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eWonders He Has Done

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o n t h e f r o n t l i n e s

contents

You may have noticed that contactmagazine isundergoing a transformation. e previous design wasmore than 10 years old, and we wanted to refresh thelook and feel of the magazine while still keeping a strong,classic (and readable!) layout. Please let us know whatyou think at [email protected]

f e a t u r e s

a r t i c l e s

n e w s

a l u m n i

r e f l e c t i o n s

on the front lines: A Modern-Day

Abolitionist Fights Slavery

By Anne B. Doll

A 37-Year Study in History

By Anne B. Doll

e Lively Ediface of the ChurBy Gordon Isaac, Ph.D.

Gordon-Conwell Into the FutureBy Richard Lints, Ph.D.

Caring for the Soul During SeminaryBy Heather N. Korpi

good books

beyond our doors: Aaron Harrington

advancement news:

Advancement Updates and Campaign PrioritiesBy Kurt W. Drescher

alumni spotlight:John and Mary Mar

alumni news

alumni notes

opening the word: Give anks, Get LifeBy Ma Kim

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We will not hide them from their

descendants; we will tell the next generation

the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,

his power, and the wonders he has done."

psalm 78:4

r e a c h

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oard of trustees

Dr. Dennis P. Hollinger,PresidentRev. Dr. John A. Human,r., Chairman

Rev. Dr. Claude R. Alexan-er, Jr., Vice Chairman

Dr. Shirley A. Redd,ecretary

Mr. Ivan C. Hinrichs,Treasurer

Mr. Joel B. AarsvoldMrs. Linda S. AndersonDr. Diana Curren BenneRev. Dr. Garth T. BolinderRev. Dr. Richard P. CampMr. omas J. ColatostiDr. Stan D. GaedeMrs. Joyce GodwinMrs. Sharon Fast GustafsonRev. Dr. Michael B. HaynesMr. Herbert P. HessMr. Caleb Loring, IIIMrs. Joanna MocklerDr. Charles W. PollardMr. Fred L. PoerRev. Samuel Rodriguez, Jr.Mrs. Virginia M. SnoddyRev. Dr. David D. SwansonDr. Joseph W. ViolaRev. Dr. John H. Womack, Sr.Dr. William C. Wood

meriti members

Dr. Richard A. ArmstrongRev. Dr. Leighton FordMr. Roland S. HinzMr. Richard D. PhippenRev. Dr. Paul E. Toms

co-founder and

trustee emeritus

Dr. William F. Graham

president and

trustee emeritus

Dr. Robert E. Cooley

president emeritus

Dr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.

presidents cabinetDr. Dennis P. Hollinger,PresidentMr. Kurt W. Drescher,Vice President ofAdvancementDr. Mark Harden,Dean of the Boston CampusDr. Timothy Laniak,Dean of the Charloe

CampusDr. Richard Lints,Vice President forAcademic Aairs

Dr. Alvin Padilla,Dean of Hispanic MinistriesMrs. Lita Schlueter,Dean of Students and Direc-tor of Student Life ServicesMr. Jay Trewern,Vice President for Financeand Operations / CFO

contact

e Ministry Magazine of

Gordon-Conwell eological Seminary

pring 15 | Vol. 43 No. 1 | Our Legacy

Director of Communications and MarketingMr. Michael L. Colaneri

enior Communications Advisornd Editor of Contact

Mrs. Anne B. Doll

Graphic DesignerMs. Nicole S. Rim

nquiries regarding Contactmay be addressed to:ditor, Contact

Gordon-Conwell eological Seminary30 Essex Street, S. Hamilton, MA [email protected]

www.gordonconwell.edu78.468.7111

Gordon-Conwell eological Seminary does notiscriminate on the basis of race, gender, national or

thnic origin, age, handicap or veteran status.

Reections from the President

We have a rich legacy at Gordon-Conwell eological Seminary.

Today we build upon the foundations of A.J. Gordon and

Russell Conwell, who shared a commitment for global and urban mission,

and for accessible education.

We build upon the vision of Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga and J.

Howard Pew, who brought two schools together to forge a seminary that

was rooted in Scripture and the Gospel, but geared to speak to the times inwhich we livea seminary enabling Christian leaders to be salt and light in

a complex world.

Over the years we have been enriched by our greatest human resource, a

rst-rate, Godly faculty commied to educating men and women for a vast

array of ministries: pastoral, missions, teaching, para-church, counseling

and marketplace. e educational mission has been sustained by a deeply

dedicated sta that facilitates the seminary's work.

In this issue of Contact we remember that history is important for interpreting

our past and informing our future. Our legacy is not dead tradition, but a

living vision that continues to make a global impact for Christ's Kingdom.

We are thankful to God for his gracious faithfulness in providing faculty,

trustees, sta, campuses and donors who keep the vision alive. We believe

that the vision for a faithful, thoughtful, relevant seminary education is

more important than ever.

Dennis P. Hollinger, Ph.D.

President &

Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor of Christian Ethics

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A MODERN-DAYABOLITIONIST

FIGHTS SLAVERYANNE B. DOLL

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IN 2010, HOLLIS JOHNSON HAD HER FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING WHILE

MINISTERING IN A RED LIGHT DISTRICT IN THAILAND.

I got to spend a month working with a ministry that has an aftercare center and outreach program, says the Charlotte MA

in Christian Counseling student (MACC). During that month I really felt like this was what God created me for.

Since then, Hollis has ministered to victims of sex trafficking in numerous countries. She now leads an anti-trafficking

initiative at Charlottes Forest Hill Church.

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Hollis experience in ailand occurred during herparticipation in e World Race, an 11-month,11-country trip sponsored by Adventures in Mis-sions, a Georgia-based Christian organization.

I had graduated from college,

and was in a place where I wasreally lost spiritually, she ex-plains. I knew the Lord, butwas not living that way. I wasjust really broken and hurting.I wanted to renew myself.Shortly thereaer, she signedup for the race.

It completely changed mylife, she explains. I encoun-

tered God in a whole new and personal way. rough thattime, I also learned about human tracking. ere wereparts of my own story that allowed me to connect withthese women, and nally things made sense to me. I havealways had a heart for hurting people, and I thought, isis itfrom that point on I would be working somewherein the eld of sex tracking.

A second race further strengthened her concern for traf-cked women, and God kept opening ministry doors, lo-cally and internationally. One of those doors was ForestHill Church.

I was helping with a justice conference at the church, and

during that event they agreed to support me in taking ateam of women to India to work at an aercare center.

Following that trip Hollis met with the churchs outreachdirector to debrief. She had been working at a coee shopand God told me to quit my job and ask for a job at thechurch. So I did, and the outreach director said he wasntsurprised. He had seen it coming. Together we created apart-time position for me to develop an anti-trackingministry at Forest Hill. It was totally the Lord. ere wasno way I could have ever thought this up.

During her rst year in the position, much of her timewas spent seeking where God is leading us as a church.She also studied tracking in Charloe, and learned howother organizations were addressing the problem. All ofthem, she says, are faith based. Some are helping identifyand rescue entrapped individuals. One has opened a callcenter through which volunteers can talk to girls online.

In Charloe, there is also such a need for safe housing anddiscipleship, she notes. ats where well be ing in.

Forest Hill is now partnering with a local organization,End Slavery in Charloe, to train church members to be-

come modern-day abolitionists ghting slavery, and toopen a safe house for women coming out of the sex trade.Scheduled to open in the spring, the short-term, transi-tional housing facility will enable women to stay from oneday to six months.

Hollis says some will require additional aention at along-term program; others will only need help nding anapartment and a job. Case managers in their partner orga-nization will provide this type of assistance.

We see our role as coming alongside these women and of-fering them Jesus, oering them love, oering them hopeand the opportunity to repent. Well be building relation-ships, mentoring them and leading Bible studies.

FACTS ABOUT SEX TRAFFICKING

According to the third-year counseling student, sextracking is the second largest illegal industry in theworld, with ties to organized crime. She says this hugeand highly lucrative business can range from one traf-

cker working with several women, to gang and maa in-volvement. Unlike tracking of drugs and weapons thatcan be used only once, with sex tracking were talkingabout people who can be used over and over again.

Sex tracking is dened as through force, fraud or coer-cion, someone is being used for a sexual act for exchangeof good. Hollis says that can be a Happy Meal at McDon-

alds, or $200. ere is no set amount. Persons under 18are automatically considered victims of sex tracking.Average age of individuals used for forced prostitution orpornography is 12 to 14.

Hollis Johnson

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Most are girls, she adds, but depending on the location,there is denitely a very high demand for boys and chil-dren in general. ere is also a growing interest in young-er and younger children.

e youngest tracked child Hollis has seen was a ve-year-old girl in a Cambodian village known worldwide

among pedophiles. A family member had traded her for atelevision set. at was where I was really blown away,she remembers. So many kids, just knowing what wasgoing on. It was really hard.

But, she adds, an incredible organization, Agape Interna-tional Mission, has been in that village for several yearsand is transforming it. ey have a ministry for children,and a gym ministry to reach trackers.

ENTICEMENT

How are individuals enticed into the sex trade? Hol-lis says a common view is that they are kidnapped.While that does happen, more frequently trackedpeople come from broken homes, and places where

there is neglect. Many are runaways. Oen they have al-ready been sexually abused. Some are addicted to drugsor alcohol.

e trackers are smart, she explains. ey know whatto look for. Most likely its someone whos young, looksvery vulnerableone who can be manipulated. e traf-ckers, the pimps also know how to woo these women andgirls, how to play up being a father gure, a boyfriend, un-til they establish relationships. ey provide housing, buyher food, nice clothes and gis, making her feel like shesloved and cherished.

en they start asking for favors, such as I just boughtyou that jacket last week, or I let you stay at my house fora few weeks. Would you mind doing this for me? It startsout small, then they begin to ask for bigger favors.

ese techniques, Hollis says, create a very strong bondbetween the girl and her tracker. ese girls are being ex-ploited. eyre being abused, and are in a very, very dan-

gerous situation. But at the same time, there is a connectionwhich makes it extremely hard for girls to come out.

Hollis says recidivism is fairly high for individuals comingout of the sex trade because of the trauma theyve expe-rienced. ere is also a spiritual element. eir identities

are now dened by their pimp, by the number of clientsthey see a day, the aention they receiveIts hard tomove through that, to move forward.

So many of the women I have talked to, none of themreally want to go back. But its familiar in the sense thattheres safety, and its comfortable. ey at least knowwhat role they play. ey know exactly whats going tohappen, even if its horrible.

ats why I see this so much as the Lords work, becausetruly only the Lord can come into people and remind themof who they are. Only the Lord can reveal and strip away

those layers and lies that have been placed over their realidentity in him.

Forest Hill Church is currently developing an internation-al ministry to tracked individuals in Haiti through anexisting partnership with Mission of Hope. Its amazingthat we will be able to start something there for the broth-elsto establish more programs, Hollis says. God is re-ally moving in Haitiand its exciting to be a part of that.

In addition to her work on behalf of tracked individuals,Hollis is in the third year of her MACC degree program.

She credits the seminarys Partnership Program1

withmaking her study at Gordon-Conwell possible. I knewthat tracking was my heart, working with women, andGod showed me that I needed to be beer equipped to re-ally be used. I said, Well God, Ill go, but I cant pay for it.en I found out about the Partnership Programand theseminary became part of my journey.

While the task of helping tracked individuals at timesseems overwhelming, Hollis has no doubt that God coulddo an incredible work in a person. And that persons lifecould be changed. ats what I try to focus onI knowmen and women who have been tracked and have madeit through.

And just looking at what God has done in my own lifegives me hopeHe placed this burden on my heart somany years ago, and through it he has shown me that hecan use me, a person I thought was too broken to be used.But I also know I could not do this alone, and Im alwaysin awe when I see that God can do so much.

1 e Partnership Program enables Gordon-Conwell students to be prepared for a fruit-ful ministry, surrounded by a network of support, equipped with stewardship skills andbe less encumbered by debt with a generous full tuition scholarship. Hollis is currentlystriving toward this years goals to complete her nal year of study.

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A

year

StudyinHistory

By Anne B. Doll

Dr. Garth Rosell turns to an o quoted declaration from

the 16thcentury Reformers, soli Deo gloria, to describe

the work of Gordon-Conwell. Translated for the glory of

God alone, these words, for Garth, embody the seminarys

center of lifetoday, and throughout his 37-year tenure

as Professor of Church History.

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On August 1, 2015, he will retire from the seminary tobegin the next chapter in his life of service to God. Duringhis nearly four decades at Gordon-Conwell, he hasworked for six presidents, witnessed the creation of threecampuses and taught at all four. He has also served innumerous leadership positions, including nearly a decade

as the seminarys Academic Dean, and 17years as Chairof the Division of Christian ought and Director of theHarold John Ockenga Institute.

He has also seen the development of many major initiativessuch as the Center for the Study of Global Christianity andthe Hispanic Ministries Program, and he was instrumentalin helping to create both the Doctor of Ministry Programand the Harold John Ockenga Institute, a vital seminarybridge to the Church and culture.

But Garth eschews mention of his own contributions,

pointing instead to the God who redeemed me and calledme to this great privilege of teaching here. And he under-lines his absolutely enormous joy and delight in servingin a Christ-centered seminary where God is honored andthe Word is studied carefully and clearly.

In what he is calling simply a new phase of life, Garthwill be writing a book about Gordon-Conwell, telling thestory of why God in His providence planted the school inthis part of the world. Already he is conducting researchfor that project.

Our seminary, he says, was the outgrowth, in largemeasure, of a great spiritual awakening, a resurgent evan-gelicalism in the 1940s that started in movements such asYouth for Christ, InterVarsity, the Navigators and others.at revival among Americas young people spilled overinto the 1950s and spread not only throughout the citiesof North America but also literally around the globe,most notably through the work of seminary founderBilly Graham, who has been such a wonderful gi to theChurch and to all of usAs Shaw notes in his book, GlobalAwakening, those 20thcentury revivals laid the foundationfor the growth of the Church literally around the world.

Dr. Rosell adds that the vision of leaders who establishedthe seminary, particularly Dr. Graham and Dr. HaroldJohn Ockenga, not only shaped us in our early years, butcontinues to guide us and point us in the right directiontoday.unlike many institutions that tend to dri fromtheir founding principles into very dierent directions.

Certainly included in that vision, he says, would be thecentrality of Gods Word, studied in the original languagesto gain understanding, and then applied to every part oflife; the great missionary mandate to spread the gospelaround the world; the renewal of the Church throughthe preaching of Gods Word; the power of the gospel totransform people through the cross of Christ; the trans-formation of culture through Christian inuence as saltand light, and the raising up of a whole new generation ofChristian leaders, men and women with good educationsand a burning love for Jesus.

He admits that the seminary experienced dicult timesover the span of his tenure. ere are always in life andin institutional structures, triumphs and trials, good mo-ments and bad. But heres where our deep commitmentto the faithfulness of God, the absolute certainty of GodsTruth, the call of God to holiness and high moral stan-dards, the biblical guidance we haveall of these sustainus in the middle of normal institutional pressure.

Aer a lifetime in the classroom, Dr. Rosell contendsthat good teaching begins where our love for students

converges with our love for the subject we are studyingin such a manner as to make that material come alive andapplicable to their lives and ministries. And in a seminary,certainly you have to love the Scriptures and the Lord ofthe Scriptures, who is our God and our Master.

Perhaps the essence of teaching comes back to the kindof person you are. Its the sharing of things youve beenprivileged to learn, that God has been teaching youthat you want others to encounter and perhaps, by thepower of the Spirit, to enable them to take shape in otherlives. Christ is our model here. Christ was the master

to r: 1971 GCTS faculty with first president, Dr. Harold John Ockenga, front row, third from right; Spring 1979 seminary faculty; Dr. Garth Rosell, right, with PresidenDr. Robert E. Cooley; Fall 1978 faculty retreat at the Ockengas New Hampshire home; Gordon-Conwell professors with Dr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., President.

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teacher whose message was clear, rang true and was lifesustaining and life transforming. To be privileged to be aconveyor of that message that Christ came to give, that weare to teach, live by, try to modelall of us wish we coulddo that more eectively

I think at the core of teaching, as in any ministry, it is thework of the Holy Spirit who teaches us and opens our eyesand empowers us to do the work. I think thats why Christtold his disciples, in that powerful section of Acts, to stayin Jerusalem until they were empowered from on high todo ministry, including teaching. It was to enable weak and

faltering souls like ourselves to communicate that whichGod can turn into such useful things for those who learn.

As a church historian, Garth sees the current culture asmoving increasingly into a period that looks very muchlike the time of the early Church, the time prior to the Em-peror Constantine in the 4thcentury. Its a period in whichChristianity is growing and vital, but oentimes persecut-ed, he explains. e Church is working in a society thatis very religious, but very resistant to the absolute claimsof Christ on peoples lives. So we learn from the greatsaints and martyrs of the early Church what it means to

serve God faithfully in an increasingly hostile world.

His overarching sense, he adds, is that we need to for-tify ourselves, our students need to fortify themselves,by knowing the Scriptures more thoroughly. We need tomemorize them, put them in our hearts, so that if the dayever comes when we dont have access to our Scriptures,as is true in some parts of the world today, we will havethem readily in our minds.

Garth likewise urges memorization of hymns, which hesays for centuries served as the theology book for the

Church. And I would add the need to recover some ofthe power of the great creeds, confessions and catechismsof the Church and to produce new ones, so that we cangive to the next generation a language to talk about thefaith in the midst of a much more questioning and un-accepting world. And, of course, we need to be men andwomen of prayer, in our day more than ever.

Dr. Rosell counts among his very highest joys the won-derful friendships that my time at the seminary has al-lowed me to share with faculty colleagues. He also rejoic-es in sustained friendships forged with students over the

years who are now so eectively serving the Lord.

He is enthusiastic about the seminarys many interna-tional programs, including President Dennis Hollingerscurrent initiatives in China, and also about the growingpopulation of amazing international students who arecoming to us from all over the globe. Many are already es-tablished leaders within their home areas. ey are receiv-ing additional training here so that they can carry it backto grow the Church, and help organize new educationalinitiatives and new ministries in their home countries.

And he is very heartened by the arrival of so manybright, well educated, gied young faculty members whoare the next generation of those who teach here. It seemsto me that Gordon-Conwell has an unusually bright andhopeful future, in part because of these outstanding newcolleagues.

Always the historian, Garth adds, I cannot help but bereminded of the famous quotation aributed to AdoniramJudson: e future is as bright as the promises of God.

good teaching begins where our love for students converges withour love for the subject we are studying in such a manner as to makethat material come alive and applicable to their lives and ministries.

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TheLively

Edifaceof theChurchGordon Isaac, Ph.D.

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Imust confess that my rst exposure to church history was notaltogether happy. A kindly gentleman taught the course, but

unfortunately all the moisture was taken from the subject,leaving it dry to the touch. is, of course, contains a huge ironyinsofar as church history is made up of intensely interestingpeople, moments of tension and intrigue, power oppressive politics,winsome witness in the face of death, not to mention romance,travel, conviction and divine calling! It is a crime to allow churchhistory to be dull or boring, for it is to transmute the very character

of what is by its very nature alive, vibrant and instructive.While there are many more, let me suggest four waysamong many, why the study of church history should becarried out with energy and intent.

Reason #1Church History tells us where we have

come from and where we are going.

T

he Old Testament is Gods story of choosing apeople to himself, leading them out of slavery andinto the Promised Land. From Moses and the Exodus

through Joshua and the Conquest and on through Daniel,Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other prophets, the history of thepeople of God is rich, varied and full. is history leadsinto the New Testament account.

With the coming of the Messiah, a new but continuousstory emerges of the witness of the Apostles to the deathand resurrection of Jesus. e gospel moves outward fromJerusalem. From Persia the gospel travels east to the SilkRoad and China. It also proceeds west to Africa and intothe European continent.

Church history tells of the fall of the Roman Empire and,in the moment of civilizations demise, the eorts ofChristianity to stand in the gap. When no one was lein the city to negotiate with the barbarian hordes, it wasPope Leo who went out to negotiate peace on behalfof the people. From this position of service, the papacywould emerge as a power ultimately needing reform.On through the Reformation, the confessional wars, thetime of the Puritans and beyond, the Church has stakedits place. rough all the ups and downs of the life of theChurch, the providence of God has been visible. Tracing

the Church through this vista helps us to know where wehave been and where we are going. I rather like the wayJoseph Siler has put the maer when he says,

ere is certainly nothing wrong with the churchlooking ahead, but it is terribly important that itshould be done in connection with the look inside,into the churchs own nature and mission, and a lookbehind at her own history. If the church does this,she is less likely to take her cues from the business

community, the corporation, or the marketplace.

Reason #2Church History gives correction

for generational blind spots.

In his introduction to Athanasius On the Incarnation,C.S. Lewis urges his readers to take the time to readone old book for every new book they read. is

practice, if carried out with discipline, will keep the avidreader from historical hubris, the idea that our time knowsbeer. ere is a great deal of wisdom to be had in the

ancient world if one will only take the time to read theolder authors. He goes on to write these words:

People were no cleverer then than they are now;they made as many mistakes as we. But not thesame mistakes. ey will not aer us in the errorswe are already commiing; and their own errors,being now open and palpable, will not endanger us.Two heads are beer than one, not because either isinfallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrongin the same direction.

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e advice we are oered here is worth heeding. Every ageand indeed, every generation has its own thought formsand its culturally held presuppositions. e only way wehave a possibility of transcending the thought form of ourown age is if we have taken the time to live in another agethrough the reading of church history. Reading ancientchurch teaching will expose natural cultural thoughtforms or idolatries that we might not be able to identifyotherwise.

Reason #3Church History gives perspectiveon old errors.

Not long ago Dan Brown wrote a best-seller by thename e Da Vinci Code.It was turned into a moviestarring Tom Hanks. Many people read the book

and many discussed the book. One of the propositionscoming out of the story is that Jesus was married to MaryMagdalene. is alternative religious history put forwardsuggests that the Church has kept these truths secret andthat Mary was meant to play a much larger role than theChurch allowed. It would seem that conspiracy theoriesare popular wherever they are contrived.

By studying church history there is a ready answer to thisrather old error. Marcion and others in the 2nd centuryasserted that they had secret knowledge regarding Jesus.e Church cut o the route to secret knowledge by athreefold response. To the idea that there were teachersof secret knowledge, the Church asserted that they knewall the teachers from Jesus to the present (ApostolicSuccession). To the idea that they had special gnosticscriptures, the Church set forward the canon. To thenotion that the true God would have nothing to do withcreation, the Church responded by the Apostles Creed.

Reason #4Church History gives encouragement in the long

view of tradition and our perseverance in it.

Church history gives perspective on whatever it isthat we may be facing in the present. Is it scandaltouching the clergy? Is it questions of the mixture

of church and state? Is it persecution or theories relegating

God to the sideline? All of this has been dealt with before.Knowing these accounts gives perspective on where wemight be in the life cycle of our church bodies. Seeing thelong stretch of history that has gone before us helps us toprepare for the history that extends out beyond our time,and to do so in hope.

Further, church history allows us to meet the saints onwhose shoulders we stand. Let me give a few examples.Mary of Egypt (5th century) was subjected to public

prostitution for a good portion of her life. It meant beinga non-being in the eyes of the Empire. One day she wasmiraculously saved and taken in by the church communityand given dignity again. Athanasius of Alexandria wasexiled no less than ve times in his life as bishop becausehe maintained the deity of Christ. William Tyndale was alinguistic genius whose translation of the New Testamentinto English, developed amid intense persecution, helpedestablish Protestantism in England. Nearer our own time,the witness of Dietrich Bonhoeer during the dark daysof Hitler held up the power of the word of God in spite ofunjust worldly power.

In short, church history is a lively edice that continues tobe built. In the words of Philip Scha,

How shall we labor with any eect to build up thechurch, if we have no thorough knowledge of herhistory, or fail to apprehend it from the proper pointof observation? History is, and must ever continueto be, next to Gods Word, the rightest foundationof wisdom, and the surest guide to all successfulpractical activity.

Dr. Gordon Isaacis Berkshire Associate Professorof Advent Christian Studies. He is an expert onReformation Studies and Martin Luther, and haswritten extensively on Luther. He also has expertiseon Hell, Eschatology/End Times, Church Historyand the Advent Christian denomination, withinwhich he has served several interim pastorates.He is former associate editor of Luther Digest and

the author of LeftBehind or Left Befuddled: The Subtle Dangers ofPopularizing the End Times.

Seeing the long stretch of history that has gone beforeus helps us to prepare for the history that extends out

beyond our time, and to do so in hope.

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GORDON-CONWELLINTO THE

FUTURERICHARD LINTS, PH.D.

Gordon-Conwell stuat library, circa

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Left to right, A.J. Gordon, Russell Conwell, J. Howard Pew, Dr. Harold John Ockenga,Rev. Dr. Billy Graham

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Gordon-Conwell celebrated the 125th anniversary of theGordon side of our tradition this past year in a jointceremony in October with Gordon College.

It was a wonderful opportunity to reect on the manyremarkable events in the history of our seminary and theremarkable people who have been central to that history:A.J. Gordon, Russell Conwell, Billy Graham, Harold JohnOckenga and J. Howard Pew to name just a few. ProfessorSco Gibson oered extended comments on the lifeand history of A.J. Gordon that reminded us of Gods

faithfulness across many generationsand the impactupon the life of the church in North America and aroundthe globe because of the enduring mission of the seminary.

From the beginning it was a mission to train men andwomen for ministry, reecting a commitment to theGospel in all of its richness as it is revealed in Scripture. Inthe context of celebrating the history of Gordon-Conwell,it is appropriate to take a moment to think about whatGordon-Conwell might be like years into the future.

Several characteristicsof the seminary are bynow well establishedand surely will be partof its identity going

forward. It is commiedto the genuine andfunctioning authorityof Scripture as thetouchstone for all ofthe Christian life andfor the ourishing of

the Church. God is both the author of Scripture and by theHoly Spirit, uses the Scripture as the means to reconcilepeople to himself in Christ. e great act of reconciliationis at the heart of the Gospel, and is central to training menand women for a ministry of faithfulness and integrity.

Since its merger in 1969, Gordon-Conwell has become aseminary with multiple constituencies, preparing men andwomen for diverse contexts of ministry. It is a seminarywith an international reputation and a global studentbody, as well as a seminary deeply rooted in New Englandin its diversity of urban, suburban and rural contexts.

It has grown to include four campuses: in South Hamilton,Massachuses, urban Boston, Charloe, North Carolinaand Jacksonville, Florida, and has a global Hispanic

Ministries Program. It haslaunched initiatives to reachhouse church pastors in China,rst generation immigrantpastors from Korea, Haiti andAfrica. Its acclaimed Center forthe Study of Global Christianityresearches the richness ofthe changing faces of the

Church around the world, andby it gives the seminary the

constant reminder that ministrypreparation should increasingly reect the diversity offaces of the global Church.

e seminary faces many challenges in the days ahead aswell. Every serious national study of theological educationhas warned of the tension between increasing student debtand the rising costs of higher education. Gordon-Conwellhas taken this seriously, realizing how urgent is the taskto nd yet greater scholarship funds for students seeking

rigorous theological training, and to be beer stewards ofthe resources God has generously given to us.

is will be of centralimportance in theyears ahead. Journals ofphilanthropy remind usof the current massivetransfer of wealthtaking place from thebuilder generation to

the boomer generation.

Our hope as a primary training ground for the nextgeneration of pastors is that passing the torch from onegeneration to the next would include both the mission totrain faithful pastors and the resources to do it well.

In the future, the seminary will adapt to the changingshape of pastoral vocations in the seminary curriculum.In the post-war renaissance of the neo-evangelicalmovement represented by Billy Graham and Harold JohnOckenga, evangelical seminaries like Gordon-Conwell hadto prove that their own rigor was substantial enough tobe considered for accreditation in the world of recognized

Academic Center among new buildingsconstructed during Dr. Robert E. Cooleyspresidency

Team from the Center for theStudy of Global Christianity

Students gather at Gordon-Conwell libraryin Jacksonville.

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Academic Dean Dr. Tim Laniak with students in Charlotte campus library

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higher education. As a result, the curriculum leaned quiteheavily into the academic ethos of mainstream highereducation. By doing this, it quite successfully rebuedthe criticism of being fundamentally an anti-intellectualmovement.

Times have changed, however. e challenge is not togain recognition in the world of higher education, butrather to gain credibility and usefulness in the vital, day-to-day work of churches. Innovative and important newpartnerships with churches will emerge in the future forGordon-Conwell as a reminder that the seminarys identityis rooted in the life of the Church.

One consequence of this missional identity, in a worldwhere ministry vocations will continue to expand beyondthe traditional pastoral call, is that Gordon-Conwell willexpand its place for those seeking a theological vocationnot dened by pastoring. Vocations as diverse as ministry

in the marketplace, leading an NGO, managing a campusministry, serving in a non-ordained position in a churchand a thousand other ministry-related jobs will reshapethe seminarys curriculum into a more appropriate andrelevant seminary degree for ministry in the years ahead.What is needed is not a replica of a thousand dierentdegrees, but a solid and innovative degree that can servemultiple purposes, while maintaining our solid biblical andtheological commitments.

We will continue to work towards streamlining our degreeprograms to help make them more ecient and cost

eective for students, while recognizing the students needfor a robust and rich theological vision to sustain them forthe rigors of ministry in a time like ours.

Another change well underway is the role of technologyin the life of the seminary. e prime example today isthe increasing prevalence of online education. Gordon-Conwell has an already well-established, 20-year historywith distance education, and this will only continue anddeepen in the years ahead. Technology will democratizetheological education, making it more accessible to a widerrange of students. e great challenge for Gordon-Conwell

is the cost of doing online education well, without simplyadding to greater student debt in the years ahead. Studentsmust not leave seminary so burdened with debt that theirown sense of vocation is compromised as a result.

e classroom experience for many of our students willbe ipped in the days ahead. ey will gather much oftheir information via technology-aided resources prior tocoming to class, with the classroom then serving as thevenue for interpreting that material and applying it to realworld situations. Many classrooms will be structured on

the assumption that students have already encounteredthe material technologically via pre-recorded advancedonline access to lectures, PowerPoint presentations, andother resources, thereby making class time more ecientand eective.

Even as it moves to greater investment in technology andthe tools of online education, Gordon-Conwell in the future

will continue to privilege certain face-to-face encounters inthe mentoring of students by faculty. As the Church existsprimarily as a local community who live life together, sothe training of pastors will continue to take seriously theimportance of increased face-to-face mentoring and advising.

We have seen how signicant this relational dimensionof ministry preparation is in the way the new AlumniHall and the Pierce Great Hall now facilitate so manyinformal and intimate conversations among our students inHamilton. at has also proven true with our new facilityin Jacksonville. And in Charloe, we are preparing to

celebrate the brand new Hall of Mission expansion, whichwill provide enhanced resources for personal interactionsamong students, and with our alumni in far o placesacross the globe. We know our places deeply inuencehow we relate to each other.

e future of Gordon-Conwell is bright, not because we arebeer or smarter and more creative than others, but becauseof Gods promises to remain faithful to His people. As wehold fast to that great reality, our mission will always bevital, and our calling will always be secure. We are gratefulto all of you who continuously hold us in your prayers. We

are ever in need of them.

Dr. Richard Lints is Vice President for AcademicAffairs, Dean of the Hamilton Campus and theAndrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Theology.He joined the seminary faculty in 1986, and servedpreviously as Lecturer in Philosophical Theology atTrinity College, Bristol, UK. He has also taught atYale Divinity School, the University of Notre Dame,Westminster Theological Seminary and Reformed

Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in the PresbyterianChurch in America, Dr. Lints is an accomplished church planter

and the author of six books.

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Caringfor the Soul

DuringSeminaryHeather N. Korpi

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DITORS NOTE:This is the second and final part of a series onritual formation that began in the spring 2014 edition ofContact.

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When students enter the Boston campus, they aregreeted by a new poster each week conveying a thought or question

to prompt spiritual reection as they make their way to class.

At the Jacksonville campus, students enter to a display ofoversized comfy couches that invite them to sele in fordeep, encouraging conversations with their peers.

ough it looks quite dierent on each campus, spiritualformation is an integral part of the Gordon-Conwell

experience. Various delivery methods are tailored to meetthe distinct needs of each campuss culture, student bodyand ethos.

e present generation is embedded in such a complexworld, with so many demands, that just waking up in themorning feels daunting, says Vice President for AcademicAairs Dr. Richard Lints. In the face of a hyperactive,hyper-connected culture, it is exceedingly dicult forministry leaders to carve out time for personal growth,spiritual reection and connection with Jesus.

e consequences of such inaention are frightening. enumbers of clergy burnout in the rst ve years are reallystunning, notes Lints. Habits they form in those rst vefragile years are going to stay with them, for good or bad.Spiritual formation is really critical for ministry. Andso, alongside its rigorous academics, Gordon-Conwellis intentionally helping students form and implementhealthy spiritual habits to enrich their ministries.

At the Boston campus, spiritual formation is woven intothe culture and curriculum through two avenues: theIntegrative Seminar and the Pierce Center for Disciple-

Building. In 2013, we embarked on a campus-wideinitiative to pursue spiritual formation as a communityand as an explicit part of the curriculum, explains Dr. TeriEllio-Hart, who oversees spiritual formation eorts inaddition to teaching in her role as adjunct professor.

is initiative, the Integrative Seminar, is composed of vesemester-long modules that each student will completeover the course of two and a half years. e sequence ofmodulesPractices of the Word-Centered Life, Practicesof the Virtuous Life, Practices of the Compassionate Life,Practices of the Spirit-Empowered Life, and Prayer andPractices of the Sacramental Lifeis drawn from Gordon-Conwells mission statement, and purposes to integrateseminary learning with each students personal formationas a disciple and a leader.

Each semester kicks o with an all-campus Opening Day

Convocation event where the theme is introduced andstudents have an opportunity to connect and worshipwith their professors and peers. For a commuter campuslled with busy students oen juggling seminary on topof their full-time jobs and family obligations, this is a rareand precious time.

e theme then carries through the semester by way of14 weekly topics for class devotions (which inspire thethoughts and questions that greet students as they entercampus), readings and wrien reection exercises. At thecompletion of all ve modules, a nal integration paper

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encourages students to look back on paerns of spirituallearning or challenges throughout their experience.

We are coaching people to develop practices thatencourage encountering God in their work, in theirstudies, in the grind of the city, says Ellio-Hart. People

think they will come to seminary and wont have time topay aention to their heart, but we value and care abouttheir personal spiritual life, not just grades and learning.

Boston Campus Pierce Center Coordinator Dr. TomGrith agrees. You come to seminary and what happensis that very quickly, studying becomes everything and you

dont talk about how youre doing in your spiritual life andsoul, he asserts. e Pierce Center is important becausewhile youre studying, you cannot give up your soul.

e Pierce Center oers a Fellows scholarship program,in which students meet regularly with Grith and other

Fellows, and lead weekly Soul Care groups for theirclassmates. rough these interactions, Grith says,Students share and listen to the state of each others soul,practice silence and pray for each other.

At the Jacksonville campus, a similar emphasis on studentconnectedness and reciprocal encouragement has becomea key ingredient in their spiritual formation eorts. Weare an organic, relational campus, says Campus Dean Dr.Ryan Reeves. e smallest of all four Gordon-Conwellcampuses, Jacksonville leverages its size as a uniqueopportunity for deep and intentional community-building.

My door is almost always open, says Reeves. Studentspop in and out to talk about what theyre doing at seminaryor trials in ministry or their future. In fact, Reeves says,the new Jacksonville campus was intentionally designedto foster this open-door, community environment. elibrary, which functions as a magnetic common area withits inviting couches, is at the heart of the campus,withfaculty and sta oces wrapping around it.

We know everyones name, know where theyre comingfrom and why theyre here. We have the stories of theindividuals readily in front of us at all times, and werereally able to serve and tailor our support for thatindividual, says Reeves.

At Jacksonville, spiritual formation really is a campus-wide eort, with every person playing an integral part.e administrative assistant, Sonja, frequently prays withstudents in her oce. e librarian, Carol, takes note ofwho is struggling with their coursework, and then takesthe time to assist them. e registrar, Jeanne, sees studentles not as paperwork, but as a collection of their life

experiences during seminarylike that dropped class dueto a ministry or home crisis. e sta meetings regularlyinvolve prayer for students. What we do day in and dayout does have a spiritual formation element at every touchpoint, says Reeves.

As described by Dr. David Currie, Director of the Doctorof Ministry Program and co-mentor in the SpiritualFormation for Ministry Leaders track, Spiritual formationis the lifelong, faith-lled process of the Holy Spirittransforming the whole person into the likeness of Christto the glory of the Father as informed by the whole Wordof God, in relationship with the whole people of God tofulll the whole mission of God.

Gordon-Conwell remains commied to shepherdingstudents as they encounter God in and alongside theirstudies, and preparing them to continue this process

during a lifetime of eective ministry.

Habits they form in those rst ve fragile years

are going to stay with them, for good or bad.Spiritual formation is really critical for ministry.

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Finding Silence in the City

Leaving her home country of Kenya, Vionnah WanjikuGithira arrived at Gordon-ConwellBoston to begin herMaster of Arts in Counseling in the fall of 2012. It was her

rst time in the United States.

Breathing in new smells, tasting new foods and interactingwith new people was both exciting and overwhelming. erst week, I really wanted to trade my tuition for a planeticket back home, she remembers.

But as the weeks went on, Vionnah began to sele into andappreciate her new venture. e community she formedthrough the Pierce Fellows Program helped, she says. At theBoston campus, forming fellowship can be hard because classis in the evenings and students work during the day, so youhave to be intentional.

As students juggle harried schedules and the breakneck paceof the city, the Pierce Center steps in to help them slow downand reect. During the biweekly spiritual formation meetingswith other Fellows and Pierce Center Coordinator Dr. TomGrith, Vionnah says, We would stay silent and he wouldask, Whats the state of your soul? And then he would askfor an image to describe whats going on in your soul.

is reective posture has begun to infuse Vionnahs

everyday thought process. I pay aention to whats going onin my life on the inside, she says. Having Tom as a mentorand being in the spiritual formation groups challenges youto be beer.

Vionnah hopes to apply what shes learning in seminaryacademically and spirituallyto minister to children backhome in Kenya. HNK

A Ministry of TransparencyPatrick Schlabsmay win the awardfor most distancetraveled as acommuter student.Six to seven timeseach semester, thisMaster of Divinitycandidate and twofriends make the

four-hour trekfrom Charleston,South Carolina, toJacksonville, Florida,for 24 hours of

intensive learning, community-building and soul-lling.

Using words like embraced, loved, cared for, humility,honesty, sincerity, fun and warmth to describe the ethosof Gordon-ConwellJacksonville, Patrick asserts that hissignicant commute doesnt hold him back from engagingfully in life and learning there.

I go down there in the midst of the craziness of lifebalancing kids, family, work and school on top of it alland Iget to disengage for a short time to soak up knowledge, learn,be immersed among people who are along the same journey,he says. Patrick serves as the worship pastor at Saint PetersChurch, a Charleston church plant where he and his wifewere called in 2011, aer serving at a charismatic church inTexas for nearly a decade.

Patrick hopes to curb what he sees as a cultural notion of

the Churchs aura of perfection by infusing his own ministrywith the same spirit of transparency he has experienced atGordon-ConwellJacksonville. e way that the Jacksonvillecampus holds these two things in tensionhigh academicexcellence with a sense of transparency and humilityhasbeen one of the more spiritually formative things for me, hesays. It has created a really strong precedent for what I hopeto do in ministry. HNK

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g o o d b o o k s

In many of David Wells previousvolumes (e.g., No Place for Truth, Godin the Wastelandand e Courage to

Be Protestant), the author provided uswith a penetrating critique of Westernculture, particularly as it negativelyinuences the contemporary church.It could be argued that those works

oered no solution to the problem. islatest book provides such a solution.But if the reader is looking for a new

methodology, it wont be found here. Instead, like a biblicalprophet, Wells draws us back to the missing element in thelife of much of the contemporary church: the holy-love ofGod, by which he means the fullness of Gods character asrevealed in Scripture.

I couldnt help but compare Dr. Wells suggested answerto the theme of two Christian classics: Knowing Godby J.I.Packer and e Knowledge of the Holyby A.W. Tozer. Readers ofthese volumes may recall the quotation from C.H. Spurgeons

rst sermon as the Pastor of New Park Street Chapel (he was20 at the time) with which Packer begins his book:

e highest science, the loiest speculation, the mightiestphilosophy, which can engage the aention of a child of God,is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings andthe existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

Or, one thinks of this statement by Tozer: e heaviestobligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purifyand elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthyof Himand of her.

Like Tozer, David Wells is calling for the Church to purifyand elevate her concept of God, rather than presenting Him,as does our culture, as our personal cheerleader, therapist andfriend. Wells is really advocating the same solution oeredby the biblical writers (e.g., Psalm 42:1-2, 63:1-2).

Let me emphasize some practical ways in which the bookimpacted me. First, I nd that the world, the devil and myown sinful heart are always pulling me inward to seekmy own well-being through lifes pleasures and materialcomforts. I appreciated the challenge of this book to nd myultimate joy and satisfaction in the Lord, not myself.

Secondly, as a pastor, responsible for the content and formof worship, I need the ongoing reminder of Wells chapteron corporate worship where he stresses the importanceof being God-centered, not needs-driven: Needs-shapedworship is invariably self-focused.Sermons, in thisatmosphere, are almost always aimed simply at providinga li, some inspiration. In contexts like these, we can bein worship without being aware of the centrality, goodness,

and greatness of God, of his grace, and of Christs self-givingin the incarnation and cross (p.190). I asked myself thischallenging question: Is the worship of our church aboutgiving God glory and being renewed by the gospel, or justoering some inspiration, comfort and social connections? Isour starting point the God who is outside of us and above us,or what we think we need and want?

Imagine what our churches would be like if they becameknown for worship, service and evangelism that owed froma passion to promote and reect Gods holy-love! We wouldbe distinct from our culture, while oering a message ofreconciliation and redemption. And isnt this what Jesus had

in mind for the Church?

Dr. David Wells, Distinguished Senior ResearchProfessor, previously served as the AndrewMutch Distinguished Professor of Historicaland Systematic Theology. He taught at TrinityEvangelical Divinity School and chaired itsdivision of systematic theology before joiningthe Gordon-Conwell faculty in 1979. He has

written 20 books; is on the board of the Rafiki Foundation,Inc., an organization that establishes orphanages and schoolsin 10 African countries to raise and train orphans within aChristian framework; and for many years was a member ofthe Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization.

Dr. Richard Schoenert served for 12 yearsas Senior Pastor of North Shore CommunityBaptist Church in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts,and for 24 years as Senior Pastor of CalvaryChurch, Roseville, Minnesota. In retirement,he returned to the Beverly Farms church asIntentional Interim Pastor during its pastoral

search. He and his wife, Valerie, desire to serve otherchurches in similar ways, while also ministering to pastorsin Eastern Europe as extended short-term missionaries withOne Challenge International. Rich and Valerie have three adultchildren and nine grandchildren.

good booksGod in the Whirlwind

How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God

Wrien by David Wells, Ph.D.Reviewed by Richard Schoenert

(M.Div. 69, D.Min. 89)

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Aaron Harrington

Campaign Director,Advancement Oce

G

ordon-Conwells Comprehensive CampaignDirector Aaron Harrington has a special anity

for the Russian people.

For nearly 15 years, he has traveled 4,500-plus miles toRussia to serve in a local Christian churchs summercamp near Moscow. Located on a spacious propertypreviously owned by the Communist party, the campfocuses on evangelism, leadership development andteam building for about 100 Russian youth.

In addition to providing common camp activities, ateam of experienced Russian professionals also leadscampers in group team-building exercises, then chal-

lenges them to explain what they learned and how theywould apply it to real life. e result is remarkable,Aaron says. Not all campers are Christian, and somedo not resonate with the Gospel message. But by theend of camp, everyone has been signicantly changed,if not yet by Christat least by the team building. Andthats usually enough to draw them back the next year.

Aaron grew up in Westford, Massachuses, a townnorthwest of Boston. His was a typical Christian up-bringing with two Christian parents, one brother and acat. His passion for Russia took root during a mission

trip in 2000. Returning to the U.S., he knew he wanted togo again. And that eventually led to the development ofRussian Evangelization and Leadership, a non-prot or-ganization founded by his family and some of their long-standing Christian friends. Aaron serves on the board.Its a small organization that is investing in Russianyouth, he says. Weve been a part of many encouragingmoments with a local church inside of Russia.

Becoming interested in church activities is not a smallfeat for youth who have grown up where the eects of

b e y o n d o u r d o o r s

EDITORS NOTE:Beyond Our Doorsprovides an opportunity for you tomeet our people: the faculty, staff and students who are serving the Lordin myriad ministries while also working at the seminary. They inspire uswith their energy and commitment to advance the gospel. We hope youwill be inspired as well.

a 70-year Communist, atheist culture linger. ere are chal-lenges for young people to get involved in their own faith:from their parents, from the government and just life cir-cumstances. For many Russians when they consider church,theres a lack of trust mixed with skepticism and apathy.

roughout his college years at Gordon College, Aaron con-tinued to return to Russia most summers. In early 2006, dur-ing a love at rst sight meeting he met Brynn at Gordon,and in late 2007 they married in Orange County, California.As a couple, they spent their rst year together in Los Ange-les, then moved to Georgia to serve in youth ministry at At-lantas Peachtree Presbyterian Church. Brynn worked withthe high school students, and he worked with middle schoolstudentsan experience he describes as amazing.

During that time, he recalls, it became increasingly evidentthat I liked to support the work of the church and Brynn

needed to work in the church. at led Aaron and Brynn tothe seminarys South Hamilton campus, where Brynn com-pleted an M.Div. degree in 2014. She is now pursuing ordi-nation in the Evangelical Covenant denomination. In 2012,Brynn and Aaron Engler, another pastor from the HighrockChurch family in Arlington, Massachuses, planted HighrockNorth Shore in Salem, a few miles from the Hamilton campus.e church has about 150 people who call it their home.

ere are a few dierent church and para-church ministriesthat Ive had the privilege of being involved in, Aaron com-ments. ose experiences have taught me that I believethe

local church is the hope of the world. Ithas been deeply sat-isfying to watch the church Brynn helped plant develop intoa community, to see lives changed and to see our neighborsbeing challenged to critically consider the claims of Christ.

Aaron is also Vice President of the New England SeafarersMission. Founded in 1880, the organization reminds seafar-ers and everyone who walks through the doors that theyare beloved of God. ey provide Christian witness and out-reach, and practical assistance such as a trustworthy way tocontact and send home money for working seafarers whovisit the ports of New England.

Reecting on the campaign, Aaron adapts a quote from au-thor and theologian Frederick Buechner to describehis roleas Campaign Director at the seminary. My job, he explains,is helping the Advancement team at Gordon-Conwell mar-ry our contributors passions with the seminarys greatestneeds. e campaign has reached85percent of its goal.

As for the Russian camp in which Aaron continues to serve,it now has a new group of campersall because of a provi-dential encounter outside his oce at Gordon-Conwell.

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Not all campers are Christian, and some do not resonate with theGospel message. But by the end of camp, everyone has been signicantlychanged, if not yet by Christat least by the team building.And thats usually enough to draw them back the next year.

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Aaron and his nearby co-worker, Keith Doyle, had talkeda few times about their own trips to Russia. So when Lar-issa, a friend of Aarons from Moscow, had come to visit,

Aaron introduced her to Keith. Keith and Larissa soondiscovered they were mutual friends with a teambuildingcouple with whom Keith had worked 12 years earlier in anorphanage south of Moscow.

Russia is a very large country, Aaron marvels, and Lar-issa is also one of our closest friends. To discover that Keithand Larissa were close friends with the same people wasvery heartening because the likelihood seems so slim.

Keith, who works in Information Technology Services atthe seminary, has since joined the Russian Evangelization

and Leadership board, and is now linking Russian orphanswith the camp ministry.

ere are a lot of emotionally healthy individuals whocome to camp and they are surrounding each orphan. Youcan see the orphans lives being transformed, from oneday to the next, Aaron says. e gospel is good newsand its very relational. But some people in Russia haventseen or experienced that good news, and it leaves manylocals feeling desperate, hopeless, ashamed, not worthyof love or belonging. Sometimes the personal stories ofour Russian friends sound bleak, but when the Gospel be-comes personalhope, worthiness and love become theirdening identity. e Gospel message still stirs me; I canteven imagine what it means to them. ABD

Clockwise, 1 Aaron Harrington, right, with Russian campers; 2 Serving with Russian church leaders; 3 Hanging out with a friend at summer camp;4 Aaron and his wife, Brynn.

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Advancement Updates

and Campaign PrioritiesKurt W. Drescher, Vice President of Advancement

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campaign priorities above

and beyond regular operations

Our campaign has three sub-priorities under this category:to revitalize and expand our campuses, reach more students,and resource future leaders.

Revitalizing and expanding our campuses

We set out through our campaign to enrich the South Ham-ilton campus as a place for reection, research and renewal.We are seeking to accomplish these goals by improving thefunctionality of apartments, dormitories, meeting spaces andclassrooms, and by renewing our buildings and grounds toenhance student recruitment. is initiative turns some ofour older facilities into family-friendly, community-enhanc-ing facilities in excellent condition and in harmony with ourextraordinary surroundings.

We have made signicant progress on our revitalization pri-ority by repurposing spaces on the Hamilton campus. Al-

ready the Gordon-Conwell community, area churches andcommunity organizations are utilizing our facilities. Projectshave included the renovation of Alumni Hall, which has pro-duced rst-class space for conferences, forums, campus andcommunity events, weddings and many other gatherings.

e Pierce Great Hall is now an inviting environment idealfor learning, and for fostering fellowship, community, dis-ciple-building and spiritual formation. is space was in-tentionally designed as a common area for our students togather together, meet informally with faculty or pray andstudy together. It is now hard to imagine the South Hamilton

campus without these two renovated spaces, as they are bothused on a regular basis.

Construction is nearing completion to expand facilities onour Charloe Campus. is project will accommodate Char-loes growing student population and help to support part-nerships with churches and missions organizations. e goalis to enable this campus to cultivate leaders of the Churchfor every generation, culture and calling, and to encourage

Gods people to continue in vital, lifelong learning. e ar-chitectural motif for the expanding building is an abbeyaclassic form of community space where learning, worshipand collaboration come together in a blend of library col-lections, interactive classrooms, indoor/outdoor courtyards,walkways and trails, sacred art and spaces designed for inti-mate fellowship, reection and collaboration.

As we move into the nal stretch of the campaign, we havetwo priorities to complete in the area of revitalizing and ex-panding our campuses:

1. Hamilton Campus Apartment Renovations Priority

Nearly 200 students call the Hamilton Campus theirhome. Its more than an address, or where they sleep atnight. Home is oen where they spend long hours writ-ing papers and memorizing paradigms. Likewise, homeis more than a building or several rooms with a fridgeand a sinkits a place where memories are made. Manyof our students have le homes in Korea, China, SouthAfrica and all over the world to study in New England.But some of the homes they nd on-campus are livableat best, and inhospitable at worst.

a d va n c e m e n t n e w s

Advancement articles usually work on a simple premise: Describe what resources have been raised and

what resources still are needed to reach our goals. And yet, as I have reected on the past four years ofthe seminarys Our Legacy, Our Future Comprehensive Campaign, I must begin with great thanksgivingand praise for all that God has accomplished through His faithful people. We are so blessed to have hundreds offriends who have generously and sacricially provided resources year aer year to the seminary.

As we approach the nal stages of the campaign, we are delighted to report that we have far less le to raise thenwe have raised to date. We are not there yet, but we never want to lose sight of Gods provision for us in everyaspect of the campaign. We are in the nal stretch, our goals are well within reach, and we are, more than ever,determined, with Gods help, to nish this campaign strong.

As a reminder, Advancement eorts at Gordon-Conwell focus primarily on three areas: restricted giving for proj-ects above and beyond our regular operations, planned giving through our Founders Society and annual giving

to operations through gis to the seminarys Education Fund. ese three pieces are all covered under the currentOur LegacyOur Future Comprehensive Campaign: Serving the Church with Excellence and Innovation.

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Most of our apartments on the South Hamilton campuswere built in the 1970s, and have not been renovatedsince. Apartment interiors still resemble those wherestudents lived 40 years ago! One student remarked thatwhile she appreciated her time studying at Gordon-Con-

well, she wished that the oven had been big enough to ta turkey for the anksgiving dinner.

We believe that these apartments should not only be liv-able, but also enjoyable. We desire for these apartmentsto be an asset to draw new students, not a liability. Stu-dents and their families should look forward to hosting,studying, eating and sleeping on campus. We want todemonstrate hospitality for our international studentswho have le their homes to be part of ours here at Gor-don-Conwell.

You could leave a lasting reminder of generosity for gen-

erations of students at Gordon-Conwell. By giving torenovate our apartments, students for years to come willlive in the expression of your generosity and be able tocall it home. As we seek to nish the Hamilton campusrevitalization projects, our plan is to renovate 115 apart-ments at a cost of $20,000 per apartment. An investmentof $20,000 could provide students high-quality, aord-able and hospitable housing in a closely knit community.If you and perhaps even your church are interested inmaking a one-time or multi-year contribution on behalfof our students and their families, please contact AaronHarrington, our Campaign Director, at [email protected].

2. Charlotte Building Project Completion Priority

is project is nearing the nish line, and we look for-ward to the new Charloe Building Dedication on May15th. A major part of the project is the David M. RogersHall of Missions, named for an esteemed alumnus whoreceived an M.A. in Christian ought as a member of

Charloes rst graduating class in 1996.

David later served on the Charloe Board of Advisorsand in 2001 was named to the seminarys Board of Trust-ees, ultimately as Vice Chair of this board. e inuenceof his leadership is permanently etched in Gordon-Con-well and its DNA on all of our campuses, especially inCharloe. As we honor David through the naming ofour Hall of Missions, we honor God for the life, workand vision he gave to our dear brother.

We thank our great God for providing the resources andcommitments to construct this new building. We are 90

percent of the way to reaching our goal, and it is our planin the coming months to raise an additional $500,000 tocomplete the Charloe building. If you are interested inhelping us reach this goal by investing in this project,please contact Academic Dean Dr. Tim Laniak at [email protected] or Neely Gaston at [email protected].

Reaing more students

Always seeking to anticipate the needs of a growing and

diverse Church, we have reached out to many current andfuture church leaders who are seeking sound, transformativeministerial training. Some of the exciting new initiatives thatwe have implemented include:

- e Early Career Pastoral Leadership Developmentprogram, which identies and nurtures high-potential,early-career pastoral leaders during a critical time ofministry development (aer ve to 10 years in ministry),so that they can beer engage with the world of theirchurches and the social and ethical changes around them.

- e Biblical Literacy Program for the Church, which ad-

dresses a need in many churches for basic biblical and

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theological knowledge. We are commied to equippingChurch lay leaders with a biblical education that can beshared with others to reverse the trend of biblical illiteracy.

- Two partnerships with the Lilly Endowment and the KernFamily Foundation that focus on student indebtedness, -nancial literacy, faith, work and economics.

We are grateful for these partnerships that enable us tobroaden our reach, strengthen our enrollment and provideresources in areas that we might not have had if not for thecomprehensive campaign. As we plan for the nal phase ofthis campaign, we have one signicant priority to completein the area of reaching more students.

3. Tenology Improvements Priority

In an ever-changing world technologically, prospectiveand current students, faculty and sta expect an appro-

priate technology infrastructure on our campuses andin our classrooms. We earnestly desire to implementthese improvements so that students will be drawn toour institution, and when they get here, will have a morerobust learning environment, and faculty and sta wellequipped to serve them. Improvements range from ITDepartment upgrades in security and industry standardtools to virtual campus and library investments.

Our technology improvement initiative has a goal of$1.75 million. If you wish to invest in new technology fortraining the future leaders of the Church, please contactRobin Higle, Director of Stewardship and Foundation

Relations, at [email protected].

Resourcing future leaders

It is not uncommon for students to enter seminary with debtfrom their undergraduate educations. While in seminary,many students incur further debt that hinders some from be-coming missionaries, and saddles others with a signicantnancial burden in pastoral ministry. We are always workingto establish scholarships that help students limit additionaleducational debt, and ensure that prospective students with-out adequate nancial means can enroll in Gordon-Conwell.

4. Solarships

Since the launch of the comprehensive campaign, we havebeen able to create 13 new scholarships.

As an ongoing priority, one that never seems to fully supplythe nancial needs of our prospective and current students,we are commied to raising an additional $1.6 million acrossthe entire institution for student scholarships. If you wish toinvest in scholarships for seminary students for whom tu-ition is simply too far out of reach, please contact me directlyat [email protected].

planned giving priorities

through the founders society

e vision of our founders, Dr. Billy Graham, Park StreetChurch pastor Dr. Harold John Ockenga and philanthropistJ. Howard Pew was to establish an interdenominational,evangelical seminary dedicated to equipping students for

all facets of gospel outreach. Our founders goal is stillour goal and we continue pursuing that vision, combin-ing educational innovation with high priority on academ-ics and faithfulness to the gospel. We seek to train studentsto think theologically, engage globally and live biblically.

We are happy to share that approximately 90 percent of themoney we are striving to raise in planned gis will go direct-ly to endowing student scholarships. e remaining amountwill cover building endowments, which help reduce the bur-den on annual operations.

As a seminary community, please know we are deeply grate-ful for the long-term investments that have already beenmade. We have received many planned gi commitmentsfrom friends of the seminary, and we are incredibly blessedto be partnering with these sacricial donors who are help-ing to secure the training of the next generation of churchleaders. Please know that your planned gi can truly makethe dierence in the lives of future generations through thistype of legacy commitment.

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5. Planned Gis Priority

It is our goal to raise an additional $6.4 million in plannedgis as we seek to complete the comprehensive campaign,$5 million for scholarship endowment and $1.4 in buildingendowment for the Charloe campus. In some cases thatmay simply mean documenting planned gis, like bequests,

that may have already been planned for the seminary. Wewould be honored to extend membership in the Found-ers Society to those seminary friends who have alreadyplanned to leave a legacy gi to the seminary, or would beinterested in making a planned gi of any amount. Infor-mation on our Founders Society for planned giving can befound on our website, or you could contact Bill Fisher, ourDirector of Planned Giving at [email protected].

annual giving priorities through

the seminarys education fund

Our annual fund for operations is referred to as the EducationFund. It is vital to the seminarys ability to equip the next gener-ation of Church leaders to handle opportunities and challengespresented to the Church. is fund supports the distinguishedfaculty, programs and centers that draw students from aroundthe world to one of our four campuses and/or programs. It alsosupports the operations required for an ecient, student-fo-cused learning environment. e Education Fund enables us to:

- Keep tuition within reach. Our longstanding goal is toensure that educational debt will not prevent called menand women from entering ministry. Without the valuablesupport of the seminarys Education Fund, many studentscould not even aord to aend Gordon-Conwell.

- Maintain an environment conducive to learning. Gis tothe Education Fund help us provide the academic resourcescrucial for graduate level education and facilities that en-hance learning and contribute to vibrant community life.

- Aract and retain gied faculty and sta. e fund is criti-cal to our success in recruiting and retaining gied per-sonnel through competitive salaries, resources for researchand continuing education.

Halfway through our scal year, we are holding strong in thiseminary fund. We had a very solid calendar year-end of jusover $1.64 million, which is 47 percent of our annual goal of $3.million. at represents an additional $224,000 over where wlanded this time last year, a 16 percent increase. We are cautiously optimistic and certainly encouraged by all the activity andprogress in our advancement eorts though calendar year-end

Even though this has been one of the strongest years ever for thseminarys Education Fund, we still have a long way to go andbelieve opportunities exist for additional growth in this fund.

6. e Seminarys Education Fund Priority

It is our prayer and plan to raise the remaining $1.85 million fothe Education Fund by June 30, the end of this scal year, andwe could really use your help to reach this goal. ere are manyways you can partner with the seminary related specically tothe campus or program that is closest to your heart.

o e Boston Campus Education Fundo e Charloe Campus Education Fundo e Hamilton Campus Education Fundo e Jacksonville Campus Education Fundo e Doctor of Ministry Education Fundo e Hispanic Ministries Education Fundo e Ockenga Institute Education Fundo Gordon-Conwell Institutional Education Fundo e Partnership Scholarship Program

If you would like to make a gi of any amount to the seminaryEducation Fund, please use the supplied envelope in this magazine, contact our Stewardship Oce at [email protected] visit our website to give online at www.gordonconwell.edu

giving. On our website you can select the option to give on amonthly basis to the campus or program of your choosing. Youcan play a signicant role in serving the Church by partneringwith the seminary in this way.

Please know that we are deeply grateful to our partners foevery single gi we have received. We regularly thank Godfor the tangible dierence these gis are making in the liveof hundreds of students at the seminary. Our graduates arserving in New England, the U.S. and all over the globe. If youhave made a gi to the seminary, you are part of this incrediblministry. If you would like to give, you can be part of the wonderful work that God is doing in our midst. Most of all, we ar

so thankful to our great God who goes before us and providefor us in ways we never could have hoped for or even imagined

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all weask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within usto him be glory in the ur and in Christ Jesus throughout al

generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)

Kurt W. Drescher is Vice President of Advancemenat Gordon-Conwell. He is an active member of GracChapel, Lexington, MA, where he serves on the Boardof Overseeing Elders. Kurt, a graduate of GordoCollege, lives with his wife, Sharon, and their twdaughters in Reading, MA.

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A Vision to be a Community Reectingthe Character of God to a Watching World

Gordon-Conwellgraduates Johnand Mary March

describe their New CityCovenant Church nearMinneapolis as like afamily.

e church that openedon Easter Sunday 2010 isbrimming with childrenwho, they say, are veryenthusiastic about theirexperience at New Cityand truly want to bethere. In fact, if parents

are inclined to stay home on Sunday mornings, theirchildren insist that they go.

Sunday worship is followed by a communal meal called

Soul Food. During the week, members study, learn andgrow together in a number of small groups, and once ayear aend an all-church retreat.

We are blessed, the Marches comment, with a lovingcommunity seeking Christ together.

John and Mary planted New City with the support andassistance of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC)denomination. It started with a small group meeting intheir home. As the group grew, the need for a larger spacetook them to a local ice rink. e couple welcomed the

new environment that provided several rooms for worshipand Sunday School. However, these activities also had tocompete with the nearby sounds of local ice hockey teamspracticing on Sunday mornings.

en, in what John terms Gods provision for us, anindependent church chose to bless us by transferringownership of their property into our name. eir goalwasnt to make the most money on the sale, but to ensurethat a like-minded church continued to do ministry inthe space.

e church has grown well beyond the original groupthat gathered in the Marches home. John is lead pastor,and Mary serves as community pastor. ey have fourchildren populating the Sunday School: three sons and adaughter between the ages of nine and four months.

John grew up in Edina, Minnesota, the same communitywhere he now pastors. College-trained in computerengineering, he was pursuing that career path until, in achurch in Chicago, he witnessed the power of Christiancommunity to facilitate personal transformation andwanted to help others experience that as well. For the nextyear he served as a missionary in Malawi, then enrolled atGordon-Conwell, earning an M.Div. degree in 2004.

Mary grew up in New Jersey, the daughter of church-planting pastors. She earned B.A. degrees in history andpsychology from the University of Michigan, then receivedboth an M.Div. (2004) and a Masters in Counselingin Marriage and Family erapy (2007) from Gordon-

Conwell. She has previously served as a childrens pastor,youth pastor and college pastor.

In 2001, John started working at Highrock Church inArlington, Massachuses, and Mary joined the stafollowing their marriage in 2003. Highrock has planteda number of churches in the Greater Boston area, and itwas here that the two caught a vision for the local church.at vision, John says, created a passion in us to return toMinnesota and try to replicate here what we experiencedat Highrock.

John and Marys congregation skews toward younger in-dividuals and couples, many of whom have never been

a l u m n i s p o t l i g h t

The John and Mary March family

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part of a church, or have been unchurched for many years.We have found, John explains, that most of the peoplewho come to New City and stick around are looking to ex-perience Jesus in authentic relationship with one another.ey have moved past consuming spirituality. ey wantsomething meaty that really means something in theirlives as they try to love their spouses, their kids, and pur-sue careers with meaning and signicance. New City hasbecome a place where people can nd that.

We appreciated Gordon-Conwells commitment torigorous academic preparation, he adds. As I aempt todiscern how to be a pastor and lead a church in Edina,Minnesota, I always turn to Gods Word rst. e seminary

helped prepare me to study Scripture faithfully and applyit relevantly in service to the local church.

eir vision for the church, as articulated in theirvision statement, is to be a community that reects thecharacter of God to a watching world like a city set ona hill. We believe Gods character was best revealed byJesus who was a person full of grace and truth. By truthwe mean honestyBeing a church of grace means thathonesty is met with acceptance, not judgment. is iswhat Jesus was like. Whether he was interacting with richyoung rulers, the poor and sick on the margins of society,

or curious disciples, Jesus spoke the truth and extendedgrace. We want to be like that, too, because this is the sortof community where Gods love is alive and our healing,salvation and transformation become possible.

Church planting has been hard, John admits. But God isgood. Even though He oen doesnt answer prayers andintervene in our ministry the way we want, He is kind tous and faithful to walk with us through every aspect of

this journey. In the end, we are seeing lives changed forthe glory of God, which makes all our eort worth it.

Church planting culture oen goes through phases and

fads. What I learned at Gordon-Conwell and at Highrockis that the gospel is at the heart of ministry. Churchplanting isnt primarily about new techniques or cuingedge strategies. Its about doing the hard work of livingout the gospel in my own life and then sharing what Ilearn with others. Church planting has provided thecontext where I can do this with people who desperatelyneed Christ. ABD

For more about New City Covenant Church, visithp://newcitycov.org/

ey have moved past consuming spirituality. ey want something

meaty that really means something in their lives as they try to love their

spouses, their kids, and pursue careers with meaning and signicance.

L to r: Mary March says New City is like a family. Gathering in church sanctuary

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anks for Giving

Students, faculty and sta gathered around campus in No-vember for our rst anks for Giving event. e com-munity came together to write notes of gratitude as a wayto express appreciation for alumni giving in the last year.

Each year, hundreds of Gordon-Conwell alumni donate tothe Education Fund. You are our partners in the work Godcalls us to do, and alumni giving of any amount makes

an impact. It provides campus resources and scholarshipfunding that enable the seminary to equip men and wom-en to share the Gospel and train others to do the same.anks for giving to Gordon-Conwell!

Aaeological Study Tour

e Alumni Services oces hosted an Archaeologi-

cal Study Tour to Israel and Jordan January 5-18, 2015.Alumni and friends from across the U.S. and as far awayas Hong Kong came together for unforgeable learningexperiences with Gordon-Conwells Dr. omas Peer,Professor of Old Testament, and Dr. Christine Palmer, Ad-junct Professor of Old Testament, as well as our Israeliand Jordanian tour guides. Our preparation was enhancedby regular blogs wrien prior to travel by Dr. Peer, whogave great insight into the geography and culture behindthe biblical texts associated with places we visited.

In addition to exceptional teaching, our adventures rangedfrom multiple rainbow sightings in northern Israel to aSabbath snow day at a hotel in Petra, Jordan, and a visitwith Gordon-Conwell alumnus Jack Sara (D.Min. 13),President at Bethlehem Bible College. e journey was astriking reminder of Gods faithfulness and an incredibleprivilege to be given visual reminders from the land whereso many of His promises were fullled.

Note: You can read Dr. Peers blog and access his recom-mended reading list at: http://pettersposts.blogspot.com/

Tell Us What You ink

Does your graduation year end in "5" or "0"? If it does, this is your year! e seminary has implemented an alumni sur-vey model to target a dierent segment of its graduates each year. As a result, each graduate will receive a request forgeneral feedback once every ve years. Watch your email in June for a link to the online survey.

Thanks for Giving event

Students, faculty and staff gather for thank-you note writing

Participants on alumni archaeological study tour in Israeland Jordan

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a l u m n i i m p a c t

a l u m n i c o n n e c t

Rhonda Gibson (MAR 10), Director of Alumni Services

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In Memoriam

Ifeyinwa Amalu (08 MACO; 12 MAR) died

in a car accident en route to Texas. Pleasekeep Ifeys parents and extended family inyour prayers as they mourn the loss of theirprecious daughter.

e Rev. Dr. Stephen A. Hayner (73.M.) died of pancreatic cancer January31, 2015, in Dec

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