Chapel and Common Meal

With dimmed lights setting the mood, the MB Biblical Seminary celebrated an All Saints chapel on Wednesday. Led by Dr. Delores Friesen the seminary community took the opportunity to honor individuals who have impacted our lives. Upon the table sat several votive candles. People in the community were invited to come and light a votive candle in honor of others. As the table grew brighter, we sang a hymn in response.
Following the candle ceremony the community heard an encouraging word from former pastor and current student Carl Heppner.

Following chapel the MB Biblical Seminary community traditionally enjoys a meal together that we call "Common meal." In this photo professor Tim Geddert and a friend of his visiting from Germany prepare their plates.

Global Community Dinner

Friday night found MBBS'ers partying in style as the seminary community dressed up in cultural garb and enjoyed an evening of feasting and learning about various cultures represented by students, faculty and staff.
The event, previously known as the International Student Dinner, happens twice a year -- which gives everybody a few months to recover from the feast!

Back from Kansas

I took this picture through the windshield of a rental car while doing 75 on my way to some major Kansas metropolis. (Actually, for those of you who don't know me or are new to reading this blog, most of the "facts" reported have been stretched thinner than salt water taffy on that pulling and stretching machine. But, man, do they ever taste good!)
After seven days in Kansas talking with current and future MBBS'ers, I am happy to be back in my sweet old office.
While I do miss the wide open spaces of Kansas and the brilliant pink and purple sunsets, I'm happy to be back home in California.

Conference on the Water!

This roving reporter has been sent on a grueling assignment for the rest of this week. I'll be joining several youth pastors from the Pacific District of MB Churches for their "Conference on the Water." We'll be staying on a houseboat on Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, for three nights. I'm sure it'll be pretty rough.

Ministry Quest September Retreat

13 leaders arrived in Fresno from all over North America (well, actually, mostly from Saskatchewan and Kansas with a few other places represented like B.C., South AND North Dakota, and I guess that's about it) for their fall retreat last week. The students are part of a program called Ministry Quest that calls, nurtures and enables high school student leaders. Each participant was nominated for the program by someone in their home church. The home church plays a large role in the year-long process of MQ by calling, sending and mentoring each student.
In the picture above you can see (kind of) confetti being tossed onto a few of the students as they arrive in Fresno. Ben and Julie arrived on an earlier flight and had a few minutes to plan their grand confetti welcome of their new friends.


During the five day retreat the MQ'ers had many opportunities to have fun together while also learning how ways to improve on their leadership skills. The picture above shows the students working together to stack Tim Horton's cups using only the string and rubber band.
Yeah, that's all fine and good, but CHECK OUT THOSE SOCKS!

Seminary Invades Hartland Christian Camp

More than 100 members of the MBBS community traveled the crooked mountain roads to Hartland Christian Camp for the seminary's annual retreat. At an elevation above 4000 feet the sky shows what it can look like without the mascara of smog that occasionally blankets the Fresno area.
The highlight for many MBBS'ers, however, centered upon the words of former President and Old Testament scholar Elmer Martens. Martens and current MBBS Pastor in Residence Gaylord Goertzen teamed together to crack open the first chapter of Genesis during Saturday morning worship. I believe that in the photo above Elmer is cracking wise about something that Gaylord finds pretty amusing; as did all in attendance I'm sure.
The theme for the school year, as chosen by the Student Leadership Team, is "Beginning" as taken from the first words of our holy text. (In the beginning God created... for those of you who need the teleprompter on this one.)
The Hartland retreat also affords students, staff and faculty alike the time to forge new friendships and strengthen existing ones. The happy lads below posed for this picture in an attempt to personify the positive, friendly vibes of the MBBS community. (Even though two of them are from Nebraska and were already in mourning over that fact that their beloved Cornhuskers got spanked by USC on Saturday by some horrible amount of points. They were asked to wipe the tears from their eyes before this very photo. It took like 45 minutes, but as you can see by the result, the wait paled in comparison to the results.)

Coffee and Donuts!

Caffeine and Fat Pills!

You know it's a good day at MB Biblical Seminary when someone breaks out the Starbucks coffee travelers and a couple boxes of donuts to share, as was the case just minutes ago. (It was so recent, in fact, that this reporter faces the daunting task of typing while hyped up on caffeine, sugar and fat, especially on the first day of breaking a 4 day caffeine fast in the hopes of proving to the drug my independence of its silky smooth clutches, which, actually, was a smashing failure as my brain cried out "give me the drug!", but that's another story altogether...)
Each Thursday morning at 10 am the Student Leadership Team sponsors a community coffee break. All members of the seminary community are invited to come and stand around drinking coffee and chowing down on refreshments while telling tales of mythical proportions.

MBBS student Megan Zupancic spends a quiet moment coaxing the dark nectar of the gods from the thermal-lined box intent on keeping coffee smoking hot for hours on end at coffee break this morning.