-old Swabrah Saleh, one of the first children to be

admitted to Daylight School, wants to be a teacher when she grows up. While on duty as a truck driver, her father was killed

Michael Kimpur and Nathan Roberts

21Bethel University

22 Fall 2010

at the border of Pokot and Turkana (warring tribes) by cattle rustlers. Her mother’s whereabouts were unknown, leaving her and her older brother Isa in the care of their elderly grandmother, who was ill. She brought them to Daylight for help.

Swabrah and Isa are among Daylight’s 150 children between the ages of five and 10 receiving teaching and ministry from five Christian teachers. “God came down to us to love us. Ultimately, Jesus was betrayed and crucified, but then God raised Him up,” explains Roberts. “For these children who have suffered so much, this is a powerful, saving message!”

Few of the nomads have an understanding of the cross or of Jesus as a savior. They are, however, interested in learning more about God even though their beliefs tend to be heavily mixed with tribal religions, says Roberts. To this end, Daylight infuses students’ education with the liberating message of the gospel.

As one of them, Kimpur inspires Daylight’s children. He became educated—and then returned home to help his people instead of making money elsewhere as so many other educated Kenyan men have done. “Michael’s also able to show that Daylight is not about trying to make the nomads into ‘American Christians’,” explains Roberts. “He tells them that they’re beautiful people just as they are, and we want them to have better lives. They have a right to education, and then they have a responsibility to help their country.”

On Daylight’s HorizonDaylight is guided and supported by a board of directors that

meets quarterly and includes six Bethel community members like alum Brianna Menning (Kunkel) who graduated in 2006 with degrees in philosophy, political science, and English literature.

She went on to get her master’s degree in nonprofit management and is now combining her skills to help Daylight. “I think this is an important project that ties directly into the things I am passionate about—creating opportunity, human rights, and local community action, which is essential,” says Menning, who is director of community-based learning for faith-based non-profit Communities First Association. She ran into Roberts, a Bethel classmate, a few times, and Roberts shared with her the work of Daylight. She helped Daylight secure its non-profit 501(c)(3) status and now serves as the board’s chair.

Other board members include Rick Szopinski, Bethel professor of organizational leadership; Ben Krupnick ’05, who has urban development experience with the United Way and UrbanVentures; David Maus ’06, the Upper Midwest Field Organizer for Bread for the World; and Rachel Finsaas (Arneson) ’06, who brought a passion for women’s issues in Africa from her work with Christians for Biblical Equality.

Daylight’s future—like its name—looks bright and strong. Thanks to a $10,000 grant from The Good Shepherd’s Trust Foundation and generous supporters, Daylight Center will move to a three-acre property in Kapenguria, Kenya, in early 2011. The new facility will include classrooms, girls and boys dormitories, and teachers’ quarters.

“It is by the grace of God that I came to Bethel to study,” says Kimpur. “I started out as a humble herdsboy not knowing that America even existed. But God has brought me so far thanks to the generosity of Bethel and her sister school Daystar in Nairobi, and for that I am so grateful.” BU

To learn more about Daylight Center and School, view videos from Daylight and nomadic Kenya, and learn how to get involved, visit www.daylightcenterpokot.org.

22 Fall 2010

23Bethel University

Trisha Sommerness pulls into a parking space at the Normandale Place office building near the intersection of Highways 494 and 100, as her

stomach reminds her it is dinnertime and class time. Up in the fourth floor suite, she pushes through glass doors and greets Rachel, who runs the 11,000-square-foot facility

filled with seven classrooms, as well as office space. Sommerness’ four-hour Tuesday night class doesn’t begin for another 30 minutes, but she joins a classmate to pore over a homework project—an accounting balance sheet—one more time.

Welcome to Bethel University in Bloomington, Minn., where some 200 busy adult learners—about 10 percent of Bethel’s College of Adult & Professional Studies/Graduate School (CAPS/GS)—are completing their degrees at night and on the weekends.

Opened in spring 2010 to consolidate several Bethel sites in the booming southwest metropolitan area, the suite is currently “school” to 20 cohorts, from General Studies groups taking foundational academic courses; to undergraduate and graduate leadership groups; to MBA, nursing, and special education cohorts.

Why Bethel in Bloomington?Sommerness’ group is working toward a Bachelor of Arts in Business

Management. They began in fall 2009 and will meet most Tuesday nights until August 2011—a total of 74 face-to-face or online sessions—to earn a bachelor’s degree. Her classmates live as far away as Elko, Mound, and Woodbury, Minn., or, like Sommerness, just a few miles away.

“The Bloomington site is perfect for me,” says Sommerness (left), a 30-something mother of two. For many like her, convenience is crucial.

“We are committed to bringing our programs to locations that are easy to access and close to the places where adults work, shop, and live,” says Lori Jass, dean of academic affairs for CAPS/GS. “It’s our hope that people will find it easy and convenient to get to class after work.” CAPS/GS holds classes on the

74 Tuesdays to a Degree

A cohort in Bethel’s College of Adult & Professional Studies gains

a B.A. in Business Management and a supportive community

by Suzanne Yonker GS’09

24 Fall 2010

Bethel campus, at the Red Fox site in Arden Hills, and other metropolitan sites in addition to Bloomington.

“Besides convenience, I also chose Bethel because it made going back to school so easy,” says Sommerness, who transferred 58 credits from Minnesota State Community and Technical College and was awarded three credits from professional training upon applying. “Advisors took my information and mapped out what course work I had left. I didn’t have to sift through classes and credits; Bethel did all that for me.”

Cohort LearningLike most of the programs in CAPS/GS, Sommerness’ program

uses the cohort model, a format in which the same group of learners goes through the whole program together—either online, in person, or both. Her group of seven women and four men is typical of Bethel’s adult programs, where roughly 60 percent of the students are women.

“We use a cohort model because we believe it is one of the strongest ways to support adult learning,” Jass says. “Adults bring a rich set of experiences into the classroom, and learning within a cohort allows them to share their knowledge with others and to learn from the vast experience of their co-learners.”

And the diverse classmates have a lot of life experience to share. A cross-section of this Business Management group: While Sommerness offers expertise as an administrative and research specialist, Susan Beckman is a program specialist. Geraldine Wachter works as a payroll/treasury accountant.

This business management cohort consists of 11 learners. At the time of writing, they were studying accounting under Shawn Sauve, adjunct instructor.

25Bethel University

Conrad Anderson is a single-family home contractor and church youth director. Julie Mattsson is a quality analyst. Dana Berg works in inside sales and customer/technical support, while Gary Wilkins is an account manager and technical college instructor. Julia Bass is a sales manager at a real estate firm. Altogether, the cohort members have more than 200 years of work and life experience to add to each class discussion.

On a recent Tuesday night, Sommerness and her classmates discuss a balance sheet projected onto the screen. They are studying accounting, one of three finance courses in the Business Management degree program. Instructor Shawn Sauve, a former management consultant who has taught at Bethel since 2000, begins the session by describing the natural tension between what they are learning and how much they have yet to

grasp. But by the end, they will have learned a lot more than they thought possible. He illustrates this point by slowly reciting Genesis 1 in Hebrew—one of the classes he took as a Bethel Seminary student.

“God created us to learn,” he explains. “For some of you, accounting is like a new language. As a student it isn’t comfortable. But with the process of repetition, you will discover that you learn more than you thought possible.”

Sauve walks them through the spreadsheet line by line, and then he explains the concept of a contra asset. “It’s one of those geeky accounting kinds of things,” he concludes, as a package of Oreos is passed around. “Some of you have been grooving on it; for others, this information is a little more stretching,” he says.

Cohort BondingBethel’s cohort model is designed for classmates to learn

from each other’s life experiences, but also to do life together. Sommerness started the Business Management program at the same time she went back to work after being at home raising her children. Being a working mom and a student has its challenges, she admits. But, “the balance of work, family, and studies is just life. If it isn’t school, it’s something else. There are nights when we all sit and do our homework together. It has been a surprisingly nice bonding experience.”

Some have dealt with life change since their program started. Mattsson lost her mom recently and also received a promotion. Wilkins’ wife had their second baby girl in August. Kristi McMahon accepted a new job. Many of the cohort members

also have young families. With a wife and four kids, “balance is tough,” Anderson agrees, “but I have an understanding wife, and that helps a lot.”

Through the busyness of school life, the cohort offers a community that provides shoulders to lean on. “A cohort is a place for people who share similar life stages, busy lifestyles, and professional objectives,” explains Jass. “The learners invest in relationships that will get them through the challenging times, both academically and personally. They share ups and downs, laughter and tears.”

“The cohort experience is truly amazing,” says Berg. “The cohort is a family. It is a group of people who come together to achieve the same purpose of obtaining a degree, but cohort members also keep each other accountable.”

“We all support each other,” Beckman says. “Some of us are better at some things than others, so we help to tutor each other when it’s needed. We don’t want to see anyone fail.”

The cohort also prays together as needs arise. Roosevelt Scott’s son was severely injured in Afghanistan during the year. His classmates came around him in prayer during one recent class session. This focus on spirituality—even while studying business—is appreciated by the cohort members. “The program has helped me develop a better understanding of who I am and how I can best serve God,” says Berg.

Sommerness has also enjoyed the spiritual dimensions of the courses. “Bethel University has given me amazing insight into my own spiritual development and has helped me understand others, too. It has become a safe atmosphere to discuss faith.”

Looking AheadAs of November 2, Sommerness’ cohort will have 33 more

Tuesdays to go. What keeps them motivated in their program while juggling family and work responsibilities as well as school? For Sommerness, it is “the chance to do something more than I have ever done—to continue to achieve new goals both personally and professionally.”

For others, it is seeing the degree at the end of it all. “It is my internal drive to achieve my dreams,” says Berg. “Also, it is the support of my family and friends who are there to encourage me when I struggle. It is the wonderful, supportive staff at Bethel. And most importantly, I feel God continuously motivates me because it is to God’s glory that I am in school in the first place.” BU

“A cohort is a place for people who share similar life stages, busy lifestyles, and professional objectives.”

Lori Jass, Dean of Academic Affairs for CAPS/GS

26 Fall 2010

placeMeant by Kelsey Lundberg

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As the growing season ended in Minnesota, Autumn Gasteiger ’09 (right inset) was in the Royal Gardens digging up red potatoes from the 22 plants she had watched grow since May. They were prepped for a potato salad and served at a parents’ lunch during new student move-in.

Launched in May 2010, the Royal Gardens is funded and maintained by Sodexo, Bethel’s dining service, which is boosting efforts to become more sustainable. Growing their own produce is just one tactic they’ve employed.

The garden’s bounty is tucked behind Chalberg Hall and the ninth hole of Bethel’s disc golf course. Traffic hums along Interstate 694, just beyond a thick stand of trees lining the urban sanctuary.

Gasteiger, master gardener and graduate of Bethel’s environmental sciences program, hopes the Bethel community catches her enthusiasm for locally grown fare and helps expand operations next summer. On a crisp, late August day, she gave us a tour of the plot.

26 Fall 2010

27Bethel University

1 Zinnia blossoms add brilliant tones of pinks, oranges, and purples to the garden—plus, they’ve been cut for event centerpieces. An additional benefit: they attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to aid flowering veggie plants.

2 Zucchini found its way into sides served from the Carvery, where Sodexo dishes out wholesome, home-style cooking.

3 Cucumbers—the year’s top-performing crop. Sodexo used their yield throughout the summer to garnish salads for events and at the salad bar line in the Monson Dining Center during Welcome Week.

4 Banana peppers—Picked, pickled, and served as a topping for sandwiches and wraps in the Deli line.

5 The #9 tee box perched next to the garden fence provides a fair finish for disc golfers concluding their round. From the tee, it’s a downhill throw through the trees, over Bethel Drive, and onto the open grass field in front of North Village.

6 Basil, hiding behind peppers, provided three big batches of pesto for chicken marinade. With more ready for harvest, students will enjoy fresh pesto in the pasta line throughout the fall.

7 Heirloom tomatoes showed up in dishes like Heirloom Tomato Basil Bruschetta with Crostini and Caprese Tomato Basil Pizza. Executing recipes with homegrown veggies has required more upfront planning than buying ingredients shipped from other climates. The Sodexo team meets regularly with their Executive Chef Justin Kaderlik to craft menus tailored to the seasonality of Minnesota produce.

8 An abandoned plot signifies room to expand. With Bethel’s student-led Creation Care team, the employee-run Green Council, and Sodexo’s growing commitment, passionate community members have avenues to support and advance the sustainability efforts on Bethel’s campus.

9 Kohlrabi—the most unique crop of the season. A member of the cabbage family, the kohlrabi’s edible bulbs are said to have the texture of a potato and the taste of a turnip.

10 Marigolds helped define rows of sprouting seeds in early summer and now rid the soil of nematodes, or microscopic roundworms, that infest vegetable gardens. Their smell was historically thought to repel insects and rabbits; whether that’s an old myth or proven wisdom, their ritual planting is still a tradition passed down from gardener to gardener.

11 Bangs Blossoms reads a hand-painted sign staked in the back plot. It belongs to seminary resident Jared Bangs who maintains a neatly weeded bed lush with basil, cherry tomatoes, and strawberry plants. Bethel’s first community garden dates back to 1967 when seminary families, professors, and college staff tended a tract of land that’s now the SoHo parking lot. Today’s garden still hosts seminary family tracts with Bangs serving as one of the garden managers.

12 An old milk crate is the method of choice for transporting produce during the five-minute walk to the dining center. When the local dishes hit the lines, Sodexo displays signs with their slogan, “The Royal Gardens: Growing a healthier community in mind, body, and spirit,” to let patrons know that their food traveled only footsteps from Bethel’s backyard to their plate. Sodexo also contracts with local Minnesota farms to bring in goods beyond what they can grow, including Axdahl Farms in Stillwater, Pepin Heights Orchard in Lake City, and Gilbertson Farms in Scandia.

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27Bethel University

28 Fall 2010

aLum News

Bethel Magazine incorporates Alum News from all schools of Bethel University. (S) indicates news from Bethel Seminary alumni, (CAPS) indicates news from College of Adult & Professional Studies, and (GS) indi-cates news from Graduate School alumni. No indication is news from College of Arts & Sciences alumni.

’40sV. Harris Youngquist (C’43, S’49) finished 65 years as a pastor of Converge Worldwide churches and ministering in Japan. He’s retired in Cook, Minn.

’50sIn July the newly printed New Tes-tament in the Waimaja language was dedicated in Bogotá, Colom-bia. Waimaja men who worked on the translation with Nancy and Joel Stolte (C’59, S’60) came in from the jungle to help celebrate.

’60sLance D. Dailey ’60 retired three times: first in 1993 from Sears after 33 years in a variety of assignments; second in 2003 from a global con-sulting and seminar company he founded; and finally in 2009 from Willow Creek Church as its confer-ence operations manager. He’s now a volunteer coordinator for a Habitat for Humanity building materials resale store in Elgin, Ill.

Alice (Huffman) ’61 and C. Bruce Anderson (C’61, S’65) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in August.

Larry K. Houk ’66, a partner in the Roseville, Minn., law firm Houk & Kantke, PLLC, was appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty to serve a four-year term on the Minnesota Board of Aging.

In June David Frenchak ’68 retired as president of the Seminary Consor-tium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE) in Chicago. He served there for 34 years.

“Measure our performance by what God accomplishes through our graduates after they have been prepared at Bethel to go out into the world to serve.”

—John Alexis Edgren, Founder

’70sMariellen Jacobson ’71 is coordinat-ing the planting of a new Anglican church (trinityminneapolis.org) in southwest Minneapolis, affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America.

Following 22 years of ministry in Des Moines, Iowa, Gary Clark (C’72, S’77) was called as the Wooddale Church Edina campus pastor. His wife Connie Lynn (Johnson) ’74 is professor of nursing at Bethel Uni-versity. They have three children and four grandchildren.

Terry Olson ’75 is the president of the Florida Association of Public Art Ad-ministrators, a nonprofit organization dedicated to Florida’s development, advancement, and education of the public art field.

Stephen V. Anderson ’78 had an opinion piece published in the Wash-ington Post about the human condi-tion after 500 years of John Calvin. Among other endeavors, he teaches scientific method at the University of Albany (SUNY). Rhondda (Green) Dayton ’79 is the human resource manager for the Dole Food Company, Inc.’s corporate headquarters in Westlake Village, Calif. She also continues her career as a professional flutist.

David J. Hotelling ’79 graduated in May from The Master’s Seminary with a D.Min. His dissertation was on the 12 minor prophets.

’80sRichard and Janet A. (Brown) Ander-sen ’81 celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary. They live in Cape Coral, Fla., with their 16-year-old twins, Andrew and Anna. Janet is a speech/language pathologist for the Lee Co. School District.

David Israels (C’83, S’87) is now pastor of Community Church of Sunsites in Pearce, Ariz. He and his wife Charlotte live in Pearce.

Robert and Linda (Clark) Oakley ’85 moved to Grafton, W.Va., where Roberts is pastor of Blueville Church of the Nazarene.

Robert Burgin ’86 just completed his 22nd year of teaching P.E. and be-came a grandpa for the second time.

Corinne (Popp) Talbott ’86 is a mis-sionary in Lichinga, Mozambique, with Serving In Mission (SIM). She and her husband Bob do evangelism and discipleship with the Makhua-Meetto people.

Lorn Apel ’87 is on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ in Orlando, Fla., as an educational consultant for Campus Crusade families overseas. Lorn and his wife Elizabeth (Libby) were teachers in Budapest, Hungary, for 10 years. Libby passed away in September 2009 from ovarian can-cer. They have two children, Micah, 9, and Eliza, 7.

Michael and Therese (Bosshardt) Vought ’88 opened a Right Fit Run-ning specialty running shoe store in Mounds View, Minn.

Eugene Douglass (S’89) earned his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in Fiber/Polymer Science.

Bruce M. Fredrickson (S’89) is the chaplain at Luther Midelfort Hospital in Eau Claire, Wis.

Jane E. (Johnson) Stavem ’89 is the superintendent of schools in Blair, Neb. She was appointed by Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman to serve on the professional practice commission for the state and was also nominated by the Nebraska Council of School Administrators to serve on the Ne-braska council on teacher education.

’90sTimothy Hinrichs ’90 and his family returned from Poland after serving as missionaries for 14 years. He is pastor of Word of Life Free Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minn.

Duncan Ross (S’90) celebrated 20 years of ministry at Mount of Olives Baptist Church in Duluth, Minn. In January 2009 Mount of Olives plant-ed Water’s Edge Church. He lives in Duluth with his wife, Michele, and their four children, Nathan, Andrew, Sarah, and Anna—all in their teens.

After 10 years in the U.S. Navy, Evan Stanley ’92 joined the U.S. State Department. Following French immersion and other training, he will be posted as vice consul at the U.S. Embassy in Bamako, Mali, in January.

Tammy Gibson ’94 was awarded a Fulbright Classroom Teacher Ex-change grant to teach in England. She teaches third and fourth grade at Parkview School in Roseville, Minn.

29Bethel University

aLum News Paul Thompson ’94 completed his M.B.A. at Aurora University and is president of the Christian Camp and Conference Association of Wisconsin.

Chris and Anna (Johnson) Carlson ’95 have four daughters: Bethany, 12, Kimary, 10, Christina, 8, and Maya, 3, who was born with lissen-cephaly, or “smooth brain syndrome.” A benefit was held in August for her medical expenses and the cost of refitting their home to be handicap-accessible (caringbridge.org/visit/mayacarlson).

Stewart Brown (S’98) won an award at the Canadian Christian writing awards in June for his book, Maj-esty in Motion. The book was highly recommended as a reliable guide with solid Biblical practical help for Christians and churches.

Thomas Cawcutt ’99 is a principal for Barnum, Minn., Public Schools. He and his wife Lori live in Barnum with Lauren, 8, and Elise, 4.

’00sLisa and David Frisbie (S’01) are nationally-recognized experts on remarriage and blended-family is-sues; they have a multi-book contract with Beacon Hill Press to produce counseling-related titles. They also serve the Nazarene denomination as coordinators of marriage and fam-ily ministries and are co-executive directors of The Center for Marriage and Family Studies. David teaches family studies at Southern Nazarene University and lectures nationally and internationally.

In May Kevin Hendricks ’01 pub-lished Addition by Adoption: kids, causes and 140 characters about a work-at-home dad who turns to Twitter to talk about raising kids, embracing causes, and adoption. A portion of the proceeds will fund a clean water well in Ethiopia.

Jenna L. Kubly ’02, who earned her masters from the University of Colo-rado at Boulder in 2004, received her Ph.D. in drama in May from Tufts

University. Her dissertation was titled Vaudeville and the American Experi-ence of the First World War as seen by Variety.

Laura (Johnson) Doege ’04 earned a master’s in nursing, family nurse practitioner, in May from Metropoli-tan State University. She works as an R.N. at Minneapolis Children’s

Back to School in England?Take another class with your Bethel English Professor Dan

Taylor—this time in England! Join the recently retired professor for a 10-day tour—April 29-May 8, 2011—of the England of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Inklings—the famous gathering of Christian writers who are among the most influential authors of the 20th century. With his wife, Taylor will direct the tour through stops including Oxford, Stratford, Cambridge, and London, and lead group discussions. for more information, email Dan at thinplacestravel@gmail.com.

Framed FlamingoAndy Kenutis ’07 waited patiently for the flamingo to step

into the frame and then…Snap! Photo taken. What resulted was a photograph—taken at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Val-ley—that won National Geographic’s monthly photo contest and was published in the magazine’s “My Shot” section in the June 2010 issue.

His passion for photography and the ability to incorporate his faith into his work developed while he was a student at Bethel, particularly through a digital photography course with Associate Professor Lex Thompson.

“first, I pray for opportunities in which my abilities can be used to bring God glory, and I have seen these prayers answered. This always humbles and reminds me that God has a plan, and He can use me to be a part of it,” he said. “Secondly, it involves sharing and being generous with my photography. If this is a gift God has given me, then it’s meant to be shared and not kept for myself.”

To that end, Kenutis volunteers to do photography at churches, shares his photos online, and provides complimentary prints and files. Kenutis also designs and creates marketing/promotional materials for LED Display Manufacturer IMAGO, as well as works with school-age kids at the Union Gospel Mission Child Development Center in downtown Saint Paul. He also photographs Bethel athletics.

View his photography at www.andykenutis.com.

Hospital. She lives with her husband Paul and stepdaughter Faith in Cot-tage Grove, Minn.

In May Anna (Ingalls) Kenney ’04 received a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Min-nesota School of Dentistry. She has accepted a general dentist position at the Fox Cities Community Health

30 Fall 2010

aLum News

Center in Menasha, Wis. Anna’s husband, Timothy Kenney ’03, works as taxpayer services director at Ac-countAbility Minnesota.

Jillian (McConnell) Helleloid ’05 graduated with an M.B.A. from Pied-mont College in Athens, Ga.

Marisa (Sauter) ’07 and Jordan Mag-nuson ’07 plan to travel and develop software games about the places they experience. Read about their work at www.gametrekking.com, www.necessarygames.com, and www.chasingdonguri.com.

Ed Backell (S ’08) is the pastor of Warden Community Church in War-den, Wash., where he and his wife Jami live with their three daughters, Elizabeth, Rachel, and Jandica.

John O. Buyse II ’08 is the assistant professional at Cypress Woods Golf and Country Club in Naples, Fla.

Jaclyn Hallstrom ’08 plans to marry Mark Tarman in April 2011.

Linnea (Carlson) Stevens ’08 is a refugee cash assistance eligibility co-ordinator for World Relief Minnesota, a faith-based refugee resettlement agency in Richfield. She also works with employment counselors to con-nect refugees with job opportuni-ties, training programs, and English classes. She and her husband Ben live in Minneapolis.

As Miss City of the Lakes, Liz Abbas ’09 took part in the Miss Minnesota Scholarship Pageant in June. Liz’s

While Bethel strives for accuracy in all it does, we cannot be responsible for the content of news items submitted by alumni. The inclusion of news items here should not be construed as an endorsement of their content by Bethel Magazine or Bethel University.

Due to limited space and a growing number of Alum News submissions including photos, Bethel Magazine cannot guarantee submitted photos will be published with news.

Taekwondo Champion, Gospel ProclaimerMiranda Hinrichs, who graduated from Bethel Seminary in May with a Master of

Divinity, captured her fourth senior national title in heavyweight sparring at the 2010 U.S. Taekwondo Nationals in Orlando, fla., in July. Training for more than 20 years with the World Taekwondo Academy (WTA), Hinrichs holds a third degree black belt in the martial arts sport. “I feel called to train hard with my teammates and do my best to mentor, love, and serve my friends who are a part of my WTA family,” she says.

Even greater, however, is her call to ministry. She’s now interning with East Koshkonong Lutheran Church in Cambridge, Wis. “God has called me to proclaim His message of reconciliation through language, action, confession, relationships, preaching, and the sacraments,” says the candidate for ordination with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “And to encourage others to proclaim this truth in all areas of their lives as they follow God’s invitation to experience deeper healing of relationship with Him and with one another. I hope to live out this call as a pastor in the local church.”

In part it was Hinrichs’ penchant for the pastorate that clinched her Kern family foundation Scholarship, including full tuition benefits throughout her three years of seminary study. “I am grateful to Bethel for integrating an emphasis on spiritual and personal formation into our coursework,” she testifies. “It has helped me to become a more whole and healthy leader. And I have been given a great gift through the Kern scholarship; I long to give back from the education I have received.”

platform was “High Expectations: Empowering America through Higher Education.” She raised funds for the Children’s Miracle Network to benefit Gillette Children’s Hospital during her campaign.

Nikki Abramson ’09 was a royal wife in the Bloomington, Minn., Civic Theatre’s production of the king and i in April and May.

Yelena Bailey ’09 was awarded the prestigious Lilly fellowship to pursue her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at the University of California San Diego. The Lilly fellows Program sup-ports students who want to explore the connections among Christianity, higher education, and the vocation of the teacher-scholar. Yelena hopes to become a professor of Latin American literature.

Rebecca Syme (S ’09) was a finalist in the Christian Booksellers Associa-tion’s leading fiction contest, Genesis, for unpublished authors. Rebecca was one of five finalists chosen in the contemporary romance category.

Justin Kimmel ’09 and Daniel Vogel ’09 became commissioned officers with the rank of second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. While attending Bethel, they attended the University of Minnesota for U.S. Army Reserve Office Training Corps (ROTC). Justin is in the Nurse Corps, and Daniel is with the Adjutant General Corps.

Adelaide Weaver ’09 is on a mis-sion trip with Adventures in Mis-sions, called the World race. She will serve in 11 countries in 11 months beginning in October (www.addieweaver.theworldrace.org).

Weddings’95 Kristi Carlstrom married Keone

Pasion in January. Waipahu, Hawaii.

’00 Carrie Brooks married Jeremy Keillor ’01 in August. St. Paul, Minn.

’02 Nicole Amundson married Daniel Churchill (S) in April in Stillwater, Minn. Bethel grads in attendance were Leah (Ter-vonen) Wiger ’02, Brian Wiger

31Bethel University

aLum News ’03, Heather (Miner) Haseman ’02, KaLynn (Nordling) Mar-tin’02, Lori Stotesbery, Lana (Steiff) Erickson ’02, Melissa (Sandgren) Trudeau ’02. Nicole is a dentist in Apple Valley, Minn., and Daniel works for BBN Technologies as a software engineer. St. Paul, Minn.

Roxanne Erickson married Wil-liam Lorenz in May. They live in Willmar, Minn., where William is part owner of Lorenz Manu-facturing. Roxanne is a health educator at Kandiyohi County Public Health.

Leah Tervonen married Brian Wiger ’03 in January in Eden Prairie, Minn. The wedding party included Jen (Wiger) Baxa ’00, Noelle (Tervonen) Hudalla ’01, Nicole (Amundson) Churchill ’02, Matt Flansburg ’03, Richie Kucinski ’03, and Chad Ramaker ’03. Leah gradu-ated from the University of Min-nesota School of Dentistry and is serving as a dentist with the U.S. Military in Iraq. Brian is an engineer for Emerson Network Power in Eden Prairie, Minn.

’04 Katherine Zweber married Eric Bottema in May. Burnsville, Minn.

’05 Tara Kent married Dan Schmidt in May 2008.

’06 Rachel Grau married Nathaniel Olsen in May. Overland Park, Kansas.

’07 Beth Kalemkiarian ’07 married Jason Brown ’04 in November 2009 in Roseville, Minn. Jason owns a small insurance agency, and Beth is a personal trainer at LA Fitness. Roseville, Minn.

’08 McKenzie Anderson married Ty-ler Kramer in September 2008 in Wayzata, Minn.

Rebecca Ruiz married Austin Hanlin in Connecticut in June. Bethel attendees included Gina Meyrs Schulz ’07, Michelle Stromme ’08, Hosanna Krienke ’08, Charity Kroeker ’08, Jes-sica Wright ’08, Justin Eilers ’07, Dovonne Compaan (Bethel R.D., ’04-’08), Mandy (Nelson) Eilers ’08, Lauren Pariegat ’08, and Aaron Ruiz ’05. Austin is a resident director and graduate student at Geneva College. Re-becca is a high school Spanish teacher. Beaver falls, Pa.

’09 Josie Fisk married Trevor Rich-ards in Taylors Falls, Minn., in June. Josie has published a book of poems, love Parcel, and has a blog: www.josierichards.blogspot.com. Windsor, Canada

Kelly Lough married Alex Zabel in July in Richfield, Minn. The wedding party included Mike Ervin ’09, Ray Stultz ’08, An-drew Zabel ’12, Jenny Lind ’09, Kaycee Robertson ’09, Jillian Miller ’09, Anne Kofmehl ’09, and Betsy Lough ’12. St. Louis Park, Minn.

Births ’93 Caleb James Harold was born

to Cyrill and and David Carlson (S’98) on Christmas Eve 2009. David, a Converge Worldwide-endorsed U.S. Navy chaplain was restationed from MCRD

San Diego to Naval base San Diego. He is on track to gradu-ate with a D.Min. from Bethel Seminary in June 2011.

’96 Penelope Rae was born to Lara and Rob Johnson in May. (1)

Halle Marie was born to Stacy (Hofer) Nelson and Phil in De-cember 2009. She joins Riley Jo, 5. Stacy is a hospitalist nurse coordinator at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, S.D. (2)

’98 Adalyn Rose was born to Heath-er (Polosky) Henry and Eric in January. She joins siblings Trey and Elise. (3)

’99 Evie Blue was born to Kristina (Wilemon) Eastvold and Micah in April. She joins brother Kier, 4, and sister Brekken, 3.

Neriyah Scott was born to Mi-chelle (Pearson Orvedahl) King and Jeremy. She joins Gabriel,

3. Michelle is a marriage and family counselor.

’00 Noah James was born to Me-lissa (Christofferson) Brennan and Jarrod in April. He joins Isaiah, 4, and Ella, 2.

Madelyn Rose was born to Christin (Lundblad) Burkholder and Garrett in October. She joins Grace, 6, Calvert, 4, and Linnea, 2. They moved from California to Connecticut where her Garrett is stationed at the submarine base. (4)

Tryg Edward Robert was born to Mindy (Elsbecker) and Erik Molin ’05 in June. Mindy works in the Office of Admissions at Bethel, and she and Erik are currently enrolled in master’s programs at Bethel. (5)

Andrew was born to Tricia Dutton Morato and Marcelo in January.

1 2 4

85 6 7

9 10 11 12

3

32 Fall 2010

aLum News

…Out to the BallgameOn May 23, 15 members of the

2000 Bethel baseball team gathered at Hargis Park to celebrate the first and only BU baseball team to earn a spot in the 4-team postseason MIAC baseball tournament.

Back Row: Jason Lenz ’03, Joe Eckerle ’00, Tyler Gregory ’01, Dale Eng ’00, Dan Richards ’01, Jeremy Belisle ’00, Joe Persuitti ’01

front Row: Dan Keeney ’00, Jon Towey ’02, Andy Manthei ’01Also attended, but not pictured: Keith Bateman ’98, and Jon Nuss ’01. The head coach

was Ken Neuhaus.

’01 Braydon Lawrence was born to Heather Comstock and Jason in February. Heather is a physi-cian’s assistant in orthopedic surgery. Jason is a communica-tions technician for Comcast.

Cade Weston was born to Court-ney (Bottazzi) Krupa and Chad ’99 on Easter Sunday.

Levi Zachariah Xi-Wang (mean-ing “hope”) was born to Shawna (Toupin) Warner (G’06) and Phil ’07 in April in Dalian, China. Shawna teaches online for several American universi-ties and also teaches at the China campus for Missouri State University. Phil is a student in Bethel master’s program in communication. He also teaches at MSU’s China cam-pus, and is doing research for his master’s thesis. (6)

’02 Elias Gordon was born to Julia (Plinske) Bengtson and Hans in September 2009.

Claire Elise was born to Molly (Mulligan) Oberheide and Josh in February. She joins Ian, 2. (7)

’03 Selah Elise was born to Sara (Kleinsasser) Tan and Kevin in April.

’04 Andrew Collins was born to Ja-mie (Collins) Leaf and Kyle ’02 in April. He joins Abigail, 4, and Isabella, 2.

Bethany Ann was born to An-drea (Rens) Dugan and Dono-van in November. She joins sister Natalie. Donovan teaches high school Bible at Christian Life School. Andrea teaches junior high science and recently finished her M.Ed. at Concordia University. They plan to move to Indonesia with One Challenge International. (8)

Samuel Jashon Orieko was born to Leah (Kueter) Menya and Stephen in December. Leah left her job at Target Corporation to help further their two busi-nesses, Lyons Gym and Evans Contractors, both in St. Louis Park, Minn. (9)

Norah Faith was born to Mandi (Tungseth) Soltvedt and Tyler in November. Mandi is a parttime labor and delivery nurse at a MeritCare Hospital. (10)

’07 Sienna Madison was born to Courtney (Hoehl) Eng and Dale ’00 in September. She is their first child. (11)

’09 Hadley Grace was born to Miranda (Albertus) and Brian Powers in January. (12)

Deaths’50 Wallace G. Norling (S) passed

away in April in Yorba Linda, Calif. He is survived by his wife Betty; sons Robert and David, and daughter Nancy; five grand-children, two step-grandchil-dren; five great-grandchildren, and one step-great-grandchild.

’51 Harm Allen Weber, 83, passed away in April. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Arlie (Olson) Weber, sons Harm and Matthew, daughter Jan, and eight grandchildren.

’52 Edgar E. Berglund, 91, passed away in August. He was preced-ed in death by his wife Miriam, daughter Linda, and son Jeff. He is survived by his second wife Lois; daughters Debra and Donna (Roger) Hegdahl; stepdaughters Nancy and Pat Long; stepson Michael (Patty) Long; and four grandsons.

’73 Ross Elkjer (S’77), 61, passed away in May in Willmar, Minn. He is survived by his mother, Vivian, brother, Doug Elkjer ’76, sister-in-law Joyce (Wold) Elkjer ’76, nephew Brian Elker ’08, and niece Kristi Elkjer ’11.

’91 Bernhard O’Brien (S) passed away in February. He gradu-ated from Conservative Baptist Seminary of the East.

’00 Michael Richmond (S), 70, passed away in February in Stanchfield, Minn. He served

as pastor for several Minnesota churches. He is survived by his wife Gail, four children, and six grandchildren.

’08 Kari (Klug) Rasmussen, 24, an employee in Bethel’s Office of Development, died in a car accident in May. Kari and her husband John Rasmussen were expecting their first child. She is survived by her husband, John; parents, George and Joanne Klug; and her brother and sister.

’09 Colleen DeMars (G), 48, died in July after a brief battle with melanoma. She is survived by her husband of 29 years, Rob-ert, sons Adam and Matthew, her parents, and sisters Anita Westman ’09 and Mary. In July a melanoma research support-raising event was held in her memory.

33Bethel University

aLum News

Robert Earl Peterson ’51committed donorActive at Bethel since his undergradu-ate days, Bob Peterson stayed involved through volunteer work, financial contribu-tion, and prayer support. Devoted to Beth-el’s mission, he sponsored scholarships and continuously raised money for both the college and seminary, even heading the expansion drive for Bethel Seminary San Diego. In 2006, the MBA Robert E. Peterson concentration in Entrepreneurial Management was bestowed in his honor at Bethel University.

“Bob was a successful Christian busi-nessman who fully integrated his faith and work, providing a role model for future generations of business leaders,” says Bethel President Emeritus George Brushaber. “Integrity was the hallmark of his business, professional, and personal life. His standards were dictated by a higher standard, and his commitment was always to a holy God.”

Bob founded Peterson Enterprises in 1965; served on many boards, including Midwest Hebrew Ministries; and was ac-tive at Gracepoint (Salem Baptist) Church for over 40 years in many capacities. He passed away on August 14 at the age of 83. Preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, Doraine (Anderson) ’54, he is survived by his children Janet Peterson Fischer ’80, Rob, and Lisa Peterson-Kinnunen, and a grandson.

Webster “Webb” Charles MuckBethel Professor of Psychology EmeritusWebster “Webb” Charles Muck was Professor of Psychology at Bethel College and Seminary from 1959 until his retire-ment in 1986. Students remember the professor emeritus for his “quiet wisdom.”

“I am a psychologist today in part be-cause of a single intervention he made as my advisor,” recalls Tom Hainlen ’76. “I was very tired of college and was consid-ering dropping out. He simply said, ‘That’s fine, but make sure you are going toward something you want instead of just away from something you don’t like.’ This state-ment helped move me from being reactive to being proactive, and it changed how I approached life.”

Webb himself moved toward the things he enjoyed. In addition to teaching, He held numerous leadership positions at Central Baptist Church where he had been a member since 1959. He passed away on July 3 at the age of 94. He and his wife Oaklie Mae were married 57 years and had four children: Brenda Selly ’66, Terry Muck (C’69, S’72), Donna McClary, and Sandra Marmesh ’77. They also had 10 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

In Memoriam

Roy “Doc” C. Dalton ’49Bethel Professor of history Emeritus“Doc” arrived at Bethel in 1945 as a student. Little did he know he’d be around Bethel for the next 40 years! He graduated in 1949 and returned as an associate professor of history in 1950. He then became acting dean of students, then acting registrar and host of “Doc’s Corner,” an alcove in the lower level of the Academic Center for students to study. There, you’d always find coffee, day-old cookies (to keep costs down!), and Doc to talk to.

As a professor, Doc influenced hun-dreds of students, including Doris (Swan-son) Johnson ’66. “He took the time to show me how to study at the college level—after I got a “D” on my first West-ern Civilization exam—and allowed me to study in the ‘quiet’ History House, across from the old campus,” Johnson explains. “I was later able to graduate at the top of my class when I transferred to Iowa State University. That would never have hap-pened without Doc.”

Upon retiring in 1984, Doc enjoyed gardening and played the organ several times a week at Presbyterian Homes and the Union Gospel Mission. He passed away on June 28. He was preceded in death by his wife Vi and survived by his daughters, Anne Workman ’73, Kate Lowe ’76, Mary Kruger ’79, and Patri-cia Dalton, eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

33Bethel University

Bethel M

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China’s future leaders and Bethel U

niversity students became lifelong

friends around large bonfires in the heart of Inner Mongolia this past

summ

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usiness and Economics K

aren Tangen led a group of 14

Bethel and N

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ollege students to Sham

ineau East Cultural Com

munication C

enter in China. While

there for six weeks, the college students taught Chinese youth English

through music, dram

a, sports, and other outdoor activities like river rafting and cam

el riding. In exchange, Bethel students learned from

and experienced firsthand the Chinese culture.

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