Volume 37 - Summer 2016 Big Vision for LPC Library LPC Librarian Gary Merriman ( 97) understands the expectations of students when they visit the library on our San Dimas campus. The information explosion available online 24/7 has changed the face of student research for the good, and sometimes for the bad. Students need to learn how to become critical consumers of information, Gary says. CON'T. INSIDE Mark Duzik - Honoring 31 Years of Service Professor Mark Duzik ( 80) has worked at LPC for over 30 years, and has enjoyed every moment. In 1985, he served as director of development under then-president Dr. Jack Hamilton and helped raise funds to relocate the campus from downtown Los Angeles to San Dimas. Mark did a stint as the school s registrar and taught part-time until he began his full time teaching assignment in 1997. CARRY CON'T. INSIDE ON Connecting Alumni & Friends of L.I.F.E. Bible College, Mount Vernon Bible College, L.I.F.E. Bible College East, & Life Pacific College
BIG VISION FOR LPC LIBRARY BY: ROD LIGHT Our library staff helps them navigate the plethora of resources available so they can arrive at sound information on which to base their personal understanding and beliefs. Today s libraries are more than stacks of books and hushed hallways. Librarians like Gary welcome study groups and communal research often in comfortable chairs that can be moved around making more space for lively conversation. The shift to a more communal environment is intentional, and our library has become more of a place than simply a resource for students, he says. The job of a librarian has expanded along with the ways college students use libraries, says Gary, who holds a Master of Arts degree in Biblical Studies from Talbot School of Theology, and a Today s libraries are more than stacks of books and hushed hallways. Master of Library and Information Science degree from San Jose State University. Gary understands that librarians are also teachers and coaches as they help students work smarter and faster on tasks that could otherwise slow down their progress. We want students to spend their time working and struggling over deep concepts, rather than spending their time on how to print a paper from their device or figuring out how to use our system to access an article. Gary says students usually walk into a library with two or three electronic devices, and until recently, might have been hard pressed to find a place to plugin while they studied. He is thankful that some of the tables in the library now have built-in electrical outlets. This was not important in the 1950s when some of our tables were acquired at Angelus Temple, Gary adds, but today, electrical outlets at each study area are essential. The vision for the LPC library is expansive but attainable, according to Gary, who is also an ordained Foursquare minister. He hopes that alumni and friends of the college will agree and help him achieve the vision. I might as well say it, he confesses, Everything costs money, and often it is more than my budget will allow. We need more databases and e-books, additional furniture, new carpet, new computers (ours are more than five years old), and equipment to help us archive resources in order to preserve the heritage of LPC. As Gary and his team advance into the present, he is mindful of preserving the past. LPC has a wealth of resources from years gone by that could be lost to future generations if they are not discovered, captured in digital format, and catalogued for students, alumni, and friends to enjoy. Digitization of archival material is underway, but there is much more to do, Gary says. The team has already digitized more than 350 videos of professors from the 70s and 80s, and more than 500 chapel services have been preserved. Gary welcomes photos, videos, and memorabilia from alumni and friends of the college and is especially appreciative when these items include names of people, places, dates and the context of the resource. He believes the preservation of LPC history and archives will be important to the Foursquare family and the larger Pentecostal community. Gary is committed to the mission of LPC and to serving students as they learn to glorify God through their lives. In addition, Gary is committed to preserving the heritage of LPC for future generations, including his two sons, Kyle (12) and Josiah (5), with whom he and his wife Michelle (Burnett, 98) hope to spend some down time camping this summer. Donations are gratefully accepted to help Gary accomplish his vision for the LPC library. For more information, please contact the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations at (909) 706-3028 or advancement@lifepacific.edu @
YOUR GIFT MATTERS. The top areas of giving at LPC are the Life Fund, Scholarships (unrestricted), and Endowed Scholarships. What is the Life Fund? Always the area of greatest need, LPC s unrestricted fund is used by the College for current priorities and general operations such as: + Promoting growth + Staffing day-to-day operations at the College + Facility maintenance for property & grounds + IT personnel and equipment + Supporting the needs of specific departments for the College Why Scholarships? + 97% of LPC students must rely upon grants, loans, or scholarships to finance their education. + Scholarships decrease the amount of loans needed by LPC students. + Scholarships can fill a gap for needy and deserving students who don t qualify for federal or state aid. + Scholarships teach generosity and philanthropy. What s Unique About an Endowed Scholarship? Endowed scholarships continually provide scholarship funds for LPC students! A gift to an endowment is a lasting investment into a profitable fund whose annual earnings furnish scholarship monies for LPC students. Stay Connected: @foursquarelifealumni partner.lifepacific.edu @LIFEalumni @lifealumni_ @LifePacific @lifepacific_ Check out the app! facebook.com/lifepacificcollege lifepacific.edu Your gifts provide scholarships, program enhancements, and services that enable the students of Life Pacific College to continue to grow and thrive. With record enrollment numbers, we need your partnership now more than ever. Make a difference by giving today! Donate online at: partner.lifepacific.edu/donate.
SUMMER 2016 MARK DUZIK HONORING 31 YEARS OF SERVICE BY: ROD LIGHT Mentors in Mark s journey as a student and professor include countless key leaders in Foursquare. John Amstutz taught a class on missions and in that class, I began to dream about myself as a full time college professor, Mark says. He was a 20-year-old LPC sophomore. Then, serving as a teaching assistant to Professor Gary Matsdorf, Mark got his first experience teaching Greek in a college classroom. Foursquare legend Don Pickerill ( 52) trusted Mark to teach Bible studies at Christian Assembly in suburban Los Angeles, and then-foursquare Missions Director Don McGregor ( 53) mentored Mark on global trips where he was able to put his Bible knowledge into teaching practice. People watching my life during this time told me that I am the type of guy who will always have one foot in the church and the other foot in the classroom, Mark says with a sheepish grin. Over the years, Mark enjoyed serving in a pastoral role at New Life Community (a Foursquare church in Pomona, Calif.), alongside Senior Pastor Craig Lawrence. We often partnered on sermon preparation and research, which I loved, Mark says. Craig is an amazing communicator and I loved hearing him preach the material we developed together. Mark was hooked years ago by his love of research and digging into the text, the people, the culture, and the way the Word of God transforms lives. His first semester-long teaching assignment came in 1983 at a Foursquare Bible college in the Philippines when he was 26. It was during this assignment that God solidified Mark s call to higher education and particularly teaching the New Testament. When I first started teaching Bible at LPC, I spent a lot of time learning from Betty Jean Glenn ( 59) and Zoe Ann Hill ( 62), Mark says, referring to some of LPC s most notable educators. He says they taught him how to start with his desired outcome for students and work backward through a 15-week course so that students mastered the material and did not merely pass a test.
Zoe Ann helped me understand that every student achieves mastery in different ways and that it is my job as a teacher to create opportunities for every student to find their path to success in my class. Ever since, Mark has tried to pay it forward for new teachers, helping them move through their personal learning curves and find a stride in teaching where they can maintain a high standard of educational principles that work. LPC Dean of Institutional Effectiveness Brian Tomhave ( 90) was a student in the first class Mark taught. Kind of makes me feel old, Mark says chuckling. It s a great feeling for me to see our graduates succeed in life and ministry, and I especially like it when they return to LPC as fellow staff and faculty. For Mark, there are other benefits of sticking around so long. Mark and his wife Carol have been married for 33 years and have raised four daughters, Ashley, Allison ( 11), Amy ( 15), and Anna, ranging in age from 23-29, all of whom are alumni of LPC. Mark says the family often viewed the LPC campus as a second home. When the girls were small, we would often drop by the college on Saturday mornings, eat breakfast with students, and the girls would ride their bikes around the winding pathways of the campus, Mark recalls. I will fondly remember these times together for the rest of my life. Celebrating over 30 years of serving the LPC community, Mark humbly asserts, There is a grace on my life, and I am thankful. It s a grace Mark does not take lightly and he considers himself a life-long learner who constantly looks for ways to improve his skill and interaction with students. When asked what advice he would give his younger self 31 years ago, Mark is succinct and passionate: First, I would remind myself that people learn by being told what they do right. If they need to be told to do something differently, it needs to be specific enough that they can make the change. Over thirty years of research and teaching have prepared Mark well to be program chair of the Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies program at LPC. He is grateful for every day he gets to step into a classroom and help students personally encounter the Word of God. Further, Mark regularly immerses himself in rigorous study of the biblical text and invites the Holy Spirit to bring God s Word to life in him. Mark s bucket list includes traveling to Turkey where he hopes to experience historic Asia Minor, the setting of 1 Peter and the focus of Mark s doctoral research. Mark says he has seen hundreds of photos of Mediterranean places and people, but pictures and even Google Earth are not the same thing as being there. It will be a culmination of Mark s lifelong study of the New Testament to put himself in the shoes of first century Christians who received Peter s first epistle. God s hand has been on Mark s life and service to Life Pacific College, and Mark s colleagues and students past and present join this year in celebrating his faithfulness and personal commitment to his craft and those he teaches.
PRESIDENT S PEN Commencement this year reminded me of our rich heritage at LPC of personal transformation, and gave me cause to rejoice once again in the host of people who have worked diligently to preserve the ministry and influence of our college for future generations. Lives are transformed at Life Pacific College. We see it in the relationships we enjoy every day with students, alumni, and friends of the college. This transformational influence deposited THE WORLD WILL KNOW GOD MOST BY WHO YOU ARE & WHO YOU BECOME. from one generation to another is especially rewarding in light of Psalm 102:18, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord. The investment of transformation was evident during our 2016 Commencement this month as longtime friend, colleague, and LPC alumna Dr. Doretha O Quinn ( 73), provost of Vanguard University, challenged our graduates and all of us with her address to serve the public good by being salt and light in a world desperate for God. Dr. O Quinn s stirring exhortation reminded us that God has called each one to a specific purpose and we must never allow the world to frustrate or discourage that call in our lives. She said that the true light of the gospel penetrates every dark place so that God s Word can be revealed. She reminded us that God has blessed each one with a unique composition of qualities and diversity that will express the gospel differently but with equal influence. The charge given to our graduates was that the world will know God by what they do but the world will know God most by who they are and who they become. Like Dr. O Quinn, generations of alumni have sown seeds of transformation into what we know today as LPC, and I always enjoy spending time with leaders who once served in one of our historic Foursquare colleges. Recently, LPC Board Chair Dr. Michael Whyte and I traveled to Pennsylvania where we hosted a dinner for alumni from Mt. Vernon Bible College, LIFE Bible College, LIFE Bible College East, and Life Pacific College. We gathered at historic Dobson House, built in 1776 and adjacent to the Gettysburg battlefield of the Civil War. Dr. Mike Larkin from LPC Ignite and Pastor Mark Chester ( 00) of the thriving Gettysburg Foursquare Church helped everyone feel right at home. Northeast Atlantic District Supervisor Peter Bonanno, 2015 graduate from our MASL program, encouraged the group with an update about bringing the LPC Master of Arts in Strategic Leadership program to the east coast beginning this summer. What I enjoy most about intimate gatherings such as this one is the opportunity for individual conversations with rich memories of the past and dreams for the future of Foursquare higher education. It was an inspiring experience to fellowship with people who have invested so much of their lives into LPC and ministry locally and globally. Moving on from Pennsylvania, Dr. Whyte and I enjoyed the warm hospitality of longtime LPC supporters Dr. George and Dell Britt in their Connecticut home. George and Dell, a retired psychologist and educator respectively, once served as Foursquare pastors and also as our Foursquare missionaries in Hong Kong. The four of us had never met until Dr. Whyte and I drove down rural roads to the Britts beautiful home for a propitious and meaningful time meeting people who, though not alumni of LPC, care deeply about our students and our mission. Once again, God reminded me of the legacy of transformation that spans generations and continues today at Life Pacific College because of people like Dr. Doretha O Quinn, a gathering of alumni in Pennsylvania, and longtime supporters George and Dell Britt in Connecticut. We have much to celebrate this month and all glory belongs to God for His gracious hand of blessing on the ministry of the LPC community!
MAY 7, 2016 HATS OFF TO OUR 2016 LPC GRADS! LIFE PACIFIC COLLEGE 98 Total Graduates 70 Bachelor of Arts 39 3 7 12 9 Biblical Studies Business Administration Human Development & Psychology Ministry & Leadership Transformational Ministry 24 Master of Arts in Strategic Leadership 3 Associate of Arts 1 Biblical Studies 3 General Studies APRIL 30, 2016 LPC - IGNITE 29 Total Graduates 25 Associate of Arts in General Studies 4 Bachelor of Arts in Ministry & Leadership
1100 West Covina Boulevard San Dimas, California 91773 Return Service Requested partner.lifepacific.edu STUDENT FEATURE EDEN RICHMOND Major: Business Administration Eden Richmond is going into her junior year at LPC with big plans for what lies ahead. Following graduation, Eden plans to find a job at a local church or District Office as an assisting pastor and administrator. We asked Eden how Life Pacific College has prepared her for these plans, and this is what she had to say: Life Pacific College continues to equip, empower, and encourage any dream that the Lord has placed on my heart. Through the Business Administration degree, I am learning ways of bringing Jesus to the marketplace, while also being equipped to know how to bring administration to ministry. Life Pacific College gives such a unique experience as I get to deepen my knowledge of the Word and who God is to me while becoming empowered to take that knowledge and make an impact on so many different groups of people.