Clarion 1979-05-04 Vol 54 No 21

              Carl Lundquist, president of Bethel College and Seminary, is be-ing
honored for 25 years of service.
This man, John Priestly, has found his calling in playing pick-up
basketball and hosting pop concerts.
Correction
Contrary to what is reported in the April 22 issue of the
Clarion, the Mounds Midway School of Nursing has made no de-cision
to phase out its program. In fact, Mounds Midway is ac-tively
recruiting applicants for the class to enter in 1979.
Bethel and Mounds Midway have enjoyed an excellent working
relationship. We regret any damage which may been caused to
Mounds Midway by the report contained in the Clarion article.
on the inside...
Honest to Goodness, p. 3
profs impressions, p. 4
Twin Cities sports, p. 6 1
MAY 4 1979
by Mark Rentz
Of the thirty Bethel College
commencement ceremonies, Carl .
H. Lundquist has seen 25 of them
as the school's president. The
name Lundquist is synonymous
with Bethel: he is the longest runn-ing
tradition at Bethel.
Nik ,Dag and cafeteria com-plaints
must bow and pay homage
to the man who symbolically por-trays
the Bethel trademark: con-servative
lifestyle blended with
commitment to educational and
spiritual pursuits.
President Lundquist leads all
Minnesota colleges and univer-sities
in having been in office
longest. He has jointly been the
president of Bethel Seminary for
as many years.
Bethel College has a tradition of
growth. Under Dr. Lundquist's
direction, Bethel College has in-creased
its enrollment from 404 to
1810. The Seminary has grown
from 135 to 482, and both have
become accredited by regional and
national agencies. The annual
budget has grown from $530,000
to $10.5 million.
Dr. Lundquist's faith and
foresight were the main motiva-tion
for Bethel's relocation from
a 10 acre site in St. Paul, valued in
1955 at $1.5 million, to a 250 acre
campus in Arden Hills which is
now valued at $23 million.
"Bethel's moving from a small
provincial school to a leading
center of evangelical higher educa-tion
is the most significant im-provement,
I think, that we've
made," said Lundquist.
President Lundquist noticed
that "We haven't had a lot of
traditions on campus. There is
more loyalty to Christ than to
rituals and ruts. Our heritage, in
Scandinavian roots, is a tangible
Thing like a conservative theology,
an ironic spirit, an evangelical
mission, and a distinctive
lifestyle."
In three more years the 25 year
tradition must retire mandatorily,
at the age of 65.
His plans after retirement in-clude
setting aside a room for a
model train set, to maybe do some
teaching, to stay active in the Bap-tist
Conference and to do some
writing.
"One of my hopes is that I can
help develop a retreat center for
Bethel students and faculty," said
President Lundquist, who is con-stantly
involved in leading retreats
for pastors, sem students, and
husbands and wives.
Four and six years ago Presi-dent
Lundquist took off a month
just to visit Bethel alumni who
were serving ' Christ in South
America. One couple in Columbia
wrote with flour on their jungle
airplane runway: "Welcome
Lundquists."
"I came back enthused about
Bethel. I am happy to see what
God is doing here. Working with
young people and preparing them
to become leaders is probably the
most strategic mission in meeting
our world for Christ."
Tradition is more than just
ritual. Bethel's President Lund-quist
has made "change" a Bethel
tradition.
Sure enuf, let's do it
Lundquist establishes tradition
Vol. 54 No. 21
Bethel College, St. Paul, MN
May 4, 1979
Priestly: ministry is a lifestyle
by Suzi Wells
"Who is that tall guy with the
beard who runs around the cam-pus,
plays pick-up basketball and
emcees Pops concerts in a white
tux?" a Bethel student asked.
"He's not a student, is he?"
No, he's not a college or even a
seminary student. He's John
Priestly. • •
Priestly works at Bethel with a
group of students in his Ministry
Oriented Partnership (MOPS)
group. MOPS is a pail of Evang'
America, a non-profit evangelistic
association that Priestly started a
couple of years ago. His purpose
in Evang America is to help peo-ple
meet their physical, emotional
and spiritual needs.
The MOPS group at Bethel
meets once a week to discuss the
needs of students here. The group
coordinates these efforts to meet
those needs during the week.
Priestly also coordinates a MOPS
group at Ramsey Community Col-lege.
Besides his working with
MOPS, Priestly is known for his
long history with the 50's music
group, Priest and the Scribes, and
this year, for High Priest and the
Pharisees. He coordinated an
SMP benefit concert (which he
emceed) in April.
"The cribes started when I was
a student here," Priestly said. "It
started as a skit, and eventually
was put on as a benefit. We
started out as a basically un-talented
group, with an emphasis
on humor. Recently more and
more talented people have joined
the group," he added.
But Priestly does not feel called
to a ministry in music. "My first
love is pick-up basketball," he ex-plained.
"I never lose, but it has
less to do with my ability and
more to do with Doten, Dye and
Lindsay. (Brian, Dan and Paul).
Blanchard (Dave) is in the same
class but never plays with me, so
he sits."
Priestly said his claim to fame in
life came when he was playing
basketball at • Shippenburg State
College in Pennsylvania. "I
blocked 21 shots in a single con-test,"
he recalled, "which was ap-proximately
48.4 per cent of their
shots. I blocked every shot
humanly possible and several
others.
Priestly plays pick up basketball
every day in the gym. "It's
fierce," he said. George Palke,
next year's basketball coach, ask-ed
Priestly to assist with the
basketball program this year.
Priestly first came to Bethel
when Carol Dischinger's (a junior
at Bethel) father saw him playing
basketball at a camp. He eventual-ly
played at Bethel, although he
admitted his basketball career at
Bethel was short and not as suc-cessful
as his past experience. "I
was entertaining, but I played
lousy," he said.
Priestly has long been identified
with the Scribes. His recent con-cert
was with the "Pharisees"
because the Scribes have gone on
their own.
Priestly said much work goes
into a good concert, like the last
one for SMP. "I put the whole
concert on to impress some kid,
and the punk didn't show," he
said.
MOPS, Scribes and basketball
are only parts of Priestly's life
now. He had big dreams for the
future of Evang America, which
cont. on page 3