hen it comes to doing ministry over the long haul, Nancy Lundquist, Gordon Johnson, and Virgil Olson know what they’re talking about. With more than 240 years of ministry experience among them, this trio of beloved Bethelites answers questions about the fine points of running the race long and well in service to our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Retirement is a professional concept,” says Nancy Lundquist, former first lady of Bethel University. “But retire from the Lord’s work? Never! God left us on earth for a purpose, and finding out what that is can be a life-time job. As a follower of Christ, you are a disciple all of your life. And the older disciple should be the better disciple; you have more experience and understand what you have gone through.”

Former vice president and dean of Bethel College Virgil Olson agrees. “My stock answer is that institutions retire you, but the Lord never retires you. You may go slower and have different things to do—it depends on your health.”

“You can’t retire from opportunity and activity, but you must recognize that they will be of a different sort than what we did earlier,” adds Gordon Johnson, former dean of Bethel Seminary and longtime pastor and educator. “The contribution may not be the same, but the significance of who we are will remain.”

Lundquist’s husband Carl, president of Bethel College & Seminary from 1954 to 1982, considered his post-Bethel years to be “refirement” rather than retirement. Even from a hospital bed, he continued to work and make plans. When his pastor and deacons anointed him with oil and asked why he wanted prayer for healing, he responded, “If God wills, I would love to continue serving my Lord right to the very end.” Days later, Carl Lundquist was called to his eternal home.

Life Partners
Nancy and Carl Lundquist back in the days of wide ties and wider lapels, their ministry going strong.

Nancy Lundquist
Nancy Lundquist served 10 years as a pastor’s wife in Chicago and 28 years as first lady on the campus of Bethel University where her late husband Carl was president. She has spoken at spiritual life retreats for women throughout the United States, as well as to church groups in other countries, including Russia, Japan, and Sweden.

Together with her husband, Lundquist has devoted much time to a spiritual renewal ministry, the Evangelical Order of the Burning Heart, which took the couple not only to church leadership groups in many parts of the United States and Canada, but also to Christian workers overseas.

Today Lundquist serves on the Bethel Prayer Council and leads Bethel retirees. Indeed, she reports with a laugh that Bethel College & Seminary President George Brushaber calls her “the den mother” of retirees from Bethel. After two decades, she will step down from that post later this year.

Despite her busy schedule, Lundquist still makes time for church activities, and continues to speak before spiritual renewal retreats, senior groups, and grief seminars.

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

Acts 20:24

“Rigidity comes to the young or the old when one is limited in reading and outlook,” Olson asserts. “Some never allow themselves the privilege of having an expanded worldview.” Traveling abroad has increased his appreciation for other cultures, he notes. Having witnessed firsthand the extreme poverty prevalent around the globe, he considers himself a “social activist.”

“As long as you are living, you should be exploring new ideas and finding out what God wants you to do,” he says. “You can’t find abundant living by drawing a circle and protecting your little corner of the world.”

Johnson agrees. “You can’t live effectively without being open to change,” he says. He keeps up with current events by avidly reading both secular and Christian newsmagazines and tracking news updates on TV.

Flexibility is a good thing, Lundquist says, as long as the gospel message is not altered or diluted. The church she attends offers services that feature both contemporary worship and a traditional/contemporary blend. While she prefers the blended format, the growing numbers attending the contemporary services thrill her as well.

“When I see that young crowd—and some of the older ones, too—stand and praise the Lord, I can’t be happier to see them there. That’s what is important. I love organ music and all of that, but never in the whole wide world would I discourage young people to worship from their hearts,” she says firmly.

Why do some believers give up the race?

“Some people have physical health problems, and become cynical with a ‘why does God do this to me?’ type of mentality,” Olson observes. “Others don’t have enough faith or hope to bear hard times. In his epistle, Peter talks to the people about hope, hope, hope all of the time, even through all kinds of persecution.”

“A lukewarm heart toward God will do it every time,” agrees Lundquist. “Satan is after us constantly, and if our hearts aren’t warm toward God, we will listen to Satan.

“The Bible cautions that we shouldn’t grow weary in well doing, but we should try to be for God, rather than to do for Him,” she continues. “Our doing should come out of the natural overflow from our hearts toward Him.”

Johnson adds that the desire to fit in with others also can cause problems. Peer pressure is an influence not just of the young.

“Our culture can be indifferent, even antagonistic, to the Christian faith and to God,” he says. “All of us to some degree want to be accepted—it’s a very viable temptation—but we must be willing to take a stand.”

“Alta and I have been married 56 years, and I feel unusually blessed,” Johnson reflects. “But death comes. I recognize there seems to be no equity to the human experience, and loss adds to the inequity. Although ungodliness can lead to tragedy, it also happens to very godly people. It can be desperately hard to understand why a godly person has to suffer. Yet, we have to accept the human experience and not blame God. How He deals with us can be a mystery, but we can be secure that the Lord cares, even when we go through tough times.”

Bacterial meningitis that savagely attacked their infant son and left him with brain damage more than 55 years ago represents part of Lundquist’s personal walk through fire.

“How much God taught us through that experience you can’t imagine,” she says. “He has used it to humble us, and to teach us lessons we could not learn any other way.”

Perhaps even more difficult for her was the loss of her husband Carl. The Lundquists were partners and deeply enjoyed doing ministry together. During his “refirement” Carl planned to continue their work with the Burning Heart Spiritual Life Retreat ministry and concentrate on writing, but it was not to be.

“Suddenly, he was gone. Losing my other half has been the hardest thing in my life, but God has been close to me and has become my partner in ways I never dreamed possible. In the 11 years since Carl has been gone, I’ve learned more about my own personal relationship with my Lord. It has been something beautiful—to meet God and find out who I am as an individual. We will meet God as individuals, not as couples. I had to realize that it is my life before God, not Carl’s—and vice versa. They’ve been hard but good years.”

What are some of the most important lessons God has taught you?

“I came to know the Lord in the latter years of high school,” Johnson explains. “There was surely a naiveté in that early period, and then I was off to Moody Bible Institute. It was maturing, because you’re thrust into service right after you get there. Over time I’ve had a maturing, a broadening of my concepts of church and its relationships. Life has broadened my convictions, but not lessened them. Godliness and my walk have become ever more significant in life. I’ve learned not to be impulsive or jump to conclusions, but to be patient and wait.”

Olson chimes in, “Although I was brought up in a Christian home, when I was a high school senior there was a terrible division in our church, and I became very cynical. Not of God or Christ, but I did hold Christian people at arm’s length. Some time later, God led me to ministry. I’ve had several roles in ministry and education, and I’ve learned to make adjustments through it all. God has given me some talents and gifts, and used those. He has blessed me, and I have always felt that God’s hand has been on me, that I have His grace and mercy.”

A turning point for Lundquist was a sabbatical with Carl during which they visited Spiritual Life Centers around the world.

“I’ve had many years to learn, but sometimes we’re slow learners,” Lundquist confesses. “I came back from that sabbatical a different person, realizing how big our God is. Seeing all kinds of people around the world expressing themselves in such different ways, but retaining the real essence of the gospel, enlarged my thinking of God Himself.”

Strong Handshake
New Dean of Bethel Seminary Gordon Johnson receives a warm welcome from former Dean Edwin Omark in 1964.

Gordon Johnson
Gordon Johnson committed his life to Jesus Christ during his senior year in high school. Completing the pastors course at Moody Bible Institute in 1941, he went on to study at Bethel Junior College, Harvard University, and the University of Minnesota, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1945. From there he attended Princeton Theological Seminary, earned his bachelor of divinity and his master of theology degrees from Bethel Seminary, received his doctor of theology degree from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, and completed postdoctoral work at Yale University Divinity School.

After holding student pastorates in Chesterton, Indiana, and Dalbo, Minnesota, Johnson was ordained into the gospel ministry at the Central Baptist Church of St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1946. He then pastored the First Baptist Church of Milltown, Wisconsin, from 1946 to 1948, the Bethel Baptist Church of Montclair, New Jersey, from 1948 to 1951, and the Central Avenue Baptist Church of Chicago from 1951 to 1959, at which time he joined the faculty of Bethel Seminary as associate professor of homiletics. He then served Bethel Seminary as director of field education from 1959 to 1964, and vice president and dean from 1964 to 1984. Instrumental in the 1977 startup of Bethel Seminary San Diego, he served there as an adjunct professor from 1984 to 1989 and interim dean from 1990 to 1991. Over the years he also has filled in as interim senior pastor for several churches in California and Minnesota.

Today Johnson serves on the pastoral vision committee at his church, and is working on a book manuscript about communicating the gospel using biblical biographies. He and his wife Alta enjoy traveling together, recently having cruised to Alaska, Panama, and down the Mississippi River.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Hebrews 12:1

“Take each age as it comes and keep yourself physically fit,” advises Olson. “Besides eating right, exercising, praying, and meditating, practice acts of forgiveness. Don’t carry grudges. You can’t live happily if you haven’t forgiven people. This message of forgiveness is largely lost in the church. Take time. Be humble. Listen. We don’t always have to prove that we’re right. The Lord says ‘Justice is Mine.’”

Johnson, too, advocates keeping in shape. He regularly works out at an athletic club on 14 different exercise machines, and walks at least a mile each day.

“I may not live longer,” he says, “but I hope to be more agile in older age. Each era needs to be faced, however. I can still walk that mile but not at the same pace. Face it and admit the changes.”

He holds to a similar perspective regarding spiritual health. “I may not face the same issues that I did when I was younger,” he says, “but I still need the influence of the church, small groups, and my own devotional life.”

“Some people grow old in their spiritual lives, as well as in their bodies, which is too bad,” observes Lundquist. “We suffer physical ailments and become cranky—that’s the way we’re made. However, in Christ we can stay young in the Spirit and become a bridge to younger people.

“And why are we called ‘seniors’ unless we are almost ready for graduation?” she ponders. “I just received a letter this morning telling me that a friend passed away. It’s happening all of the time—we’re getting ready to graduate but we don’t know when it will be. You know how a baby comes into life, with fists clenched so tight? When you bathe that baby, you pry those tiny fingers open. That is a picture of life. Our fingers need to be pried open as we cling to this life. The losses that happen to us become a preparation for the next life, so at the time of graduation, we will be so glad to go.

“With God’s help you need to go along and feel good about every stage of life,” she concludes. “I would not want to live it over again—the past is gone, and the future is so much more bright. It’s time to move on.”

What has surprised you most about God—and life?

“To me, what is most surprising about God is His grace in choosing people,” Olson says. “A favorite Bible commentator has pointed out that Ruth and Rahab are in the line of Jesus—a Moabite and a Canaanite! And David! He was a terrible father who couldn’t take care of his kids. God’s mercy surprises us when he accepts people we would hesitate to accept. Jesus not only gave His blood for the nations, He got His blood from these people.”

“And God doesn’t always respond the way we want Him to,” Johnson observes. “Sometimes the very things we thought were great ideas don’t work out that way. Be open to the unexpected. Let God be free—don’t put Him in a box. He will break out of it.”

“I’m surprised how God has used me,” Lundquist adds. “My eyes were wide open when I married a preacher and became a preacher’s wife. I knew how to do that, and loved it. But what do you do as a president’s wife? I hadn’t counted on that.

“I’ve also been surprised by the gifts I didn’t know I had,” she continues. “My husband always encouraged me. Now, when I’m asked to be involved with something, I pray about it. If there is no reason not to do it, I’ll do it. God can use any of us, and we’re all gifted differently.”

“That I don’t have to be young again. I’ve gone through the valley,” Olson remarks. “Psalm 23 says the Lord is our shepherd all of the way. He still is. In this stage of life, He hasn’t given up on us.”

“Seeing my family all serving the Lord,” answers Lundquist. “It’s such a joy to know that our three daughters are really wonderful Christian people, married to such good husbands, and have such fine families. I’m very happy about that.”

“Growing older provides perspective on the changes of the 20th century,” adds Johnson, who served in the Navy during World War II and, like Lundquist and Olson, saw the Great Depression. “I was born in 1919, and lived through the major portion of the last century. I watched all of that change and progress—in the church, too.”

What advice would you give to younger believers about the Christian experience?

“Instead of giving advice, I would give them encouragement,” is Lundquist’s pragmatic approach. “Advice is seldom listened to. Instead, I would encourage them to live for God and not just let things happen to them, but to make an effort to be purposeful.”

“It’s important to develop a disciplined spiritual life,” Olson says. “To be a good runner you need to be disciplined. That can be a problem in the spiritual life—you can’t just lie in the sun and wave a magic spiritual wand. Learn to know God’s ways, His ideas, and read His Word. Attend a good evangelical church and find some group or small cell to be made responsible in your spiritual life. Sharing with others and opening up is critical. People want to know that others stand behind them, that they are not alone.”

“Being a Christian is the most secure way to live,” Johnson concludes. “It provides a sense of stability. Being strong in Christian faith doesn’t mean narrow, but it is a genuine worldview, a perspective, that makes life rich. God, and the life He has given to us, is so good!”

Nancy Lundquist. Gordon Johnson. Virgil Olson. Long distance runners, all three. For more than 80 years, these three extraordinary athletes have been running the race, and they are determined to finish strong. May their torches continue to flame brightly today and always. •

Author Patty Thomson is a development communications specialist for Bethel University. She and her husband Richard live in Blaine, Minnesota.

Study time
Virgil Olson hits the books as a young professor of church history and missions at Bethel Seminary.

Virgil Olson
Born in a Christian home, Virgil Olson accepted Christ in 1924 at the age of eight. He graduated from Bethel Academy in 1934, and while assisting at his church in the Red River Valley of Northern Minnesota, experienced a call to Christian ministry that came to fruition upon his graduation from Bethel Junior College in 1936. Olson went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Macalester College, a divinity degree from Bethel Seminary, and a doctor of theology degree from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. He pursued postdoctoral work at Garrett Biblical Seminary, Northwestern University, and Uppsala University in Sweden.

Before his work at Bethel, Olson was pastor of Dalton Baptist Church, Muskegon, Michigan, and Salem Baptist Church in Chicago. From 1951 to 1968 he was professor of church history and missions at Bethel Seminary, also serving as registrar from 1957 to 1964. In 1968 he became vice president and dean of Bethel College, where he served until 1975 when he became secretary of the Board of World Missions for the Baptist General Conference. From 1982 to 1986 Olson served as president of William Carey International University, Pasadena, California, and finished his long career by returning to Bethel as an adjunct professor of missions at the seminary in St. Paul.

Olson’s companion in life and ministry was Carol, his wife, with whom he had three children and six grandchildren. “I married a bright, compassionate, very creative woman,” Olson says. “Carol is the best thing that happened to me.” Carol died February 16, 2002, at the age of 84.

The Olson family has maintained a 120-year-old farmhouse in the country, where Olson stays active painting, cutting grass, and chopping wood.