MEU 80th Celebration—November 2019
 Last week I celebrated another birthday. Kathie made me a special meal. I was surprised with a large serving of my favorite mango drink from Mr. Cocktail located down Sabtieh hill. It’s my favorite because the juice is not only fresh pressed mango, but the owner always makes it special for me with mango chunks stacked to the bottom of the glass. I eat and drink mango at the same time. Mmmm. Each of my sons also wished me happy birthday.
Earlier that morning I walked nearly five miles, during which time I looked back chronologically through the time-line history of my memories: mentally rehearsing the rich blessings which God has graciously given me along the way. I am so blessed. God has been so patient. Kind. Almost at tears along the way, I was reminded how moving it can be to look back at what God has done in your life. Such memories bring joy today, they stir hope for tomorrow. God is good.
2019 is MEU’s 80th. North Hall’s cornerstone was laid in 1939. MEU is one of Beirut’s oldest Universities. Our history is rich, bold, vibrant, and missional. We’ve arrived now at an important milestone of MEU’s purpose and vision. It is time to remember, celebrate, and recommit to what God has in mind and placing in our hearts.
We are planning a special 80th Celebration during the weekend of November 15-17 and in conjunction with MENA Union’s Year End Meetings. Fix it prominently on your calendar. Plan to join us. Many will come from abroad. We’ll celebrate how God has led us in the past and what He is now doing. Together we will look back through the time-line of our collective memories. Together we will look forward into the unknown—confident that the 1939 cornerstone with its Arabic Bible time-capsule, still resonates with truth filled missional vision and the promise of Holy Spirit empowerment.
We are outlining the details for this 80th Celebration. It will be a grand occasion. For now, put it on your calendar—November 15-17, 2019. Include this celebration in your prayers. Share the news with others. Send copies of your pictures and memories. Plan to come. We will be in touch soon with more on this wonderful milestone of God’s grace and our journey together in following His purpose as a strategically placed University.
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 A House for God—80 Years Later
Soon after becoming MEU’s interim president, an Alumna told me that after all these years, MEU still did not have a clearly defined place for worship. I was amazed by his words: “There is no place for God at MEU.” He was not being facetious. Nor was he denying that our living God is worshiped in spirit and truth wherever His people gather in His name. Surely, Adventists are neither geocentric or topocentric in their worship. Furthermore, there has been rich and vibrant worship on MEU campus through the years since its 1939 cornerstone was laid. But this Alumna was making an important point. One which could not be denied. There was no clear visual space on MEU campus that focused worship of our Living God. Incredible insight, don’t you think?
There are few if any Adventist campuses that do not have a worship facility of some kind, which helps it focus worship, personal commitment, and missional vision.
We are excited that this is about to change for MEU! Finally.
Recent developments and contributions have moved us rapidly forward in a bold plan towards fulfilling a long-held dream for a prominent worship space on campus. I cannot share all the details right now, but I can say that enough has happened recently to give us confidence that God is opening a way forward.
Here is what I can share. A Strategic Campus Master Plan was voted by the Board of Trustees on May 24. This campus master plan includes a worship-music-media center, a gym/fitness center, a student center, a new library/science building. There is also repurposing and reclaiming purpose of some campus facilities.
It is a bold vision. Scary. Impossible it seems. For sure, it will not happen in one day or one year. It is a vision for the future of a campus that will meet strategic needs and programming. Nevertheless, this new campus plan has already generated excitement in the promise and vision of MEU’s future—and financial gifts. Enough so that in the past couple months the financial resources and commitment towards the worship-music-media center has significantly risen. This past Tuesday, June 18, MEU’s Executive Committee voted to retain an architectural firm that will help us further refine this campus master plan, and begin in earnest on our worship-music-media center first project (a shared initiative with MENA Union).
We plan to have the worship-music-media center design developed enough for you to see during our 80th Celebration the weekend of November 15-17.
It is amazing to think that after so long, MEU will have an identified place for the worship of our awesome God.
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 Double Dollars
MEU would like to double its income. You can help.
We have received a challenge appropriation from MENA Union that would match dollar-for-dollar whatever unrestricted funds MEU would receive through August 31, 2019—up to a total of $75,000. Doubled we would have $150,000. The only restriction is that all monies received are unrestricted funds. They must be directed as unrestricted gifts to either general scholarship or operation. We have till August 31, 2019.
To-date we have received $25,000 unrestricted funds towards this $75,000 challenge. Doubled dollars means $50,000. We are grateful for every gift. This doubled $25,000 includes $4,000 given spontaneously by Board of Trustee members following their May 24 meeting. It was an exciting closure to a long day of important decisions in MEU’s behalf.
So, MEU is seeking to raise the remaining $50,000 of unrestricted scholarship or operational monies by August 31, 2019.
If successful, we will receive the full $50,000 more challenge monies which MENA has laid before us giving us the total double dollars of $150,000.
If successful, we will end our academic year in the black, in spite of a year of soft enrollment.
Thank you for whatever you do in raising these remaining $50,000 double dollars challenge.
In case you are wondering how to best channel your gifts to MEU?
1- Make check payable to General Conference of SDA
2- Write the {destination-MEU for us} and the {purpose} on the memo line
3- Mail check to General Conference of SDA, Attn: Donation Cashier, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904
4- As long as it is post-marked by December 31, contributions will be acknowledged in 2019
I would add that in addition to MEU/general Scholarship/Operations being on the check memo line, that you include a cover letter clearly stating the purpose of your gift. That it is for MEU. That it is for unrestricted scholarship needs and operations.
Finally, this matching-fund initiative is open through the end of August 2019.
Thank you so much for taking time to read through this section of the Voice of MEU. Thank you for whatever unrestricted gift that you might bless MEU with. Whether or not you can help us financially in this way, we thank you for your prayers and supportive influence.
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Slavisa Yankovic Brings Old Testament Studies to MEU
I am pleased to announce that Slavisa Yankovic will join our MEU theology faculty as an assistant professor in Old Testament Studies. Slavisa and his wife Maria come with a rich experience of pastoral background.
We have limped along with OT specialist needs for six years since 2013 when MEU re-engaged its year-round theology program. We have been dependent on visiting adjunct professors. Some courses like Biblical Hebrew have been increasingly difficult to fill and schedule. The 2014 AAA report noted the need for an OT specialist on our faculty and recommended the addition.
That need pressed us to the wall in early January 2019 when I had no one to teach 5 OT courses slated to begin in just two weeks for the Spring 2018-2019 academic year. This included Biblical Hebrew II. I had tried unsuccessfully for several months to meet this need. Courses were critical to keeping students on track towards their graduation. But then God opened a way. Slavisa was willing to uproot his family of five and come for the entire semester. This meant delaying his dissertation defense at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary on the campus of Andrews University. It meant continuing to pay rent on his Berrien Springs apartment. It didn’t make sense for them to do so. It was a risk, costly. It was costly for us for such an arrangement. But those 16 weeks on our campus endeared our hearts and entwined our lives. It allowed God to make some things clear in our minds as well.
But then there was the inevitable reality of budget! How could we justify additional faculty when current finances are so tight? At one point I thought it all hopeless. But, God opened a way with an unexpected large donation for an OT professor which will carry us for two years. When that happened, it became clear that the conversation of retaining Slavisa should continue. May’s Board of Trustees authorize me to do so. The June 18 MEU Executive Committee voted a call. The June 19 MENAU ADCOM voted to pass the call on to the GC. I learned from Slavisa on the evening of the 18th that had MEU delayed one more day, he and Maria would have taken a call which they already had in hand to another university (for which had many reasons to accept). Unbeknown to any of us here, on Sunday the 16th Slavisa and Maria prayed that if MEU came through by the 18th, then they would accept that as a sign from God as to which way their family should go. Otherwise, they would take the other call which they already had in hand. Whew!
Both Slavisa and Maria come with high recommendation by those who know them wherever they’ve been or served. We’ve experienced firsthand the quality of their life and influence. We rejoice in what God has done and what He has in mind. Please pray for Slavisa and Maris (and their three children Jake, Aron, Ruta) as they transition now to MEU.
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 Indigenous Faculty Development
One of MEU’s great needs is regional faculty development and recruitment. The University is currently disproportionately dependent on international employees and expertise. As an Adventist international University serving the Middle East North Africa region and located in Lebanon, MEU’s purpose and mission always has and always will require a complementary international and regional work force. In order to meet both Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education standards on the one hand, and MENA Union’s vision of indigenous worker development on the other hand, MEU has need for more regional faculty with PhDs (and more regional staff with specialized expertise).
In fact, the development of our current regional MEU faculty is a critical first step. This takes time—years in fact, and a sustained vision, commitment, and financial investment. We put together a table outlining our current international positions and how many years it might take to develop regional workers to fill some of those positions. It is sobering. But we need to begin. It is a critical strategic decision.
Imagine then my excitement when our June 18 MEU Executive Committee voted the PhD sponsorship of one of our MEU regional faculty. It is a conversation we are now having with MENA Union, which has signaled their support. Pray for us as we move forward on this initiative. There are more PhD sponsorships in our line of vision as well as long range thinking about various faculty development towards keeping MEU academically competitive in both degree programs and instructional excellence. Thank you for your prayers as we relate to this strategic need.
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 Appreciating Dr. Armond Manassian
Dr. Armond Manassian has been an integral part of MEU for many years, as a student, then as a faculty member, and most recently serving on the Board of Trustees as a finance expert. His dedication to and passion for supporting MEU has been an inspiration to us as he has challenged us to aim high in our education of young people. At the most recent meeting of the Executive Committee of the MEU Board of Trustees, Dr. Armond was appreciated for his service with heartfelt words and a small token of Lebanese heritage. He is pictured here (4th from the right) with several members of the Executive Committee.
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