What’s happening at SPU? This is where you’ll find the latest news about research, events, activities, achievements, and milestones in the life of SPU and its people.
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The dedication of the Dr. Ken Tollefson Friendship Bench will be Tuesday, Oct. 31, at 11:30 a.m. near the Story Pole behind Alexander and Adelaide Hall on the Seattle Pacific University campus.
The late Professor Emeritus of Anthropology Ken Tollefson spent his life committed to serving indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and mentoring colleagues and students. He was given full membership into the Tlingit, Snoqualmie, and Duwamish tribes in gratitude for his advocacy for the tribes’ federal recognition and protection of their aboriginal sites, including naming Snoqualmie Falls as a natural historic site.
Rev. Dr. Katie Douglass, associate professor of educational ministry and practical theology, and her team have received $1.3 million in grants for the Faith Formation Project. This project is all about partnering with congregations and families in the Pacific Northwest to help kids grow in faith. If you’re a parent, you know today’s fast-changing world is making your job even harder.
SPU Theatre presents, The Christians, an award-winning play about a megachurch dispute over salvation and damnation, Oct. 26-28 and Nov. 2-4.
"Join us at church where Pastor Paul has a major announcement for the congregation that will change them all forever. He thinks everyone will be happy with what he has to say. He’s wrong.
A big-little play about faith (and faithfulness) in America — and the trouble with changing your mind. Lucas Hnath’s script is complex — with brilliantly crafted dialogue and multidimensional characters. Hnath won the 2016 Obie Award for excellence in playwriting for The Christians."
All shows at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee at 2:30 p.m. on November 4.
SPU's School of Theology and Seminary welcomes church leaders to campus on Nov. 7 for a daylong conference titled "Preaching Forgiveness & Reconciliation." The conference will take place at First Free Methodist Church (across from SPU’s campus) from 8:30 a.m.– 4 p.m. with a public lecture following the conference at 6 p.m. The keynote speaker for the conference and evening lecture is Rev. Dr. Joy J. Moore, an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and the professor of Biblical preaching at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.
An additional keynote message will be from Rev. Dr. Scott Dudley, senior pastor at Bellevue Presbyterian Church; preaching from Rev. Peter Chin, senior pastor at Rainer Avenue Church; and a panel discussion framed by Rev. Michael Thomas, senior pastor at Radiant Church. Additional breakouts will be led by Dr. Stephen Newby and Rev. Ashley Skinner Creek.
Seattle Pacific University will offer a prayer service for Israel and Palestine on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 11:10 a.m. at First Free Methodist Church, adjacent to campus. (Address: 3200 Third Avenue West, Seattle, 98119). This service is open to the public.
“Prayers for Peace and Theological Meditations on Israel and Palestine” will be led by faculty in SPU’s School of Theology.
The event will not be recorded or livestreamed.
Seattle Pacific University received an affirmation of accreditation through the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. This marks the 90th year the University was accredited by NWCCU.
Pastor Rebecca Worl was born and raised as a missionary kid in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After returning to the States, she finished school in Bellingham and went on to receive her undergraduate degree in theology from Seattle Pacific. Becca then earned her master’s in Theological and Biblical Studies at Fuller and subsequently served as associate pastor on staff at Cedar Creek Covenant in Maple Valley. In 2022, she joined the Pine Lake Covenant Church team as student ministries pastor, in addition to being a retreat speaker and itinerant preacher in the ECC.
Join church historian Dr. Priscilla Pope-Levison and biblical scholar Dr. Jack Levison for this annual lecture as they unearth early American women’s fascinating interpretations of Paul’s mandate for women to keep silent in churches (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). Levison and Pope-Levison will explore some of the earliest treatises on this topic written within a generation of the Revolutionary War.
The lecture is Tuesday, Oct. 3, 7 p.m. in First Free Methodist Church.
Seattle Pacific University received an anonymous gift of $125,000 from two alumni to expand the University’s student ministry outreach program. The gift will be directed to the student ministry coordinator and residence hall ministry coordinator programs, as well as provide additional resources for campus Chapel offerings.
Dr. Christopher Jones ’94 hopes the families in his medical practice never need to ask: “Is my kid sick enough that I should pay for a doctor’s visit?” Medical director of HopeCentral, a nonprofit health center, he and his team have adapted the concept of concierge medicine to a diverse Seattle neighborhood.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy Leland Saunders earned a $10,100 Graves Award in Humanities for his research project, “The Structure of Moral Judgement: Philosophical Perspectives.” His research responds to recent arguments that human beings’ concepts of morality are just a quirk of evolution and don't connect to anything deeper.