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2012-13 University Passage

Jon Wallace Thursday, April 12th, 2012

Dear APU Community,

As we lean into our vision to become that “city on a hill,” I believe our practice of prayerfully selecting a University Passage serves as a powerful reminder of the foundation of our vision, while affirming the Lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture. Choosing a passage also draws us together, prompts thoughtful reflection and study, and aligns our planning and organizational endeavors for the next academic year. As you know, each year we emphasize a different cornerstone.

Over the course of the 2011–12 year, we have probed Proverbs 3, which called us to find ways to recognize that wisdom is a gift from God and to discern how to live deeply with the world around us. This text also enabled us to focus on the cornerstone of Scholarship and invited us into the Old Testament.

As we turn now to explore the cornerstone of Service, we were thrilled that so many community members—students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and trustees—participated. Reading the submissions, we felt your enthusiasm and sense of responsibility for selecting a passage that God would have us examine in the next academic year.

When the committee gathered, we prayed first for God’s leading as we considered the rich options before us. We assessed the thoughtful recommendations offered and felt the Spirit moving us to consider passages that turned our attention outward in service to others.

Consensus quickly emerged that James 2 would offer fertile ground for next year. This passage uniquely represents an integrated understanding of our Christian walk consistent with our Wesleyan Holiness heritage and our desire to bring authentic faith to bear in transformational acts of service. The structure of the chapter itself inspires. The first half calls us to respect and honor the dignity of all people. What a great testimony to our commitment to valuing people and relational unity! The second half follows naturally in expressing our faith in actions. I have included the passage below for your convenience.

As always, I look forward to how God uses this sacred text and our response to it to prepare our community for the year ahead. Thank you for your engagement in this process and your willingness to share your reflections.

Blessings,

President Jon R. Wallace, DBA

______________________

University Passage 2012–13

James 2 (NRSV)

1My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

8You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 9But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. 20Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith without works is barren? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. 23Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? 26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.

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The South African Experience

Jon Wallace Thursday, November 17th, 2011

It’s early morning here at the APU South African campus in Pietermaritzburg. I’m sitting in the main lodge that serves as the dinner hall. The lodge sits high on the property overlooking a lush green valley.

Though most of our 54 students are still asleep, the kitchen staff goes about their morning chores in hushed Zulu, greeting me with warm and generous words. I arrived here on Tuesday morning after more than 24 hours. I’m literally on the opposite end of the world from Southern California. After that kind of a journey you might ask: Is it worth it? Does the African experience really make such a difference that we should send some of our very best undergraduates half way around the world to live immersed in this culture? Are there better ways to extend the 112-year commitment to God’s work in the world that has so defined the APU God First mission?

My answer this morning as it has been for the previous nine semesters I’ve traveled here remains a resounding, “Yes!” The South Africa Semester, like many of our cross-border/cross-cultural learning opportunities, perfectly captures our Christian higher education mission.

Yesterday, I visited many of the service-learning and ministry sites that comprise part of the course requirements here and witnessed firsthand the impact this country and its people are having on our students. Today, we will gather to celebrate together their last full day on this campus before these students head out for their last four weeks in Cape Town. In chapel, I’m going to encourage our students to take seriously the seeds of growth and change planted this semester and ask them to consider what God may be preparing them for as they return to us on APU’s Azusa campus.

Without question, our South Africa student learning experience affirms and supports our collective vision of becoming that university on a hill. Pray with me for the last four weeks these students have here before they head home for Christmas. Pray that God will use their discoveries and learnings for His glory and His purposes and that these students and others like them will respond to His call upon their lives.

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2011-12 University Passage

Jon Wallace Thursday, March 24th, 2011

Five years ago, we embraced what has since become a meaningful practice—the selection of a University Passage that centers our campus community, upholds our Christ-centered identity, prompts thoughtful reflection and study, and aligns our planning and organizational endeavors for the next academic year. Each year we emphasize a different cornerstone.

Three years ago, we selected Philippians 2:1–18 as our guiding text for our cornerstone of Service. The following year, Matthew 5:1–16 drew our attention to our cornerstone of Community. This year, our focus on the cornerstone of Christ has been shaped by both a Gospel passage and a Pauline epistle: John 1:1–18 and Colossians 1:15–23. These last 12 months have also been distinguished by a process of affirming our values and ethos as a distinctly Christ-centered institution, reclaiming the rich history and tradition of the Christian academy. How appropriate that next year our University Passage focuses on the cornerstone of Scholarship and draws us into the Old Testament for study and reflection on wisdom.

Once again, our selection process involved feedback from hundreds of community members—students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and trustees. It was incredible seeing the enthusiastic response from so many in our community who understood the significance of this tradition and invested precious time in prayer and reflection upon verses we could lean into in the next academic year. When our committee met to review the recommendations, we began by reading aloud the three passages that received the most support. Consider how fortunate we are—we work at a place where our mission and purpose are such that reading Scripture together became an act of worship, a calling out to the Lord to identify the verses that this community needs as we seek to bring glory to Him and advance His Kingdom.

It became quickly apparent that Proverbs 3 would offer rich ground for next year. Individually and corporately, we will find ways to recognize that wisdom is a gift from God and to discern how to live deeply with the world around us. I look forward to the profound conversations to come from immersion in this Scripture and as we explore what it means to be both disciple and scholar. I have included the passage below for your convenience.

As always, I look forward to how God uses this sacred text and our response to it to prepare our community for the year ahead. Thank you for your engagement in this process and your willingness to share your reflections.

Shalom,

President Jon R. Wallace, DBA

___________________

University Passage 2011–12

Proverbs 3 (NRSV)

1My child, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments;
2for length of days and years of life
and abundant welfare they will give you.

3Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4So you will find favor and good repute
in the sight of God and of people.

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
6In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

7Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8It will be a healing for your flesh
and a refreshment for your body.

9Honor the Lord with your substance
and with the first fruits of all your produce;
10then your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will be bursting with wine.

11My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
12for the Lord reproves the one he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.

13Happy are those who find wisdom,
and those who get understanding,
14for her income is better than silver,
and her revenue better than gold.
15She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
16Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
18She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called happy.

19The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding he established the heavens;
20by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
and the clouds drop down the dew.

21My child, do not let these escape from your sight:
keep sound wisdom and prudence,
22and they will be life for your soul
and adornment for your neck.
23Then you will walk on your way securely
and your foot will not stumble.
24If you sit down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25Do not be afraid of sudden panic,
or of the storm that strikes the wicked;
26for the Lord will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being caught.

27Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to do it.
28Do not say to your neighbor,
“Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—
when you have it with you.

29Do not plan harm against your neighbor
who lives trustingly beside you.
30Do not quarrel with anyone without cause,
when no harm has been done to you.

31Do not envy the violent
and do not choose any of their ways;
32for the perverse are an abomination to the Lord,
but the upright are in his confidence.

33The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the abode of the righteous.
34Toward the scorners he is scornful,
but to the humble he shows favor.
35The wise will inherit honor,
but stubborn fools, disgrace.

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Our Country Needs Schools Like Azusa Pacific

Jon Wallace Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Yesterday I flew to our nation’s capital on the heels of President Obama’s State of the Union address to attend the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities’ 35th Annual Presidents Conference. I’d watched Obama, like so many Americans, eager to see if the spirit of civility that arose in the wake of the Arizona tragedy would remain. Political pundits claimed the president’s speech lacked the inspiration of the eulogy delivered days before in honor of the fallen in Arizona. But the essence of his address transcended partisanship. He issued a proclamation, a bold statement on how to “win the future.” His roadmap begins with the family, finds fuel in access to education, and challenges the American people to call upon the creativity that has launched our greatest innovations and resulted in our global leadership.

With bags in hand and in view of the snow that blanketed the mall, I considered again the president’s words. Obama summoned the American people to success. He outlined a call to action that places education and innovation front and center. As a university president, this challenge raises the heat under our mission and purpose. As the president of Azusa Pacific, the largest Christian college on the West Coast, a private institution that prepares the third largest number of educators in California, an academy with a $54 million science center and an exemplary faculty preparing future doctors and nurses, engineers and scientists, math teachers and physical therapists, the urgency that surrounds our distinct mission to equip disciples and scholars to advance the work of God in the world ratcheted up several notches.

President Obama exposed this dismal truth: “America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree. And so the question is whether all of us—as citizens, and as parents—are willing to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed.” Making an APU education accessible and affordable to those who want it, not to mention retaining them once here through to graduation, presents significant challenges that we’re meeting head on and determined to overcome.

I agree with Obama that “the education race doesn’t end with a high school diploma. To compete, higher education must be within reach of every American.” That’s why we want to ensure the affordability of an APU education for anyone who wants it. To do so, we’re focusing on transfer students, making the transition easier and earning an APU degree possible in two years. This not only means transfer students hit the job market faster, but also addresses the issue of access for ethnic minorities which remains a critical component of our commitment to diversity. We’re also keeping tuition increases modest, bearing in mind the economic beating many of our students’ parents have weathered in the last several years.

I loved it when Obama put the onus of sparking the love of learning back on the family. He said, “That responsibility begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It’s family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair; that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline.”

Obama championed the family and so do we. That respect for the family undergirded our decision to bring on the HomeWord Center for Youth and Family at APU. We want to give our community and alumni the resources and skills needed to nurture great marriages and raise good kids, people you and I want to call neighbor, whether that’s in Azusa or Zambia.

Then President Obama turned to the unsung hero: the teacher. He reminded us that “the biggest impact on a child’s success comes from the man or woman at the front of the classroom. In South Korea, teachers are known as ‘nation builders.’ Here in America, it’s time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect.” In 10 years, Obama wants 100,000 new math and science teachers. Think about that for a moment: We are in the business of equipping students poised to become nation builders and world changers.

What an opportunity, and this university can be part of that education revolution. We have great facilities in which to train future scientists, doctors, and math and science teachers, with the very best scholars to guide them. We have a track record of success—our graduates exceed the national average for obtaining admission to the best medical and dental schools and nursing and physical therapy programs by several fold. We train teachers that transform classrooms in math and in science, in English and in history. I’m the president, and I know I’m biased, but there’s proof to back up my claim. Superintendents in districts near and far comment on the difference in our graduates as educators. Yes, they possess the requisite competencies, but they also possess the character. Did you know we have two California Teachers of the Year in our alumni ranks?

Then Obama issued a challenge that I pray many of our current and prospective students and alumni considering career change heed, “In fact, to every young person listening tonight who’s contemplating their career choice: If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation; if you want to make a difference in the life of a child—become a teacher. Your country needs you.”

And this country needs universities like Azusa Pacific University. We have an awesome responsibility first to our God and then to our country. Join me in this effort.

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2010-11 University Passages Selected

Jon Wallace Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Dear APU Community,

Aligning our Christ-centered university community toward God’s purposes sets the right tone as we seek to reflect Him in all we do. Choosing a University Passage each year provides shared focus and unity as we begin to dream and cast vision for the next academic year. Two years ago, we selected Philippians 2:1–18 as our guiding text for our cornerstone of Service. This year, we listened to Matthew 5:1–16 steer us toward our cornerstone of Community. Next year, we intentionally focus on our cornerstone of Christ who is our Chief Cornerstone and the One that centers us in all of our endeavors.

Influenced by the comments and participation of hundreds of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and trustees, two passages captured the committee’s attention over and over again: John 1:1–18 and Colossians 1:15–23. In the end, we decided that our focus on Christ would be shaped by both a Gospel passage and a Pauline epistle. In the fall, we will examine what John conveys about Christ, and in the spring, we will turn to what Paul tells us. I have included the text of each passage below for your reading.

This summer, I ask that you spend time with these important verses, thinking deeply about the words and their influence on you and our community. As we have the last several years, I think it would be particularly helpful to look at these passages in light of our values-based questions: “Who am I?,” “What is my purpose?,” and “What difference will it make?”

I am excited to see how God uses these passages and our response to them to prepare our community for the year ahead. Thank you for your engagement in this process and your willingness to share your reflections.

Shalom,

Jon R. Wallace
President

____________________________

University Passages 2010–11
John 1:1–18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Colossians 1:15–23

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

21And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— 23provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

NRSV

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Update to the APU Community

Jon Wallace Monday, September 28th, 2009
In addition to our many accomplishments, we started a new tradition this year at orientation: a candle lighting ceremony.

In addition to our many accomplishments, we started a new tradition this year at orientation: a candle lighting ceremony.

Dear APU Community,

It was wonderful to join you a few weeks ago to kick off Azusa Pacific University’s 110th year! One of the most important things we do at APU is occasionally stop and take stock of the distance covered, the accomplishments achieved, and our significant victories.

Here are just a few of the amazing blessings we celebrate together this year.

• Total students served by the university last year: 10,500
• Total degrees granted: 2,500
• Current full-time university employees: nearly 400 faculty and 600 staff
• The university operated in Azusa, online, at seven Southern California regional campuses; in Los Angeles, High Sierra, and Colorado Springs; and internationally in China, South Africa, Germany, Ukraine, Singapore, Encinitas, Haiti, and Ghana.
• Our current undergraduate enrollment is the largest in university history with a total headcount of 4,300 and a full-time enrollment (FTE) of 4,215.
• We currently have 3,000 students living in on-campus residences. This, too, is our largest in history.
• We now have 15 recent graduates serving two years in a developing country, financially supported by the H.I.S.years program.

In addition to these impressive numbers, let me mention a few more accomplishments.

• Last year the university expended more than $2 million for faculty research grants, scholarship, and projects.
•  APU was recognized by Diverse Magazine as the 18th school in the nation (out of 3,500) to graduate Latinos in various master’s programs.
•  Our Service Learning Program was named to the U.S. President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. Stanford was the only other private college in California to be named.
•  In the last two years, more than 600 APU students participated in diversity training.
•  Sixteen student Fulbright grants have been awarded in the last seven years.
•  This summer, APU established the Center for Youth and Family under the direction of Jim Burns, Ph.D.
•  Last year was the single best year in fundraising in the university’s history. Amount raised: $12.5 million.
•  The successful collaboration with Legacy Ministries resulted in a rare collection of biblical antiquities and the acquisition of Dead Sea Scroll fragments.
•  Major construction initiatives included: Segerstrom Science Center, Munson Bavougian Tennis Courts, Sam’s Sub Shop, Paws and Go Mart, upgrade of the Foothill/Citrus intersection and widening of the sidewalks along Foothill Boulevard, and the Wynn Academic Center and outdoor amphitheater project (expected completion date: December 31)

I believe this last year, as measured by these accomplishments, prepares us for even greater God-honoring success into the future.

Though we’ve been blessed, we continue with caution in this turbulent economic time. This conservative and appropriate approach requires that we extend the hiring pause through January 2010 or until we gain a clearer picture of what lies ahead economically. At that time, the administration will review the need to continue or cease the hiring pause. I ask that in each of our roles we remain consistent in supporting our students with excellence.

After the completion of a busy week of Board meetings, I am encouraged by the incredible men and women who lead this institution through service as trustees, administrators, faculty, and staff who never fail to energize me. Thank you for all that you do!

Shalom,

Jon

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