Christian Union: The Magazine Summer 2020

HARVARD

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A Legacy Of Faith

A Providential Head Start

Christian Union the magazine :: summer 2020

Socially-Distant Semesters page 12

Christian Union New York: Reaching Out to Young Professionals Christian Union Day & Night: Seeking God During Difficult Days The Spiritual Climate on Campus: News from some of the nation’s leading universities

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table of contents

volume xviii issue ii

Christian Union

the maga zine :: summer 2020

in e ach issue Letter from the CEO / 3 8

Q and A / 10 Stewardship News / 34

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4 The Gospel and Generation Next

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summer 2 0 2 0 fe at ure sec t ion The Great Gospel Opportunity / 6 Faith for Exiles / 8 Q and A with Dr. Sam Kim / 10

12 From the University to the City and Beyond

This magazine is published by Christian Union, an independent Christian ministry.

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cover photo: Julie Tran, Yale ’21 Photo: Sarah Beth Turner

36 The Spiritual Climate on Campus

updat e s fr om l e ading univer si t ie s

Justice, Mercy, and Humility (Harvard) :: Collins Awarded

Templeton Prize (Yale) :: For Christ and His Kingdom (Brown) :: Journal Celebrates Milestone (Dartmouth) :: Sent Forth to Teach (Princeton) :: News-in-Brief from each university, and more

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ChristianUnion.org Twitter.com/ChristianUnion Facebook.com/Christian.Union

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on the web

Law and Justice (Harvard Law) / 14 Pursuing God, Pursuing Truth (Columbia) / 16 A Vessel in the Valley (Cornell) / 18 chris tian union univer sities Stanford / 20 Yale / 22 Dartmouth / 24 Brown / 25 Princeton / 27 Penn / 28 Harvard / 30 chris tian union cities New York Christian Union / 31 c h r i s t i a n u n i o n d ay a n d n i g h t Social Distancing from Sin / 33

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Christian Union T H E

M A G A Z I N E

volume xviii issue ii summer 2020 editor-in-chief

executive editor

managing editor

staff writers

Matthew Bennett

Patrick Dennis Tom Campisi Catherine Elvy

Anne Kerhoulas Laura Valentino

field reporters

Jon Garaffa

Zachary Lee Francine Barchett Kayla Bartsch Nathan Barlow Luke Brown Avery Johnston

INTRODUCING A new way to stay up-to-date about Christian Union:

Meagan Friberg

photo editor

contributing editor

proofreader

Rachel Mari

art director

Michelle Taylor

production

Anita Palmer

Bethany Wakeley

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News.ChristianUnion.org Be Informed, Encouraged, and Strengthened by articles on a range of topics, including: Seeking God (articles that will challenge you to seek the Lord and pray fervently for national revival); Leadership Development (how God is using CU to

Christian Union’s mission is to develop and connect transformative Christian leaders. The ministry was founded in 2002 in Princeton, New Jersey.

Learn more at ChristianUnion.org

change lives at strategic universities); Intellectual Engagement (commentary from some of the nation’s Christian thought leaders/apologists); and Marketplace Ministry (highlighting men and women who are impacting culture by being “salt and light” in various sectors of society.)

Visit today:

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©2020 Christian Union. All rights reserved. Christian Union: The Magazine is published quarterly. Its goal is to encourage and inform Christian alumni, students, parents, staff, faculty, and friends about Christian Union’s work—and about other spiritual activity—at eight of this country’s most influential colleges, and in key cities.

Our desire is that this publication would inspire readers to seek God, to use their influence for the cause of Christ, to pray, and to give financially to Christian initiatives that are bringing about culture change for God’s glory.

To request an advertising rate card, please e-mail Tom. Campisi@ChristianUnion.org. postmaster: Send address changes to: Christian Union, 19 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton, NJ 08542

letter from the founder and ceo

A Year of Shaking “Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.”

– Psalm 36:5

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with the election. As calamities impact America and the church, Jesus’ true followers begin to stand out more and more.

It is crucial, now more than ever, that young Christians at the nation’s most influential universities have the support and discipleship they need to be strong in Christ. And it’s more important than ever that non-Christians at these places know that there is a God who loves them and who calls them to full devotion to Him in all of His ways, no matter their circumstances. It’s in difficult times that the light of Christ often shines the brightest.

I would like to ask that you pray more than ever for this ministry, the universities and cities it serves, and the nation. It’s our burning desire that all reflect the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in every way, and all are in a particular time of need at the current hour. By God’s grace and His heavenly wisdom, perhaps this is the time for the greatest revival in history—the one we’ve all been praying for.

Yours in Christ,

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Matthew W. Bennett matt bennett is the founder and CEO of Christian Union. He earned undergraduate and MBA degrees from Cornell, and launched Christian Union in 2002 in Princeton, New Jersey.

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inistry in the fall of 2020 looks to be more unusual than at any time in the history of Christian Union. Never have we had to launch freshman ministry activities with most of the first-year students hundreds of miles from their new universities. 2020 is a year that we will all remember the rest of our lives, but, by God’s grace and power, His holiness and greatness will be made known through it all.

In addition to the very unusual ministry environment, Christian Union has had significant layoffs because of a downturn in donations due to COVID. It’s been heartbreaking to have to let go of co-laborers who have been with the ministry for more than ten years, but necessary if the ministry is going to continue the mission for which God has called it. Christian Union continues at its nine universities (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, and Penn) and through Christian Union New York, and online via CU Day and Night, but all with a scaled-down workforce. Our hearts and prayers go with our departing colleagues, and we know that the LORD has good purposes for them in the future.

As always, our trust is in the living God: Psalm 36:5 states, “Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.”

Many have called this year a year of “shaking,” and indeed it has been, to say nothing of what may happen in November

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feature section :: summer 2020 The Great Gospel Opportunity / 6 Faith for Exiles / 8 Q and A with Dr. Sam Kim / 10

The Gospel and Generation Next christianunion.org

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Tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them…

5 photo credit: paul hanaoka via unsplash

feature section | the gospel and generation next

The Great Gospel Opportunity Report Details ‘Pivotal Moment’ for Gen Z and Millennials by tom campisi, managing editor

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ith its report, The Great Opportunity: The American Church in 2050, the Pinetops Foundation examines the fruitfulness, or lack thereof, when it comes to the engagement of today’s teens and young adults.

According to its 2018 report, approximately one million young people are leaving the church each year—but a “great opportunity” exists if we can reverse the current trends assigned to Generation Z and younger Millennials.

Pinetops, a private foundation based in Seattle, Washington, and led by CEO Josh Crossman and his family, “looks to find innovative solutions to long-term, structural problems.” The foundation’s philanthropy is informed by biblical principles, with the motivation for The Great Opportunity coming from a desire to be good stewards in supporting various ministries and organizations. The report relied most heavily on four major research efforts

by Pew Research Center, the Baylor Religion Survey, Public Religion Research Institute, and Gallup.

“We are at a pivotal moment in the life of the American church,” the report states in its introduction. “What we found was the largest missions opportunity ever in American history, and if we move quickly, we can help introduce tens of millions of young people to Jesus over the next 30 years.”

The Great Opportunity comprises five main chapters, “Starting New Churches,” “Mission for Youth,” “Reaching New Audiences in a Digital Age,” “Care for the Poor,” and “Building Long-Term Witness.”

The discipleship of the next generation is the central theme to changing tomorrow’s churches and culture in general.

The report contains data from Pew’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study, which probed motivations for church disaffiliation among young people. One of the most striking findings was that “a majority did not go through a crisis of faith or abandon the teachings of the church. Rather, they seemingly lost interest and drifted away.”

According to The Great Opportunity, 42 million young people will disaffiliate from the church over the next thirty years.

One of the key recommendations focuses on how the church must transform discipleship through innovations in youth ministry models that engage the whole

encouraging them, apprenticing them, and challenging them.”

A Great Awakening?

The Great Opportunity emphatically states that if the Church can return to the retention rates of Generation X (only twenty years ago), we will see an additional 16 million young people come to Christ. This number would represent more people “than those who were saved during both Great Awakenings, the African American church growth after the Civil War, the Azusa revivals, and every Billy Graham conversion —combined.”

“We are at a pivotal moment in the life of the American church...

If we move quickly, we can help introduce tens of millions of young people to Jesus over the next 30 years.” church, equip families to walk together with Christ, and call youth to embrace the new missions opportunities provided by a changing religious landscape.

“The models that served us for the last 50 years are empirically becoming less effective in our current climate,” the report states. Central to that change, Crossman said, is an emphasis on intergenerational relationships in the church.

“Over the last 50 years, we have a history of taking young people and isolating them or placing them into age and stage groups,” he said. “We put the high school students in their own service on Sunday.

And the same things could certainly be true of college-age students. They are not integrated into the life of the church, and, in particular, don’t have intergenerational relationships with multiple adults who are

However, if we want to see an awakening in America, “we’ve got to make sure that we evangelize, disciple, encourage, and help train up leaders in the next generation,” Crossman said. “Revival starts with young people and radiates out into other age groups and other generations. Every revival in American history started with young people.”

To drive home that point, the report includes a story entitled “The Tinder of the Great Awakening: Jonathan Edwards and Youth.” It details how Edwards, in the midst of personal struggles and among a lackluster congregation, decided to focus on reaching youth with his preaching, and not wealthy parishioners. The Second Great Awakening would not be far behind.

“For nearly six years, he kept at this theme,” the report states. “His sermons

reflected a great concern for the young people of Northampton, despite being only a few years older than many of them.”

“In 1734, revival was in full swing.

Hundreds of young people dedicated their lives to Christ, and what had begun as a movement of God among young people became universal, and everyone, young and old, seemed to talk only of religion.”

and Gen Z, who have a higher interest in social entrepreneurship and justice.

Impacting the Academy In its “Building Long Term Witness” section, the report says the Church must invest in “the life of the mind” and in the development of future leaders in various sectors, citing a low percentage of Christian

Twenty-first Century Engagement

The Great Opportunity The American Church in 2050

:: christianunion.org

In its epilogue, the authors of The Great Opportunity admit to writing the report with great humility—“we certainly do not believe that we, or anyone apart from God, can have all of the answers”—yet, they call the Church to action to impact millions and millions of young people.

The authors also stress the need for “prayer, prayer, and more prayer,” and the importance of coalitions and the voices of Christian leaders, in conjunction with resources and funding.

“This report is a starting point for a conversation that we hope will continue for years to come, in ways and places that only He can foresee. Our particular moment in history is pivotal… We cannot wait. We need the American church to make the most of this Great Opportunity.”

The Pinetops Foundation Report, The Great Opportunity: The American Church in 2050, may be downloaded at www.greatopportunity.org. | cu

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professors and a departure from historic intellectual engagement and early American evangelical witness, which produced many great scholars.

“American Christianity, particularly the Evangelical branch, has not prioritized the life of the mind,” The Great Opportunity states.

If society is going to be impacted with the Gospel in the long term, the Church needs to encourage more Christian scholars to enter the academy as a calling equal to ministry or professional vocations.

“We believe that identifying high potential Christian undergraduates early and

A Humble Attempt

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When it comes to reaching Generation Z and Millenials in 2020 and beyond, technology plays a key role. The report exhorts the church to “evangelize digitally.” This is true, not only when reaching Millennials, who spend over nine hours on technology media consumption each day, but when reaching adults as well, especially in the age of the Coronavirus pandemic.

“We need more investment by churches and by funders into digital evangelism,” said Crossman. “In moments of anxiety and fear, people are looking at the church for answers. We need to be a constant and prominent presence online to help speak to the world in moments like this. There are tremendous possibilities here for the good news of Christ to reach people who have never heard it, or who have stereotyped Christianity into impotence and dismissed it.”

Generous care for the least of these is also a priority in The Great Opportunity: “The American church should be famous for its radical care for the poor, and in so doing, point people to God’s sacrificial love.” The report calls for better approaches to resource mobilization and investments in social entrepreneurship, cross-church collaboration, and more effective tools, which could, in turn, impact Millennials

investing in their vocational and spiritual development could have a significant, longterm effect.”

The Great Opportunity recommends building a pipeline of Christian thought leaders and scholars; creating integrated models of engagement at universities with faculty, students, and alumni; and intentionally developing the next generation of Christian leaders who regularly research and convene on major questions facing the church and society.

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feature section | the gospel and generation next

Faith for Young Exiles Flourishing in Digital Babylon

by david kinnaman and mark matlock

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n a previous era, we had some semblance of success with mass-producing disciples. We had big rallies and crusades and whiz-bang events, and many young people came forward to pledge their lives to Christ. But as the growing dropout rate starkly reveals, that approach alone doesn’t seem to work here and now as well as it did there and then.

In digital Babylon, faithful, resilient disciples are handcrafted one life at a time.

Over the past ten years, we’ve observed five patterns of intentional behavior we can adopt to guide disciples in the making.

We propose that the goal of discipleship today is to develop Jesus followers who are resiliently faithful in the face of cultural coercion and who live a vibrant life in the Spirit.

Let’s examine the component parts of this definition.

To develop Jesus followers. Our ultimate aim must be to make deep, lasting connections between young people and Jesus, “who initiates and perfects our faith” and endured the cross and its shame to joyfully redeem the world (Heb. 12:2).

Those who follow Him also undertake His joyful mission of redemption. As a community of faith, we sometimes miss opportunities to propel young people into the mission of Jesus. Millennials and Gen Z are often more willing to be challenged than we are willing to challenge them.

Who are resiliently faithful in the face of cultural coercion. Resilience is a hot topic in business circles, and for good reason; it’s what a person, team, or company needs in order to emerge from inevitable chal-

lenges not only intact but also with refined skills and deeper wisdom. In the realm of faith, resilient disciples grow more like Jesus, not in spite of, but because of their location in a society that exerts enormous coercive power, as in digital Babylon.

And who live a vibrant life in the Spirit.

These Jesus-centered, culture-countering people adopt a way of life that is obviously different from the powerful norms of go-with-the-flow life in the screen age.

Our focus in our research was not those who leave but those who stick around, who find cause as they come of age to make

faith a high priority—and find the inner and outer resources to sustain resilient faith in the face of long odds. We interviewed young adults, eighteen to twenty-nine-yearolds with a churchgoing background, about their past and present experiences of Christian formation.

To zero in on the most committed young adults, we started by looking for the significant basics of Christian life. These Christians are regularly involved in a worshiping community and have made a personal commitment to Jesus, who they believe was crucified and raised to conquer

sin and death. They also strongly affirm that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, which contains truth about the world. For this study, they also had to agree with one or more of the following “exile” statements: • I want to find a way to follow Jesus that connects with the world I live in.

• God is more at work outside the church than inside, and I want to be a part of that.

• I want to be a Christian without separating myself from the world around me.

How many young Christians meet these criteria? There is a countercultural 10 percent of young Christians whose faith is vibrant and robust. Let’s sit with the good news for a minute: from a numbers point of view, this percentage amounts to just under four million eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds in the U.S. who follow Jesus and are resiliently faithful. Not only are the most engaged young Christians serious about personal faith and faithfulness, but they are also concerned for and thoughtful about how their faith in Christ intersects meaningfully and missionally with the world around them. In spite of the tensions they feel between church and everyday life, they keep showing up. Three-quarters of them declare a commitment to “help the church change its priorities to be what Jesus intended it to be” (76 percent).

That’s resilience.

These are our “exemplars”—those who exemplify the kind of resilient discipleship we believe can flourish in digital Babylon.

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Adapted from Faith for Exiles by David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock (pages 29-35 and 208-210).

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The first practice for resilient discipleship is experiencing Jesus, which relates to finding our soul’s rest—our deepest identity—in Jesus. Problematically, churches often settle for presenting a cheap Brand Jesus imitation, just as our culture sells many false pretenses of identity. Clearing religious clutter to find closeness with and joy in Christ is the starting place for our discipleship efforts.

Experiencing Jesus answers the deep longing of human hearts by answering the question, Who am I, really?

The second practice is cultural discernment, which relates primarily to the life of the mind—how we think about and perceive our role in a post-Christian environment. Exercising wisdom is harder than ever because the increasing complexity of life correlates with the rising anxiety of our age. In response to these trends and in order to cultivate cultural discernment, churches must become robust learning communities that help people address deep questions related to How should I live?

The third practice is meaningful, intergenerational relationships, an objective of resilience that is often undone by powerful forces of isolation and mistrust. That is, society’s centrifugal force of individualism tends to pull people apart, but the church puts people back together. We aspire to create a community in which people enjoy spending time together and want to em-

ulate one another’s lives. In so doing, we lay a foundation for one of the fundamental questions people ask: Am I really known and loved by anyone?

The fourth practice is vocational discipleship, which involves crafting integrated lives of purpose, especially in the arena of work. Teens and young adults today are smart, connected, ambitious, and career focused. The church can disciple them into their God-given callings—what they were made by their Creator to do—by reframing things such as ambition, generosity, productivity, and meaning. Vocational discipleship builds a foundation to help people wrestle to the ground questions such as What am I called to do with my life?

The fifth and final practice is countercultural mission, the relentless pursuit of faithful and fruitful presence in our communities by living differently from cultural norms (pursuing holiness) and trusting God to show up. Despite cultural pressures toward entitlement and self-centeredness, Christians pursue a life of sacrifice and service to others. But this isn’t merely some social club for doing good; pursuing countercultural mission means acknowledging that God’s design for life is much bigger than we can imagine and helps us address gnawing questions like What is the significance of life? and What kind of legacy am I leaving?

The promise of these five practices reveals the need for both realism and hope. | cu

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• Practice 1: To form a resilient identity, experience intimacy with Jesus.

• Practice 2: In a complex and anxious age, develop the muscles of cultural discernment.

• Practice 3: When isolation and mistrust are the norms, forge meaningful, inter-

generational relationships.

• Practice 4: To ground and motivate an ambitious generation, train for vocational discipleship.

• Practice 5: Curb entitlement and self-centered tendencies by engaging in countercultural mission.

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These sisters and brothers are young adults who model the outcomes hoped for by the community of faith. By getting to know these resilient disciples, we can find out what formation experiences and relationships are most effective for growing resilient faith in exile.

They represent the leading lights of young adult Christianity—not because they are perfect but because they exemplify a full-bodied experience of following Jesus that we should all hope to emulate.

Most of their Christianized peers do not.

As part of our research with young resilient disciples, we kept probing the data to discern the story behind their resilience.

If these are the kinds of Christians we hope to raise, support, and emulate, what can we learn from them? What makes them tick?

What practices seem to distinguish these powerful examples of faith from the norm?

Our research shows that, in the face of a coercive, spirit-depleting, screen-obsessed society, cultivating the following five practices helps to form resilient faith. Again, these are not simple formulas; they are guidelines and guardrails for the formation of the soul. Think of these as the spiritual scaffolding around a young soul that enables the Holy Spirit to access the life inside, or the trellis that supports a growing disciple’s branches as their roots sink deep enough to sustain them.

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feature section | the gospel and generation next

Q and A with Dr. Sam Kim The Loneliness Epidemic among Young Adults

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r. Sam Kim is a scholar at the Yale-Hasting Center, where he explores the crisis of professional burnout in academic medicine and health care. He is a recipient of the Lifelong Learning Fellowship at Yale Divinity School and Yale Medical School and worked as a research fellow in global health and social medicine at the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School.

The co-founder of 180 Church in New York City, which started with students from Columbia University, Kim earned a doctorate in ethical leadership at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is a regular contributor to Christianity Today Exchange and the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.

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You have previously written about a loneliness epidemic in society. Please elaborate on this in regards to today’s young adults.

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joy, but a 2018 study, led by researchers at the Developmental Risk and Cultural Resilience Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Harvard Medical School), revealed that the college years are also a

Dr. Douglas Nemecek, chief medical officer for behavioral health at Cigna, suggests that “loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it even more dangerous than obesity.” As previously mentioned, chronic loneliness, if untreated, can also lead to acute mental health struggles and suicide ideation.

What are the Gospel opportunities?

As loneliness reaches epidemic levels, the church has an incredible evangelistic opportunity, not only to mitigate the health risks involved, but to help lonesome hearts.

Close to half the respondents from the

Dr. Sam Kim

A significant pattern related to the Cigna study of loneliness and social isolation is that Generation Z (ages 18-22) is now the loneliest generation in history.

Although Gen Z is perhaps the generation that is most technologically connected, they scored the highest on the UCLA loneliness scale, an instrument that measures and assesses subjective feelings of loneliness by using a twenty-item questionnaire.

This is a significant discovery, for it reveals that social interactions online cannot fill the need for face-to-face interactions as a generation or as a society.

For college students, the start of a new semester is a time of great anticipation and

What are the health risks among young people associated with loneliness?

time of increased risk of stressful incidents and chronic mental health challenges, including risk of suicide.

How is the Coronavirus pandemic affecting this loneliness epidemic?

It is hard to really know without parsing data, but my guess, anecdotally, is COVID-19 has exacerbated it. As mentioned before, social interactions online (including platforms like Zoom) cannot fill the need for face-to-face interactions.

“Generation Z is now the loneliest generation in history.”

Cigna study said they did not have a single meaningful in-person social connection, such as daily conversations with friends, or quality time with family. What an incredible opportunity on college campuses!

The harvest is plentiful, but workers who understand the heart of the culture are few. The body of Christ does not need more innovative or cool missiological schemes, but a return to simplicity. The culture today is saturated with sophisticated marketing strategies from Facebook and Google and other tech giants, and it’s starved of authenticity and hospitality.

Campus ministries should not be distracted by popular trends, but should focus

instead on creating meaningful social interactions with those of its neighbors, friends, and family who need the Lord.

This is why the single greatest gift we still can give others outside of eternity is our time. Thus, intentionally taking time to drink a cup of coffee or share a hot meal with a friend is still the most effective Gospel witness today, as it was in the times of Jesus. It may not seem that much at first

As a pastor who co-founded 180 Church in a Columbia University dorm, what have you learned about reaching and discipling young people?

Reaching and discipling Millennials and Gen-Zers is a difficult missional task. The tragic story of the infamous rich young ruler found in the tenth chapter of Mark’s Gospel is a prophetic reminder to a generation

Intentionally taking time to drink a cup of coffee or share a hot meal with a friend is still the most effective Gospel witness today, as it was in the times of Jesus. glance, but if we consistently practice a Gospel-centered hospitality, we’ll see one day from the other side of heaven that we have touched and changed eternity, much to our surprise and delight.

You have written about the need for connection. What kind of research could help explain this need?

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A major default judgment the church has about the next generation is that they

Although there are multiple factors influencing this pervasive narrative in the hearts and souls of Gen Z, I believe the advent of social media could be the most critical. Jim Collins posits, in his book Good to Great, that although technology cannot create growth, it can accelerate it. Social media has crushing expectations. Every loss and win are compounded with greater anxiety and paranoia. And when you continue to compare other people’s fastidiously curated highlights to your own bloopers, despair is inevitable.

This gives me hope, because there has never been a generation more starved for love than today’s. Many hide in social isolation, not because they don’t have a decent life, but because they believe their lives are not good enough. It seems ironic for a generation that is supposedly “adulting” to be struggling with perfectionism, but when your life is under constant watch, this is almost inescapable. Perfectionism is just chronic insecurity in disguise. If we truly want to win the hearts of the next generation with the Gospel, we must help reclaim their identity as the beloved, because only perfect love can cast out fear. | cu

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What are some things the church, in general, does wrong when it comes to the next generation?

Despite the challenges that Generation Z may face, what gives you hope?

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First, a theological perspective. The psalmist writes in Psalm 42:7 that “deep calls unto deep.” Many confuse this deep longing with a form of chronic anxiety, or something that has gone wrong, when it is in fact a holy haunting for the presence of God. Deep calling unto deep is nothing other than the voice of God echoing from eternity.

Second, from a quantitative analysis perspective, quantum physics posits that at a level invisible to the human eye, everything and everybody is interconnected with one another and to all living organisms.

in profound cultural captivity. The narrative teaches us that the ultimate test of our discipleship is not sacrifice, but obedience.

The narrative in Mark makes it clear that the young rich ruler was not a pagan investment banker using Tinder on the weekends. He was committed to his faith and was serious about inheriting eternal life. He had valued God’s law since he was a boy. We only begin to see the fatal cracks in his discipleship when Jesus challenges the hold his wealth actually has on him.

The sin of omission overtakes the Great Commission if the sovereignty of the individual is not fully surrendered to the sovereignty of Christ. Jesus said to make disciples, not crowds. The current crisis we have in the church is that we have great crowds, but few disciples.

are aloof and sometimes referred to as the “whatever generation.” The truth of the matter is, they care so much about what others think that they often struggle with a debilitating fear. The Apostle John knew that the only antidote to liberating a generation from fear was unconditional love (1 John 4:18).

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from the university to the city and beyond

Socially-Distant Semesters in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, christian union universities,

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by God’s grace, has temporarily transitioned to an online ministry on some

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campuses. Bible courses, Leadership Lecture Series, and mentoring sessions are

universities

being hosted via Zoom and other portals, but the mission remains the same—to

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develop Christian leaders at some of our nation’s most influential universities.

This is at the heart of Christian Union’s work at Brown, Columbia, Cornell,

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Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.

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christian union’s ministry to its alumni and their peers, christian union

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Cities, develops networks of young professionals in key cultural centers, starting

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Circle in the early 1800s. Pray that God will bring similar change to the U.S.

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vibrant nation. To this end, Christian Union Day & Night calls on believers to seek God wholeheartedly and to pray and fast for our nation.

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at the heart of christian union’s work is a desire to see a spiritually

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sweeping change to England through William Wilberforce and the Clapham

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in New York City and Washington, D.C. This model was used by the Lord to bring

13 Columbia Student Benjamin Jaimes ’21 photo credit: sara beth turner

christian union universities

Law and Justice Adewuyi ’20 Thankful for Christian Union’s Influence

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by catherine elvy, staff writer

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he plans on doing ministry.”

A newly minted Harvard Law School In addition, Yim expressed appreciation for graduate plans to use his skills and talents Adewuyi’s efforts to shepherd fellow law students in to advocate for housing access and afseeking the Lord as he met with other students for fordability. prayer, worship, and fasting and repentance initiatives.

Yemi Adewuyi ’20 wants to play a role in initiaAdewuyi helped lead a 21-day fast, encouraged othtives that empower the disadvantaged to become er Christian law students to cover 2020 in prayer, self-sufficient. “Justice is making sure that a person and gathered others to pray for revival at Harvard experiencing homelessness can escape poverty,” said and beyond campus.

Adewuyi.

During such endeavors, With that cause in mind, Yim and Adewuyi pointed Adewuyi paused to express students to the powerful profound appreciation to words of 2 Chronicles 7:14, Christian Union Gloria Law “If my people, who are called for its robust ministry and by my name, will humble leadership training to stuthemselves and pray and dents at Harvard Law seek my face and turn from School. The ministry “chaltheir wicked ways, then I lenged my assumptions will hear from Heaven, and about what makes a good I will forgive their sin and leader,” said Adewuyi. “The will heal their land.” realm of Christian leadership Christian colleagues also requires the capacity to forexpressed tangible apprecigive and love intentionally. ation for Adewuyi’s giftings It’s being able to extend love Yemi Adewuyi, Harvard Law ’20, plans to work in the real estate arena, including endeavors to in the prophetic arena. “He when people have not is a strong believer in the earned it. It’s truly transfor- advocate for housing access and affordability. charismatic traditions of the mational.” church, and he is very in Not surprisingly, peers touch with the spiritual,” said Nunally. readily expressed appreciation for Adewuyi’s spiriIn turn, Adewuyi noted, “The heart behind the tual maturity. “Yemi, personally, has been one of the prophetic is to help people come into alignment biggest blessings for me from Harvard Law School. with what God says and what God says about them.

He has truly been ‘iron that sharpened my iron,’” My highest calling in life is to love people prophetsaid Julian Nunally, Harvard Law ’20. ically.”

“Because of his complete and total faith in Jesus Adewuyi, who served as vice president of ChrisChrist, he walks with an air of grace, and his words tian Union’s ministry to Harvard Law students during of wisdom are always rooted and directly sourced 2019-20, held leadership capacities for both Chrisfrom the Bible.” tian Union’s ministry at Harvard Law and with Ministry Director Justin Yim echoed those comHarvard Law Christian Fellowship (https://orgs.law. ments. Adewuyi is “highly sought out by his peers, harvard.edu/cf/) during his years in Cambridge, whether believers or not, for wisdom and encourMassachusetts. agement,” said Yim. “His heart is for ministry. So, The Texas native is one of three siblings to attend wherever the Lord leads him in his legal profession,

Harvard. Sister Adenike Adewuyi ’09 is a resident physician at Northwestern University, and brother Adewale “Wally” Adewuyi ’21 is a computer science major and a leader with Harvard College Faith and Action.

“Faith has always been the foundation of our family,” said Adewuyi, who majored in public pol-

estate closings and a variety of property matters.

After settling back into life in the Lone Star state, he is also interested in volunteering on behalf of poverty alleviation and homelessness efforts. He wants to promote affordable housing and community economic development.

As he constructs a career based around equitable

“Christian Union challenged my assumptions about what makes a good leader.

The realm of Christian leadership requires the capacity to forgive and love intentionally. It’s being able to extend love when people have not earned it.

It’s truly transformational.”

—Yemi Adewuyi, HLS ’20 housing initiatives, Adewuyi wants to reflect his faith in his professional and personal endeavors. “I just want to wait and see where God leads,” he said.

Adewuyi likes to point to the instructive words of Psalm 127:1. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.” | cu

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icy at Duke University. “We attribute success to Christ.”

Though studies at one of the nation’s foremost law schools are notoriously rigorous, Adewuyi is grateful for how much he grew in his faith and ministry skills while at Harvard Law. “I really appreciate how much Harvard made me a stronger Christian,” he said.

At an academic level, many of Adewuyi’s legal training activities centered upon real estate in preparation for a career focused upon housing issues.

Among them, Adewuyi served as a student advocate for the Community Enterprise Project. In spring 2019, he helped the Boston entity in its mission to stimulate business development, increase access to capital, and enable sustainable affordable home ownership.

During the 2017-18 academic year, Adewuyi also served as a student advocate with the Tenant Advocacy Project. Harvard Law School’s student-practice organization provides zealous advocacy for current and prospective public housing tenants and mobile voucher holders in the Boston area.

After taking the Texas bar exam, Adewuyi plans to work for a Dallas firm, where he will handle real

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Pursuing God, Pursuing Truth Tanaka ’23 Serves with Lumine, John Jay Society by luke brown, dartmouth

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In his Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas said, “There is no greater act of charity than to lead a neighbor to truth.”

Jonathan Tanaka, Columbia ’23, is passionately seeking this greatest act of charity in a bold and wholehearted way.

“I believe that since God is the perfect, supreme arbiter of truth–He is truth. It is not only a good thing to pursue Him by pursuing truth, but it is my duty to do so,” said Tanaka, who will serve on Christian Union Lumine’s student executive team this

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Jonathan Tanaka, Columbia ’23, restarted and reformed the John Jay Society at Columbia last year.

upcoming year as a sophomore. “Likewise, it is my duty to embody the theological virtue of charity by leading others to truth both in direct debate and by providing a place in which arguments are given and resolutions are reached.”

In his first year at Columbia, Tanaka, who calls Nicholasville, Kentucky, home, joined with a close friend to restart and reform the John Jay Society at Columbia. In Tanaka’s own words, “One of the first students that I became friends with at Columbia was a Catholic powerhouse named Lucas Cremers.

Lucas and I immediately realized that we shared similar visions for the transformation of Columbia, not only spiritually, but also intellectually by cultivating a deep respect for Judeo-Christian values, particularly in the spheres of political and moral philosophy.”

Thus, the friends revamped the John Jay Society, “a parliamentary debate society built on the bedrock of friendship and the earnest pursuit of Truth.” With over thirty members committed to this pursuit, the group meets weekly to discuss and debate thought-provoking topics such as “There Exists a Tyranny of the Majority,” “The Liberal Arts Are Practically Useless,” and “That the State Should Be a Moral Agent.”

Christian Union Lumine has been a key fixture of Tanaka’s time at Columbia. He has been involved in Bible courses, the ministry’s leadership lecture series, Illumina, and served as a member of the Socials and Outreach Team.

“Christian Union has provided me with the most well-established, tightly-knit community that I have been a part of at Columbia,” said Tanaka. “Part of this I attribute to our ministry center on 114th Street.

I remember being absolutely amazed at the sheer potential of having a building of our own so close to campus.”

Tanaka appreciates the ministry center as a spiritual getaway from the normal life of a Columbia student, but also realizes that one of the unique and most influential aspects of Christian Union is how

the ministry combines spirituality and intellectualism.

“This is a truly unique community for the cultivation of intellectual discourse because we all share the identical axiomatic truths of mere Christianity,

ter-university forum for politics, philosophy, and worldviews with the specific aim to “[shift] societal focus back to the questions of grounding morality, cultivating societal justice, and God’s existence.”

Additionally, Tanaka and a small group of Co-

“It is my duty to embody the theological virtue of charity by leading others to truth both in direct debate and by providing a place in which arguments are given and resolutions are reached.”

—Jonathan Tanaka, Columbia ’23

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A New Way

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lumbia undergraduates within the philosophy deand through such an intellectual bedrock, we can partment are crafting an Aristotelian logic more easily work together towards truth,” Tanaka curriculum for middle and high school students. said. “This level of higher thought has certainly found “Aristotle’s logic is replete with notions of inherent its way into the Bible courses, whether it be the level order and telos (purpose), which I believe will be a of formative rigor in the curricula or the depth of the valuable tool in assisting individuals in their journey discussion over theological and exegetical issues.” towards higher truth,” said Tanaka.

As Tanaka heads into his upcoming role on the This fall, Tanaka—aided by the words of philosstudent executive team, he envisions forming a ophers like Aristotle and Aquinas, grounded in the new apologetics and philosophy of religion orgaWord of God, and supported by those within Chrisnization within Lumine’s Outreach Team. His goal: tian Union Lumine—is seeking to exhibit Christian to fulfill Jesus’ mandate to “love the Lord with all charity on Columbia’s campus. | cu your mind.” Tanaka is currently co-writing an apologetics curriculum. “Our hope is that students will walk away from the resources that this organization offers with a better intellectual understanding of their own worldview and the worldviews of others,” he said, referring to the charge in 1 Peter Introducing a new way to stay 3:15, to be prepared to give reaup-to-date on all things sons to anyone asking about the Christian Union: hope within us.

Tanaka’s vision to see Christ glorified extends beyond the confines of Columbia’s campus. With the John Jay Society as a starting point, he is founding an in-

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A Vessel in the Valley Senior’s Faith Sustains Her during Abrupt End to On-Campus Semester

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by francine barchett, cornell

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study and serving on the executive team and comNigerian-American. Singer/Blogger/Poet. munications team as a junior. In her view, the orFuture physician/scientist. All are apt ganization has two draws: its profound, applicable descriptors for Iyaniwura Olarewaju, a Bible courses, and its inclusivity. recent Cornell graduate in biological sciences who “Christian Union gave me a community to make had an unexpected end to her senior year. new friends and grow in my faith,” she said.

From reading and re-reading President Martha Iyaniwura’s blog has been particularly critical in Pollack’s urgent email imploring students to leave helping her digest recent events involving the pancampus, to completing her finals through “Zoom demic and race. She began Vessel in the Valley when University,” Iyaniwura’s COVID-derived life has been at times “like an eerie dream.”

But in spite of the challenges of finishing her college career away from friends and campus, Iyaniwura has managed to grow in the midst of a disorienting few months.

“Without God, I would be stressed right now,” she admitted. “When I don’t know what to do, my faith shows that there’s a season for everything.”

Throughout her time at Cornell, Iyaniwura researched epigenetics as a McNair Scholar, a Department of Education initiative that steers underrepresented students toward research programs and PhDs. With the program’s support, she hopes to pursue an MD or PhD to be part of a genetic solution to health issues, in line with her vision of helping those who are sick live healthy, fulfilling lives.

“Some people are more susceptible to COVID-19 and other diseases than others, and without my faith, I couldn’t deal with all the implications that stem from that,” she said. “Any hope I have in this pandemic—and what my career accomplishes—is from God.” Another way faith has anchored Credit: Faith Earley Iyaniwura is through Christian com- During her years at Cornell, Nigerian-American blogger, poet, and munity. She began consistently attend- singer Iyaniwura Olarewaju ’20 faithfully pursued Christ, along with ing Christian Union her sophomore excellence in her Biological Sciences studies. year before helping to lead a Bible

“balancing grades and boys didn’t go well” after her freshman year. Though she grew up as a Christian, it wasn’t until that summer that she committed strongly to her faith, deciding that sharing on her blog would hold her accountable. Fast forward to

her speech by declaring, “Time and time and time again, we have done what we weren’t supposed to.

We fought back, we spoke up, we showed up. The Black community from Cornell University is full of leaders and I’m proud to know many of them as my

Throughout her time at Cornell, Iyaniwura researched epigenetics as a McNair Scholar, a Department of Education initiative that steers underrepresented students toward research programs and PhDs. friends from the class of 2020.”

Iyaniwura Olarewaju is many things, among which is a Cornell graduate who persisted with faith, flair, and a renewed sense of freedom. | cu

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today and the site is an empowering, faith-based center for all her musings on being a student, navigating godly relationships, interpreting key Bible passages, and more. She has 1,300 followers and counting; she recently expanded into a new website, Wura’s World, which also links to her art and her new YouTube channel.

“My blog helps with everything that I do,” she explained. “When I have learned something, I write it to understand and share that with others.” Most rewarding is readers telling her that they read one of her longer posts or were motivated by something she had written that day.

The virus-forced changes have given her much to write about and adjust to. “On the supposed-tobe day of Commencement, one of my friends planned a picnic of sorts, to celebrate,” she recounted. Pleasant though it was, it reminded her of the countless not-to-bes: no final Baraka Kwa Wimbo concert for her Black female gospel acapella group, no walking as a model for the Cornell Fashion Collective’s highly-anticipated show, and no final presentation of her poetry. Neither would there be Senior Days or any of the other final moments she had imagined.

But Iyaniwura recognizes that persisting through difficulties is a part of her journey of faith, as it too is something her people have embraced across centuries. At the Cornell Black Alumni Association’s virtual recognition event for graduates, she closed

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Unpacking the Book of Genesis Caritas Is Engaged in Summer Bible Study by catherine elvy, staff writer

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Young adults involved in Caritas, Christian Union’s ministry to Stanford University students, are discovering new insights into the foundational truths of Genesis.

In late June, Ministry Fellow Justin Woyak began leading a virtual summer study devoted to unpacking the themes and wonders of the Bible’s first book.

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mentorship to Stanford students. During summer 2017, the ministry hosted its first summertime gatherings, affectionately dubbed Taco Tuesdays. Since then, students have studied the Scriptures while digging into Mexican-themed dinners on Ministry Director Garrett Brown’s deck in Redwood City, California.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, Christian

Students involved in Christian Union’s ministry to Stanford University participated in a virtual summer study devoted to unpacking the amazing lessons of Genesis. Pictured, left to right: Ministry Director Garrett Brown, Ministry Fellow Justin Woyak, Rachel Stutz ’22, Robert Mungai ’21, Helena Everley Zhang ’22, Ministry Fellow Abigail Carreon, Ryan Han ’23, Christina Kwak ’23, and Faith Koh ’21

“There’s a lot to dig into,” said Woyak, Princeton ’09. “There are so many threads of the Bible’s storyline that begin here.”

A dozen students are participating in the online studies, which are held on Tuesday evenings and will continue into early September. Stanford students from varying collegiate stages are taking part in the calls, including two incoming freshmen.

In fall 2016, Christian Union began offering indepth Bible courses, as well as leadership training and

Union’s ministry team at Stanford moved the gatherings to an electronic format for summer 2020.

While most Christian Union fall or spring courses are devoted to topical studies or books of the New Testament, the ministry team at Stanford focuses upon Old Testament texts during summer gatherings.

Though sometimes overlooked by college students and youthful believers, the Old Testament narratives provide an essential backdrop for the teachings of the New Testament.

“Reading an extended portion of the Scriptures in a group seems much easier if you are reading a narrative,” said Woyak.

Ryan Han ’23 appreciates the “dive into the Old Testament in the depth and manner” that students explore the Bible.

Given the complexities and breadth of Genesis, Woyak said he is “trusting that the Holy Spirit will lead us as a group.”

“I am always excited to hear more about the insight that the Christian Union faculty and the rest of the students have. I have learned a lot so far,” said Jira Smith ’21, a co-president of Caritas.

“I have enjoyed our discussions on original sin,

ple and their journey to the land that God promised them.

Presenting the first covenants that God makes with humans, Genesis 17:6-7 tells the story of the Abrahamic covenant, “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”

Woyak notes that the “theme of offspring carries throughout the Bible,” culminating in the final book of Revelation. Through Abraham and his family,

“I have enjoyed our discussions on original sin, the mysterious Nephilim race, dynamics between husbands and wives, and the flood. This study has really enriched my fundamental understanding of Genesis and how that sets the foundation for the entirety of Scripture.”

—Jira Smith, Stanford ’21

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God promises to bless all nations and restore the earth to its full and perfect glory.

Given the theologically complex, rich nature of Genesis, Woyak has been pleased with the results of summer study.

“Some of the students have given some really phenomenal responses,” said Woyak. “It’s been great.”

“We really want this to be a time where we honor God for His word. We’re eager to have the great discussions that follow, but the best part of the evening is just reading Scripture together.” | cu

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the mysterious Nephilim race, dynamics between husbands and wives, and the flood. This study has really enriched my fundamental understanding of Genesis and how that sets the foundation for the entirety of Scripture.”

Robert Mungai ’20 agreed. “One of my favorite lessons was when we delved deeper into the historical context of the story of creation,” he said. “I’ve learned the value of digging beneath the surface, even in my own pursuit of the knowledge of God.” Indeed, Genesis covers wide-ranging topics including creation, sin, Sabbath, marriage, family, work, civilization, language, and redemption. After presenting pivotal ancient events including the flood and the Tower of Babel, the narratives of Genesis turn to central patriarchal personalities. Still, the string of epic stories is not a stand-alone book. It is the first installment of the Torah, which tells the story of Israel being chosen as God’s covenant peo-

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‘Above All These, Put on Love’ Being Home When Home Is Hard by daniel chabeda, yale

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Editor’s note: The following devotional was written by Daniel Chabeda, who served as a student president of Christian Union Lux at Yale University before graduating in May. This devotional was part of a series entitled “On Our Hearts, On Our Minds,” that encouraged the Christian Union community in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Credit: Stuart Monk, Yale College '19

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Daniel Chabeda, Yale ’20

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Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

—Colossians 3:12-14 Return to life at home, though deeply gratifying, can be punctuated with a sense of loss. The familiar landscape of campus—beeping, bustling crosswalks where no one walks inside the lines, gothic spires against gray skies, the viscous scent of whatever is oozing from behind Mory’s—has been replaced by the plain walls and house chatter of Zoom meetings.

These are just the tangible losses. The carefully curated schedules of meeting with friends, prayer, homework, and extracurricular activities have been

upended to care for family members, work to provide financial support, or attend to personal mental health.

This regression from autonomous adult to household member can be frustrating, but our experience of destabilization from moving into an environment that should be a blessing is not unprecedented. For the ancient nation of Israel, the exodus out of Egypt brought a similar sense of destabilization. God spoke a wonderful promise to Israel, saying “I will deliver you from slavery” and “I will bring you into the land that I swore to Abraham.” Yet, after being delivered from Egypt, the people complained to God and grumbled at Moses, saying “it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

I sympathize with them. They walked in the desert for three days without any water only to be led

by God to a pool of undrinkable water! Does this feel familiar? Many of us might feel like Israel: uprooted from the most familiar environment to us and drawn into a wilderness of bitter water: a home full of family members with contrasting personalities, mannerisms, and ideologies perhaps. This destabilization can make us quick to be harsh towards our family. It may even feel like we have been uprooted from the only spiritually familiar and comfortable space to us, a community that supported our pursuit of God and righteousness. The frustration of regression into old sins can make us harsh towards ourselves.

How do we live well in these difficult home environments? The answer lies in living in a faithful relationship with Jesus. Some of you might now be thinking, “What a disappointingly unoriginal conclusion to what was otherwise a fresh and engaging piece!” But even faithful Christians can begin to think that the grinning, gap-toothed chorus of “Jesus is the answer!” sung by five-year-old Sunday school students squatting on multicolored jigsaw mats is oversimplified, if not plain childish. This distrustful response towards Jesus comes from an expectation that God is, like our human relationships, holding out on us. We believe that God, the gracious giver of all things, is holding some true

secret of life away from His children, close to the chest, protecting His most vulnerable self—like we often do in our relationship with Him. But God does not hold back. As Paul writes in his letter to the church in Ephesus, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3).” Jesus Christ is the absolute fulfillment of God’s will, an everlasting source of love, peace, patience, and kindness in relationship. From the moment we step into relationship with Christ, we have the fullness of a God who holds nothing good back from us. The same promise God gave to the Israelites all those years ago, He gives to us: “I will be your God.” With this strength and grace behind us, we act.

dawn in the wilderness.

View all struggles—family tension, emotional pain, spiritual temptation—as an opportunity to let light shine in your home, and not as a heavy burden.

How can Jesus develop in us patience if our patience is not tried? Who better than our family members?

Sometimes it feels like our biological families were constructed randomly, with God paying little heed to compatibility, yet expecting lifelong bonds of love.

This is by design. Our biological families are a preliminary picture of the family we enter as members of God’s family, the church. We are connected not by individual similarity, but shared parentage: in our biological families, our mother and father, but in the church, our heavenly Father.

How do we act? We hold to the teaching of Jesus: “Let your light shine before others.” Amidst the very real tragedy and suffering of widespread disease, we each have an incredible opportunity to lead our homes in becoming houses of God, where Jesus is glorified as family members show “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” to one another.

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So look around at your family, see the beautiful diversity of thought, personality, and behavior. Honor the Lord in that family by showing love to each member, showing patience, forgiveness, and humility towards them. Schedule time to sit alongside them.

Do not let this opportunity pass with each family member sequestered in his own room, virtual or physical, but be present together. Be the leader in this.

This may be easier said than done, but remember that Jesus is our answer. Jesus is given to us once and for all by His death on the cross, and as we worship Him and pray, a still increasing measure of grace is given to us for help in times of need. Jesus can be trusted to provide the love, patience, kindness, and emotional healing that we all need to bring our homes to the Promised Land. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).” | cu

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How do we act? We hold to the teaching of Jesus: “Let your light shine before others.” (Matthew 5:16) Amidst the very real tragedy and suffering of widespread disease, we each have an incredible opportunity to lead our homes in becoming houses of God, where Jesus is glorified as family members show “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” to one another. So be the first to forgive your siblings or parents when disputes arise and the first to apologize when you are in the wrong. “As the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.” (Colossians 3:13) Be intentional about presence! It is possible for a family to be at home and each person to be in his own room, on his own phone, and in his own world. Invite your siblings, “Let’s sit at the table together as we do our schoolwork!” Include your parents, “Can we all eat meals together?” Let yourself laugh with gusto, and smile as you see the light

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A Providential Head Start Incoming First-Year Students Already in Bible Courses by luke brown, dartmouth

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As the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Bible courses to Zoom and students and staff scrambled to adjust to the new normal, Christian Union Vox experienced an unexpected silver lining. A multitude of incoming freshmen from the class of 2024 began reaching out to the

CU Vox more easily than ever, especially given the current climate of almost all social connections being virtual. Even in the midst of the pandemic, the Lord is at work bringing believers together to grow and be challenged in their faith. But no matter the underpinnings of this unexpected blessing, the result

Credit: David Navadeh

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Craving community and facing uncertainty about in-person classes this fall, incoming Dartmouth freshmen have reached out and integrated into Christian Union summer Bible courses.

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Vox team via social media, interested in being a part of the Christian community. A few months later, and through the boldness of the incoming freshmen and the openness of current students and staff, sixteen members of the Class of 2024 are already seeking the Lord in Christian Union Bible Courses.

“I wish we could claim brilliance on our part, but this was God using social media to stir in students’ hearts a desire for community,” said Noah Crane, ministry fellow with Christian Union Vox. The Christian Union students at Dartmouth have used Facebook for years to reach out to incoming first years. Recently, their student-led communications team has been building up a presence on platforms like Instagram in the hopes of reaching a slightly different set of students. This providential guidance to engage a wider audience on social media has allowed incoming students to connect with

is a growing community and an opportunity for deeper connection.

The Christian Union Vox ministry fellows are especially thankful to begin ministering to these students. “The main benefit is that we get a six month jump on our relationships with these incoming students,” said Crane, who leads the football team’s Bible course that now has four students from the ’24 class. “They get an opportunity to see what Christian community is here at Dartmouth and are already forging friendships with our current students.”

As Christian Union Vox transitioned from the spring term study of Romans into the summer quarter, the staff looked forward to building on this momentum. Students on campus or at home, including ’24s, are able to participate in a virtual study of Esther.

The Christian Union faculty will also continue being

available for one-on-one mentoring opportunities via Zoom until in-person school starts up again.

While the staff mourns the absence of in-person meetings, events, and Bible courses, they continue to look for the upsides of the current situation. “If we were not engaged with virtual learning, then having these ’24s involved would not be possible,” said Crane. “We are grateful for the ability to stay connected as we have students located all over the country and even internationally. We miss sharing meals and snacks with our students, but at least with Zoom, we get to see each other’s faces.”

In addition to Crane’s football team Bible course adding four incoming students, Ministry Director Chad Moore is leading a twelve-person Bible course specifically for rising freshmen. These students are already reaping the benefits of investing in a Christ-centered community that cares for each student. “We have made it clear to these ’24s that we are here for them during this interim time and have encouraged them to invite others in,” said Crane.

Undoubtedly, these students’ transitions into college life at Dartmouth will be blessed because of the Lord’s perfect provision and care for His people. | cu

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A Call to Serve during a Time of Crisis Love from Libertas Moves Hong ’20 to Become Intern by rachel mari, contributing writer

“In this [time] of crisis, my Christian Union community warmly supported and prayed for me.

God made it clear that so many students will need this kind of love and care during this time of great uncertainty. God helped me realize that I wanted to devote my first year after graduation to serve students at Brown as an intern. I am extremely grate-

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Jane Hong, a recent alumna of Brown University, is evidence that the light of the Gospel shines brightest in the darkest of times. Hong, a leader with Christian Union Libertas as an undergraduate, was blessed by its community of believers during COVID-19 restrictions and will serve as the ministry’s newest intern in the fall.

Originally intending to work at a dermatology clinic after graduation and before attending medical school, Hong felt called to intern with Christian Union. In March, when Brown closed due to the pandemic, she was unable to go home, but found comfort and encouragement in her Christian Union Libertas community. It was during this time that she felt led to consider becoming an intern.

“The upheaval of COVID-19 completely shifted my perspective and gave me a heart to serve the ministry,” said Hong, who spent most of her childhood in Claremont, California before her family relocated to South Korea.

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Christians to spread justice and peace in our society during such a historical time.”

Hong intends to mentor and support female students through monthly brunches, workshops, and prayer, and be involved in digital communication and branding for Christian Union. She describes her involvement with Christian Union as an integral part of her undergraduate experience. During her four years, she was a member of a women’s Bible course and served on the ministry’s executive team.

“In this time of crisis, my Christian Union community warmly supported and prayed for me. God made it clear that so many students will need this kind of love and care during this time of great uncertainty.”

—Jane Hong, Brown ’20

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Credit: Sara Beth Turner

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ful for how God opened up the right path for me.”

According to Brown Ministry Fellow Laurel Copp, “Jane believes Brown will need a lot of Jesus in the fall and she wants to be here as an ambassador of His love.” Copp describes her as “a thoughtful, creative, strong, and articulate Christian who loves God and serves others and creates space where people feel comfortable and welcome.” Copp also credits Hong’s years spent in Los Angeles and Korea for giving her the ability to identify with a wide range of students and experiences.

As part of her internship, Hong plans to create a support system for Brown students going through upheaval and heartbreak in their lives. Additionally, she is seeking to start a book club with students centered on race issues “to explore how God wants

“Christian Union is where I found my support system as a college student,” she said. “As a freshman, I was grateful to meet upperclassmen who genuinely cared about my well-being, not only as a student, but as a person. They poured their time and mentorship into my life, which gave me the Christian community I had always longed for. I have been able to learn so much about my faith and grow as a Christian leader by serving on the executive team.”

As for her future pursuits beyond Brown, Hong will continue to serve wherever she goes, Copp envisions. “She [Hong] is going to be a doctor who integrates her faith in her work,” said Copp. “She will be a beautiful picture of God’s grace in the world as she fights for justice, brings healing, and transforms the world with the Gospel.” | cu

“You Will Be My Witnesses” Nova’s Sending Team Focuses on Evangelism Training by catherine elvy, staff writer

“It’s a big step for a lot of them,” said Heslep.

Christian Union’s Princeton ministry team reminded students of the necessity of evangelism and of the nature of spiritual mobilization. Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Heslep wants students to understand that evan-

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Luke Martinez, Princeton ’22, and other students involved with Christian Union’s ministry at Princeton University participated in video conference calls to learn how to share their faith on campus and beyond.

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In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, students involved with Christian Union Nova at Princeton University took a deep dive into evangelism.

During April and May, about fifteen students participated in video conference calls to discover how to share the Good News more effectively in their everyday lives, both on campus and beyond.

“God is doing something on our campus. Our prayer leaders have been praying about how to reach the campus,” said Christopher Heslep, ministry director at Princeton University.

The undergraduates especially want to be empowered and equipped to explain their faith with their collegiate peers during the upcoming semester. In the midst of the pandemic, students have sensed a unique opportunity for sharing the Gospel. Christian Union ministry fellows were appreciative of how the students took ownership of much of the initiative.

“It was encouraging that they did not want to leave it up to us,” said Heslep.

Princeton provides a fertile ground for receiving the Good News of Christ’s gift of salvation. Princetonians tend to be more open to exploring the Christian message than students at other top-tier institutions, and Tigers hail from across the globe.

“Princeton is unique,” said Heslep. “There are great opportunities.”

Throughout the online gatherings, leaders put an emphasis upon demystifying evangelism for students who might fear sharing their faith. Students on the calls are members of Nova’s sending team, which concentrates on service, evangelism, and justice.

In April, Ministry Fellow Cam Garven led an initial two-hour, online training session on the basics of Gospel presentations. During the calls, students took charge of practice sessions, including ones on initiating spiritual conversations, sharing testimonies, and handling follow-up conversations.

Still, some of the students wrestled with fears and inadequacies, including concerns over scriptural literacy and personal shortcomings.

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gelism is “not an optional part of Christianity. This is the identity of a kingdom person,” he said. “Evangelism will not happen if we do not make it a real priority.”

Fulfilling the Christian mission of growing the community of believers is a passion for Heslep.

“Sometimes, we miss the urgency,” he said.

During a virtual training session in May, a core group of students led a follow-up session about ways to narrate personal faith testimonies.

“It was just amazing to hear,” said Ministry Fellow Jayne Babij. The undergraduates radiated a “desire to see people come and know and believe the Gospel and have a relationship with Jesus.”

Among student leaders on the sending team, Luke Martinez ’22 said he personally strives to reflect Christ’s love to peers and strangers alike when sharing his faith.

“You can evangelize just by being there for someone,” he said.

During 2019-20, Martinez and other participants on the sending team reflected Christ’s compassion when they volunteered at Loaves and Fishes, a soup kitchen at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in Trenton. During fall 2019, the students also traveled to Philadelphia to distribute water and granola bars and offer prayers in a downtrodden neighborhood.

Martinez hopes to resume such projects during the next academic year.

“It was so great on so many levels,” he said. “Being able to share God’s love with them was absolutely stunning.”

Such aspirations resonate with Christian Union’s Babij. “Our students on the sending team have been very excited about reaching out to others,” she said.

“That has been very encouraging to me.”

After all, Babij reminds us, believers are “called to love God and love others by telling them the truth of the Gospel. That’s going to transform lives.” | cu

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Prayer and the Pandemic Student Leaders Mobilize Online Initiative

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by eileen scott, contributing writer

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Slack. Zoom. Pray. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the University of Pennsylvania moved classes online, members of Martus, Christian Union’s ministry on campus, swiftly leveraged digital and social media tools to create a sacred space for remaining close to God and each other.

Leo Chen ’22 and Bianca Altamirano ’22, student leaders with Martus, launched a 24/7 online prayer gathering that lasted six weeks. As a result, students from around the nation were able to come together regularly and intercede for their campus, their city (Philadelphia), and their country.

“It was a straightforward way to solve what we feared to be a formidable spiritual challenge facing our community,” said Chen, co-leader of Martus’ Seeking God Team. “We really wanted to mitigate the spiritual drought and despair within our com-

munity before it set in.”

Every Wednesday at 8 p.m., fifteen to twenty-five students committed to twenty-four consecutive hours of intercessory prayer, using Google sheets to sign up for one-hour time slots. The Google document also included meaningful questions, scripture verses, and prayer requests that the students could use to guide their prayer time.

The first few weeks of the initiative were dedicated to helping students bring their frustrations, anxieties, and worries about the pandemic to God. Toward the middle of the six-week period, students focused on supplication, fasting, and intercession.

Finally, as the semester came to a close, the hours in prayer became strong platforms for reflection, praise, and thanksgiving.

Scattered across the country, the students joined digital prayer partners from their bedrooms and

When the pandemic hit, Christian Union Martus leaders Bianca Altamirano ’22 and Leo Chen ’22 responded quickly by developing a weekly, virtual prayer gathering for students spread across the country.

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for the opportunity to come together in prayer despite the distance and time differences. God made it all possible.”

Else noted that even when digital fatigue set in, and as each week seemed to bring more bad news, the students held on to hope.

“At the time, it was a lifesaver for our students,” said Else. “Just to feel connected with their brothers and sisters in Christ; to be able to pray for our campus and city—both of which we love.”

Additionally, Else said this experience fostered a deeper and lasting camaraderie. And through that bond, they have found confidence that God will move and act in a way that brings physical and spiritual healing to a wounded land.

“I’m so proud of them,” said Else. “They’ve been incredibly resilient, focused, and honest about their need for each other, their desperate need for God, and their hope that, even through this strange season, God will work all things for His glory and our good.” | cu

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family rooms. Some prayed alone after midnight or during the predawn hours, keeping the chain of unceasing prayer going.

“It’s not easy to pray in the middle of the night, but it’s especially odd to pray in front of the Zoom camera at 3 a.m.,” said Tucker Else, Christian Union’s ministry director at Penn. “But that’s what these students did to keep the chain of prayer whole and to beseech God on behalf of so many.”

Despite the physical distance between students, the unity of prayer anchored their faith and their lives as they experienced an unprecedented moment in history where the world stopped, and people retreated to their homes. Being apart, together, the students witnessed firsthand that God uses all things for His purpose.

“The Spirit really moved among us in a way that unified the sentiments, joys, and sorrows of our community despite our distance from each other,” said Chen.

Likewise, Bianca Altamirano ’22 said her times of seeking God during quarantine revealed the amazing power of prayer.

“The pandemic has shown us how small and helpless we are, but I have slowly recognized the sense of peace knowing it is not us, but the almighty Lord who is in control,” she said. “I was so thankful

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A Legacy of Faith HCFA Undergrads Give Seniors a ‘Commencement’ by anne kerhoulas, staff writer

“At first I was really angry because the communication from the university was pretty bad and it felt like they didn’t really care for us,” said Lai. “Everything happened really fast.”

When a current HCFA executive team member helped the former president process what was happening, “[I realized] this isn’t what anyone wanted, I couldn’t really be mad. HCFA and our Bible courses were a big part of being able to process it well. A lot of people were just trying to numb it out with parties. HCFA helped me think through emotions and about how to end well.”

The event that mattered so much to Lai and his senior classmates was pulled together in about twenty-four hours. Ana Yee ’21 found herself eating in a dining hall with a friend lamenting this unusual ending for the senior class.

“We were talking about how it was so sad that the seniors didn’t get closure or a ceremony. Those days were stressful enough with trying to pack up and say all our goodbyes. It felt like there wasn’t a singular time for any one community to be together,” Yee said.

“The main goal was to provide a space and time to acknowledge and celebrate the seniors, knowing they had all poured a lot As Harvard’s campus closed prematurely this spring, HCFA underclassmen into us. The least we could do would be to threw an impromptu graduation ceremony to honor the seniors. celebrate them in return and acknowledge all they had done, not only in HCFA, but also in their time at Harvard. In a community like mencement ceremony for the departing graduates.

HCFA, there are so many moving parts. Everyone They devised cardboard caps and personalized pseuis playing their role and serving in their specific do diplomas, a commencement speech delivered by ways. So many people are doing things that don’t an impersonated Barack Obama, and a real charge get recognition or face time.” for those leaving campus to seek the Lord.

Typically, the end of an academic year has sevFormer HCFA co-president Allen Lai ’20 noted eral events aimed at recognizing the efforts and the impact of this event as he concluded his time contributions of the graduating seniors, as well as on campus. “It meant a lot more than the Harvard providing a time to say good-bye as they end their graduation ceremony—it felt so much more pertime in college. Students who participate in Chrissonal and thoughtful.” tian Union ministries have many opportunities to The days prior were a rollercoaster for students.

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The chaos of the developing pandemic and learning that the spring semester would conclude remotely could not deter students with Christian Union at Harvard (HCFA) from celebrating and honoring their graduating seniors.

While the campus shifted toward scenes of frantic packing, hastily thrown parties, and seniors clinging to last moments of their college experience, HCFA underclassmen mobilized to create a com-

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serve within the ministry, as well as serve their college campus.

“Christian Union empowers student leaders. Even though we have a Christian Union faculty, the ministry gives us a great opportunity to learn as a community together and to put spiritual ideas into practice,” Lai commented.

But perhaps one of the most surprising elements of the senior farewell was how many underclassmen, even first-years, participated in pulling off the event.

“One of the most special parts about it was that it truly was a communal effort,” said Yee. “[The first-years] had known the seniors for the shortest amount of time, but that was really sweet and cool to see that they came out to serve the seniors who set the tone of their time in the ministry.”

One of the beautiful realities of campus ministry

is the heritage of faith, service, and community that is passed down from grade to grade. The graduating seniors were once welcomed as first-years themselves; they were mentored by upperclassmen and brought into a community of believers. And now they are leaving a legacy of pursuing Christ at Harvard.

Lai reflected upon the impact of Christian Union during his time at Harvard. “HCFA was definitely my family away from home,” he said.

“HCFA was the first place I saw a vibrant community of Christians taking faith seriously and loving God and one another as part of daily life. It was a very unique time in life where everyone was living in the same place. It felt as close to the early church as you can get—living together and feeling like you are working at something together all the time.” | cu

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The Mission Continues Reaching out to Young Professionals by catherine elvy, staff writer

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Christian Union New York partnered with Christian Union’s new vice president of alumni engagement to stage webinars with the seniors and campus-based ministry fellows.

The virtual platform allowed graduating seniors to get to know ministry director Scott Crosby and alumni engagement director Christine Foster, Penn ’93. It also provided opportunities for Christian Union alumni to share testimonies and input on ways to navigate transitions into the workforce.

Participants also learned more about Christian Union New York and its efforts to impact culture. Crosby and his team provided online support, resources, and connections to leaders abruptly beset by stay-at-home orders in the U.S. epicenter of the virus.

“During these crazy, coronavirus times when

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he COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent Christian Union’s ministry to professionals from sharing its core mission with recent college graduates.

In May, Christian Union New York coordinated virtual introductory meetings with graduating seniors at top universities. During the spring, the ministry typically reaches out to seniors involved in Christian Union Universities to help facilitate connections for graduates within certain professional and geographic networks in various cities. In New York City, the ministry offers emerging and established leaders an array of community groups, mentoring and networking opportunities, as well as enriching events including forums, lectures, and conferences.

Given the need for required social distancing,

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ability to attend such events in person, but welcomed opportunities to share the compelling material with family members.

“The content continues to be as enriching and engaging as always,” said Blonkvist, president of Odyssey, a media and information services firm. “I’m really grateful for the continued creative ways to impact Christian professionals.”

In other news, Young professionals associated with Christian Union New York took a cruise around Manhattan last year.

Ministry Associate Karen Hetzler hosted Christian Union New York’s first women’s conference at a Midtown Manwe’re all separated and cannot really see each other hattan residence in late January. face to face, it has been really great to meet virtual“It was an incredible time of drawing some Chrisly every week,” said Taylor Becker, an associate at tian women who are in leadership positions here in The Blackstone Group. the city into the Lord’s presence together,” said HetBecker is especially thankful for the bonding zler. “We sought the Lord together.” opportunities that Christian Union New York proDuring the retreat, the women spent much of vided after his bustling metropolis suddenly shifted their time focused upon prayer, fasting, and worship. into isolation mode. He is also grateful for how his In addition, participants pored over Scriptures with community group took advantage of extended time an emphasis on learning about the nature of God. at home to peruse C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce.

Hetzler also is a member of the ministry team at Bethesda Grace Church in Manhattan, where her “I really appreciate that Christian Union husband Chuck Hetlzer is the pastor.

New York has been such an influential part Since the shutdown, the women have remained in touch. “We meet weekly, pray for one another, of my life.” and share what the Lord is teaching each one of us —Taylor Becker, Penn ’17 during this time,” said Karen Hetzler.

Participants in the retreat described themselves as “blessed beyond measure,” especially by the ways “I really appreciate that Christian Union New they experienced the presence of the Lord. “An outYork has been such an influential part of my life,” come of our two-and-a-half-day retreat, and the said Becker, Penn ’17. prayers of all who went before, is that I am fired up The ministry also shifted its popular forum proto bring the same message to other communities in gramming to an online format. A regular forum which I participate,” said one attendee. | cu participant, Brent Blonkvist, said he missed the

christian union day & night

Christian Union Day and Night Social Distancing from Sin by justin woyak

Editor’s Note: The following devotional was written to help Christians think about and respond biblically to the crisis of COVID-19. In March, Christian Union Day and Night organized a nationwide, 40-day initiative of prayer, fasting, and repentance to address the coronavirus pandemic, supported by daily devotionals.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying Justin Woyak its power. Avoid such people.

—2 Timothy 3:1-5 (ESV)

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CU Caritas, Christian Union’s ministry to students at Stanford University.

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justin woyak, Princeton ’09, is a ministry fellow with

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‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

—Acts 2:17-18

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midst such a drastic departure from normal life as the coronavirus has brought, we may find ourselves inclined to read the Bible in one hand and the news in the other, eager to know if “the last days” are finally upon us. The New Testament authors, however, have a different timeline in mind when they speak of “the last days.”

Those days began almost two thousand years ago when the Lord of all creation died, rose again, ascended to His throne in heaven, and from there poured out His Spirit—His very Presence—on His people.

Pentecost marked the beginning of “the last days”:

But alongside the greatest gift—the Spirit of God within us as a new principle of life and direct communion with God—we have challenges. Interestingly, the “difficulty” Paul speaks of in 2 Timothy 3:1 arises not from the brokenness of our world (as heartbreaking as the current worldwide pandemic is), but from the brokenness of people. “There will come times of difficulty,” Paul says, because in the last days “people will be lovers of self, lovers of money,” and all the rest.

If we are not on guard, people that worship anything other than God can have a devastating effect on us who seek to follow our Lord Jesus Christ. And in these “last days” since our Lord ascended and poured out His Spirit, the message of His kingship and His offer of amnesty have a polarizing effect: some respond with faith and fealty; others assert their own self-sovereignty all the more vehemently, creating “difficulty” for us all.

Ironically, one of Paul’s prescriptions against this danger is social distancing: “avoid such people.” Their self love is contagious, so protect yourself. This does not mean we always isolate ourselves, for we have a Great Commission to accomplish (Matthew 28:18– 20). But there is a way to move toward others in self-sacrificial love while we flee the idolatrous influence of “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” As we distance ourselves physically in our fight against the coronavirus, let us also distance ourselves from an even more disastrous contagion that others (near us, or through our technology) can communicate to us: any love that deadens our love for God. The disease of sin, which can corrupt our hearts, is more dangerous—and more difficult to avoid—than any disease which can corrupt only our bodies. | cu

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stewardship news

Are You a Cornerstone Partner?

Christian Union Unveils New Giving Program by catherine elvy, staff writer

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hristian Union recently kicked off a major initiative to propel the ministry forward in its strategic mission of developing leaders to transform culture.

The organization has launched Cornerstone Partners to grow the base of supporters behind Christian Union’s effort to bring the Gospel to the country’s next generation of leaders and promote

Credit: Sara Beth Turner

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Christian Union Lux students Declan Kunkel ’19 and Duncan Moore ’20

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national revival and reformation, especially via its aptly named Christian Union Day and Night movement.

Through the Cornerstone initiative, donors can experience “greater partnership in what God is doing,” said Greg Ray, director of strategic initiatives for Christian Union Universities. “Our partners get to form a deep and engaging connection to our people, the ministries, and what God is doing now and in the future.”

New partners may opt to support specific Christian Union ministries, including ones based at the nation’s leading universities. Partners also may help Christian Union Day and Night in its mission to

usher tremendous moves of the Spirit of God in the United States.

Such causes deeply resonate with Christian Union Founder and Chief Executive Officer Matt Bennett.

“America is desperately in need of a spiritual awakening,” said Bennett, Cornell ’88, MBA ’89.

Likewise, “There is a whole generation growing up today that hasn’t been to church and has never been given the opportunity to receive Jesus — and these are the future leaders of our country,” said Bennett.

Since its founding in 2002, Christian Union has specialized in developing bold Christians at the top-tier universities known for producing the luminaries of business, government, entertainment, and culture.

The ministry trains leaders through mentoring, Bible courses, and other curricula catering to the needs and hearts of intellectually curious, intensely motivated students. Highly-qualified faculty ministers guide students as they learn to seek God’s purpose for their individual lives and prepare to carry out His work on the world stage.

Currently, Christian Union serves students who attend: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Harvard Law, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale universities.

Likewise, participants in Cornerstone Partners also may support Christian Union’s Cities ministry and its efforts to develop networks of transformative leaders in cities of significant cultural influence. Partners may play a critical role in Christian Union Day and Night’s endeavors to recruit believers for national prayer and fasting initiatives. Day and Night envisions a dynamic movement of American believers, numbering 2 million or more and united in efforts to seek God with wholehearted humility and courage.

For as little as $25 per year, supporters may become partners at the basic level. Such partners receive a subscription to Christian Union: The Magazine, as well as prayer from ministry faculty. As well, they receive quarterly updates from Christian Union’s

chief executive officer and monthly prayer e-mails and updates from individual ministries teams.

Christian Union recognizes bronze-level partners, beginning at $40 per month, via its annual report and through listings at individual ministry centers.

Bronze supporters also receive invitations to exclusive events on behalf of Cornerstone Partners and first-notice invitations to Christian Union events and conferences.

Ultimately, faithful financial partners make Christian Union’s strategic goals a reality, especially ones to shepherd godly leaders during their studies on world-class campuses.

“This is really about seeing God’s hand at work.

It’s about us being faithful to the Lord,” said Ray.

For information on Christian Union’s Cornerstone Partners program or to become a Cornerstone Partner, visit www.ChristianUnion.org/transform.

ChristianUnion.org/transform

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Give today, at:

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With your generous tax-deductible gift, you will help lay the foundation for revival and spiritual health in our nation.

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Join a Movement that is Developing Leaders to Transform our Nation

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Help America Return to God

“We’re raising up a new generation to transform our nation through the Gospel.”

Bennett said Cornerstone partners are men and women who are helping bring revival and reformation through financially supporting the ministry of Christian Union and Christian Union Day and Night.

“These gifts increase prayer, fasting, repentance, evangelism, and more in our country,” he said. “We appreciate these brothers and sisters so much, and thank God for them.” | cu

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the spiritual climate on campus

harvard 37 ya l e 4 0 brown 4 2 dartmouth 4 4 prince ton 46

columbia 5 0 s tanford 5 2

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cornell 5 4

Brown Alumni Alexa Chukwumah ’19 sits at the Van Wickle Gates. credit: sara beth turner

reports from some of america’s most influential universities

The Spiritual Climate on Campus The following articles were written to keep readers informed about the spiritual atmosphere at some of America’s leading universities. Some stories will encourage you by highlighting ways God is working through other (non-Christian Union) ministries and alumni. Other articles— on news, trends, and events—are included to help motivate you to pray for these institutions, their students, faculty, and staff, and for all of the Christian ministries that work at these schools. ......................................................................................

H A RVA RD | On Campus

Justice, Mercy, and Humility christianunion.org

of the George Floyd murder in Minneapolis. Stevenson was sought for interviews in various media outlets.

In his address to Harvard Law graduates, Stevenson implored them with the famous biblical injunction from the prophet Micah (6:8), “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

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Stevenson is best known as the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. His 2014 memoir, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, quickly became a New York Times bestseller, and it inspired the 2019 similarly named major motion picture starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx.

In June, Just Mercy gained prominent media attention and was offered free online by Warner Bros. in the wake

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uring Harvard Law School’s virtual commencement address, a prominent civil rights attorney told graduates to harness hope.

“Your hope will sustain you,” said Bryan Stevenson, Harvard JD ’85.

On May 28, the law school shared a recording of Stevenson as part of its first online graduation ceremony.

Stevenson urged the newly minted lawyers to pursue their work with zeal and to keep hope central.

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CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY BRYAN STEVENSON EXHORTS LAW SCHOOL GRADUATES

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

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Credit: Courtesy of Rog and Bee Walker for the Equal Justice Initiative

During Harvard Law School’s virtual commencement address, civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson told the new lawyers to pursue their work with zeal and to keep hope central.

In a moment of levity, Stevenson confessed to the Harvard Law School Class of 2020 that he did not attend his graduation in 1985. “I don’t have a good excuse, like a pandemic,” he said. “I was just kind of anxious to get to work. Things were busy.”

commitment to “doing things sometimes not for money, but because it is what we are called to do.”

Stevenson noted that some lawyers need to be willing to take on inconvenient and even uncomfortable legal chores.

outside Philadelphia.

In 1989, Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. During his remarkable career at the helm of the organization, Stevenson has helped to exonerate innocent prisoners, fought against life

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“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

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—Micah 6:8 As for the COVID-19 outbreak, Stevenson highlighted for law school grads how the pandemic has exposed troubling issues within society. “Too many people are sick. Too many people are dying,” said Stevenson. “We have to find ways to create more equality, more opportunity, more justice.”

Bridging such gaps will require a

After earning his juris doctor, plus a graduate degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, Stevenson began representing defendants on death row as an attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta. Earlier, the Delaware native studied philosophy at Eastern University, a Christian college

sentences without parole for juveniles, and confronted abuses of children and handicapped individuals.

“You cannot accept the things you see,” Stevenson told the Harvard Law graduates. “There are moments when it can be pretty overwhelming.”

Nonetheless, Stevenson’s work as a lawyer and social activist has resulted

in scores of honorary doctoral degrees, including ones from Yale, Princeton, and Oxford universities. Stevenson has won multiple cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including one that resulted in a landmark 2012 ruling that banned sentences of life imprisonment without parole sentences for children 17 or younger.

Among awards, Stevenson has received the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Prize; the Public Interest Lawyer of the Year by the National Association of Public Interest Lawyers; and the Olof Palme Prize, for international human rights.

In August 2018, The American Bar Association gave Stevenson its highest award: “exceptionally distinguished service by a lawyer or lawyers to the cause of American jurisprudence.”

During his acceptance speech, the great-grandson of slaves described the way lawyers played a role in helping him to secure secondary education in a school district that did not allow African-American students to attend high school. “Because those lawyers got close to poor black kids like me, I got to go to high school,” said Stevenson, who started elementary school in a “colored” school. “I got to go to college. I got to go to law school.”

Stevenson told Harvard’s newest crop of lawyers to reflect upon calling and mission in navigating their legal careers. “Doing justice requires more than mastering the law. We have to get close to the poor and marginalized,” he said. “When you are proximate to the poor, you will hear things you would not otherwise hear.”

Stevenson emphasized that each of the graduates has the ability to make the future more just. “We will get to a different place,” he said. “This is a strange time. It’s a difficult time.”

Still, he said, “I am persuaded that we shall overcome.”

Stevenson wrapped up his message by telling the young lawyers to fix their eyes on the prize of pursuing justice. “You represent so much potential, so much promise,” he said.

“My hope for you is that you will do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with this degree for which you deserve every, every congratulations and celebration.”

After all, “our country needs truth and justice,” he said. | cu

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Guliuzza, MBA ’03, Named President of Institute for Creation Research

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The White House press secretary recently reflected on the inspirational life of apologist Ravi Zacharias, who died in May. During an interview with CBN News, Kayleigh McEnany,

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White House Press Secretary Remembers Ravi Zacharias

Harvard Law ’16, credited Zacharias’ apologetics ministry for strengthening her faith during an exchange year at Oxford University, St. Edmund Hall.

Zacharias founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, which highlights Christianity’s intellectual foundation. “He put a philosophical and academic rationale for the heart that I had for Christ,” said McEnany, who became White House press secretary in April. “I believe God put me here for a purpose and for a reason, like He does with each and every life,” she said.

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A Harvard University alumnus recently stepped into a new role as the president and chief operating officer of the Institute for Creation Research. In August, Randy Guliuzza, a physician, registered professional engineer, and Harvard graduate, took the helm of the Texas-based organization. The nonprofit entity is a leader in scientific research within the context of biblical creation.

Since retiring in 2008 from the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant colonel, Guliuzza has served as a national representative for the

Institute for Creation Research. The Air Force sent Guliuzza to Harvard, where he completed a master of public health in 2003. In June, the institute’s board of trustees voted to appoint Guliuzza to replace Henry Morris III, a theologian, administrator, and author who plans to retire in October.

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YA L E | On Campus

Collins ‘Humbled’ by Templeton Prize YALE ALUMNUS, GENETICIST CURRENTLY WORKING ON COVID -19 VACCINE

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

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enowned geneticist and physician Francis Collins recently expressed gratitude and divine reverence after receiving the John Templeton Foundation’s highest award for his efforts to reconcile science and religion.

The organization honored the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) director with its 2020 Templeton Prize, valued at roughly $1.3 million, in recognition of his advocacy for the integration of faith and reason. The Yale doctoral alumnus of 1974 is best known for his pioneering efforts to sequence the human genome.

Collins said he was “profoundly humbled” by the prestigious award.

Past honorees include Mother Teresa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the Dalai Lama.

“The realization that principles of faith and science are complementary has been of great comfort to me in the search for truth,” Collins tweeted in May to coincide with the announcement from the Templeton Foundation.

In late 2019, Templeton Prize judges selected Collins as the 2020 laureate, but the organization delayed its announcement amid the coronavirus pandemic. In conjunction with the announcement, Collins noted appreciation for both the wonders of biological science and God’s faithfulness.

“The elegant complexity of human biology constantly creates in me a sense of awe,” he wrote.

Collins also described his team’s consuming efforts to help find treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19.

As NIH director, Collins oversees the federal government’s biomedical and public health research efforts, including the pursuit of a vaccine to prevent the novel virus.

Renowned geneticist and physician Francis Collins received the 2020 Templeton Prize, the John Templeton Foundation’s highest award for his efforts to reconcile science and religion.

Despite the tragic nature of coronavirus, Collins poignantly expressed his trust in God amid the pandemic.

“I remember that the God who hung on the cross is intimately familiar with suffering. I learn and relearn that God never promised freedom from suffering—but rather to be ‘our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,’” Collins wrote in a statement on behalf of Templeton Foundation.

As NIH director, Collins supervises the work of famed immunologist Anthony Fauci. The Weill Cornell Medicine alumnus of 1966 is the gov-

ernment’s top infectious disease expert and a key player in the country’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

On May 20, the Templeton Foundation announced Collins as the newest winner of the world’s top honor in faith and science. The 70-yearold geneticist will formally receive the Templeton Prize in a virtual ceremony later this year.

For Collins, the timing of the announcement amid the global pandemic was somewhat overwhelming, but gratifying. “As I write this, almost my every waking moment is consumed by the effort to find treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19,” he noted.

Collins, who was appointed to his post in 2008, is the longest-serving NIH director. The native of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley directed the National Human Genome Research Institute between 1993 and 2008 as it famously mapped and sequenced the 3 billion DNA letters inside the human genetic instruction book.

Throughout his scientific leadership, writing, and speaking engagements, Collins has demonstrated how faith can motivate and inspire rigorous scientific research. In his 2006 book, he offered support for certitude in the existence of a Supreme Being alongside an up-close look at his groundbreaking research in genomics.

The experience of sequencing the human genome was “both a stunning scientific achievement and an occasion of worship,” Collins wrote in The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. “Many will be puzzled

it,” he wrote in The Language of God. “The war was never really necessary.”

On the heels of his bestselling book, Collins established BioLogos in 2007. The Michigan-based organization promotes harmony between the historical Christian faith and evolutionary creation. It offers rich curricula plus social media, discussion forums, events, conferences, a speakers’ bureau, and more.

For Collins, science readily enhances his faith and serves as a form of worship. The Maryland resident said he likes to think of the Great Physician as the universe’s ultimate scientist.

“I certainly never expected to have a leading voice in the science-faith debates,” he wrote. “As a Christian for 43 years, I have found joyful harmony between the scientific and spiritual worldviews, and have never encountered an irreconcilable difference.” | cu

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‘Love Assault’

:: christianunion.org

In July, the Black Church at Yale (bcay.faithlifesites.com) hosted a “Love Assault.” Held via Zoom, the event was a time for participants to show Christ’s love for one another by checking in, catching up, and sharing updates.

Zoom breakout rooms were also utilized for those desiring smaller, more personal conversations.

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allowed gene hunters to jump over large sections of chromosomes to reach the location of disease genes.

Later, at the University of Michigan, Collins used that tool and new ones to track down the genes for cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, neurofibromatosis, and more.

Then, in 1993, Collins stepped into his pivotal role as director of the National Center for Human Genome Research. Under his leadership in 2000, the Human Genome Project famously announced its assembly of a working draft of the sequence of the human genome, essentially the genetic blueprint for human life.

Not surprisingly, Collins’ revolutionary work with the Human Genome Project prompted waves of awards and speaking engagement requests from prestigious institutions.

Collins’ public engagement around faith and science began to pick up after he appeared in a lecture series at the Memorial Church of Harvard University. For three nights in February 2003, hundreds of eager students packed the church to hear the famed scientist and posit thought-provoking questions.

Within his talks, Collins readily addressed his personal voyage from atheist to believer. At a time when much of the intersection of science and conversation was dominated by polarizing voices, Collins sought to show how an “intellectual synthesis” was possible.

“It is time to call a truce in the escalating war between science and spir-

summer

by these sentiments, assuming that a rigorous scientist could not also be a serious believer in a transcendent God.” He penned his bestseller to argue that “belief in God can be an entirely rational choice, and that the principles of faith are, in fact, complementary with the principles of science.”

Collins began his medical studies at University of North Carolina in 1973 as an unapologetic atheist. He gradually warmed up to Christianity after being inspired by the faith of terminally ill patients. Compelling conversations prompted the insatiably curious scholar to explore C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, which makes a rational case for the existence of God. During a post-medical college trek to Washington’s Cascade Range, Collins, then 27, was struck by some of the remarkable beauty of creation.

During the visit to the mountainous Northwest, he committed his life to Christ and went on to complete residencies in the UNC Medical Center.

Between 1981 and 1984, Collins returned to the Ivy League, where he served as a postdoctoral fellow in human genetics at the Yale School of Medicine. Incidentally, Collins’ parents, Margaret and Fletcher Collins, Jr., met during a 17th-century literature class at Yale University. Fletcher Collins (Yale PhB 1928, PhD 1934) was a legendary professor of theater at Mary Baldwin University and a cultural laureate of Virginia.

As a Yale postdoctoral fellow, Francis Collins developed a technique called chromosome jumping, which

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BROW N | On Campus

“For Christ and His Kingdom” L E E , B R O W N ’ 95 , N A M E D P R O V O S T AT W H E AT O N C O L L E G E

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

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n August, a Brown University alumna stepped into a high-profile role as provost of Wheaton College.

Karen An-Hwei Lee (Brown ’95, MFA ’97) became provost of the Illinois-based college, where she also is serving as an English professor. “I’m honored to support Wheaton’s time-honored mission of Christ-centered liberal arts,” she said.

Lee said she is “grateful for the opportunity to join Wheaton in service of its distinguished faculty and outstanding students. ​​This is an exciting time in Christian higher education, and Wheaton is well-positioned to continue shaping evangelical scholarship and creative imagination in the 21st century.”

Located in suburban Chicago, the highly-rated liberal arts college is known for its integration of faith with rigorous academics.

In her new position, Lee directs the Senior Academic Leadership Team, serves on the Senior Administrative Cabinet, and oversees the ac-

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ton College Billy Graham Center, which develops and mobilizes believers to share the Gospel. The center

Literary scholar, poet, and author Karen Lee, Brown ’95, M.F.A. ’97, recently took over as provost of Wheaton College, where she also is serving as an English professor.

bearing the name of Wheaton’s most prominent alumnus is a world hub of evangelism and mission training.

“I loved my undergraduate and graduate experiences at Brown, where the professors are incredible scholars and artists who pour their hearts into their students.”

—Karen An-Hwei Lee ademic division. Her wide-ranging duties include global programs, institutional research, library and archives, intercultural engagement, and military science.

Lee also helps oversee The Whea-

“With its distinguished faculty, Wheaton College sets high standards for scholarship anchored in a Christian liberal arts tradition where we integrate faith and learning,” Lee said.

The Massachusetts native paused

to reflect upon her time at Brown, which she described as transformative.

“I loved my undergraduate and graduate experiences at Brown, where the professors are incredible scholars and artists who pour their hearts into their students,” she said. “It was a formative season of discovering new possibilities, guided by women and faculty of color who saw my potential and believed I could follow in their steps.”

While at Brown, Lee was involved with a Presbyterian organization and with Brown Christian Fellowship.

Such involvement aligned with her spiritual and familial heritage. “I am a fourth-generation Taiwanese Presbyterian on my mother’s side of the family. My great-grandmother was an early convert when Canadian medical missionaries served in Taiwan during the 1800s. She also became the first Presbyterian female elder in Taiwan,” Lee said.

“My spiritual heritage and cultural identity have powerfully shaped the woman I am today.”

In her new role, Lee, who earned a doctorate in British and American literature from the University of California at Berkeley, succeeded Margaret DuPlissis Diddams, who became Wheaton’s first female provost in 2016.

Most recently, Lee served as Vice Provost of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness for Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) in San Diego. While at PLNU, she worked closely with faculty and staff on documents for internal decision-making

and external constituents, and she served as the accreditation liaison officer.

Prior to her tenure at PLNU, Lee was chair of the English department at Vanguard University in the Los Angeles area as well as its Director of Educational Effectiveness.

Her impressive credentials extend far beyond administrative duties.

A poet, fiction writer, literary critic, and translator, Lee is a voting member of the National Book Critic Circle and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist’s Grant. She is the author of poetry books, Phyla of Joy, Ardor, and In Media Res; chapbooks: God’s One Hundred Promises and What the Sea Earns for a Living; and two avant-gar-

de science fiction novels: Sonata in K and The Maze of Transparencies. Her translations of the writings of Chinese poetry giant Li Qingzhao were compiled in Doubled Radiance: Poetry & Prose of Li Qingzhao, the first volume in English to collect Li’s work in both genres.

Lee’s work has appeared in literary journals including The American Poet, Poetry Magazine, and IMAGE: Art, Faith, Mystery. She also has presented readings at the Japanese American National Museum, Holloway Poetry Series at U. C. Berkeley, the Program in Literary Arts at Brown University, and myriad institutions.

Such a rich background dovetails with Lee’s new academic and administrative duties.

For 150-plus years, Wheaton has served as an academic home for intellectually ambitious, faithful Christians. The college, which strives to foster an environment of curiosity, conviction, and community, revolves around its motto: For Christ and His Kingdom.

Wheaton has an approximate enrollment of 2,400 undergraduates and 500 graduate students, as well as 222 full-time and 130 part-time faculty members.

“Some of my goals are to sustain Wheaton’s powerful scholarship and rigorous academics, while fostering transformational experiences for our increasingly diverse student population,” Lee said. | cu

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:: christianunion.org

In June, the Brown-Rhode Island School of Design Catholic Community hosted the Portsmouth Institute Summer Conference. With the theme “Incline the Ear of Thy Heart: Rediscovering the Virtues and Practices of the Christian Life,” this year’s virtual conference offered a two-part series. Part one (June 9-12) included a daily keynote address from authors Heather King and Sohrab Ahmari;

John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America; and Fr. Augustine Wetta. Part two (June 20) included live Q and A sessions with the speakers and fellow participants via Zoom. Previous conferences have been held at Portsmouth Abbey in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

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In spite of the challenges of COVID-19 and being apart for summer break, Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) remained focused on its goals of community and Bible study this summer. Northeast RUF continued to serve the Brown community and beyond with a series of services that were held every Wednesday night from June 3 through July 15 via Zoom.

Catholic Community Hosts Virtual Summer Conference

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Reformed University Fellowship Hosts Online Summer Services

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the spiritual climate on campus

D A R T M OU T H | On Campus

Complete in Christ DARTMOUTH APOLOGIA CELEBRATES MILESTONE

By Luke Brown, Dartmouth ’18

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his spring, The Dartmouth Apo- case)…” spiritual void on campus,” said CanIn subtle ways and on occasion delora. logia published a special twelveyear anniversary edition centered on more obviously, completeness as an The publication includes seven idea is woven throughout each print- other articles, all written by Apologia the theme, “Completeness.”

The Apologia, Dartmouth’s journal ed article. alumni. They include: “The Big The twelve-year edition starts off Green-Eyed Monster: Overcoming of Christian thought, “exists to articulate Christian perspectives Spiritual Envy,” by Margaret in the academic community.”

Cross ’19; “The Purpose of Since 2008, the student jourSuffering: The Goodness of nal has published two times Grief,” by Sarah Clark ’11; per year, hosted weekly stuand “Fulfilled by Beauty dent discussions, and led Himself: How Art Leads Us numerous outreach events. to God and a Complete Following a unique patLife,” by Xanthe Kraft ’16, tern, the Apologia publishes MA’18. Additional articles special editions on anniverwere written by Charlie sary years that correspond to Clark ’11, Hayden Kvamme important biblical numbers. ’14, Sara Holston ’17, and Their first special edition Robert M Smith ’14. landed in 2015, on their sevCandelora described how enth year, and now they have the theme winds its way followed with a unique print throughout the magazine: on the twelfth year.

“Articles by Sarah Clark and Levi Roseman, the stuMargaret Cross talk about dent president of the magahow we can overcome sin zine, shared the idea behind and suffering, so that we may celebrating their twelfth year live more complete and Alumna and contributor Sarah Clark ’11 invested forty with the theme of completefaithful lives with Christ Jehours carving, inking, and printing this cover template ness: “Twelve is a biblical sus. [Xanthe Kraft] writes by hand. The final product is courtesy of Dartmouth number that represents a lot about how we can obtain College’s printshop, a favorite place of Clark’s as a of things, including com- student. spiritual completeness through pleteness. The twelve tribes the beauty of art. In this way, and the twelve disciples repshe connects the Divine and resented God’s complete chosen con- with a feature interview with Andrew the earthly to show how, only with duit through which to work.”

Schuman ’10, the founder of The the two together, we may live a com“After the feeding of the 5,000, Apologia. Christopher Candelora, the plete life.” everyone was full—complete—and the general editor of the issue, conducted Each alumni guest writer was disciples collected twelve baskets of the interview. In it, Schuman talks paired with a current student through[leftovers]. Even the 144,000 (in Rev- not only about the practical begin- out the editing process. In this way, elation 7:4) is a representation of nings of The Apologia, but also how students were able to learn from more completion perfected (squared in this the journal “filled, or completed, the experienced writers, as well as connect

with the growing history of the magazine, while alumni writers learned about current Apologia happenings and fed off of the students’ energy.

“It was a really great way to get current students connected with the ultra-cool elite of Apologia posterity,” Roseman said.

Candelora added that seeing the alumni’s continued passion for the magazine was inspiring for himself and other students.

The Apologia’s student and alumni contributors are all passionate about sharing their faith on an intellectual level, especially with people “that are on the fence spiritually.”

Candelora recalled Apologia’s ori-

gins to explain its ongoing purpose.

In 2008, Schuman conducted a survey at Dartmouth and found that a majority of students “considered themselves on a spiritual quest” throughout college. Desiring to help these students on their way toward finding the faith in which their unrest could become rest, he started the Apologia.

“Schuman created the Apologia because he wanted to . . . really grapple with the ‘big questions,’” Candelora said. “We exist to show that faith and reason are joined at the hip and one is not mutually exclusive from the other.” Each print edition, including the special edition, is an attempt

to express this idea.

Indeed, the conjunction of faith and reason is not only clearly seen, but also uniquely felt through the well-articulated concept of completeness in the recent edition.

And as the Apologia launches into its next chapter, never ceasing to address the big questions, the current staff is poised to continue providing an essential resource for Dartmouth students to find completion on their spiritual journeys, in Christ.

To connect with The Dartmouth Apologia, visit www.dartmouthapologia. org. E-mail: The.Dartmouth.Apologia@ dartmouth.edu. | cu

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University Hosts ‘Troubled Times’ Forum

:: christianunion.org

In a recent article in The Jewish Forward, Pastor Joel Hubbard, Dartmouth ’82, said, “God works miracles through human beings who bond together” when he discussed the opening of a new food pantry at his church.

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Hubbard ’82 Creates Food Pantry to Meet Pandemic Needs

Hubbard’s Bloomfield, New Jersey-based congregation, Park United Methodist Church, began handing out meals to locals in want as the COVID-19 virus took a toll on the community this spring. What started as a simple desire to serve in faith, has blossomed into a food pantry that serves around two hundred families every week. Throughout the article, evoking the miracle of manna for the Israelites, Hubbard stressed his continual reliance on the Lord’s provision to provide enough food for those who arrive in the church’s parking lot.

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In June, professors and staff across Dartmouth departments and organizations coordinated a community forum titled “Troubled Times” to discuss recent racial injustices and protests. Almost 300 Dartmouth community members gathered on Zoom to learn from three history professors, a graduating senior, and a staff member of the Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Life.

Participants had the opportunity to share thoughts and questions to

learn from and connect with each other. Many came away motivated to create real change within their communities, according to organizers.

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the spiritual climate on campus

PR I N C E T O N | On Campus

Sent Forth to Teach C L A S S I C S M A J O R S P U R S U E F A I T H - B A S E D E D U C AT I O N

By Jon Garaffa, Princeton ’20

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wo recently graduated Princeton University classicists are taking bold next steps in their faith. Chris Howard ’20 and André Mendoza ’20, who were heavily involved in the

Christianity taught by visiting Yale professor Denys Turner. This course sparked in him an appreciation of Christian theology at a formal and rigorous level, and eventually he made

Credit: Kateryn MacReynolds

Close friends and classics majors Chris Howard ’20 (left) and André Mendoza ’20 (right) were both heavily involved in the Aquinas Institute, Princeton’s Catholic campus community.

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Aquinas Institute, Princeton’s Catholic campus community, are moving to the Midwest to work towards their goal of becoming educators. As classics majors and close friends, they share

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a switch to classics.

In the fall, Howard will be starting an academic theology master’s program at Notre Dame University in Indiana. After the program, he is

help students struggling with math.

A tutor in high school and a math teacher’s assistant in college, he will begin working full time as a teacher in the fall at Northridge Preparatory High School, a private Catholic boys school in north Chicago.

Mendoza will teach Latin, math, string orchestra, and possibly Greek.

He hopes to go on to a master’s program, eventually. Besides the classics, he particularly enjoys reading Catholic writer G. K. Chesterton.

Howard found that many rich works of the ancient classics anticipate the Christian message, and this discovery further influenced his choice of study. Such material includes Plato’s contributions to a later Christian mysticism and Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue poem predicting the birth of a savior.

Howard also was fascinated by the fact that most influential early Christian writers were versed in languages such as Greek and Latin. “These

At Men’s Night, interdenominational and even interfaith conversations would go late into the night. a love of their faith and the ancient traditions surrounding it, wishing to use their gifts for the greatest good of spreading the Gospel.

Hailing from Albany, New York, Howard is a convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism. Entering college as a pre-med chemistry major, he changed his mind when he took a course on several atheist critiques of

considering a career as a university professor or high school teacher. In addition to academics, Howard loves to sing and was active in Princeton’s Glee Club.

Meanwhile, Mendoza pictured himself from an early age as a teacher. A devout Catholic from Los Angeles, he began teaching in elementary school, skipping recess to

pre-Christian texts were asking the questions that later Christian authors would find answered in Christ,” he declared. “If I wanted to understand early Christianity, I had to understand what the early Christian writers were steeped in.” Howard wrote his senior thesis on baptismal controversies and St. Augustine’s writings against Donatism, a heresy in the early church.

Similarly, as Mendoza discerned a switch from math to classics, he also became fascinated with their influence on the start of the Church. “I started to study the continuity between the ancients and how their philosophy was adapted by Christians and especially by the Church Fathers,” he stated. “The Church Fathers were familiar with ancients like Plato and Aristotle, using this knowledge in their understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.” Eventually, Mendoza decided to learn how to read

the New Testament in its original Greek and wrote his senior thesis on how to teach Latin.

The two friends wish to continue the evangelizing that they started at Princeton in both conversational and intellectual settings. They both cite Men’s Night, a gathering that their friends organized every Saturday dinner, as a key setting in which these discussions took place. “The heart of evangelization is meeting real people wherever they are, conversing with

them as children of God,” remarked Howard. At Men’s Night, interdenominational and even interfaith conversations would go late into the night.

In their new settings, Howard and Mendoza also wish to keep an eye out for academic roundtable-type discussions of human flourishing and the good life. Hoping one day to lead these discussions in their classrooms, they persevere in their studies to become messengers of the Gospel, called to be sent out into the world (Isaiah 6:8). | cu

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Anscombe Society Events Highlight Healthy Families

‘The Silver Lining: Marriage in Post-COVID America’

2020 :: christianunion.org

In May, Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, delivered a key session during the Princeton Alumni for Life and Marriage virtual reception.

The Princeton doctoral alumnus of 2001 gave a talk entitled “The Silver Lining: Marriage in Post-COVID America.” In the new model, the

“soul mate” model of marriage may fade and a “family-first” model of marriage may emerge. A familyfirst marital environment is likely to be stronger, more stable, and more secure for children.

On May 29, Princeton ProLife and The Anscombe Society sponsored the digital reception during Princeton Reunions.

Students and alumni also heard an update from longtime Princeton University professor and intellectual faith activist Robert George, Harvard Theology ’81, Law ’81. In addition, Logan Mundy ’23 of Princeton Pro-Life (https://prolife.princeton.edu) and Aidan Hintermaier ’22 of The Anscombe Society (https:// anscombe.princeton.edu) shared organizational updates.

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This summer, The Anscombe Society offered a robust slate of virtual programming for Princeton University students. Among the highlights, students gathered in July for an online discussion of how relationships and families are portrayed in modern entertainment outlets. In June, the undergraduates probed differences in family structures, including how some households place a greater emphasis upon extended families.

Online attendees also looked at differences in family structures, especially the ways some parents view children as economic burdens and others consider them to be economic benefits. Anscombe

(https://anscombe.princeton.edu) is a student organization dedicated to affirming the importance of the family, marriage, and a proper understanding for the role of sex and sexuality.

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the spiritual climate on campus

P E N N | On Campus

Christian Community and Covid-19

PENN S TUDENTS REMINDED OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNT Y

By Avery Johnston, Penn ’23

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midst COVID-19 lock downs, students are facing extraordinary changes to their everyday lives, job prospects, economic statuses, and how they gather for fellowship. In the wake

at the University of Pennsylvania.

Hannah Lee ’20 discovered the significance of the relationships she had built over her time at Penn. Although many of her friends moved

Credit: Cody Min

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Some Christian students at Penn found encouragement through friendships and Bible studies last semester.

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of such dramatic change, they have had to seek new ways of connecting with their community and carving out daily time with Jesus.

Their immense faith, despite— and in consequence of—the confusion and trouble of the past several months is also a reality. Many have been eager to gather virtually for prayer and study of the Word, while others have found new means of fellowship, despite physical distance. It has been a strange time, but Christ remains steadfastly the same. This truth has comforted, instilled joy, and continued to connect His followers

cross-country for the latter half of the spring semester, she has been able to maintain treasured connections.

Like any long-distance relationship, a friendship separated by hundreds of miles (or even a few quarantined streets down) requires intentional effort from both involved parties. Lee cites online Bible studies as a source of bonding with her believing friends. Daily devotions with one such companion has enabled them to see one another more often than they had prior to the pandemic.

“It’s been surprising to me, because it took . . . a pandemic for us to see

each other more often, and grow so much in what we believe,” she said.

Lee is a part of Penn’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Action (FCAIA), an organization that continued to meet virtually through the remainder of the school year. Their meetings were grounding for Lee, serving as reminders of “why and what and who we believe in during a time that’s so crazy.”

While faithful friendships have played a part in encouraging Hannah and students like her through the pandemic, her relationship with Jesus has also been her strength. The chaos has pushed her to think deeply about her faith.

One must wonder if the pandemic has reminded many people of their mortality, and perhaps Lee’s faithfulness in such a tumultuous time has sparked curiosity in friends who are not Christians. Lee has had opportunities to explain her faith to others, relying on God’s promise of peace during troubled times. “In a time of so much uncertainty… no one can promise anything but Him,” she said.

Another FCAIA member, Sydney Huang ’23, hopes for an answer to her persistent prayer that, “People would wrestle with God.” She explains that “culturally, [there has been] a lot of outward Christianity,” and she encourages those who may feel uncertain about their faith to “[use] this time to figure out who God is and if He’s something—or Someone—that you actually believe in.”

Academically, Huang said the

move to online learning and beginning to communicate with most people virtually was turbulent. “It was really easy for me to push things off and get distracted,” she said.

But her relationship with God has flourished: “I have time, and space, and freedom to dive as deeply as I wanted to during the [onsite] semester.”

Finding deep encouragement in the unknowable majesties and sovereignty of God has been the subject of much of her reflection during this time: “His mystery is something to be adored and praised... it’s something that’s supposed to lead us to our knees in worship and praise.”

Huang points out, however, that it has been difficult to remain corpo-

rately connected, as online church service is simply not the same as a physical meeting. This frustration seems to be a common one among students, although the lack of in-person fellowship has also served to urge on students’ individual pursuit of the Lord. Anna Englund ’23 echoes this sentiment: “Not really having people to rely on physically, I really had to rely on God more. . . He has shown that He is always with me.”

After she left campus due to the pandemic, Englund stayed with extended family in Illinois, as her flight to England had been postponed several times. She has since made it home, but her consistent faith in the provision of God was clear through-

out the months she spent in utter dependence on God and His plan for her—whether that was to stay in the United States or to return home. She reminds herself that “everything else in the world is just so unstable. . . .

The only thing that you can really fully put your trust in is God. He is our only hope when the world seems to be falling apart.”

The faith of these three women is a testament to the spiritual stability and steadfast pursuit of Christ that is coming to pass at Penn during the pandemic. It is their hope that this will spark, in Huang’s words, “an appreciation for community and the Church” among believers, and a renewed sense of God’s mightiness. | cu

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Carol Fausnaught (Princeton ’94, Penn MS ’20) was recently named vice president of development for The Veritas Forum. The Massachusettsbased organization is an educational nonprofit that invites students

christianunion.org

Fausnaught, MS ’20, Joins Veritas Forum

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Penn alumni and campus ministers Chaz Howard ’00 and Aaron Campbell ’97 served on the streets of Philadelphia and Minneapolis to help bring calm to those cities in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder. Howard, who is the chaplain at Penn, went to Philadelphia to serve as “clergy on the ground.” Campbell, the pastor of Antioch Christian Fellowship in Philadelphia, immediately flew to Minneapolis where he prayed at the site where Floyd died. He also ventured

and faculty at many of the world’s leading universities to examine life’s hardest questions.

Previously, Fausnaught served as vice president of development for Christian Union, and worked for the business consulting divisions of IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Price Waterhouse.

She lives in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where she also serves on the board for Dwell Orphan Care. In May, Fausnaught completed a master of nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

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into the looted area where he ministered to various people.

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Campus Ministers Serve during Protests

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COLU M B I A | On Campus

‘The Gospel Is Freedom, Justice, and Equality’

REFORME D UNIVER SIT Y FELLOWSHIP HOS TS VIRTUAL E VENT

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

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eformed University Fellowship’s director of cross-cultural advancement recently discussed a series of thought provoking questions centered on racial issues during a livestream on behalf of the ministry’s work in New York City.

“Imagine what the church would look like if racism and injustice were

ican church committed to cross-cultural love would have shaped this society?” Whitfield asked rhetorically.

The livestream event also featured Dr. Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan; scholar Michael Keller, pastor of Redeemer Church in Lincoln Square; and Kevin Brown, di-

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Reformed University Fellowship hosted an online event entitled “The Gospel Is Freedom, Justice, and Equality.” The event featured Tim Keller and Michael Keller.

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never a part of the American church’s story,” said Rev. Russ Whitfield, who is also the pastor of Grace Mosaic Church in Washington, D.C. Whitfield was a featured speaker during a virtual event on June 25 entitled The Gospel Is Freedom, Justice, and Equality. The online gathering was hosted by Reformed University’s ministry in New York City, which includes Columbia University.

“Can you imagine how an Amer-

rector of development for RUF in New York City.

The campus ministry, which has ties to the Presbyterian Church in America, is in the midst of a major fundraising campaign to help the organization expand its contingent of ministers serving on New York City’s urban campuses from four to ten. The organization currently operates chapters on three of the Big Apple’s 110 college campuses, and it would like

to expand that number to ten-plus branches during the next decade.

RUF NYC (rufnyc.org) especially aims to recruit and train minority ministers to reach growing counts of college students of color within New York.

Tim Keller explained how the essence of spiritual wisdom is pausing to understand the times and respond appropriately to the seasons. Words and actions can produce a variety of far-reaching results, from harmful to life-giving ones.

Keller also talked about how much of the existing and potential spiritual growth in New York City is intertwined with its burgeoning immigrant population.

In the 1970s and ’80s, immigrants brought the seeds of a spiritual movement and began birthing ethnic churches, especially to serve newcomers from Latin America and Asia. The trend gained steady traction and has continued well into the new millennium. Just in the last year or so, 50plus new churches started, Keller said.

“Human beings cannot start a movement like that,” said Keller. “If God is doing something, it’s our job to steward it.”

A key part of fostering that movement is ministry to foreign born and second generation college students as well as other students of color, Keller said. Starting college in a strange country can be bewildering for some immigrants, especially as they attempt

both to assimilate into American surroundings and preserve their culture of origin.

Indeed, the inaugural annual report from the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs noted that New York City is home to 3.1 million immigrants. The 2018 report noted that immigrants comprise nearly 38 percent of New York City’s population, one of the largest numbers in the city’s history. Top countries of origin include: Dominican Republic, China, Mexico, Jamaica, and Guyana.

Keller noted segments of those immigrants have played a remarkable role in sparking a “growing, urban church movement. We really are almost at a tipping point.”

New York City offers tremendous opportunities to reap abundant fruit from ministry to young people of color and diverse heritages, Keller said.

The celebrated author noted he became a Christian via campus ministry outreach during his studies at Bucknell University in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Michael Keller (son of Tim Keller) agreed and highlighted how New York City is home to 1 million-plus college students, including increasing scores of minority students. “We need to reflect the experiences of our students,” he said.

Many of those young adults go on to reside, worship, and work in Manhattan. Such young adults are in a position to become both pillars of their churches and professional stakeholders in one of the world’s most influential cities.

“The Gospel of grace changes everything,” said Michael Keller. “The need for New York City is astronomical. This cannot wait anymore. We

only have so much time on this earth.”

Whitfield echoed those comments and also spotlighted the urgency for minority Christians to step into leadership roles and help bridge some of the polarizations within the church.

“God’s design for us is that we would be a foretaste of that life that is to come. It’s important for the life of the church,” said Whitfield. “We’re living in strange and difficult days in American life. There is something important going on in this cultural moment.”

Ultimately, “we need minority Christian leaders in place now as much as we ever have,” Whitfield said. | cu

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becomes an integrated approach,” he said.

Before joining St. Matthew’s, Bergman, 75, worked with some of New York City’s neediest populations through the New York City Department of Health, working as staff physician at Rikers Island Adolescent Remand Shelter, and as the chief physician at the former Bronx House of Detention in New York.

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Dr. Bill Bergman, Columbia ’70, has joined the staff of St. Matthew’s House, in Naples, Florida, as its first chief medical officer, according to naplesnews. com. Bergman joined the faithbased, addiction and homeless recovery organization in March to work with its 350 residents and 250 staff members and also

to meet some of the unique needs that COVID-19 has raised.

Bergman’s work in brain science is focused on how destructive behaviors, impulses, and thought patterns can be weakened so that healthier thinking and habits may increase. “This really adds to the capacity for people to be able to gain power over their addiction, and when you combine that with stress relief techniques and the new field of health psychology, it

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Bergman ’70 Joins Recovery Organization

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the spiritual climate on campus

S TA N FORD | On Campus

Zooming in on the Good News S TA N F O R D C H R I S T I A N S T U D E N T S H O S T C O M P E L L I N G S P E A K E R

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

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mixture of curiosity, emotional pain, and spiritual hunger brought onlookers from all walks of life to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for a Billy Graham crusade in summer 1971. One was a young teen from the East Bay. “The more he spoke, the more I felt like he was only talking to me,” recalled Scott Finnie, a scholar, author, and diversity consultant. When the famed evangelist gave a moving altar call, the youth cried as he descended from the third deck of the stadium to the pitcher’s mound.

“For the first time in my life, I looked up at the stars and said the name of Jesus and talked to Him, according to my inward condition,” he said. Instantly, Finnie felt the Lord’s presence in his aching heart. “It was so wonderful. I felt so clean, and I felt so washed.”

In late May, the faculty member of Eastern Washington University’s Africana studies and history departments shared his powerful testimony when he appeared as a virtual guest speaker on behalf of Stanford Christian Students (http://web.stanford. edu/group/christianstudent/).

Finnie’s transformative life story was very well received, said William Lay, a campus minister. It was such a hit that Stanford students decided to share the otherwise private video call across a variety of platforms.

To the astonishment of staff and student leaders of the campus ministry, Finnie’s talk quickly sparked thousands of views in digital social spaces.

Within weeks, some 3,350-plus people watched the testimony on the ministry’s YouTube page; 6,370-plus on Instagram; and thousands more via Facebook.

In May, Eastern Washington University Professor Scott Finnie shared his powerful testimony when he appeared as a virtual guest speaker on behalf of Stanford Christian Students.

Stanford Christian Students hosted Finnie’s appearance after a growing number of Cardinal underclassmen expressed interest in learning more about ways to share the Gospel with collegiate peers. “We felt like it would be nice to hear a story from someone who came to know Jesus and became on fire for the Gospel,” said Lay. Indeed, Finnie told Stanford University students how he wrestled with emptiness as a teen after the sudden

death of an older brother from a drug overdose. “I had the Grand Canyon inside of me,” Finnie told about 60 students on May 31.

Finnie spotlighted some of the background behind his search for the meaning of life as he delved into details of his formative years. Growing up in East Oakland, Finnie’s family and community witnessed historical aspects of the turbulent 1960s. A cousin was a co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, which started in Oakland. A brother was among the hippies who converged upon Haight-Ashbury. The San Francisco neighborhood became a beacon for a counter-cultural movement known for its psychedelic music, mind-bending drugs, and anti-war demonstrations.

Other relatives and associates also were drawn to the student activism at the University of California at Berkeley and to the widespread civil rights movement that became part of San Francisco Bay’s legacy.

“It was a very upheaval kind of time,” said Finnie, who was the youngest of seven children. “We had a lot of things going on in the household [regarding] social justice and the meaning of life. We all loved The Beatles. We had a mixture of civil rights and the Beatles going on.”

After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. ignited mayhem and uprisings across the region, Finnie’s family relocated 20-plus miles east to Dublin, California. Finnie became a basketball sensation and student lead-

er, but the loss of a beloved brother and the effects of urban unrest left Finnie with an internal vacuum.

Thankfully, a brother who was saved through the Jesus People movement took Finnie to Graham’s Northern California Crusade. “I had to find out about the meaning of human life,” said Finnie.

Accepting Christ as savior on the stadium’s infield became a pivotal experience for the up-and-coming student-athlete. “Once you taste the love of Jesus, it’s like getting hit by a train,” Finnie said. “You can never walk the same anymore. Just one taste. . . .”

Though he was recruited to Stanford University, Finnie headed north in 1975 to Gonzaga University for a basketball scholarship. There, with the support of Christian peers and a local

church, Finnie eagerly shared the Good News with his teammates and classmates.

After graduating from Gonzaga with a bachelor’s degree in English and minor in criminal justice, Finnie spent time in the business world. In 1992, he earned a graduate degree in American history from Eastern Washington and joined the university’s faculty. At Eastern Washington, he serves as director of Africana Studies and executive director of the Race and Cultural Studies program.

Finnie’s deep love for his savior drove part of his decision to pursue a career in academia after shifting from earlier aspirations involving pro basketball and politics.

“It’s been a joy being on campus,” said Finnie, who earned a doctorate

in leadership studies from Gonzaga in 2000. “The Lord is too real, and I cannot but want to inject Him into people.”

As he interacts with students, Finnie likes to prompt them to consider origin, purpose and destiny. “Where will you be 10,000 years from now?” he asked, rhetorically.

Finnie also enjoys reflecting upon the summer night his soul-searching led to a life-changing encounter with the God of the Universe inside Oakland’s landmark stadium.

“It was really precious. I had actually touched God and let God live inside of me,” he said. “I felt washed, cleaned up, and filled up, and I loved Jesus intensely.” | cu

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FCAIA Honors Seniors

:: christianunion.org

Dr. Barbara Pitkin, religious studies senior lecturer at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, has written a new book, Calvin, the Bible, and History: Exegesis and Historical Reflection in the Era of Reform (Oxford

2020

Senior Lecturer Writes Book on Calvin

University Press, 2020). Dr. Pitkin teaches courses on the history and future of Christianity, sixteenthcentury reformations, the history of biblical interpretation, and women and religion. Some of Pitkin’s other works include: What Pure Eyes Could See: Calvin’s Doctrine of Faith in its Exegetical Context (Oxford University Press, 1999), The Formation of Clerical and Confessional Identities in Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2006), and Semper Reformanda: Calvin, Worship, and Reformed Traditions (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2018).

summer

In June, Stanford Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Action (FCAIA) held a video conference call to celebrate seniors. The organization is comprised of Stanford University students who are committed to encouraging, equipping, and empowering student-athletes and coaches to live out their faith within athletic communities. On April 3, Stanford FCAIA joined with Bay Area FCA in hosting an online event with San Francisco Giants

catcher Buster Posey. During the interview, the three-time World Series champion shared about his faith in Christ and his experiences on and off the field.

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the spiritual climate on campus

COR N E LL | On Campus

The Truth Will Set You Free A C A D E M I C I N T E G R I T Y I N T H E T I M E O F C O V I D -1 9

By Ryan Meng-Killeen, Cornell ’21 Editor’s note: The article is reprinted with permission from The Cornell Claritas (www.cornellclaritas.com), “an ecumenical, interdenominational Christian publication that was founded on the hope of starting thoughtful Christian conversations within the academic community.”

It’s true that nobody would have to know if we decided to cheat on this prelim, and there would likely be few to no consequences. But, I, as a Christian, believe in a God who loves integrity, who commands us to be truthful and show honor in all that we do.

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ur current pandemic presents plenty of difficulties and obstacles for students. But these stormy, turbulent times also provide us with an opportunity to examine ourselves and reflect on the question Christ asked His disciples when they were frightened in the storm: “Where is your faith?”

Where is our faith? What do we choose to trust in to give us our peace and our sense of worth?

A couple of weeks ago, I had a prelim for an important pre-med course. Like all prelims now, it was take-home. However, unlike many tests, my professor told us to self-proctor it: ninety minutes, closed book, honor system.

My classmates and I were faced with a choice. We could follow the rules, take the test closed book, only use the allotted ninety minutes, and probably perform worse. Or we could ignore the rules, use our notes, use extra time, work together, and get a higher grade.

It’s said that the person you really are is the person you are when nobody’s looking.

But Christians believe there’s always Someone looking.

Where is my faith?

If my identity and self-worth are found in my academic success or in my future career as a doctor, then playing by the rules feels like shooting myself in the foot.

But I believe that my worth is based in the reality that God loves me, and He demonstrated that love through the Cross: Jesus Christ died for my sins, bearing the Father’s wrath in my place so that I could be in a right relationship with Him. He did that not because of my own righteousness, or because of the grades I get in school, but because of who He is: a righteous, loving God. Christ did not die for me because I am valuable; I am valuable because Christ died for me.

Because my worth is in Christ, I don’t need to rely on my studies and

future career to feel valuable or to justify my existence. Instead, I am freed to study for joy, to glorify God, and to love and honor Him in all that I do.

So I, along with a couple of my Christian friends in the class, decided to take the prelim blind in the designated ninety minutes. On the last question, the timer on my phone went off. I had run out of time. Immediately, I was tempted to go another couple minutes just to finish the question. More tempted than I’d care to admit. But, at that moment, I felt that God had given me a deeper love for truth. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t have loved to earn a few extra points and get a better grade; it’s that I have a greater love for Christ and His call for an integrity-filled life. I know that grades and earthly accomplishments will pass away; instead, because of my relationship with God, I have something infinitely, eternally more valuable.

When the alarm rang, I submitted my prelim, adding on a note explaining that I had run out of time on the last question.

A few days later, the grades came out, and as expected, the mean was quite high, which didn’t bode well for the curve. Unfortunately, although I studied hard and lost sleep preparing for this prelim, I didn’t do as well as I would have liked.

I knew for a fact that some students had worked together and compared answers on this prelim. At first, I was angry that others had cheated,

performed better than I, and had gotten away with it.

But then I remembered this verse from the Book of 1 Samuel, where God makes this declaration to the priest Eli: “…Those who honor me I will honor…”

I believe that God honored our choice to obey Him. In this case, however, that honor from God didn’t mean getting a high grade. Instead, this honor showed that there is a deep-

er, more abiding joy that comes from living your life for Christ, a joy that surpasses any fleeting pleasure we get in earthly things. When I remember what Christ has done for me, I can believe that every day, every moment, every choice I make, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, is another chance to glorify Him and bless His name.

And that is worth more than a dishonest A on a prelim any day.

If you are struggling with the pressures of academic achievement and career success, there is hope. Hard work and success are good, but they are not ultimate. As a Christian, I don’t need to get an A at all costs in order to feel justified or valuable. Instead, my value is found in knowing Christ as my Lord, my Savior, and my first love. My life is secure in His hands, and I am eternally, perfectly loved by Him. | cu

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Holland ’78 Writes Book Celebrating Diverse Founders

A recent Cornell University alumnus hosted Instagram Live conversations on behalf of Veritas Forum this spring. In April, Zachary Lee ’20 discussed creativity and critiques within the entertainment industry with Alissa Wilkinson, a film critic and English and humanities faculty

2020 :: christianunion.org

Alissa Wilkinson

member with The King’s College.

As part of a series on racism, justice, and the Gospel, Lee hosted an Instagram Live session on June 1 with Esau McCaulley, an author and New Testament scholar at Wheaton College. Later in the month, on June 23, Lee and Wilkinson explored movies that confront racism. In addition, Lee recently won a commencement speech contest hosted by Veritas, Comment magazine, and Augustine Collective. The native of Chicago is spending the next academic year as a fellow with Chesterton House (chestertonhouse.org), a center for Christian studies at Cornell.

summer

Joseph Holland (Cornell ’78, Harvard Law ’82) recently released The Vigorous Virtues: Daily Success Principles from Diverse American Founders. Designed to “foster unity and harmony, amidst diversity,” the book offers 365 daily devotional narratives from the lives of historical figures from all walks of life—Asian, Black, Indian, Hispanic, and White— that emphasize values and moral excellence in individuals and the greater community.

Holland calls the work “a collage of inspirational voices beyond the traditional echoes of the Founding Fathers.” Additional information about the book may be found at vigorousvirtues.com.

Lee ’20 Hosts Veritas Events Via Instagram

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pa rt ing shot

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Cassandra Hsiao, Yale ’21

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Photo credit: Sara Beth Turner

Through your generous giving, Christian leaders like Jade are being developed for God’s glory.

Jade Thompson columbia university, class of 2021 hometown: Westchester, New York major: Economics and Sustainability Major Christian Union Lumine has helped me tremendously in my development as a leader. Through the knowledge I gain in my Bible course with ministry fellow Yolanda Solomon, to the encouragement I receive through mentorship, to the practical experience I gain from planning and executing events, I have stepped more deeply and confidently into my role as a disciple of Jesus and a fisher of men. Christian Union leaders and peers reassure me of my value in ways that encourage me to assume larger roles in other organizations because I have a sense of worth and feel that my voice, input, and contributions truly matter.

ChristianUnion.org/Giving Giving@ChristianUnion.org

Texts-4-Toasties, an event that allowed Columbia students to ask Lumine students questions about Christianity in exchange for a grilled cheese sandwich, was particularly meaningful for me. It was like a mini apologetics training. I learn so much from other students’ perspectives and I know the same is true for others in Christian Union Lumine. It is always a blessing to have my Christian peers brainstorm thoughtful answers to questions I may have struggled with in the past or may be searching for currently. Christian Union Lumine has been the best part of my college experience.

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