Category: Stanford/Ministry News

As many of you are no doubt aware, I am coordinating Chi Alpha’s San Diego winter conference.

Now it is virtually axiomatic that everything goes crazy prior to a Chi Alpha conference. For example, last year I got a ticket for running a stop sign as I was preparing to head up to our Lake Tahoe winter conference. For the record, I still dispute the legitimacy of that ticket. I think the cop was asleep and was startled into consciousness by the vibrant hue of my car. But I digress…

This year things have been crazy as well. Let me highlight one thread of our conference preparations–the worship.

This year we parted with tradition and booked an outside band instead of asking one of our Chi Alpha groups to lead worship. An unexpected consequence was that unlike our Chi Alpha groups, the band doesn’t normally bring their own sound system with them.

Now as anyone who has ministered to collegians will attest, having a good sound system is fairly important. Most students are audiophiles or pretend to be, and so getting the right gear makes a difference.

It is also ridiculously expensive. We found a competent sound guy who also works with equipment rentals and he did some research and found us the low, low price of $4,500.

That’s more than our entire conference budget (excluding housing).

So we went back to the drawing board.

I should mention that I was stranded in Louisiana without cell phone coverage most of the time that we were trying to fix this. I seem to be allergic to the entire state of Lousiana, because every time I go home I get major allergy attacks. So I’m grumpy from my allergies and unable to call anyone to make alternate plans for the sound equipment.

Eventually we got back home and I started working hard to find a backup sound system. We accosted Chi Alpha ministries, churches, and random passerby to no avail.

Finally my good friend Jeff Devoll came through for us. Jeff has got one of the nicest sound systems I’ve ever seen and is also one of the nicest (and sharpest) guys I’ve ever met. So we were able to get an outrageously good system as a very reasonable price.

Now we had the problem of transporting this sound system the 500 miles from Sacramento down to San Diego.

Instant success–our ministry in Sacramento has a trailer for transporting sound gear.

The heady swell of success was soon dashed on the hard rocks of reality. We had a trailer but no means to haul it.

So we called every single Chi Alpha ministry in northern California to see who had a pickup truck or an SUV or even a tow-capable van.

No one. None of the staff and none of their students have anything suitable.

This is in marked contrast to my years of ministry in Springfield, MO. Finding tow vehicles was easy. Limiting myself to female acquaintances alone I could have drummed up a truck in under five minutes. But in this ecotopia no one seems to own anything significantly larger than a chipmunk.

At this point, I should mention that I’m still sick and unable to think as clearly as I would like. And the “this point” that I’m referencing is Christmas day.

That’s right–I’m calling people on Christmas day to find a hauler. “Merry Christmas! Do you have a truck I can borrow?”

Alas, there were to be no tow-capable Christmas gifts for me.

On the day after Christmas we decide we have no choice but to rent an exorbitantly priced and uncomfortable moving truck (we attempted to rent a pickup truck first, but no company was willing to rent us a pickup to haul a trailer–I guess towing is considered a Bad Thing).

Now in order to rent a truck you need a driver. I thought I had one lined up, but he didn’t work out. I then thought I had a couple lined up, but they didn’t work out. I thought I had another guy lined up but he was heading to Tahoe to spend time with his family prior to conference. I finally called my ace in the hole and he was driving to Tahoe to spend time with his fiancee priot to conference.

What can I say? Tahoe is popular.

To make things even more tumultuous, the kindly Mr. Devoll is in the midst of moving and has left a crucial piece of sound equipment at his old place in Napa.

It is now Sunday December 26th and Paula and I are flying out at 10:00am tomorrow. We need to get this taken care of pronto.

To our horror, we learn that all the rental places close at noon on Sunday. Even if we find a driver we’re hosed–we’ll be on a plane before we get a chance to rent a vehicle.

It’s around 1:00PM Sunday afternoon, the equipment has to leave tomorrow, parts are still in Napa, we have no driver, and we have no truck.

And then the magic happened.

Tahoe boy (with fiancee) is passing right next to Napa on his way to Tahoe. So he and his fiancee drive to Napa and rummage through Jeff’s garage looking for a 24-channel mixer and a box of microphones and cables. I coach them through the process by looking at a Microsoft Word sketch of Jeff’s house marked the likely location of the equipment which he sent me in the wee hours of the morning. It takes a while but they finally find it.

And then we discover that our sound guy (the $4,500 sound system guy) is going to be driving a truck full of music instruments down to San Diego in a rental truck anyway and is happy to bring our sound system as well.

And then we discover that the sound guy is going to be hanging out that night across the street from the Tahoe couple who have the extra sound equipment, so the handoff will be easy.

And that’s the way it always happens. Everything goes nuts and then everything works out. To wrench 2 Corinthians 4:8–9 from its context:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Relieved, Paula and I turn to preparing for our trip tomorrow morning and discover that we misbooked our tickets and are leaving at 9pm instead of 9am, which messes up several parts of our schedule down south.

Aargh!

To add insult to injury, I’m getting a prominent facial pimple in the first time in forever. That’s right–take another look at the photo on th e top right. See the blemish next to my nose?

Also, I’ve spent much time on my cell phone today that if cell phones really do cause cancer I’ll be growing a blue ribbon tumor out of my ear by tomorrow morning.

At least I’m not sick anymore.

But things will work out–the magic will happen and the conference will be a smashing success.

In fact, it’s a generally accepted principle that the more hectic the pre-conference brouhaha is the better the conference winds up being.

Based on our sound system problems alone we’re expecting either global revival to break out or the rapture to occur. We’re not sure which one, but be ready just in case either comes to pass next week.

I was out of town all day yesterday and got back late enough that I didn’t bother to check any sports scores. I had had some intimation of the rude information that awaited me in the San Jose Mercury News sports section (owing to an ill-timed consolation call from the Chi Alpha leader at Berkeley).

So we lost Big Game. Again. And we lost Big Game big. Almost as badly as it has ever been lost (although outranked by our 1930 41–0 romp over Cal).

I think the proper attitude is conveyed in Mark Purdy’s column:

Oh, it could have gone worse for Stanford on a windy, blustery afternoon. But only if a tree had fallen on The Tree.

Cal’s 41–6 victory Saturday was so awful, Stanford fans spent the second half leaving in droves — in luxury cars, actually, but in drove-like formation.

Heh. It’s a game we lost, but it’s only a game.

Of course, had we won I’d be singing an altogether different tune about the relative importance of squashing one’s rivals like bugs. But we didn’t win, and so I adopt the more rational attitude. 🙂

Stanford is the second best university in the world, according to The Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Wow. It’s a privilege to minister here.

I can’t help pointing out that Berkeley is number 4.

Bill Snyder from the Chi Alpha national leadership team is staying with Paula and I right now. On the way back from picking him up we stopped at the local supermarket so that he could buy some snacks.

He bought one two-liter bottle of Diet Coke and a bag of grapes.

$10.02

I looked over and Bill was literally frozen in shock, hand halfway towards his wallet, as the price registered in his brain.

Prices in the Bay Area really are out of control, but I found that hilarious. I’m still laughing out loud even as I type this.

Stanford racked up 17 medals at the Athens Olympics.

Not too shabby.

The notorious Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band has struck again. Perhaps their most famous previous performance was a routine featuring a pregant nun while Stanford played Notre Dame.

Actually, their most famous stunt was probably The Play.

Anyway, they’re at it again:

Stanford athletic director Ted Leland apologized Monday to Brigham Young University and its fans for a halftime show by the Cardinal band that poked fun at polygamy with five dancers wearing wedding veils.

(source)

Researching the band, I noticed that their website is categorized according the seven deadly sins. Charming.

At least we won the game.

42 current or former Cardinals are competing in this year’s Olympics.

True story: last night Andrew was over at our house and mentioned that one of his advisees (Dana Kirk) is competing in the 200m women’s butterfly tomorrow. “I tell her what classes to take.”

That’s kind of wild.

It reminds me of one of my all-time favorite Stanford stories.

Some athletes are in a study group discussing their plans over break. One says he’s heading to Cancun. Another mentions that he’s going hiking in the mountains. The last guy says he’s going to the Masters.

One of the other atheletes knows how hard it is to get tickets, so he asks, “Man, how did you score tickets to the Masters? That’s hard to do.”

The last guy: “Dude, I’m playing.”

“Oh. I knew you were good, Tiger. I didn’t know you were that good.”

note: that’s a true story, but I can’t find the exact reference and so I made up some details.

Yesterday was cool. We had our on-campus summer Bible study and then we decided to have a party to welcome Andrew back to America after his journey abroad.

We figured few things are more American than BBQ, so we had a BBQ party (after which most folk left) and then the guys who remained played XBox with me until midnight.

I love my job.

Incidentally, one of the XBox games that we played is called Blood Wake, a birthday gift from my younger brother.

I mention that because the plot of the game is a younger brother trying to slay his evil older brother.

Thanks, Greg. 🙂

I was blown away by this article from The Origins Project newsletter (Emerging Leaders part 1). I believe it was written by Alex McManus, but I’m not altogether certain of that.

Alexander Hamilton was 19 years old when George Washington appointed him as an aid. Impressive enough, except when compared to the fact that at 14, Hamilton set the rules for the sea-faring captains who traded with his employers on St. Croix Island.

In 1381, Richard II walked onto a field and faced off against Wat Tyler and his mob. Later that same day, after fourteen year old Richard 11 had Wat Tyler beheaded, the young king addressed the mob of peasants with enough sensibility to calm and end Wat Tyler’s Peasant Rebellion.

Few of us are aware of the way history and culture ‑not to mention our personal age — influence our feelings about youthfulness and leadership. In order to create an ethos conducive to including emerging leaders, we’ll need to ask ourselves the question, “At what age does someone have capacity to lead?”

Recently I spoke on a University campus and was startled at the youthfulness of the student body. This happens to me every year. In truth, the students are the same age undergraduates have always been. I’m just one year older. Every year, as our church leaders age, the young look younger. The corresponding danger is that we may overlook many of our ablest leaders.

History is sprinkled with tales of the exploits, achievements and leadership of young adults, even teenagers. Columbus and all the explorers of the new world relied on hard working teens to man their crews. Think about this: Middle school age children setting off on adventures that many adults would lack the courage to undertake. In times past, teenagers could lead armies in battle and young pages could be made knights as early as age 12.

Contrast this to the head deacon who said of his new “young” pastor, “We’re letting him stretch his wings a little.” Many emerging leaders won’t stretch their wings within a cage of past accomplishments and existing institutions. Emerging leadership will go where it can fly. One question we must ask ourselves is, do we really want young leaders? Or are we only looking for someone to serve in and manage a program we’ve created.

A tip of the hat to Jordan Cooper for finding this.

I keep describing the students at Stanford as “future leaders.” I ought to know better, but I sometimes nail them into a box that I ought to be ripping apart on their behalf.

I will say one thing though–while some students are ready to lead something major from the moment they set foot on campus, others aren’t ready even years after graduation (this isn’t just at Stanford, this is everywhere I’ve been). I guess a huge part of my job ought to be figuring out which tendency a given student has…

I thought this was kind of cool: Stanford is one of the four key universities sponsoring a new open source course management system (the other three are MIT, University of Michigan, and Indiana University). The new project is called Sakai and Stanford’s version will go live on campus in 2005.