Graduation speeches are always difficult. Speakers come from outside the institution and often struggle to find meaningful things to communicate to the graduates in addition to the fact that they are the only ones that stand between the graduates and their diplomas!

This spring, Angela Bymaster, MD, a 2000 alumna of George Fox now serving as a doctor in a low-income neighborhood in San Jose, Calif., spoke to our undergraduates. I appreciated what she had to say and wanted to take the opportunity to share her address with you.

Robin and Ruth Baker with alumna Angela Bymaster prior to her commencement speech

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You all know that last night we beat one of the best teams we have ever played – Amherst College. Just before the game, we hosted parents and fans at the 84th Street Grill in downtown Holland. Almost 75 people were in attendance, and that is saying something when you are travelling from Portland, Ore., to get to the game. As I was about to leave to go to the venue, we took a picture together and then Keisha’s father asked me to say a prayer for the group. I told them what I always want to do is ask God for victory, but I know his interests go far beyond a game. (We all agreed we wanted victory!) So we prayed for our players and our coaches. We prayed that they would honor Christ, that they would play hard and to their best ability, and that they would be safe from injury.
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When we made the decision to bring back football to George Fox several years ago, we knew at the time the right coach would be key to a successful program. I suppose that is true of any program or successful business operation. Leadership is vital to success.

I’m sure you are aware that at least some university football programs have poor reputations. They have low graduation rates, players who are constantly encountering difficulty inside the classroom and out, and have little connection with the direct educational mission of the institution. We want to build a program that is both competitive athletically and also fits with the educational and spiritual mission of the institution. We want our coach to teach young men to play competitive football, to help them gain a vision for life, to come to know Christ more intimately, and to succeed in the classroom. We knew that finding the right coach for this assignment would not be an easy task.

I know that people wondered if we could draw top candidates for a start-up football program at George Fox. We were actually pleased with the pool of candidates. Interestingly, several head coaches of Division III schools looked closely at the job. When I asked them why they were interested, they almost universally noted that you rarely get a chance to build something from the ground. In a new program you hire all the coaches, create the traditions, and build the program around your vision all at once. When you take over a program, they noted, transformation is difficult because you inherit the tradition and conditions of the past. That certainly can be positive, but it can also be limiting.

After several conversations with excellent coaches, we focused our attention on Chris Casey of Aloha High School. Chris is a graduate of Linfield and had coached at two Northwest Conference schools, Linfield and Whitworth.  He had recruited for Division III programs and knew the special care it takes to encourage and work with students in non-scholarship programs. He knows the high school football network in the Northwest. He built a high school program that had failed to win a game in four years to one that won the Oregon 6A championship. Most importantly, he is a deep man of Christian faith and integrity.

Deep in the core of my being I am a person of old-fashioned values. My father and grandfather taught me to show up for work every day, focus on what you can do, and never make excuses for lack of success. When I met Chris for coffee to talk to him about the job, he said some things that made me believe that he is the kind of person that we need at George Fox. He talked about when he first came to Aloha what they talked about is that they could not be successful: “poor facilities, lack of community support, lack of program development, the other schools in the conference were far richer.” Chris’ reply: “Thank you for sharing your concerns but it is the last time I want to hear them. From this minute forward, we will be known for what we do with what we have – whatever that may be. We will not make excuses or compare ourselves to others. We will unite as a group and emphasize what we can do as a community.”

I immediately thought this is the kind of coach my dad was and one I would like to play for. His attitude was perfect for a start-up program that will lack key things, including a winning tradition. Coach Casey will focus on what he can do now and then move our team toward a better future.

Most important, when I was talking to the principal of Aloha High about Chris, he noted that there was no one on campus that more exemplified Christ than Chris Casey. Chris has built a great football program at Aloha, but of more significance, he has been building young men. He has invested in the families of the Aloha community by helping them gain a vision for life out of the experience of football.

I am proud that Chris has decided to join us. He is returning home where he grew up in the shadow of George Fox University. Our future football program is in fine hands.

Angie (Powell) Bymaster lives in a 1,000-square-foot home in the heart of an impoverished San Jose neighborhood, but not because she has to. An M.D. married to an electrical engineer, Angie and her family of six could be living in a luxurious, roomy home in the suburbs.

Instead she chooses to live among the poor and make a transformative difference with her life.

At one time, devoting her profession to caring for the poor would have seemed an unlikely vocational choice for Angie, a 2000 George Fox graduate. All that changed after she enrolled at George Fox.

Angie initially had no intention of attending George Fox, the school her mother chose. “I had experienced church, and I really did not want to be in an environment that was closed – where you could not ask questions,” she says. “I thought a Christian college would be narrow and limiting.”

But George Fox pursued her. Coach Wes Cook recruited her, sending postcards and calling her on the phone. An admissions officer even came by her home in Roseburg, Ore., to help her fill out the application. Reluctantly, Angie visited campus and sensed something special. The community was welcoming and friendly – more than other places. She decided that she could get the same education at George Fox as anywhere, and she already knew the people were great.

She enrolled, double-majoring in chemistry and writing/literature and joining track. She enjoyed connecting with other students in small groups and spending time with professors outside of the classroom, even over dinner or just hanging out.

Angie’s professors became her mentors. Several science professors – Carlisle Chambers, Dwight Kimberly, and especially Paul Chamberlain – discussed the connection of faith and science with her. Less expected, perhaps, literature professors Bill Jolliff and Ed Higgins challenged some of her simplistic ways of thinking about God.

“I did not think a Christian place would allow that to happen,” Angie says. “I was surprised at the various perspectives that were alive at George Fox. Because George Fox was committed to the pursuit of truth within a community that loved God, it was a safe place to have very complex conversations.”

The mentoring did not stop at reexamining theology. Through other mentors, Angie also discovered a deep commitment to integrating faith with action, which translated into caring for the poor. She joined in with other students who, through Urban Ministries, went to downtown Portland on Friday nights to serve and hang out with homeless people. “We got into this habit, and God convicted my heart that this should be a normal part of my life,” she says.

It was at George Fox that Angie experienced the freedom to seek truth in a community of grace.  She felt safe evaluating her positions and exploring new ideas as never before. She learned that when you are in an environment where faith is taken seriously, you can “step outside” the boundaries at times.

“George Fox helped me get away from concrete, black-and-white thinking,” she says. “God is big enough to allow us to talk about important and difficult things. If I was at a secular institution, I would have felt limited.”

After graduating, Angie went on to medical school at the University of Iowa and soon married her husband Brett, an electrical engineer. The two met during a Mission Year experience in Oakland, Calif.

Today, Angie works for the county of Santa Clara serving the poor and homeless as a doctor for those without access to medical care. The couple lives with their four children (three of whom were adopted from Sudan), in a high-crime area that is ethnically diverse.

“We live and serve among the poor,” she says.

Why did Angie choose this type of job when she could be making a significant income serving a suburban group?

“I have a really interesting job where I make a difference,” she explains. “God called me into this. I have had to learn the ‘gospel of enough’ – be satisfied with what we have. When I take care of wealthy people, I have improved their health only a little. When I serve the poor, I make a transformative difference in the health of each person I serve.”

Angie said she and her husband intended to move into their low-income neighborhood to minister to others, but in actuality, they found that the community teaches them how to live.

“Why do I deserve more when the people around me suffer with less? Just being in this neighborhood made me realize I have way more than enough.”

About seven or eight years ago I met Jim Steinfeld. If you know me, I like to keep people at a distance until I get a real feel for who they are and if they can be trusted. Jim was not like that. From the first moment that I met him he was “intrusive.” I do not mean “intrusive” in a bad way, really – he just always wanted to know your story. For example, even though we only knew each other peripherally he would ask me, “Robin, what is God doing in your life?” I know that seems like a fair question from one Christian to another, but not if you are familiar with male evangelical culture in America! You can talk about a lot of things together, but “What is God doing in your life?”  Come on, that is private!

I do not think Jim thought of “public” versus “private” questions in adult community conversation. I came to think of Jim as a man on a mission. He had operated his family business for many years, Steinfeld’s Pickles, but when he sold the company and stepped out of the business world he dedicated his life to making a difference for Christ in the lives of others. He loved and was deeply passionate about many things – his wife, his family, the outdoors, his dogs (not all equal) – but he believed that God had placed him here to tell others about Christ and to help them develop in Christ one they had met him personally. He was consumed with telling the story of Jesus to others, and it was why he loved the organization of Young Life so much.

Jim and I met once a month for coffee for almost four years. I would not say that those meetings were always comforting. Jim was not really a pastor as much as a mentor – a guy who would challenge you to grow in Christ and professionally. As one of his friends said at his memorial, “We loved this dude, but he was exhausting!” He always suggested to me that our purpose on this earth was to honor “the author” of our story. We were created uniquely to fill a gap in the heart of the universe that only we could fill. So when you met with Jim he wanted to know how you were honoring the author. He was not the kind of guy that accepted platitudes for answers, either. If you would not give a direct answer, he would just keep digging and digging until you had to give up what you were holding back. I got to tell you, that is frustrating. One of his favorite passages came from Romans 12: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed through the renewal of your mind.” If you were not actively “renewing” your mind in Christ, Jim was going to challenge you to get there. Everyone needs a friend like Jim who won’t let you get away with just pretending to live a Christian life.

I am sure all of you are familiar with the traditional question in American culture: “How are you doing?” Most of us do not answer that question honestly because we really do not think the other person wants to know how we are doing. The correct answer is “fine” or “great.” Jim, unfortunately, twisted the question just slightly to ask, “How is your soul doing?” Now that type of question is just not fair! You can deceive your friend, but if you answer that question wrong, you may as well be telling a lie to God! Jim pushed, probed and prodded. He wanted you to live each day fully honoring the author of your story.

Almost two years ago now I was driving in Portland and I got a call on my phone from Jim. I do not answer directly every call that comes to my phone, but Jim’s I picked up. I could tell from his voice that something was wrong. He started by noting that he wanted to tell me something personally rather than have me hear it through e-mail or from someone else. I do not know if you have ever received that kind of phone call, but there is a silence that intrudes in the conversation that, although it only lasts seconds, it seems like a lifetime. Then, he calmly told me that he was in the hospital and had been diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer. Silence again. What do you say when a friend calls and tells you he may be dying? I think I muttered the words, “I am sorry” several times while holding back tears. I could not believe it. Jim is about as godly a man as I know and it just did not seem fair.

From the moment Jim received his diagnosis he had a laser focus on making a difference for Jesus with every breath of life he had left. The tumor was inoperable, but he almost immediately began radiation treatments. I was headed to England for two weeks that summer, and just before I left I went over to visit and pray with Jim. Patsy greeted me at the door to their home in the West Hills and quietly warned me that Jim was not doing well. She took me into a first-floor room where he was laying on a bed. He had lost a great deal of weight, his hair was gone, he looked gaunt, and he could barely speak. He was obviously suffering. I talked to him for about an hour and he responded at times with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down but few words. I didn’t tell him at the time, but I had come to the conclusion that my friend would not be there when I returned from England. I prayed for healing with Jim because that was my heart’s desire.

It is hard to lose real friends – the kind that pray with you and support you because they know who you are. Perhaps you’re not like me, but I do not always disclose too much to people. If they really discover that you are not as good as you look on the outside, will they still travel with you in life? If you do not know the answer to that question, why risk transparency? As you have already seen, with Jim there was no choice. You also found that in transparency your friendship was strengthened and the bonds of love grew. That kind of friend is hard to come by, and I thought for sure he was gone.

I kept up the best I could on Jim’s condition while I was gone and when I returned, to my surprise, he was doing much better. We did not know if God had healed him, but he had certainly given him more time. Jim used every minute of it. He used the word “green light” to describe the nature of his conversations after he was diagnosed with cancer. He said, “When you have cancer, you always have a “green light” to tell people about Jesus and your story. No one will turn you down.” He turned every day and every minute into “green light” occasions.

I will never forget the day he did our chapel in the fall of 2011. All of us can be critical of speakers in big venues; sometimes they communicate well and sometimes not. But the day Jim spoke, you could hear a pin drop almost the entire time. There is something about a transparent story that draws everyone into the speaker’s tale. Jim started his story that day by noting that he had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. At that moment everyone wants to know: Are you angry? How do you deal with your suffering? Why did God bring this on you? Although we all know that we will die some day, it always seems so distant and far away. When you have someone standing in front of you with a death sentence, you want to know: How are they dealing with that?

He answered that question with a Scripture from the Psalms: “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.” Jim noted that God really only gives us one day at a time, and we are asked to live each day to the fullest for him. Most of us know that it is really not how long we live that counts but how well. Jim showed us how to live well. Each day he treated people well in spite of his suffering, he shared the love of Jesus, he talked about hope instead of death, and he met each day with optimism in the face of his death sentence. In my mind, it was the best chapel that I have heard in my 13 years at George Fox University.

Last month Jim left this earth to move on to live with Jesus and all the saints that have come before. Thousands gathered to honor Jim and the author of his story. I will never forget the picture at the back of the Sunset Presbyterian sanctuary. Jim was standing on a forest road, arms held high and open – inviting the world in to hear the story of Jesus.

The last time I saw Jim he could not see me. He was asleep on the first floor of his house. I miss Jim’s smile and his spirit. I miss his constant voice of hope in the midst of challenge. I miss his clear voice for Jesus. He once told me that when you think about your life, sit down and write your eulogy. Focus on what you want to be remembered for. Then live in that direction. It was his hope that we would all live to honor the author of our story.

In memory of Jim,

Robin Baker

What can be done to make college affordable? How are colleges to remain fiscally viable while also making a college education possible to more people? These and other questions were discussed at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities’ meeting in Washington, D.C., this week.

I serve on the board of this organization, which represents the interests of independent higher education to the U.S. government. We gathered shortly after President Obama’s rousing speech on the future of higher education at the University of Michigan. As most of you are probably aware, the president proposed the expansion of federal aid programs for students, including college work/study, but he also called for colleges and universities to limit their tuition increases. He noted that the government was tired of increasing federal aid by $500 to $1,000 just to see tuition go up by the same amount. Thus, he also called for “price controls” on institutions that continued to raise tuition above the consumer price index.

We heard from both Democrats and Republicans on the same issue during the week, and it is clear that not all on either side of the political aisle are supportive of the president’s proposals. At the same time, all of the politicians seemed to agree that college costs are “out of control” and they want to do something about it. Exactly what that might mean no one is sure at the moment. NAICU President David Warren believes that, however the debate turns out, this may be a major turning point in the history of American higher education.

The NAICU meetings do an excellent job of connecting college presidents with congressional leadership and introducing us to key research affecting major issues in higher education. This year, we heard from two economists, Archibald and Feldman, who recently completed a book entitled Why Does College Cost so Much? They suggested that while it is true that tuition increases always rise faster than CPI, it is not because colleges are letting prices spiral out of control. Most of the public does not understand our industry.

Over time, we have found ways in the manufacturing sector of our economy to make manufactured goods using mechanized robots instead of people. The resulting efficiency of manufacturing increases quality and lowers price. They also suggest that these conditions are not present in any service industry in our economy. Higher education is a very labor-intensive service industry focused on the development of young men and women. The same conditions exist in other service areas of our economy. Thus, the price of a college education continues to rise naturally. (They also noted that increasing use of technology drives up the price of higher education rather than down.)

While Archibald and Feldman explained the reasons why our costs rise, they agreed as well that one of our major challenges is that the wages of parents in all categories of the economy have not increased for the past 10 years. The price of higher education is taking a more significant portion of a family’s income than it was 10 years ago and, as a result, parents have become very price sensitive. States have also decreased student-centered need grants, further eroding the support parents have had for higher education. As parents look at options available to them, they are increasingly more likely to encourage their children to consider community colleges or state universities during this recessionary period. We learned that in order to retain and keep students, private universities have had to further “discount” their tuition, further eroding their ability to keep up with cost escalation.

As I sit in the audience in some of these meetings, I sometimes think to myself: “Where is the good news?” Perhaps our cost model is understandable, but our parents’ ability to pay for what we do may be eroding. I wanted to ask: “Does anyone have a positive suggestion for change?” Fortunately, somebody (probably most of us) was thinking the same thing and someone else beat me to the question. Several speakers offered excellent suggestions for future planning.

First, like it or not, we are going to have to find ways to reduce our costs, and that means we will redesign some of what we do. We have to make sure we focus on what is core to our mission and success – for most of us that will be student learning (whether graduate, undergraduate or the co-curricular program). The methods by which we accomplish learning may have to change, but we must ensure that quality in learning is central to our efforts. Institutions that will thrive in the next 10 years will be those that remain mission centric and find ways to reduce or change administrative operations that still achieve important mission goals but at a reduced cost.

Second, thriving institutions will focus on their “difference.” When it comes to George Fox, what is our unique place in the higher education system of the Northwest? How do we tell our story so that our alumni and future students hear it well and resonate with who we are becoming? Our vision is “to become one of the most innovative and engaging universities in the western United States known for academic excellence and for connecting the message of Jesus Christ to the global challenges and opportunities of the future.” How do we make that known?

Third, institutions that succeed will champion student success. They will focus on attraction, belonging, engagement and connectivity. The data across the United States suggests that when students find a connection they stay at a university, they do well in the classroom, and they complete their degree on time.

There were many other suggestions, but these three seemed to be stated frequently. All the speakers made it clear that the highly endowed colleges will continue to operate as they have for generations. Their money enables them to work outside the economic conditions that most institutions face.

We will see many challenges come to us over the next five years, and our ability to work together will be key to our ability to flourish during a time of retraction. Some of our “models” will change, but the transformative nature of our student work will remain consistent. We are preparing students well to make a kingdom difference in the communities that they join when they leave George Fox

On the first day of orientation this fall I met John, a student who had just flown in from Massachusetts. His parents couldn’t make it for orientation, so he had to go through the orientation process alone. He was thousands of miles from home, in a different culture with new people. At the time, I didn’t really think a great deal about it.

After our orientation ended, my wife and I took our daughter away to college and found out how difficult the transition can be. As a result of my own experience, I returned to campus and had the admissions staff provide me a list of students who had come alone and were far from home. I wrote a note to each of them and invited them into a conversation. I was actually surprised when several of them took me up on the offer of coffee and a conversation.

I so much enjoyed sitting with John and hearing about his dreams, what he believed God was calling him to be, and what he believed he needed to do to achieve that dream. I learned about his family and his friends back home. I felt his homesickness and shared just a bit in his life story. I was glad God called him to be a part of our institution.

I relay this story because I feel most a part of the mission of George Fox University when I am engaged in relationships with students, faculty and donors. We use the phrase “be known” to describe our vision. God has given each person a unique story, and we want to know that story and empower that student or donor to fulfill God’s call. When I take the time to walk alongside those engaged at George Fox, as Eric Liddell once said, “I feel the pleasure of God.”

I describe my passion because the obstacles are many. The frustrations of students, faculty and staff “bubble up” to my office. Angry parents sometimes call. We never have enough money to do what we’d really like to do. Two employees are mad at each other and need a referee. Five people need an answer now. Some says we’re too conservative, others say we’re too liberal. There is little time to read, think and pray.

Things seem to conspire to consume my time, disrupting my day and my rhythm. I start to think, “Lord, why am I here?” Then, all of a sudden, a student drops by and pops her head in the door. “Prez B, you got a few minutes?” It’s then I remember: I am here for students. I’m here to help George Fox become a place where students are known for serving the world in the name of Jesus.