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PROFILE ON GIVING
Parents Encourage Alumni to Stay Connected to Bethel
By Holly Donato
Rebecca and Alan Johnson
When Rebecca and Alan Johnson moved to the Twin Cities in 1988, they had their first brush with Bethel. They volunteered to teach a class for young couples at Olivet Baptist Church in Crystal, Minn., and immediately noticed something different about these men and women, most of whom were Bethel alumni.
“We were just so impressed with these graduates from Bethel,” says Alan.
So the Johnsons were pleased when their children, Adam ’00 and Amanda (Cornelius) ’01, chose to attend Bethel too. The Johnsons now live in Portland, Ore., where Alan is president of the Oregon region of Wells Fargo. But the couple still has a close association with Bethel, where Alan serves on the Board of Trustees.
“There are needs right now with respect to facilities and financial support that are crucial if Bethel is going to have a secure decade ahead,” declares Alan. “The need didn’t come out of a crisis or mismanagement. It came out of how God’s blessed Bethel in terms of demand.”
“It takes every generation
stepping up to do its part to
ensure Bethel will thrive,”
says Alan Johnson.The Johnsons agree that the biggest need is to build the University
Commons, a student center to house larger dining areas, the Campus
Store, student life, student organizations, meeting rooms, and gathering
spaces. “Every home
needs a living room where people feel welcome,” Rebecca observes.
The Johnsons have contributed one of the campaign’s early leadership gifts. “It’s an honor to be able to support Bethel financially,” Alan says. “Certainly when you see God at work like He clearly is at Bethel, you want to be of help and encouragement, and that includes writing checks. To not give money would be wrong. So we have made the single largest gift of our lifetime to this campaign.”
That doesn’t mean the Johnsons have forgotten the financial challenges of having young children and a mortgage. Alan and Rebecca recently hosted a reunion of their Olivet couples class—the group of Bethel alumni who now have young families. At that gathering, the Johnsons stressed that staying connected to Bethel through a habit of consistent, smaller gifts now will prepare them to assume greater ownership of Bethel in the near future.
“We wanted to make sure alumni in their age group—and Bethel has a huge bubble of alumni in their 30s and 40s—stay connected to the university,” Rebecca explains.
“I said to them ‘There is no guarantee that anyone’s children will be educated here,’” Alan reasons. “It takes every generation stepping up to do its part to ensure Bethel will thrive.”
Of the many charitable organizations the Johnsons could champion, they have chosen Bethel for two reasons: First, says Alan, Bethel has top-notch leaders who align day-to-day operations with Christ-centered values. Second, Bethel is true to its mission.
“A lot of organizations have a mission [displayed] on the wall,” says Alan. “But it’s not often you see it in behavior. Bethel lives out its mission.”