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Bethany to Host Assemblies of God Southwest Regional
Higher Education Meeting
Bethany University is pleased to host the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Dr. George O. Wood, on Monday, November 19th. Dr. Wood will lead a strategic collaboration with leadership from Bethany University; sister institution, Vanguard University (Costa Mesa, California); and church leadership from the Northern and Southern California Districts of the Assemblies of God. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss ways to strengthen Assemblies of God higher education in the western region of the United States.
Dr. George O. Wood was elected chief executive officer of the Assemblies of God at the 52nd General Council in August 2007. As general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, USA, Dr. Wood leads part of the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world. The Assemblies of God, USA has over 12,300 congregations in the United States with some 2.8 million members and adherents.
Prior to his present position, Dr. Wood served the church as its general secretary for 14 years. He was assistant superintendent of the Southern California District from 1988-1993. He pastored Newport-Mesa Christian Center in Costa Mesa, California, for 17 years. During his tenure, the church experienced significant growth, relocated and constructed new facilities, and gave $1 million to world missions in the last biennium of his pastorate.
In the November 11, 2007 issue of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel, Dr. Wood lists five major core values. The second core value speaks directly to the Assemblies of God’s dedication to higher education: “. . . we need to invest strategically in the next generation. We have hundreds of thousands of children and young people in our churches whom we must conserve and prepare. They are our future church planters, pastors, missionaries and lay leaders.” Dr. Wood’s commitment to the next generation of leaders confirms the reason for his visit to the Bethany University community!
Governor Schwarzenegger Extends Congratulations to Bethany Graduates
Bethany Debate takes third place at Spring Pacific Southwest Championship!
March 3-4, 2007
The Bethany University debate team took home third place this past weekend at the third of the big three California championships - the Annual Spring Pacific Southwest Championships.
The team also had individual members earn top speaker honors at the tournament. Sarajane Stewart was awarded 2nd best speaker, and Ryan Popineau earned 20th best speaker.
Bethany has done extremely well at the California championships triad this year - taking first and third place at the Fall Pacific Southwest Championship, first and second place at the Northern California Championship, and now third place at the Spring Pacific Southwest Championship.
Some of the colleges and universities in attendance at the Spring Pacific Southwest Championship included: Azusa Pacific, Point Loma, Claremonte, Vanguard, Pepperdine, Cal Baptist University, San Diego State University, and others.
The team of Sarajane Stewart and Ryan Popineau took home third place in junior division. They first won in the octofinals where they opposed the resolution: "The war on drugs is in need of a new metaphor". This advanced them to the quarterfinals where they affirmed the resolution: "The State of California should hold parents accountable for their children's education". This took them to the semifinal round where they were narrowly defeated on a split 2-1 decision on the topic of whether or not the U.S. Government should remove subsidies to sugar farmers and lift sugar tariff's for developing nations.
Other topics at the tournament included: Whether or not there is any real difference between democrats and republicans, whether or not women have an easier time censoring themselves than men have in displaying emotions, whether or not the avian flu crisis is more pressing than the aids crisis, and whether or not cameras should be allowed in the courtroom.
University's oldest grad, 98, shares vivid memories
By Chuck Anderson
Press-Banner
January 21, 2007
TURLOCK - It was the time of the Great Depression. World War I was fresh in everyone's minds. Herbert Hoover had replaced Calvin Coolidge in the White House, and Thomas Edison still was patenting inventions.
"Things were very different," Christine Kane recalls of the period when she was a student at a small San Francisco college that has since grown to become Scotts Valley's Bethany University.
She graduated from Glad Tidings Bible Institute in 1931, making her - at age 98 - the university's oldest living graduate. Her name is widely known on the Bethany campus, although she hasn't been able to travel toScotts Valley since 2003.
Today, she lives in a Turlock nursing home, with frequent visits from friends and a niece. Sometimes, but not always, she remembers happenings from long ago with startling clarity.
San Francisco in the 1920s and '30s was an unlikely center for spiritual renewal. Glad Tidings had opened in 1919 to train new ministers and church workers. Kane - Christine Fry back then - was a young student who sang and played piano.
"There was a lot of evangelism," she said recently, her eyes shining. "We would go out and have street meetings." The meetings would involve the Glad Tidings band marching up and down the street to gain the attention of the street people, followed by a religious service.
"There were jailhouse services," too, she recalled. "We also would go to hospitals and other places to minister to people. Often, the city would include us in their official activities."
Glad Tidings had a large chapel, band and choir. The music attracted many people, some of whom enrolled as students, she said.
The institute and church were Assemblies of God institutions. Over time, the institute expanded. Eventually, it became Bethany Bible College and moved to Scotts Valley in 1950.
The current campus was chosen over a site near Carmel that became the state-owned Asilomar Conference Grounds. Today, Bethany is a 600-student university affiliated with the 460 Assemblies of God churches in Northern California and Nevada.
Bethany offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in many disciplines. Since Kane's college days, its mission has expanded to produce not only ministers but also other professionals who live a Christian life, according Maximo Rossi, president of the school.
Kane spent her life after graduation active in a Merced County church, singing in the choir, playing piano, teaching Sunday school and transporting children and adults to services.
She eventually met a widower who asked her to help him raise his children, and they married. She has survived her husband and six sisters.
Over the past eight decades, Kane has made major donations to Bethany's scholarship endowment and visited the campus frequently. Two of her sisters also donated to the endowment.
"She came to our annual homecoming every year," said Darlene Little, special assistant to the president. "The last time was in 2003. After a choral concert, Christine offered to play some piano tunes for the audience."
At the time, she was 94.
"She has a very jazzy piano style," Little said. "People loved it."
Copyright © 2007 Press-Banner
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