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jbu in focus
The Winter Issue Was a Hit!
[The last Brown Bulletin was] a
powerful issue, and beautifully put
together. My responses are:
1) The “Letter from the
President” is so solid about the
continued emphasis on “Christ
Over All.” Perhaps I hear it now
more than ever. He says it all so
well.
2) The “Making of a Tradition”
was deeply stirring. My wife and I
sang four years in the choir and in
four Candlelight services. Later
we pastored three congregations.
In each [church] we began a
Candlelight Christmas Eve
service. In Salem Alliance, where
we served for 23 years, they just
celebrated their 44th Candlelight Christmas Eve celebration.
“The Making of a Tradition” lives on! Dr. Mabel Oiesen had
a huge impact on us.
3) The “Flashback: Remembering the Founder” was
excellent. I was Dr. Brown’s assistant at the Brown Military
Academy in San Diego when he died. He has influenced the
way I speak publicly for more than 50 years.
4) The “Perspectives On...Lifestyle Worship” is a much
needed emphasis on today’s very narrow view of “worship.”
[Worship] is so much more than singing a few choruses, no
matter how moving they may be.
My wife Deloris and I hope to visit JBU in May and celebrate
our 56th anniversary where it all took place. We are grateful for
so much that God gave us through JBU.
Don & Deloris Bubna
Salem, OR
Letters
“The Making of a Tradition”
Made a Few Errors
I really enjoyed the article “The Making of a Tradition” in the 2007-
2008 Winter edition of the Brown Bulletin about the Candlelight
Service at JBU. As one who literally grew up on campus and
who was a student and/or teacher in the music department from
1947 through May of 1961, I was involved in the beginning of
this important tradition. So I would like to offer a couple of
corrections to set the record straight.
Mabel Oiesen came to JBU in 1942, but it was wartime,
and the choir she could put together was small with very few
men. Also, chapel was held in the Memorial building, which
was a wooden structure; using lots of candles would have been
hazardous. So while there were many musical programs, a
candlelight Christmas program was not one of them.
I agree that the first Candlelight service was held in the
basement of the Cathedral. (I was a freshman that year; it was
1947.) The service continued to be held there until the sanctuary
was completed. It was never held in the old gym in the valley.
Graduations were held in the gym (including my class – the
first to have 100 graduates), but not the Candlelight service.
I get back to Siloam Springs once or twice a year but my
schedule has not allowed me to be there for the Candlelight
service. Maybe one of these years I can make it.
Ruth Smith Bircher Ronan ’52
Albuquerque, NM
“Thanks!” from the Editor
Thanks to Ruth Ronan for her firsthand accounts of our earliest
choir services. I shared Ruth’s notes with Jen Heller ’06, our
archivist at the time, and she said, “Sometimes I feel like it’s
worth making mistakes to get firsthand corrections like these.
Ruth’s information will prove really helpful as we prep for the
Cathedral Choir reunion and displays this Homecoming!”
Following up on Ruth’s insights, Jen was able to find
additional information about JBU in the early years of the
Christmas program:
• In 1942 JBU had about 11 men on campus (students
and faculty). A full-scale choir would have been virtually
impossible to assemble.
• JBU has almost no yearbooks, no programs, and no
extracurricular information dating from the WWII era,
thanks to campus shutting down all “frills” in an attempt
to aid the war effort.
• For the first few years, the choir’s Christmas programs
were known as “carol services,” not “candlelight
services.” It was more of an aural program, without the
decor and the visual effects.
• JBU did lose two or three buildings to fire in the 1940s,
so it’s not surprising that the administration would have
been extra cautious against fire hazards during that time.
As you can see, the stories and information that alumni
provide us are invaluable to our being able to fully understand
JBU’s history. Please continue to share your insights with us.
And for those of you involved in the Cathedral Choir during
your JBU years, you won’t want to miss this year’s Homecoming
celebration, which will feature a Cathedral Choir reunion and
Choir alumni performance during Showcase. It should be the
largest Cathedral Choir ever assembled! Be sure to join us in
October! Visit www.jbualumni.com for more info.
Andrea Phillips
Brown Bulletin Editor
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY: Letters are published with
the permission of the author. Some letters are edited for length. Not all letters
can be published. Published letters will be selected based on the value of their
content, tone, clarity, and other such characteristics. Send your letters by e-mail
to Andrea Phillips at aphillips@jbu.edu or by U.S. mail to: Andrea Phillips,
Brown Bulletin Editor, John Brown University, 2000 West University
Street, Siloam Springs, AR 72761.
KLRC Wins Top National Radio Award Again
JBU radio station 101.1 KLRC was named Radio Station
of the Year by the Gospel Music Association. KLRC was
selected for the most prestigious honor in Christian radio
from a pool of smallmarket
radio stations,
including many for-profit
stations.
This is the fourth time
KLRC has won the award
in the past seven years. It
was also named Station
of the Year in 2001, 2002, and 2006. KLRC is the only
university radio station ever to have won this award.
“Being recognized by your peers in the industry is a very
humbling experience, and while none of us go to work each
day to earn an award, it’s a wonderful affirmation of a lot of
hard work,” said Sean Sawatzky, KLRC general manager.
KLRC was presented the GMA award on April 23 during
the broadcast of the 39th annual GMA Awards, known as
the Dove Awards.
JBU Students Celebrate Tuition Freedom Day
Students on campus were all a-buzz this spring, wondering
about the meaning of the posters, buttons, flyers,
and banners all over campus that proclaimed “Freedom Is
Coming.” Anticipation climbed steadily for a week before
the answer came in an announcement on March 27 that
“Freedom Is Here” and that every class students attended
in the last five weeks of the semester was essentially free
to them.
The actual cost to educate each student at JBU for the
2007-2008 school year was $21,076. The amount that
each student was charged for tuition was only $17,076.
The $4,000 difference was paid for by the university in the
form of an unpublicized subsidy to each student, regardless
of financial status or scholarships received. Funds for the
subsidy are raised by JBU in the form of financial gifts from
alumni and friends of the university.
The day that marked the end of the students’ responsibility
to pay and the date when the university subsidy kicked in
was celebrated on campus as Tuition Freedom Day. This
is the first year JBU publicly celebrated the annual gifts
that fill the tuition gap, even though similar unpublicized
subsidies have been consistently applied to student accounts
throughout JBU’s history.
On the morning of
Tuition Freedom Day posters, flyers, balloons, web pages,
a banner on campus, flying discs, and a video shown in
the student center revealed the meaning of the publicized
“Freedom” and educated students about the subsidy, about
which few were aware.
“Celebrating TFD in this manner was a fun way for us to
communicate the message that the benefits of being part of
the JBU community go far beyond what they realize,” said
Jerry Rollene, director of alumni and parent relations.
Franklin Graham Speaks to Packed Cathedral
Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan’s
Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association,
spoke in chapel on February 12 to a capacity crowd in the
Cathedral of the Ozarks.
Graham spoke about the importance of students
answering God’s call for their lives. He urged listeners to
pursue their calling because of a great need for ministry all
over the world.
“Are you called Are you willing to go and take steps and
go to places you’ve never been, that you don’t understand,
Fifty years after Billy Graham visited JBU and posed for pictures with John
Brown Sr., Franklin Graham visited campus and posed with John Brown
Jr., his wife Louise, and President Charles Pollard.
that you haven’t seen” Graham challenged the crowd.
Graham’s message at JBU can be heard and downloaded
from JBU’s web site: http://www.jbu.edu/life/christform/
chapel/media.asp
“Take your life and do something for the Lord Jesus
Christ,” Graham said. “Give your life for His service. Let
Him spend you however He wants to spend you. Let Him
take you wherever He wants to take you. You know what It
will be the greatest decision of your life. You’ll never, ever
regret it.”
In his introduction of Graham, JBU President Charles
Pollard announced that an anonymous donor had donated
$500,000 to start the “Billy Graham & Ruth Bell Graham
Evangelism Endowed Scholarship” at JBU. Recipients of
the scholarship must have expressed interest in pursuing
a career as an ambassador for Christ with an emphasis in
evangelism. The scholarship will begin providing funds for
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