My first semester at Fuller was in the fall of 1987. The Whittier quake had just occurred. I have to admit, it scared me to death. No macho here. Having grown up during the Cold War era, when the ground began to shake I thought for sure that someone had dropped the bomb! But the Whittier quake was not the biggest shaking I had during the fall of 1987. The biggest shaking I experienced took place in the classrooms of Payton Hall. But, let me first tell you a little about myself.

I was born in Seattle, WA, to wonderful Christian parents. They raised their five children modeling the Christian faith, and I am very grateful for that. As I look back I know that it was only their love and divine grace that sustained my desire to serve God. My earliest memories in life are of waking up on a wooden bench after the evening church service with one side of my face red and sweating from the pressure of the seat. At the age of six, in response to the evangelist's call for those who wanted to give their life to Christ, I walked to the altar in a sawdust-floored tabernacle at summer camp meeting in Canby, Oregon. I remember how my mom's face beamed when I started for the altar. While growing up, like most kids I had my ups and downs with church. I never had a problem with God, my problem was that the God I heard about in church was not someone I could ever please. My particular denomination does not believe in the doctrine of eternal security, we held firmly to the doctrine of eternal insecurity. Moreover, being from a holiness tradition, we did not take too kindly to drinking, smoking, cussing, and being part of a liberal denomination (note the synonyms). These activities will get you a ticket to . . . well, you know. Nobody ever said it publicly, but there was a strong sense that our denomination and maybe some others to the theological right of us would make it to heaven, but not the others.

After graduating from High School, I worked for a couple of years, was married in the late 70's and was general contractor for five years. Through several experiences my wife and I decided that God had a different plan for us. This led to our leaving home and going to college in the Seattle area. During my time in college I became convinced that I wanted to teach college. Knowing that it would require a graduate degree I began to look for seminaries. We explored Fuller, and really liked it, but that was before we were told that "Fuller was liberal." The dreaded "L" word! How could I go to a LIBERAL seminary? The more we looked, though, the more we came back to Fuller, and eventually we decided that was where we would go. I remember telling the Academic Dean at my college; he informed me that I should not look to him for future employment. That was comforting.

So, with fear and trembling we packed up the van and moved to Pasadena. I was afraid. What would I do if I had a class with a "liberal"? Worse, what if their liberalness began to rub off on me and I backslid?!! My first class was in Payton Hall 301, New Testament Introduction. I sat in the room watching the students come into class. Eventually the professor entered. He began by introducing himself, then he paused, and said that he wanted to begin with prayer. I thought, what, is he going to read something out of a prayer book? He began to pray . . . and my world began to shake. This man was praying, I mean praying, an Episcopalian was really praying! He wasn't even halfway through the prayer and I realized something I did not think possible; this man knew God. Could it be that he too was a believer? Now, I know that the way a person prays is no clear indication of their relationship with God. But in this case, it was, and it was exactly what I needed to see. That was my great shaking in the fall of 87. It continued throughout my time at Fuller.

Coming to Fuller was exactly what I needed! At Fuller I discovered that the church was a lot bigger than I had thought, and that the people of God was made up of many people, from many places, with many different beliefs. I came to see that those differences brought life to the church, and opened my mind to accept people in a way I had never done before. My experience at Fuller positively influences my teaching every day, and I will always be grateful for the shaking in fall of 87.