disciple, husband, father, college minister
some dorms on my undergrad campus are destroyed by explosives
On a completely random note, one of the dorms I lived in back in my undergrad days was demolished via explosives last weekend.
I always said it should be condemned, I just never thought they’d take me seriously…
I just received an email from a friend named Earl Creps
(he’s the director of the doctoral program at my alma mater, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary).
Anyway, it’s all about how to read for personal growth. I thought it was worth sharing an excerpt here. In case it’s not obvious, he’s speaking within the context of spiritual and organizational leadership.
I think points 3 and 5 are particularly good.
Here are some keys to maximizing the effectiveness of your reading…
1. Read the classics: dial up amazon.com and search for the works of
James McGregor Burns, Henri Nouwen, Warren Bennis, etc. While we can debate
“what’s a classic?,” books of this sort will get you into the game in a
hurry.
2. Read the latest and skip the middle: if you’re just getting into an
organization forget what was written any more than 2 years ago [except for
leadership classics] and read from here forward. Most of the stuff in the
middle is derived from the classics anyway.…
3. Trust your life to guide your reading: When I’m feeling fresh, I
read in my specialties [self-leadership, emerging culture, power ministry].
When I’m tired, I read 90 degrees out from my specialties [, i.e.,
professional literature from other fields such as technology or psychology].
When I’m burned out, I read 180 degrees out from my academic interests
[e.g., fiction, history]. Somehow, I always find more illustrations,
principles, and other ultimately useful material in this “diversionary”
reading than just about anywhere else. I also find it hugely refreshing. A
tired mind cannot absorb much anyway.
4. Any work is a “leadership” book if it’s read by a leader: the leader
of the future must be an interesting, well-rounded person, not an
incompetent mystic or a corporate-clone technocrat. Younger adults
especially are all about who you are, not just what you can do.
5. Putting it together: Reading in your field makes you competent.
Reading out from your field [90 degrees] makes you broad-minded. Reading
opposite your field [180 degrees] makes you interesting and creative.
My major recommendation for left-brainers: develop a reading plan that
includes 0, 90, and 180-degree dimensions.
My major recommendation for right-brainers: start listening to your life
and read in response to it, dude.
Blessings,
Earl
I just ran across an online article by Heather Williams, who became a believer at Stanford: Overhaul at Stanford.
When I entered Stanford, I was not a Christian. The world lay at my feet then, waiting to be revolutionized. I attended political meetings, took classes on racism and social justice, and immersed myself at the community service center. I believed in the power within me to make a significant difference in the world. I tutored underprivileged elementary school kids; I ran the day camp at a homeless shelter; I collected leftover food to feed the hungry. Yet, the more I tried to change the world, the more frustrated I became. I confronted bureaucracy, apathy, and…sin. I began to think that maybe human nature needed a basic overhaul.
During this time I was challenged to read the Bible by a friend of mine. I had come to college hating the Bible. I thought it was sexist, homophobic and rigidly self-righteous — the basic blueprint of intolerance. You see, I grew up in the “Bible Belt.” Throughout high school, most of the Christians I encountered were more concerned about knocking some sense into me with the Bible than they were concerned about explaining to me what its pages contained. Most were vocal about their conviction that I was going straight to hell because of my liberal agenda. Yet, when my friend in college challenged my actual knowledge of the Bible (garnered from childhood Sunday school lessons and the literature class examining history’s “great works” my freshman year), I realized that I knew very little about Jesus and His followers…
It was published back in ’96, so don’t expect to see her walking around campus.
I just heard this wonderful news from LSU Chi Alpha:
“One of the best things God has done for me,” said Zechariah Brewer, a sophomore at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, “is heal me of asthma.”
When Brewer was in the 10th grade, he began using an inhaler because of occasional breathing problems. Within a year, he was put on daily medications. Over the next few years, the dosages were increased.
By the time the business administration major, who accepted Christ when he was 15 years old, entered college he was resigned to the fact that he was going to have to cope with asthma for the rest of his life. But, early in the fall semester he decided to try something he had never considered before.
“I went to a Chi Alpha prayer meeting after work and asked Campus Missionary Nick Callaway to pray for my healing,” said Brewer. “He gathered a few other believers, and they laid hands on me and began to pray.”
The next morning, Brewer went out for a run and to his amazement his lungs were healed. From that point on, he has been walking around breathing more freely than he has in years. All it took was a simple prayer of faith.
“I told God, ‘I know You’ve healed many people, and I want to believe that You’ll heal me,’ ” Brewer said. “That was when my prayer was answered.” (source)
six more weeks of winter
Side note: legendary prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil has weighed in: we face six more weeks of winter.
Fortunately, I live in California. I’ve forgotten exactly what winter is like…
Here’s a seasonal joke for your amusement:
Over breakfast one morning, a woman said to her husband, “Ill bet you don’t know what day this is.”
“Of course I do,” he answered as if he was offended, and left for the office.
At 10:00 a.m., the doorbell rang and when the woman opened the door, she was handed a box of a dozen long stemmed red roses. At 1:00 p.m., a foil-wrapped, two-pound box of her favorite chocolates was delivered. Later, a boutique delivered a designer dress.
The woman couldn’t wait for her husband to come home.
“First the flowers, then the chocolates and then the dress!” she exclaimed.
“I’ve never had a more wonderful Groundhog Day in my life! (source)
Brief reflections on the space shuttle explosion.
I woke up this morning to the news that the Space Shuttle blew up on re-entry.
I had two thoughts rush through my mind immediately:
1) Wow–I vividly remember the last time this happened. It shocked me deeply–the idea that our science wasn’t perfect and that America could make a mistake and that heroes could die.
2) The first Israeli astronaut was on the shuttle, and it’s such a high-profile American symbol: it sure would be an attractive target to terrorists… Accidents happen, and I hope that’s all it was. If it was terrorists, it would have to be some sort of sabotage before the shuttle took off (that, or someone on the shuttle would have had to turn traitor–something I consider extremely unlikely).
I have intense sympathy for the families of the astronauts: may God comfort their hearts with His peace.
[update: my wife mentioned that it looked as though I actually suspect terrorist activity. Not so! I’m reporting the first two thoughts that flashed through my mind, not giving my current opinion. For the record, I think it’s improbable that terrorist activity caused the Space Shuttle to disintegrate.]
82–77, baby!
I just thought I should mention that Stanford rocked Arizona in basketball this weekend. They may outrank us, but we beat ’em!
For the record, we’re not ranked in basketball. We do, however, dominate the aquatic sports (along with women’s tennis and men’s cross-country).
The Stanfords built a church in the middle of campus in the hopes that it would act as a spiritual center for the university.
An article in the January 25th edition of the San Jose Mercury News talked about Stanford’s spiritual legacy: Church Remains At School’s Heart.
When Leland and Jane Stanford decided to place a church at the center of campus, the faculty balked. A library — a place of books and thought — would be more appropriate, the professors opined. But Jane Stanford stood firm.
“The church is the only institution that makes or has made or pretends to make a stand against immorality in all its forms,” she said. “Education does not; nor does that science in which you are interested and which you consider all-powerful.”
Sadly, the church has (in my estimation) fallen far. Few would regard it as the heart of the university today, and the spiritual menu offered at the Church has broadened beyond measure: both the founder of the Ba’hai faith and the Dalai Lama have spoken there. I think the article puts it well: For some, the church is a community treasure more akin to a museum than a religious institution.
The article is accompanied by a brief history of Memorial Church.
Learn more about Memorial Church online.
Every major revival in Western history has its roots on the college campus. Here are specific stories of student revivals changing the world!
I spoke at Bethany College’s chapel yesterday, and I told several little-known stories from this history of college ministry. I thought I should put them online. I apologize for the abrubt nature of these stories, I basically cut’n’pasted them from my speaking notes. I’ve provided a link to help you do more research on any of the stories that interest you. If you want a quick survey that’s better-written, try Why College Revivals Spark Missionary Advance.
First: At the very beginning of the 18th century, Nick was a student at the University of Halle in Germany. He was a passionate follower of Jesus, and he came to wield great influence with his fellow students. He went on to found a church, and the Moravian Church founded by Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf sent out more missionaries in twenty years than all the Protestant churches of Europe had sent in the last 200. They began an around-the-clock prayer meeting for world missions that lasted for 100 years without interruption. His slogan was I have but one passion, tis He, tis only He. [learn more about the Moravians]
Second: In 1726, John Wesley was a student at Oxford University and he formed a group called the Holy Club to study the Bible and reach out to the poor. They began to live their lives by a strict set of rules, carefully ordering their life to give the maximum opportunities to serve God. They were so disciplined that other students mocked their methodical life with the name Methodists. Later, John and his brother Charles along with George Whitfield, another alumnus of the Holy Club, were instrumental in spreading the gospel across America in what we today call the First Great Awakening in American history. [learn more about John Wesley]
Third: In August 1806, on a hot and humid Saturday afternoon, freshman Samuel Mills and four other students gathered in the maple grove of Sloan’s Meadow along the Hoosack River for a twice-weekly prayer meetings. Suddenly, rain began to pour down and so the students sought shelter from the driving rain on the side of a huge haystack. There, with the rain falling from the sky Mills shared his growing passion that the gospel be preached around the world. They prayed, and God showed up. That prayer meeting resulted in the emergence of missions in North America, and every subsequent missions movementincluding ourstraces its roots to that prayer meeting of college students. Their great motto was we can do this if we will. [learn more about the Haystack Prayer Meeting]
Fourth: Just after Christmas in 1900, Charles Parham gave the students at Bethel Bible college in Topeka Kansas an assignment: search the Scriptures and determine if there was any way a person could know whether or not they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. On January 1st 1901, just after midnight, a young student named Agnes Ozman asked Parham to lay hands on her and pray that she might be filled with the Holy Spirit and that she would speak in tongues as a result. That event launched the great Pentecostal revival which has swept and is sweeping the world. Today 9 out of every 10 people who are coming to faith in Christ are doing so in the context of a Spirit-filled Church. [learn more about Agnes Ozman]
Fifth: In 1886 Dwight Moody invited 251 college students to a retreat in Mount Hermon, Massachusets. He wasnt really planning to talk about world missions, but a strong burden grew among the students there. By the end of the conference, precisely 100 of the 251 students signed a pledge stating we, the undersigned, declare ourselves willing and desirous, God permitting, to go to the unevangelized portions of the world. That was the beginning of the Student Volunteer Missions Movement. Their watchword was the evangelization of the world in this generation. Two Princeton students took it upon themselves to go on a speaking tour of American colleges recruiting for missions. As a result, over 12,000 student volunteers went into foreign missions before World War I broke out. [learn more about the Student Volunteer Missions Movement]
Sixth: In 1951, Bill Bright began ministering to college students at UCLA. That began a movement known as Campus Crusade for Christ that has grown far beyond college students and is now one of the most powerful missions forces in the world. For example: they have shown a movie representation of the gospel of Luke to over 5 billion people in over 200 nations. I actually believe its been shown in every nation on the planet! [learn more about Bill Bright and Campus Crusade]
Seventh: And in what is probably the most amazing story of college revival that I’ve ever come across: I give you the story of a revival that began when five non-Christians gathered for prayer.
To provide a context: our nation was founded in 1776. In the 1790s, a poll conducted at Harvard revealed not one believer which was originally founded to train ministers. At Princeton, a similar poll showed only 2 Christians. When the dean opened the chapel Bible one day a pack of playing cards fell out because students had cut out a hiding place for them. Christians were so few on the average campus and were so intimidated by the non-Christians that they met in secret. They even kept their minutes in code so no one could find out about their clandestine fellowship. [source]
Right around then at Hampden Sydney College in Virginia five non-Christian students were so disgusted with the level of immorality around them that they held a secret prayer meeting to ask for Gods help. Somehow the other students found out about it and tried to break down the door! The president of the college heard the riot and came to see what the problem was. The students told him and these were his words: “You don’t mind cheating, you, don’t mind stealing from rooms, you don’t mind the lying and the profanity you get on this campus, but you object to a prayer meeting. Well, I do not!” He then knocked on the door and said authoritatively, “This is the president of the college speaking. Will you please come out?” The students unlocked the door and came out not knowing what to expect. President Smith said, “Gentlemen, come to my study, we’ll pray there together.” That sparked a revival on campus that resulted in half of the student body converting to Christ and more importantly: that was the beginning of the Second Great Awakening.
To learn more about this last story, read the article that I recommended at the beginning: Why College Revivals Spark Missionary Advance.
I was able to share Christ with a Princeton student!
At our last Chi Alpha meeting, we had a guest named Darin, who is a physics major visiting from Princeton University. He came with one of our students, Shaowei, with whom he went to high school.
To make a long story short, after the meeting I learned that Darin isn’t a Christian but he did want some counsel from a minister. We talked for a long time, and he invited me to pray that God would reveal Himself to him in a way that is convincing to Darin.
Please pray for Darin! I think he’s on the verge of following Christ: he just needs some time to process everything and to experience God’s presence in his life.
Side note: one of the unexpected aspects of ministry at one elite school is that you get to minister to students from other elite schools as well. The weekend before meeting Darin I met a Harvard student named Steve who was visiting a student from a group that he went to high school with. Prior to that I met a Cornell student. Just thought you might find that interesting.