Profile

by Benjamin Tertin

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index
Previous Profiles | Send mail to The Voice

Seminary Recruiter Gets Recruited

Working from his lower Sutcliffe Hall cubicle, Multnomah Biblical Seminary recruiter Clive Cowell said he contacts 40 to 50 people per day to ask, "Are you going to come to the seminary?" --Benjamin Tertin, photo

Clinging to eight suitcases, one Howard Johnson hotel coupon and ambitions to attend Multnomah, Clive Cowell left Portland International Airport with his wife, Maya. Farewell Honolulu; hello Portland.

Earning his master of arts degree in biblical studies at Multnomah's seminary was Mr. Cowell's goal within a bigger mission. "We've been 'ere [in Portland] for four years," he said with a hefty British accent, "but it's always bubbling beneath us to get back to Japan."

He began his seminary studies in 2002, graduated in 2004 and then accepted a position as Multnomah's seminary recruiter. If you greet Mr. Cowell with "Hello," he replies: "Are you going to come to the seminary?"

His time at Multnomah has been one step on a journey to Japan.

Forty-two years ago, Clive Malachi Cowell was born three hours northeast of London in Beccles, England. There he attended a small school with nine or 10 other children until he was 11 years old.

Mr. Cowell has battled cancer throughout his life, but his first diagnosis came at age 18, just after high school final exams.

"I was terrified, and I didn't know what was going on," Mr. Cowell said. "I don't think I had any hope; there was nothing to lose.

"At 13, I had basically decided there was no GodÉand something like cancer sometimes changes people, but for me it didn't. I said, 'All the more reason to live for myself.' It was a very selfish attitude."

Following high school, Mr. Cowell attended Nottingham University, but surgery and brutal chemotherapy treatments forced him to take off time from studies. "My whole body felt like it was vomiting," he said.

After five years, Mr. Cowell earned a bachelor of science in engineering and business studies.

In 1988, employed with the Xerox Corp., Mr. Cowell made a business trip to San Diego. He stopped at a bar named Confetti one evening, and there he met his future bride.

"He was so friendly," Mrs. Cowell said, "and cute."

Mrs. Cowell said she recorded a mixed-tape for him later that night, and they rendezvoused the next morning for coffee. She gave him the tape, and then he boarded a flight back to England.

Fourteen months of correspondence and two dates later, Mr. Cowell asked Maya to marry him. She said yes, and they married in 1989.

Mrs. Cowell accepted Christ just before marriage, and the two spent three years in England before moving to Honolulu. Then Mr. Cowell found true salvation in the Lord.

Mrs. Cowell became the missions chairperson at Honolulu Christian Church and said that, while living in Hawaii, she felt drawn to Japan. Unsure if going to Japan was definitely God's plan, she prayed with a close friend but never mentioned the idea to Mr. Cowell.

Seven months later, at 4:30 a.m., Mr. Cowell felt the same draw to Japan during his daybreak quiet time with God. He woke up his wife to tell her, "We're going to Japan."

"I know," she replied.

Mr. Cowell said that Jesus caught his heart. "God sets in place events to navigate you to a point where He will insert a value into your lifeÉlike loving the Japanese," he said.

He quit his job later that week with plans to move to Haruda, Japan, on the island of Kyushu. They completed a two-year mission working with The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM).

In Japan, Mr. Cowell said he realized that God wanted him to work there for a long time and that he wasn't yet "equipped to make it as a career missionary."

Mr. Cowell came to Multnomah's seminary to get equipped.

Seminary professor Dr. Paul Metzger said he taught Mr. Cowell in his Christian theology course. "He's increasingly shrewd, in a good way, about how to bear witness to the gospel," Dr. Metzger said. "He's a great chap, a great bloke."

Dr. Metzger said Mr. Cowell has a heart for the unsaved, in part, because of his background and exposure gained by living in different parts of the world.

Multnomah seminary's internship director, Dr. Roger Trautmann, had Mr. and Mrs. Cowell in his Bible study methods course and said, "[Clive] was passionate about service from the beginning."

Dr. Trautmann mentored Mr. Cowell, and the two remain good friends. They both like to run, sometimes up Rocky Butte, other times around the two-mile loop at the Glendoveer golf course. As often as possible, they run together.

Mr. Cowell said, "Running is an expression for me to say 'I'm alive, I'm still here, and I'm puttin' one foot in front of the other.'"

Mr. Cowell has accepted an adjunct Bible teaching position with the Bible Institute of Hawaii in Honolulu. Mr. and Mrs. Cowell leave Portland Oct. 31 and said they will spend the next two years raising support for the start of their mission.

Mr. Cowell said relationships form true depth when both parties know the other isn'§t planning to leave. With that in mind, Mr. and Mrs. Cowell plan to remain in Japan for life.

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index
Previous Features | Send mail to The Voice