Alumni Serious about Offering Freedom from Sexual Addiction

Justice for All
Alum Defends the Least of These
by Linda Wyman ’07
World View
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8-9
About five years ago I considered myself a
fairly decent athlete. However, as my ability
to jump and run slowly began to fade into
obscurity, I realized I needed something to
pacify my need to compete while also avoiding
injury. So I thought to myself, golf is the
way to go. It looks easy enough.
Two summers ago, I took a swing at it and
quickly came to the realization that golf was
definitely not as easy as they made it look on
television. How is it possible to hit a little,
white ball with a tiny pole and get it into a
four-inch hole that is 400 yards away
I never realized how difficult it was to hit
that little ball, much less hit it straight. I tried
to visualize myself as Tiger Woods, but that
didn’t work. I tried to become one with the
course, and that definitely didn’t work. Finally,
I picked up that ball and just threw it.
That made it much easier, and I could control
which direction it went.
Since that experience, I have cultivated
a new and deep respect for Tiger, Phil
Mickelson, and even John Daly (if he can
make it to an event on time).
So when JBU decided recently to revive
the men’s golf program for Fall 2008—a
program that lay dormant for nearly 35
years—I went in search of a few prospective
student golfers and a few alumni golfers from
the previous JBU program to find out how
popular this returning program would be. I
found overwhelmingly positive feelings.
I asked a very simple question: “Golf at
JBU; what do you think” Here are some
responses.
Kyler Smith, freshman and prospective
JBU golfer: I haven’t been able to play mainly
because of the expense, but when I found
out we were going to have a golf team I was
FORE! Golf Returns to JBU
so excited. Physically, I know the sport isn’t as
demanding as other sports, but it’s tough and
challenging, and you have to keep up with it if
you want to be good.
Mackenzie Urban, freshman and
prospective JBU golfer: I played in high
school and played all my life. When I made the
decision to come to John Brown, I was a little
disappointed because JBU didn’t have a team.
But now that it’s here, I’m glad I chose JBU, and
I’m looking forward to making the team.
Duane Brandsgaard, former JBU golfer
and coach from 1967-1973: It was almost
like the Lord put golf at John Brown for me to
participate in. It’s not nearly as easy as it looks,
but I’m excited that it’s coming back because
it’s a very good lifetime sport. If you can get exposed
to it, you’ll get hooked.
Jim Stockton, former number one golfer
at JBU 1969-1972: I’m glad JBU is bringing
back golf. It sure was a great experience in my
life. My golf game isn’t worth much any more,
but I still love to play occasionally. I live behind
the 10th green at the Harrison (Ark.) Country
Club, and my favorite Saturday morning activity
is sitting on our deck, eating breakfast, and
watching the golfers come by.
The game of golf has had an amazing
rise in popularity among people of all ages.
Maybe people are beginning to realize that
a sport doesn’t have to include running and
jumping in order for it to be fun, entertaining,
and competitive.
Jim Stockton recalled one of his most
satisfying moments of JBU golf competition,
telling me: “[I was] on the 15th green at
Dawn Hill. I was on the green in one, putting
for a birdie. [With a penny], I had marked
my [ball’s position], which was about 20 feet
by Simeon Hinsey ‘01
JBU Sports Information Director
from the hole. When it was my turn to putt,
I made the putt for a birdie, but [I had putt
from the wrong mark]. In watching the other
players, I had lost track of my mark. An Evangel
player [our rival team] said, ‘You’ll have to
putt that over.’ I did—and I made that one,
too. Not exactly like a dunk over a trash-talking
opponent on the basketball court, but
that’s as close as golfers got in those days!”
It’s not another person that you have to
face in the game of golf. Your opponent is the
course. In 2008, we have the technology that
allows us to have more advanced training
and clubs, but the fundamentals remain the
same. Players still have to go out there and
battle the course. That’s something that’ll
never change. ■
New Coach Ready
for New Season
With any new, or renewed in this
case, venture there will be challenges
and obstacles to overcome. New men’s
golf coach Brian Thomas is ready for the
challenge.
A former assistant golf professional at
Dawn Hill Golf and Racquet Club, Thomas
said that his expectations for the first
year are to get a good base established
for the program, and to field a team that
can compete within the Sooner Athletic
Conference.
The team, which will call the Dawn
Hill course home, should start the Fall
2008 season with a squad of seven to ten
JBU golfers.
Before moving to Guatemala, before
earning a law degree, before her first
day of classes at John Brown University,
Andrea Comfort ’04 was a little girl living
in Kansas City who cared a great deal for
the people around her.
“I remember hating seeing the dorky
kids get picked on at school by the cool
kids, or the little kids getting picked on by
the big kids,” she said.
After graduating from JBU, Comfort
moved to Virginia Beach and then to
Washington, D.C., to graduate from
American University Washington College
of Law in 2007. Then in 2007 she moved
to Guatemala to work with International
Justice Mission(IJM), a human rights
agency that secures justice for victims
of slavery, sexual exploitation, and other
forms of violent oppression.
According to its web site, “IJM lawyers,
investigators, and aftercare professionals
work with local governments to ensure
victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators,
and to strengthen the community and
civic factors that promote functioning
public justice systems.”
IJM currently has operations in
Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand,
India, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia,
Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, and
Peru.
“In the practice of law, you can choose
to be a defender of the big kid or the little
kid,” Comfort explained. “Both have
value in the legal system, but my Christian
faith draws me toward protecting the little
kid. I believe God calls us to fight for
those who cannot fight for themselves as
an expression of His love and justice on
this earth.”
In Guatemala, Comfort has worked
as a co-counsel to the Guatemalan public
prosecutor on cases of child sexual abuse.
Her diplomatic responsibilities lead
her to meetings with the Guatemalan
Ambassador to the United States, the
Guatemalan Vice-Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and the First Vice-President of
the Guatemalan Congress, promoting
legislation and discussion regarding the
protection of child victims of sexual
abuse and trafficking.
As part of her work with victim
relief assistance, she visits client homes,
determining levels of safety in homes,
providing baby clothes to pregnant
clients, removing children who remain
in dangerous home situations, obtaining
judicial orders to remove parent custody
when necessary, and assisting victims’
parents in finding adequate employment
to support their children. She spends
her days building relationships with the
people around her, evaluating what their
needs are, and determining how she can
best serve them.
Comfort first heard about IJM during
a chapel service in her junior year at
JBU, and she says, “My life was forever
changed.”
“It was during my studies at JBU that
I first came to understand that a human
rights violation is a violation against the
God who created that person,” she said.
“My motivation to fight human rights
abuses is first and foremost to defend the
inherent dignity that God himself has
placed in every human being.”
Living in Guatemala, Comfort has
seen firsthand human rights abuses and
the people who endure them. As a result,
she has developed a more compassionate
view of those in need.
“I don’t see the poor [as being] nearly
as pathetic as I use to,” she said. “On
mission trips, I’d go and feel sorry for
the poor, for their small houses and lack
of running water. What I have realized
through the people in Guatemala and
my work here is that it is not poverty that
bothers me anymore…it is injustice and
lack of educational opportunities.”
Comfort’s decision to move to
Guatemala and work with IJM came with
a cost, which was, the prolonging of her
student loans, which altogether give her
six-figure debt. But for Comfort, who
Comfort poses for a photo with a child she met on a
trip to Honduras. Because much of her work is of a
sensitive nature, Comfort does not publish photos
of her Guatemalan clients.
raises missionary support to work for
IJM, the injustices suffered by the helpless
were more a pressing need than her own
financial security.
“The law school system in America
is created by big law firms, for big law
firms,” she said. “I would like to do
something to change this, to make it easier
for people who truly desire to spend their
legal careers serving the poor to do that
without the restriction of loans.”
Comfort’s commitment with IJM ends
this summer. She will move to Washington,
D.C. to work as a federal judicial clerk with
the Honorable Judge Eric Bruggink at the
U.S. Court of Federal Claims. But even
up to the end of her time in Guatemala,
she has been fully committed to love and
serve her neighbors.
“God has given me a gift of arguing
with perseverance and a desire to defend
the defenseless, which I believe reflects
His heart to protect and defend His
children,” Comfort concluded. “Every
believer has different gifts given to them
by God, which they can offer to the work
of the Kingdom.” •
20 Brown Bulletin Summer 2008
Brown Bulletin Summer 2008 21