Dr. Jerry E. Rudberg to Retire
Dr. Jerry E. Rudberg has served Emmanuel Christian Seminary most of his adult life. He will retire from his role as Associate Director of Development for the Western Region on December 31, 2010. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Dr. Rudberg grew up in
Longview, Washington, attending First Christian Church of Longview. He graduated from Northwest Christian College (now Northwest Christian University) in 1964 with a degree in Theology. After completing his Bachelor’s degree, he moved to East Tennessee in 1967 to attend Emmanuel,
earning an MRE in 1970. Rudberg then returned to the northwest as Emmanuel’s Associate Director of Development for the Western Region. He has served in this capacity ever since, living in Eugene, Oregon, as a member of University Street and Westside Christian Church and in Portland, Oregon, as a member
of Kern Park Christian Church.
During his 40 years of service to Emmanuel, Dr. Rudberg has traveled extensively recruiting students and raising support for Emmanuel. Executive Director of Development Dan Lawson has known Rudberg since 1960 and worked with him since 1988 in Emmanuel’s Development department. Lawson emphasized Dr. Rudberg’s importance to
Emmanuel in saying, “Rudberg has been our only Western Representative, and it is clear that Emmanuel is the only seminary outside of the Northwest with a ‘presence’ in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. That speaks well of his service.”
The fruitful relationships Emmanuel enjoys with congregations and students from the western United States has strong connections to Dr. Rudberg’s hard work and commitment. He has driven over 1,000,000 miles during his tenure as Associate Director of Development for the
Western Region. At the end of the many miles of driving are the more than 250 churches Rudberg has visited. Longtime friend and Emmanuel Christian Seminary Trustee Barney Wimer says of Rudberg’s service to these congregations, “We express our appreciation to Dr.
Rudberg for the students he has recruited, the money he has raised, the friends he has made for the school, the ministers he has encouraged, the churches he has helped, and the pulpit committees he has trained. But more than that, we appreciate that he has done all this for the work of the Lord, not just on the
West Coast, but around the globe.”
Over 200 Emmanuel students have come to East Tennessee as a result of Rudberg’s recruitment efforts. Many of these students return to the western
United States to plant or serve in churches and ministries there. In recognition of this outstanding service to the churches of the northwest, Northwest Christian University awarded Rudberg the Doctor of Divinity degree in May of 2009. Dr. Rudberg’s legacy is the strong and growing presence of Christian churches
in the western United States. Emmanuel Christian Seminary President Michael L. Sweeney, a fellow Northwest Christian University graduate, says of Dr. Rudberg’s importance to Emmanuel, “He has been the face of Emmanuel for thousands of people for the past four decades. Anyone who knows anything about Emmanuel
in the Pacific Northwest knows the name of Jerry Rudberg. I cannot think of a more influential representative of our school.”
For his many years of service to Emmanuel, Dr. Rudberg was honored at a celebratory luncheon on October 20. Succeeding him as the Associate Director of Development for the Western Region will be Frank M. Musgrave (MDiv ’80) beginning January 1, 2011.
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