Adeline McIntyre, my grandma, spoke often, and always spoke well, of her days at Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Oregon. Grandma attended Multnomah School of the Bible in 1943 and graduated in 1946 with a degree in Bible and a certificate in evangelical teaching.

After graduating high school, which she had finished one year early, Grandma moved to Bellevue, Wash. to work at the Lake Washington Naval Shipyard to save money to attend Multnomah. She had turned down Washington State University, who had offered her a full-ride scholarship, and Central and Eastern, who had also offered her scholarships.

Lasting Friendships

Grandma, along with her friends at Multnomah—three seniors and three juniors—together earned the reputation as the “seven little sinners saved by grace.” “I was the lowly freshman,” Grandma said. “If there was anything unusual that happened [on campus], like the garbage cans on the porch of the boy’s dorm, they [students and staff] blamed it on the 'seven sinners saved by grace.'"

Grandma chose Multnomah due in part to what is still considered a Multnomah hallmark: the people. She met Multnomah students when she competed in the Christian Endeavor Bible Quiz Competition as a high school student in 1940 and 1941, and it was these students whose friendship influenced Grandma to attend Multnomah. Grandma’s Multnomah friendships were lasting friendships and she kept in touch with her classmates as best she could, and appreciated visits from the Alumni Relations department staff.

Singing in the First A Cappella Choir

Grandma loved to sing, and while at Multnomah, she toured Pacific northwestern cities in Multnomah’s first a cappella choir, which was entirely composed of women due to World War II, as a first and second soprano.

Academics and Influence

Grandma excelled academically at Multnomah. Grandma valued the instruction she received at Multnomah, and with fondness and humor recalled the professors who taught her there. Grandma liked Dr. Lee’s view on marriage. “When you’re married, be sure you don’t neglect the good-night kiss—even if it’s a cold potato!”

Another favorite professor, Dr. Sutcliffe, told her class, “God looks down from His Mountain and sees man’s choice and His salvation.” After Dr. Sutcliffe’s lecture, Grandma “felt peace and assurance” in her salvation. “I never questioned my salvation again,” she told me, confiding that she had doubted her salvation before she came to Multnomah. Multnomah continued influencing Grandma and she them for the rest of her life. Even Michelle, the alumni director, wrote a message for Grandma for her life celebration service after Grandma passed away in 2010.

My Multnomah Days

I grew up hearing Grandma's stories of Multnomah. I opted to study for a year of Theology, Bible, and Journalism at Multnomah. The year grounded me in a faith of my own, especially as expressed through prayer. I started a Military Prayer Group, where we prayed for our friends and family in the service, collaborated in AWANA, a children's development ministry, visited a nearby nursing home, participated with the college newspaper, and generally learned the social skills required when living away from home for the first time.

Shared Legacy

Grandma portrayed Multnomah as a school grounded in biblical faith that encouraged growth while sharing with people who had compassion, pragmatism and a sense of humor. I smile to remember Grandma embodying each of those virtues.

Multnomah benefited me during my year by providing a grounding and network for my faith. Biblical study challenged my assumptions of what it meant to communicate Christian life, and prayer provided the energy to trust God. I felt honored to meet some of Grandma's fellow alumni at MU's 60th Anniversary Celebration, or Founder's Day, under the slogan, If its Bible you want, then you want Multnomah!'

I continue to appreciate Grandma’s influence that led me to attend Multnomah for my first year of college. She showed me in her story telling and by example the value of prayer, biblical study, hard work, friendship, and the enjoyment of special times, and while at Multnomah, I experienced such merits for myself.

About the Author

Dena Rosko attended Multnomah in 1996-1997. She went on to graduate from University of Washington with a BA in English/Communication and from Gonzaga University with a MA in Communication and Leadership. She now consults and develops grassroots, start up, and ministry organizations with communication, writing, and photography. She volunteers those services as part of her ministry in Renton, Wash., where she attends Highlands Community Church. She enjoys road trips in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, James, classic movies, indie music, and tea dates with friends.

“…I am convinced now more than ever before—there is no better way to be investing my life.” Dr. Pamela Reeve

I recently returned from international travel, and have seen God at work through the lives of our alumni. I witnessed women like Kathy Bisset (Grad Cert '81), serving alongside her husband Bill, training up indigenous pastors and church leaders in Uganda, East Africa. Men and women like Alex (MDiv ‘10) and Faith (BS ‘11) Mutagubya, grounded in the truth of Scripture and presenting the importance of a real relationship with Jesus Christ to this impoverished country.

I observed men like Sky Cady (BS ‘03), in a country that is less than 5 % Christian, breathing new life into the Church of England. He demonstrates practical relationship with God and the work of Holy Spirit within our lives. I also observed men like Peter Mead (M Div ‘04), developing pastors and preachers in Chippenham, England and multiplying believers around the world with a heart after God’s own.

I love my Job

I feel as if I’ve gained a renewed passion for my work as director of alumni relations. I am reminded once again of why it is that I love my job, and invest my time into the ministry God is doing at Multnomah University. Around the world and throughout our cities, Multnomah alumni are making a difference for eternity. In just a few short weeks we’ll be commissioning another 159 graduates who will join you in reflecting Christ’s light around the globe—Equipped, enriched and encouraged to be a transforming force within their churches, their communities and their world. Will you please join me in praying for these as the Lord leads them into different places where His light can be seen?

Around the world, throughout our cities and here at home in Portland, Oregon our alumni are Reflecting the Light of Christ! As I walked out of church Sunday before last, I thanked our senior pastor, Dr. Mike Roth (BS ‘00, M Div ‘03), for his careful exposition of Scripture that morning in our study of Revelation 17. In expressing my thanks to him, he returned the appreciation: “I learned it all from Multnomah”, he said, “Keep up the great work, sister!”

Reflecting with Reeve

As I thought about Mike’s words, I remembered a conversation with Dr. Pam Reeve earlier this year. After she had spent some time reading through many letters from former students, she shared with me: “As I read through correspondence from alumni ministering around the world and see the impact they are having, I am convinced, now more than ever, that there is no better way to have invested my life.”

As I think about the impact you are having and the privilege it is to serve the alumni community, I couldn’t agree more. It is a great privilege, indeed, to be a part of the work God is doing in and through the lives of our alumni. I trust that He is at work in you today as well. Whether you are serving on a foreign mission field, in a pastoral role, in corporate America or in your home, I pray that His light is shining brightly.

On the Flip Side

As we commemorate this diamond anniversary, with our theme of “75 Years of Reflecting the Light of Christ”, we would love to hear how God is using your Multnomah experience to reflect His light!

In a few months we’ll be launching a video series we are calling “On the Flip Side” where you’ll have an opportunity to share with the Multnomah community how God is at work within your lives. Stay tuned for future announcements for how you can get involved… On the Flip Side!

Glad to be serving with you,

Michelle M. Peel (BA’00, MA ’10)
Director of Alumni Relations
Multnomah University
Multnomah Bible College, Multnomah Biblical Seminary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P1tkaor1cg

Learn more about this and other core values at http://www.multnomah.edu/about

Multnomah University student Carl Laws has organized a community worship event on Saturday, May 12, titled Going Back to the Heart of Worship. Laws will headline the event and feature fellow student Hannah Glavor. Both musicians are motivated by a desire to bless the community in a time of worship that features something for everyone in a variety of musical styles.

When

Doors open at 6:00 pm. The concert begins at 7:00 pm.

Where

The concert will be held in Lytle Gymnasium, located on Multnomah’s campus at 8435 Northeast Glisan Street in Portland.

Price

A $3 donation at the door will benefit The Mentoring Project.

“It is my heart’s passion to bring the Multnomah student body, local churches, and the Portland community together for a Night of Worship,” Carl Laws said. “I am inspired by many types of music – especially different types of worship music – so it will be fun to have a little something for everyone.”

“It’s not just through music that I want to impact the community,” adds Laws. “I’m especially passionate about impacting the lives of others. This is why we chose to have proceeds from the event go directly to the work that The Mentoring Project is doing in the lives of those who are fatherless.”

More Information

Contact Kristin Kendall at procom@multnomah.edu or 503.251.6452 if you have questions.

Visit The Mentoring Project’s website at http://thementoringproject.org/ for more information about their work with fatherless children.

• Need ideas for what to do this weekend? We have a board for that.
• Did you know your professors are famous? We have a board for that.
• Need Cinco De Mustache inspiration? We have a board for that too.

MU's Pinterest page is a one stop resource for all things MU and a few things that aren't. Just stop by http://pinterest.com/multnomahu to follow us.

Pinterest Boards

Tell Us What You Want

What boards would you like to see MU start? Do we have any volunteers for the "two on one face" mustache? Let us know your thoughts.

Check it out now!

My husband and I were called to that most difficult task – living the ordinary life, moment by moment conscious of God, asking to be shown His way and demonstrate his power as we walk with Him. While the ordinary life with God IS a career path, there is no professionalism about it, no special recognition or titles.

It’s an everyday mindset, to know that the eternal life Jesus promised is the life we live now, not something that begins after death, when we are perfect. Living today accepts that all life’s potholes and bumps are learning opportunities, gratefully received.

Stabbed in a Federal Penitentiary

One such bump was when my husband was stabbed while working in a federal penitentiary. He had completed work for his PhD, then was led to become a prison guard, the lowest rank of worker. I worked as a prison librarian on a short contract so we both knew what it was like, ‘inside.’ While his stab wound was superficial, the surrounding trauma caused him to be diagnosed with Post Trauma Stress Disorder and precipitated his departure two years before retirement. Thus began a blessed time of reading, writing, and meditation.

But our pension, already small, grew smaller yet. I had owned and operated an out of print bookshop from our home with no pension due me. During a massive ice storm, all our pipes froze and broke, our 50 year old furnace died, and I had to give up 35,000 books, my entire stock. We hadn’t paid off the mortgage on our dilapidated, never renovated, end-of-a-row house built in 1840 in a now mostly-student neighbourhood.

Living Faithfully

About then a national newspaper invited readers to send in their retirement budgets. Those chosen would be given the services of a financial planner. I knew this paper was a rich man’s read. So I sent in our little budget as a demonstration of what faith lives on. We were chosen and a picture of the two of us was on the front page. Inside, two financial planners made the best of what we’d given them after phoning separately to make certain we didn’t have some old stocks, bonds or investments we’d squirreled away and forgotten.

But we had none at all. Just faith, friends, and God.

A year later, the mother of a student moving in next door spotted my husband and I heard her say in disbelief, “I know who YOU are! You retired and you don’t have any money!”

That was ten years ago. Here we still are, walking by faith in eternity, all our needs met, bills prayerfully accumulated and paid on time, no loans or credit card debt, no worry or fret. The ordinary life in God – a special calling.

About the Author

Rose DeShaw graduated from Multnomah a year before Kennedy was shot, married her Sunday School teacher, Dick, endured Robert Kennedy’s shooting but immigrated to Canada shortly after the death of Martin Luther King where they adopted a child from the newspaper to join their two small sons. Both DeShaws publish their work variously in journals and periodicals. Rose also writes song lyrics and has worked as a documentarian for cable tv.

The Ambassador Choir will be performing “Good News!”, a worship concert celebrating the Good News of Jesus Christ, locally.

• Portland First Baptist Church (SW 12th & Taylor)
• Friday, April 20th
• 7:30 PM
• Price: Free

This is our final concert of the Spring 2012 season and we would like to share in a special evening of music and worship with our hometown. The concert is free to all.

Desperate People Need Good News

We all need good news. Before emancipation, African Americans, toiling and crushed under the system of slavery, needed good news. They sang about it as they worked. Like many of those old spirituals, this one offered hope in a hopeless existence:

I got a crown up in-a the Kingdom, ain’-a that good news!

I got a crown up in-a the Kingdom, ain’-a that good news!

I’m a-goin’ to lay down this world, goin’-a shoulder up-uh my cross,

Goin’-a take it home-a to my Jesus, ain’-a that good news!

The days of plantation slavery may be over, but there are still millions of people all over the planet living under a sentence of death and enslaved to the cruelest taskmaster of all – their own sin. They need deliverance! They need the Good News of salvation offered freely by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through the medium of music and testimony the Ambassador Choir of Multnomah University unashamedly proclaims this “gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”.

Dr. Stanford Campbell
The Ambassador Choir Director

I had dreamed of attending Multnomah after high school, but life circumstances prevented me from doing so. Instead, I graduated with a teaching degree from Central Washington University in 1985. I moved to California and later Arizona, teaching public junior high school for ten years. Some of the schools were on the federal register of poorest schools in the nation in cities where gangs, drugs, and crime prevailed.

A New Chapter Begins

Several years after moving back home, I drove from Seattle to the Jesus Northwest Festival in Vancouver. I prayed during the drive, and thought about what life might have been like if I’d attended Multnomah. Surprisingly, the Lord told me to drive by the school for a visit. "But I’m too old now, Lord." Yet his gentle calling continued. I answered the call, and ended up in the graduate certificate program a year later. What a beautiful gift!

Although I swam competitively for years and worked out regularly, I’d been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic arthritis. The disease flared while at Multnomah, and I could barely walk.  I felt disappointed on graduation day as my friends walked on stage to receive their graduate certificates, and I received nothing. Why would the Lord open this door, but leave me hanging without a certificate? I moved back to the Seattle area and re-booted life.

Cycling Accident

A year later, I married my best friend, George. Several years before, while riding my bicycle, a dog’s erratic behavior forced me to slam on my brakes. I tumbled over the handlebars and crashed onto the pavement. The doctor scrubbed asphalt out of my face, stitched it up, and said I would probably need skin grafts. I felt like Frankenstein because people gawked at me everywhere I went. Thankfully, I didn’t need skin grafts, and the wounds healed nicely. But my mom made me promise I’d never ride alone again since I was alone when I crashed.

When I moved back to Washington, I tried to find women to ride with, but none wanted to go more than ten miles or so. Two church leaders suggested I ask George because he used to race bicycles in college. He is considerably older than me, so I knew who he was but normally our paths didn’t cross. During the bike ride, I realized what a gem he was. Since I’d been in an abusive marriage years before, I was very careful about praying and listening to God. The Lord gave me great assurance that this was meant to be with several scriptures and signs. We dated for three years and married in 1997.

Counseling Degree

The same year, I was diagnosed with SLE lupus, a life-threatening illness. But I decided to pursue another dream of becoming a counselor despite the diagnosis. Dr. Dan Allender, a renowned Christian psychologist and author, started a counseling school in Seattle, and I graduated with a master’s degree in counseling from Mars Hill Graduate School in 2000. Today, I work with adults and am honored to help people navigate through life’s difficult waters.

I am also currently writing a book called Tooshie: Defeating the Body Image Bandit. Through this opportunity, God has graciously provided me with several speaking engagements on radio programs and in churches. I love to use humor, faith, and my story to encourage women to love the bodies God gave them. We were created for much higher callings than obsessing about numbers on scales. More than most people, I grasp that our bodies are amazing masterpieces. When I couldn’t walk, I realized how remarkable they are. After having my face stitched and looking somewhat like Frankenstein, I regretted all the obsessing I had done about my body image. At one point I would have done almost anything to have my normal face back. Yet years later, I realize I wouldn’t have developed a relationship with George if I hadn’t crashed on my bike and promised my mom I would never ride alone.

God always has our backs, even when we can’t feel it. On graduation day, I didn't know that I would end up counseling, speaking and writing. He always has an amazing master plan, even when we can’t see it through the heavy fog.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

About the Author

George and I have a lot of fun together, laughing and watching movies. We’ve chosen not to have children because of my health issues and his age. Our lives are very full and I know God had a unique plan for my life. I enjoy writing on my blog, called Rhapsody en Route, and sea kayaking in the glorious Pacific Northwest among the seals and salmon. I also love eating chocolate, creating beautiful jewelry and connecting with old friends and making new ones. If you have a questions/comments about my work, blog or would just like to say hello, please feel free to contact me at:  hope4today1@hotmail.com.

Relive the Fun, April Fools Style

While April Fools Day may be over, Multnomah's past shenanigans are still available for all to enjoy. Take a look! In the meantime, we'll dream up another big scheme for 2013.

• "Old School" blog post (2012)
• "Old School" Website (2012)
• "Nascar" blog post (2011)
• "Beta" Website (2010)

As many of you know, Multnomah is in the midst of celebrating her 75th anniversary. It’s been a fantastic time of looking ahead to what the future might hold for Multnomah. Indeed, it has been a season of what seems like accelerated advances and change. Perhaps it’s time to take a step in the right direction?

A step backward.

Getting Back To Our Roots

With change has come accusations of getting too far away from Multnomah’s original mission, but nothing could be further from the truth. Still, we have been convicted that our reliance on worldly methods of marketing and branding may give the wrong impression, and our response to alleviate concerns seems clear – we’re throwing off the shackles of slick, modern branding and returning to our roots with Multnomah’s original logo!

Back When I Was There...

Rest assured, we’re not giving into some retro or hipster fad. We’re genuinely returning to a simpler time when institutional color schemes and style guide-imposed font-faces weren’t the enslaving factors they are now. We’ve brought back the pure black and white truths embodied in Multnomah’s original logo. No fancy fonts or gimmicks. Just the old-fashioned simplicity of yesteryear.

The good old days everyone wishes were still the reality, ARE the reality at www.multnomah.edu/af2012/!

Old-School Business

You'll no longer have to face all of the distraction and hullabaloo Multnomah once embraced. We’ve started with the homepage of our website, which is viewed over a million times per year. It’s an important page and should serve as proof that we mean business. Old-school business!

The Black and White Truth

Call it a return to form, a sign of institutional maturity, or even a return to the promised land! Whatever you call it, it's simply a bold step backward. Won't you join us?