Lennie SuttonSystems Analyst
Passion frequently runs deep. Often it is not apparent. Lennie Sutton is passionate about a lot of things, but his easy-going nature prevents many from seeing the depth of his passions. Or maybe what some call passion may simply be deep commitment combined with quiet confidence in the value of those commitments.
First and foremost Lennie Sutton is a committed Christian. Each year he returns to a major turning point in shaping the expression of his faith, Training Christians for Ministry (TCM). Located near Vienna, Austria, TCM is a training and conference center primarily for pastors and church leaders from Eastern Europe. Lennie worked there from 1992 to 1998, and each year he returns for a week or two. Between visits he regularly assists them with database administration and other technical support. This is strong commitment. Or is it passion?
Lennie Sutton grew up in Yakima. While a senior in high school and an exchange student in Germany, he made a decision for PLU that subsequently began in 1982. In the next four years he acquired a B.S. in Computer Science and B.A. in German. Following graduation he began work on a master's degree in computer science. After completing an internship with a computer chip manufacturer in Puyallup, where he realized he didn't want to spend the rest of his life with a desk-oriented production facility, he returned to PLU as an employee. His knowledge, breadth of experience, zeal for working with databases, and strong interest in working with people rather than things all make him ideally suited for his position as a systems analyst within Information Resource's administrative computing group. Clearly Lennie is strongly committed both to PLU and to his profession.
By his own admission Lennie used to be involved in too many activities at any given time, more projects or organizations than he could effectively handle. Then he learned the value of focusing on a more limited number of commitments. Now he considers his priorities to be his church (Parkland Christian), PLU, travel (especially to TCM), and the family of six with whom he lives. This family, also members of Parkland Christian, is important to Lennie, but he also sees the value of living on his own. So, of course, he is now in the intermediate stages of building his own house within walking distance of campus. Commitment? Passion?
If Lennie needed a reminder of the important things in life, and what a commitment sometimes requires, it must have come this past summer when he visited the Ukraine. There he stayed with Yuri, a long-time friend from TCM, and Yuri's family. In the Ukraine clean drinking water is hard to come by, and the roads are is major disrepair, but on the other hand, Lennie says, it's also easier to focus on the important things in life, like faith and family.
So is it passion? Or commitment? Or simply a deep, confident faith? In the end, it doesn't really matter. In the case of Lennie Sutton, all are one and the same.