University News
PCC Faculty Member, Dr. Gene Sonnenberg Transitions Into New Career
For thirty years Dr. Gene Sonnenberg has been a familiar face in the Hope community. Throughout his time here, he has served in many roles ranging from the Dean of Students to the Dean of Graduate Studies to an undergraduate professor. He has spent countless hours mentoring, counseling, and educating students, while using his gifts to serve God’s kingdom. After all that he has done for Hope , he is ready to move on to the next stage of his life.
Over the next three years, Sonnenberg will enact a plan to reduce the amount time he spends working for the university down to six months out of the year, from August to mid-January. He plans to dedicate the rest of his time to his other two passions: missions work and church consulting.
Though Sonnenberg is leaving Hope , he is far from retiring. His goals and plans for the future are numerous and far-reaching.
“I’m not retiring, I’m transitioning into the next stage of my life,” said Sonnenberg. “I’ve enjoyed my thirty years here…but you can find opportunities anywhere you go.”
On top of the mission work that he already participates in, Sonnenberg intends to make numerous trips overseas to Southeast Asia. For years he has worked closely with the Children’s Hunger Fund, raising money and awareness of the desolate situations in the Southeast Asia region. He is also the newly elected president of Hope for Cambodia, an organization that participates in church planting all over the country of Cambodia. Hope for Cambodia also founded and facilitates the Hope Bible Institute in Bâtdambâng, Cambodia, which trains and educates indigenous church leaders. He has plans to spend time in Indonesia and other regions doing missions work as well.
While Sonnenberg has enjoyed teaching, he also has a great passion church consulting and missions work. He also has a passion for music, especially Bluegrass and Celtic music and travels across the United States using his musical talents to meet new people and reach nonbelievers. He also loves to restore old and used violins, using the money he makes from selling these violins to pay for his mission trips.
However, not all of his time will be spent working. He owns a cottage home on the Oregon coast where the only work he plans to do is a little fly-fishing. As he prepares for his transition into the next phase of his life, Sonnenberg is thankful for the opportunities and experiences he has had at Hope , and looks forward to the opportunities that lay ahead.