My Maranatha Journey – Dr. Monty Budahl
Dr. Monty Budahl has been a Maranatha faculty member longer than almost any other professor on campus. He has held numerous faculty positions and in many ways has shaped the MBU Music Department into what it is today.
All things have a beginning, however, and Dr. Budahl’s Maranatha journey is no different. He earned his undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of North Dakota-Grand Forks in 1961. As a young man out of college, he began teaching junior high band and choir in a small school in Minnesota. Throughout that time, he was familiar with the Cedarholms, and the Lord used that to set him on the path to Maranatha.
When the pastor of the church Budahl was attending at the time learned that Maranatha was opening, he decided to attend the dedication service and asked Budahl if he would come along. Budahl agreed. It was the first time he had ever set foot on a Bible college campus. “Wouldn’t it be a strange turn of events if I should teach here someday,” he recalls thinking. Little did he know the chain of events that God had already set in motion.
After returning to Minnesota, Budahl soon began to feel that it was time to leave his position there. “I had no idea where I was going, but I knew it was time to leave.”
Soon after, Budahl visited Maranatha a second time during the spring semester of 1969. After a meeting with Dr. Cedarholm, he was given a tour of the facilities. Upon the conclusion of the tour, Dr. Cedarholm offered Budahl a position for the next fall, and they shook hands on it.
Budahl had just moved in on campus, and it occurred to him that he probably had an office assigned to him somewhere. The only problem was he didn’t know where. He began to look around and then heard the sound of a typewriter down the hall. Following the sound to its source, he found a young woman seated at her desk, typing away. Upon noticing his presence, she looked up and said, “Mr. Budahl, I assume.” They were married the following July, and Louise has been his best friend and constant companion ever since.
During his first year at Maranatha, Budahl was somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades. He taught music courses, of course, like Harmony 1, Music History, and others. But the college needed professors in other areas too, so Budahl found himself teaching Accounting alongside his music classes. The same year, the baseball team lost their coach during the spring semester, and Budahl was asked to fill in. In that season of coaching, Budahl led the baseball team to one of the better season records that the team has ever had.
The first performing group Budahl took charge of was the band, which had only 12 members at the time. During that era, Maranatha prepared and performed a Vespers program every month. “It was kind of tricky with the limited resources,” reflects Budahl, “but we made it work.” He also succeeded Dr. Edward Burckart as orchestra director.
Always seeking to learn and grow, Budahl completed his Master’s degree in Music Education at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis in 1971. In 1979, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Sacred Music from Bob Jones University.
In the mid-1980s, Mrs. Cedarholm, director of Madrigal Choir, asked Budahl to join the choir’s spring tour to California as a substitute director. Having never directed a college choir before, he eagerly accepted the opportunity to observe and learn. Budahl reflects, “I try to always learn something from everybody I sit under, whether it is how to do something or how not to do it.” Mrs. Cedarholm soon retired, and Budahl took over, conducting Madrigal for 20 years, from 1987 to 2007.
When Budahl arrived, Dr. Don Scovill was the Music Department chair. When Scovill moved to another ministry, Dr. Donald DeGraw stepped into his place as department chair for several years. As a matter of course, Budahl succeeded DeGraw and served in that capacity for 18 years, from 1986 to 2004. As department chair, Budahl remarks that he was more of a musician than an administrator.
One of Budahl’s major accomplishments as department chair was the founding of the Great Lakes Music Festival in 1992. His vision was to offer students from small high schools the opportunity to join larger music groups and learn from college-level instructors. Over 25 years later, his vision continues, as more than 150 high school students convene at Maranatha every January for an intensive yet enjoyable weekend of musical instruction.
After Dr. David Ledgerwood took over as the Music Department chair in 2004, Budahl continued to teach Harmony 1 and 2, orchestration, and conducting classes. He also worked with Maranatha’s summer ensembles for nearly 40 years. Budahl reflects that the ensembles were not always exceptional, but they did their best with what they had, and the Lord blessed their efforts: “If we really seek to please the Lord, He will bless. If we try to become a star, then He won’t.”
Budahl is also an accomplished arranger, with over 100 instrumental solos and ensembles, mostly sacred, in print. Throughout the years, he and his family have presented and performed in numerous music seminars across the United States as well as in foreign countries.
Reflecting on his career at Maranatha, Budahl says, “Sometimes our biggest growing experiences are really tough times. We come to the end of ourselves, and nobody wants to do that, but that’s where we grow and things start to make a little more sense.” He adds, “When you’re overwhelmed, don’t quit.”
Summarizing his Maranatha journey, Budahl reflects, “It is ALL the Lord’s doing. I was a willing spectator.”
Written by Makayla Stevenson and Peter Holloway