Dr. G shares one of the most challenging and often overlooked responsibilities of an academic dean: not just finding exceptional teachers, but keeping them. At a small school like Multnomah, outstanding faculty inevitably attracted the attention of larger institutions offering higher salaries, better benefits, and more prestige. To Dr. G, this wasn’t a threat — it was confirmation that Multnomah’s teachers were the real deal. The question then became: how do you hold on to people everyone else wants? His approach was surprisingly transparent. Rather than warning faculty to stay loyal, he told his very best teachers, “I don’t ever want to lose you — and if another school comes after you, I’ll even help you get the job.” That freedom built trust. It meant they could come directly to him the moment another institution reached out, knowing he wouldn’t punish them for looking. And when they walked into his office with an offer, he kept his promise — he would tell the recruiting school exactly why Multnomah didn’t want to lose that teacher. But he would also ask the teacher what was drawing them away, and whether Multnomah could match or improve on those conditions. Sometimes the right thing was to bless them as they followed God’s call elsewhere. But other times, Dr. G went all-in to keep them — leveraging his authority, creativity, and budget to retain a teacher whose influence on students was irreplaceable. One memorable example involved flying a beloved professor and five of his top students across the country to explore a new program he might develop at Multnomah. Those students became the most passionate recruiters imaginable, urging him not to leave and dreaming of building something even better together. For Dr. G, their enthusiasm confirmed his belief: no one recruits a great teacher better than the students who love them.

In This Video
• Why retaining great teachers is as important as recruiting them
• How Dr. G built trust by supporting faculty even when other schools pursued them
• What conversations looked like when a teacher received an outside offer
• The creative strategies used to keep irreplaceable faculty at Multnomah
• How a group of students became the most effective “recruiters” of all

About This Series
This video is part of a collection celebrating the story, ministry, and legacy of Dr. Garry Friesen (Dr. G), honoring the heritage of Multnomah School of the Bible / Multnomah University and the continuing work God is doing through new ministries around the world.

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If these stories encourage you, feel free to like, subscribe, and share with others who knew and loved Multnomah — and with believers growing in faith in Rwanda and beyond. Videos are also available at https://www.youtube.com/@ABCMultnomah.

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The production of these videos was provided by the Multnomah Family Team, if you would like to help sponsor more videos like this, please contact us here.