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3 steps to winning a new 8GB iPod Nano:

1. Be a current student
2. Check your email where you get MU messages
3. Take the (very short) “Student Satisfaction Survey 2008″

That’s all!

Truly, it is a short survey - when I tested it it only took me about 3 minutes to complete. But don’t wait, because the survey will close next week!

The survey answers will be anonymously compiled - so please be brutally honest with us.

The survey will only validate who you are for the purpose of getting accurate results and so that we can contact the randomly drawn winner of the iPod. Yes, that’s “iPod” in the singular - which means that there is only one (1) available, so there will be only one (1) winner.

Won’t you please help us be better at serving student needs?
Because let’s be honest, there are some places where my colleagues and I could all be doing better for you!

We received a letter from one of our Seminary adjunct faculty members, Dr. Bill Gasser who is a military chaplain stationed in Kuwait. It got us thinking about how it is just one in a thousand different stories we can tell you about how Thanksgiving is spent overseas by our alumni and extended “family”…

***

Nov. 23, 2008

Hello from Kuwait!

I’ve been in-country now for two weeks and I’m getting settled with the new time zone, climate, and culture.  At times the landscape looks and feels like some remote stretch of California desert… except that there are no mountains, most of the writing is in Arabic, and the drivers are more aggressive!  I spend most of my time at one camp but also work at several others so I do some traveling on Kuwait’s highway system each week.  The speed limit is 120 kph (75 miles per hour) but lots of people go faster, ride the bumper of the car they want to pass, and feel free to exit or enter the highway at high speed at any point without warning or regard to other vehicles.  The occasional goats, sheep, or camels that wander into traffic complete the picture.   

Camp life is pretty comfortable, even though we live in tents or other temporary structures.  Most of the work and living spaces are air conditioned during the day (and heated at night this time of year).  I’m part of a care team of chaplains and medical professionals assigned to the Warrior Transition Program.  Our task is to help prepare inbound troops to begin their tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then to get them ready to go home as their tours end.  It’s a pretty cool job!  I lead workshops, do counseling, and offer pastoral assistance for troops in motion.  Obviously there are many needs and many opportunities for ministry and I’m very excited about this open door to serve!

Our days start early and end late.  We typically work seven days a week, including Sundays (I can usually catch a Sunday evening worship service or an evening Bible study during the week).  As I mentioned, we work at several bases and camps across Kuwait and as our program continues to develop we anticipate broadening our work further to include sending teams to visit forward deployed units.  The troops we work with have remarkable commitment and great willingness to sacrifice and we are trying hard to serve their needs.  Each person on the care team and support staff honestly counts it a privilege to be a part of this important work. 

Keeping busy does make the time go a little faster.  It’s now been six weeks since I left Portland and I am missing Teri and the kids.  For most of my adult life I’ve left home for several weeks of military duty each year, but this time it’s different because it’s so much longer in duration and so much farther from home.  That’s an adjustment for us.  Like most people, we probably tended to take each other for granted when we were together every day.  Being gone like this is a reminder of how blessed we are to be with our loved ones every day.  Seems like the desert is a good place to gain perspective, maybe that’s why the Lord kept sending His people there? 

I’ll try to keep you posted with occasional e-mails like this.  I’d love to hear back from you as well.  I greatly appreciate the prayers of believers.  Please join me in asking God to comfort and care for my family each day that I’m away.  Please pray for me to be strengthened in body and spirit so that I may serve effectively as a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, and ask the Lord to keep opening doors of opportunity.  If you care to write to me, my personal e-mail is chaplaingasser@gmail.com.  I have access to e-mail most days unless I’m on the road.  A note for all you facebook users; sorry but I can’t log into facebook from my work computer so better to use e-mail if you want to get in touch.  Old fashioned postal mail works too, in fact you can send a letter to me with just a regular first class stamp if you use this address:  CDR Bill Gasser, CHC, USN; ECRC - WTP, Zone 6; Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, APOAE, 09366.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and may the Lord bless you,

Bill Gasser

p.s. - here’s a quick pic of me by my neighborhood, all our homes look just alike!

To All Of Our Alumni and Family Ministering Abroad This Thanksgiving - We Are Thankful For You!

It seems everywhere I turn these days I see and hear someone talking about this extremely popular book by Paul Young titled: “The Shack”

A Faculty Response
It seems to have stirred both raving fans and controversy. Recently, Seminary professor Dr. Paul Louis Metzger was interviewed by Zach Dundas of Portland Monthly magazine for what I will call his “evangelically informed theological take” on this book in the November 2008 issue.

Read it for yourself here

However, As Great As That Is
Our very own President, Dr. Daniel R. Lockwood, was on the cutting edge months ago when he wrote his review of the book for the Summer 2008 issue of Multnomah Magazine - (if you’re not a subscriber, then do it, because it’s free and worth every penny! Drop a line at magazine@multnomah.edu).

Here is the 2-page PDF for your ease.

We might get one more post up before Thanksgiving Break (hooray for Higher Ed holiday schedules!) - so check back again - otherwise, we’ll see you on Monday or Tuesday with fresh fodder.

Last week I wrote about a faculty book winning 2 great awards. I also wrote about Dr. Brake’s announced retirement.

What do these two posts have in common?

Dr. Don Brake also recently won 2 great awards for his book

1. Starred Review from Publishers Weekly
2. Arnold D. Ehlert Award by the International Society of Bible Collectors for his contribution to the field

A Visual History of the English Bible:
The Tumultuous Tale of the World’s Bestselling Book

It rained. The drinks were hot. The Facebook Group was even hotter.

We ran out of T-shirts and prizes. The busses were pretty cool.

And we had a winner for the big raffle of a $75 gift certificate to Kell’s:

Congrats to Caitlin Hillygus!

 

 

 

 

Check out the pics below for all the details.

“Thank You”

• Tri-Met for bringing the busses (it’s a big deal to remove two of them from rotation).
• Lamar Transit Advertising for hooking it all up…especially for the prizes and goodies!
• The MU Public Safety Department and MU Staff for sacrificing key parking spaces.
• Students for not picketing my office after I spammed you so much!

Tri-Met is bringing 2 busses with MU advertising on it for a photoshoot - they want to feature us in an ad! They also want to give students who show up free Starbucks Hot Chocolate/Coffee and I’ll be giving away free MBC and MBS T-shirts.

• What: Take a big mob photo with 2 Tri-Met busses
• Where: In front of Sutcliffe Hall
• When: Thursday, November 20th @ 1:30pm

UPDATE:
If FREE Starbuck’s coffee and hot chocolate and MBC/MBS T-shirts isn’t enough for you to brave the rain today… They’re also bringing cookies and mini-bus toys!

But wait, there’s more!

Show up for the pictures and get rewarded with a raffle for a $75 gift certificate to Kell’s Restaurant (this one is for students only).

Need a little history to understand this?

Recently I sent a bunch of statistics and information about Multnomah to a writer at Seattle Metropolitan magazine. He told me that they were compiling data as a guide to Northwest colleges and universities - so imagine our excitement when the October 2008 issue came out last month and there was a ranking that put good ol’ MU at number 6!

(PDF of Article)

Ouch! Unfortunately, they didn’t get some of the information correct (for instance, we offer more than just 1 program of study! See for yourself: College Programs and Seminary Programs - not to mention Adult Degree Completion) - oh well, we’re still thankful for the mention!

To learn about or subscribe to Seattle Metropolitan, visit them at: www.seattlemet.com

Seminary professor Dr. Paul Louis Metzger’s latest book, Consuming Jesus, continues to pick up steam as it moves through the world-wide blogosphere and key print media.

This book award is kind of a big deal - big enough that Leadership Journal called it one of the “Ten Most Important Books of 2008″ - and the only one to warrant a full page review and podcast interview series.

Read our full press release here.

The Goods

The “Top Ten” Books

The Full-Page Review

© 2008 Christianity Today International, used by permission of Leadership journal.

Download the mp3

Learn more about Out of Ur

© 2008 Christianity Today International, used by permission of Leadership journal.

Oh yeah, if these things get you going, then don’t forget about the upcoming Drum Majors for Love, Truth, and Justice event!
drum-majors-event-details

In this final of 3 installments that began with (1) Cinco De Mustache, and continued with (2) Great Mustaches of Multnomah Past, you’ll be treated to some of Multnomah’s most notorious beards. As is the case with the venerable mustache, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Not everyone can grow a “Grizzly Adams” or “Kenny Rogers“, but not everyone has to.

After a little more digging through Multnomah’s archives, here’s what we found:

Dr. Al Baylis (Seminary Prof)

If there were an award for the longest-standing beard among Multnomah’s faculty, Dr. Baylis would win, hands down (at least as far as we can prove).

Then (1976, 1982, 1987, and 1990)

Now

Dr. Garry Friesen (College Prof)

Before he wore the mustache featured in the Mustache post, Dr. Friesen had one of the fullest beards on campus for several years.

Then (1982, 1983, 1985, and 1987)

I’ve dubbed the last photo “Scary Gary.” You do NOT want to turn in his assignments late!

Now

Dr. Philip Johnson (Seminary prof and Librarian)

I’ve always been impressed by Dr. Johnson’s stately goatee.

Then (1998)

Now

Dr. John Terveen (Seminary prof)

Through my research, I saw only two (non-consecutive) years during which Dr. Terveen wore a beard, but who’s counting?

Then (1993)

Now

Dr. Dale Wheeler (College prof)

Make no mistake, this is an impressively timeless beard!

Then (1990 and 1993)

Now

Notable Mentions

I couldn’t locate any old photos of Dr. Calvin Blom, but he has a beard worthy of tribute.

Dr. Scalberg, who made an appearance on the Mustaches post, astounded me with his wide range of style over the years. While I never found photos of him with a true beard, I found these two “almost” beards.

The “soul patch” (1982)

The “fake” beard (1987)

(I’d love to hear the story behind this one)

We sincerely hope you have enjoyed this stroll down Multnomah’s “memory lane” - a true tribute to Cinco De Mustache.

Cheers!

Link to:
part one | part two

On 10/30/2008, Multnomah teamed up with North Portland Bible College to discuss the issues surrounding Black Liberation Theology with the Georgene Rice Radio Show.

Why?
With the unique election season we’ve been in, the subject has been brought into the mainstream media. Georgene Rice and Multnomah thought that providing accurate information about Black Liberation Theology would be a helpful antidote to the cursory (and sometimes wrong) descriptions that have peppered media broadcasts in the past months.

Listen to the Recording

Download the mp3

Special Thanks

• Georgene Rice for her willingness to educate the Portland and Seattle Metro areas
• Dr. LeRoy Haynes, President of North Portland Bible College for providing his perspective
• Drs. Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger for being willing to discuss the issues of the day

Note:
I’m so grateful for the diversity of thought and academic freedom that is evident in Christian Higher Education. I truly enjoy seeing the different views and debates from differing perspectives on campus. Furthermore, the fact that Multnomah, as an institution, takes no stand on political subjects or candidates seems to really free up the individuals here to discuss freely - and that’s a good thing.

Multnomah’s Perspective:
Read our Doctrinal Statement to know our official word on theological subjects. We are a community with many different voices - but the one that ultimately represents MU can be found in this very useful document.