The Wonders He Has Done (Spring 2015)

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eological Seminary | Spring 15 | V

ol. 43 No. 1 | Legacy

The Wonders He Has Done

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board of trusteesDr. Dennis P. Hollinger, PresidentRev. Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr., ChairmanRev. Dr. Claude R. Alexan-der, Jr., Vice ChairmanDr. Shirley A. Redd, SecretaryMr. Ivan C. Hinrichs, Treasurer

Mr. Joel B. AarsvoldMrs. Linda S. AndersonDr. Diana Curren BennettRev. Dr. Garth T. BolinderRev. Dr. Richard P. CampMr. Thomas 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. PotterRev. Samuel Rodriguez, Jr.Mrs. Virginia M. SnoddyRev. Dr. David D. SwansonDr. Joseph W. ViolaRev. Dr. John H. Womack, Sr.Dr. William C. Wood

emeriti membersDr. Richard A. Armstrong Rev. Dr. Leighton FordMr. Roland S. HinzMr. Richard D. PhippenRev. Dr. Paul E. Toms

co-founder and trustee emeritusDr. William F. Graham

president and trustee emeritusDr. Robert E. Cooley

president emeritusDr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.

presidents cabinetDr. Dennis P. Hollinger, PresidentMr. Kurt W. Drescher, Vice President of AdvancementDr. Mark Harden, Dean of the Boston CampusDr. Timothy Laniak, Dean of the Charlotte CampusDr. Richard Lints, Vice President for Academic AffairsDr. Alvin Padilla, Dean of Hispanic MinistriesMrs. Lita Schlueter, Dean of Students and Direc-tor of Student Life ServicesMr. Jay Trewern, Vice President for Finance and Operations / CFO

contact The Ministry Magazine of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

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

Director of Communications and MarketingMr. Michael L. Colaneri

Senior Communications Advisor and Editor of Contact Mrs. Anne B. Doll

Graphic DesignerMs. Nicole S. Rim

Inquiries regarding Contact may be addressed to: Editor, Contact Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary130 Essex Street, S. Hamilton, MA 01982 communications.office@gordonconwell.eduwww.gordonconwell.edu978.468.7111

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, national or ethnic origin, age, handicap or veteran status.contents

You may have noticed that contact magazine is undergoing a transformation. The previous design was more than 10 years old, and we wanted to refresh the look and feel of the magazine while still keeping a strong, classic (and readable!) layout. Please let us know what you think at [email protected]

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on the front lines: A Modern-Day Abolitionist Fights SlaveryBy Anne B. Doll

A 37-Year Study in HistoryBy Anne B. Doll

The Lively Ediface of the Church By 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 March

alumni news

alumni notes

opening the word: Give Thanks, Get LifeBy Matt 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

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Reflections from the President

We have a rich legacy at Gordon-Conwell Theological 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 in

which 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

first-rate, Godly faculty committed to educating men and women for a vast

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

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

dedicated staff 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, staff, 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

A MODERN-DAY ABOLITIONIST

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 Thailand occurred during her participation in The 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 was really lost spiritually, she ex-plains. I knew the Lord, but was not living that way. I was just really broken and hurting. I wanted to renew myself. Shortly thereafter, she signed up for the race.

It completely changed my life, she explains. I encoun-

tered God in a whole new and personal way. Through that time, I also learned about human trafficking. There were parts of my own story that allowed me to connect with these women, and finally things made sense to me. I have always had a heart for hurting people, and I thought, This is itfrom that point on I would be working somewhere in the field of sex trafficking.

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

I was helping with a justice conference at the church, and during that event they agreed to support me in taking a team of women to India to work at an aftercare center.

Following that trip Hollis met with the churchs outreach director to debrief. She had been working at a coffee shop and God told me to quit my job and ask for a job at the church. So I did, and the outreach director said he wasnt surprised. He had seen it coming. Together we created a part-time position for me to develop an anti-trafficking ministry at Forest Hill. It was totally the Lord. There was no way I could have ever thought this up.

During her first year in the position, much of her time was spent seeking where God is leading us as a church. She also studied trafficking in Charlotte, and learned how other organizations were addressing the problem. All of them, she says, are faith based. Some are helping identify and rescue entrapped individuals. One has opened a call center through which volunteers can talk to girls online.

In Charlotte, there is also such a need for safe housing and discipleship, she notes. Thats where well be fitting in.

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

come modern-day abolitionists fighting slavery, and to open 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 one day to six months.

Hollis says some will require additional attention at a long-term program; others will only need help finding an apartment 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, offering them love, offering them hope and 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, sex trafficking is the second largest illegal industry in the world, with ties to organized crime. She says this huge and highly lucrative business can range from one traf-

ficker working with several women, to gang and mafia in-volvement. Unlike trafficking of drugs and weapons that can be used only once, with sex trafficking were talking about people who can be used over and over again.

Sex trafficking is defined as through force, fraud or coer-cion, someone is being used for a sexual act for exchange of good. Hollis says that can be a Happy Meal at McDon-alds, or $200. There is no set amount. Persons under 18 are automatically considered victims of sex trafficking. Average age of individuals used for forced prostitution or pornography is 12 to 14.

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

The youngest trafficked child Hollis has seen was a five-year-old girl in a Cambodian village known worldwide among pedophiles. A family member had traded her for a television set. That was where I was really blown away, she remembers. So many kids, just knowing what was going on. It was really hard.

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

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 trafficked people come from broken homes, and places where

there is neglect. Many are runaways. Often they have al-ready been sexually abused. Some are addicted to drugs or alcohol.

The traffickers are smart, she explains. They know what to look for. Most likely its someone whos young, looks very vulnerableone who can be manipulated. The traf-fickers, the pimps also know how to woo these women and girls, how to play up being a father figure, a boyfriend, un-til they establish relationships. They provide housing, buy her food, nice clothes and gifts, making her feel like shes loved and cherished.

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

These techniques, Hollis says, create a very strong bond between the girl and her trafficker. These girls are being ex-ploited. Theyre being abused, and are in a very, very dan-

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

Hollis says recidivism is fairly high for individuals coming out of the sex trade because of the trauma theyve expe-rienced. There is also a spiritual element. Their identities are now defined by their pimp, by the number of clients they see a day, the attention they receiveIts hard to move through that, to move forward.

So many of the women I have talked to, none of them really want to go back. But its familiar in the sense that theres safety, and its comfortable. They at least know what role they play. They know exactly whats going to happen, even if its horrible.

Thats why I see this so much as the Lords work, because truly only the Lord can come into people and remind them of who they are. Only the Lord can reveal and strip away those layers and lies that have been placed over their real identity in him.

Forest Hill Church is currently developing an internation-al ministry to trafficked individuals in Haiti through an existing partnership with Mission of Hope. Its amazing that 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 trafficked individuals, Hollis is in the third year of her MACC degree program. She credits the seminarys Partnership Program1 with making her study at Gordon-Conwell possible. I knew that trafficking was my heart, working with women, and God showed me that I needed to be better equipped to re-ally be used. I said, Well God, Ill go, but I cant pay for it. Then I found out about the Partnership Programand the seminary became part of my journey.

While the task of helping trafficked individuals at times seems overwhelming, Hollis has no doubt that God could do an incredible work in a person. And that persons life could be changed. Thats what I try to focus onI know men and women who have been trafficked and have made it through.

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

Hollis Johnson

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

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A year Study inHistory By Anne B. Doll

Dr. Garth Rosell turns to an oft quoted declaration from

the 16th century 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 to begin the next chapter in his life of service to God. During his nearly four decades at Gordon-Conwell, he has worked for six presidents, witnessed the creation of three campuses and taught at all four. He has also served in numerous leadership positions, including nearly a decade as the seminarys Academic Dean, and 17 years as Chair of the Division of Christian Thought and Director of the Harold John Ockenga Institute.

He has also seen the development of many major initiatives such as the Center for the Study of Global Christianity and the Hispanic Ministries Program, and he was instrumental in helping to create both the Doctor of Ministry Program and the Harold John Ockenga Institute, a vital seminary bridge to the Church and culture.

But Garth eschews mention of his own contributions, pointing instead to the God who redeemed me and called me to this great privilege of teaching here. And he under-lines his absolutely enormous joy and delight in serving in a Christ-centered seminary where God is honored and the Word is studied carefully and clearly.

In what he is calling simply a new phase of life, Garth will be writing a book about Gordon-Conwell, telling the story of why God in His providence planted the school in this part of the world. Already he is conducting research for that project.

Our seminary, he says, was the outgrowth, in large measure, of a great spiritual awakening, a resurgent evan-gelicalism in the 1940s that started in movements such as Youth for Christ, InterVarsity, the Navigators and others. That revival among Americas young people spilled over into the 1950s and spread not only throughout the cities of North America but also literally around the globe, most notably through the work of seminary founder Billy Graham, who has been such a wonderful gift to the Church and to all of usAs Shaw notes in his book, Global Awakening, those 20th century revivals laid the foundation for the growth of the Church literally around the world.

Dr. Rosell adds that the vision of leaders who established the seminary, particularly Dr. Graham and Dr. Harold John Ockenga, not only shaped us in our early years, but continues to guide us and point us in the right direction today.unlike many institutions that tend to drift from their founding principles into very different directions.

Certainly included in that vision, he says, would be the centrality of Gods Word, studied in the original languages to gain understanding, and then applied to every part of life; the great missionary mandate to spread the gospel around the world; the renewal of the Church through the preaching of Gods Word; the power of the gospel to transform people through the cross of Christ; the trans-formation of culture through Christian influence as salt and light, and the raising up of a whole new generation of Christian leaders, men and women with good educations and a burning love for Jesus.

He admits that the seminary experienced difficult times over the span of his tenure. There are always in life and in institutional structures, triumphs and trials, good mo-ments and bad. But heres where our deep commitment to the faithfulness of God, the absolute certainty of Gods Truth, the call of God to holiness and high moral stan-dards, the biblical guidance we haveall of these sustain us in the middle of normal institutional pressure.

After a lifetime in the classroom, Dr. Rosell contends that good teaching begins where our love for students converges with our love for the subject we are studying in such a manner as to make that material come alive and applicable to their lives and ministries. And in a seminary, certainly you have to love the Scriptures and the Lord of the Scriptures, who is our God and our Master.

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

teacher whose message was clear, rang true and was life sustaining and life transforming. To be privileged to be a conveyor of that message that Christ came to give, that we are to teach, live by, try to modelall of us wish we could do that more effectively

I think at the core of teaching, as in any ministry, it is the work of the Holy Spirit who teaches us and opens our eyes and empowers us to do the work. I think thats why Christ told his disciples, in that powerful section of Acts, to stay in Jerusalem until they were empowered from on high to do ministry, including teaching. It was to enable weak and faltering souls like ourselves to communicate that which God can turn into such useful things for those who learn.

As a church historian, Garth sees the current culture as moving increasingly into a period that looks very much like the time of the early Church, the time prior to the Em-peror Constantine in the 4th century. Its a period in which Christianity is growing and vital, but oftentimes persecut-ed, he explains. The Church is working in a society that is very religious, but very resistant to the absolute claims of Christ on peoples lives. So we learn from the great saints 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 to memorize them, put them in our hearts, so that if the day ever comes when we dont have access to our Scriptures, as is true in some parts of the world today, we will have them readily in our minds.

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

Church. And I would add the need to recover some of the power of the great creeds, confessions and catechisms of the Church and to produce new ones, so that we can give to the next generation a language to talk about the faith in the midst of a much more questioning and un-accepting world. And, of course, we need to be men and women 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 effectively serving the Lord.

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

And he is very heartened by the arrival of so many bright, well educated, gifted young faculty members who are the next generation of those who teach here. It seems to me that Gordon-Conwell has an unusually bright and hopeful future, in part because of these outstanding new colleagues.

Always the historian, Garth adds, I cannot help but be reminded of the famous quotation attributed to Adoniram Judson: The future is as bright as the promises of God.

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

L 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 President Dr. 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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The Lively

Ediface of the

ChurchGordon Isaac, Ph.D.

I must confess that my first exposure to church history was not altogether happy. A kindly gentleman taught the course, but unfortunately all the moisture was taken from the subject, leaving it dry to the touch. This, of course, contains a huge irony insofar as church history is made up of intensely interesting people, 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 church history 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 ways among many, why the study of church history should be carried out with energy and intent.

Reason #1 Church History tells us where we have

come from and where we are going.

The Old Testament is Gods story of choosing a people to himself, leading them out of slavery and into 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 the people of God is rich, varied and full. This history leads into the New Testament account.

With the coming of the Messiah, a new but continuous story emerges of the witness of the Apostles to the death and resurrection of Jesus. The gospel moves outward from Jerusalem. From Persia the gospel travels east to the Silk Road and China. It also proceeds west to Africa and into the European continent.

Church history tells of the fall of the Roman Empire and, in the moment of civilizations demise, the efforts of Christianity to stand in the gap. When no one was left in the city to negotiate with the barbarian hordes, it was Pope Leo who went out to negotiate peace on behalf of the people. From this position of service, the papacy would emerge as a power ultimately needing reform. On through the Reformation, the confessional wars, the time of the Puritans and beyond, the Church has staked its place. Through all the ups and downs of the life of the Church, the providence of God has been visible. Tracing

the Church through this vista helps us to know where we have been and where we are going. I rather like the way Joseph Sittler has put the matter when he says,

There is certainly nothing wrong with the church looking ahead, but it is terribly important that it should be done in connection with the look inside, into the churchs own nature and mission, and a look behind 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 #2 Church 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 read one old book for every new book they read. This practice, if carried out with discipline, will keep the avid reader from historical hubris, the idea that our time knows better. There is a great deal of wisdom to be had in the ancient world if one will only take the time to read the older 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 the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction.

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The advice we are offered here is worth heeding. Every age and indeed, every generation has its own thought forms and its culturally held presuppositions. The only way we have a possibility of transcending the thought form of our own age is if we have taken the time to live in another age through the reading of church history. Reading ancient church teaching will expose natural cultural thought forms or idolatries that we might not be able to identify otherwise.

Reason #3 Church History gives perspective

on old errors.

Not long ago Dan Brown wrote a best-seller by the name The Da Vinci Code. It was turned into a movie starring Tom Hanks. Many people read the book and many discussed the book. One of the propositions coming out of the story is that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. This alternative religious history put forward suggests that the Church has kept these truths secret and that Mary was meant to play a much larger role than the Church allowed. It would seem that conspiracy theories are popular wherever they are contrived.

By studying church history there is a ready answer to this rather old error. Marcion and others in the 2nd century asserted that they had secret knowledge regarding Jesus. The Church cut off the route to secret knowledge by a threefold response. To the idea that there were teachers of secret knowledge, the Church asserted that they knew all the teachers from Jesus to the present (Apostolic Succession). To the idea that they had special gnostic scriptures, the Church set forward the canon. To the notion that the true God would have nothing to do with creation, the Church responded by the Apostles Creed.

Reason #4 Church History gives encouragement in the long

view of tradition and our perseverance in it.

Church history gives perspective on whatever it is that we may be facing in the present. Is it scandal touching 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 we might be in the life cycle of our church bodies. Seeing the long stretch of history that has gone before us helps us to prepare for the history that extends out beyond our time, and to do so in hope. Further, church history allows us to meet the saints on whose 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 being a non-being in the eyes of the Empire. One day she was miraculously saved and taken in by the church community and given dignity again. Athanasius of Alexandria was exiled no less than five times in his life as bishop because he maintained the deity of Christ. William Tyndale was a linguistic genius whose translation of the New Testament into English, developed amid intense persecution, helped establish Protestantism in England. Nearer our own time, the witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer during the dark days of Hitler held up the power of the word of God in spite of unjust worldly power. In short, church history is a lively edifice that continues to be built. In the words of Philip Schaff,

How shall we labor with any effect to build up the church, if we have no thorough knowledge of her history, or fail to apprehend it from the proper point of observation? History is, and must ever continue to be, next to Gods Word, the rightest foundation of wisdom, and the surest guide to all successful practical activity.

Dr. Gordon Isaac is Berkshire Associate Professor of Advent Christian Studies. He is an expert on Reformation Studies and Martin Luther, and has written extensively on Luther. He also has expertise on Hell, Eschatology/End Times, Church History and the Advent Christian denomination, within which he has served several interim pastorates. He is former associate editor of Luther Digest and

the author of Left Behind or Left Befuddled: The Subtle Dangers of Popularizing the End Times.

GORDON-CONWELLINTO THE

FUTURERICHARD LINTS, PH.D.

Gordon-Conwell students at library, circa 1980s

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

beyond our time, and to do so in hope.

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

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



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

It was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the many remarkable events in the history of our seminary and the remarkable people who have been central to that history: A.J. Gordon, Russell Conwell, Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga and J. Howard Pew to name just a few. Professor Scott Gibson offered extended comments on the life and history of A.J. Gordon that reminded us of Gods faithfulness across many generationsand the impact upon the life of the church in North America and around the globe because of the enduring mission of the seminary.

From the beginning it was a mission to train men and women for ministry, reflecting a commitment to the Gospel in all of its richness as it is revealed in Scripture. In the context of celebrating the history of Gordon-Conwell, it is appropriate to take a moment to think about what Gordon-Conwell might be like years into the future.

Several characteristics of the seminary are by now well established and surely will be part of its identity going forward. It is committed to the genuine and functioning authority of Scripture as the touchstone for all of the Christian life and for the flourishing of

the Church. God is both the author of Scripture and by the Holy Spirit, uses the Scripture as the means to reconcile people to himself in Christ. The great act of reconciliation is at the heart of the Gospel, and is central to training men and women for a ministry of faithfulness and integrity.

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

It has grown to include four campuses: in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, urban Boston, Charlotte, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida, and has a global Hispanic

Ministries Program. It has launched initiatives to reach house church pastors in China, first generation immigrant pastors from Korea, Haiti and Africa. Its acclaimed Center for the Study of Global Christianity researches the richness of the changing faces of the Church around the world, and by it gives the seminary the

constant reminder that ministry preparation should increasingly reflect the diversity of faces of the global Church.

The seminary faces many challenges in the days ahead as well. Every serious national study of theological education has warned of the tension between increasing student debt and the rising costs of higher education. Gordon-Conwell has taken this seriously, realizing how urgent is the task to find yet greater scholarship funds for students seeking rigorous theological training, and to be better stewards of the resources God has generously given to us.

This will be of central importance in the years ahead. Journals of philanthropy remind us of the current massive transfer of wealth taking place from the builder generation to

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

In the future, the seminary will adapt to the changing shape of pastoral vocations in the seminary curriculum. In the post-war renaissance of the neo-evangelical movement represented by Billy Graham and Harold John Ockenga, evangelical seminaries like Gordon-Conwell had to prove that their own rigor was substantial enough to be considered for accreditation in the world of recognized

higher education. As a result, the curriculum leaned quite heavily into the academic ethos of mainstream higher education. By doing this, it quite successfully rebutted the criticism of being fundamentally an anti-intellectual movement.

Times have changed, however. The challenge is not to gain recognition in the world of higher education, but rather to gain credibility and usefulness in the vital, day-to-day work of churches. Innovative and important new partnerships with churches will emerge in the future for Gordon-Conwell as a reminder that the seminarys identity is rooted in the life of the Church.

One consequence of this missional identity, in a world where ministry vocations will continue to expand beyond the traditional pastoral call, is that Gordon-Conwell will expand its place for those seeking a theological vocation not defined by pastoring. Vocations as diverse as ministry in the marketplace, leading an NGO, managing a campus ministry, serving in a non-ordained position in a church and a thousand other ministry-related jobs will reshape the seminarys curriculum into a more appropriate and relevant seminary degree for ministry in the years ahead. What is needed is not a replica of a thousand different degrees, but a solid and innovative degree that can serve multiple purposes, while maintaining our solid biblical and theological commitments.

We will continue to work towards streamlining our degree programs to help make them more efficient and cost effective for students, while recognizing the students need for a robust and rich theological vision to sustain them for the rigors of ministry in a time like ours.

Another change well underway is the role of technology in the life of the seminary. The prime example today is the increasing prevalence of online education. Gordon-Conwell has an already well-established, 20-year history with distance education, and this will only continue and deepen in the years ahead. Technology will democratize theological education, making it more accessible to a wider range of students. The great challenge for Gordon-Conwell is the cost of doing online education well, without simply adding to greater student debt in the years ahead. Students must not leave seminary so burdened with debt that their own sense of vocation is compromised as a result.

The classroom experience for many of our students will be flipped in the days ahead. They will gather much of their information via technology-aided resources prior to coming to class, with the classroom then serving as the venue for interpreting that material and applying it to real world situations. Many classrooms will be structured on

the assumption that students have already encountered the material technologically via pre-recorded advanced online access to lectures, PowerPoint presentations, and other resources, thereby making class time more efficient and effective.

Even as it moves to greater investment in technology and the tools of online education, Gordon-Conwell in the future will continue to privilege certain face-to-face encounters in the mentoring of students by faculty. As the Church exists primarily as a local community who live life together, so the training of pastors will continue to take seriously the importance of increased face-to-face mentoring and advising.

We have seen how significant this relational dimension of ministry preparation is in the way the new Alumni Hall and the Pierce Great Hall now facilitate so many informal and intimate conversations among our students in Hamilton. That has also proven true with our new facility in Jacksonville. And in Charlotte, we are preparing to celebrate the brand new Hall of Mission expansion, which will provide enhanced resources for personal interactions among students, and with our alumni in far off places across the globe. We know our places deeply influence how we relate to each other.

The future of Gordon-Conwell is bright, not because we are better or smarter and more creative than others, but because of Gods promises to remain faithful to His people. As we hold fast to that great reality, our mission will always be vital, and our calling will always be secure. We are grateful to all of you who continuously hold us in your prayers. We are ever in need of them.

Dr. Richard Lints is Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of the Hamilton Campus and the Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Theology. He joined the seminary faculty in 1986, and served previously as Lecturer in Philosophical Theology at Trinity College, Bristol, UK. He has also taught at Yale Divinity School, the University of Notre Dame, Westminster Theological Seminary and Reformed

Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, Dr. Lints is an accomplished church planter and the author of six books.

Academic Center among new buildings constructed during Dr. Robert E. Cooleys presidency

Team from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity

Students gather at Gordon-Conwell library in Jacksonville.

Caring for the Soul

During Seminary

Heather N. Korpi

EDITORS NOTE: This is the second and final part of a series on spiritual formation that began in the spring 2014 edition of Contact.

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

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

At the Jacksonville campus, students enter to a display of oversized comfy couches that invite them to settle in for deep, encouraging conversations with their peers.

Though it looks quite different on each campus, spiritual formation is an integral part of the Gordon-Conwell experience. Various delivery methods are tailored to meet the distinct needs of each campuss culture, student body and ethos.

The present generation is embedded in such a complex world, with so many demands, that just waking up in the morning feels daunting, says Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Richard Lints. In the face of a hyperactive, hyper-connected culture, it is exceedingly difficult for ministry leaders to carve out time for personal growth, spiritual reflection and connection with Jesus.

The consequences of such inattention are frightening. The numbers of clergy burnout in the first five years are really stunning, notes Lints. Habits they form in those first five fragile years are going to stay with them, for good or bad. Spiritual formation is really critical for ministry. And so, alongside its rigorous academics, Gordon-Conwell is intentionally helping students form and implement healthy spiritual habits to enrich their ministries. At the Boston campus, spiritual formation is woven into the culture and curriculum through two avenues: the Integrative Seminar and the Pierce Center for Disciple-

Building. In 2013, we embarked on a campus-wide initiative to pursue spiritual formation as a community and as an explicit part of the curriculum, explains Dr. Teri Elliott-Hart, who oversees spiritual formation efforts in addition to teaching in her role as adjunct professor.

This initiative, the Integrative Seminar, is composed of five semester-long modules that each student will complete over the course of two and a half years. The sequence of modulesPractices of the Word-Centered Life, Practices of the Virtuous Life, Practices of the Compassionate Life, Practices of the Spirit-Empowered Life, and Prayer and Practices of the Sacramental Lifeis drawn from Gordon-Conwells mission statement, and purposes to integrate seminary learning with each students personal formation as a disciple and a leader.

Each semester kicks off with an all-campus Opening Day Convocation event where the theme is introduced and students have an opportunity to connect and worship with their professors and peers. For a commuter campus filled with busy students often juggling seminary on top of their full-time jobs and family obligations, this is a rare and precious time.

The theme then carries through the semester by way of 14 weekly topics for class devotions (which inspire the thoughts and questions that greet students as they enter campus), readings and written reflection exercises. At the completion of all five modules, a final integration paper



Finding Silence in the City

Leaving her home country of Kenya, Vionnah Wanjiku Githira arrived at Gordon-ConwellBoston to begin her Master of Arts in Counseling in the fall of 2012. It was her first time in the United States.

Breathing in new smells, tasting new foods and interacting with new people was both exciting and overwhelming. The first week, I really wanted to trade my tuition for a plane ticket back home, she remembers. But as the weeks went on, Vionnah began to settle into and appreciate her new venture. The community she formed through the Pierce Fellows Program helped, she says. At the Boston campus, forming fellowship can be hard because class is in the evenings and students work during the day, so you have to be intentional.

As students juggle harried schedules and the breakneck pace of the city, the Pierce Center steps in to help them slow down and reflect. During the biweekly spiritual formation meetings with other Fellows and Pierce Center Coordinator Dr. Tom Griffith, Vionnah says, We would stay silent and he would ask, Whats the state of your soul? And then he would ask for an image to describe whats going on in your soul.

This reflective posture has begun to infuse Vionnahs everyday thought process. I pay attention to whats going on in my life on the inside, she says. Having Tom as a mentor and being in the spiritual formation groups challenges you to be better.

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

A Ministry of Transparency

Patrick Schlabs may win the award for most distance traveled as a commuter student. Six to seven times each semester, this Master of Divinity candidate and two friends make the four-hour trek from Charleston, South Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida, for 24 hours of

intensive learning, community-building and soul-filling.

Using words like embraced, loved, cared for, humility, honesty, sincerity, fun and warmth to describe the ethos of Gordon-ConwellJacksonville, Patrick asserts that his significant commute doesnt hold him back from engaging fully 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 I get 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 Peters Church, a Charleston church plant where he and his wife were called in 2011, after serving at a charismatic church in Texas 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 ministry with the same spirit of transparency he has experienced at Gordon-ConwellJacksonville. The way that the Jacksonville campus holds these two things in tensionhigh academic excellence with a sense of transparency and humilityhas been one of the more spiritually formative things for me, he says. It has created a really strong precedent for what I hope to do in ministry. HNK

encourages students to look back on patterns of spiritual learning or challenges throughout their experience.

We are coaching people to develop practices that encourage encountering God in their work, in their studies, in the grind of the city, says Elliott-Hart. People think they will come to seminary and wont have time to pay attention to their heart, but we value and care about their personal spiritual life, not just grades and learning.

Boston Campus Pierce Center Coordinator Dr. Tom Griffith agrees. You come to seminary and what happens is that very quickly, studying becomes everything and you

dont talk about how youre doing in your spiritual life and soul, he asserts. The Pierce Center is important because while youre studying, you cannot give up your soul.

The Pierce Center offers a Fellows scholarship program, in which students meet regularly with Griffith and other Fellows, and lead weekly Soul Care groups for their classmates. Through these interactions, Griffith 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 student connectedness and reciprocal encouragement has become a key ingredient in their spiritual formation efforts. We are an organic, relational campus, says Campus Dean Dr. Ryan Reeves. The smallest of all four Gordon-Conwell campuses, Jacksonville leverages its size as a unique opportunity for deep and intentional community-building.

My door is almost always open, says Reeves. Students pop in and out to talk about what theyre doing at seminary or trials in ministry or their future. In fact, Reeves says, the new Jacksonville campus was intentionally designed to foster this open-door, community environment. The library, which functions as a magnetic common area with its inviting couches, is at the heart of the campus, with faculty and staff offices wrapping around it.

We know everyones name, know where theyre coming from and why theyre here. We have the stories of the individuals readily in front of us at all times, and were really able to serve and tailor our support for that individual, says Reeves.

At Jacksonville, spiritual formation really is a campus-wide effort, with every person playing an integral part. The administrative assistant, Sonja, frequently prays with students in her office. The librarian, Carol, takes note of who is struggling with their coursework, and then takes the time to assist them. The registrar, Jeanne, sees student files not as paperwork, but as a collection of their life

experiences during seminarylike that dropped class due to a ministry or home crisis. The staff meetings regularly involve prayer for students. What we do day in and day out does have a spiritual formation element at every touch point, says Reeves.

As described by Dr. David Currie, Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program and co-mentor in the Spiritual Formation for Ministry Leaders track, Spiritual formation is the lifelong, faith-filled process of the Holy Spirit transforming the whole person into the likeness of Christ to the glory of the Father as informed by the whole Word of God, in relationship with the whole people of God to fulfill the whole mission of God.

Gordon-Conwell remains committed to shepherding students as they encounter God in and alongside their studies, and preparing them to continue this process during a lifetime of effective ministry.

Habits they form in those first five fragile years are going to stay with them, for good or bad.

Spiritual formation is really critical for ministry.

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g o o d b o o k s

In many of David Wells previous volumes (e.g., No Place for Truth, God in the Wasteland and The Courage to Be Protestant), the author provided us with a penetrating critique of Western culture, particularly as it negatively influences the contemporary church. It could be argued that those works offered no solution to the problem. This latest book provides such a solution. But if the reader is looking for a new

methodology, it wont be found here. Instead, like a biblical prophet, Wells draws us back to the missing element in the life of much of the contemporary church: the holy-love of God, by which he means the fullness of Gods character as revealed in Scripture.

I couldnt help but compare Dr. Wells suggested answer to the theme of two Christian classics: Knowing God by J.I. Packer and The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. Readers of these volumes may recall the quotation from C.H. Spurgeons first sermon as the Pastor of New Park Street Chapel (he was 20 at the time) with which Packer begins his book:

The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

Or, one thinks of this statement by Tozer: The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Himand of her.

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

Let me emphasize some practical ways in which the book impacted me. First, I find that the world, the devil and my own sinful heart are always pulling me inward to seek my own well-being through lifes pleasures and material comforts. I appreciated the challenge of this book to find my ultimate joy and satisfaction in the Lord, not myself.

Secondly, as a pastor, responsible for the content and form of worship, I need the ongoing reminder of Wells chapter on corporate worship where he stresses the importance of being God-centered, not needs-driven: Needs-shaped worship is invariably self-focused.Sermons, in this atmosphere, are almost always aimed simply at providing a lift, some inspiration. In contexts like these, we can be in worship without being aware of the centrality, goodness, and greatness of God, of his grace, and of Christs self-giving in the incarnation and cross (p.190). I asked myself this challenging question: Is the worship of our church about giving God glory and being renewed by the gospel, or just offering some inspiration, comfort and social connections? Is our 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 became known for worship, service and evangelism that flowed from a passion to promote and reflect Gods holy-love! We would be distinct from our culture, while offering a message of reconciliation and redemption. And isnt this what Jesus had in mind for the Church?

Dr. David Wells, Distinguished Senior Research Professor, previously served as the Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology. He taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and chaired its division of systematic theology before joining the 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 schools in 10 African countries to raise and train orphans within a Christian framework; and for many years was a member of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization.

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

search. He and his wife, Valerie, desire to serve other churches in similar ways, while also ministering to pastors in Eastern Europe as extended short-term missionaries with One Challenge International. Rich and Valerie have three adult children and nine grandchildren.

good books God in the Whirlwind How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God Aaron Harrington

Campaign Director,Advancement Office

Gordon-Conwells Comprehensive Campaign Director Aaron Harrington has a special affinity for the Russian people.

For nearly 15 years, he has traveled 4,500-plus miles to Russia to serve in a local Christian churchs summer camp near Moscow. Located on a spacious property previously owned by the Communist party, the camp focuses on evangelism, leadership development and team building for about 100 Russian youth.

In addition to providing common camp activities, a team of experienced Russian professionals also leads campers in group team-building exercises, then chal-lenges them to explain what they learned and how they would apply it to real life. The result is remarkable, Aaron says. Not all campers are Christian, and some do not resonate with the Gospel message. But by the end of camp, everyone has been significantly changed, if not yet by Christat least by the team building. And thats usually enough to draw them back the next year.

Aaron grew up in Westford, Massachusetts, a town northwest of Boston. His was a typical Christian up-bringing with two Christian parents, one brother and a cat. His passion for Russia took root during a mission trip in 2000. Returning to the U.S., he knew he wanted to go again. And that eventually led to the development of Russian Evangelization and Leadership, a non-profit 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 Russian youth, he says. Weve been a part of many encouraging moments with a local church inside of Russia.

Becoming interested in church activities is not a small feat for youth who have grown up where the effects of

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

EDITORS NOTE: Beyond Our Doors provides an opportunity for you to meet our people: the faculty, staff and students who are serving the Lord in myriad ministries while also working at the seminary. They inspire us with their energy and commitment to advance the gospel. We hope you will be inspired as well.

a 70-year Communist, atheist culture linger. There 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.

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

During that time, he recalls, it became increasingly evident that I liked to support the work of the church and Brynn needed to work in the church. That led Aaron and Brynn to the 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 Highrock Church family in Arlington, Massachusetts, planted Highrock North Shore in Salem, a few miles from the Hamilton campus. The church has about 150 people who call it their home.

There are a few different church and para-church ministries that Ive had the privilege of being involved in, Aaron com-ments. Those experiences have taught me that I believe the local church is the hope of the world. It has been deeply sat-isfying to watch the church Brynn helped plant develop into a community, to see lives changed and to see our neighbors being challenged to critically consider the claims of Christ.

Aaron is also Vice President of the New England Seafarers Mission. Founded in 1880, the organization reminds seafar-ers and everyone who walks through the doors that they are beloved of God. They provide Christian witness and out-reach, and practical assistance such as a trustworthy way to contact and send home money for working seafarers who visit the ports of New England.

Reflecting on the campaign, Aaron adapts a quote from au-thor and theologian Frederick Buechner to describe his role as 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 greatest needs. The campaign has reached 85 percent 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 office at Gordon-Conwell.

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

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

Not all campers are Christian, and some do not resonate with the Gospel message. But by the end of camp, everyone has been significantly

changed, 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 talked a 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 soon discovered they were mutual friends with a teambuilding couple with whom Keith had worked 12 years earlier in an orphanage south of Moscow.

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

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

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

There are a lot of emotionally healthy individuals who come to camp and they are surrounding each orphan. You can see the orphans lives being transformed, from one day to the next, Aaron says. The gospel is good news and its very relational. But some people in Russia havent seen or experienced that good news, and it leaves many locals feeling desperate, hopeless, ashamed, not worthy of love or belonging. Sometimes the personal stories of our Russian friends sound bleak, but when the Gospel be-comes personalhope, worthiness and love become their defining identity. The Gospel message still stirs me; I cant even 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.

Advancement Updates and Campaign Priorities

Kurt W. Drescher, Vice President of Advancement

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Most of our apartments on the South Hamilton campus were built in the 1970s, and have not been renovated since. Apartment interiors still resemble those where students lived 40 years ago! One student remarked that while she appreciated her time studying at Gordon-Con-well, she wished that the oven had been big enough to fit a turkey for the Thanksgiving dinner.

We believe that these apartments should not only be liv-able, but also enjoyable. We desire for these apartments to 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 to demonstrate hospitality for our international students who have left 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 to renovate our apartments, students for years to come will live in the expression of your generosity and be able to call it home. As we seek to finish the Hamilton campus revitalization projects, our plan is to renovate 115 apart-ments at a cost of $20,000 per apartment. An investment of $20,000 could provide students high-quality, afford-able and hospitable housing in a closely knit community. If you and perhaps even your church are interested in making a one-time or multi-year contribution on behalf of our students and their families, please contact Aaron Harrington, our Campaign Director, at [email protected].

2. Charlotte Building Project Completion Priority

This project is nearing the finish line, and we look for-ward to the new Charlotte Building Dedication on May 15th. A major part of the project is the David M. Rogers Hall of Missions, named for an esteemed alumnus who received an M.A. in Christian Thought as a member of Charlottes first graduating class in 1996.

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

We thank our great God for providing the resources and commitments to construct this new building. We are 90 percent of the way to reaching our goal, and it is our plan in the coming months to raise an additional $500,000 to complete the Charlotte building. If you are interested in helping 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].

Reaching more students

Always seeking to anticipate the needs of a growing and diverse Church, we have reached out to many current and future church leaders who are seeking sound, transformative ministerial training. Some of the exciting new initiatives that we have implemented include:

- The Early Career Pastoral Leadership Development program, which identifies and nurtures high-potential, early-career pastoral leaders during a critical time of ministry development (after five to 10 years in ministry), so that they can better engage with the world of their churches and the social and ethical changes around them.

- The Biblical Literacy Program for the Church, which ad-dresses a need in many churches for basic biblical and

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 reflection, research and renewal. We are seeking to accomplish these goals by improving the functionality of apartments, dormitories, meeting spaces and classrooms, and by renewing our buildings and grounds to enhance student recruitment. This initiative turns some of our older facilities into family-friendly, community-enhanc-ing facilities in excellent condition and in harmony with our extraordinary surroundings.

We have made significant progress on our revitalization pri-ority by repurposing spaces on the Hamilton campus. Al-ready the Gordon-Conwell community, area churches and community organizations are utilizing our facilities. Projects have included the renovation of Alumni Hall, which has pro-duced first-class space for conferences, forums, campus and community events, weddings and many other gatherings.

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

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

Construction is nearing completion to expand facilities on our Charlotte Campus. This project will accommodate Char-lottes growing student population and help to support part-nerships with churches and missions organizations. The goal is to enable this campus to cultivate leaders of the Church for every generation, culture and calling, and to encourage Gods people to continue in vital, lifelong learning. The ar-chitectural motif for the expanding building is an abbeya classic form of community space where learning, worship and 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, reflection and collaboration.

As we move into the final stretch of the campaign, we have two 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 their home. Its more than an address, or where they sleep at night. Home is often where they spend long hours writ-ing papers and memorizing paradigms. Likewise, home is more than a building or several rooms with a fridge and a sinkits a place where memories are made. Many of our students have left homes in Korea, China, South Africa and all over the world to study in New England. But some of the homes they find on-campus are livable at best, and inhospitable at worst.

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A dvancement 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 reflected on the past four years of the seminarys Our Legacy, Our Future Comprehensive Campaign, I must begin with great thanksgiving and praise for all that God has accomplished through His faithful people. We are so blessed to have hundreds of friends who have generously and sacrificially provided resources year after year to the seminary.

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

As a reminder, Advancement efforts 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 gifts to the seminarys Education Fund. These three pieces are all covered under the current Our LegacyOur Future Comprehensive Campaign: Serving the Church with Excellence and Innovation.

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theological knowledge. We are committed to equipping Church lay leaders with a biblical education that can be shared with others to reverse the trend of biblical illiteracy.

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

We are grateful for these partnerships that enable us to broaden our reach, strengthen our enrollment and provide resources in areas that we might not have had if not for the comprehensive campaign. As we plan for the final phase of this campaign, we have one significant priority to complete in the area of reaching more students.

3. Technology Improvements Priority

In an ever-changing world technologically, prospective and current students, faculty and staff expect an appro-priate technology infrastructure on our campuses and in our classrooms. We earnestly desire to implement these improvements so that students will be drawn to our institution, and when they get here, will have a more robust learning environment, and faculty and staff well equipped to serve them. Improvements range from IT Department upgrades in security and industry standard tools 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 for training the future leaders of the Church, please contact Robin Higle, Director of Stewardship and Foundation Relations, at [email protected].

Resourcing future leaders

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

4. Scholarships

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

As an ongoing priority, one that never seems to fully supply the financial needs of our prospective and current students, we are committed to raising an additional $1.6 million across the entire institution for student scholarships. If you wish to invest in scholarships for seminary students for whom tu-ition is simply too far out of reach, please contact me directly at [email protected].

planned giving priorities through the founders society

The vision of our founders, Dr. Billy Graham, Park Street Church pastor Dr. Harold John Ockenga and philanthropist J. Howard Pew was to establish an interdenominational, evangelical seminary dedicated to equipping students for all facets of gospel outreach. Our founders goal is still our 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 students to think theologically, engage globally and live biblically. We are happy to share that approximately 90 percent of the money we are striving to raise in planned gifts will go direct-ly to endowing student scholarships. The remaining amount will 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 been made. We have received many planned gift commitments from friends of the seminary, and we are incredibly blessed to be partnering with these sacrificial donors who are help-ing to secure the training of the next generation of church leaders. Please know that your planned gift can truly make the difference in the lives of future generations through this type of legacy commitment.

5. Planned Gifts Priority

It is our goal to raise an additional $6.4 million in planned gifts as we seek to complete the comprehensive campaign, $5 million for scholarship endowment and $1.4 in building endowment for the Charlotte campus. In some cases that may simply mean documenting planned gifts, like bequests, that may have already been planned for the seminary. We would be honored to extend membership in the Found-ers Society to those seminary friends who have already planned to leave a legacy gift to the seminary, or would be interested in making a planned gift of any amount. Infor-mation on our Founders Society for planned giving can be found on our website, or you could contact Bill Fisher, our Director of Planned Giving at [email protected].

annual giving priorities through the seminarys education fund

Our annual fund for operations is referred to as the Education Fund. It is vital to the seminarys ability to equip the next gener-ation of Church leaders to handle opportunities and challenges presented to the Church. This fund supports the distinguished faculty, programs and centers that draw students from around the world to one of our four campuses and/or programs. It also supports the operations required for an efficient, student-fo-cused learning environment. The Education Fund enables us to:

- Keep tuition within reach. Our longstanding goal is to ensure that educational debt will not prevent called men and women from entering ministry. Without the valuable support of the seminarys Education Fund, many students could not even afford to attend Gordon-Conwell.

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

- Attract and retain gifted faculty and staff. The fund is criti-cal to our success in recruiting and retaining gifted per-sonnel through competitive salaries, resources for research and continuing education.

Halfway through our fiscal year, we are holding strong in this seminary fund. We had a very solid calendar year-end of just over $1.64 million, which is 47 percent of our annual goal of $3.5 million. That represents an additional $224,000 over where we landed this time last year, a 16 percent increase. We are cautious-ly optimistic and certainly encouraged by all the activity and progress in our advancement efforts though calendar year-end. Even though this has been one of the strongest years ever for the seminarys Education Fund, we still have a long way to go and believe opportunities exist for additional growth in this fund.

6. The Seminarys Education Fund Priority

It is our prayer and plan to raise the remaining $1.85 million for the Education Fund by June 30, the end of this fiscal year, and we could really use your help to reach this goal. There are many ways you can partner with the seminary related specifically to the campus or program that is closest to your heart.

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

If you would like to make a gift of any amount to the seminarys Education Fund, please use the supplied envelope in this maga-zine, contact our Stewardship Office at [email protected] or visit our website to give online at www.gordonconwell.edu/giving. On our website you can select the option to give on a monthly basis to the campus or program of your choosing. You can play a significant role in serving the Church by partnering with the seminary in this way.

Please know that we are deeply grateful to our partners for every single gift we have received. We regularly thank God for the tangible difference these gifts are making in the lives of hundreds of students at the seminary. Our graduates are serving in New England, the U.S. and all over the globe. If you have made a gift to the seminary, you are part of this incredible ministry. If you would like to give, you can be part of the won-derful work that God is doing in our midst. Most of all, we are so thankful to our great God who goes before us and provides for us in ways we never could have hoped for or even imagined.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)

Kurt W. Drescher is Vice President of Advancement at Gordon-Conwell. He is an active member of Grace Chapel, Lexington, MA, where he serves on the Board of Overseeing Elders. Kurt, a graduate of Gordon College, lives with his wife, Sharon, and their two daughters in Reading, MA.

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

We appreciated Gordon-Conwells commitment to rigorous academic preparation, he adds. As I attempt to discern how to be a pastor and lead a church in Edina, Minnesota, I always turn to Gods Word first. The seminary helped prepare me to study Scripture faithfully and apply it relevantly in service to the local church.

Their vision for the church, as articulated in their vision statement, is to be a community that reflects the character of God to a watching world like a city set on a hill. We believe Gods character was best revealed by Jesus who was a person full of grace and truth. By truth we mean honestyBeing a church of grace means that honesty is met with acceptance, not judgment. This is what Jesus was like. Whether he was interacting with rich young rulers, the poor and sick on the margins of society,

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

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

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

Church planting culture often goes through phases and fads. What I learned at Gordon-Conwell and at Highrock is that the gospel is at the heart of ministry. Church planting isnt primarily about new techniques or cutting edge strategies. Its about doing the hard work of living out the gospel in my own life and then sharing what I learn with others. Church planting has provided the context where I can do this with people who desperately need Christ. ABD

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

They have moved past consuming spirituality. They 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 significance.

A Vision to be a Community Reflecting the Character of God to a Watching World

Gordon-Conwell graduates John and Mary March

describe their New City Covenant Church near Minneapolis as like a family.

The church that opened on Easter Sunday 2010 is brimming with children who, they say, are very enthusiastic about their experience at New City and truly want to be there. In fact, if parents

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

Sunday worship is followed by a communal meal called Soul Food. During the week, members study, learn and grow together in a number of small groups, and once a year attend an all-church retreat.

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

John and Mary planted New City with the support and assistance of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) denomination. It started with a small group meeting in their home. As the group grew, the need for a larger space took them to a local ice rink. The couple welcomed the new environment that provided several rooms for worship and Sunday School. However, these activities also had to compete with the nearby sounds of local ice hockey teams practicing on Sunday mornings.

Then, in what John terms Gods provision for us, an independent church chose to bless us by transferring ownership of their property into our name. Their goal wasnt to make the most money on the sale, but to ensure that a like-minded church continued to do ministry in the space.

The church has grown well beyond the original group that gathered in the Marches home. John is lead pastor, and Mary serves as community pastor. They have four children populating the Sunday School: three sons and a daughter between the ages of nine and four months.

John grew up in Edina, Minnesota, the same community where he now pastors. College-trained in computer engineering, he was pursuing that career path until, in a church in Chicago, he witnessed the power of Christian community to facilitate personal transformation and wanted to help others experience that as well. For the next year he served as a missionary in Malawi, then enrolled at Gordon-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 and psychology from the University of Michigan, then received both an M.Div. (2004) and a Masters in Counseling in Marriage and Family Therapy (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 in Arlington, Massachusetts, and Mary joined the staff following their marriage in 2003. Highrock has planted a number of churches in the Greater Boston area, and it was here that the two caught a vision for the local church. That vision, John says, created a passion in us to return to Minnesota and try to replicate here what we experienced at Highrock.

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

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

The John and Mary March family

Thanks for Giving

Students, faculty and staff gathered around campus in No-vember for our first Thanks for Giving event. The com-munity came together to write notes of gratitude as a way to express appreciation for alumni giving in the last year.

Each year, hundreds of Gordon-Conwell alumni donate to the Education Fund. You are our partners in the work God calls us to do, and alumni giving of any amount makes an impact. It provides campus resources and scholarship funding that enable the seminary to equip men and wom-en to share the Gospel and train others to do the same. Thanks for giving to Gordon-Conwell!

Achaeological Study Tour

The Alumni Services offices 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 away as Hong Kong came together for unforgettable learning experiences with Gordon-Conwells Dr. Thomas Petter, Professor of Old Testament, and Dr. Christine Palmer, Ad-junct Professor of Old Testament, as well as our Israeli and Jordanian tour guides. Our preparation was enhanced by regular blogs written prior to travel by Dr. Petter, who gave great insight into the geography and culture behind the biblical texts associated with places we visited.

In addition to exceptional teaching, our adventures ranged from multiple rainbow sightings in northern Israel to a Sabbath snow day at a hotel in Petra, Jordan, and a visit with Gordon-Conwell alumnus Jack Sara (D.Min. 13), President at Bethlehem Bible College. The journey was a striking reminder of Gods faithfulness and an incredible privilege to be given visual reminders from the land where so many of His promises were fulfilled.

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

Tell Us What You Think

Does your graduation year end in "5" or "0"? If it does, this is your year! The seminary has implemented an alumni sur-vey model to target a different segment of its graduates each year. As a result, each graduate will receive a request for general feedback once every five 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 Israel and Jordan

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In Memoriam

Ifeyinwa Amalu (08 MACO; 12 MAR) died in a car accident en route to Texas.Please keep Ifeys parents and extended family in your prayers as they mourn the loss of their precious daughter.

The Rev. Dr. Stephen A. Hayner (73 Th.M.) died of pancreatic cancer January 31, 2015, in Decatur, GA. He had recently retired as president of Columbia Theological Seminary. He had also served as President of InterVarsi

Documents

The Wonders He Has Done (Spring 2015)