On Mission

Katie Schmoeckel is an associate professor in Maranatha’s Department of Humanities. An alumna who completed both undergraduate and graduate work at Maranatha, she worked as a historical guide and taught high school history for twelve years before joining the faculty full-time. She enjoys traveling to historic sites and preparing food for the bus ministry children in the Raven Ministry at her churc...

Dr. David Handyside, retired dean of Maranatha’s School of Education, previously taught in both Christian and public schools and served as a school administrator. At Maranatha, he directed student teachers before becoming dean. He has faithfully served in his local church as a Sunday school teacher and deacon. In retirement, he serves on the Watertown School Board. He and his wife, Margaret, have...

Jon Crocker is Executive Director of Gospel Fellowship Association Missions. He assumed the position in 2022 after having served for 10 years in church planting in Mexico City. Jon and his wife, Andrea, have five children.

Ben Coronado is the worship and discipleship pastor at Fairview Baptist Church in Decatur, Alabama, and is a chaplain with the Decatur Police Department. A Maranatha alumnus, Ben served as student body president and in Guest Services. Upon graduation, he became a youth pastor at his home church and continued his studies, earning an MA in Biblical Counseling while pursuing an MDiv. Ben and his wife...

Jodi Faithfull, a Prince Edward Islander, is an associate professor in the Department of Applied Science who oversees Maranatha’s kinesiology program, exercise science practicums and internships, and serves as the head baseball coach. As an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and an MASM Performance Enhancement Specialist, he works with athletes from Maranatha’s ten intercollegiate...

Dr. Dwayne Morris is an associate pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Watertown, where, in addition to his other duties, he now directs New Focus, an addiction recovery program. He has served in various capacities during his more than 40-year association with Maranatha and currently teaches part-time in the College of Bible and Church Ministries and the Department of Humanities. He and his wife, A...

Craig Lawson [‘13] is the program director at Ironwood Christian Camp in Newberry Springs, California. Craig met and married his wife, Emily, while at Maranatha and then worked at MBU for a year following graduation. Summer ministry at Ironwood led them to join the resident staff in 2015. The Lawsons have two children who, by camp tradition, are dubbed “desert pygmies.”

The expression “famous last words” applies to guest Emily Haynes. “One day you will be dean of women,” an associate dorm supervisor once playfully predicted. Emily adamantly replied, “Absolutely not!” Yet the Lord steadily guided her from teaching piano into the conjectured dean of women position. She and host Dr. Matt Davis review that process. Joining the Student Life Office as a dorm supervisor...

Athletics as ministry offers a great “classroom” with many teachable moments, as you will hear in this episode with guest Phil Price, MBU faculty member and assistant basketball coach. He claims to have had a “front-row seat,” spending all but seven years of his life on a Christian campus. Growing up shadowing his coaching father and later playing in multiple sports, he treasures having been mento...

Peter Wright’s interview in this episode runs the gamut from youth pastor to communications director to recruitment specialist and more. He explains to host Dr. Matt Davis that God has “wired” him to enjoy encouraging people, whether through playing the piano, driving a bus, flying airplanes, or mowing a lawn. Their conversation glides through Peter’s call to youth ministry despite music training...

Here’s a notable episode with guest Mr. John McGarry, who spoke on campus for an informative general assembly. He is the Assistant Special Agent in Charge with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in the Milwaukee District Office. A deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps to Columbia, South America, aroused his desire to become a DEA agent and facilitated his goal of joining something b...

This episode’s guest hails from Maranatha’s inception. In fact, he met the Brothers of the Holy Cross who sold the campus to MBU. Dr. Bob Griffin reflects on the early days—transferring from Pillsbury, meeting his wife (plus how a bowl of melted ice cream landed in his lap), and the quandary of what to do after graduation. Bob defines his mission as willingness to be a servant, and host Dr. Matt D...

Delve into this episode as host Dr. Matt Davis and MBU graduate Jonathan Gilliam chat about a range of topics from cross-country running to marriage, from Jonathan’s current camp staff responsibilities to God’s calling. Tapping into his recent graduation, they address his college expectations and what aspects prepared him for life. Jonathan appreciates his extension involvement in a small church a...

In this engaging episode, host Dr. Matt Davis interviews fall meetings guest speaker Pastor Joel Mikkelson, asking why he chose to present messages on the attributes of God. Mentioning the apparent conflict between scarcity as the economic standard for determining value and God’s infinity, Dr. Davis asks the intriguing question, “Then what is God’s value?” They address God’s holiness and how it su...

If internship offers experience for one’s resume, what does internship lodging provide? In Ethan Rosen’s case, it led to far more than anticipated, as he narrates on this podcast episode. Ethan could not afford lodging for his sports management internship, so his coach introduced him to a church whose members opened their homes one summer for several weeks each. Thus, Ethan met a seed producer, be...

Podcast listeners may recognize the voice of this episode’s guest—Jim Schneider, executive director of VCY America and host of Crosstalk, a nationwide live call-in program examining issues of concern for Christians. After a brief glimpse at the global scope of his organization, he and host Dr. Matt Davis share common experiences and the challenges of call-in programs. They examine how VCY’s missio...

Guest Ian Ferguson returns for his second visit to the podcast, accompanied this time by business partner Glenn Aldridge of CoSurge CPAs, a firm that provides audit leadership for other CPA businesses nationwide. Host Dr. Matt Davis steers their discussion through narration of their firm’s merger and determination of core values (succinctly stated in an acronym for Surge), posing such questions as...

“It’s not who’s right, but what’s right,” asserts podcast guest Alex Rodriguez. The son of hardworking Cuban parents, Alex attended college on a baseball scholarship, hoping eventually to support his family. A torn rotator cuff abruptly cancelled the scholarship, forcing him to enroll in community college and get the job that began a 41-year relationship with Chick-fil-A. Regarding Chick-fil-A, Al...

This episode’s guest, Mr. Randy Tanis, is closely linked with Maranatha and Watertown, having graduated from MBU and having served as youth pastor at Calvary Baptist Church for 21 years. Originally, Randy came to college to play football, but then “surrendered to stay.” Working with Neighborhood Bible Time for three summers, he was drawn into youth ministry. He and host Dr. Matt Davis reminisce ab...

Jamison Coppola, Government Relations Director for American Association of Christian Schools, and host Dr. Matt Davis unite in this informative episode of OnMission to probe a topic of obvious mutual concern—religious liberty, especially as it relates to Christian education and traditionally-held Christian principles. They explain the implausibility of legislators and staff predicting all ramifica...

Recent Artist Series soloist, master class instructor, and chapel speaker Dr. David Parker adds this episode of OnMission to the roster. Contrary to stereotypical expectations, Dr. Parker’s exuberant laugh and unpretentious demeanor convey genuine warmth and belie his professional expertise that has afforded him invitations to perform and teach nationally and abroad, including opportunity to sing...

Evangelist Glen Shank, whom former classmate and host Dr. Matt Davis knows as Shorty, served as a Maranatha representative for several years and as an assistant pastor for twelve. The Lord used both positions to gradually direct him into his present ministry. When asked his mission, he dedicated a week of intentional reflection, examining his life verse and “encapsulating” it into a comprehensive...

In this podcast interview, host Dr. Matt Davis and Dr. Charles Plummer, Maranatha’s Human Resources director, discover they share common experiences of bagging groceries and playing trombone, albeit their trombone explorations ended differently. Trombone performance and music were Dr. Plummer’s profession and passion. With a doctorate in musical arts in pedagogy and literature, he taught, played p...

Advancing as a manager with Martin Marietta Corporation after college, Dr. Carl Herbster became convicted of the need to invest his life in something of greater eternal merit. His mission became “to serve God and to help other people serve God.” Dr. Herbster and host Dr. Matt Davis review the varied ministries Dr. Herbster’s mission has included—from early days leading a fledgling Christian school...

Having defined his mission in an earlier podcast, Mr. Sam Brock, Executive director of Ironwood Christian Camp, returns with host Dr. Matt Davis to analyze parachurch ministries and their partnership with independent local churches. They clearly acknowledge the primacy of the church in God’s plan and the role of parachurch organizations to serve the church, but note the challenges that can threate...