disciple, husband, father, college minister
A link to Don Knuth’s calligraphy of John 3:16
Donald Knuth, a retired computer science professor at Stanford, undertook a project many years ago to analyze every chapter 3 verse 16 in the Bible. It’s supposed to be quite fascinating, although I’ve not read it yet.
In any event, I just ran across the coolest thing on his website: John 3:16 in beautiful PDF calligraphy. The translation is pretty neat as well.
Stanford rocks in every area!
On a triumphalist note, I should mention that Stanford has won the Sears cup AGAIN
! That makes 8 in a row. And not only did we win–we won by a lot. Here are the point totals:
1. Stanford 1499.0
2. Texas 1110.5
3. Florida 1078.0
4. North Carolina 1065.5
5. UCLA 1026.0
See how each individual sports teams did.
In case you’re wondering, the Sears Cup is awarded each year to the best overall collegiate athletics progam in the nation. In other words, we rock!
A big thank-you to the women’s ministries of the Northern-California/Nevada district of the Assemblies of God for their wonderful missions boutique.
In case you didn’t know, the Assemblies of God is divided into districts, and in moving from Missouri to California we changed districts. We’re now members of the Northern California/Nevada District.
Each district is pretty autonomous when it comes to interacting with missionaries, and so we’ve been delighted at how warm our reception has been here. Today we were able to visit the District Missions Boutique, which is a collection of very cool stuff (towels, sheets, kitchen items, etc) that the women’s ministries of churches throughout the district accumulate to give to missionaries. Wow! Thanks to all the women who participated in this program–you are such a blessing.
Our new roommate–Andrew Wright!
Wow–we’ve been living here seven days and we’ve already got a Stanford student moving in with us!
His name is Andrew Wright, and he’s a sophomore here at Stanford. His major is technically undeclared, but he’s planning on International Relations.
Among other things, he writes for The Stanford Review.
God is really opening up doors for us on campus–and we haven’t even started yet! (We’re not allowed to begin formally ministering on campus until we’ve secured 100% of our funding as mandated by Assemblies of God Home Missions. We’re currently near 70% of our assigned budget–pray that God would provide the rest by our September 23rd deadline.)
We’ve got our first California church service this Sunday! Paula and I are driving up to Dobbins, CA at Dobbins Christian Assembly, where Jack Overbey is the pastor. We’re pretty excited to begin sharing our vision with the churches of the Northern California/Nevada District of the Assemblies of God. Pray that God would grant us favor!
Why Stanford is one of the most strategic mission fields on the planet: today they learn, tomorrow they lead!
Today They Learn, Tomorrow They Lead
In a very real sense, schools like Stanford function as a steering wheel
for our society. Whichever way they turn now determine how our society
will turn out a few decades down the road.
Alumni include
In other words, Stanford is one of the most strategic mission fields in the world! For an even fuller list of alumni, check out the Stanford famous alumni list!
Cover these first two Chi Alpha students in prayer!
There
are a few students currently involved with the Chi Alpha group at Stanford.
The three most involved are a junior named Luis Trujillo [last name
pronounced “true heal”, he’s the guy on the right], a freshman named
Andrew Wright (he’s the guy on the left), and another junior named Wilbur Montana (he’s the invisible guy in the middle).
Please pray that God would grant them favor with their peers as
they seek to reach out and favor in their studies so that they may get
good grades! Also pray for encouragement–it’s challenging to maintain
your faith at Stanford.
Many people seem puzzled by what it is that we do. This is a very brief introduction to the wonderful world of campus ministry.
Paula and I work with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries at Stanford University (check out our group website). Chi Alpha is a missions program of the Assemblies of God targeting colleges and universities across America.
You might be wondering why the Assemblies of God sends missionaries to college campuses–read our explanation of campuses as mission fields.
So what do you do?
We strive to build an on-campus community of students who are earnestly following Jesus. We do that by leading midweek worship services in the middle of campus, by sponsoring Bible studies in the dorms, and by conducting various outreaches.
Why campus ministry is so necessary.
College can be a dangerous place for a Christian’s faith!
To begin with, 2 out of every 3 teenagers involved with a youth group already plan to leave the church once theyre on their own (i.e., in college). One out of every 8 bails on the church before they even set foot on the college campus (Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami page 47).
Even leaving that disturbing fact aside, college isn’t too kind to the faith of students.
Quotes from Pascarella and Terenzini: How College Affects
Students: Findings and Insights From Twenty Years of Research
“the literature published since 1967 fairly consistently reports significant declines in religious attitudes, values, and behaviors during the college years.” p 280–281
“The likelihood of changing to no religious
preference was also highest at so-called elite institutions.” p 303
“In probably the strongest studies on this point, Astin (1972b, 1977a) found (net of other personal and background factors) significantly greater than expected decreases in conventional religious affiliation and in religiousness (that is, praying and reading the Bible) among students attending selective or prestigious schools.”
But there is hope: in the same volume, the authors state:
“Only a handful of studies examine
the long-term effects of college on religious attitudes and values,
but with one exception, they indicate that changes in this area occur
during but apparently not after the college years.” p 323
In other words, college is our last chance to reach a generation! That’s why there must be campus ministry at secular colleges and universities!
Both formal and casual pictures of Glen suitable for church bulletins, retreat brochures, and dartboards. 🙂 There is also a press release for churches.
If you need a picture of Glen for your church bulletin or for any other reason, feel free to download one of these. You can click on the photo if you need a higher-resolution image (for the record, you can also download any photo of us off of this site).
If you need a blurb to accompany the photo:
Glen and Paula Davis are the Assemblies of God missionaries to Stanford University, where they lead a Chi Alpha ministry. Chi Alpha is the Assembly of God outreach to students at secular colleges and universities, and is on over 200 campuses across America. Glen also oversees Assemblies of God college ministries in Northern California and Nevada. You can learn more about them at http://www.GlenAndPaula.com/ and more about their Chi Alpha group at http://www.xaStanford.org/
If you want a pre-made church bulletin
Download it here (PDF format, 500k, half page format). If the size of the bulletin is wrong for you, you can create your own by adapting the following text:
Glen & Paula Davis
Glen and Paula are nationally appointed home missionaries with the Assemblies of God, and have been given the privilege of representing Christ to the future leaders of the world at Stanford University. Together, they lead Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship at Stanford. Glen also oversees the Assemblies of God college ministries in Northern California and Nevada. Prior to establishing the ministry at Stanford, they helped to lead a Chi Alpha ministry in Springfield, MO.
Chi Alpha Campus Ministries
Chi Alpha is the Assemblies of God outreach to colleges and universities. There are over 200 Chi Alpha groups in America, and many more around the world.
Chi Alpha takes its name from two Greek letters which stand for the phrase Christ’s Ambassadors.
Why Reach Stanford?
Because it’s like a steering wheel to our society&em;as goes the campus, so goes the culture. Just think about this: four of America’s nine Supreme Court Justices are Stanford alumni.
And it’s not just America that Stanford influences’the president of Peru is a Stanford graduate. In fact, 1/4 of the students are from another country, and the two most represented nations are China and India.
Today they learn, but tomorrow they lead. These future world-changers must be reached with the gospel while they are more open than they will ever be again!
If you need a press release:
Rev. Glen Davis, leader of the Chi Alpha ministry at Stanford University, will be speaking TIME AND DAY, DATE, at NAME OF CHURCH, LOCATION.
Glen and his wife Paula are the Assemblies of God representatives at Stanford University, the school which produced four of America’s nine Supreme Court Justices.
Together they lead a ministry called Chi Alpha where they help the future leaders of the world find reasonable answers to honest questions.
Chi Alpha (XA) is the Greek abbreviation for “Christ’s Ambassadors.” There are over 200 Chi Alpha groups on college and university campuses across America (www.ChiAlpha.com for more info).
Prior to establishing the Chi Alpha ministry at Stanford, the Davises served for six years at the original Chi Alpha group in Springfield, Mo.
You can learn more about them on the Internet at www.GlenAndPaula.com and more about their Chi Alpha group at www.xaStanford.org .
For more information about Rev. Davis’ presentation or NAME OF CHURCH, contact the church by calling PHONE NUMBER or online at WEBSITE .