Multnomah Home

It’s time to come home to Multnomah!  Homecoming Week 2009 has something for everyone. 

Homecoming Week 2009 

• September 29 – October 3
• Click on the postcard below for more details
• RSVP to fweinert@multnomah.edu or 877.9ALUMNI

From chapel worship to food, sport activities, class visits, to social events – you are sure to find an event that will help you relive an old memory or create a new tradition on Multnomah’s campus today. Alumni and Students together with Faculty and Staff again – it’s a beautiful thing!

Download Full Postcard (PDF) 

And…come see Mitch the Lion pump up the crowd and enter to win a new iPod!

(Also, you might see this event on Facebook…you should still RSVP to the Alumni Dept no matter what – especially if you want to make arrangements to visit classes!)

Anyone who has ever been on a mission trip knows that it’s hard to capture all that was experienced. I was showing my wife some pictures and I said, “I wish I could have captured some of the SMELLS!” (On second-thought, maybe it’s best that some things can’t be captured?)

3 Days Back

I’ve been back from Taiwan now for about 3 days and I’ve been trying to reflect on my experience. It’s difficult to put everything into words but I walked away with at least one big thought in mind; Multnomah students are truly unique.

MU Students Boldly Sharing The Gospel

Watching Multnomah students minister to others was probably the most amazing part of the trip. They boldly shared the gospel of Christ in words and actions. They ministered to groups of students from kindergarten through college and our students did an incredible job of being Christ to these students. Sometimes it was in words as they shared their testimonies, spoke with them, and laughed. Other times it was through acts of service or even a “high five” when the language barrier was too much. This group of students were capable, qualified, and passionate servants of Christ and I was blessed to be a part of their efforts.

Shameless Plug

And (to shamelessly toot Multnomah’s horn), I can’t help but think that God has used Multnomah to help shape their character and calling.

Personal Growth

Personally, I was also ministered too. I went into this trip with just a little bit of anxiety because I hardly knew any of the students. Sure, Multnomah is small enough to know who most people are, but I felt like I only knew most of them by name or superficially. It was awesome to see a group of close, tight-knit students welcome me into their team and allow me to do ministry with them. I was encouraged and felt like I made new friends.

Also, it was a ton of fun. If you have never been on any kind of short-term missions experience, Go. It’s fun, challenging, and always worth the effort.

Two More Days 

On Thursday, we spent the first part of our day visiting the Taipei 101.  I think this is the world’s tallest building.  Even if it isn’t, it does boast the world’s fastest elevator.  It took only 43 seconds to go up 84 floors.  It was a bit foggy, but we still had a great view of the city.  We enjoyed the chance to see some of the sights and ate lunch downtown as well.

 Youth Groups and Night Markets

After the Taipei 101, we went back to the Bethany Academy and led a youth group service they have on Thursday evenings.  Many of the Bethany students that we met on Tuesday were attending.  The students led us in worship and then we had two of our students speak.  After our students spoke, we broke up into small groups to further explore some of the ideas that were shared.  Once the youth group ended, many of us went down to the Shilin Night Market do some exploring. 

Ensuring The The Gospel Is Heard

Friday we spent our morning back at Christ’s College.  We led their chapel service which is about an hour and a half long.  We began with two of our students singing a special song and then we showed a video that showed off our campus.  After that I spoke about Multnomah’s programs and then we had two student testimonies.  Coach Bickley finished off by sharing a short story and the gospel message. 

About half of the students at Christ’s College are not believers and we wanted to be sure that they had the opportunity to hear the gospel. 

The afternoon and evening were spent hanging out all over Taipei with students from Christ’s College.  Some students went to Danshui, some went to the Shilin Night Market, and I went with a group of students to the Taipei Zoo.  It was really great to see the city and to get to know the students from Christ’s College better.  Besides that, they were great tour guides.

Colin Wyenberg
Admissions Counselor
Multnomah Bible College

See the First Post and Update 1 for context.

Today Started Very Early 

We left our hotel at 6:45 a.m. to take the train to the Bethany Academy.  Our trip took about 45 minutes and it was nice to see more of Taipei as we rode. We began the day at Bethany by leading a chapel for their K-5^th graders.  We had a blast.  The girls led a song and Coach Bickley spoke about David and Goliath.  One of our players, 6′ 4” Colin Henderson, played Goliath and a little kid named Ashish played David.  It was lots of fun.

 A Sobering Reminder

After the chapel, we had a Q&A session with their 9^th graders about college life.  It was really interesting to hear some of their questions and experiences.  One student in particular told me about his struggle with being the only Christian in his family.  He began attending Bethany academy because his parents thought it was a good school.  He became a believer while attending school but no one else in his family follows Christ.  He was telling me how he’s even nervous about reading his Bible at home because if his family knows he is a Christian, they will be upset with him.  It sure makes me realize how much I take for granted and I pray that this student has the courage to embrace Christ with very little family support.

 Basketball and Testimony

We also led a basketball class for their students.  Some of our players ran different ball handling and shooting drills.  After that we did another Q&A session with their 6-8^th graders.  We ended our time at Bethany by attending the chapel for the 5-9^th grades.  One of our players, Seth Coleman, gave his testimony and Coach Bickley spoke. 

 BBQ Squid and Mechanical Bulls

The afternoon and evening were free, so many of us hit the town.  We did plenty of shopping and some of us tried some local food.  I watched one student eat a barbecued squid.  The whole thing.  Wow.  Bravery takes many forms.

On a completely random note, I rode a mechanical bull in Taipei with a couple of our students.  How weird is that!? 

Colin Wyenberg
Admissions Counselor
Multnomah Bible College

Our First Full Day In Taiwan 

Traveling here was…long.  VERY long.  It was a 10 ½ hour flight to Japan and then another 4 hour flight to Taipei.  It was 10pm here when we arrived, which is 7am at home in Portland.  Needless to say, we were tired and ready to sleep when we arrived.

We started our day by travelling on the MRT (their mass transit train) from our hotel to Christ’s College.  The college is actually at the top of a hill, so we walked from the train up a very steep hill.  If you have ever been to Taiwan, you’ll know that it is very humid here.  We are all adjusting to sweating a little more than normal! 

Chapel In Taiwan

We were introduced to the student body at the beginning of their chapel service.  We will be speaking at their chapel on Friday.  After chapel, we headed down to Tzu-Chiang Elementary school.  We gave away basketball cards and invited the children to the outreach event we are doing on Saturday.  The kids were VERY cute and some spoke pretty decent English.  After hanging out with them for a while, we headed back to Christ’s College to have lunch with the students.

Sight-seeing And Fellowship

After lunch we had some time to explore the city.  Many members of the team headed into Danshuiwith some of the students from Christ’s College.  It was very helpful to have students who are familiar with the area showing us around.  Danshui has a lot of shopping and there is a nice walk along the river here as well.  We truly enjoyed the company of our local hosts and they seemed to enjoy us as well.  They at least enjoyed our attempts at speaking Chinese!

Sports and Testimonies

This evening, we met back at Christ’s College to play various sports with them.  Some students played volleyball outside while the basketball teams from Multnomah and Christ’s College warmed up with some competitive events in the gym.  The night ended with a basketball game.  Multnomah had a modest 99-48 victory.  Every Multnomah player hit a 3-pointer within the first half.  They played great and had fun.  After the game, Melissa Miller shared her testimony with the students via an interpreter. 

Pray

We walked back down the hill to the train in pouring rain.  At one point, Coach Bickley smirked, “So…if you want to be a missionary, this is what it’s like!”  It was actually a nice cool down after the game.

Tomorrow is an early start.  We are heading to Bethany School to lead their chapel and minister to their students.  As you read this, keep us in prayer.  Pray that people would come to Christ, that we would stay healthy and safe, and that God would continue to work through each of us.

Colin Wyenberg
Admissions Counselor
Multnomah Bible College

Hopping Homecoming Hotdogs

It was a dollar a dog day when 96 of Multnomah’s alumni came home this past weekend in celebration of Homecoming 2008. All hot dog sales went to help fund STUGO (student government). Kyle Higginbotham won an Ipod Nano.  The day’s activities also included: Soccer, Women’s Volleyball, and the main event of the evening Men’s varsity basketball vs. Alumni and what an exciting game it was. Our alumni gave our varsity team a run for their money. It was neck and neck up until the last 3 minutes of the game with the 1^st half ending with Multnomah Alumni: 49 and Multnomah Lions: 51 – our current Lions took the game 101 to 87.

Special thanks

STUGO for your support in this year’s event and to all of our Alumni participants, thank you.

Participants

Soccer:
Matthew Cyphert, Matt Rygg, Ben Thomas, Sarah Swenson, Jennifer Parnham, Jon Gonsalves, James Lewis, Devin Chapman, Ted Rydmark, Alyssa Mueller, Caleb Elliot, Danny Harvey, Dan Briggs, Mike Prewitt, Chase Reeves, Dave Groom, Jonathan Lowen, Colin Henderson, Chip Lubeck, Jeniffer Parnham, Timothy Alban

Volleyball:
Aime (Helman) Franklin, Aimee (Calenberg) Haworth, Anne Chang, Ashley Wright, Bri Knuckey, Chrisy Bryant, Debbie (Speer) Whitehead, Jessica Anderson, Jessica (Bunch) Ubel, Kelly (Bryant) Wilbanks, Koren (Tompkins) Faust, Melissa (Weber) Della Paloera, Melody (Lundquist) Barrera and Sally Duke.

Basketball:
Dan Johnson, Dave Odell, Kirby Gleason, Ryan Franklin, Sam Duke, Scott Chase, and Seth Duke

Gone today Home tomorrow

The Multnomah University homecoming is this Saturday (10/4/08) and we have lots of exciting things planned. The Current men’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams will get an opportunity to take on our legendary alumni. There will also be soccer, a 3-3 basketball tourney, a pep rally, prizes, and much, much more.

A Web Response – www.multnomah.edu/athletics

Lately, we have been pretty excited about our MU Lions and now our website reflects that. This week, in fact, we rolled out our new and improved athletics site. It was time to pump up the design and add a slew of features to allow our faithful (and even reach out to those not so faithful) MU sports fans to get their fill of Lion sports action.

Among the changes you will find:

• A new graphical layout
• New photos everywhere
• Intramural games schedule, score, and standings now have a home
• Each sport home page includes – upcoming games, recent scores, and team record
• The Game Log now brings you summaries of all MU games as well as Player of the Game
• You can now sign up to email or rss updates of The Game Log so you always have the latest news

You should definitely check it out, kick the tires a bit, come back and tell us what you think…

And by all means subscribe! RSS – Email