Aiden Penner

The Clarion • 22nd February 2024

Football, family and C.S. Lewis

Oct. 30, 2023, six-time MIAC coach of the year and 252 game-winner Steve Johnson announced he would retire from coaching Bethel University football at the end of the season. Upon hearing this, one major question regarding the future of the program immediately arose around the Bethel community:

Who will replace him?

Despite a nationwide search by the Athletics Department, the answer was obvious to fifth-year senior Nate Farm. It had to be Mike McElroy.

“He’s just the perfect guy,” Farm said. “

The Clarion • 20th November 2023

Johnson’s final game epitomizes legacy

[Editor’s note: The headline has been changed for clarity]

Six NCAA Division III national championship flags pointed northeast as the orange streamers above each field goal post at Perkins Stadium in Whitewater, Wisconsin fluttered in the 13-mile-per-hour wind Saturday.

The Bethel University Royals made the nearly five-hour drive to take on the fifth nationally ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks in the first round of the Division III football playoffs. The Royals lost 42-14, fi

ROYAL REPORT • 30th November 2023

A Christian communication professor and her morning routine

Every morning, between 5:30 and 6 a.m., an alarm sounds in a house on a 40-acre farm located about an hour’s drive north of Bethel University in Rock Creek, Minn. Nancy Brule rises from her bed, walks upstairs to make coffee, and sits in her complete-with-a-fireplace library room.

As her three cats and two dogs follow her, Brule rests in her favorite chair as the animals lay right by her, each knowing their places from years of the same morning routine.

Despite being a full-time professor of c

The Clarion • 2nd October 2023

A Royal Homecoming victory

Junior Derek Fromm’s forehead glistened with sweat during the Bethel University Royals’ 37-28 victory in Saturday’s Homecoming game over the Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties. After weeks of nothing above 80, the sticky, 83-degree day felt like a sauna in an arctic forest.

“You can’t do that!” Fromm chanted in unison with the right side of Royal Stadium’s bleachers, speckled with white-donning freshmen and sophomores and navy blue-clad juniors and seniors. A yellow flag was lying on the field a

The Clarion • 4th December 2023

A faith found outside the home

Danielle Buckenmeyer turned to her desk neighbor Jonah at the prompt of their seventh-grade teacher. It was a Monday, and they were told to share what they did over the weekend.

“I went to church yesterday,” Jonah said.

A simple statement, but Buckenmeyer didn’t believe him.

“I laughed and was like, ‘What? That’s not real,’” Buckenmeyer said. “‘You know that’s just in movies.’”

But in an atheist household in downtown Portland, Oregon – the 13th most unchurched city in America according to a

ROYAL REPORT • 27th October 2023

Innocence and dreams

Rocio fidgeted in her chair as she was interviewed for Textura magazine’s Border of Dreams Documentary by director Nataly Basterrechea. Suddenly, five-year-old Rocio looked beyond the production equipment in front of her and her big brown eyes exploded with joy as a smile burst across her mouth.

“Here comes my dad,” Rocio said.

The Border of Dreams documentary premiered Oct. 12, 7 p.m. at Bethel University’s Benson Great Hall in St. Paul, Minn. Executive Producer Scott Winter counted 350 peopl

The Clarion • 6th November 2023

Royals’ season survives, Johnson’s legacy kept alive

Steve Johnson paced around a huddle of Bethel University football players following the team’s 31-14 win over Concordia College. Johnson announced to his team Monday, and later to the Bethel community, that this season would be his last.

While his career as a whole lives on for one more week, Johnson gave his traditional post-game lesson – often about the privilege of God’s freedom, handling challenges in real life and being a “soft-hearted, tough sucker” – extracted from the game.

In his post

ROYAL REPORT • 8th December 2023

The spiritual implications of secular music at a Christian university

The spiritual implications of secular music at a Christian university

Jillian Edblad struggled to connect with contemporary Christian music ever since she attended Cambridge Lutheran Church in her youth with her family. Being in the church choir, she liked to sing hymns. However, she felt bored by a lot of other music present in the service.

Despite attending a private, Christian university, Edblad’s approach on secular music allows for appreciation of talent, rather than lyrical content. Conc

The Clarion • 10th October 2023

A lost season: An athlete’s road to recovery

Sophomore running back David Geebli caught a pass from senior quarterback George Bolt with only one minute and 3o seconds left in the second quarter. It was Bethel University’s first home football game against Wartburg College Sept. 9. Geebli remembered feeling confident about the start to the season.

But at one minute and 21 seconds, he was on the ground.

“This is not what we want to see. Geebli down,” the Royals media announcer said during the live coverage of the game. “We’re hoping this is