The ‘Ministry’ of the Classroom

In their combined 61 years at George Fox, professors MaryKate Morse and Neal Ninteman saw countless lives transformed through their mentorship, prayer and a genuine concern for students’ well-being By Sean Patterson

MaryKate Morse: 36 Years

What inspires someone to pour 36 years of their life into one profession? For Portland Seminary’s MaryKate Morse, the answer comes down to mission and relationships.

“My purpose was to come alongside Christian leaders to companion and resource them toward conforming to Christ in their lives and engaging fully in God’s mission,” she says. “Teaching at Portland Seminary gave me a meaningful place to do that.”

To that end, Morse modeled the love of Christ herself, passing on a passion for Scripture, leadership and spiritual formation, and community, while listening to and praying with students eager to lead well for Christ. She retires this spring after serving a number of roles – most recently as a professor of leadership and spiritual formation, and previously as executive dean of the seminary, director of the seminary’s masters programs, and director of strategic planning for the university.

“Being a part of God’s work in the church and the world through hundreds of students who have gone through my courses is what I loved most,” she says of her tenure, which began with an adjunct instructor role in 1988. “I am encouraged and inspired by their bravery, gifts and heart to make a difference with God in their lives and in the world around them.”

Along the journey, she experienced a wide spectrum of moments – from the embarrassing to the sacred. In an example of the former, she laughs as she recalls hosting an artist for a prayer class.

“She had come to Christ through art, and she was telling her story through a series of life-size paintings of Vietnam vets who were wearing only their helmets and weaponry,” Morse recalls. “It was all moving and tasteful – until I looked toward the door with its large glass side panels. Our dean was giving a tour for Friendsview Manor people, and he was desperately trying to block the windows with his body. He thought a prayer class would be a safe bet for the tour group. Apparently, not that day. I was called to his office to explain.”

In a recent encounter, doctoral students in the leadership and spiritual formation program shared their heartfelt story around a controversial topic, using the indigenous practice of a talking circle. “It was a holy time,” Morse says. “We experienced what it is like to be around Christ’s table with different views and life experiences, but united in love.”

She says teaching doctoral students for the past 10 years was a highlight of her career. “It’s been an honor to journey with them. I was able to design the culture and the curriculum to help them develop in both character and capacity in a formational learning community.”

Morse stayed more than three and a half decades for a simple reason: She believed in the mission of George Fox.

“I am loyal, and I believe in the mission of the university and the seminary,” she says. “I trusted that those leading the university cared deeply about the mission and students. I am committed to its three values – Students First, Christ in Everything, and Innovation to Improve Outcomes. Students should be first, Christ is in everything, and I thrived in the innovative culture of the seminary and the university.”

Looking ahead, Morse will continue to teach her doctoral students as an adjunct professor to finish out two cohorts. Beyond that, she hopes to finish several book projects, continue with speaking engagements, and support ministry leaders as a coach and spiritual director.

Neal Ninteman: 25 Years

To say Neal Ninteman’s path to becoming a university professor was a “non-traditional” one would be an understatement. This wasn’t the life he was supposed to lead after earning civil engineering degrees from Cal Polytechnic State University and Stanford in the mid-1980s. The plan was to go into business and eventually take the reins of his father’s company, Ninteman Construction, in Southern California.

“‘God’s plans for our lives are often different from our own – and they are always better.’ That pretty much sums up my story.”

“I heard Nancy DeMoss speak at a conference when I was in my 30s,” Ninteman reflects. “She said, ‘God’s plans for our lives are often different from our own – and they are always better.’ That pretty much sums up my story.”

In his case, “God’s plans” meant spending nearly a decade after college serving in full-time missions work alongside wife Susan with Campus Crusade for Christ in Russia. It wasn’t until one of their furloughs home, in 1999, that the idea of teaching was first ignited.

A providential conversation with a George Fox mathematics professor, Hank Helsabeck, opened the door for Ninteman to adjunct teach an algebra class at George Fox. It sparked a passion he didn’t know existed.

“Susan and I had a desire to continue in ministry with college students, as we had been doing in Russia, but we felt called to do it from a different angle,” says Ninteman, an associate professor of engineering who retired this spring after 25 years at the university. “Then God orchestrated a meeting with Hank where he mentioned the idea of me teaching at George Fox, and I thought, ‘Are you serious? Sure!’

“Hank saw something in me that I wasn’t really even aware of. When I taught that first class in 2000, I experienced something I’d never felt before – a sense that this is what God made me to do. The funny thing is, if you had told me in my college days that I’d be teaching, I would have told you that that’s the last thing I would ever do. In my speech class at Cal Poly, we had four speeches we had to give – I faked being sick for all four of them. I was petrified of talking in front of people.”

Upon discovering a love of teaching, Ninteman found an outlet to combine his two passions – teaching math, engineering and physics, and ministry. It’s a marriage that resulted in countless meaningful conversations and relationships, formed both in the classroom and on the court during his 10 years as head men’s tennis coach.

“The remarkable thing about our Be Known promise is how accurately it describes the George Fox experience,” he says. “It’s just perfect. I honestly can’t think of a better summary of my 25 years here. And while we typically talk about it from the students’ perspective, there is a reciprocal reality as well. I’ve had the privilege and blessing of being known by hundreds of students, which has made for an incredibly rich and meaningful journey.”

During his quarter-century at the university, Ninteman served as an assistant professor, associate professor, and as associate dean of the College of Engineering. He’s taught everything from mathematics and general education courses to physics and engineering classes.

What he did in them all was treat each class as a place for learning, relationships, ministry, and the building of memories. “From day one this has never felt like a job to me,” he says. “I’ve never really considered it work. It’s more of a mission, a calling.”

Ninteman is unsure of what’s next. What he does know is it will involve staying active in serving others.

“God has been working in our hearts a desire to work with the disadvantaged, distressed and vulnerable – ‘to do justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God’ (Micah 6:8). Exactly where that is, and what, we don’t know. We are excited to find out what he has planned in the next chapter.”