Wayne Mix ('91)

From his ministry at Ironwood Christian Camp in California, Wayne writes:

"We have been staying busy here at the camp, Praise the Lord! This past weekend was a couples retreat and the Women Counseling Women’s retreat just left yesterday. This is the first weekend without a camp in a couple months.

"I have exciting news regarding support and deputation! I spent several days in Washington, near Seattle and out to Pasco doing some deputation meetings. One of the churches in Kent, WA, voted and took me on for support, how exciting for me and a huge blessing. Their support makes a good dent in covering what was lost last year! There is another church that is praying about supporting me and they vote a little later on this year. I praise the Lord for a good trip and wonderfully gracious churches that let me present ministry and put up with my nervous presentations!!

"All right, time to go find something to eat!! This weekend will be spent working on the bulldozer, it needs to be running so we can prepare for work crews in a week and a half. Thanksgiving break will be spent working on vehicle repairs, catching up with that work and working on the Leadership Live Journal additions for this next year.

Here are some pictures of Wayne, on a bulldozer and being "attacked" by a camper! :^)

Jonathan McCarrell ('07)

We have pictures! Jonathan and his bride, Julane, are getting established in Michigan. Jonathan says that they're working through Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and finding it a great blessing to start their marriage off on solid financial footing. What a romantic guy! :^)

Jonathan is part of the Administrative Team that oversees two main companies. He oversees Asset Management and Cash Receipts, develops internal financial reports for the companies, and assists the Business Development Officer and the Executives from the two companies with organizational improvement.

Jonathan says, "The Executive Director of the IFCA International (a fellowship that our church is a part of) asked me to serve on the Finance Committee in an advisory role. The Committee meets 5-6 times a year and discusses with the Executive Director and the Finance Director the implications of the various financial decisions we, as a ministry, will be presented with. The Committee consists of several area businessmen with significant management experience, one man with significant Marketing knowledge and experience, and I am being brought on as the Finance/Accounting Advisor.

"I praise the Lord for this awesome opportunity and look forward to applying my finance/accounting knowledge in a ministry setting. And I praise the Lord for his provision in allowing me to complete both a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and an MBA by the age of 24!"

Melissa (Neisler) Hertbert ('03)

New daughter Callie Jane Herbert was born Aug 11, 2009 to Aaron & Melissa. It might be her parents by now who need the vacation! We're sure that she's no trouble though.

Nathan Chromy ('09)

Nathan writes:

"I accepted a position for the State at the Waupun Correctional Facility. My official title is Office Operations Assistant; basically I will be working with coordinating inmate movement, cell assignment, incident reporting, and other paperwork pushing. We are pretty excited."

Nathan and his wife live in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Matt Evon ('09)

Matt sent an update:

"Finally after a few weeks at the army's Financial Management School I have a good idea of what exactly I will be doing once I graduate and start working at my first duty station in Fort Campbell, KY.

"As a 2LT my job title is the OIC (officer in charge) of Accounts Payable/Disbursing. My primary responsibility is to pay vendors so that my unit has the resources it needs to accomplish its mission. My office consists of just 5 people (4 NCO enlisted personnel and myself), and we are in charge of paying all the vendors for a Brigade (4,000 people!). I'm very excited because down the road there are many opportunities for advancement. In just 3 short years when I get promoted to Captain I could be planning an annual budget for an entire Brigade which would be very interesting.

"I heard that [Maranatha's] ROTC Ranger Challenge Team came in 1st place this past weekend! CDT Furnari called me yesterday and he seemed very excited about it."

Thanks, Matt. As taxpayers, we're also glad to know that you'll making careful use of our tax dollars in defense of our liberties as Americans!

Michael O'Neal ('07)

Michael writes:

"On St Patrick’s Day, we were blessed with a 6 lbs 11 oz baby boy!! Young Micah Paul has truly been a blessing from the Lord as we have watched him grow over the past four months. We look forward to what God has for our family as we continue to seek His guidance.

"Since graduation, I have been working for the Defense Finance & Accounting Service in Cleveland, OH. I was hired into a program called the Leaders in Motion program, and have had several opportunities to perform various accounting functions for the many Defense agencies (mainly working with the Navy & the Marine Corps). After a few months with the agency, I was given the opportunity to travel to San Diego, CA for three months to work on the transition of the accounting workload from that site to Cleveland. This past May, I was able to attend the American Society of Military Comptroller’s National Professional Development Institute in San Antonio, TX. At this conference, I was presented with the Meritorious Performance Award in the Accounting & Finance category. I am also pursuing my MA Accounting degree from Cleveland State University, and preparing to sit for the CPA exam in the hopefully near future."

"My wife & I have also been actively serving at the Cleveland Baptist Church under Pastor Kevin Folger. I have been serving in the Audio\Video ministry running the live webcasts, preparing the “Challenge For Today” radio broadcasts, and running the sound board equipment. My wife has been working in the deaf ministry, singing special music, working in the nursery, and helping run video cameras."

What a blessing, Mike! It's been a joy for the Business faculty to keep up with Mike and Betsy (Kiper) and to hear from them regularly.

Matt Uplinger ('09)

Matt has a new job and new location. His wife, Jodi, was transferred closer to Milwaukee from her job in Columbus. Matt and Jodi now live in West Bend.

So Matt writes: "We decided it would be best for us to move closer to her job to save us money on travel and hopefully have a better chance of me finding a job near Milwaukee. At the beginning of June I got a call to come in for a job interview. The interview was a group interview and it was a very different format than I have done before. We were expected to prepare a presentation for the interview and we had to do some other role playing and Q/A time with the rest of the group. While it was a different type of interviewing for me, it was very similar to the way that we held class and I felt very comfortable in it. About a week later I got a call from the company and they offered me a job.

"On June 22nd I started my job as the Local Marketing Specialist for Babies R Us. I am in charge of marketing for the Appleton, Brookfield, and Racine stores. It is my job to go to the OB/GYN offices, hospitals, Family Practices, Pediatrician offices, and anywhere else that would have contact with expectant mothers and create a relationship where we can have them pass out materials promoting the store. I am also in charge of finding various local events and Baby expos to participate in to get the word out about Babies R Us."

The faculty guess that he's now extra thankful for those oral exams and other challenging experiences in the classroom that prepared him to do so well. :^)

Ken Barbic ('02)

Press Release regarding Ken Barbic:

Western Growers Welcomes New D.C. Director

IRVINE, CA (July 8, 2009) — Western Growers this week welcomed Ken Barbic to the Washington, D.C., office, where he will serve as the association’s new director of federal government affairs.

Most recently, Barbic served as deputy assistant USTR [United States Trade Representative] for congressional affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Prior to that, he worked as a legislative assistant for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means. Barbic completed internships at the White House Office of Public Liaison, the Bakersfield District Office of former Congressman Bill Thomas (R-CA) and the Food Marketing Institute. Barbic grew up in and around agriculture in Bakersfield, Calif., taking on various summer jobs in the industry.

“Ken is a terrific addition to the Western Growers team,” said Cathy Enright, Western Growers’ vice president of federal government affairs. “He brings valuable legislative and practical experience to Western Growers’ issues across the board. Barbic will play a vital role in the success of our organization and the specialty crop industry, at large, as Western Growers’ presence in our nation’s capital continues to grow.”

Barbic earned a B.S. degree in business management and an M.A. degree in Biblical studies from Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wisconsin.

Western Growers is an agricultural trade association whose almost 3,000 members grow, pack and ship 90 percent of the fresh vegetables and nearly 70 percent of the fresh fruit and tree nuts grown in Arizona and California, about one-half of the national’s fresh produce. Western Growers members provide the best medicine in the world.

Daniel Backhaus ('09)

Daniel says, "Hello from Texas!" In June, he began working for Ryan Wychopan ('08) at Security International in McAllen. The company installs fire alarm and security systems. Daniel's job title is estimator/designer. He researches construction jobs and develops bids for the fire alarm and security systems.

Kim (Marks) Petrutiu ('98)

What an exciting time for Kim!

Kim writes:

"Married. Can you believe it? After a month of changing my name on documents, signing a new name and learning to say, 'my husband, Marcel,' I am still in awe that the Lord has granted me the privilege of experiencing His love and care through marriage. Marcel and I had the wedding of our dreams followed by a relaxing honeymoon in Paris, France.

... "As we shared in previous letters, Marcel believes that the Lord is leading him to finish nursing school and serve the Lord full-time in medical missions. After much prayer and wise counsel, Marcel and I have decided that it would be best for me to step aside from Baptist Mid-Missions as Marcel finishes his schooling. We will be staying in Oradea , Romania serving at Maranatha Baptist Church (a BMM church plant).

... "We will continue to post regular updates to my website http://www.krazymarks.com/ and covet your prayers as we enter this new phase in our lives: seeking God’s will as a family."

Jordon Brill ('09)

Jordon's working in Watertown at KD Interactive. It will be great to have him right here!

Matt Evon ('09)

Matt is now at Ft. Knox, KY at the ROTC Leader's Training Course. He says, "I am working on the S1 Administration Staff, and I absolutely love it. My official job title is OIC (officer in charge) of Cadet Awards. Most of my job includes making sure the correct COL's signature is on each cadet's certificate when they graduate and making sure that each of the Drill SGTs are keeping tabs on the graduation requirements for each of their cadets. Lots of paperwork."

Matt seems to be well adjusted to the Army way: heavy use of acronyms! :^) I've included a picture of Matt's commission ceremony, here with Colonel Pitz in Maranatha's Heritage Room shortly after Commencement on May 9th.

Wayne Mix ('91)

The 2009 camp season at Ironwood is starting for Wayne and his colleagues. He shares the following ministry prayer requests:

The summer college staff training runs for two weeks, starting Monday (June 1).
The Leadership training runs for one week, starting Monday.
Travelling mercies for everyone coming in Sunday and Monday.
Safety during training.
Spiritual growth in lives during the training.
Resident staff to be well organized, competent and complete in their training.
Summer camp facility preparation.

Also, Wayne has the following personal prayer requests and praises:

A family, good friends, of mine have taken me on for support for $50 a month!!!
Leadership teaching and training and summer projects.
Discipline and Energy!!
Love, wisdom and enthusiasm for the teens.
Additional support needed.

Especially if you graduated with Wayne or find yourself also in Christian ministry, can you pray with us for Wayne's ministry?

Leyanne Oller ('04)

Leyanne's nephew, Ephraim David, was born on March 5 and joins her one year old niece Lydia. Leyanne said, "It is so much fun to watch them grow." Leyanne is one of the most faithful alumni to key in touch. Thank you!

She says: "It's hard to believe that it's been almost 10 years since I graduated from high school and five years since I graduated from Maranatha."

Jessica (Aucoin) Asire ('07)

On February 10, 2009, Jessica's husband, Matt, left for eight weeks of basic training for the US Coast Guard. Jessica wrote: "Our only way of communication during this time was by written letter. WOW! That was tough."

Matt graduated on April 3, and is now stationed on the USCGC (US Coast Guard Cutter) Sturgeon Bay. The Asires live at Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, NY.

Jessica testified: "God really has been good to us. We did not have to search for a church! My church [in New Hampshire] supports missionaries in NYC. Pastor Matt Recker is the pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Manhattan. We were so thankful that the Lord had this in place for us. I know so many people who move and spend weeks/months/years searching for the right church. Praise God for his provision in having one here for us already."

Jon McCarrell ('07)

Jon graduated on April 25th with an MBA from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Here's a picture of Jon with his fiancee Julane on his right and his sister Jorie in front of Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. Jon and Julane's wedding date is June 6th and he promises some more pictures!

Jon says: "I will be transitioning from my current Financial Analyst position to become a Staff Accountant at a regional electrical contracting company."

Kim Marks (for a few more days!) ('98)

Kim's most recent letter exhibited again her enthusiasm for God's word and her flexibility to His directives. She wrote last week: "With only one month until my wedding, it was a great privilege to celebrate the baptism of 8 people and the dedication of the new building God has provided for Bethlehem Baptist church in Ciumeghiu."

Kim and Marcel's wedding is only days away now. She continued: "As the Lord closes one chapter in my life, He is beginning to open another: a chapter that involves marrying a Romanian man and being more involved in reaching Romanians for Christ. Marcel and I have been regularly attending Maranatha Baptist Church in Oradea , Romania , a Baptist Mid Missions church plant started by my former co-workers over 4 years ago.

"I praise the Lord for His goodness to me and the privilege of witnessing His marvelous life-changing power among the Rom/Gypsy people. As I learn to change from a single missionary to a Romanian helpmate, please pray that the Lord will guide Marcel, my future husband, and I on how to specifically continue to serve Him in Romania while still following God’s call into medical missions."

Thanks, Kim, for the update and we definitely want to see wedding pictures!

Dine Tech Management Team

Dine Tech team members Andrew and Megan Currie with Bo Wilcox behind them, Chad Yanzito, Jeremy Delay, Phil Sturm, Kara Kuntzelman, and Michael Johnson.

Green Pesticides Crushes the Competition

...or so they seem to think. Right after their presentation, the confidence shows on the faces of Nathan Chromy, Mike Hackett, Richard Anderson, Matt Evon, Bethany Black, Taylor Hefftner, and Gary Meador.

ThawdNod Presents

ThawdNod.com team members David Kieckhafer, Bryan Oliver, Renee Sahlstrom, Jordon Brill, Luke Musgrave, Clark Stinson, and Stephen White definitely look happy AND two of their faculty evaluators (Professors Drost and Steven) do as well. The jury is still out whether it's because of the spectacular senior capstone presentation or because of the deal-sweeteners. More later...

Jon Maize ('06)

Jon and his wife, Kim, welcomed a new addition to their home and lives. Joseph David Maize was born Thursday, April 16th at 4:05 am. He weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 19-1/2 inches long.

Jon says: "He has been healthy and is quickly gaining weight. Since his birth it seems that we have had an endless stream of the family and friends visiting and wanting to see the little guy. So he has been quite the popular one. Tomorrow (April 26) will be his first church visit (First Baptist of Pecatonica, IL). It really neat to see the next chapters of our lives to begin to unfold before our eyes."

Here's a couple of pictures. Jon and Kim let loose of Joe just long enough for the doctor to hold him for a bit! :^) Jon supports his family as an Account Manager / Outside Sales at Fastenal in Beloit, WI.

Next Level Takes the Plunge

The first senior capstone project was presented today. Don't Ben Huseby, Ken Clark, Shannon Crayton, Daniel Fitch, Ryan Davis, Derek Robinson, and Matt Uplinger (left to right) look relieved?!

Katie (Oats) Washetas ('05)

Congrats to Eddie and Katie (Oats) Washetas! God gave them a healthy precious baby boy on April 18th: Landon, born at 2:22 a.m.--8 pounds 1 ounce and 21 inches long.

Kent Singletary ('93)

Kent and Merilee Singletary and family are moving to Franklin, Tennessee where Kent has accepted a position with Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University as a "Momentum Coach." He will be the consultant who works with the churches that run on a large scale.

Merilee writes: "Dave Ramsey is the author of 'The Total Money Makeover.' He also has a radio show in the south that is extremely popular. Kent's very excited about the work that Dave is doing across the country to get people out of debt and to help churches teach good stewardship."

Corey Pfaffe read Ramsey's book last summer, along with two other books by Christians to Christians about personal finance. You can find this brief book review at http://www.MinistryCPA.org/. The Pfaffe's have used credit cards for decades paying off the charges in full each month, but switched to a debit card following Dave's recommendation. They have found it to be very wise counsel.

Brandon Martin ('09)

Brandon finished school in December 2008, but we'll call him a 2009 graduate. The faculty look forward to seeing him at Commencement in May!

Brandon says, "It has actually been cold here in North Carolina of late. (Brandon opened a new office in Wilmington, NC, for the firm he interned with in the summer of 2008-Eshowings.com.) In fact, my employees had not seen snow in almost 10 years and we've already had two snowfalls since I've been here so I guess I brought a little Wisconsin weather with me to North Carolina! :)

"Things at the office are going great; a staff had already been hired for me when I arrived in January, and I have since hired three more operators and a floor manager. I was on a long stretch of consecutive days working for a while, but my schedule has since smoothed out which has been very nice. I am really enjoying the area so far; I have not found a church home as of yet; however, I have visited a few churches in the area and I am looking forward to visiting a new one this coming week."

Jeremy and Jeanna Zajicek ('03)

We received a great update from Jeremy and Jeanna!

"Much has happened in the course of the last several months. We did move back to MN after 13 months in WI. The move to WI was a great experience for Jeanna and me. The Lord opened so many doors for us to get to WI and then once we were in WI, the Lord started closing doors to making the transition final – the sale of our home in MN. So for 13 months we rented a duplex in WI and also maintained our home in MN.

"Despite the difficult financial times the Lord met our every need.... What a blessing to serve a God who holds the world in his hands! The move was a time of adventure, but more importantly a time of drawing closer to our heavenly father.

"The Lord did open doors for a good job back in Minnesota and we were able to move right back into our home. I have been working for Hennepin County for 9 months now.... I oversee the administration of several benefits and also supervise staff in my unit. The Lord has blessed me with a unique set of leadership skills and I have had the opportunity in many of my jobs to develop into positions above what I was hired for....

"I serve as a Deacon for First Baptist Church in St. Francis. The pastor is Steve Brower, also a graduate from Maranatha. I serve on a number of committees, including our Christian School board. Of course I love spending time with my growing family. The latest edition to our family is Natalie June born on December 23, 2008."

Laurie Pfaffe with her "boys"

Corey and Laurie Pfaffe have been "adopt-ing" business majors and other students from the College for quite some time. Here's Laurie with three grads (Tim Reinert, Micah Pfaffe and Dan Kaminski (all '08)) and current student Tim Huber.

Informal PIctures After Alumni Forum

Micah Pfaffe (NC) and Sara Anderson (WI) enjoy the lighter side with senior Jordon. Tim Reinert (MD) with Dan Kaminski (OR) and Dan's sister visiting from Oregon. And Ryan Wychopen (TX) lectures seniors Mike and Mike.

Business Alumni Forum ('08)

Seven business alumni from the May 2008 graduating class addressed the Spring 2009 Senior Capstone Students: Tara Watterson from WI, Micah Pfaffe from NC, Sara Anderson from WI, Ryan Wychopen from TX, Tim Reinert from MD, Zach Zepke from WI, and Dan Kaminski from OR.

Kim Marks ('98)

Kim is in the direct channel of blessings from God on her ministry in Romania! She writes:

"How can you deny the power of God when you see a recently illiterate woman now teaching the Bible to a church full of children? It was my great pleasure this last month to see Claudia, the pastor’s wife in Ciumeghiu, teach her first Bible lesson. I have been working with Claudia for two years helping her to learn to read and write. She started helping with kids’ class last summer and then this winter began teaching the children their weekly memory verse. After much work and prayer, Claudia taught the children about the creation of the world. It was awesome to SEE God strengthen this tentative woman to effectively teach and handle a class of restless children. I was so proud of her, but my heart almost burst with pride just two weeks later when Claudia held class all by herself because I was sick in bed. Despite her apprehension, she trusted God to help her serve Him in a new way. Our God still works miracles in this world."

Mary Strahm ('08)

No, this isn't Mary's bike but it's fun to think that she might have had a part in bringing it to the U.S. Market!

Mary writes: "I worked part-time in Trek's Oconomowoc warehouse while still a student at Maranatha. Around May 2008, I have the opportunity to interview for a starting office position. I applied, got the job, and worked as an Export Document Specialist for about 4 months. I was in charge of processing all Canadian shipments that were leaving our Wisconsin and California warehouses. I had to create spreadsheets that listed all parts exporting out of the country and forward the spreadsheets to our brokers so they could clear the shipments.

"In September, I accepted a promotion to a newly created position. I am currently one of two International Compliance Specialists at Trek Bicycles. (I didn't see that coming or I would have taken International Law!) The main responsibility of my current job is post entry. Post entry involves lots of auditing so attention to detail is a huge must! I currently spend 95% of my time auditing U.S. customs entries. I take entries that have errors to our different brokers and work with them on correcting the entries with customs. I also am working with a team from my department to help resolve an issue that we currently have with our vendors. We have Kaizan meetings about once a month and are working on updating our Import SOP to solve our issue."

Mary was an Assistant Team Leader during the Senior Capstone Project. It's good to see that Trek is recognizing some of the qualities that her faculty and peers recognized while Mary was a student!

Team Vince vs. Dr. Pfaffe

With a one mile race between freshman Vince Pardo and Dr. Pfaffe only one month away, the two decided that an early volley of competition would be appropriate. On Sunday night, February 22, 2009, Team Vince (some 10 students strong) met at the Pfaffe home for a best-2-out-of-3 pool competition. Well let's just say that Team Vince took its loss in good stride and salved its wounds with chili dogs, chips, and ice cream sandwich dessert (a special recipe that Mrs. Pfaffe prepared for the young Olympic trainee)...

Business Strategy Quiz Competition

The four senior project teams competed on Wednesday, February 18, 2009, for a pizza party at the Pfaffe home. Derek is proud of his right answers. Andrew has more answers and the winning team congratulates itself: Ben Huseby, Shannon Crayton, Matt Uplinger, Ryan Davis, Derek Robinson, Ken Clark, and Dan Fitch. Today, the celebrants enjoyed homemade Rodeo pizza, brownies, and soft drinks (oh, yes, and baby carrots and broccoli)!

Seeking Business Law Alum Input!

You suffered through successfully completed and thoroughly enjoyed Business Law at MBBC, so that makes you imminently qualified to help me make the class more interesting for current students! I had Dr. Brock for Business Law back in 1995, and it was a great head start for law school.

I would love to know what you liked a lot and what you liked "not so much" and especially what you actually use in your current employment. Please let me know in the comments, or email me directly with any feedback that comes to mind.

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Matt Davis

Ben Kieckhafer ('04)

Ben's a dad! He and his wife Jolynn "are now the happy parents of a beautiful baby girl! Brookelynn Anne was born on January 3, 2009. She weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz and was 21 inches long."

Ben says, that he is "still thoroughly enjoying [his] job at Charles Schwab [in Chandler, AZ]. It has been very interesting being a broker over the past few quarters, watching the markets plummet and helping clients react properly to these historical times."

Ben also rubbed it in a bit with his former professors (see golf picture from Ben)!

Senior Capstone Teams-Spring 2009

Twenty-nine students are forming the four senior capstone teams for this year's Venture Capital competition. Here are some pictures. More later...

Andrew Carlson ('05)

A picture is worth 1,000 words...
As of December 1, Andrew is a Certified Public Accountant!