Give And It Will Come Back To You

In one of the most remarkable news items I’ve come across in a while, a sick African child receives an unexpected operation.

Mantaine Minis, 6, was living in a hut in a remote village in Kenya, in need of lifesaving heart surgery, when the improbable happened one day in June. A group of students and parents from the Langley School in McLean was on safari at the Masai Mara National Reserve, where Mantaine’s father is a game warden.

That’s when someone from the village told a Langley teacher about Mantaine’s heart problem. From there, things seemed to unfold quickly.

The teacher, Joseph Lekuton, knew that one of the parents was a Fairfax County heart surgeon. He also knew that people of the Masai village, who didn’t own much, had sold 14 cows last year to raise money to donate to relief efforts in the United States after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

So he helped launch a campfire discussion about the Masai gift and about what a group of people from an American suburb could do to return a kindness.

I’ll let you read the rest of the story on your own, so I’ll close by quoting Jesus in Luke 6.38: If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving–large or small–it will be used to measure what is given back to you.

Stanford’s Student Body

Stanford’s class of 2006 is very diverse!

In a recent article about the arrival of the freshmen at Stanford was this little tidbit:

For the first time in the university’s history, the majority of the members of the Class of 2006 are persons of color. According to statistics from Office of Admission, 40.6 percent of the new class are white, 23.4 percent of the class are Asian American; 11.6 percent are African American; 10.3 percent are Mexican-American; 5.5 percent are international students; 3 percent are other Latino and 1.9 percent are Native American/Native Hawaiian. In addition to being the most ethnically diverse, the class is the one of them most geographically diverse ever admitted.

Who Are The Davises?

Who are Glen & Paula Davis?

I first put this page online because a pastor asked me if there was some information about us online, because he wanted to copy our bio for the church bulletin.

I thought about it, and realized that all the information was scattered about and not in one place. It also occurs to me that visitors to the site might want to know a little bit more about me themselves.

So here goes:

First, I should mention that we’re the Assemblies of God missionaries to Stanford University. Now here’s some personal stuff:

Full Name: Glen Talbot Davis
Born: May 3, 1974
Really Began to Follow Jesus: at a seventh-grade chapel service
Baptized in the Holy Spirit: as a college sophomore in UL Chi Alpha
Called to Ministry: as a college junior at a Chi Alpha conference
Previous Ministry Experience: five years on staff with Chi Alpha at Southwest Missouri State University
Education: Master of Divinity (AGTS, 1999)
Bachelor of Science (University of Louisiana, 1996)
Strengths: preaching simply about complex subjects, organizational leadership, refuting false beliefs, using technology effectively
Often Heard Saying: Contrast breeds clarity
Deeply Influenced By: The Purpose-Driven Church, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Mere Christianity, The Master Plan of Evangelism
Favorite Comics: The Far Side, Calvin & Hobbes, Dilbert
Vision for Stanford: Establish a credible, consistent and pervasive Spirit-filled gospel witness on campus.
Core Commitments (Values):
     I must nurture intimacy with God.
     I must cultivate my character.
     I must build my marriage.
     I must hone my skills.
     I must maintain healthy relationships.
     I must rigorously analyze my beliefs.

Full Name: Paula Kay Davis
Born: August 4, 1974
Really Began to Follow Jesus: July 23, 1990 at a Bible Study
Baptized in the Holy Spirit: August 1990 at a Bible Study
Called to Ministry: Summer 1992 at a youth conference
Previous Ministry Experience: five years with Chi Alpha at Southwest Missouri State University, two years as board member of New Life Church (Springfield, MO)
Education: Bachelor of Science (University of Louisiana, 1996)
Strengths: Organized, hardworking, good listener, sensitive to others, teachable
Passions: To see myself and others shaped more into the image of the Master; to help hurting people experience the love of the Father.
Hobbies: Enjoy sewing, cooking and spending time with friends

And a recent addition:
Full Name: Dana Marie Davis
Born: March 25, 2004
Often Heard: screaming inconsolably
Hobbies: pooping, spitting up, and crying

UPDATE: our anniversary is 12/21/1996.

Possible Email Glitch

In which I mention that my email server might be dropping messages.

Someone just told me that they emailed me four times without ever hearing a response from me. I never received any of the messages.

I mention this in case you’ve sent me a message to which I’ve not replied. It’s possible there’s a glitch with my email server, although it’s equally possible that the person simply made some mistake on their end.

If I haven’t replied to a mesage, I apologize. Please resend it and I’ll get right back to you!

World Leaders Trained on US Campuses

The world sends it’s leaders to America for higher education–here’s a list.

Here’s another reason the American university is such a strategic mission field–there are about 14,000,000 university students attending college in America and almost 4% of them are from other nations.

The most recent statistics I could find show that over half of them are from Asia and 7% are from the Middle East. Many of these nations forbid any sort of missionary work–but they send their future leaders here to be trained! In fact, the Navigators claim that 7 of the top 10 countries that send students to the U.S. are closed to typical misssionary efforts.

That’s impressive enough, but I’ll up the ante even further. I’ve heard that every major world leader except Saddam Hussein has studied in America, but I wasn’t able to verify that claim. What I can do is list of some of the world leaders trained on United States campuses. Imagine the potential world impact of reaching the future leaders of the world today (incidentally, I have a related essay focused on America)! The political scene is so tumultuous that I won’t bother pretending this is current. Assume that they’re possibly out of power unless you hear their names on the news.

Ehud Barak, Former Israeli Prime Minister, Stanford
Alejandro Toledo, president of Peru, Stanford
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, MIT
Benizar Bhutto, first female Prime Minister of Pakistan, Harvard U
Carlos Salinas, president of Mexico, Harvard U
Lien Chan, Premier of Taiwan, University of Chicago
Lee Teng Hui, President of Taiwan, Iowa State and Cornell
Saud Al-Fasial, Foreign Minister of Saudia Arabia, Princeton
Adul Al-Awadi, Kuwaiti Minister of State, Harvard
Kai-Wen Mao, Chinese Minister of Education, UC Berkeley and Carnegie-Mellon
Dhoukan Al-Hindawi, Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan, University of Maryland
Osama al-Baz, Chief Advisor to President Mubarak in Egypt, Harvard
Bir Birkram Sha Dev Birenda, King of Nepal, Harvard
Tahir al-Masri, Prime Minister of Jordan, University of North Texas
Yosuko Matsuoka, Foreign Minister of Japan, University of Oregon

You don’t have to imagine the potential impact, ministry to international students has already had worldwide ramifications. Consider this telling example:

A number of years ago, Hal Guffey (former president of International Students, Inc.) was speaking to a group of Christians about the opportunity to befriend international students. At the end of his talk a young lady from another country approached him. She told him that though her father had not become a Christian as a result of his student days in the U.S., nonetheless he had returned home with a favorable impression of Christians. Many years later he found himself in a position to decide whether Christian missionaries should be allowed to remain in his country. He decided they should be allowed to stay. (source)

If you know of any others world leaders who should be on the list, let me know via the comment box!

Revisions To Core Areas

Some minor site updates: revisions for clarity and precision.

I’ve made some revisions to the core essays on this website: I think I’ve made them more readable and more informative. The ones that have undergone the most change are:

1) What Is Chi Alpha? (changed radically)
2) Common Questions About Supporting Missionaries (added new questions and intro)
3) Why Universities Need Missionaries (added a closing section)
4) How to Become a Partner In Ministry (changed the wording for clarity)

Let me know if you find anything unclear or confusing!

Using Your Doubts To Stimulate Your Faith

Relevant Magazine has a great essay on how your doubts can build your faith. Here’s an excerpt:

Doubt in our faith can lead to the gateway of spiritual growth. Doubt calls us into deeper examination. It draws us onto the path of undying curiosity for real Truth. As Frederich Buechner said, my doubts keep me moving.

…

Brian McLaren, in his soon-to-be-released book Adventures in Missing the Point, written with Tony Campolo, addresses the question of allowing doubt to take hold. Someone asked Brian, Well, wont an openness to doubt lead to spiritual instability and insecurity? Yes, he responded, but couldnt an unwillingness to question lead to false security that could be even more dangerous? Being courageous enough to ask why (or even why not) can lead to a deepening of faith. Jesus never said to us, I will never leave you or forsake you well, I take that back: Ill only leave you when you start to doubt and question. And when you doubt, Im outta here. I believe Jesus, when He said He would never leave us or forsake us, He meant He would stick by us at all times, even in the tough times, the times when we wonder if he is even listening at all. Doubt can be painful, but it has the potential for an incredible spiritual breakthrough.

How To Link To The NET Bible

Finally–how to link to a verse in the NET Bible using their perl script!

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been going crazy trying to figure out how to link directly to a verse in the NET Bible.

Their webmaster finally sent me an email explaining how to do it!

Here’s what you wanted:
The link goes to John 3:16

http://www.bible.org/cgi-bin/netbible.pl?book=joh&chapter=3&verse=16

You’ll note that the way our perl script is formatted, no one can take a verse out of context. That is, when you want a specific verse from the NET Bible, you’ll get the paragraph in which that verse occurs. (Paragraph breaks are sort of arbitrary, but at least it’s a help to the context.) The only other thing you need is a list of our abbreviations. Format: they are all first three letters (gen, deu, 1ch, 2sa, mat)

With following exceptions:
  Judges: jdg
  Philemon: phm
  Philippians: phi.

Cool! This will be useful whenever I have a little time to reply to some of Nota Bene and Integrity Blog’s thoughts.

I Knew The Air Was Bad, But…

In the Bay Area a 2.5 week old baby has inhaled more pollutants than the governmental standard for a lifetime.

OK, I knew that the air in California was supposed to be bad, but this is ridiculous! By the time a Bay Area babies are two and a half weeks old, they have inhaled more pollution than the government recommends over a lifetime!

At least now I have something to tell people who imply that I moved to California just because of the magnificence of the scenerey and not due to the call of God… I’ll try to explain it between hacking coughs evidencing the onset of emphysema.

This Reminds Me of A Proverb…

On the ain’t it pathetic front: A Yemeni man divorced his first wife because she was loud and argumentative and picked a deaf and mute woman as his new bride, a local newspaper said on Monday. Read the whole sad story.

Reading that triggered thoughts of Proverbs 27.15–16: A nagging wife is as annoying as the constant dripping on a rainy day. Trying to stop her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or hold something with greased hands. (New Living Translation, link)

For the interpretationally challenged, let me make it clear the the Bible is in no way endorsing the man’s actions. This is a descriptive passage of Scripture (making an observation about life as it is) and not a prescriptive passage (giving advice and commands to create life as it should be).