Howard W. Blake High School Ladies Chorus performance at the 2013 Hillsborough County District Music Performance Assessment:

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Local church ministry is a vital component of a Maranatha education, and many area pastors are grateful for that fact.

“We love having the students here at Calvary!” said Dr. Bob Loggans, senior pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Watertown. “They are a huge blessing, and we count it an honor to have them as part of this local church.”

Students currently serve in more than 65 churches throughout southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Some fellowship with a body of believers in Watertown; others travel several hours to serve. Some churches help and encourage students by preparing Sunday dinner for them, giving them a place to stay during the afternoon, or even baking cookies as a gesture of appreciation.

The positive aspects of ministry education work both ways. Churches benefit from students’ energy and talents. Students benefit from churches providing avenues for service, practical experience, education, and mentoring.

“A very special dynamic within our ministry is the active presence of Maranatha students,” said Chad Prigge, senior pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Watertown. “My desire as pastor is to provide our student members a spiritually vibrant environment in which they can experience authentic ministry, a veritable ‘hands on’ approach to local church ministry during their time with us.”

Evan Moore, a sophomore Pastoral Studies major from Johannesburg, South Africa, is one example of an active church member. He travels an hour to attend Greendale Baptist Church with junior Rodney King, also a Pastoral Studies major.The two young men provide help in many areas of church ministry—leading junior church and congregational singing, participating in choir, special music, and offertory, ushering, and even preaching.

“Whatever God wants me to do, whatever opportunities are there,” Evan said, “I believe we should take them.”

Although some students like Evan and Rodney travel more than an hour to attend Sunday services, some don’t have to go far at all.

Approximately 150 students are part of Calvary Baptist Church in Watertown. Calvary offers a myriad of ministry opportunities in which students can and do serve—Sunday school, nursery, children’s church, junior church, Truth Trackers, Lighthouse, audio/visual ministry, bus ministry, and visitation.

Another special opportunity Calvary offers is the English as a Second Language (ESL) ministry for Spanish- speaking people. Ashley Green, a junior Elementary Education major from Farmington, MN, participates in Calvary’s ESL program. Ashley has enjoyed meeting consistently with a Hispanic woman from the Watertown area and building a relationship. After several months of meeting with the same woman and teaching her English, Ashley is beginning to see the fruit of her labor. The woman has begun to ask spiritual questions.

“I’m praying for a good opportunity to talk to her specifically about the gospel,” Ashley said.

Ashley’s story is one of many that represents the wonderful way Maranatha students are able to impact lives within their church’s community.The influence of local church ministry impacts the lives of Maranatha students.

Andrew Starr, a graduate and Maranatha Baptist Seminary student, serves as the youth director for East Delavan Baptist Church in East Delavan, WI. Starr said the college experience helped prepare him for this opportunity. “I’m especially thankful for the influence of teachers and others who gave me the desire to go on to minister like they do,” he said.

Maranatha students are being actively trained to become church leaders while gaining many valuable lessons through local church service. It is a significant part of their college experience—for some, a life-changing experience.

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“This past week we had the privilege of observing master music teachers in public school elementary music classrooms. The teachers’ dynamic teaching skills made our Maranatha classes come to life. The students we observed demonstrated an incredibly high level of musicianship, understanding, and interaction with music. For example, young students were improvising their own music and distinguishing between tonalities, meters, and harmonic progressions. The teachers help their students attain this level of competence by having their students interact with music through enjoyable learning games and movement activities. As those of us on the fieldtrip reflected on our observations, we noted that many of us hadn’t achieved this level of aural understanding until Freshmen year in college. We are so enthused to see that the methods we are learning at Maranatha are so incredibly successful when skillfully applied sequenced. We observed so many wonderful ideas for classroom management, structure, and sequencing on this trip, and we can’t wait to student teach!”

Pictures:

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The 2012-13 season marks the sixth straight year that Maranatha has collected the women’s award, while the men last won in ’09-’10, and have won four out of the seven years since the award was introduced in 2006.

Maranatha missed just one season for the women’s side, ’06-’07, and split with Alverno in ’07-’08, taking honors every year since.

Maranatha finished with 10 recipients selected to the All-Sportsmanship Team:

• Andy Timblin, Baseball
• Matthew McGivern, Basketball
• Hallie Sheley, Women’s Basketball
• Robert Truax, Men’s Cross Country
• Cari Cook, Women’s Cross Country
• Robert Kohlhaus, Football
• David Anderson, Men’s Soccer
• Alysha Morris, Women’s Soccer
• Jana Dempsey, Softball
• Erin Jochum, Volleyball

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Maranatha originally sought accreditation in 1993 because of its potential benefits for students. Twenty years later, current students— and their parents—continue to enjoy those benefits.

“If an institution asks people to trust it with their money and their children, it needs to be able to tell them where it stacks up,” Executive Vice President Dr. Matt Davis (left) said. “We welcome that. We tell them to go ahead and evaluate us. We’re transparent. We’re willing to play by a higher set of rules.”

Maranatha and its students benefit in several ways from the accreditation process.

Accountability

 
The North Central Association of the Higher Learning Commission holds Maranatha accountable for providing what it promises—a biblically based education that prepares students for leadership in both full-time ministry and professional vocations

“We review every process in order to strive toward best practices,” Davis said.

Some institutions file self-studies every few years to prove that point. Maranatha instead opted for AQIP (Academic Quality Improvement Program), which includes ongoing tracking of nearly every area— academic rigor, student dorm life, the registration process, employee and student satisfaction, etc.

AQIP emphasizes quality planning and process evaluation as keys to a successful, strong educational institution. Departments are divided into Quality Units, which each create Quality Action Projects. Each Quality Action Project targets a process that needs improvement, analyzes it, identifies appropriate measures, and implements an improvement.

Some recently completed Maranatha AQIP projects include developing a study abroad program, campus wi-fi upgrades, revising budgeting and contract processes, and implementing a new course evaluation system.

Faculty Engagement

 
Maranatha’s faculty members are not simply spectators in the accreditation process. They are personally engaged through yearly program reviews and studies of the effectiveness of every field of study. No consultants are hired for this job—the faculty members personally help track the success of their departments.

“We encourage professional development to allow our faculty members to learn and analyze best practices,” Davis said. “We sometimes incorporate those practices in unique ways because we are a Bible college.”

Measurement

 
The need for accurate measurement in the AQIP areas requires advance planning on Maranatha’s part, which leads to a more organized approach to meeting students’ needs.

“The results cannot be ignored,” Davis said.

The College is constantly measuring its effectiveness through standardized testing, employee and student satisfaction surveys, and checking the effectiveness of internal and external communication methods. Even graduates are surveyed and tracked to determine if they are remaining active in local church ministry.

Emphasis on Academic Assessment

 
Each academic department at Maranatha helps develop a method to determine the effectiveness of its programs. Many students are required to take standardized tests in their major areas. Maranatha students have consistently scored at or near the top in many fields of study, including particularly outstanding results from Music and Business majors.

These assessments are especially significant for students in the Teacher Education and Nursing majors who must pass standardized tests (PRAXIS and NCLEX) to earn professional licensure.

“When those test results come back, you quickly find out where you stack up,” Davis said. “An institution without such assessment might think its programs are pretty good, but where’s the evidence?”

The test results help steer developmental objectives that will become even more well-defined and effective over time. But more important than marketing or reassurance, the most important use of data is to make improvement, and to do that we need to be honest with ourselves. We have consistently sought to use results to make improvements for the benefit of our stockholders and the testimony of Christ.

A Wider Vision

 
The accreditation process goes beyond the classroom. Maranatha followed this model of planning, assessment, and improvement when it adopted a campus-wide strategic plan in 2010.This plan touches every area of the College.

The four pillars of the plan are:

• Make the message plain.
• Sharpen the focus on spiritual growth.
• Build on the foundation. (academic programs)
• Grow the resources.

“We sought tons of input from every stakeholder group when we were compiling the strategic plan,” Davis said. “It pretty much goes across the board.”

All that input may result in some warts being revealed. But, in many ways, that’s the idea.

“If there are struggling programs, we can tell you what they are and what we’re doing about it,” Davis said. “We use the information to improve every day in a measurable, purposeful way.

“They aren’t problems. They’re opportunities for improvement.”

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Melody has really studied the score, and it shows in this stunning performance!  Although majoring in violin, Melody is considering “all options” when it comes to a career path, including conducting! She is currently conducting a children’s choir at her church, and she’s learning much each week as she “gets her feet wet” in this conducting business.

Maranatha music majors are required to take one-two semesters of conducting with Dr. Brown. Elementary Conducting is a course in the fundamentals, while Advanced Conducting is geared more toward rehearsal strategies, coaching, and, of course, polishing one’s conducting technique.

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The Music Department would also like to recognize two music minors who were awarded Commencement Honors.

Music Arranging Minor, Daniel Mulder, was awarded three prestigious Commencement Honors:

• Salutatorian—GPA 3.9976
• Founder’s Award—Awarded to a male and female student who most effectively represents the purpose and spirit of Maranatha
• Outstanding Humanities Student Award

Music Education Minor, Danae Anderson, was given the Outstanding Future Teacher Award.

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In his earliest years, Malmanger got involved in coaching while teaching in the small town of Menahga, in Northern Minnesota, where he was issued a challenge by a Christian coach.

As Malmanger recalls it, “In my first year of teaching at the high school level, I was challenged to coach as a way to share Christ with the athletes I interacted with, and I viewed it as an opportunity to work with them outside of the classroom.”

Four years later, Malmanger continued that path with a move to another small town in Minnesota— Owatonna, where he taught mathematics at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College.

While at Pillsbury, Malmanger met Terry Price, who he replaced as men’s dorm supervisor. The two bonded through 10 years of coaching together before both made the move to the campus of Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wisconsin.

Price stated, “Curt has been a good friend, great assistant coach, and helper to me, and a wonderfully faithful husband, dad, colleague, teacher, coach and church member.”

Malmanger and Price embarked on a ministry at Maranatha that included an appearance at the NCCAA Victory Bowl in Canton, Ohio, in 1998; missions trips to France (’95), Ireland (’98), and Israel (’12); and 11 consecutive winning seasons (1988-1998).

Price’s son, Phil, recalls a game against Northwestern College of St. Paul, MN, in 1988 that turned out to be pivotal in kick-starting the consecutive winning-seasons streak:

“Throughout the game, the PA announcer, in response to a Northwestern first down, would yell, ‘and that’s another Northwestern…’ and the crowd responded with, ‘FIRST DOWN!’ Well, at the end of the game, we led 30-27 and converted a crucial first down to run out the clock. Dr. Malmanger turned to a section of Crusader fans and yelled, ‘and that’s another Maranatha…’ with the Maranatha fans responding in like fashion, ‘FIRST DOWN!’ It was the first time we had defeated Northwestern in over 10 years.”

In addition to being the team’s defensive coordinator and line coach, Malmanger developed three distinguishable skill-sets that proved valuable to Price and the team.

One was the ability to keep things tidy. “He was such a great organizer and master packer, especially when it came to transporting all of our road gear on football trips. He demonstrated a servant attitude and heart while issuing, fixing, collecting and storing our football equipment,” pointed out (Terry) Price.

The second was the ability to serve as the team’s motivational speaker. “Doc Mal would often yell, ‘BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD makes the grass grow!’ or, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive!’ when he was trying to motivate players to hit harder,” said (Phil) Price.

Perhaps his most valuable attribute, however, and the one that kept surfacing through the years, was his simple faithfulness—faithfulness in helping Clayton Morrison coach softball for eight years, or fixing broken football helmets.

“Doc has always been a behind-the-scenes guy who did things professionally and in an orderly way. I don’t think the athletes who come in get a full picture of what he does. He just serves them,” stated current head coach Andy Peterson.

Malmanger, who will continue to teach at Maranatha in Mathematics Education, plans to spend some of his free time fishing with family and relatives; but he has reserved a spot, this time in the stands, from which to watch Maranatha’s home games throughout the 2013 season.

He also, in simple fashion, summed up his desire to minister to others by staying connected, stating, “It has always been good to maintain friendships with previous players and coaches. I’ve always had an interest in those who are staying true and faithful in serving the Lord.”

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Peotter has made the Second Team since 2010, with her freshman year the only exception.

The senior left fielder had a .333 batting average on 32 hits, four RBI’s and four runs. Peotter also led the NAC in stolen bases (20), and completed her four-year career second all-time in the conference with 105 stolen bases.

In the field, Peotter had only two errors all season, finishing with a .952 fielding percentage.

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UW-Madison Army ROTC hosted this year’s annual Joint Service Awards Ceremony on 28 April 2013.  The ceremony recognized the accomplishments of Cadets and Mid-shipmen from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force.  For the Cadets from Maranatha College, the following awards were presented:

The highest honor of the evening went to CDT Jared Domsic, who received the John W. Sterling Award.  The Sterling Award is awarded to the most outstanding senior Cadet of the Battalion.  The award is a service officer’s saber with the Cadet’s name inscribed into the blade.

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