“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.”– Philippians 4:4
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” – Psalm 84:11
The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009. Print.
As we enter into the fall season, we rejoice—indeed, we do rejoice—at the wonderful hand of God and how he has shown His face towards Warner Pacific University in this season. Where there is God’s grace, there must always be His glory, and surely without His grace, there will be no glory.
We are pleased to share with our alumni and external constituencies that for the second consecutive year Warner Pacific University is a recipient of a 5-year multi-million dollar federal award! Last year, the university received its first ever Title V Department of Education federal award in the amount of ~$3.0M over 5 years, and we became the first Oregon 4-year university to receive such an award. Consistent with the grant requirements, the university will use some of these monies to renovate the library to create a new Center for Academic Success and Achievement (or “CASA”) – a physical space on campus with designated staff to welcome students and lead programming that supports professional development for students and staff alike. We anticipate that the renovation will be fully complete in spring 2025, and we will welcome all for a special ribbon-cutting ceremony for this historic achievement.
Similarly, this year, the university received its first ever ~$3.2M Hawkins Program grant, which is under Part B of Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965. (Once again, we are the first 4-year Oregon University to receive this award.) The Hawkins Program aims to increase and retain the number of well-prepared teachers from diverse backgrounds. Each of these grants will benefit all students from every diverse and socioeconomic background.
Further, we believe that the university’s effort to purposefully realign with its core mission as a Christ-centered university and as one of four Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) universities is the fruit of our work and labor of love that we render unto Christ Jesus our Lord and not unto men. Also, we are grateful for the many wonderful letters, donations, words of gratitude, and other expressions demonstrating your love for Warner Pacific University as a Christ-centered institution situated within both the cosmopolitan and metropolitan Portland, Oregon community with federal designations recognizing our ethnic and socioeconomic diversity.
All the same, we are still in need of your prayers and support, as the university has distilled its strategic plan into four priorities:
- Mission-Centered Alignment
- Increasing Enrollment
- Budget Realignment Decisions based on Declining Enrollment
- Fundraising and Resource Development
We ask that you specifically pray that the Lord God of the Harvest send us laborers to partner with us in each of these areas as we approach 2037—in 13 years and some 100 years since the founding of Pacific Bible College. The harvest is indeed plentiful to do the work assigned to us here in this region. Warner Pacific University is unique in possessing the distinction of being Christ-centered and with federal designations as Minority-Serving, Hispanic-Serving, and Asian-American, Native American, and Pacific-Islander Serving, while proudly trumpeting that nearly 80% of all of our students are either first-generation or from a low-income background.
This means that there is no university in this nation like Warner Pacific University, and we are fine with this because there is no God, like our God! God bless each and every one of you, and please continue your steadfast support of Warner Pacific University!
