Saturday, October 25, 2008
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This will be the final post from this weekend's 40th Anniversary Celebration.
A great number of people contributed to making this a special weekend for more than 400 guests. They won't all be named here, and may not receive earthly reward or recognition, but God knows who they are.
Many of those 400-odd guests constitute some of the the finest servants Maranatha has produced over the last 40 years. You can read some of their stories here, although far too brief. You can read more about them in Rich in Mercy, the 192-page book that both shows and tells the history of the college.
Thanks for reading. We hope you will visit us on campus again soon.
The 40th Anniversary Celebration concluded with Saturday afternoon's football game, a 28-21 loss to Concordia-Chicago.
The Crusaders (0-7, 0-4) were within 21-14 until midway through the fourth quarter, when the Cougars (3-4, 2-2) scored to widen the gap to 28-14. Maranatha charged back with another touchdown, a 28-yard pass from Nathan Chromy to Mike Walton, that made the score 28-21 with 3:53 to play.
Concordia was forced to punt, and Maranatha got the ball back on its 36 with 1:24 remaining. Two plays later, however, a pass interception snuffed out the Crusaders' last hope. The Cougars ran out the final 1:06 to secure the Northern Athletics Conference victory.
The Crusaders continue their season next Saturday, hosting Lakeland.
One of the joys of working at Maranatha is hearing the sounds of singing and instrumental music coming out of Old Main's windows while walking around the building.
Donald DeGraw smiled and admitted looking forward to hearing that sound again Saturday morning. Alumni Hall was jam-packed with 120-to-150 people during most of the Fine Arts Department reunion. The group then broke up for some singing, the former Chamber Singers staying in Alumni Hall and the former Madrigal Choir members adjourning to Burckart Hall.
Soon, the sounds of singing once again reverberated off the walls and around the courtyard on Old Main's west side.
"Every day for 14 years, I was glad to be here," said DeGraw, a member of the music faculty for 14 years (1972-86) and head of the Fine Arts Department when he left. "Why is the music program so popular here? Maybe David Ledgerwood is the reason. Maybe Monty Budahl is the reason. Or, maybe, we've just all been incredibly blessed by what God has done through us."
DeGraw's three children (Daryl, Jeanne, Jannis) all graduated from Maranatha. Two of his grandchildren now attend.
College founder Dr. B. Myron Cedarholm was looking for a music professor for the fall of 1972 after Dr. Don Scovill, a music teacher since the college was founded in 1968, had resigned that spring. He called Dr. Bob Jones Jr.,
who recommended DeGraw. He had been teaching in a public high school in Illinois.
"We were excited to come, and we bought the Scovills' house on Center Street," DeGraw recalled.
One key to the growth of the program, DeGraw said, was the concept of sending out touring musical groups. The musicians not only bonded with each other, but helped cement the school's bond with its constituency.
"When those young people got into the churches and the homes, people outside of Maranatha knew what was happening here," DeGraw said. "They found out what kind of young people we had here. That turned out to be a great thing."
About 20 folks were present for most of the Business Department reunion, including one Krazy lady with an incredible heart for souls.
Kim Marks ('98), who calls herself Krazy Marks (read her blog at http://krazymarks.blogspot.com/), is a missionary to the gypsy people of northwest Romania. She is on furlough in Wisconsin, but will return to Romania in two weeks.
"What I get to witness is extreme conversions," Marks said. "They are most definitely repentant. The culture of the gypsies is so extremely poor and full of crime and sin that they are an ostracized people. The Orthodox church in Romania once taught that gypsies did not have souls. Nobody there has even bothered to try to reach them. They are the new tribe, the one that has not been reached with the Gospel."
The Business Management major worked in management for Target Corporation and Airmark Corporation before being called to the mission field on April 14, 2002. She spent an eight-month short-term missions assignment in Africa with missionaries Mark and Nancy Shepherd before deciding on Salonta, Romania, as her permanent field.
"I work in women's and children's ministries in eight different churches," Marks said. She is also raising funds for a classroom building to be constructed at a church in Ciumeghiu.
It all sounds sane enough. So, why Krazy Marks?
"I can't really tell you who started calling me Krazy Marks," she said. "Everybody just sort of always knew that about me."
About 40 people were present for most of the Bible Department reunion in Room 202 of the Dining Complex. One of them was Ken Marsh ('74), a man who finds himself in much the same position Maranatha founder B. Myron Cedarholm found himself to be in May of 1968.
Marsh (left) is head of the speech and drama department at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College. That school announced this week that it will close Dec. 31. Marsh has been at Pillsbury for six years.
"God is already showing me that he still has my name and address," Marsh said. "I don't know what's next. But I do know there is something God wants me to learn that can only be learned this way."
Marsh's primary concern is for his students, some of whom have already expressed a strong desire to transfer to Maranatha.
"They are like a family, and that family is about to break up," Marsh said. "They are beginning to realize they are doing things for the last time. Our soccer team played its last game the other day, and won big.
"The night after this was announced (Tuesday), I walked by the dating parlor and heard about 40 students in there singing and praising God. I walked by Kerux Auditorium and heard about 50 more singing and praising God. The students have had a remarkably good spirit, a spirit that reminds me of the early days of Maranatha. They did everything they could to make a go of it at Pillsbury."
Marsh will return to Owatonna with sheets of information about Maranatha for Pillsbury's 148 students. That information includes programs to help Pillsbury students complete their degrees at MBBC.
"Our President. Dr. Greg Huffman, said the other day that God will one day tell the people from Pillsbury to all go stand in one corner of heaven and talk about what He did for them after this week," Marsh said. "I'm really looking forward to that."
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Bible Department chair Brian Trainer talked about the Global Encounters missions program, including a DVD presentation compiled from the trips that took place last summer. More than 100 students took part in Global Encounters, and Trainer said 137 have signed up to participate in 2009.
Former chair Dr. Larry Oats will be Dean of Maranatha Baptist Seminary when it opens in the fall of 2009. Oats said the decision to open the seminary was not based on perceived shortcomings of any other seminary. "We're not starting it because of them, but because of us," Oats said. "We've been talking about it with our board for years."
About 20 people were gathered in the Heritage Room of the Cedarholm Library for the reunion of former library employees--including its most long-tenured employee and its First Family, of sorts.
Teresa Herbert ('05), Jodi Herbert ('07), and current student body president John (Chip) Herbert V have all worked at the library. Tricia Herbert is next in line.
Louise Budahl is finishing up her time at the college, the only employee to have worked all 40 years here consecutively. She originally came to Maranatha as secretary to college founder Dr. B. Myron Cedarholm in June of 1968, then switched to full-time library work in the mid-1980s. Her original typewriter can be viewed at the Dining Complex as part of the Memory Lane display.
"I lived in the Pederson Funeral Home when I came," recalled Mrs. Budahl (left, with daughter Hope Robertson). "I would drive over to the Cedarholm's house on West Street and sit at their kitchen table and type. I moved into Century House that fall with three other secretaries, including Linda Carlson. The wood ceiling was so dark ... we eventually got tired of it and just painted it."
She also remembers typing "thousands" of card catalogue entries by hand--so many, in fact, that the college waited until Mrs. Budahl had taken a day off to destroy them after adopting a computerized card-catalogue system. One set of the cards was given to her as a gesture of appreciation for all that typing.
There were about 20 people most of the morning at the athletics reunion, the first gathering of the day (9 a.m.).
We talked to Ben Peterson, wrestling coach at Maranatha for 28 years. He still lives in Watertown and is still involved in wrestling through Camp of Champs. "God blessed me by being able to take my hobby and also make it my ministry and livelihood," Peterson said. He will work with about 500 wrestlers each year through both weekend camps during the school year and week-long camps during the summer.
Peterson will travel to Chico, California, for a weekend camp next month. He recently finished one in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Peterson said he normally stays in the town after a Saturday camp to speak at a Sunday church service. He rents facilities in Medord, Wisconsin, and Juneau, Wisconsin, for the week-long summer camps.
"I miss the personal touch, watching a kid develop day-by-day, but I don't miss the daily grind of coaching," Peterson said.
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Brent Biddle ('90) and wife Diana (McDonald '90) were here for the reunion and to visit with their daughter. Hannah, a freshman, has studied string, piano and harp at Indiana University but is also training for the World Association of Benchers and Dead Lifters Championships weightlifting event in Las Vegas. Hannah has already won weight-class championships in five different organizations, including the WABDL. Brent is conducting a strength clinic tonight at the Fitness Center Gymnasium weight room.
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Jerry Williams is here. He was coach of the 1972 football team that recorded the first victory in school history. He was also coach later that year when, during a road trip to Appleton, Maranatha coaches and players were able to lead 19 people to the Lord and help establish a church there.
"I still have the book where we wrote down all 19 names and addresses," Williams said. "A lot of them were teenagers. I was able to lead the coach of the other team to the Lord as well as the owner of the restaurant we ate at."
Williams was a missionary to Papua, New Guinea, with wife Marilyn (Arrowood '70) for 32 years. They now live in Illinois.
Five different reunions are taking place this morning on campus--athletics, fine arts, library, Bible and business. We'll file a report from each one, and try to talk to at least one interesting person. That will consume most of the morning here, with the football game against Concordia-Chicago beginning at 1 p.m.