Reflection on Practicum by Maren Mansfield

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

MarenThis past semester I did my practicum at Irvine Elementary in the Bethel School District.  My cooperating teacher’s name was Mary Loftin and she was extremely amazing to work with. As I started the semester, I really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.  All I knew is that I wanted to do something in the Education Department.  When I went into Mary’s classroom she knew right away that I was unsure and she did her best the entire semester to help me figure out exactly what I wanted to do.  She let me teach everything under the sun and she also helped me get in contact with the counseling department, music department, and teach physical education classes.  She made sure I was well rounded and really pushed me to my limits to discover what I wanted to do.  As I was teaching in her classroom I had a grand epiphany.  I decided that I wanted to be a life skills teacher for middle school or high school.  Through her help with getting involved in many different things throughout the school I decided I wanted to make a large impact on student’s lives and I felt this would be the best way to do so.

Although I do not want to be a first grade teacher, I loved my first graders.  If I could stay with the same class until they graduate high school I would because they just grew on me.  I enjoyed their energy and motivation to work at such a young age.  Some of them were a handful I admit but they made me smile and laugh everyday that I was in the classroom.  They are an amazing group of students and Mary was an amazing cooperating teacher.  I really had overall an incredible semester as a practicum student and I am excited for what next year brings.

Maren Mansfield

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The Unity of the Trancendentals

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

IMG_8286Throughout Christian history, the faithful have recognized that truth, goodness, and beauty, are inseparable.  Truth is both good and beautiful; goodness is beautiful and true; and beauty is both true and good.  This idea is called “The Unity of the Trancendentals”.  If we recognize this unity exists, then NCU should be a place where we learn about all three ideas.  It should be just as important that we study “beauty” at NCU, as it that we learn the “truth” here and what it means to be “good”.  For me as a Gardener, this idea informs all I do.  I seek to make our campus a visual expression of the truth, goodness, and beauty that we study in our classrooms.

This spring at NCU:  The spring flowers have been putting on a fabulous show this year.  The weather has been extraordinarily dry and warm.  Students have been out on the quad in swarms, soaking up the golden rays of the sun that they have been missing all winter.  While the weather has brought a lot of joy, it hasn’t all been for the best in the garden.  Drought has required irrigation a full month early to keep the lawns and flowers green and healthy.  Warmth has caused many of our shrubs to bloom a full month ahead of schedule.  Many tulips, rhododendrons, and azaleas that traditionally bloom for commencement weekend are long gone.

For those of you visiting our campus this weekend there is still plenty of color.  The late rhodies are just opening:  Check out “Manda Sue” at the Chapel, “Mrs Furnivall” at Burke-Griffith, or “Purple Splendor” next to the old house.  The beds along the Goodrich Path continue their regular show with Wallflowers, Columbine, and Meadowtrue ‘Black Stockings’ in bloom this week (among many others).  If we are lucky, the “Tree Peony” will still have some of its’ giant white blossoms that are not to be missed.

Have a wonderful commencement weekend and don’t forget to drop by and see what’s in bloom this summer!

— Kent Willocks, NCU Grounds Keeper

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Mexico Mission Trip

Posted on April 29, 2013 by

Mexico Team

Seven students and three NCU staff leaders had the blessing of participating in a mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico spring break 2013. For many of our students this was their first time going on a mission trip.

The verse for our trip was John 3:30, “He must increase and I must decrease.” While we were there we visited hospices, rehabs, orphanages, a juvenile detention center, fed the homeless, and visited Alamar, a very poor neighborhood, where we passed out bags of rice, beans, clothes and toys.By building relationships with the people of Tijuana we were able to share the love of Christ.

One of the biggest challenges that our team faced was the language barrier. We found many of our students struggling to feel significant, and questioning their purpose because they could not converse with most of the people. However, God is greater. Within a couple of days our students realized that all they had to do was let God be in control. They had the Mexico Teammentality of “What am I doing wrong? What can I be doing better? How can I reach them?”Then they were reminded of our verse John 3:30.  It is not about us; it is about Him, and we need to let Him be greater through us, not with us.  By allowing Him to take control we were able to experience true faith.Whether we were playing with the kids, praying with someone, or siting and actually trying to have a conversation through a translator, we all felt God’s presence. One student said, “I feel like the people of Tijuana

have more hope than I have ever had”.Being in the U.S., society tells us that Mexicans have nothing, and we are so quick to feel sorry for them, but after spending a week down in Tijuana, you can see that God is present in all of their lives and they have more than we could ever offer. They live out blind faith better than a lot of people we know, because all of their trust is completely in Him.

Mexico TeamThis mission trip reminded us what blind faith actually looks like. We finally understand what it means to love people where they are. By crossing that border and treating them as individuals we were able to see the hand of God at work through their lives. We hope to live out our lives just as they are – fully trusting in God, allowing Him to do the work, and praising Him for it all.

-          Mexico Mission Team 2013

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NCU students to San Francisco over the spring break week

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

Team San Fran 2013

Over spring break I had the pleasure of being one of the two staff members who accompanied seven NCU students to San Francisco, Calif., over the spring break week.

We worked with a variety of organizations throughout the city. Together we prepared and packaged food at the San Francisco Food Bank & Project Open Hand, an organization that provides hot meals for people suffering from AIDS/HIV and mental health issues, bundled diapers and delivered care packages to mothers with newborn babies through an organization called Alpha, played with children and youth living in a violence and poverty stricken neighborhood, and served meals to men and women living on the streets struggling with addiction. We prayed in beautiful St. Boniface Church, surrounded with the sounds of sleeping men and women who sought rest and refuge from the fear and danger of living on street corners and dark alleys. We wandered through China Town and gazed at the bay. It was a joy to watch students open their eyes to the struggles of the city and to take hope and delight in the fact that God gave them the opportunity to participate in the ways he is moving through San Francisco.

On behalf of the entire San Francisco mission team, thank you to everyone who donated money, encouraged us and prayed for us while we served. God is moving in San Francisco and it was awesome to be invited into His work.

 

More photos of the trip can be found here.

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Stock RePlugged

Posted on April 24, 2013 by

Cambodian brick kids ltA friendly, get-to-know you dinner to welcome NCU’s new Campus Pastor, that’s all it was intended to be. Little did Melissa and Matthew Stock ’92 know that this informal dinner with Troy Dean in August 2010 would be the opportunity God would use to knock on their hearts and place a new calling for their life.

Melissa, an NCU adjunct professor and music director for the past 10 years and Matthew, a co-owner of Wipf and Stock Publishers in Eugene, fell in love with Cambodia during their first trip with students from the University in 2011, led by Dean. Their passion for the victims of human trafficking led them to return on year later with the NCU mission team in May 2012. Five months after their second visit, they announced plans to leave their jobs, sell their Eugene home and relocate to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

NCU: In a total of twenty-seven months the two of you go from a ‘welcome to Eugene’ dinner with Pastor Troy to saying yes to a job offer as project managers with a non-profit organization in a third-world country. Tell me about that.

Matthew: Melissa and I had talked for years about wanting to do a mission trip together. But nothing ever felt right, until the dinner with Troy. He told us about his previous work in Cambodia. We left dinner, took one look at each other and immediately knew. This was the mission opportunity we had both been waiting for. We didn’t hesitate to sign up as staff chaperons for NCU’s May 2011 mission trip.

NCU: It was a life-changing trip. Tell me about some of those moments when you experience God breaking your hearts.

Melissa: Oh, there were so many. The entire 3-week trip was so life changing.
I specifically remember the moment we walked into a safe house/restoration center. Sixty girls, none over the age of 18, were there. They had experienced horrific things and yet each was filled with such joy and hope. Everything changed for me. We returned home and asked ourselves what can we do different so that we can bless others, here (Unites States) or elsewhere.

NCU: You’re going to be working with a nonprofit organization. What is it and how did you connect with them?

Matthew: Born of a church in Australia, this nonprofit provides essential skills and vocational training for young girls rescued from human trafficking. The girls are taught hospitality courses and the art of cake baking and decorating at a world-class standard. They graduate and are employed, earning a fair wage. These cakes are renowned for their creativity and artistry, and have even graced the covers of newspapers and magazines. From cupcakes to multi-tiered mega creations, they are highly sought after for weddings and celebrations all over Phnom Penh.

Melissa: As for how we connected? My love for baking has me on the computer Googling cupcakes everywhere I go. Cambodia was no different. I stumbled across the bakery, saw the pictures of their beautiful creations and knew we had to make a visit.

Knowing that we enjoy meeting people and connecting with their stories, Pastor Troy encouraged Matthew and I to break away from the group and meet with other organizations and non-profits and discover a personal experience in Cambodia. Our visit provided an instant connection. We communicated (with the directors) long after our return home, receiving regular e-mail messages of prayer requests. That’s how it happened, you know. One prayer request e-mail mentioned the need for a couple to serve as project managers to open a training center in Siem Reap.

NCU: When you read the e-mail, did you know right away? Did you want it to be you?

Melissa: My initial thought was, this would be so amazing, I know we could do this! But, we can’t leave here. We have family, jobs a home. I really didn’t think it would be us.

Matthew: But the seed was planted in my heart as soon as she told me. I kept asking why not? Why not us? When we returned to Cambodia in 2012 we spent some time with the directors of the Phnom Penh center. Lots of hypothetical questions were asked. What would it take? What skills are you looking for?

As conversations continued, even after our return home, we became more and more excited. God was calling us to change our lives. We no longer wanted to live to achieve professional successful. We’re striving to be significant. Answering God’s call to move to Cambodia provides us the opportunity.

NCU: February 2013 you’re off to Cambodia. What exactly will you be doing?

Melissa: We’ll be serving as project managers for a new bakery and training center in Siem Reap. On a day to day basis, aside from the training and work skills the students are learning in order to graduate, we’ll play games with the rescued girls. We’ll provide English lessons, lead daily worship, Bible studies, and of course baking and decorating lessons.

Matthew: This is clearly what God has called us to do. We’re so excited to be part of this ministry.

Melissa and Matthew arrived safe and sound to Cambodia this past February. They found a physical location for their new training center and have begun their ministry work in Cambodia. For the safety of Melissa, Matthew and the rescued girls, the name of the nonprofit and training center has been omitted from this website posting. For more information on the Stocks and their ministry in Cambodia, e-mail advancement@nwcu.edu.

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Celebrating Book Publications

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

Student; professor. Fiction; textbook. First timer; accomplished author. Two books, as different as can be, but both accomplishments worthy of celebrating.

Heidi GoriIn December 2012, NCU student Heidi Gori self-published her first novel: “A Touch of Lightning.” It is the first of a planned series (“The Books of Eldingar”), and is available in paperback or ebook through Amazon.com. This fantasy novel is already garnering rave reviews on Amazon. A copy (signed by the author, of course) is now available in the NCU library. As the first library in the country to add this book to our collection, we had the honor of creating the catalog record that all future library holdings will use. We celebrate with Heidi this incredible accomplishment and look forward to adding (and creating the catalog records for) future books in this series.

Book CoverJust released in February by Baker Academic Publishing is the latest book from Dr. Ron Heine, NCU professor of Biblical studies. “Classical Christian Doctrine: Introducing the Essentials of the Ancient Faith” is the product of courses Dr. Heine has taught on early Christian doctrine. Finding no suitable textbook, he wrote his own! Dr. Heine is already a world-renown author with multiple books to his credit, including especially works on the early Church father Origen. His new book, suitable for the interested general reader, is available through the publisher, and at Amazon.com and other online sellers.

Or, if you are in the Eugene area, come join Dr. Heine and the NCU community on Thursday, April 18, at 3:00 in the NCU Kellenberger Library where you can purchase a copy directly and have it signed by the author. Dr. Heine will also give a brief talk about his work. We will celebrate together this accomplishment and give Dr. Heine the recognition he so richly deserves.

One an academic textbook; the other a young adult fantasy novel. One a well-respected expert in his field; the other an unknown in the publishing field (for now!). One published through a major book publisher, the other self-published through an online bookseller. Two very different books. Two very amazing accomplishments. Congratulations to both Dr. Heine and to Heidi, and best wishes for future publications.

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PAY IT FORWARD

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

IMG_9386NCU Board of Trustee member and University donor Marvin Eckfeldt ’58 shares his thoughts as to why he, and others, find it important to donate to the NCU endowed scholarship fund at the 2013 Donor-Scholar Luncheon.

Time changes things. As I stand on the NCU campus today I have to say, “Times have REALLY changed”!  When I first set foot on campus, to enroll in 1953, I was one of only 433 students, tuition was only $900 for the full year and NCU granted only 4 degrees, all focused on church leadership. Today you are a student body of 653 and growing!  Tuition is right at $600 per credit hour (about $26,000 per year) all the more reason why these scholarships are essential!  There are 4 undergraduate schools with 14 majors and an additional 10 graduate and adult degree programs. Today NCU is an amazing witness that times have changed on this campus!

For a long time I thought one of my purposes was to pay them back for their investment in me.  But that congregation no longer exists! Around 1970 my home church sold their massive building and closed their ministry. They didn’t know how to do church in racially changing southwest L.A. and twice sold their building and walked away from the challenge. A footnote on the challenge of change in our day for every congregation!In August, 1953 I got off the Greyhound bus from Los Angeles with one suitcase and an apple box with all my possessions. I came with the dream of being a Christian minister; instilled in me by my home congregation, Figueroa-Crenshaw Christian Church in Los Angeles, California, because of a minister who was a graduate of NCU and long-time member of the Board of Trustees. I was the 38th student from that congregation to come to school in Eugene. That church paid the entire tuition cost for the 7 of us who were enrolled on campus that year.

I used to think it was my responsibility to in some way “pay back” my home church for what they did for me. I was seeing reciprocation as an obligation, a duty, balancing the scales sharing my gifts with a community I benefited greatly from and who so deeply shaped by experience of church.

I see it differently now. My stewardship isn’t focused backward- because faithful stewardship is always focused on the present and most importantly on the future.

Today there is a popular notion of “paying it forward”. It is a concept of generosity that has gone viral: stories abound of random acts of kindness, even several Facebook pages! It is the unique concept of asking the beneficiary of a gift to “repay” it –forward to others instead of back to the original benefactor.

Some think this is a “new” idea. It was key plot in a comedy play in ancient Athens in 317 B.C.  It was affirmed in 1784 in a letter by Benjamin Franklin, “I only lend it to you … when you meet another in similar distress, you must pay me by lending this to him.” Ralph Waldo Emerson said we can’t pay it back, “But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent to somebody.” And of course, the One who taught and lived out this deep sense of stewardship, Jesus Christ our Lord, paid it forward in the ultimate way!

We can never come close to re-paying back God for the gift of love that never stops loving and giving, we can never out give God, never give back to balance all that God places in our hands and in our lives. But we can “pay it forward”. Students – that is the gift we give to you. Sure, this scholarship gift is for while you are on campus and that is very important.  But in a stewardship sense it is much, much more than just that, as important as help is at this time.

My hope and prayer is that – with thanksgiving from deep and generous heart you will pay it forward through a life of service and giving to others whatever occupation you enter.

The idea of paying it forward is implemented in contract law by the concept of “third-party beneficiaries.” The creditor offers the debtor the option of paying the debt forward by lending it to a third person instead of paying it back to the original creditor, the donor. All of you can find third-party beneficiaries.

Students, you have been blessed to be a blessing. Pay it forward!  Donors, we have been blessed beyond measure, with an abundance of riches, spiritual and material. May we always continue to find ways to pay it forward!

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Pay it forward!

Marvin Eckfeldt ’58, NCU Board of Trustees

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