I'll Trade You 3 Carnells for an Autographed Mouw

Yesterday was the annual Staff breakfast at Fuller. Traditionally, the event is a way of saying "Welcome back!" at the end of the summer, and designates the start of the new academic term (although classes don't start until the end of the month). Every year, the administration and management folks who put the breakfast together try to come up with a new gimmick to encourage conversation, and to celebrate the history of the seminary. This year, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the seminary, they made up "trading cards" of past presidents and other people important to the history of the seminary.

Pictured here are images of the "Charles E. Fuller" and "Richard John Mouw" cards. Fuller is, of course, the founder of the seminary (although the seminary is, in fact, not named for him, as is often supposed, but for his father, Henry Fuller, as a plaque in one of the seminary buildings attests), and Mouw is the current president of the seminary. On the back of each card are facts and figures, in keeping with the "trading card" concept.

At the chapel service immediately following the breakfast, one of the leaders took the opportunity to ask Mouw to autograph his card, much to the amusement of everyone present. Unlike the more traditional cards, I doubt that you'll find anyone trying to sell these on eBay, but it was a fun way of celebrating.