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When pastors address a difficult subject in their messages, they must do so with great care and preparation, especially if there are no easy answers. It’s not often that a pastor addresses five complex topics in a week. But Pastor Josie Ascencio did precisely that. Pacific Union College held its annual spring Week of Prayer from April 17-21. Students led out in praise and worship songs and icebreaker activities each day. Ascencio, head pastor of the Antioch Seventh-day Adventist Church, spoke on the year’s theme of “Revival.” Her topics included brokenness, isolation, and despair—and the importance of building community and connection by reaching out. Each message centered on a biblical story of physical and emotional healing. Ascencio began with the story of Jacob, who was far from perfect and so concerned with himself that he even swindled his father out of his brother’s birthright. But then, Ascencio said, came the struggle in the desert and the dream revealing angels descending and ascending a ladder from heaven to earth. God showed Jacob he was still with him. “You’re a stealer? I’ll make you a giver! All the world will be blessed,” Ascencio said. In Jacob, she continued, we learn that God continues...

Pacific Union College welcomed alumni back to the mountain for a beautiful Homecoming Weekend on April 21-22.Vice President for Alumni and Advancement Kellie Lind said it was wonderful to be together again. Now that people are traveling more, it made for a much better reunion this year.“It was fun for the alumni to interact and meet future PUC alumni and our current students during the weekend,” said Lind. “Our students were very involved in programming, which made the weekend even more special!”The celebratory weekend began Friday afternoon with PUC Forest guided tours. On the drive, alumni shared memories from their days at the college while enjoying scenic woods and the view of the mountains from Inspiration Point.After the Pioneer Dinner in the fireside room, alums gathered for vespers in the PUC Church in the evening. President Ralph Trecartin warmly greeted attendees and spoke on the evening’s mission theme. “From the beginning,” Trecartin said, “service has been at the center of PUC education.”Throughout the history of the college, many PUC graduates have made sacrifices to make service the mission of their life and work, Trecartin continued. And that spirit of mission hasn’t left. “It’s still here after 14 decades.”A PUC Praise...

Paul Damazo visited Pacific Union College in February to meet with President Ralph Trecartin and Vice President for Financial Administration Joy Hirdler. Much to his surprise, Dale Withers, PUC facilities director, kindly brought out the old supply wagon, which used to carry produce and milk from PUC’s garden and dairy farm. Damazzo used to sit on the seat with his father when he was a PUC student. Mr. Damazo drove the delivery wagon with a team of horses down to St. Helena to deliver goods.Damazo, now in his late 90s, told stories of how he had helped PUC’s church and college through the years. He founded a food service company that supplied organizations, businesses, and schools. Some of the Adventist schools employed student workers who wouldn’t have been able to attend otherwise.The wagon brought supplies up the hill from St. Helena beginning 1909, and Damazo’s father drove it up the hill and back each weekday. PUC was strapped for funds then and would not have had the money for a new wagon."I suspect the wagon either came with the property, which I know a lot of stuff did, or PUC bought it used," shared Withers. It was the college's main...

No one was more surprised than Hernan Granados, when he was offered the opportunity to become Pacific Union College's new athletic director.Granados has been working at Pacific Union College for 17 years. He was hired in 2006 to be the residence hall dean at Newton Hall, and taught religion classes. During the last two years he has been the assistant soccer coach for the men's and women’s teams.With Granados in mind, Vice President for Student Life Ryan Smith reviewed three things when deciding who would be best suited to continue moving the athletics program forward. First, Hernan's training and experience as a residence hall dean give him the ability to connect and develop students. Second, his educational background is in theology; he holds a Master of Divinity degree. This training and experience as an athlete make Granados a promising athletic director.Even though he loves sports, he also loves being a dean. After discussing the role with his family, mentors, and praying a lot, Granados made the decision to accept the position of athletic director. "I look forward to working with him to make Pioneer Athletics a premiere program,” says Dr. Smith.Having a deep love for sports, Granados is most looking...

What does it mean to be faithful to a spouse who is unfaithful to you? How can we be faithful to a God who seems absent? These are the driving questions of Jericho Road: A Musical Event, which made its U.S. debut in February and April at Pacific Union College.“It’s a difficult topic,” said Lindsay Morton, associate academic dean, who wrote and produced the musical. “But it’s one that’s so important to talk about on a college campus where some young adults are starting to think about life partners.” Morton was inspired to write Jericho Road after watching the musical The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown. She wondered how the storyline might have been different if the characters had been Christian. “Jericho Road is an attempt to answer to that question,” Morton said.The musical’s main characters, Jake and Leila Carver, are a young Seventh-day Adventist couple who meet, fall in love, marry, and have a child, Amalia. But when life doesn’t turn out as he expected, Jacob leaves his wife and daughter to pursue his dream of a successful musical career. This decision shatters Leila and Amalia.Musicals are one of Morton’s passions—so much so that she wrote her first...