Rev. Dr. Daniel Paavola, who recently passed, impacted many students and staff through his kind heart and show-and-tell sermons.
According to President Ankerberg’s email, Dr. Paavola started working at Concordia in 1996. For almost three decades, he taught students and served as the chairman of the Department of Theology.
Rev. Dr. Kurt Taylor, who worked with Dr. Paavola for eight years, said Dr. Paavola is a giving person.
“He was so giving, all the way down to if there were a few of us eating lunch together. I usually don’t bring lunch, but I come in, I’d just have a bottle of water. He’d actually tear his sandwich in half and hand it to me anytime I needed something from him, he gave it,” Taylor said.
Rev. Dr. Nathan Jastram, who worked with Dr. Paavola for twenty-five years, was impressed with Paavola’s work ethic.
“Dr. Paavola is always willing to take on extra assignments to fill in any needs that the school or the church would have. Most of the rest of us have a kind of a limit on our abilities to keep adding on work and still retain sanity,” Jastram said.
Pastor Bakker, who worked with Dr. Paavola for only a few weeks, said he had a unique gift for teaching.
“He used object lessons, which really made him stand out, because very few people do that outside of children’s lessons aimed at younger people, but he showed how clearly that helps connect with people of any age. He was able to take very complex ideas that the Bible communicates and transmit them in his own voice in a way that anybody could understand. That is a real gift,” Bakker said.
According to student Rachel Pope, Dr. Paavola is someone to strive to be like.
“Kind of just finding joy in everything, even when things are hard, just constantly looking to God and thanking God and having that word of the day. He’s just such an inspiration, somebody that all of us Christians should strive to be like and live that kind of life,” Pope said.
— Kirsten Harrington is a writer for the Beacon and a junior majoring in photography and minoring in Mass Communications. She works as a student photographer, taking photos at campus events.