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Bethel Heritage Prompts Prayer Involvement

Bob and Marge Franzen

Bob and Marge Franzen have a Bethel heritage that goes back decades. Bob’s
mother came to the Twin Cities from Sweden in the 1920s and began taking classes at Bethel Academy to learn English. One of Marge’s cousins was encouraged by the pastor of her church in Brockton, Mass., to enroll in Bethel in the 1930s. Bob enrolled in Bethel after serving in the Navy, and he and Marge served as unofficial “ambassadors” for Bethel in the New England area for years, encouraging young people to choose a Bethel education. The couple’s two sons are Bethel graduates, too.

The Franzens’ lifelong support of Bethel’s mission continues as they serve as team leaders for the National Prayer Initiative. “Our prayer group is comprised mainly ‘snowbirds’ who meet monthly from November through April in Bradenton, Florida,” Marge says. “We also have a group in Sister Bay (Wisconsin, where they live the rest of the year). Both prayer groups include people who have either attended Bethel, or have children, grandchildren or young friends who have attended in the past or currently attend. “We all have a great interest in Bethel,” Marge declares.

The Franzens credit Bethel’s faculty and Bethlehem Baptist Church for encouraging Bob’s ministry career. He has been a pastor, served as New England district executive minister, and later as an associate secretary of home missions and administrator of public affairs in the Baptist General Conference office. Marge, who was a secretary at Edgewater Baptist Church in Minneapolis and the New England District Conference, strongly supported Bob in ministry.

“Prayer has kept us focused on the Lord’s work and keeps us interested in praying for Bethel administration, faculty, staff, teachers and students,” the Franzens assert. “The prayers of many Bethel friends have helped us both in times of critical need.”