Assemblies of God Leaders Who Endorse Glen and Paula Davis

A list of leaders who believe in us and in our ministry.

Here are some Assemblies of God leaders who believe in us
and in our ministry: I would like to particularly direct your attention to the
fact that both our current and our former pastor are on this list. We believe
in the Assemblies of God, we’re committed to the primacy of the local church,
and we’re team players!

I had Glen & Paula do a missions window in my church and they
did a fabulous job! God has called them to a truly strategic mission field,
and James River is proud to be investing in it. I encourage you to book
them for a service or a missions windowyou won’t be disappointed.

John Lindell
Senior Pastor
James River Assembly of God (Springfield,
MO)

“Peninsula Christian Center is honored to serve as a covering
for Stanford Chi Alpha, and I’m delighted to serve on the advisory board
for this ministry. I believe God has raised up Glen and Paula Davis to
reach Stanford for Christ, and I encourage your church to support them
in this strategic ministry.”

Jeff Langskov
Senior Pastor (and Glen and Paula’s pastor)
Peninsula Christian Center (Redwood
City, CA)

Being a graduate of the University of Calif. in Berkeley, I appreciate
what it takes to reach secular university students in the Bay Area. Glen
and Paula Davis have the spiritual passion, ministry and people skills,
intellectual integrity, and proven experience to develop a viable Chi
Alpha ministry at Stanford University. They merit your prayer and support!

Dr. Steve Lim
Former Bay Area Pastor & Sectional Presbyter
Chairperson of the Practical
Theology faculty at AGTS

“As a 10 year veteran of the campuses in Northern California
and a student of effective campus ministry nationwide I endorse Glen and
Paula Davis enthusiastically to serve as missionaries to Stanford University.
They posses the tools, both intellectually and spiritually, to lead a
truly fruitful ministry on this most strategic campus.”

Curt Harlow
Veteran Northern California Campus Ministry Pioneer
Chi Alpha National
Leadership Team

“Glen Davis is one of the new generation of leaders God is raising
up in the church. He blends a wonderful combination of qualities in that
he is both spiritual and strategic, both humble and visionary, a both
a team player and a true leader. He is one of the people I consider a
true friend and I look to him for cutting edge insights into this generation,
contemporary society and technology. He is a great communicator, first
class leader and true minister of the Good News.”

Dr. J. Melvyn Ming
Leadership Coach, Division of Pastoral Care and Development
Northwest District Council of the Assemblies
of God

“Glen and Paula Davis will make a difference. As a former pastor,
these are the kind of people I would want my church to support. They are
missionaries in the truest sense, living within an almost completely unreached
culture to bring the message of God’s love in Christ. I have known Glen
and Paula, and their ministry, for years and find it a joy to recommend
them to you.”

Dr. Earl Creps
Director of the Doctor
of Ministry Program, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary 

“Glen is one of my favorite communicators. His teachings are
thought-provoking because he is a thinker; they are brilliantly illustrated
because Glen is both relevant and scholarly. I believe that God will awaken
a new generation through servants like Glen and Paula Davis.”

Alicia Chole
Speaker, Author (shared at
2001 General Council and Celebration 2000) 

“I have known Glen and Paula for many years and am pleased to
call them friends as well as co-ministers. There is no doubt in my mind
that they are going to be mightily used of God on the Stanford campus.
Whether in the area of evangelism, teaching, leadership or hospitality,
Glen and Paula are equipped to carry the gospel to the students of Stanford
University.”

Anthony Scoma
Discipleship Pastor
James River Assembly of God (Springfield,
MO) 

“As Glen and Paula’s former pastor, I wholeheartedly endorse
their ministry. Glen is an great preacher and has filled our pulpit on
a number of occasions, Paula has been an outstanding board member, and
they are both excellent leaders. Please book them for services and pick
them up for monthly support!”

Cal Swenson
Senior Pastor (and Glen & Paula’s former pastor)
New Life Church (Springfield,
MO)

“For five years I was blessed to have Glen and Paula on my staff
at Chi Alpha — Southwest Missouri State University. Their vision and creativity
has played a vital role in making our program cutting edge and effective
in genuinely reaching into the nonChristian community of SMS. I can think
of no other couple that is more capable to pioneer Chi Alpha at Stanford.”

Joe Zickafoose
Veteran Campus Pioneer
Chi Alpha Director at Southwest Missouri
State University

A Deist Contrasts Islam and Christianity

I ran across a very interesting rant comparing Islam and Christianity by a blogger I’d never heard of called James Lileks (I found the link on blogdex).

At one point, Mr. Lileks identifies himself thusly I am a Deist, which means EVERYONE disagrees with me.

Translation: a lot of his underlying assumptions will differ from yours, but you should still read the piece. He puts some very important points in a very direct way.

Here’s his opening statement:
There are two ways for a religion to approach life:

A) Everything is permitted except that which is forbidden; over time, we work out the details as the situations arise.

B) Everything is forbidden except that which is permitted, and we will work out the details in advance.

After an opening like that, how can you not read the rest?

(there’s a similar diatribe at Little Green Footballs, although it’s not as reflective it does have the virtue of a very active comments section)

I added this next bit on 8/9/2002
Ever wonder what an Episcopalian terrorist would look like?

Really Famous Stanford Alumni

A brief overview of Stanford’s really famous alumni.

Really Famous Stanford Alumni

I’ve talked about the incredible Stanford alumni roster before, but I had occasion recently to make a postcard featuring them. I thought uploading the photo montage I created might help you get a handle on exactly who I’m talking about (not all are pictured): 

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 famous alumni list maintained by Stanford itself!

RSS Feed from Chi Alpha @ Stanford!

Hear ye, hear ye: you can now check out both our personal site and the Chi Alpha @ Stanford site at once!

Check this out: look at the bottom right of this screen. Notice anything different?

Of course you do–all the postings from Chi Alpha @ Stanford are now listed in an RSS feed! (Thanks to ScriptyGoddess for making me aware of this great code snippet available at the Trommeter Times).

Woohoo!

Postcards Are Very Confusing…

Just a little note to myself on the legal definition of a postcard

This is a bit of a random entry, but I’m about to send out a postcard to all the churches in my new district, and I’ve had the hardest time figuring out what the rules and rates are for postcards.

You’d think it would be extremely easy to find that information on the US Post Office website transporter 3 online , but it’s not. 

After much searching, here are the basic rules: postcards cost $.23 to mail and must be between a minimum of 3–1/2 inches high by 5 inches long by 0.007 inch thick and a maximum of 4–1/4 inches high by 6 inches long by 0.016 inch thick.

I don’t know if you’ll ever find that information useful, but by blogging it here I’ll save myself a huge headache next time around!

What Jefferson Really Thought About Church And State

Here’s an interesting tidbit reported by The Washington Times: Thomas Jefferson did not want a wall built between church and state. There are two books by two different scholars referenced in the above article: Daniel Dreisbach’s Thomas Jefferson and The Wall of Separation Between Church and State and Separation of Church and State by Philip Hamburger.

Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and Public Life at Boston College, is impressed by the new findings but doubts they can make a difference.

“I think it is terrific scholarship, but I don’t think it can change anything,” said Mr. Wolfe, who reviewed the Hamburger book and has surveyed public opinion on politics and religion.

“The ‘wall’ idea has taken on a life of its own and is part of our custom and law,” Mr. Wolfe said. “Americans love God and hate politics, so they ask, ‘Why mix the two?’ ”

You can read some reviews from Harvard University Press here and here.

Newsweek In Favor Of Hell

Relevant Magazine brought an unexpected article to my attention. In Why We Need Hell, TooNewsweek journalist Kenneth Woodward argues for the importance of Hell as an inducement for moral living.

This is a sidebar article to the main Why We Need Heaven, which is a discussion of the rival Jewish, Muslim, and Christian perspectives on the afterlife and the way they impact the news.

I found quote particularly amusing: (Speaking of the Koran’s promise of heavenly orgies) Georgetowns Voll doesnt think that the virgins carry much weight with the Palestinian martyrs; unlike the Iranians in the 1980s, teenagers on the West Bank do have access to sex. More seductive is that you would have a house, regular food, prosperity, he says. You would have flowing water; someone wouldnt be bombing your well. If you had lived without all that stuff for the first 15 or 20 years of your life, heaven would sound pretty good with or without 72 virgins. Hmmm… I’m guessing Voll doesn’t know any teenage boys.

And of course, Ernest Hemingway wrote that he thought of heaven as two lovely houses in town; one where I would have my wife and children and be monogamous and love them truly and well and the other where I would have my nine beautiful mistresses on nine different floors. Hmm… logical consistency wasn’t one of Hemingway’s dominant concerns.

The author buys some unfortunate interpretations of the development of the afterlife in Jewish theology, and enjoys playing with the notion that both the suicide bombers and their victims think they’re going to heaven (and that their enemies are going to hell). Overall, it’s a pretty interesting read (if not a good course in theology).

Supper With Pastor Richard Cook

A great meeting with our executive presbyter is clouded by some bad news about Chi Alpha.

Tonight Paula and I were able to meet Richard Cook and his wife for supper at the local Chili’s. Pastor Cook pastors Spirit of Life Church in San Carlos, and is also one of the Northern California/Nevada executive presbyters.

We had a great time! Unfortunately, Brother Cook was able to confirm some bad news that I received when I met with Pastor Beiser. It seems that Chi Alpha has a very negative reputation with the Assemblies of God churches in the Bay Area. The reasons aren’t particularly important (at least not worth broadcasting over the Internet), but the ramifications for our ministry are going to be pretty radical. It will definitely affect how quickly we can reach full funding so that we can begin ministering on campus.

Please pray that God will give us favor with local churches and will give us wisdom in relating to the churches that feel they’ve been burned by Chi Alpha in the past.

Funding Evangelical Scholarship

Emergesque just turned me on to a great article about evangelicals in academia.

The articles focuses on the necessity of large foundations (especially the Lilly Endowment and the Pew Charitable Trusts) to provide funding for evangelical scholars (things like research and sabbaticals cost money!)

Something I find pretty interesting: the evangelical scholars seem to be good investments: “As measured by scholarly productivity, foundations supporting evangelical scholarship have received an unusually high return on their investment. A study by the National Endowment for the Humanities found that 45 percent of their grant recipients had published books within six years of receiving their grants. By contrast, a study of scholars receiving grants from the Pew Evangelical Scholars Program found that 90 percent had finished their books within six years.”

There’s a related article from 2000 in the The Atlantic Monthly

John Ashcroft: Son of a Preacher Man

The August 4th San Francisco Chronicle has a fascinating article on John Ashcroft called Son of a Preacher Man. The article is pretty factual, although the journalist’s dislike of Ashcroft’s value system shows through.

In case you didn’t know it, John Ashcroft (our current U.S. Attorney General) is an Assemblies of God layperson, and his father J. Robert Ashcroft was responsible for the founding of Chi Alpha.