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Multnomah professors battle Biblical ignorance and road signs



Dr. Koivisto (far right) poses with Tyndale students in Amsterdam.

Spiritual warfare, a severe head injury, and haunting pornographic images were just a few of the trials three Multnomah professors endured during summer 2000 for the sake of becoming better teachers.

Dr. Frost does archaeology in Israel. Dr. Ron Frost, assistant professor of historical theology at Multnomah Biblical Seminary, spent two weeks last June volunteering at an archaeological excavation site in Israel. Dr. Frost and his archaeology team examined the ruins of the ancient city, Hazor, located 20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.

Dr. Frost planned to excavate for four weeks at Hazor but trimmed the trip to just two weeks after he slammed his eye against a sign. His glasses' frame pushed into his face and cut his eyelid.

Dr. Frost's eye injury caused severe double vision for almost four hours. He arranged to fly back to the United States for surgery, but his vision corrected before he left Israel. "I wanted to stay for the rest of the trip, but I had a clear 'sign' it was time to come home," Dr. Frost said.

Dr. Frost said he decided to participate in the dig at Hazor because of Hazor's importance in biblical history. Joshua chapter 11 tells the story of Israel's battle with King Jabin of Hazor. Despite being outnumbered, the Israelites defeated Jabin's army and burned Hazor to the ground.

"We hoped to find remnants of clay tablets from a library," he said. <"Hazor was a large city with a population of 25,000 or 35,000. A city the size of Hazor probably had a major library, but unfortunately we still have not found the remains of a library."

Hazor was Dr. Frost's second archaeological dig in Israel. He said he participates in excavating projects to enrich his teaching and gain insight into the material culture of the Bible. "To see the remains of Jabin's palace makes Joshua 11 much more lively for me," he said.

Dr. Frost attended a church in Tiberius that Ken Crowell, a 1969 MBC graduate, helped plant. Mr. Crowell's church has grown to 200 total members. According to Dr. Frost, Israeli converts are rare, and to see 200 of them in one church is "quite impressive."

Because Israel does not welcome missionaries, Mr. Crowell moved to Israel and started a business as an undercover "tentmaking" scheme. Mr. Crowell's "Galtronics" has become the largest employer in the city of Tiberius. Galtronics produces antennas for one-third of all cellular phone companies in the world, including Motorola and Nokia.

Another MBC graduate, Bill Rogers (1990), manages an outreach that presents Jesus as Messiah to Israelis in Tiberius. The success of Rogers' ministry also helped build the church in Tiberius.

Dr. Frost does not know if he will do another dig next year. Participating in digs can be expensive, normally costing approximately $2,000.

"The highlight," Dr. Frost said, "was seeing what God is doing through MBC graduates and seeing what we are investing in as teachers."

Dr. Koivisto teaches in Amsterdam Dr. Rex Koivisto, professor of biblical languages, spent three weeks last July teaching introductory Greek grammar at Tyndale Theological Seminary in Amsterdam.

Students from all over Europe, including Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Ukraine attend Tyndale. This trip was Dr. Koivisto's first experience teaching Greek to students who spoke English as their second language.

Dr. Koivisto said he decided to teach at Tyndale primarily because strongly encourages its faculty members to involve themselves in cross-cultural ministries. Dr. Koivisto looked for several years before he found an opportunity to teach biblical languages in a cross-cultural setting.

According to Dr. Koivisto, students at Tyndale have stronger work ethics than Multnomah students. "Tyndale's seminary students were more motivated than students at MBS. It is very costly for them to even get to seminary. So they worked very hard once they got there," he said.

Dr. Koivisto also said the idea that the United States is Christian and Europe is secularized is a misnomer. "European Christians look at the United States and say, 'If Christians really have such an influence in American culture, why are there so many school shootings? Why does America have more preoccupation with violence than Europe?'" Dr. Koivisto said.

On the other hand, Dr. Koivisto also learned how secular Amsterdam has become. His Dutch students bemoaned the legalization of prostitution and homosexual marriages in their country. The pervasive sexual advertisements in Amsterdam appalled Dr. Koivisto. "Sexuality of every kind is promoted both on television and even in the literature they give to tourists,"

Despite unhappy encounters with lewd propaganda, Dr. Koivisto said he had a good teaching experience. He hopes to go again some day. "I have a much bigger perspective of how God is working in the world," he said.

This summer, Dr. Tim Robnett, seminary internship director, fulfilled the great commission and waged spiritual warfare by leading an evangelistic crusade and pastor's training conference in Kampala, Uganda.

The crusade team spent two weeks in July ministering to the people in the Natetee district of Kampala. The crusade's purpose was to explore ministry opportunities in that region on behalf of the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association.

Dr. Robnett's seven-person crusade team included Brad Butcher, Martha Wagner and Doris Halsey. Butcher attends MBS. Halsey and Wagner are both MBC graduates.

The many questions Ugandans asked impressed Dr. Robnett, but their lack of Bible knowledge disappointed him. Dr. Robnett attributed the widespread biblical ignorance to scarcity of Christian resources in Uganda and to the fact that Ugandans do not highly value reading.

"Many Christians and even pastors in Uganda are biblically ignorant, which results in a great deal of confusion in their ethics, families and churches. Because the leadership is untrained, the people are untrained, too," Dr. Robnett said.

The lack of scriptural coherence explained why cults thrive in Uganda, Dr. Robnett said. He referred to the Ugandan cult that committed mass suicide last March by barricading the doors of a church and setting the building on fire. More than 500 people died in the incident.

Dr. Robnett also said the crusade encountered spiritual warfare. The first night of the crusade, all the electricity and lights went out seconds before Dr. Robnett preached. Another night, a fight broke out in the crowd. Heavy rain postponed one meeting. Dr. Robnett insists that the timing of the distractions was so "perfect" they could not have been merely coincidence.

"Intentional proclamation of the Gospel is always met by spiritual warfare. Satan does all he can so that Christ is not heard," he said.

Dr. Robnett said his trip's greatest joy was sharing the Gospel. "Even if you have preached for years or read the Bible countless time, the freshness, the power, the message of the Gospel can really give hope to people," he said.

The team estimated that 31,000 people came to the crusade, including 1,425 people who made decisions for Christ.

The crusade team counseled new believers and referred them to local churches.

Dr. Robnett said he learned the importance of working under local leadership in cross-cultural ministry. "If there is anything I can give them, it must be through the avenue of being humble, and by uplifting them rather than dictating them," Dr. Robnett said.

Dr. Robnett said he hopes to lead another cross-cultural crusade someday, although his main goal is to link Multnomah students with ministry opportunities around the world.