‘Instructions in a Nutshell’

Dave and Debbie Powell returned for a 50-year reunion and left with a renewed sense of purpose and calling in their lives By Victoria Payne

“Recount an experience when you needed to fully trust God for a college decision or life direction.”

Over the last year, more than 180 George Fox students explored this open-ended prompt, submitting heartfelt essays about God’s direction in their lives. While their goal was to receive the Proverbs 3:5-6 Scholarship, an endowed fund started in 2024 by Dave (B74) and Debbie Powell (M10), the process itself has given students a profound opportunity to see God’s direction in their lives. Only one student receives the award each year, but every recipient experiences the priceless benefit of locating God’s faithfulness in their story – and that is by design.

Debbie, a Portland Seminary graduate, is a spiritual director who guides people looking for a deeper relationship with Jesus. She and Dave returned to campus for his 50-year reunion last May, hoping to reconnect with old classmates and revisit the place that shaped the early years of their marriage.

But Debbie also attended with some trepidation. Was this the university she remembered? She had heard rumors that maybe George Fox was no longer holding firm to its Christian values. “She was worried the school had lost its way,” Dave says.

Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

Over the course of that weekend, Debbie asked many questions, finding the answers – and the hope – she was looking for. Through conversations with faculty, staff and students, she found a university deeply committed to a Christ-centered education and a community that held fast to biblical truth while remaining welcoming to those still seeking faith.

“I was so encouraged,” Debbie says. “Obviously not everyone who comes here is a Christian, but I believe it is a mission field. You have those who come because they love Jesus, and you have those who come because they need to hear about him.”

The discovery became a breakthrough. They had reserved some money to help others but weren’t sure what to do with it. “God had blessed us with a surplus,” Debbie says, “and we felt that we were supposed to pass it on.”

As they toured campus, something stirred. They revisited cherished places like Weesner Village – the campus apartments where they began their married life. They toured the new chapel, remembering the tennis courts where Debbie had once played. They looked back on those bygone years with fondness but also remembered the financial strain of being young and married. Debbie paused her college journey so she could bring in some much-needed income as Dave finished undergraduate studies in religion and philosophy. As they walked the grounds and gazed into the rearview mirror, they could see God’s hand in it all.

“Suddenly, it just made sense – we should start a scholarship,” Debbie recalls. “Not just to help financially, but to invite students to reflect on how God is directing their lives.”

Dave and Debbie Powell pose atop the stairway of Weesner Village Apartments, where the couple began married life in the ’70s.

Lean Not on Your Own Understanding

That fall, they established the Proverbs 3:5-6 Scholarship. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” It’s a Scripture that’s never failed them.

“It’s instructions in a nutshell of what a relationship with God will lead to,” Debbie says.

Their own lives have been shaped by the passage, as they’ve trusted God’s call to serve. Dave initially worked as a youth pastor before devoting his long career to the people of Eugene and Springfield as a paramedic and firefighter. Debbie eventually returned to school, becoming an ordained Free Methodist minister and spiritual director. Along the way, they raised four children – including adopting their youngest from Russia – guided by a sense that God’s hand was always directing their path.

Creating the scholarship felt like a natural extension of their faith and calling. But rather than just writing checks, Debbie wanted the application itself to be a moment of spiritual reflection. She crafted it to help students pause and consider how God might be guiding their lives – sometimes subtly, sometimes unmistakably.

Among them was Daniel Chase, a first-generation college student who grew up in a Christian home but entered his senior year of high school quietly drifting from faith. Choosing George Fox was a way of honoring his parents’ example, even if his own belief felt uncertain. “I came to Fox because I wanted to give my faith a fair chance,” Daniel says. And he did.

Dave and Debbie connect with scholarship recipient Daniel Chase.

And He Will Make Your Paths Straight

As a freshman, Daniel, who will graduate next year with a degree in business administration, found a network of professors, mentors and friends who welcomed him with authenticity and grace. Their encouragement rekindled something in him. Writing his scholarship essay gave him the chance to look back over his spiritual journey and realize that even when he felt distant from God, God had never been distant from him. He began to see his story with new eyes – not just as a student surviving financial strain, but as someone who is supposed to be here.

“Every summer, I work as many hours as possible, just working and looking at my bank account and wondering, ‘Do I have enough money to make it back?’ Receiving the scholarship lifted some of that stress off my shoulders,” Daniel says. “It reminded me to surround myself with solid people, like my parents and the people I met here.”

The Powells had the opportunity to meet Daniel this spring, a full-circle moment for them all. For Daniel, it solidified the realization that the faithfulness of others – people who listen for God’s prompting and act – can open doors for someone else’s transformation.

For Dave and Debbie, the meeting affirmed the very heart of why they started the scholarship: to encourage students to listen for God’s voice, even amid doubt, and to recognize the guidance that often comes before we even ask for it.