"Answering the Call," with Donald Cooney

Cami Ostman began her career as an English teacher. Then, after getting her master's in Marriage and Family Therapy from SPU in 2000, spent the next 20 years as a therapist. Upon writing a successful memoir and seeing first-hand the transformational power of writing one's own story, she started The Narrative Project: providing everything you need to get your book done. Now, after watching hundreds of lives grow and blossom, she is bringing those transformational lessons to non-writers as well with The Phoenix Lessons.  

Alexia Estrada, class of 2020, is the granddaughter of farm workers and director of operations at Semillero (Nursery) de Ideas, a nonprofit centering around farm workers as the leaders of innovation. She spent her summer running an innovation challenge, speaking with farm workers about their ideas of how to make the cherry harvest safer and more efficient for themselves and the growers. In August of 2023, they presented the winner with a chance to patent his product and reap the rewards of his invention. 

We took a look at three generations of Noel with the long lost Christmas poem by JRR Tolkien written in 1936, the song Cry of a Tiny Babe by Bruce Coburn written in 1990, and a spoken word piece written in 2020 by our own Philip "Sharp Skills" Jacobs. Enjoy these readings by SPU alumni and podcast guests. Merry Christmas! 

After 18 years serving as a probation officer with the Lewis County Juvenile Court, Lee Montgomery ’89, saw how easily kids without a strong support system found themselves getting into trouble. He had to do something to help slow the cycle of poverty and incarceration, so he started the Lewis County Youth Mentorship Program with a mission to inspire youth through meaningful relationships to make positive choices that build resiliency, encourage growth and enable them to pursue a successful future.

Tod Yansomboon, currently in his final quarter at SPU, is an international student from Thailand. Tod left his home at the age of 15 to attend high school in the US in pursuit of his overarching goal: to understand business and how business can help others. After three years of high school in three different U.S. states, Tod arrived on the SPU campus to study business administration and found his dreams all coming true ... until COVID hit. Forced to return home without much hope of returning, Tod turned to social media for community and support. He is now a true influencer with over one million subscribers, and his videos have been being viewed over 200 million times.

2020 grad Jacoby Miles describes herself as a business administrator, lover of the arts, apologetics enthusiast & lover of people. At the age of 15, she was paralyzed from my chest down due to a gymnastics accident. She has worked hard to gain her strength back but is still confined to a wheelchair with limited mobility. She says her life has never been the same after the accident, but it has changed in the best way, too.

Rev. Dr. Katie Douglass, Associate Professor of Educational Ministry and Practical Theology at Seattle Pacific, and her team have recently received 1.3 million in grants for the Faith Formation Project. The project is all about partnering with congregations and families in the Pacific Northwest to help kids grow in faith. If you are a parent, you know today’s fast-changing world is making your job even harder. Prof Douglass is here to help. 

Cara Wall-Scheffler is a Professor and Co-Chair of Biology at SPU. Her research focuses on the evolution of how men and women differ physically, particularly in the context of balancing body temperature and long-distance locomotion. She has been working on this problem for over 20 years and has published numerous papers along with her students. Her work shows very clearly how different selection pressures have acted on men and women, and that women in particular have a rare ability to work both efficiently and economically when carrying loads. Why is this meaningful for us today? Listen and find out...

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 Masters in Theological and Biblical Studies from Fuller Seminary, and subsequently served as Associate Pastor on staff at Cedarcreek 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 an itinerant preacher in the ECC.  

Dr. Hedman, SPU class of ’95, served in a joint appointment for the departments of English and Theatre at High Point University, teaching courses at the intersection of performance and literature. He now serves as director of the honors program as well. Nathan recently returned from advising a group of students studying abroad in Prague.