On Friday, March 21, 2008, thirty-six of Maranatha’s wrestling family reunited in St. Louis, MO for the first ever Maranatha Wrestling Reunion. Alumnus Todd Campbell (’92) opened the evening with a word of prayer. Each guest enjoyed a delicious meal which included all you can eat barbeque ribs, baked chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and assorted vegetables at the famous J Buck’s restaurant.
The reunion started out with informal fellowship which led to the premier of Hoover’s Highlights. Hoover’s Highlights is a 30 minute highlight video of Ben Hoover’s run at the NCAA Division III, 165 lb championship title. The film displays the journey of Ben Hoover starting with the first match of the Great Lakes Regional Tournament through his receiving the distinction of being Maranatha’s first NCAA All-American in wrestling. Following the premier, testimonies were shared by Mike Walton and Ben Hoover. Walton and Hoover were the 2007-2008 season captains and the backbone of this season’s wrestling team.
After the captains’ testimonies, Coach Scott Hawes gave an overview of the current condition of the Maranatha wrestling program and asked for support from the alumni in the area of prayer and working to help find quality recruits. Coach Ben Peterson reiterated Coach Hawes’ plea and then brought a challenge from the Word of God to the group. Following the challenge, many of the alumni wrestlers stood and shared testimony of how God used the sport of wrestling to build character that has helped them in their lives and in their ministries. Alumnus after alumnus made the statement that without wrestling at Maranatha Baptist Bible College, they would not have had the opportunity to grow as a believer through the influence of a coach who used wrestling as a tool of discipleship in their lives.
Represented in the group of alumni were pastors, teachers, law enforcement officers, and business professionals. The dinner concluded with former Academy wrestling coach Dan Willis (’93) closing with a word of prayer. The reunion was only half the fun of this alumni event. The other half of the event was spent at the NCAA Division I National Championships held two blocks down the road at the Scott Trade Center. This year the Alumni were excited to witness the University of Iowa capture of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
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