• Current Issue
• This Issue Home
• Past Issues
• Alumni
• Parents
• Give to Bethel

Volume 58 / Number 2 / spring 2008

Bethel Focus

A Magazine of Bethel University

The Roises
“Give: Then Watch God Provide”

By Holly Donato ’78

John Roise, a member of Bethel’s Board of Trustees, admits he isn’t proud of his own college lifestyle years ago at the University of Minnesota. That is until a girl he admired—“a real Christian”—asked him a blunt question: Was he sure of his eternal destiny?

“I was in my $35-a-month sleeping room and one night the movie ‘A Man Called Peter’ was on my little black-and-white TV,” John recounts. “I knelt and gave my life to the Lord.”

Little did Susan Cin—eventually Susan Roise—know she had ignited a life of faith so bold that, over her adventurous years of marriage to John, she would be the one challenged to stretch.

After he was drafted during Vietnam, John went to work in banking and the couple moved 13 times in 10 years while he climbed the ladder at Norwest (now Wells Fargo), finally becoming a president of Norwest Bank in Mankato, Minnesota. Along the way, they had three sons and life became comfortable.

But John was getting restless. He wanted a career with the flexibility and greater financial means to go on mission trips, employ parolees and people with addictions, and openly share the gospel. Owning his own business, he thought, might come closer to the wisdom of evangelist Dwight L. Moody, who advised: “Make as much as you can, save as much as you can, so you can give as much as you can.”

So in 1989, sensing almost miraculous guidance through long-shot loan approvals, John borrowed several million dollars to buy Lindsay Windows, a custom window manufacturer in North Mankato, Minnesota—even though had no experience in the window industry.

“God took me on a journey,” John says, remembering how the touch-and-go health of the company forced him to work sometimes as his own deliveryman. “One night delivering some windows in Minneapolis, I looked up at the lit-up [Norwest] Bank building and wondered what I’d done,” John recalls. “Through the process of learning the business, working very hard, and making many mistakes, God broke my ‘self-effort will’ and I finally learned to rely totally on God while continuing to do my best with His guidance.”

It was an equally difficult time for Susan. After all, there were new college expenses for the couples’ oldest son Geoff, who had just enrolled at Bethel. “I felt guilty just buying milk,” she recalls. “I didn’t want to add to our debt.”

Just when it seemed finances couldn’t stretch any further, Campus Crusade for Christ leader Bill Bright challenged the couple to pledge $1 million toward a strategy for reaching the world for Christ. John was ready to commit, but Susan hesitated. “To agree to that, I had to have a very serious conversation with the Lord,” Susan shares. “It was basically an act of submission. The Lord would not let me rest as He showed me I needed to trust Him.”

“We make decisions carefully about giving,” says John. “We do it on our knees.”

Today, the couple testifies that God has rewarded their faith. Lindsay Windows is thriving and expanding. Son Geoff joined the family business in 2001. John serves on the board of Teen Challenge. Seeing how hard it is for men and women who’ve had personal struggles to find work, he encourages other companies to hire them—because he’s observed they make great employees. “I’m making these windows for the Lord,” he says, “not amassing a fortune.”

Susan and John enjoy flying into communities in developing nations, assisting Campus Crusade in equipping local Christians to grow the church. Susan, a former school teacher and Bible Study Fellowship training leader for 18 years, has spent time with the ministry in Southeast Asia.

“At the same time,” Susan observes, “there’s a crucial need for places like Bethel University—to raise up Christian leaders for the future, maybe for America more than for other places.” Their respect for Bethel grew during the years when Geoff ’93 was having “the best experience a student could have had” majoring in business, and when middle son Nate ’97 later studied media communications and political science.

In fact, Bethel is now one of the ministries the Roises are strongly committed to supporting. John is a valued member of the Board of Trustees and governor of the Bethel Foundation. The couple pledged $1 million to the university’s current comprehensive resource campaign, “Taking the Next Step.” With their commitment, 12 other couples were successfully challenged to join them in becoming Thirteen Who Dare, a core of critical support during the campaign.

“Investing in Bethel is investing in lives,” John says with conviction. “It’s raising up future leaders for Christ. We are honored to be a small part of this place.” As a trustee, he says he’s encouraged to see the “sharp, committed Christian faculty” and “fantastic administrators” who keep Bethel “fiscally responsible” and true to its mission.

“Sue and John are humble, delightful folks who are a great encouragement and inspiration to many,” says Bethel President George Brushaber. “They are always ready to share their vibrant, personal faith either at home or abroad.”

Given her earlier reticence, did Susan struggle with the couples’ sizable pledge to Bethel? “No,” she says quickly. “I have experienced the marvelous, incredible faithfulness of God.”

Although the Roises now enjoy being grandparents to three little ones, they believe it’s more loving not to leave them a large family fortune. “I’ve seen too many kids ruined by parents leaving them money,” John says. “My goal is to die poor. The last check to the funeral director should almost bounce. It takes no faith to give God’s money away when you are dead. ‘Do your givin’ while you’re livin’ so you know where it’s goin’!’”

“God has put it on our hearts to give, then watch Him provide [the gift],” concludes Susan. “All of life is a series of adventures. There are doors open now that may very well be closed when God calls us home. By partnering now, we get in on the joy!”