Mailbox Letters From You

Good News for an Urban Context

I am a 1970 grad and have not been back to Seattle for years. I am currently completing 41 years as a public school teacher, most spent in Southern California. I also teach journalism and literature at Biola University. My favorite class is “The Literature of Los Angeles,” one which includes elements of sociology, intercultural studies, urban planning, Bible, and history.

My wife and I got so excited about the city that we recently bought a 125-year-old house in Boyle Heights, about a mile directly east of the downtown core and home to several dozen active gangs and thousands of working class Latinos, the setting for such movies as American Me, Mi Familia, Zoot Suit, Stand and Deliver, and Real Women Have Curves.

We house recent Biola grads and seniors who tutor at Roosevelt High School, do internships or apprenticeships in the immediate area, and intentionally involve themselves in the fabric of the house through meetings, meals together, and weekly jaunts around the area. Your articles on life and ministry in urban settings were so powerful that I made copies and distributed them to next year’s crop of residents, all of whom were impressed.

Seattle Pacific is ahead of the curve in urban involvement. Thanks for inspiring and informing me.

Larry T. Smith ’70
Los Angeles, California

In a conversation with a friend who has broad experience in several evangelical educational institutions, he commented that the mission statements of most of them are virtually interchangeable. What if SPU accepted its urban location as the providence of God and intentionally embraced the mantle of coordinating thinking, research, practice, and mission for how faith in Christ can engage urban culture and transform urban settings around the world?

This comes from an acknowledged non-city person who only understands the above from afar,
but who knows God deeply cares for all who live out their lives in the maw of the urban context.

Doug Bartlett ’65
Dundee, Oregon

Thanks for the fine delving into the joys and burdens of “Cities” and the city of Seattle in the spring issue of Response.

As I read articles and news items I wondered if there is a parable: “You may take a person out of
the city, but you can’t take the city out of his heart.”

After years of church ministry at First Free Methodist at Burien, and at First Covenant, I accepted a call to and 19 years as pastor in a rural town, foothills of the California Sierra Nevada mountains. …

Reading again of Seattle through the eyes and writings of Response authors was a great joy.

Rev. Carl H. Johnson ’54
San Andreas, California

Glad for News of SPU

I always appreciate any news of this spectacular school. The University campus and the faculty are
outstanding. …

I strongly recommend this educational institution to everyone who is seeking to advance in this world. I love Seattle Pacific University. Thank you for giving me the educational background and degree that allowed me to take part in a beloved vocation and provide for my children as they were growing up.

Lola Dee Love ’75
Blythe, California

A Regular Reader Writes

Several years ago I attended a writers' conference on your campus. Somehow I got on your mailing list. What a blessing! We have read the annual books. And we have read each issue of the magazine from cover to cover. Each issue is so inspiring, even if I don’t know the people. It is so gratifying to read how the Holy Spirit is ministering to your students, faculty, city, and the world! Your Christian outreach is incredible.

Katherine Wallenhaupt
Professor Emerita, University of Idaho
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho