Paul Young (’61, D.Min. ’83) has written several books designed for men which spawned Impact Man ministries based in Santa Rosa, Calif. Among the titles are How To Be An IMPACT MAN in Your Family, Work, Church and Beyond; IMPACT MAN Daily Walk; IMPACT MAN Leader’s Guide; Great Men of The Bible – St. Paul, His Secret for Success; and Finishing Well, a Book for Retired Men.
Bill (’64, M.A. ’65) & Laurie (Price, ’63) Keyes have served as missionaries with OC International (OCI) for the past 52 years. After 13 years of serving in Brazil, Bill served as vice president of personnel, and most recently, as a missionary at large, mentoring cross-cultural missionaries sent out from Brazil with Sepal, an affiliate with OC International and the Global Alliance. They have four married children and 14 grandchildren. They are moving from California to Washington and will continue serving globally with both OCI and Sepal.
Don Willett (’71, M.A. ’77, M.Div. ’82, Ed.D. ’97, Ph.D. ’01) has published two books, Stages of Faith: 8 Milestones that Mark Your Journey and The Path: How to Understand and Experience Authentic Spiritual Growth. In 2011, he founded Stages of Faith Ministries, Inc. from a desire to facilitate deep growth in Christians. He is now fully devoted to one-on-one coaching of Christian leaders who want to be different and make a difference. He can be contacted through stagesoffaith.com.
Alan Mangum (M.Div. ’74) recently published The Lincoln Signature. His next novel, March for Justice, will be published soon. He continues to pastor at Galilee Baptist Church in Des Moines, Iowa.
John Stewart (’74, M.A. ’76) serves as the executive director of Ratio Christi International, a student-faculty apologetics alliance. John has spoken at apologetics conferences and trained leaders in apologetics across America and around the world. His book, More Than A Prophet: The Identity of Jesus from the Bible, Qur'an and Early Sources, aims to help Christians understand the deity of Jesus and to help Muslims understand why Jesus is God. His book, In Defense of the Gospels, should be available later this year. He and his wife Laurie, who is pursuing her master’s in Christian apologetics, are both allied attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Bill Bjork (M.Div. ’76, D.Min. ’91) has pastored over the years at five different local churches (three in California and two in Arizona) and has served as adjunct faculty at Talbot, Phoenix Seminary and Arizona Christian University. He has written several articles for different publications including JETS and would like to write a book. He currently shepherds a flock of 1,500 senior citizens in his role as senior pastor of Grace Bible Church in Sun City, Ariz.
Don (’77, M.Div. ’89) & Mary Lou (Herman, ’74) Patterson have been married for over 42 years. Don was the first in his family to graduate 9th grade, ultimately earning his M.Div. Their two children, Sara (Patterson, ’00) Keith, and Rob Patterson (’03, M.A. ’12), also graduated from Biola. For over 35 years, Don has served at Central International Fellowship, a multicultural, inner city church with three language services in Sacramento, Calif.
Sue (’79, M.A. ’14) & Tom (M.Div. ’96, Ph.D. ’10) Kimber relocated to Melbourne, Australia, two years ago to join the staff and faculty at Melbourne School of Theology. Sue oversees the spiritual care of students as the Student Support Services coordinator. Tom is on faculty, teaching in the areas of pastoral and missional theology, and also serves as the director of postgraduate coursework studies. Tom welcomes any inquiries about doctoral studies at tkimber@mst.edu.au.
William Watson (M.Div. ’79) has worked as a history professor since 1996 at Colorado Christian University, and occasionally an adjunct lecturer at University of Colorado, Boulder. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar to Moldova in 2004 and Oxford-Brookes Visiting Fellow in 2007. His book, Dispensationalism Before Darby, was published in 2015. He is a regular speaker at the annual PreTrib Study Group in Dallas and recently spoke at Liberty University, Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary and Southeast Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married with three kids near Denver, Colo.
Jon Jackson (M.A. ’80, M.Div. ’85) completed his Doctor of Ministry program at The Master’s Seminary this May, 32 years after graduating from Talbot.
Rex (M.A. ’81) & Eve Johnson moved to Peyton, Colo. in 2016, after Rex retired from 40 years of teaching at Biola and Talbot. They developed a marriage care ministry at their church, and minister at home with Standing Stone Ministry to pastor couples who are burned out, or burning out. Rex has also been writing curriculum for Mustard Seed Ranch, a ministry for foster care and adopted children using equine therapy. He is working on a book about marriage, as well as a series of short stories. Between August and October, he and his wife celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends in California, Texas and Colorado.
Michael Hoss (M.Div. ’82) is a former youth pastor and soon-to-be former deputy sheriff, as he looks forward to retirement from his career in law enforcement in 2018. He’s eager to spend more time with his bride of over 42 years, his married son and hopefully some new grandchildren.
Dale More (M.A. ’82) is transitioning into early retirement after 23 years at Lancaster Bible College Capital Seminary and Graduate School. Dale spent his first 13 years at LBC Capital developing their degree completion program. Then, as associate vice president, he established the Office for Institutional Effectiveness. In his retirement, Dale plans to continue teaching online, serving as a dissertation advisor, remaining active as a peer reviewer with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and to do some writing and consulting.
Linda (Bergen, M.A. ’82) Olson recently published His Ways Are Higher: One Woman’s Journey of Self-Forgiveness Against Unbeatable Odds, which explores the battle of faith and healing in the midst of crisis. Watch for her fourth book, 3 Breakthrough Secrets to Stories that Transform: How to Quickly & Easily Tell your Story to Impact Millions, coming this fall. Linda is available for speaking engagements, and can be contacted through her website, wealththroughstories.com.
Oliver Williams (M.A. ’83) was ordained in August 2016. This March will mark 30 years of ministry with International Missions/Christar in the U.S. and the U.K., where he serves in the finance department as comptroller and assistant treasurer at the U.S. Mobilization Center.
Roger Medd (Th.M. ’84) published a book called The Voiceprint of God: Recognizing and Following His Voice, which takes a fresh look at the topic of hearing God’s voice. It is written from a layperson’s perspective, using relatable personal stories packaged into short chapters with creative titles.
Harley Atkinson (M.A. ’85, Ph.D. ’89) recently co-authored Ministry with Youth in Crisis (revised edition) with Mike Severe and Lee Barnett. He also just finished his first year of retirement after teaching at Toccoa Falls College for 27 years.
Alice Stanback (’86, M.A. ’88, Ed.D. ’92, Ph.D. ’99) wrote a new book, Proverbs for Teens and Young Adults, which is available for free on her website at drstanbackfreecurriculum.com.
Randall Gruendyke (M.Div. ’87) has been in pastoral ministry for over 30 years, 11 of which were on staff at College Church in Wheaton, Ill. and 12 as campus pastor at Taylor University in Upland, Ind. In 2013, he earned a D. Min. from Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala. Today, he is serving as the elder of ministry leadership at Grace Evangelical Free Church in La Mirada, Calif. He and Nancy, his wife of 25 years, have three daughters.
Tim Peck (’88, M.Div. ’91) joined Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena in February as the associate pastor of adult ministries. He previously served as the director of chapel at Azusa Pacific University, where he continues as an adjunct faculty member in practical theology and biblical studies. This fall, he began his third year of a certificate program in the art of spiritual direction at Loyola Marymount University and anticipates completion in June 2018.
Sung W. Lee (Ed.D. ’90) published her autobiography named "나의 하나님" in Korean in 2015 under her Korean name, 성 리 나의 하나님, and is currently translating the book into English. In 2014, she retired from her role as the director of international student education and the English Language Study Program (ELSP) at Biola. She continues teaching at Grace Mission University and has recently traveled to seminaries and mission fields in Cambodia, Turkey and Cuba to teach on how to create helpful Bible curriculum within a local context.
Gary Hoag (M.Div. ’93) completed his doctorate in New Testament in 2014 at Trinity College, Bristol in the United Kingdom. His research was subsequently published in 2015 by the Institute for Biblical Research, as Wealth in Ancient Ephesus and the First Letter to Timothy. Presently, Hoag serves as a visiting professor on topics related to faith and finances at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill.; Denver Seminary in Denver, Colo.; Northern Seminary in Lombard, Ill.; Sioux Falls Seminary in Sioux Falls, S.D.; Asian Theological Seminary in Quezon City, Philippines; and Torch Trinity Graduate University in Seoul, South Korea.
Shelly Skinner (’94, M.A. ’97) is currently working as an associate professor of Christian ministries and the coordinator for the Fitness for Ministry Program at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Matt Hsieh (M.Div. ’96) started a new position in July as the director of admissions at Maranatha High School in Pasadena, Calif.
Brett Kunkle (’97, M.A. ’10) recently co-authored A Practical Guide to Culture: Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today’s World. He serves as the student impact director at Stand to Reason and just launched a new ministry called MAVEN, which exists to help students know truth, pursue goodness and create beauty, and to equip those who teach and train students to do the same. Learn more about how they’re equipping young Christians at maventruth.com.
Steve Hong (M.A. ’99) recently started a nonprofit called Kingdom Rice to train leaders in churches, parachurches and seminaries through immersive teaching experiences. His blog (kingdomrice.wordpress.com) showcases unique evangelism events among people with varied worldviews from San Francisco, particularly honor-shame subcultures. Kingdom Rice gets its name from its mission to use what is common — rice — in the majority of cultures, for the sake of God’s Kingdom.
Dave Milbrandt (M.A. ’00) teaches English at San Dimas High School during the day and political science at night at Citrus College. He has published a nonfiction book, High School Declassified: An Insider’s Guide to Helping Your Student Succeed, and two novels, Chasing Deception and Undue Pressure. The third novel in the series is expected to be released in 2018. He also runs a non-partisan political blog called Federalist 10 at federalist10.com.
Aaron Schwartzbart (M.A. ’06) left the space program after 28 years as a rocket scientist to devote all his time to his charity MotorGospel Ministries. With degrees in physics and theology, he is a three-time champion race car driver and an ordained minister. MotorGospel Ministries works in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department to help at-risk youth in areas such as gangs, drugs and illegal street racing.
Miriam James (M.A. ’08) is new on staff as the single life director at Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nev. She oversees small groups for single young adults and single adults. Her husband, Richie, is the new care and local missions pastor.
Andy (M.Div. ’16) & Carolyn Kang welcomed their first baby, William Kang, this past January.
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