Homecoming to Celebrate Awesome Alumni

Robin Catlin Wainwright ’64, president of Middle East Fellowship, is being honored as Alumnus of the Year as part of Westmont Homecoming, Oct. 4-5. President Gayle D. Beebe will give Wainwright the award during the All-Reunion Brunch Saturday, Oct. 5, from 10-11:30 a.m. on Magnolia Lawn. For more information, please contact the alumni office at (805) 565-6056 or alumni@westmont.edu.

For the past two decades, Wainwright and his wife, Nancy, have developed ministries throughout the Middle East, working with local church leaders. He created an outreach for inner-city youth in Santa Barbara in 1969 and became the first director of Westmont’s Urban Program. He taught at Bethel Theological Seminary in Minnesota and served as executive director of Jubilee Foundation in Chicago. After graduating from Westmont, Wainwright earned a Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary. He serves on the board of directors for the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies in England. Robin and Nancy organized the Journey of the Magi 2000: A Pilgrimage for Peace, a team that traveled 1,200 miles by foot and camel and arrived in Bethlehem on Christmas Day 2000 to honor the 2,000th birthday of Jesus. 

Teri Bradford Rouse, senior director of alumni and parent relations, will give the Global Service Award to Brent ’85 and Allyson Brubaker ’85 Searway, who have directed Agua Viva Ministries in Ensenada, Mexico, for two decades. Brent and Allyson met at Westmont and served together on Potter’s Clay. They quit their jobs as teachers in 1993, sold all their belongings and moved to Ensenada. Agua Viva Ministries has worked with more than 20,000 Americans who are participating in short-term missions to assist Mexico’s churches. Their intensive Ministry Training Institute has prepared more than 550 Mexican nationals to serve as pastors and missionaries.

Rachel Goble ’05 has earned the Young Alumni Award for her work fighting child trafficking as president of the SOLD Project. She is associate producer of the film “SOLD,” which has been shown in more than 27 U.S. cities to raise awareness about the issue. The SOLD Project sponsors 140 at-risk students in Northern Thailand and has reduced their drop-out rate from 50 to 5 percent in five years.