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With Campus Cross Walk
Written by: CampUs4 4/13/2009 2:07 PM
Rich and Sandy Dawson Tribute by Joel Solliday My earliest memory of Rich Dawson was at Camp Tanda, in the Big Bear Lake area of Southern California. Rich was the camp director and I was a college-age camp counselor. I was profoundly struck by the extent to which all the campers just loved Rich. Near the end of camp, there was an auction to raise funds for future scholarships. Rich was put up for sale (subjecting him to a few hours of “slavery” at the hands of whoever purchased him) and he commanded a far higher price than the rest of us who were benevolently “enslaved” that day. To get a glimpse of Rich and Sandy’s campus ministry legacy, one must begin in the 60s. So I did some investigative research, which is to say I went to the best source I knew: Rick Rowland. Around 1968, Rick spoke in chapel at Pepperdine (Los Angeles campus) and told the students about the new Mission Major Exchange program in which a Pepperdine student could get field work credit while attending UCSB and serving as a campus ministry intern or, if qualified, as a campus minister. Rich and Sandy were married students at Pepperdine planning to go to Brazil as missionaries when they graduated. After that chapel, Sandy and Rich approached Rick along with a senior named Jerry Shipp to inquire about this ministry challenge. All three ended up transferring to UCSB and Rich became the campus minister and lived in their Campus Advance apartment near the campus in Isla Vista. Their humble home served as a vital center for campus ministry. Rich continued as an effective CM for some 6 to 9 years, as Rick recalls. After this experience, Rich took a job as a principal at a Christian Day School in Santa Barbara. Rich and Sandy continued as a strong couple supporting campus ministry in Santa Barbara while he served as a principal. Next, Rich and Sandy returned to their alma mater (Pepperdine University) when Rich was hired as Assistant Dean of Students. Before long, Sandy was called on to serve as the church and campus ministry secretary for the Malibu Church of Christ. I entered the picture when Rich and Carl Mitchell hired me as the Activities Coordinator in the Pepperdine Campus Life Office. Working under Rich was a privilege for which I will always be grateful. “Coordinator” was a nice word in my job title. Everyone knew, however, who did the most valuable coordinating at Pepperdine: Sandy Dawson! No Christian student who went to Pepperdine in those years or became involved in the campus ministry there could help being touched in the heart by the loving practical presence of Sandy in the church office. Serving as secretary for about 15 years, Sandy became a second mom to countless students. Rich’s positive contributions to campus life and Sandy’s positive presence in the church office made quite an impact on us and on Pepperdine in those years. Today, Rich is the Director of International Student Services at Pepperdine and he remains a “servant leader” and key supporter for the campus ministry and ministers at Pepperdine. I dare say that Rich and Sandy have no idea how much they were and are loved by those who served with them, in ministry, in friendship, or at work. George Bailey, in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” had no idea of the impact he had on his town. Rich and Sandy were the George Baileys of Pepperdine, so to speak. As a Christian couple, Rich and Sandy have always stood together in their various ministry efforts. I found in them a marriage-ministry model that inspired not just me but many single Christians to keep serving God while hoping for the best… which reminds me of a phrase Rich often used for his co-workers and friends; “You’re the best!” I am writing this article to throw that phrase right back at Rich and Sandy, where it belongs! Joel Mark Solliday is the editor of Campus CrossWalk and the pulpit minister of the Northern Light Center Church of Christ in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. A Pepperdine graduate, he later worked in their Campus Life Office and at ACU as a Missionary in Residence. He earned his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Rich and Sandy Dawson
Tribute by Joel Solliday
My earliest memory of Rich Dawson was at Camp Tanda, in the Big Bear Lake area of Southern California. Rich was the camp director and I was a college-age camp counselor. I was profoundly struck by the extent to which all the campers just loved Rich. Near the end of camp, there was an auction to raise funds for future scholarships. Rich was put up for sale (subjecting him to a few hours of “slavery” at the hands of whoever purchased him) and he commanded a far higher price than the rest of us who were benevolently “enslaved” that day.
To get a glimpse of Rich and Sandy’s campus ministry legacy, one must begin in the 60s. So I did some investigative research, which is to say I went to the best source I knew: Rick Rowland.
Around 1968, Rick spoke in chapel at Pepperdine (Los Angeles campus) and told the students about the new Mission Major Exchange program in which a Pepperdine student could get field work credit while attending UCSB and serving as a campus ministry intern or, if qualified, as a campus minister. Rich and Sandy were married students at Pepperdine planning to go to Brazil as missionaries when they graduated. After that chapel, Sandy and Rich approached Rick along with a senior named Jerry Shipp to inquire about this ministry challenge. All three ended up transferring to UCSB and Rich became the campus minister and lived in their Campus Advance apartment near the campus in Isla Vista. Their humble home served as a vital center for campus ministry. Rich continued as an effective CM for some 6 to 9 years, as Rick recalls.
After this experience, Rich took a job as a principal at a Christian Day School in Santa Barbara. Rich and Sandy continued as a strong couple supporting campus ministry in Santa Barbara while he served as a principal.
Next, Rich and Sandy returned to their alma mater (Pepperdine University) when Rich was hired as Assistant Dean of Students. Before long, Sandy was called on to serve as the church and campus ministry secretary for the Malibu Church of Christ. I entered the picture when Rich and Carl Mitchell hired me as the Activities Coordinator in the Pepperdine Campus Life Office. Working under Rich was a privilege for which I will always be grateful.
“Coordinator” was a nice word in my job title. Everyone knew, however, who did the most valuable coordinating at Pepperdine: Sandy Dawson! No Christian student who went to Pepperdine in those years or became involved in the campus ministry there could help being touched in the heart by the loving practical presence of Sandy in the church office. Serving as secretary for about 15 years, Sandy became a second mom to countless students. Rich’s positive contributions to campus life and Sandy’s positive presence in the church office made quite an impact on us and on Pepperdine in those years.
Today, Rich is the Director of International Student Services at Pepperdine and he remains a “servant leader” and key supporter for the campus ministry and ministers at Pepperdine.
I dare say that Rich and Sandy have no idea how much they were and are loved by those who served with them, in ministry, in friendship, or at work. George Bailey, in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” had no idea of the impact he had on his town. Rich and Sandy were the George Baileys of Pepperdine, so to speak.
As a Christian couple, Rich and Sandy have always stood together in their various ministry efforts. I found in them a marriage-ministry model that inspired not just me but many single Christians to keep serving God while hoping for the best… which reminds me of a phrase Rich often used for his co-workers and friends; “You’re the best!”
I am writing this article to throw that phrase right back at Rich and Sandy, where it belongs!
Joel Mark Solliday is the editor of Campus CrossWalk and the pulpit minister of the Northern Light Center Church of Christ in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. A Pepperdine graduate, he later worked in their Campus Life Office and at ACU as a Missionary in Residence. He earned his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary.
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