Rod Blaine Foist

Rod Blaine Foist died April 2, 2022, in Hampton, Va., — 10 days shy of the birthday he shared with Jean, his wife of 44 years. He was 69. The second of five children born to Irvin and Betty, Rod grew up in Royal Oak, Mich., a suburb of Detroit

Rod was a wild youth typical of the 60s and was on a destructive path.  With the approval of his parents, Rod joined the Navy after high school. On April 25, 1971, during basic training in Memphis, Tenn., a small church bus stopped outside his barracks, offering a ride to the evening service. Rod accepted. That night, he realized his “good works” would never be acceptable to God to get into Heaven.  Deeply moved, Rod asked Jesus to forgive His sins and be his Savior. Rod was never the same.

Over the next several years, men Rod met on his Navy bases and aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise discipled him in the basics of following Jesus. Even in his final days, he continued to talk of the scripture-memorization program he learned through the Navigators. He was re-memorizing part of 1 Peter when he died.

Toward the end of his seven years in the Navy, a Navigator friend suggested Rod request a duty station called NAS Whidbey in Oak Harbor, Washington. He got stationed there and through the Navigator leaders, met a Christian elementary teacher named Jean Deffinbaugh. Within months, they were engaged and on August 20,1977 they married.

Rod finished his active duty in the Navy July 11, 1977 and became a reservist. He used his GI benefits to get both a bachelor’s degree (1982) and a master’s degree (1989) in electrical engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. Three of their four children were born during those undergrad years—Christi, Gabriel, and then Evie. Joshua was born during Rod’s master’s program, while working full-time.

While attending 15th Avenue Bible Church near the U-district in the mid-1980s, Jean and Rod began to dream of using his German skills and engineering profession to take their family overseas as self-supported missionaries (“tentmakers”).

Rod interviewed with Siemens, but nothing happened. Then he explored options with his current employer, Honeywell. When he got notified that Honeywell was closing its branch where he worked in Everett, WA, he and Jean decided to take a transfer to Honeywell in Albuquerque, NM. They put their home up for sale, had movers pack up their house and packed what remained in their station wagon and a small utility trailer Rod built with his father-in-law.

The family road trip south was uneventful until they got to Flagstaff, Ariz. Jean called her parents and learned of a call from Rod’s employer in Albuquerque. While Jean and the kids ordered breakfast, Rod used a payphone to call Honeywell. He returned a few minutes later to say, “I don’t have a job.” Honeywell had lost the contract for which he’d been hired. Honeywell recommended Rod drive to their branch in Phoenix to interview, and eventually he was offered a job in their commercial aviation division. A highlight of those 7 years in Phoenix was that Rod got to work on a team designing the flight control electronics for Boeing’s 777 plane.

While in Phoenix, Rod and Jean audited the Perspectives course on world missions. That course caused them to revisit their dream of tentmaking, shifting from Germany to a more-strategic region dubbed “the 10-40 window.” Rod also began to consider becoming an electronics teacher. He taught part time at a community college and found an unexpected joy in this new way to apply his professional experience.

By 1995, he and Jean had zeroed in on Singapore, and identified several possible employers. Jean helped Rod connect with several electronic companies, universities and polytechnics there. In early 1996, they decided to pay for a trip and do some interviews in Singapore. They came home with one job offer from Singapore Polytechnic, and began plans to move that summer, shortly after Christi graduated from high school.

Singapore provided immediate adventure for the 44-year-old couple and their three younger children. Rod and Jean joined a local church, a care group, and also joined a Bible study for scholars at the National University of Singapore. That led to a wonderful partnership with 3 Taiwanese Christian couples leading the study and enjoyed helping baby Christians grow spiritually.

By the early 2000s, the last of their children had graduated high school and the early-50s couple was feeling more concern for aging parents. Though Rod had had a rewarding season of lecturing in Singapore, his master’s degree was not enough to teach at a university in the States. Rod decided to get his PhD in electrical engineering at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. It took seven years, and Rod endured some of the greatest intellectual challenges of his life. At times, neither he nor his professors thought he would make it. Jean supported him by doing private tutoring in English to new immigrant children from China. With God’s grace and the help of some particularly instrumental colleagues, he succeeded. In May 2011, Rod became the first “Dr. Foist” in his family. He was 59. Rod received an offer from California Baptist University in Riverside, California and taught there until his diagnosis with cancer in September 2021.

Despite a challenging first year, Rod grew and became more confident. By 2016, he was promoted to full professor, and in 2018, he got tenure. Rod published and presented a few research papers. Under CBU, he and Jean spent a summer teaching electronics in Shanghai.

Eventually, he began a small group for young engineering men seeking purity and studying biblical support of Creation. Rod had just begun his 11th year at CBU, when a visit to the hospital for lingering abdominal pain led to his cancer diagnosis. Rod turned his increasingly frequent hospital visits to evangelism opportunities. Rod utilized those visits for spiritual conversations about his walk with Jesus using Jesus’ words in John 11:25 “He who believes in Me [Jesus], though he die, yet shall he live.”

By February, he and Jean decided they needed to be closer to their younger daughter Evie, which prompted a rapid move to Virginia. As it became clearer that he would not receive healing on earth, but through death, Rod focused on trying to finish his spiritual race well, even as his strength waned. He was ready to face death, to be “absent from the body and present with the Lord,” 2 Cor. 5:8.

He is survived by his wife, Jean; daughter Christi; son Gabriel (wife Stephanie); daughter Evie (husband Jason); son Joshua (wife Klodi); grandson Noah; granddaughter Abi; mother Betty; sisters Kathy and Carol; and brothers Kit and Matt. He also leaves behind many in-laws, nieces and nephews, who fondly remember Rod’s gregarious nature, affectionate hugs and skilled classical guitar playing. Of the many songs he composed for special occasions, one of his earliest — “The Bird Song” — may live on the longest, as new generations teach it to their children. Who knows what he’s singing and playing and composing in heaven?

Rod’s Cancer Journey Testimony:

"My hope is in Jesus. Since I was 19, I have believed in Jesus the Son of God. There is something very beautiful that He said that I cling to and I ask other people to think about. Here is what Jesus said in the gospel of John the 11th chapter, He said, “He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” Let me say that again, Jesus said, speaking of Himself, “He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” So He promises eternal life. We understand that by His dying on the cross He shows the greatest love. Elsewhere in the Bible it says, He bore our sins in His body on the cross in order to save us from Hell, the judgment of God. So it’s those who believe in Him, like that verse, though they die, yet shall they live. Though my condition is declining, I have enjoyed some very joyful times with my family. Even if I die, Jesus is telling me that life in Heaven is so far exceeding what we know on this broken Earth. I need not fear.

Rod Foist's Memorial Service April 29th, 2022

11:00am-2:00pm (GMT-7:00) Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church

1190 Columbia Ave, Riverside, CA 92507

In lieu of flowers: Make a donation to the Agape Fund @ Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church in Riverside, California (USA)