Winter 2016 Christian Union The Magazine

CORNELL

BROWN

Evangelism Training

Leadership Lecture Series

Christian Union the magazine :: winter 2016

Seeking, Serving, Setting a Standard Christian Union Leadership Development Ministries Are Impacting Their Campuses page 14

Q and A: Pat Gelsinger, technology executive and author of The Juggling Act The Spiritual Climate on Campus The latest from Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton & Yale Special Section: Prayer, Repentance, and Revival

1

FULL-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP through the partnership program

How does it work? your partners you, equipped

you

gordon- conwell

stewardship training

your church

no debt

Prepare for a lifetime of fruitful ministry, surrounded by a network of support, equipped with stewardship skills and free from unnecessary debt.

Through the Partnership Program at Gordon-Conwell, you’ll bring a team of prayer and financial partners, and you’ll receive a full-tuition scholarship and biblical stewardship training.

www.gordonconwell.edu/partnership

80 0 .4 2 8 .7 3 2 9

table of contents

volume xv issue i

Christian Union

the maga zine :: winter 2016 9

in e ach issue Letter from the President / 3 Q and A / 4 What’s Next / 30 Donor Profile / 34 41

14

6 Prayer, Repentance, and Revival win t er 2 016 fe at ure sec t ion Awaken Us Again / 8 Turning From Our Wicked Ways / 10 Seeking God / 12

14 From the University to the City on the web

the maga zine

c o v e r p h o t o : Brandon Price ’17 (left) and Daniel Yue ’16, leaders with Christian Union’s ministry at Harvard. p h o t o c r e d i t : Phil Anema

cit y chris tian union New York City Christian Union / 28 CU President Hutz Hertzberg / 32

36 The Spiritual Climate on Campus

updat e s fr om l e ading univer si t ie s Education and Liberty (Columbia) :: Training for a New Season (Dartmouth) :: The Enigma of Academic Success (Penn) :: Sex and the Academy (Princeton) :: Racial Injustice, Faith, and the Law (Yale) :: News-in-Brief from Each University, and More

christianunion.org

............

::

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

2016

............

A Chosen Generation (Penn) / 16 Conversations About Christ (Cornell) / 17 univer si t y chris t ian union updat e s Harvard / 19 Brown / 20 Columbia / 21 Princeton / 22 Harvard Law / 24 Yale / 25 Dartmouth / 26

winter

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

1

Christian Union T H E

M A G A Z I N E

volume xv issue i winter 2016 editor-in-chief

executive editors

Matthew Bennett

Hutz Hertzberg Lorri Bentch

managing editor

creative director

senior writer

staff writer

field reporters

Tom Campisi Patrick Dennis Eileen Scott Catherine Elvy Luke Foster

Rosalie Doerksen

INVEST IN TOMORROW’S LEADERS...

STARTING TODAY.

Pam Traeger

photo editor

contributing editor

proofreader

Rachel Mari

art director

Michelle Taylor

production

Sarah Camp

Bethany Wakeley

feedback or subscription changes

240 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08542 or via e-mail: TheMagazine@ChristianUnion.org new subscriptions

Do you know someone who would enjoy a free subscription to this magazine? Please use either address above to pass along their names.

Become a Monthly Sustainer: Making a monthly donation is a strategic way to invest in the men and women who will become the next generation of godly leaders. Joining Christian Union’s

By God’s power and with the help of other ministries, Christian Union’s mission is to transform the world by developing and connecting bold Christian leaders. The ministry was founded in 2002 in Princeton, New Jersey.

Learn more at ChristianUnion.org

monthly sustainer team allows you to make a powerful and long-lasting impact in the lives of these students, on these campuses, and in raising up the Christian leaders our nation needs so desperately. Sign up at:

ChristianUnion.org/GiveMonthly

©2016 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, 240 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08542

letter from the founder and ceo

The New Covenant & Revival Fire

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

—Hebrews 4:16

O

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.

christianunion.org

Matthew W. Bennett

::

Yours in Christ,

2016

experience spanning several centuries, beginning with the Great Awakening of the 1730s and 40s and including the Second Great Awakening of the early 1800s, the Businessman’s Revival of 1857-58, the Pentecostal Awakening of 1906, and the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and 70s.

These great moves of God have all been preceded and accompanied by fervent prayer, fasting, bold preaching of the Gospel, and an emphasis on holy living. As American Christians turn to God in similar fashion today we can expect the eternal, faithful God to be just as lavish and generous in showing grace and mercy to His people.

This is precisely why Christian Union has sought to cultivate a revival mindset among adult Christians in the United States with a new initiative called Christian Union Day and Night (cudayandnight.org). The service consists of three-minute video devotionals delivered to your inbox each morning and evening. We would love to have you join this growing community of men and women eager to see God work in our own day as He has in the past.

winter

ne of the most powerful and oft-quoted Biblical passages concerning revival is 2nd Chronicles 7:14: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

There are many inspiring episodes in the Old Testament proving the faithfulness of God and His promise to Solomon and Israel. In desperate situations Israel indeed humbled themselves with fasting and fervent prayer, repented of their sins, and God responded with great favor and miracles.

Given the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant and the resurrection of Jesus, we can now expect even greater responsiveness from God than what Israelites experienced when 2nd Chronicles was written. Jesus Himself is a better sacrifice than the regular animal sacrifices offered during the Old Covenant.

While the High Priest who offered sacrifices was sinful, Jesus is without sin and is able to perfectly and continually intercede for us. Because of the better nature of the New Covenant, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).”

Given the steady, deeply concerning decline in Christian spirituality in the United States in recent decades, these verses stir hope that God will have mercy to reverse that trend. Indeed, we have seen this pattern in church history, and especially in our own nation. Notable revivals have punctuated the American

3

Q and A with Pat Gelsinger Balancing Faith, Family, and Work Is a ‘Juggling Act’

I

n December, Christian Union honored Pat Gelsinger as the Christian Leader of the Year at its New York City Benefit Event. Gelsinger is the chief technology officer at VMware, a software company based in Palo Alto, California.

He previously was the Chief Technology Officer at Intel, where he led the company’s Digital Enterprise Group. As senior vice president and co-general manager, he also led Intel’s Desktop Products Group, which was responsible for developing desktop processors, chipsets, and motherboards.

Gelsinger is the author of The Juggling Act: Bringing Balance to Your Faith, Family, and Work. The following Q and A was adapted from an interview with Christian Union Founder and CEO Matt Bennett at the New York event.

connection to the Internet. With that connection, comes economic benefits, health benefits and obviously, social and spiritual benefits, as well.

Given how active you have been in your work, you’ve thought a lot about and written about achieving balance.

mb:

conversations: “You haven’t been home much lately.” “Yes, I have.” “No, you haven’t.” And out of that came the thesis of the book.

The book talks about the importance of dating my wife, dating my kids…

And always starting every day with God on the throne and having those influ-

matt bennett:

You describe yourself as an intense person, a motivated person.

Where does that come from? What is the source of that intense motivation?

christian union

::

the magazine

Photo credit: Sarah Beth Turner

4

pat gelsinger: I am motivated by the idea that the technology industry is changing the world. It just unleashes incredible opportunity. If you use the microprocessor, a personal computer, are connected with USB, or ever used WiFi—I worked on those. My personal goal is that I would work on a piece of technology that would touch every human on the planet and every modality of life. My Christian version of that goal is that, in every modality of life, we might hasten the return of Christ. We have about 40 percent of the world now connected. It’s exciting that, probably by 2030, we will connect about 80 percent of the planet. We’ll have a persistent

Christian Union Founder and CEO Matt Bennett (left) interviews Pat Gelsinger at Christian Union’s New York City Benefit Event in December.

Can you talk about how you balance putting Jesus Christ first, then your work and your family?

That’s the thesis of my book, The Juggling Act. Like a lot of people in Silicon Valley, you start working until 6 p.m., then 7 p.m., then 7:30; and you just work later and later, more and more, you’re consumed… The work wants more of you; you want to be successful, so you work more, and it just becomes a spiral. Once, Linda and I, like many couples, had one of those wonderful pg:

ences: being in relationship with Him, spending time in prayer, and spending time in fellowship and keeping accountability in your life.

One of the key things I write about in The Juggling Act is [the need for] a personal mission statement. I ask readers, “What do you want to do with your life?” Be very thoughtful and write them down. Get your spouse and other significant influences to read them and ask you, “Is this really what you want to do with your life?” And if these things are consistent with your mission statement,

do them. If they are not consistent with your mission statement, don’t do those.

Sometimes, the most powerful word in the English language is no.

Having a mentor is also important.

One of my professional mentors was Andy Grove, the famous founder of Intel. Mentoring with Andy Grove was like going to a dentist without Novocain. He was tough! Just brutal.

place is my full-time ministry. One time I said, “I’m the senior pastor of the church of VMware. I’ve got 19,000 people in my congregation...” mb: Related to that, as a Christian leader, what opportunities have you had in terms of talking about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and being open about that?

Clearly, I’m a CEO. My job is to make VMware successful. You can’t confuse your ministry with your responsibility. If you’re successful as a CEO, there’s almost nothing the board can do to get rid of you. And if you’re not being successful as a CEO, there’s almost nothing the board can do to keep you.

It’s sort of pass/fail that way. You’ve got to do your day job responsibilities and never get confused, but in positions of leadership are tremendous opportunities to share Christ.

pg: mb: As you grew in the Lord, you reached a crisis of faith at some point, where you thought of leaving the tech industry and making some changes in your life. Tell us about what happened?

What would you say to Christian college students, recent graduates, or young professionals? They have a lot going on in terms of wanting to succeed and wanting to be faithful to Christ.

mb:

I would tell them to go to the book of Daniel and read about his influence in the marketplace. Remember the day of the lions’ den? What was he doing?

They could find no fault in him, right?

He rose up to be the second most powerful person under three pagan kings.

Live a life like Daniel. As a young person entering the workplace, God will honor

pg:

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

—Colossians 3:23-24

:: christianunion.org

you if you choose to honor Him. And that is the demand that He is putting on each of us and the opportunity He’s giving each of us—to be a clear and visible witness for Him. As young people entering the workplace, entering different fields of profession, you have a ministry that is absolutely unique to anybody else on the planet. Take every opportunity you get to influence people for the Lord Jesus Christ. | cu

2016

When I talk to our employees about our corporate values, it sounds like I’m giving a sermon without Scripture. I say “This is what we value,” “This is what we believe in,” “This is what integrity means,” “These are our community values and how we’re investing.” And one-on-one, your most powerful ministry tool is “May I pray for you?” I’ve said that to thousands of people over the years. I’ve never had an atheist or ag-

winter

I became a Christian in February 1980. A couple of months after I accepted Christ, I felt this incredible burden to go into full-time ministry. I was also loving technology, doing extremely well, and wrestled with God for several months. Finally, like Gideon, I laid a fleece before God and said, “Okay, God, if this happens, I will go into full-time ministry.” And as soon as I gave up, God came back and said, “The workplace is your ministry.” And for Christians, my challenge would be, “Are you a full-time minister?” A few are called to vocational ministry. The rest of us are called to workplace, school-place, marketplace, home-place, full-time ministry. Colossians 3:23-24 has been my life verse since then: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Demonstrating Christ in the workpg:

nostic deny my prayer. Can you believe that? They don’t even believe in my God! But, in their time of need they never say no. And then you come back a week or two later, and you say, “How is your sick child? I’ve been praying for him.” It’s just tremendous.

5

6

christian union

::

the magazine

feature section :: winter 2016 Awaken Us Again / 8 Repentance: The Demand of Jesus / 10 Seeking God / 12

Prayer, Repentance, & Revival If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

–

second chronicles

7:14

winter

2016 :: christianunion.org

In this special section, Christian Union: The Magazine presents three articles connected to the promises of Second Chronicles 7:14. “Awaken Us Again” examines the link between concerted prayer and revival from the point of view of author and historian Bob Bakke; John Piper writes about the kind of repentance Jesus demands; and Christian Union Ministry Fellow Justin Mills exhorts us to seek God with our whole heart, soul, and mind.

7 photo credit: LIGHTSTOCK

feature section | prayer, repentance, and revival

Awaken Us Again

Historian Notes Link between Prayer and Revival by catherine elvy, staff writer

christian union

::

the magazine

A

8

t their core, major manifestations from God involve prayer movements.

“Prayer movements have been fundamental to the advancement of Christ’s kingdom as long as we can trace,” says Bob Bakke, a church historian, author, and pastor.

“God is drawn to united prayer.”

To illustrate the commanding significance of prayer to God, Bakke points to Revelation 8. In the chapter, the Apostle John described how Heaven was utterly silent for about a half hour after the Lamb opened the seventh seal.

Then, with precision, the seven angels who stand before God were given seven trumpets, and another angel with a golden censer arrived and stood at the altar.

“He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne.

The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.”

That poignant account suggests how supplications from the saints are “so fundamental to the unfolding of God’s purpose on earth that God would wait in silence for a half hour,” said Bakke.

As for modern believers, “perhaps, God is waiting for the incense of the prayers of saints in America to arise before He gives permission for another revival.”

In January, Bakke spoke to Christian Union ministry fellows at their winter conference in Princeton, New Jersey. Revivals reflect a foretaste of God’s master plan, he said.

“When we see revival, we see an approximation of consummation,” Bakke said. “We’re seeing a little bit of what God actually intends to consummate when history comes to an end.”

Bakke, the teaching pastor of Hillside Church in Minnesota, is deeply versed in the significance of prayer. He holds a doctorate in church history from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and helped found the Global Day of Prayer, an initiative that included television, radio, and Internet broadcast outlets.

More recently, Bakke is researching and writing for a major film on America’s Second Great Awakening, arguably the most powerful revival in the nation’s history. Likewise, in his book, The Power of Extraordinary Prayer, Bakke traced the history of corporate prayer from 1660 to 1860, including the noteworthy Concert of Prayer efforts.

During his lecture in Princeton, Bakke highlighted the role of united intercession in sparking revival fires. Among them, the Second Great Awakening began around 1790, during the infancy of the United States, and it ignited a series of notable supernatural episodes.

Not surprisingly, Bakke spotlighted how 21st-century ministers can glean

a plethora of spiritual lessons from the Second Great Awakening.

In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, Americans were a “battered people, a bankrupt people,” Bakke said. “The entirety of the nation was a wounded fellowship.”

As well, the undeveloped country faced continual existential threats from bordering colonies of the United Kingdom, France, and Spain – then the world’s super powers.

Likewise, after American commercial vessels lost the protection of their former motherland, they suffered frequent attacks from pirates and terrorists along Atlantic trade routes.

On the home front, the young nation dealt with real estate collapses, plagues, diseased crops, political rancor, and the like.

“Could we survive as a nation? Could anyone govern this nation?” Bakke asked rhetorically, noting the hurdles confronting the United States during its infancy.

In addition to such formidable challenges, major enlightenment philosophies began to infiltrate the country’s premier institutions, ushering an open questioning of religious orthodoxy.

Still, “there was a hope to be found in God,” Bakke said.

With the dawn of the 19th century, reports began to spread of outpourings and manifestations of the Holy Spirit, especially along the American frontier, as the United States pushed its rugged boundaries westward.

winter

2016 :: christianunion.org

ically in certain portions of the country.”

In an article for Revive Magazine, In particular, revival historians point Still, believers can maintain confidence Bakke pointed out how the leaders that to the watershed nature of the camp in the Lord they worship and adore. sparked the Second Great Awakening meetings orchestrated by Rev. James “God has faced difficult times before, focused on three main elements: united McGready in June 1800. In the afterand He has been victorious over such prayer, prolonged gatherings (semi-anmath of the gatherings in Red River, times,” Bakke said. “He can do so again nual and annual camp meetings), and Kentucky, news spread of powerful visitoday.” intense, frequent Gospel proclamation. tations of the Holy Spirit that were strikThe challenge remains for modern “They entered into covenants of ingly reminiscent of the wonders of the believers, even in hostile settings, to susprayer, leading their churches to set aside early church’s Pentecost celebrations. tain prayer as the heartbeat of all of their specific days of prayer and specific times In late July 1800, McGready staged efforts. “We’re a people of prayer. We’re to pray,” wrote Bakke. “In particular, they another gathering in nearby Gasper Rivtotally dependent on the work of the asked believers to pray at sundown on er. This time, as many as 8,000 people Holy Spirit,” Bakke said. “Revival comes Saturday evenings and at sunrise Sunday arrived from distances as far away as 100 either by desperation or devastation.” mornings for the outpouring of God’s miles, giving rise to the term camp meetAs such, Bakke is encouraging believSpirit on the preaching of His Word at ing, according to historical accounts. ers and ministry leaders to embrace the Sunday services, and for the salvation of Then, in 1801, Rev. Barton Stone orgacentrality of the Holy nized the mammoth Cane Spirit’s role in ushering Ridge Revival, which atrevival. The longtime tracted more than 10,000 minister and broadcastvisitors from as far away er pointed to the eneras Ohio and Tennessee. gizing words of Ezekiel The revival, along a ridge 36:26-27: Daniel Boone named in“I will give you a new side Bourbon County, heart and put a new spirwas famed for its palpable it in you; I will remove fervor and enthusiasm, from you your heart of according to documents. stone and give you a “The reputation was heart of flesh. And I will that God was on the put my Spirit in you and move,” said Bakke. “The move you to follow my Holy Spirit was so powdecrees and be careful to erful upon this place.” keep my laws.”

In particular, as the Photo credit: “Religious Camp Meeting” by J. Maze Burbank Believers should conHoly Spirit swept across A Methodist Camp Meeting during the Second Great Awakening sider their labors to be a the crowds, waves of “work of the Holy Spirparticipants collapsed to it or no work at all,” Bakke said. “Apart the lost. They also set aside days to fast the ground, including a 7-year-old girl. from the work of the Spirit, there is no once a month, to unite as believers in a When she eventually rose with a radiant work at all.” town or area for corporate prayer for an face, she exhorted onlookers by reciting After all, God sovereignly designed extraordinary work of the Spirit.”

Scriptures for hours. the transmission of the Gospel to be a “When God speaks, everything “I could go on,” Bakke said. partnership. “The first order of busichanges. He can transform any environOut of the severity of frontier life, a ness is to be before His feet,” Bakke ment that we face.” major awakening spread across the nasaid. | cu As for our nation’s current army of tion’s remote corridor for decades and prayer warriors, “we face difficult days, gave rise to a series of churches, denomiracially across the country, and economnations, schools, and hospitals.

9

feature section | prayer, repentance, and revival

Turning From Our Wicked Ways Repentance: The Demand of Jesus by john piper

Editor’s note: The following article is reprinted with permission from www.desiringGod.org.

T

he demand to repent is as basic as it gets in Jesus’ message. It is equally basic to, and almost synonymous with, the command, “You must be born again” (John 3:7).

One of my concerns is to show that repentance in Jesus’ message is not behavior, but the inner change that gives rise to new God-centered, Christ-exalting behavior.

Here are some thoughts to help make the meaning of repentance more plain.

Greek word behind the English “repent” (metanoeo) points in this direction. It has two parts: meta and noeo. The second part (noeo) refers to the mind and its thoughts and perceptions and dispositions and purposes. The first part (meta) is a prefix that regularly means movement or change. So the basic meaning of repent is to experience a change of the mind’s perceptions and dispositions and purposes.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)

christian union

::

the magazine

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:41)

10

Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:3, 5) The first demand of Jesus’ public ministry was, “Repent.” He spoke this command indiscriminately to all who would listen. It was a call for radical inward change toward God and man.

Two things show us that repentance is an internal change of mind and heart rather than mere sorrow for sin or mere improvement of behavior. First, the meaning of the

The other factor that points to this meaning of repent is the way Luke 3:8 describes the relationship between repentance and new behavior. It says, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” Then it gives examples of the fruits: “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise” (Luke 3:11).

This means that repenting is what happens inside of us that leads to the fruits of new behavior. Repentance is not the new deeds, but the inward change that bears the fruit of new deeds. Jesus is demanding that we experience this inward change.

Why? His answer is that we are sinners. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32).

What was Jesus’ view of sin? In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus describes the son’s sin like this: “He squandered his property in reckless living . . . [and] devoured [it] with prostitutes” (Luke 15:13, 30). But when the prodigal repents he says, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” Therefore, throwing your life away on reckless living and prostitutes is not just humanly hurtful; it is an offense against heaven—that is, against God. That’s the essential nature of sin. It’s an assault on God. We see this again in the way Jesus taught His disciples to pray. He said that they should pray, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4).

In other words, sins that God forgives are compared to the ones people commit against us, and those are called debts. Therefore, Jesus’ view of sin was that it dishonored God and put us in debt to restore the divine honor we had defamed by our God-belittling behavior or attitudes. That debt is paid by Jesus himself.

“The Son of man came . . . to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). But for us to enjoy that gift, He says we must repent.

Repenting means experiencing a change of mind that now sees God as true and beautiful and worthy of all our praise and all our obedience. This change of mind also embraces Jesus in the same way. We

forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47). So the demand of Jesus to repent goes to all the nations. It comes to us, whoever we are and wherever we are, and lays claim on us. This is the demand of Jesus to every soul: Repent. Be changed deep within. Replace all God-dishonoring, Christ-belittling perceptions and dispositions and purposes with God-treasuring, Christ-exalting ones. | cu the author of over 50 books, is the founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and the chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

john piper,

winter

2016 :: christianunion.org

He meant that the final judgment of God know this because Jesus said, “If God were would fall on those who don’t repent. “The your Father, you would love me, for I came men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgfrom God” (John 8:42). Seeing God with ment with this generation and condemn it, a new mind includes seeing Jesus with a for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, new mind. and behold, something greater than Jonah No one is excluded from Jesus’ demand is here” (Matthew 12:41). Jesus, the Son of to repent. He made this clear when a group God, is warning people of the judgment to of people came to Him with news of two come, and offering escape if we will repent. calamities. Innocent people had been killed If we will not repent, Jesus has one word

by Pilate’s massacre and by the fall of the for us, “Woe, to you” (Matthew 11:21). tower of Siloam (Luke 13:1-4). Jesus took This is why His demand for repenthe occasion to warn even the bearers of the tance is part of His central message that news: “Unless you repent, you will all likethe kingdom of God is at hand. “The time wise perish” (Luke 13:5). In other words, is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at don’t think calamities mean that some hand; repent and believe in the gospel” people are sinners in need of repentance (Mark 1:15). The Gospel—the Good and others aren’t. All need repentance. Just News—is that the rule of God has arrived as all need to be born anew because “that in Jesus to save sinners before it arrives which is born of the flesh is [merely] flesh” (John 3:6), so all must repent because all are sinners.

Repenting means experiencing a When Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righchange of mind that now sees God as teous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32), He did true and beautiful and worthy of all not mean that some persons are good enough not to our praise and all our obedience. need repentance. He meant some think they are (Luke at His second coming in judgment. So 18:9), and others have already repented the demand to repent is based on the graand have been set right with God. For cious offer that is present to forgive, and on example, the rich young ruler desired “to the gracious warning that someday those justify himself ” (Luke 10:29) while “the who refuse the offer will perish in God’s tax collector . . . beat his breast, saying, judgment.

‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ [and] After He had risen from the dead, Jesus went down to his house justified [by God!]” made sure that His apostles would contin(Luke 18:13-14). ue the call for repentance throughout the Therefore, none is excluded. All need world. He said, “Thus it is written, that the repentance. And the need is urgent. Jesus Christ should suffer and on the third day said, “Unless you repent, you will all likerise from the dead, and that repentance and wise perish.” What did He mean by perish?

11

feature section | prayer, repentance, and revival

Seeking God with Our Whole Heart, Soul, and Mind by justin mills

B

ut from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 4:29).

The Bible is full of such promises as this one in Deuteronomy 4:29, with a straightforward equation for intimacy with God. Unsurprisingly, these promises of seeking the Lord and finding Him include conditionality, such as the requirement that you seek after Him with all your heart and soul.

We know of God’s holiness and the need, as the preacher says, to guard our steps when we go to the house of God (Ecclesiastes 5:1). This might even appeal to our sense of piety and undergoing the necessary rituals to ready our hearts to seek Him. However, I would argue that more than being conditional, these passages present the situational requirements for seeking God, making the pursuit of God more dependent on realizing our circumstances than in anything we can do or say.

is just as easy to convince ourselves that sufficient posturing can ready our hearts to seek God. Yet, this promise was given in the midst of one of the darkest chapters in Israel’s history – the exile to Babylon following the southern kingdom’s deterioration into idolatry. In fact, the “hope and a future” spoken of in Jeremiah 29:11 wouldn’t be realized for a full 70 years! In a way, this dark episode occurred precisely because they did not seek the Lord during their time in the Promised Land, except sporadically under a few righteous kings. Spoken by Moses, the call to seek

christian union

::

the magazine

The desire to seek God must rest firmly in the untrammeled desperation of man and the boundless loving-kindness of God.

12

Perhaps the best example of this is associated with the oft-quoted Jeremiah 29:11. After the encouragement about the Lord’s “plans for welfare and not for evil, to bring you a hope and a future,” a similar promise of seeking God follows in verse 13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Divorced from its context, we can begin to think that our Christian lives will be characterized by prosperity, hope, and a carefree future. It

God from Deuteronomy was given by way of reminder after 40 years of desert wanderings. In both cases, it was only in view of the fresh reality of their corporate sin and need that these promises made any sense.

In summary, the desire to seek God must rest firmly in the untrammeled desperation of man and the boundless loving-kindness of God. In Joel 2:12-13, returning to the Lord with “all your heart” includes the desperate measures of fasting,

weeping, mourning, and heart-rending.

These are all done in view of the character of God: “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.” We, who are to “seek the Lord …with all our heart,” should know both the state of our heart and the character of the Lord.

Jesus praised a man for summing up the commandments as such: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Yet, this same man immediately proceeded to justify himself (Luke 10:2729). We who are in Christ know our need and the sufficient depth of God’s love for us to reconcile us to Him in Christ. We have gone through spiritual exile, being enemies of God. We have gone through captivity, being slaves to sin. We have known the extent of our brokenness and our need for redemption, being corrupted in our flesh.

And it is precisely in this place, and only in this place, where we can seek God with our whole heart, soul, and mind. | cu is Christian Union’s ministry director at the University of Pennsylvania. justin mills

Free Video Devotionals... Daily

Psalm 1 says: “Blessed is the man...[whose] delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” In January, Christian Union launched a free service of morning and evening video devotionals to help Christians seek God whole-heartedly. Three-minute videos from respected pastors and leaders are sent to subscribers twice daily, six days per week.

Sign up now at CUDayAndNight.org Over the last three centuries, revivals have had a great impact. Between 1730 and 1830 successive movements of the Holy Spirit brought a large proportion of the population into the churches. These awakenings are not ultimately the result of marketing or organization. They come, by God’s grace and in his time, in response to extraordinary prayer. Christian Union Day and Night is making a serious attempt to spark this kind of prayer and devotion. I welcome it, and I’m very encouraged by it.

- Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City

OR CONNECT: Twitter: @CUDayAndNight

Facebook.com/CUDayAndNight

Developing Leaders universit y chris tian union updat e s page 16

christian union

::

the magazine

cit y

14

chris tian union updat e page 3 2

from the university to the city

with a Biblical Worldview society will be transformed for god’s glory as the lives of our future leaders and the universities they attend are impacted by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As students who are well-positioned to assume roles of influence learn to seek God, grow in their faith, and develop a thoughtful, Christ-centered worldview, they will be prepared to engage culture in a powerful way. This is at the heart of Christian Union’s work at Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale.

and their peers—City Christian Union—will help them take the next step. By

2016

developing networks of like-minded believers in key cultural centers, starting in

winter

as these students graduate, christian union’s ministry to its alumni

::

Lord to bring sweeping change to England through William Wilberforce and the Clapham Circle in the early 1800s. Pray that God will bring similar change to the U.S. as new networks of leaders emerge and engage today’s culture.

christianunion.org

New York City, their impact will be multiplied. This model was used by the

15 Andy Wingerson ’15, Esther Soma ’16, and Ryan Campbell ‘16 are leaders with Christian Union’s ministry at Yale University.

university christian union

A Chosen Generation Penn Senior Is Living the Dream

christian union

::

the magazine

by eileen scott, senior writer

16

When they immigrated to the United Penn to make a tangible difference.”

States from Colombia, the parents of Arango said the ministry offers a place of spirJeffrey Arango ’16 were inspired by the itual support, as well as academic, social, and perAmerican Dream. But due to limited financial sonal encouragement. “It has become my home means, the family found itself living in the most away from home.” dangerous section of Long Beach, California.

“The Bible courses are some of the best I’ve Their dream appeared more like a nightmare and taken,” said Arango. “They are incredibly stimua solemn reminder of the lating and cause me to think violence and drug-riddled critically about the passages streets they left behind in we cover.”

South America.

Arango is also grateful Today, however, Arango for mentoring from Chrisis living the life his parents tian Union faculty members envisioned. And Christian John Cunningham and Justin Union’s ministry on camMills, Penn ’05. pus is helping the senior “They have always been navigate higher education there to provide wisdom and with a biblical worldview. an alternative perspective At Penn, Arango said, to that of my fellow college many students are afraid to peers,” said Arango. “The admit they are first-generaministry has given me signiftion college students. They icant leadership and planning feel like outsiders and don’t skills that I wouldn’t have had want to to exacerbate furotherwise.”

Jeffrey Arango, Penn ’16, is unabashed by ther those feelings of not As a result, Arango has being a first generation college graduate, belonging. But that’s not and he is serving as an inspiration for other emerged as a leader on camthe case for this political “first-gen” students. pus. He co-founded Penn First, science and international a community and support relations major. network for first-generation “I am not hesitant to mention that I am a college students and those who are the first in first-generation student. In fact, I am very proud their families to pursue greater social mobility. to say so,” noted Arango.

“We facilitate discussion to promote awareRather than be resentful or angry about his ness of the issues that first-generation students past and his troubled neighborhood, the young face when coming to a university like Penn,” said man is inspired by it. Arango credits Christian Arango.

Union at Penn with helping him to map out a Beyond campus, Arango said Christian Union future that honors God and remembers his roots. has helped mold his future ambitions significant“Students coming from a similar background ly. In the spring semester, he will work at the typically ‘shut the door’ behind them and their White House for the Domestic Policy Council in communities,” said Arango. “Christian Union has the area of Urban Affairs and Economic Mobility. made me realize I simply can’t do that, and that “I was ecstatic when I was made aware of my I have been given the unique opportunity here at acceptance into the highly competitive program,

but I was also just as ecstatic because I knew that I would be able to help those in need and suffering,” said Arango.

Additionally, “Christian Union deeply convicted me that I should honor God and demonstrate His love in all that I do. This will be an incredible leadership opportunity to do just that.

To show God’s love and to help the weary and those in need.”

“Thanks to Christian Union, I’ve realized the

importance of honoring God in what I choose to pursue. Whether I enter the private or public sector, I seek to glorify God.” And as Arango seeks to glorify the Lord, he is also aware of the blessings which he has received.

“I truly believe that going from living in poverty, in the deadliest zip code of my city, to the Ivy League, and now to the White House, has been nothing short of a miracle that God has orchestrated for a distinct purpose,” he said. | cu

.................................................................................

Conversations about Christ Panel Discussion Equips Students for Evangelism by catherine elvy, staff writer

on evangelism. Christian Union Ministry Fellow Anna Shea served as moderator for the event, which was entitled Conversations about Christ.

Thomforde wanted students to appreciate how conveying the news of Christ’s gift of eternal life is a key part of fullling the Great Commission for believers.

“Evangelism and communicating the Gospel are central to what we’re doing here,” Thomforde said. “It’s central to being a Christian.”

“Evangelism and communicating the Gospel are central to what we’re doing here.”

—Jim Thomforde

2016 :: christianunion.org

“A panel provided a nice format to hit on key concepts, to equip students, and to share some of our experiences.”

In addition, Thomforde wanted to infuse the undergraduates with a sense of confidence in God’s promises to build His kingdom and in the power of the Gospel.

“We’re really convinced that God is going to be the one to do the work,” Thomforde said. “We just need to watch for and be ready for the opportunities that arise.”

winter

Each year, the vast majority of the ambitious students who arrive at Cornell University are ready to tackle the rigors of academia and young adulthood, but lack familiarity with the promises and life-transforming power of the Gospel.

As such, Christian Union’s ministry at Cornell exists to be a witness of the Lord’s grace and power at one of the nation’s most influential universities. The leadership development ministry recently hosted a panel discussion to probe the basic tenets and tools of evangelism.

On November 11, about 65 undergraduates gathered inside a lecture hall in the Plant Sciences Building to hear ministry fellows and student leaders explain some of the approaches they can use to share their faith confidently in a pluralistic environment.

In the Northeast, “this is one of the greatest needs we have. In our region, most people aren’t believers,” said Jim Thomforde, Christian Union’s ministry director at Cornell. “We have students coming from around the world. Often, they haven’t even heard the Gospel. It’s a bit of a post-Christian generation.”

Thomforde joined Ministry Fellow Jeff Ballard, volunteer Christine Dunson, and student leaders Gaired Jordan ’16 and Lauren Smith ’16 to present personal experiences and perspectives

17

university christian union

The panel provided valuable preparation for the students who gathered a week later in central campus to distribute one thousand copies of Tim Keller’s apologetics book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

In his New York Times’ bestseller, Keller addressed the doubts that skeptics often bring to religion. The founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church used literature, philosophy, anthropology, pop culture, and intellectual reasoning to explain how the belief in the God of Judeo-Christianity is rational.

Likewise, the students distributing Keller’s book near Willard Straight Hall served as a “picture of the body of Christ working to proclaim the Gospel,” Thomforde said. “Conversations may come up, opening the door in various ways.”

On a related note, Thomforde also encouraged students to get to know their peers as they share their faith in Christ.

“Start by asking questions. Really listen to your friends and ask questions,” Thomforde said.

“Life is lived over time. Relationships develop over time. So, evangelism takes Gaired Jordan ’16 was part of a panel discussion on evangelism for Christian place over time.”

Union’s leadership development ministry at Cornell.

Ballard reiterated that a significant percentage of students arrive at Cornell without a foundational understanding of Christianity from proselytization. The latter represents an agor exposure to Christian friends. “It might take gressive effort to induce a person to a religious time to build a common understanding,” he said. conversion.

At the same time, student believers need to be Evangelism, however, involves sharing God’s willing to step out of their comfort zones to share plan to redeem mankind through the sacrifice of their faith. Alluding to students’ fears of rejection, His Son, who offers both eternal life and a person“we make assumptions based upon fear,” Ballard al relationship. Such conversations allow students said. “Every person needs Jesus.” opportunities to “work toward communicating Ultimately, the Gospel message, which is rootwhat Christ accomplished on the cross,” Thomed in historical facts, “necessitates a response. forde said. “The implications are wonderful.”

These are true events that happened in history,” Thomforde encouraged students to be mindst Ballard said. “Christ’s death and resurrection are ful of the instructions found in 1 Peter 3:15: “Alreal events and have implications for all of us.” | cu ways be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

As such, committed Christians should reflect love, joy, and a “hope that is pleasantly different,” Thomforde said.

christian union

::

the magazine

Still, it’s natural for student believers to worry about seeming pushy or arrogant when discussing their faith, especially on campus. Nonetheless, Christians should pause to take an elevated view of evangelism and to be encouraged as they consider how myriad people play a role in spreading the Gospel.

In addition, part of the panel discussion centered on clearing up some of the misconceptions associated with evangelism, namely how it differs

18

Looking Back, Giving Back with Gratitude Harvard Alumni Encourage Seniors in CU Ministry by catherine elvy, staff writer

2016 :: christianunion.org

pleased with the feedback she received.

“Our aim was to provide a space for seniors and alumni to connect and have fun,” Anakwenze said. “Students and alumni arrived at various points and times throughout the night to eat, dance, reunite, and meet people for the first time.”

Jihye Choi ’14 echoed those comments. “This was really a planned, but informal gathering, for us to fellowship with one another, have fun, and reconnect,” said Choi.

Christian Union launched its leadership development ministry at Harvard in fall 2008. As such, the ministry celebrated the graduation of its first class in 2011 and the swelling ranks of alumni in subsequent years.

“Now that there are four classes of [ministry] graduates, we have reached a stage in which there is a critical mass of alumni who can congregate for events like these,” Anakwenze said.

As for alumni, James Sun ’14 said the Harvard grads were touched as they relived their experiences in Christian Union’s ministry.

“We recounted stories from conferences and Bible courses and favorite memories of the staff and of one another. Although many of us have since moved away from Boston and lost regular contact with friends from [the ministry], it was refreshing to be able to reconnect with the people who shaped us in significant ways in college,” said Sun. As well, “since graduating, I have gained a much deeper sense of appreciation for the fellowship and teaching which Christian Union provided for us,” Sun said.

Likewise, after reuniting with Harvard alumni throughout the weekend, Sun said he was struck by the potential of graduates of Christian Union’s ministry at Harvard to join together to advance Christ’s Gospel.

“There are so many incredibly gifted alumni of [the ministry], and there’s no telling the powerful ways in which God will use us to love the church and love the world in the future,” Sun said. | cu

winter

Seniors involved with Christian Union’s ministry at Harvard College participated in a series of weekend events with alumni who took part in the organization during its formative years.

As a highlight of the weekend, about 26 seniors gathered with 18 Harvard alumni for a mixer on the evening of November 14 in the Leverett House’s Library Theater to discuss post-college life and shared ministry experiences.

“It was very encouraging to spend some time with the alumni, many of whom were my friends while they were in school. I had several conversations about work life, social life, and Christian faith in the post-college world,” said Peter Hickman ’16.

Alumni of Christian Union’s ministry at Harvard participated in two weekend events with seniors, including a dinner that was held just before the ministry’s weekly leadership lecture series on November 13.

As for the mixer, it served as a treasure trove of wisdom for seniors. Instead of playing his usual role of doling out advice to underclassmen, Hickman was able to enjoy an opportunity to be on the “receiving end” of input.

In particular, Hickman asked “a good deal of questions about what people’s jobs were like and what the graduates’ experiences in churches and other Christian communities had been like.”

In addition to sharing tidbits on the work world, best practices to navigate a successful senior year, and strategies to tackle a senior thesis, many of the alumni expressed profound appreciation for their experiences with Christian Union.

“Some graduates talked about how [the ministry] had meant a huge amount to them and how they wanted to be a resource to current and future students involved in the ministry,” said Hickman, a math major from Missouri.

Among the organizers of the senior-alumni mixer, Ujunwa Anakwenze ’16 said she was

19

university christian union

The Anchor Leadership Lecture Series Makes Debut

christian union

::

the magazine

by eileen scott, senior writer

20

This fall, Christian Union’s ministry at Brown launched its weekly leadership lecture series, “The Anchor,” on the Providence, Rhode Island campus. Hosting distinguished speakers and leaders from various sectors of society and from within Christian Union, the series will provide a space for intellectual engagement, worship, and corporate prayer.

“Having a larger venue where students can pause from their busy schedules and come together to worship and hear from a speaker is really valuable,” said Jackie Cornejo ’18, a student leader who helps coordinate the series.

Justin Doyle, a Christian Union ministry fellow at Brown, said students’ capacity for leadership deepens Justin Doyle, a Christian Union ministry substantially as they lisfellow at Brown, coached student ten to Christian speakers leaders as they launched The Anchor, the who address theological ministry’s first leadership lecture series. concepts, as well as contemporary issues.

The lecture series inspires students to explore the relevance of faith, Scripture, and theology in their own lives and in society. It’s also a setting for students to discuss openly their challenges, struggles, or personal revelations surrounding the various topics. The lectures are often followed by a question-and-answer session or discussions.

The initial lecturers challenged students to look beyond themselves and view their faith and life choices in context of the campus, the culture, and their future professions.

Christian Union Teaching Fellow Nick Nowalk spoke to the students about community

and service. Quincy Watkins, Christian Union’s Vice President of Spiritual Formation, taught about spiritual gifts. Another lecture addressed the topic of Holy Sexuality and included a discussion of how the Christian community can reach out to those with same-sex attractions, encouraging them to pursue God fully.

The lecture series helps students go beyond their intellectual and spiritual comfort zones so they can grow and live out their faith on campus and make a tangible difference as they seek to shape culture.

“It’s just been great to hear from people with different perspectives and stories,” said Cornejo.

Doyle said that Watkins’ discussion of the gifts of the Spirit encouraged students to think about the relevance of those gifts in today’s culture and in their own lives. He also noted how his message about prophecy, and the ensuing prayer time with Brown students was a highlight of the evening.

“People seemed really receptive of his talk, and I think it motivated all of us to seek spiritual gifts and a greater nearness to the Lord. He’s also just a great people person and had the students laughing and comfortable enough to ask questions,” said Cornejo.

Doyle praised Cornejo and the leadership team that directs the series.

“It was amazing to see our leaders come alive and take ownership of this new facet of the ministry. These young student leaders are continuing to grow in their areas of responsibility,” he said.

“Overall, our leadership team of 10 sophomores has been doing a great job of stepping into their respective roles within the ministry.”

Doyle is also prayerful that “this Christ-centered community at Brown would continue to be strengthened through the lecture series. We pray that students who don’t yet know Jesus would also accept an invitation, get a taste of the hope of the Gospel, and find new life in Jesus.” | cu

Hardship And Lordship Columbia Sophomore Perseveres through Trials by catherine elvy, staff writer

2016 :: christianunion.org

one around her followed suit in seeking admission to an Ivy League institution, and she is a first-generation college student.

“I prayed before I submitted the application, ‘Lord do this for me. Give me a story to tell.’ From that moment on, I knew I was going to get in,” said Rivera, who accepted Christ as a youngster and began attending church on her own at 15. “I knew that God was going to answer that prayer.”

After receiving an acceptance letter, “the reality of God’s goodness” resonated with Rivera, who is contemplating a major in ethnic studies with a concentration in business.

Even after enrolling at Columbia Rivera continued to deal with the residual trauma of homelessness. In particular, summer 2015 posed a formidable challenge; she had no place to stay after finals ended.

“At Columbia, you have 24 hours to move out after finals. I didn’t have a place to go and I still had to study for finals,” said Rivera, who ended up staying with friends from church.

“God provided.”

Despite the wounds of her homeless youth, Rivera said she has Migueyli Rivera ’18 is a leader with Christian “never felt more com- Union’s ministry at Columbia University. forted or loved.”

Rivera attributes much of her success at Columbia to the support she receives from Christian Union’s ministry and her church, Christ Crucified Fellowship.

Since joining a Bible course with Christian

winter

A Columbia University undergraduate is sharing the lessons she gleaned from the trenches of extraordinary financial hardships to inspire participants in Christian Union’s leadership development ministry on campus.

Migueyli Rivera ’18 readily offers fellow students some of the spiritual and practical insights she gained as a strapped, often displaced teen in Lawrence, Massachusetts. “When I was going through homelessness, I really hung onto my faith,” said Rivera.

Rivera is a member of Christian Union’s ministry at Columbia, where she is the co-leader of the community service team. The sophomore is also active at her church in nearby Washington Heights.

Earlier this fall, Rivera helped set up a panel on the intersection of the Gospel and race at Columbia.

Yolanda Solomon, a Christian Union ministry fellow at Columbia, described Rivera as an “amazing, strong Christian” who demonstrates tangibly her heart to disciple other students. “She is definitely a big influence on many,” Solomon said.

Likewise, Rivera is open with her Columbia peers about her monetary struggles.

“You don’t want to make people feel bad for privilege,” said Rivera, who spent part of her childhood in the Bronx as well as the Dominican Republic. “The general problem of sin and hurt is something everyone can relate to.”

As such, Rivera is quick to share with students how she became unexpectedly homeless during the autumn of her senior year of high school after an older brother engaged in criminal activity. Nonetheless, she managed to complete high school after shuffling, primarily, between classmates’ homes.

Also during her senior year, despite seemingly insurmountable odds, Rivera applied to Columbia. The prospect was especially daunting as no

21

university christian union

Union, Rivera said her spiritual walk has grown exponentially, especially after poring through the compelling chapters of Hebrews. As well, in August, Rivera participated in one of the ministry’s Christian Worldview Summer Sessions at its conference center in New York.

Rivera recently made it a point to encourage her fellow Lions with an account of a timely financial miracle.

In September, just a few days before owing Columbia’s student contribution payment – and with no means of making even a down payment after the budgeting stresses of the previous summer – Rivera was at a loss for solutions, other than to take out another loan.

She paused to pray, while noting that only God could sustain her in adversity. “From that, I

just went along with life, trying not to stress too much about being buried under debt,” she said.

Then, just after an unproductive visit to Columbia’s financial aid office, Rivera received an unexpected e-mail alerting her to the news of a $2,000 scholarship. To Rivera’s surprise, a check, made possible by an alumnus of her high school, was waiting for her.

“I was in shock to find out I got the scholarship,” Rivera said. “The Lord never ceases to just blow my mind.”

Such testimonies and challenges have taught Rivera that Christ is her source. “Jesus remains greater than all looming problems. He is Lord of everything, including our storms,” she said.

Ultimately, “not even death could hold down the God that loves us,” said Rivera. | cu

.................................................................................

The Nature of Sin, the Meaning of Success Leadership Lecture Series Features Princeton Professor

christian union

::

the magazine

by catherine elvy, staff writer

22

Princeton University Professor Robert Prud’homme highlighted the accomplishments of three distinguished alumni and spoke to students on the nature of sin and the meaning of success on December 4 at the weekly leadership lecture series hosted by Christian Union’s ministry at Princeton.

The Princeton scholar and engineer noted that, ultimately, the prevalence of sin in pursuing success is especially insidious to the university’s undergraduates because of their individual competitive, gifted natures.

While God crafted humans in His image to assert dominion over the earth, unbridled talent can be a fulcrum for weakness. That is especially so for high-reaching individuals who attempt to replace a relationship with God with raw ambition, Prud’homme told the students gathered in McCosh Hall.

As such, Prud’homme encouraged them to center core passions on serving Christ as they

walk out their callings and vocations.

Likewise, Prud’homme pointed students to a thought-provoking, convicting definition of sin from Rev. Timothy Keller. The best-selling author, apologist, and pastor wrote, “Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from Him.” The primary way to define sin is “the making of good things into ultimate things. It is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your relationship to God,” Keller wrote in The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

With such discernment as a foundation, Prud’homme reminded students that many of their astute peers remain ignorant of the concept and consequences of sin. “Our culture has completely lost a sense of sin,” said Prud’homme, a

winter

2016 :: christianunion.org

professor of chemical and biological engineering.

In 1987, the former hazardous waste manAs students communicate the far-reaching imagement consultant became the administrator of plications of sin to their collegiate peers, they also Ruggles Baptist Church, where he learned about need to incorporate the life-transformative nature the inner-workings of an urban church. That year, of Christ’s Gospel.

Bass joined the board of Emmanuel Gospel Cen“We are designed to be in relationship with ter, where he later held a series of staff positions God,” said Prud’homme. Also, “we are called to before stepping into the role of executive director bring people back into relationship with God.” in 1999.

At the lecture series, Prud’homme Furthermore, Prud’homme also highlighted the accounts of three highlighted the service and acPrinceton alumni who are reflectcomplishments of Joseph Cuming fervent commitments to Christ ming ’82, a consultant and expert in their professional and personal on Muslim-Christian relations, spheres. and the pastor of the InternationHe pointed to Alan Greene ’81, al Church at Yale University. a pediatrician, entrepreneur, and Cumming spent 15 years Princeton alumnus who has devoted in the Republic of Mauritania, his energies to making medical wiswhere he continues to oversee a dom accessible. substantial humanitarian proIn 1995, the pediatrician launched gram. During his stint in the DrGreene.com, which the Ameriimpoverished nation, he served Longtime Princeton University can Medical Association dubbed as Professor Robert Prud’homme as director of the Doulos Comthe “pioneer physician Web site.” spoke at Christian Union’s munity, a Christian humanitarMore than 96 million parents, fam- leadership lecture series in ian organization that focuses on ily members, and healthcare profes- December. nutrition, public health, agrisionals have utilized the site to glean culture, microcredit, and emerinformation and inspiration on chilgency relief. dren’s health issues.

In 1995, Cumming, an ordained minister via After a life-threatening illness in his famthe Assemblies of God and fluent Arabic speaker, ily, Greene felt a spiritual calling to maintain earned master of arts and master of philosophy DrGreene.com as a free, public service. Likewise, degrees from Yale, where he is a completing a docGreene is the chief medical officer for Scanadu, torate in Islamic Studies and Christian Theology. a health and technology company dedicated to Not surprisingly, Cumming passed along a empowering consumers with medical tools and simple message to students via Prud’homme. The materials. longtime, globe-trotting humanitarian told unThe undergraduate who passionately shared dergraduates to avoid an easy path through life his faith across Princeton’s campus later channeled and, instead, “dare and dream bold things for the his professional energies into bolstering the health kingdom of God.” of people around the world, especially children, Prud’homme echoed that advice with some of Prud’homme said. Likewise, Greene’s credentials his own spiritual reflection. reflect his extensive endeavors as an author, speak“Obedience has roots. The decisions you make er, and commentator. now will bear fruit in 20, 30, or 40 years from Prud’homme also pointed to the testimony now,” he said. ”You have to live as if God is in of Jeff Bass, Princeton ’81, executive director of control of your future… Make decisions based on Emmanuel Gospel Center. The Boston-based the priorities by which He is asking you to abide.” organization seeks to nurture and support urban After all, “you don’t know where God is going churches and their communities. to take you,” Prud’homme said. | cu

23

university christian union

A Word in Season HLS Professor Speaks at Ministry’s Weekly Luncheon

christian union

::

the magazine

by eileen scott, senior writer

24

This fall, Mark Ramseyer, a professor at Harvard Law School, spoke an encouraging word to students associated with Christian Union’s leadership development ministry on campus.

The ministry hosts a weekly luncheon where Harvard Law School (HLS) students discuss various issues at the intersection of law and faith.

Ramseyer, HLS ’82, is the Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Legal Studies. The son of Mark Ramseyer, the Mitsubishi Professor of Mennonite missionarJapanese Legal Studies at Harvard Law School ies who served in Japan, he previously taught at the University of California Los Angeles and the University of Chicago.

At Harvard Law School, Ramseyer teaches courses related to Japanese law and American corporate law.

At the luncheon on October 6, Ramseyer spoke about some of his career experiences and the integrity of good scholarship. The message was well-received by students and Christian Union’s faculty.

“His presence at the luncheon provided personal contact for those who share mutual Christian convictions,” said Jim Garretson, Christian Union’s ministry director at Harvard Law School.

“I asked to talk with the Christian Union students because I wanted them to know that they were appreciated,” said Ramseyer. “Harvard is a big place, and it’s a secular place. It can be a lonely place. It is wonderful, really wonderful, to know that groups of students are meeting together to figure out how they can live lives that express the selfless love that God has called us to embody.”

Ramseyer also wanted the Christian students to know they have a friend and faculty member

on whom they can count. Sometimes, he said, students need a tenured professor to intercede for them with the college. Other times, they may want some career advice. And, perhaps, on occasion, he said, they just might want someone with whom they can talk.

“I hope they feel free to drop by my office for any of these reasons,” said Ramseyer.

Ramseyer can relate to the challenges facing students who seek to answer God’s call, specifically within the legal profession.

“Trying to live a life that embodies selfless love—that is our calling; that is our message— can be both profoundly redemptive and extraordinarily hard,” said Ramseyer.

“The essential difficulty involved in living this life is a difficulty that comes simply from living in a social environment. It comes from maneuvering around other human beings. It’s not specific to law, and it’s most certainly not specific to Harvard,” said Ramseyer.

Having a network of believers with similar experiences can be helpful in navigating the challenges and issues particular to the legal profession, and that’s what Christian Union’s ministry seeks to provide at Harvard.

According to Garretson, there is “a benefit of Christian community and mutual commitment to the Scriptures for seeking to ascertain among fellow believers between the ‘good and the better’ as Paul presents it in Philippians.”

Ramseyer appreciates students—like those with Christian Union’s ministry—who gather around a common biblical worldview and struggle together to discern the answers to life’s higher questions.

“It’s not just that they will live a richer life,” he said. “Harvard will be a better place for having them in our midst.” | cu

Speaking to Sexual Violence on Campus Andrew Bean ’17 Adds His Voice to the Conversation by eileen scott, senior writer

2016 :: christianunion.org

ways in which Christian students—who are not participants in the hookup culture on campus— can be better supported by Yale, and not marginalized.

These very differences enable Christian students to offer compelling social and relational alternatives to the widespread outlook and behaviors that contribute to the hookup scene.

“Christian students can have very positive relationships with the administration if they are willing to recognize that the administration will always be decidedly pluralistic, and that appeals to moral truth are unlikely to be productive,” Bean said.

As a result, Christian students will need to be especially creative in how they lead positive change in this area of campus life. While the students and administrator did not agree on every point, it was a positive step toward addressing the university’s record of sexual violence.

Bean is also hopeful that more Christians at Yale will choose to engage the conversation about the hookup culture and sexual violence on campus.

“I think that Christian students often adopt a defensive mentality when they feel as though the only way to protect Andrew Bean, Yale ’17 themselves from a culture they don’t want to participate in is to be cloistered away from it all,” said Bean. “But this approach leaves the cultural dialogue entirely unchecked and abandons those who may not be of faith, but who want to stand against the [hookup] culture.”

So how ought a Christian respond to the sexual violence on campus, particularly if they choose to abstain from sexual relationships themselves?

“It should be our goal to create a healthy sexual climate for every student, and that requires us to be active members of the campus,” said Bean. | cu

winter

When the American Association of Universities released a study about the sexual climate on 27 campuses around the country, Andrew Bean ’17 thought the results were “horrifying.”

The survey was designed “to assess the incidence, prevalence, and characteristics of incidents of sexual assault and misconduct” on campuses across the nation.

And after reading that an estimated 18 percent of Yale undergraduates reported an undesired sexual encounter involving force or incapacitation, this member of Christian Union’s ministry at Yale knew it was a problem he wanted to address.

In the fall semester, Bean was invited by an assistant dean to discuss sexual violence on campus from the point of view of the Christian community.

The junior notes that being part of a thriving ministry community was encouraging going into the meeting with the dean. Additionally, he emphasized the importance of the Christian Union ministry fellows on campus, who are examples of what a mature life of faith can look like. In addition to directing weekly Bible courses for men and women in every class year, ministry fellows also meet one-on-one with a majority of the students for discipleship and coaching.

For the meeting with the dean, Bean was asked to invite other Christians; the group consisted of students from various campus ministries and Christian Union.

The conversation between the students and the Yale dean was productive, according to Bean.

“We agreed on many of the basic premises which we felt were important to a healthy campus sexual climate,” he said.

There was a consensus that the hookup culture on campus could be “very dangerous.”

“Faith was the premise of the conversation,” he said.

Bean and fellow believers sought to talk about

25

university christian union

Giving Thanks Annual Dinner Is a Huge Success by eileen scott, senior writer

christian union

::

the magazine

Christian Union’s ministry at Dartmouth welcomed the start of the holiday season in late November by hosting its annual Thanksgiving dinner. Billed as the ministry’s largest outreach event of the year, the dinner also served up portions of gratitude and grace as students praised God for their many blessings.

“The main purpose of the gathering is to give thanks to God,” said Madison Sabol ’18. “We have so much to be thankful for, and this event is a mixture of reaching out to both Christians and non-Christians.”

Held just prior to finals, the dinner also offers a respite from academic stress, which is a big appeal, according to Shefali Gladson ’16.

“There is great food, great people, and it’s a semi-formal event. It’s a great way to de-stress af-

26

into action. Upperclassmen oversaw the planning and follow through.

“Christian Union at Dartmouth has helped shape me into a better leader through the examples of upperclassmen, as well as the guidance that our ministry fellows offered throughout the process,” said Sabol.

However, this year, the meal also came with unexpected challenges that tested the poise and leadership of all students involved.

At the last minute, the campus venue for the dinner became unavailable, which caused the date also to be changed. And while unsettling, the last-minute challenges only served to exemplify the students’ faith in God’s provision.

“One of the first things that I thought of when we started having issues with the date and time was that this event’s main purpose is to glorify

Students with Christian Union’s ministry at Dartmouth hosted the ministry’s annual Thanksgiving gathering last semester.

ter a busy term and relax with friends,” said Gladson. “And, for believers, it’s a sweet reminder of the Lord’s goodness over the past term. It’s awesome to be able to respond with thanksgiving as a community.”

More than 150 students attended the dinner, which also offered worship, the spoken word, and several testimonies.

Freshmen had the logistical responsibilities for the event, enabling them to put leadership skills

God and give thanks. So, the when and where components didn’t really matter. We had to remind ourselves of what’s really important and work towards reaching that goal,” said Sabol.

That maturity and focus on God resulted in a successful outcome, and bore witness to the effectiveness of Christian leadership.

“When the team was challenged, they relied on one another and guidance from the Lord, through prayer, to make sure this event happened

Zach Albanese, Christian Union’s ministry director at Dartmouth, leads a Bible course. In the fall, 146 Dartmouth students were members of Christian Union Bible Courses.

do,” said Gladson. “There’s something incredibly powerful about having over a hundred people coming together to worship the Lord and offer thanks. I hope and pray people who didn’t know the Lord were blessed.” | cu

STAY INFORMED

Subscribe today to

Christian Union’s eNewsletter

2016

Christian Union News

winter

::

If topics and articles like those in this section interest you, please subscribe today to begin receiving the ministry’s eNewsletter, once every two weeks, in your inbox:

ChristianUnion.org/Subscribe

christianunion.org

and that it was a great time for all who attended,” said Zachary Albanese, Christian Union’s director of undergraduate ministry at Dartmouth.

It is that combination of faith, fortitude, and grace under pressure that exemplifies the leaders of excellence that Christian Union seeks to develop.

“I think it was His way of teaching us, ‘Look, you don’t have control over anything. I do. Now, do you trust me?’ And He pulled through,” said Gladson. “The dinner was absolutely amazing.”

According to Sabol, “Everyone was in high spirits, and it was awesome to see the freshmen step up and really own this event. They made the night go very smoothly, and I loved seeing the way in which they were so flexible despite the rocky road.”

And so—as with many grand Thanksgiving dinners—the stress of behind-the-scenes commotion and preparations seemed to dissipate as the aroma of good food and the sound of praise filled the room.

“We definitely achieved what we wanted to

27

university christian union

A Global Analysis NYCU Team Attends Conference at Oxford by catherine elvy, staff writer

christian union

::

the magazine

I

28

n September, a group of young adults are strong believers—to understand associated with New York City Christian increasingly what their faith has to do Union ventured to the United Kingdom, with the rest of the world,” Crosby where they participated in a prestigious said. gathering of renowned experts to probe Such efforts resonated with Kevin urgent global issues.

Lee, Penn ’13, a UX (User Experience) From September 16 to 18, four designer and consultant with a multiemerging professionals, plus national technology compaMinistry Director Scott ny in New York City.

Crosby, took part in the Ox“In order to shape culford Analytica Conference. ture, we have to have extenDuring the annual event, sive knowledge on subjects – about 250 chief executive industry knowledge, regional officers, policymakers, and knowledge, political knowlother leaders gathered to edge, and financial knowlanalyze the implications of edge – to show that our major geopolitical and macopinions are well-reasoned roeconomic issues. and are supported with evIn coordination with the idence,” Lee said. founder of Oxford AnalytiDuring the private eveca, Crosby arranged permisning breakouts with busision for the team to attend ness and government leaders, the conference, which was the NYCU representatives held at Oxford University Scott Crosby and Kevin Lee, Penn ’13 paused to consider how reand typically is reserved for cent geopolitical and ecoselect executives. nomic trends are significant Founded in 1975, Oxford Analytica is a global to believers across the world and how Christians analysis and advisory firm that draws on a netcan make a difference. work of industry experts and scholars to advise “At the end of the day, we pulled away and clients on strategy, performance, and the backtalked about why these issues matter and why story of complex markets. Topics of this year’s they matter to Christians,” Crosby said. conference, which covered more than 20 issues Such sessions resulted in rich, inspiring converand regions, centered on the humanitarian crisis sations, all aided by the ambiance of the venues, emerging from the Middle East and North Africa, namely Blenheim Palace and Christ Church, an as well as the shift in the balance of power to key historic college nestled in Oxford University. emerging nations.

The aim was to help the 20-something young In addition to considering the variety of men “think very differently about the world atweighty, practical material from the conference, large and commit themselves to being part of Crosby and the New York City Christian Union God’s redemptive plan,” Crosby said.

(NYCU) team met daily to explore “how ChrisCrosby asked NYCU attendees to consider the tian faith could impact current events.” “We are role of believers in influencing worldly affairs and trying to help these young professionals—who culture.

In September, a handful of alumni involved with New York City Christian Union attended Oxford Analytica’s Conference, which probes the implications of major geopolitical and macroeconomic issues.

:: christianunion.org

Ultimately, Crosby said the conference served as an invaluable tool in his ministry’s efforts to foster leadership development. The event was “not designed to be a one-off experience, rather a trajectory of thinking differently about living out one’s faith in the world.” | cu

2016

During the private evening breakouts with business and government leaders, the NYCU representatives paused to consider how recent geopolitical and economic trends are significant to believers across the world and how Christians can make a difference.

winter

Kent Toland, Harvard ’14, said believers should reflect on how they can be effective across their spheres.

“Being aware of the world around us is a critical component to being present in the world,” said Toland, a Houston-based software consultant. “Christians can bring a vital perspective to many discussions on global affairs by focusing on the value of people.”

At more practical levels, “when debating issues such as the dangers of deflation or the geopolitics of the Middle East, it can be easy to get swept up in the broad issues and lose sight of the people who are affected by financial crises and wars. As Christians, we can counter this by being mindful of how everyday people are affected by these issues and letting compassion play a role in how we respond.”

Lee echoed those comments, noting he was struck by the breadth and complexity of the critical topics during the conference.

“This conference really opened up my perspective to think about the larger trends and developments in the world,” Lee said. “Having a more complete view helps me better engage people in conversation and, hopefully, inspire some change to our collective culture, one person at a time.”

The NYCU attendees, who are largely employed in consulting, also appreciated a practical session on data deluge and identification of gaps in information analysis.

As importantly, the conference provided an invaluable networking opportunity, one that reflects the extensive scholarly, industrial, and political ties of founder David Young, Cornell Law ’64.

Among his vast credentials, Young served as a special assistant at the National Security Council in the Nixon administration and an administrative assistant to former National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, Harvard ’50, PhD ’54.

As such, the NYCU professionals were “overwhelmed and amazed at the quality of the discussions and interactions,” Crosby said.

29

university christian union

What’s Next...

Please pray for upcoming Christian Union events

1

april

Nexus Conference (students) Nexus, the Christian Union Conference on Faith & Action (formerly the Ivy League Congress on Faith & Action) will bring together students from Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale for a life-changing weekend of dynamic worship and world-class speakers. Nexus will be held April 1-3 in New Haven, Connecticut. See www.nexusconference2016.org.

Nexus Professional Conference

1

christian union

::

the magazine

april

30

25 june

Nexus 2016: The Christian Union Conference for Professionals will be held April 1-3 in New Haven, Connecticut. This conference brings together recent graduates and professionals for a weekend of dynamic worship and compelling ideas about faith and its relevance to our work and culture in light of what it means to change the world. See www.nexusprofessional2016.org.

Summer Getaway Christian Union will host a Summer Getaway at Camp-ofthe-Woods in Speculator, New York from June 25 through July 2. See www.christianunion.org/summergetaway for registration information.

100% Online Degrees!

Master of Arts (Biblical Studies)

Master of Arts (Theological Studies) Master of Arts (Religion) Select the MA that best meets your needs.

60-66 course hour degrees taken 100% online.

Commitments to family, church, and work make it impossible for many people to attend seminary classes on a traditional campus.

RTS Global offers you access to some of the high-quality, evangelical, biblically-based training for which Reformed Theological Seminary is known around the world. winter

For more information go to www.rts.edu/online-degrees

2016 :: christianunion.org

A mind for truth. A heart for God 速 ATLANTA | CHARLOTTE | HOUSTON | JACKSON | MEMPHIS | NEW YORK CITY | ORLANDO | WASHINGTON DC | GLOBAL

31

city christian union

A Bold Passion for Leadership Development Hutz Hertzberg Is Christian Union’s New President by catherine elvy, staff writer

christian union

::

the magazine

A

32

fter more than three decades of fruitful, diverse ministry in Chicagoland, Hutz Hertzberg recently relocated his family to Princeton, New Jersey to assume a new role as president of Christian Union.

“We felt the Lord was calling us,” said Hertzberg, who joined Christian Union in March 2015.

“It was no small thing for us to leave Chicago. But at the end of the day, we wanted to follow Christ and be obedient to Him.” Hertzberg’s wealth of leadership experience in churches, Christian agencies, and higher education are ideal for the newest chapters of the burgeoning organization. He was drawn to Christian Union because of the ministry’s dedication to providing leadership development to students at some of the nation’s most influential universities. However, those institutions – Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Pennsylvania and Yale universities – are decidedly secular and humanistic.

“There is a spiritual need on these campuses,” Hertzberg said. “We look at it as a good investment in that we are multiplying Christian influence in the next generation.”

Christian Union Founder and Chief Executive Officer Matt Bennett, Cornell ’88, MBA ’89, called Hertzberg an optimal fit for Christian Union. “Hutz knows the importance of developing Christians to have an impact on culture,” Bennett said.

As well, Bennett noted Hertzberg models Godly compassion, character, and servanthood to Christian Union’s ever-expanding, geographically diverse team.

As a former pastor, shepherding comes naturally for Hertzberg.

“I love his integrity as well as his love for Christ and passion to honor the Lord,” Bennett said. “Hutz has a genuine love for other people and a servant’s heart.”

While the ministry centers on spiritual and leadership training at top universities, Christian Union also operates an expanding outreach to professionals in influential cities. Additionally, Christian Union Day and Night debuted in January to provide video devotionals in the morning and evening via www.CUdayandnight.org. The organization also plans to launch a ministry at Stanford University beginning with the 2016-2017 academic year.

Hertzberg’s affection for hands-on ministry dates back to his days as a student at Wheaton College. “This is what God made me for,” he said. “In college, it became clear that this was the very best way I could invest my life.”

Likewise, Hertzberg noted he especially loves vision-casting, “God has wired me in terms of leadership and encouragement. I love being a part of a team and moving a team forward—‘quarterbacking’ the ball down the field.”

Both leadership and sports analogies come easily to the former college baseball and football athlete.

Most recently, Hertzberg served as the executive director of The Orchard Network, a Chicago-area organization that develops next-generation ministers and lay leaders.

Prior to heading The Orchard Network, Hertzberg served for seven years as executive pastor of the historic Moody Church in downtown Chicago. Among other roles, Hertzberg was the associate director of the Chicago-area Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

As well, Hertzberg has held a variety of academic and administrative positions at Judson University, DePaul University College of Law, and Wheaton College. Plus, Hertzberg served as dean of the chapel and student ministries for Trinity International University and Trinity Evan-

Photo credit: Sara Beth Turner

Christian Union President Hutz Hertzberg speaks at the ministry’s New York City Benefit Event.

2016 :: christianunion.org

ed family’s life. Hertzberg is married to the former Lynne Sonju, daughter of Norm and Carole Sonju of Dallas, and the couple has a daughter in kindergarten.

Norm Sonju is the co-founder and former president and general manager of the Dallas Mavericks. Since his retirement in 1996, he has split his time between Dallas and Camp-of-theWoods, where he serves as chairman of the board for the 116-year-old Christian retreat and conference center in upstate New York.

This summer at Camp-of-the-Woods, Christian Union will offer its first Summer Getaway, a week of teaching and spiritual renewal for the ministry’s friends (www.christianunion.org/summergetaway).

For Hertzberg, Christian Union’s ever-expanding initiatives on strategic campuses and with believers across the nation are a critical part of leaving a spiritual imprint on the next generation of believers.

Such a deep-rooted dedication is making it easier for Hertzberg to settle into a new life, far from his beloved Windy City.

“I’ve often heard people say they don’t so much regret the things they have done, but, rather, the things they did not do,“ he said. “Lynne and I always want to be responsive to the Lord and obedient to where He is calling us.” | cu

winter

gelical Divinity School, where he also earned two doctorates.

Hertzberg has also served as a U.S. Naval Reserve Chaplain for 20 years and continues to function as the senior protestant chaplain at Chicago O’Hare and Midway International Airports, overseeing a team of 50 chaplains and 18 chapel services each week.

Hertzberg, who grew up in a very loving, but non-religious family, committed his life to Christ just before his freshman year of high school after hearing the Gospel message on the radio. While in high school, Hertzberg immersed himself in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to reflect his twin passions for his new-found faith and athletics. Subsequently, all members of his immediate family also became Christians.

A Christian coach helped steer Hertzberg to church, and a guidance counselor told him about Wheaton, an evangelical, liberal arts college in Illinois.

At Wheaton, Hertzberg served as the co-captain of the football team, and was an assistant football coach for the Thunder while in graduate school. “I’ve played sports all of my life,” Hertzberg said. “Sports have been a big part of my life and the setting in which I’ve learned a lot of character lessons; it’s an incredible life laboratory.”

Sports are also a substantial part of his extend-

33

donor spotlight

Why We Support Christian Union “This Witness Brings Light to Dark Places” by sarah camp

M

y wife Judy and I became aware of Christian Union in its early years on the Princeton campus,” shares Dennis Sweeney. “Matt Bennett (Christian Union founder and CEO) contacted us and explained what Christian Union was doing.”

Dennis, Class of 1975, was an economics major at Princeton and a member of Cottage Club, one of the university’s storied eating clubs.

“We felt a clear, immediate, strong call to become supporters,” he said.

christian union

::

the magazine

Dennis and Judy Sweeney

34

The ministry’s presence at his alma mater was welcome news.

“I grew up in a devout Catholic family, but drifted away from any interest in or commitment to faith in my teenage years. I was not a committed Christian at Princeton,” he said.

“The Princeton I experienced, from 1971 to 1975, was a place seemingly devoid of any focus on God or faith.”

Dennis attended Princeton on an ROTC scholarship and explains, “I was focused on getting a degree from this prestigious school as my ticket to the ‘American Dream’ and enjoying as much hedonistic fun

as I could manage along the way without completely crashing and burning. My worldview, which had been very effectively formed by network television of the 1960s (supplemented by reading Time magazine when I was feeling particularly intellectual) seemed to indicate that this was a perfectly viable path to the Good Life.”

“I remain very grateful for the way Princeton opened my eyes, as a small town kid, to a broader world, and particularly grateful for wonderful roommates and friends who are dear to me to this day. However, I also now recognize there was a dimension of growth that was completely missing in me.”

After college, Dennis served for four years in the U.S. Army as a field artillery officer. During his years in the Army, he was stationed at Fort Sill (Oklahoma), at the Field Artillery Officer School, Fort Benning (Georgia), at the Airborne and Ranger Schools, and in Nuremberg, Germany, with the 1st Armored Division, providing artillery support to the units guarding the Czech sector of the Iron Curtain.

After completing his service in the Army, Dennis earned an MBA, with distinction, from the Harvard Business School.

Dennis spent the first 22 years of his consulting career with McKinsey & Company, the international top-management consulting firm, rising to senior partner. Since leaving McKinsey in 2003, Dennis has served as an independent management consultant with Newport Consulting Partners, serving mid-sized and larger companies on issues of strategy, organization, leadership team effectiveness, and governance.

In the meantime, his spiritual life changed significantly from his college days: “After marrying Judy, I was led to a profound commitment to the Lord in my late 30s through our involvement, which she initiated, in Young Life.”

Dennis and Judy have been married for 28 years now and have two children, Megan and Andrew. They reside in San Juan Capistrano, California, and attend Coast Hills Church in Mission Viejo.

As Dennis grew in his faith and commitment to Jesus

christianunion.org

The Sweeneys sponsor a Christian Union Bible Course for Princeton students. The course is led by Christian Union Ministry Fellow Scott Jones. As faithful sponsors, the couple takes advantage of the opportunity to interact with the undergraduate men in the course.

They also have befriended a former student leader of the ministry, Princeton 2013 alumnus Luke Taylor, who is now at PIMCO, a large bond fund management company in Newport Beach, California.

“I come away from all these interactions with the same understanding,” Dennis says. “Christian Union is transforming the experience these young people are having, from one which is spiritually stale to a time of extraordinary growth in spiritual depth and in leadership capacity.”

In addition to supporting a Bible course each year, “Judy and I made a special gift to support the startup of the ministry at Harvard [launched in 2008]. We are planning to make a special gift to support the acquisition of a building a block from campus as a new ministry center at Princeton.”

Certainly, his strong enthusiasm for Christian Union’s ministry looks backward, in part, to Dennis’ own college experience. At the same time, the rationale for the Sweeneys’ support is deliberately forward-looking: “Judy and I believe Christian Union puts Christ on display in a powerful, attractive, and authentic way.

The ministry is reaching a very talented and high potential set of future leaders who have the possibility of being a force for revival and renewal in our country and our culture.”

Dennis Sweeney shares his thoughts first-hand on changing culture through Christian leadership development at www.christianunion.org/dennis. | cu

::

2. Christian Union’s spiritual formation model deeply engages individuals, inviting them to truly pursue an interior life with God.

4. The ministry’s commitment to discipline of action and management is compelling. “As an ex-Army guy,” Dennis quips, “I will say: the ministry operates as an impressive machine. And I think God honors Christian Union’s pursuit of diligence and excellence in doing His work.”

2016

1. Christian Union brings genuine Christian witness to the campus in the form of genuinely loving and respectful relationships and community among students. “We believe this witness brings light that is hugely attractive to what is, in significant ways, a spiritually dark place.”

3. The extraordinary quality of the ministry faculty.

“As a parent, it would be an unbelievable blessing to have one of these wonderful ministry fellows walking alongside your son or daughter during his or her college years.”

winter

Christ, he developed a profound compassion for those in need of life and hope. “As the Lord continues to heal and redeem my past and my character, my own story gives me a very tangible understanding of the power and potential impact of embracing the Gospel and genuine Christian community during college, in part through understanding what ‘could have been’ in my life.”

Dennis brings this conviction into a very active life of service on the boards of several local Orange County nonprofits: the Rising Tide Transitional Housing Program, which provides housing and transition services for youth emancipating at age 18 from the foster care system; the Orange County regional board and the South County Area committee for Young Life, a non-denominational Christian youth organization; the Chancellor’s CEO Roundtable at the University of California at Irvine; and Star Rock Ministries, which provides scholarships for under-served youth to attend summer camp.

In addition, Dennis currently serves on the board of a company that operates skilled nursing facilities and chairs the board of an early stage health care services company that provides in-home monitoring of patients with chronic disease conditions.

The Sweenys provide financial support to Christian Union, but Dennis also commits a priceless resource: his time. He serves on the ministry’s Princeton’s President’s Council, comprised of alumni who advise and support the ministry’s operations at Princeton.

His vantage point, as both supporter and volunteer, has enabled Dennis to interact widely with the ministry faculty, students, and alumni, and to “look under the hood” of the ministry’s operations. When enumerating their decision to partner financially with Christian Union, Dennis provides points in rapid-fire succession.

The features that are particularly compelling for Judy and him:

35

the spiritual climate on campus

brown 37 columbia 41 cornell 4 4

christian union

::

the magazine

dar tmouth 47

36

harvard 5 0 penn 5 4 prince ton 5 7 ya l e 6 0

students at the university of pennsylvania

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. ......................................................................................

BROW N | On Campus

Bringing Hope and Healing to Liberia

christianunion.org

“In the midst of the Ebola epidemic, it seemed like people felt abandoned by their families, by their caregivers, abandoned in so many ways,” Flanigan told The Providence Journal. “Being over there and helping to respond, it was clear to me that God does not abandon us… Seeing that definitely changed who I am.”

When Flanigan, Dartmouth ’79, arrived in Liberia’s capital, “every-

::

ert Medical School and infectious diseases specialist in its affiliated Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital.

Flanigan recently reflected on how his two-month stint in Liberia during the height of the deadly outbreak in 2014 impacted his faith.

On Sept. 1, 2014, Flanigan arrived in Monrovia to volunteer through the National Catholic Church Ebola Response Team.

2016

A

year after answering the call to fight Ebola in Liberia, a Brown University medical professor expressed profound gratitude at the recent news regarding the decline of the deadly disease in the hardest-hit countries of West Africa.

Still, “continued vigilance, ongoing support of the medical care system, and an effective vaccine are all needed,” said Dr. Timothy Flanigan, a professor in Brown’s Alp-

winter

B ROWN ME D I C AL PROFE S S OR S E RVE D D URIN G E B OL A O UTB RE AK

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

37

the spiritual climate on campus

thing was totally overwhelmed…

There were bodies left on the street,” Flanigan told the newspaper.

Flanigan’s duties centered on

before it suspended service, Flanigan felt compelled to respond as the Ebola epidemic intensified.

Likewise, Flanigan’s wife, hema-

christian union

::

the magazine

Dr. Flanigan with community health education team in Monrovia

38

reopening a Catholic hospital that shuttered after the disease claimed the lives of a series of medical personnel. As well, the Cornell Medical College alumnus of 1983 trained health care workers and provided guidance and other support to community clinics and hospitals on safety.

Despite the treacherous conditions, Flanigan noted prayer helped keep him grounded during his time on the front lines of the worst outbreak of Ebola in modern history.

“Most Liberians have a deep and abiding faith in the good Lord.

They prayed for His help in the morning and thanked Him for his goodness in the evening,” Flanigan said. “That faith was an inspiration to me.”

As for his decision to take a leave of absence from his infectious-disease work at Brown and catch Delta Air Lines’ final flight into Monrovia

tologist Luba Dumenco, and five children gave their blessings for the trek. Luba Dumenco is the director of preclinical curriculum at Brown’s Alpert Medical School.

When apprehension surfaced, Flanigan relied upon his faith.

“At two o’clock in the morning, there’s not really a lot you can

ical personnel who descended upon ravished sections of West Africa prompted TIME to collectively recognized Ebola fighters as its Person of the Year for 2014.

As for Liberia, on Sept. 3, 2015, the World Health Organization declared the country free of Ebola for the second time in the aftermath of the prolonged epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people across Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

However, as of late November 2015, three Liberians contracted the disease, prompting officials to label the outbreak as the fourth wave.

Despite the sacrifices associated with his service in Africa, Flanigan also recently paused to express gratitude for his professional calling, his family, and his service in the Catholic community. God is “unstinting in His generosity,” Flanigan said.

In 2013, the Roman Catholic Church ordained Flanigan as a permanent deacon. “This has been most wonderful for me,” Flanigan said. “We will see what is around the corner. He is always surprising us.”

In his hometown of Tiverton, Rhode Island, he serves as a deacon at

“Most Liberians have a deep and abiding faith in the good Lord. They prayed for His help in the morning and thanked Him for his goodness in the evening. That faith was an inspiration to me.” do but pray. And that’s what we do naturally, but you pray with a greater intensity,” Flanigan told The Providence Journal.

During the outbreak, 20,000plus people were infected with Ebola. The efforts of the med-

St. Christopher Parish and St. Theresa Parish. As well, the 1975 graduate of Portsmouth Abbey School serves on the institution’s board of regents as did his father, Peter Flanigan (Princeton ’47), a former Wall Street investment banker and aide in the

Nixon administration.

Service is not new to Flanigan, and nor is being on the medical front lines.

In 1991, he came to Brown to help establish a network of care for HIV-infected individuals with a particular focus on women, substance abusers, and persons leaving prison. During the 1990s, Flanigan also took a series of trips to West

Africa and Southeast Asia to help treat and prevent HIV. Closer to home, Flanigan founded the Star Kids Scholarship Program in 2000 after caring for incarcerated substance abusers and listening to them express concerns for the future of their children. The program works to break the cycle of substance abuse by supplying quality education for children.

As for now, Flanigan remains open to God’s next assignment and he cherishes opportunities to draw closer to his Savior. “It’s about how we use what we know on His behalf,” Flanigan told Portsmouth Abbey School’s alumni magazine.

Through his callings, Flanigan simply wants to “make the love and mercy of Jesus more evident to others.” | cu

.......................................................................................

BROW N | On Campus

‘There Was a Temple on the Temple Mount’ RE LI GI O US S TUD IE S PROFE S S OR RE FUTE S NE W YORK TIME S’ AR TI CLE

By Catherine Elvy and Tom Campisi

A

other, and both long since gone,” on the 37-acre site, home to Islam’s sacred Dome of the Rock shrine and Al Aqsa Mosque.

Satlow called the article misleading. In a blog post (www.mlsatlow. com), the Brown professor said,

“The problem with posing the issue that way is that it confuses several distinct historical questions.”

Satlow then noted and emphatically answered those three questions: • Did a Jewish temple stand on the present day Temple Mount?

winter

2016 :: christianunion.org

religious studies and Judaic studies professor at Brown University has described the existence of a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount “as historically certain a fact as one can get.”

In October, Michael Satlow, Yale ’86, advocated for the claims of a Jewish temple on a holy site in Jerusalem in response to a report in The New York Times suggesting that its historical existence was a matter of controversy.

The Temple Mount is one of the holiest sites in Judaism, which reveres the location as a sacred place where God manifested His divine presence.

Satlow took issue with Rick Gladstone’s article, “Historical Certainty Proves Elusive at Jerusalem’s Holiest Place.”

According to Gladstone, many books and scholarly treatises have never definitively given “the precise location of two ancient Jewish temples, one built on the remains of the

A Brown University scholar called the existence of a Jewish temple on the sacred Temple Mount “as historically certain a fact as one can get.”

39

the spiritual climate on campus

Yes. This is as historically certain a fact as one can get in the study of ancient history. The Temple Mount was built by Herod beginning at the end of the first century BCE – the Western Wall is the western retaining wall of that reshaping of the natural hill – and on top of it were a number of structures that belonged to the Jewish temple. These included courtyards, altars, and the Holy of Holies…

• Prior to Herod’s renovation of the temple, did it stand at this site? Almost certainly. I would give it a 98% possibility. The second temple was built around 520 BCE and underwent a few renovations before Herod gave it a major overhaul. If Herod moved the site of the temple we

would know, both from the extensive archaeological excavations conducted all around the temple, as well as from literary sources. People notice stuff like that.

• Was the second temple built on the same site as the first? Here there is scholarly uncertainty. The first temple was destroyed in 586 BCE along with the entire city of Jerusalem. When Jews returned from Babylonia to rebuild the temple, were they careful to find the site of the old structure, clear the rubble, and build it on the same exact spot? It seems likely, but this we really don’t know…

Satlow, who received a PhD in Ancient Judaism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, is the author of several books, including: How the Bible Became Holy

(Yale University Press, 2014) and Creating Judaism: History, Tradition, Practice (Columbia University Press, 2006).

Regarding the Temple Mount story in The New York Times, Satlow said the article was really about politics and not history. However, he also commented on the complexity of the region, saying it was “too great a burden for history to bear.”

“Israelis, Jews, Palestinians, Arabs, Christians, and Muslims (overlapping groups that are themselves quite internally diverse) all have legitimate claims and grievances,” Satlow wrote. “By encouraging a broad readership to focus on the ancient history, and by distorting history in order to promote specific claims, stories like this only bring us all further away from peace.” | cu

....................................................................................... b r o w n ne w s - in - b r ie f

As the holidays and final exams approached, students involved with Brown University’s Catholic chaplaincy (students.brown.edu/

brcc) paused to minister to elderly residents in a nearby nursing home.

On November 22 and December 13, students from Brown-Rhode Island School of Design Catholic Community

staged afternoon singalongs, complete with guitar accompaniment and a repertoire of Christmas and favorite songs, for the residents of Tockwotton on the Waterfront, a nursing home in East Providence.

.......................................................................................

christian union

::

the magazine

Catholic Ministry Reaches out at Christmas

40

If you enjoy Christian Union: The Magazine, and would like updates between issues, please subscribe to the ministry’s eNewsletter, Christian Union News, here:

http://www.christianunion.org/subscribe

COLU M B I A | On Campus

One Cry

C A M P U S R E N E WA L U N I T E S N YC S T U D E N T S

By Eileen Scott, Senior Writer

S

2016 :: christianunion.org

er, most of the evening was spent in dents to also live differently. But worship, prayer, and entering into independent thinking inspired by faith in Christ is often a novel conthe presence of the Lord.

Being part of a community and cept within the academy.

Therefore, White reminds stupraying with others can be transformational, according to White. And dents that “when we seek God and that’s the kind of movement Cam- walk in the Spirit, He will form our pus Renewal is seeking to foster intellect.” by bringing together college students on various campuses and with large events like One Cry. Having worked with students in the New York region in addition to speaking at conferences throughout the Ivy League and beyond, White understands the needs of high-achieving stu- Campus Renewal Ministries hosted One Cry this fall in New York. dents. And there is a lot to pray for, he said.

God knows more than anyThe need for Columbia students to have a life-changing encoun- one about math and science and ter with Christ is paramount, said how the universe works, explained White; therefore, students are well White.

“The need to get ahead can be served by praying to God for help destructive,” he said. At the same and insight in their studies, as well time, there is “tremendous pressure as discerning life’s big questions.

At events such as One Cry, stuto be like everyone else in the rat dents can engage in such prayer and race.”

The author/evangelist count- edification of one another. Corpoers that mentality with wisdom he rately, they can call upon the Holy once gleaned from graffiti on a wall Spirt to strengthen them to seek in New York City; The phrase Seek God first, to live differently, and to Differently was spray-painted on a honor the Lord through their work building. Coupled with the scrip- as students and in their future proture verse “Seek first the Kingdom fessions. | cu of God,” White encourages stu-

winter

tudents in the New York City metro area, including those from Columbia University, gathered in November to lift their voices in united prayer for campus revival. One Cry, the annual gathering of college students and ministry staffers sponsored

by Campus Renewal, allowed attendees to put aside academic concerns and call upon the Lord in one voice, crying out from the secular wilderness.

Chris White, Campus Renewal’s New York City Metro Director, said the event displayed the power of unity and the vastness of God’s Kingdom for the 235 students in attendance.

“Many believers on campus only see a few other believers,” said White. “They often think of themselves as the minority.”

White (Yale ’87, Columbia ’91) said One Cry also presented the diversity of the Body through the ethnically-rich gathering of young people and ministry staff in New York City.

“It’s a night for students to catch a vision of the church as a united body,” said White. “All of them will be in the Kingdom. It’s a chance for them to lift up their eyes from their struggles.”

This year, according to White, five students came forward to dedicate their lives to the Lord.

One Cry included short messages from local pastors and a performances from Jubilation, an a cappella group from Columbia, and Living Water at Yale. Howev-

41

the spiritual climate on campus

COLU M B I A | On Campus

Education and Liberty A P P R E C I AT I N G C O L U M B I A’ S C O R E C U R R I C U L U M

By Luke Foster, Columbia ’15 Editor’s note: The following article is reprinted with permission from Columbia Crown and Cross (www. crownandcross,org), a Christian journal. The article was written in the 2015 spring semester.

christian union

::

the magazine

E

42

very new arrival to Columbia College—and to some extent, to the School of Engineering and Applied Science as well—confronts the paradox of the Core. College, as we all tend to conceive it in our mythical imaginings, is a time of liberation.

At eighteen, we get to throw off our parents’ authority and take charge of our own destinies. We get to set our own schedules, choose our own values, and re-invent ourselves. Most of us carry these assumptions, whatever faith tradition we come from, because it is the American college myth.

But, as we progress through Columbia, this picture will turn out to have been a rather narrow, selfish vision of having all the benefits of adulthood with hardly any of the costs. These fantasies of freedom immediately meet the solid bulwark of the Core Curriculum: Fully one-third of our coursework is chosen for us! That art class you wanted to experiment with conflicts with your Literature Humanities. This doesn’t look like the four years of free experimentation college was supposed to be.

Many of us are slow to mature past this initial, freshman resentment of the Core. It seems like an interruption to our lives, the impo-

sition of an alien agenda. And the more deeply we reflect on it, the deeper the problem seems. It does indeed assume that all of us who study at Columbia should be capable of navigating the intellectual tradition from which this university stems.

It assumes that some texts are worth more than others, that The Aeneid matters more than Harry Potter. Surely, all this is an affront to our freedom to ponder upon ideas from our own points of view, to make up our own minds?

I believe the Core actually holds out a unique and precious kind of liberty, one far richer than the typical, tired myth about college. And I believe that it is particularly Christian Columbians who should celebrate this. There is a paradox of authority and freedom at work here that underlies so much of the human experience in a fallen world.

The Core aims to give us an education in “the liberal arts”—not as having anything to do with partisan politics, but stemming from the same root as “liberty.” Etymologically, at least, the Core’s rigid structure claims to be a liberating experience.

Every thinker who considers human choice-making grapples with a version of this problem: authority makes freedom possible, yet, it also threatens it. There must be some

overarching direction and order to society to make individual freedom more than anarchy. But it’s a perilous paradox: Plato’s Republic pursues orderly cohesion to the point of totalitarianism. And it’s a modern as well as an ancient problem: Rousseau eventually suggested the citizen must be forced to be free.

The Bible’s wisdom prepares us to ask good questions about freedom, so often invoked as a totemic word-god. The Bible doesn’t portray complete autonomy as an option for the human condition. Only God is absolutely free, and He has been absolutely self-giving in Trinitarian love through all eternity.

Yes, before the Fall, when everything was in perfect harmony, we were free agents ruling over creation—but only as long as we remained in submission to the Creator. As soon as Adam and Eve grab for the only created thing not given to them, the thorns and thistles rebel against their rule. If we abandon God to worship idols, we become slaves to sin. And the New Testament continues to make the pattern clear: In Matthew 6:24, when Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and

c o l u m b ia ne w s - in - b r ie f

Lecture Examines Dignity, Human Rights Reformed University Fellowship (www.columbiaruf.org) and Columbia Faith and Action hosted a luncheon and lecture entitled “Accounting for Dignity” with Nicholas Wolterstorff on November 13 in the Lerner Hall Broadway Room.

Wolterstorff, Harvard PhD ’56, is the Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale. His lecture focused on the conceptions of dignity and the basis of human rights. The event also included a question and answer period with the students.

Wolterstorff is the author of several books, including Until Justice and Peace Embrace, Religion in the Public Square, and Art Rethought.

Theology on Tap

:: christianunion.org

This fall, students involved with Columbia Catholic Ministry (columbiacatholic.org) paused to probe the intersection of faith and science.

The students gathered on November 16 to discuss the compatibility of science and the accounts of Genesis as well as other issues tied to the intersection of faith and reason. Father Kevin O’Reilly, Columbia ’91, served as the speaker for the ministry’s “Theology on Tap” event at Connolly’s Irish-themed eatery in Times Square. O’Reilly is an academic dean at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York.

2016

laundry; when you’re dashing to Blue Java minutes before they close to buy the last coffee; when you’re hunting through Lerner for a stapler so you can turn the Plato paper in—where’s the liberation in that?

The franticness that is such a part of our campus’ life is partly an inevitable consequence of living in a flawed world. As delightful as the ideals of the Core are, we experience them amid the confused messiness of life East of Eden. But I also believe there’s a cultural reason too: It’s hard to sustain belief in the value of the Core’s questions of humanity if we don’t ultimately connect them back to divinity.

Christopher Noble, professor at Azusa Pacific University, has written in The Chronicle of Higher Education that it’s ultimately up to religious students and colleges to save liberal arts education. What he means is that, without believing in transcendent reality, there’s little reason to study anything beyond what will provide us with immediate wealth and power. If Darwin, Marx, and Freud were right to lower the horizons of human meaning, why study their ideas, or anyone’s? But if we believe the world, and human experience, to be created and redeemed by Goodness, Truth, and Beauty—as we Christians do—then we can trust that ideas are real, and have eternal value.

Thus, as Christian Columbians, not only should we affirm the liberating constraint of the Core, but we hope that the liberal arts might free Columbians to examine more than material reality. | cu

winter

money,” it’s far more than a warning against greed. We are always mastered, owing our allegiance and loyalty to something.

What does all of this mean for seeing the Core as a liberating constraint? However excellent it may be, its authority cannot ultimately save us. But it can be a means of grace to us, just as political order and parental authority do not substitute for God’s commands, but are nonetheless awfully good for us. Though the Core’s requirements in some sense “master” us, there’s another, far more onerous master from which the Core is saving us. That is the monstrosity of a technocratic, utilitarian education—one where we learn to jump through hoops to manipulate tools to maximize our income one day.

The Core reminds us that we must work to live, not live to work.

From our very first days on campus, it makes us examine, over and over again, through literature, philosophy, music, and art, what it is to be human. It lifts us out of the everyday narrowness of studying the one thing we’re particularly good at, and helps us get a sense of the whole picture of Truth. Physics interweaves with music, poetry with philosophy, and the structures of the Core teach us to think freely. And a Core education can send us out into the world as confident agents, knowing our place and our principles, and possessing the moral imagination to work redemptively in it.

But, admittedly, so little of our education here feels that meaningful or liberating. This sense of wonder, awe, and joy often gets lost amid the daily grind. When you’re trudging back upstairs at three in the morning with your half-dry

43

the spiritual climate on campus

COR N E LL | On Campus

The Cornell Claritas NEW STUDENT JOURNAL ENGAGES CAMPUS COMMUNITY

By Eileen Scott, Senior Writer

christian union

::

the magazine

H

44

arnessing the power of words, Cornell demographic. rum where people of any faith, or of “Some people enjoy casual con- no faith, can come together in constudents at Cornell are illuminating discussions about the Bible versations more than anything; versation and discuss the difficult around campus with a new Christian some people only have time for a questions of life. “We hope to share journal. the Christian perspective and The Cornell Claritas (Latin worldview in a way that is for clarity or brightness) was thoughtful and compelling,” founded to provoke thoughtsaid Shi. ful Christian conversations As a result, writers have within the academic commufreedom regarding the topics nity. Through the journal and a they can choose; editors emblog, the staff of Cornell Clariphasize constructive criticism tas seeks to “articulate and conand collaborate to generate exnect the truth of Christ with cellent pieces. Shi said student every person,” said Treasurer writers strive to bring God’s and Business Manager Gwen Word to life and into real Y. Shi ’18. world application at Cornell.

The Baltimore native said “We really want to engage the idea to start a journal at people in a way that has perCornell began with an invisonal relevance, and I think tation for students to attend our blog encapsulates that the Augustine Collective, an The Cornell Claritas was founded upon the desire goal as well,” said Shi. Past annual conference hosted by to provoke thoughtful Christian conversations topics include football and universities that have estab- within the academic community. faith, the television show Dexlished Christian journals on ter, finding God at Cornell, short read; and some people enjoy ethnicity and race, and others. their campuses.

After attending the conference, reading pieces with developed inThe inaugural issue was printed the need for a new Christian publi- tellectual arguments,” said Shi. “We in December. Unlike some of its cation at Cornell became apparent. also hope to expand our Facebook contemporaries, however, the first “Cornell was founded as a sec- page, and engage the Cornell cam- issue of Cornell Claritas didn’t have ular university, and on an every- pus through social media.” a particular theme. However, Shi beThe staff of Cornell Claritas in- lieves that all of the articles presentday basis, religion is sparsely talked about by professors and even cludes 25-30 students from a vari- ed a different and fresh new way to ety of ministries. These students are think about God and Christianity. peers,” said Shi. Inspired by other peer publi- also receiving guidance and support And with that freshness and cations, the students at Cornell from Karl Johnson (Cornell PhD clarity, the staff of Cornell Claritas decided to engage their campus. ’11), executive director of Chester- remains committed to the raison The print version, blog, one-on- ton House, and Justin McGreary, di- d’être of the journal’s existence and one conversations, and social me- rector of undergraduate programs at seeks to fulfill its desire to bring dia will be leveraged by the staff to Chesterton House. the Gospel to light on Cornell’s The staff is seeking to create a fo- campus. | cu reach the different segments of the

COR N E LL | On Campus

Cornell School for Missionaries Remembered UNIVERSITY CITES PROGRAM AS PART OF 150 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

A

ary efforts across the globe, and he served the YMCA in a series of executive capacities.

In 1895, Mott helped launch the World’s Student Christian Federation. As its general secretary, he

2016 :: christianunion.org

Mott heeded a lecture by J. Kynaston Studd that sparked a lifelong passion for sharing the Gospel with students, according to Nobel Prize documents.

The British cricketer, businessman, and Lord Mayor of London said, “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.” As for Studd, during his university days he was president of Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union and he was one of the famed Cambridge Seven missionaries to China.

On the heels of Mott’s spiritual encounter, the New York native represented Cornell University’s YMCA at the first international, interdenominaCornell University’s official newspaper tional student Christian conrecently paid tribute to the Cornell School ference. During the 1886 gathfor Missionaries, including its ties to ering, Mott was one of 100 men global evangelist John Mott, an alumnus who pledged to labor in foreign of 1888 and former general-secretary of missions. the YMCA’s International Committee.

Two years later, Mott commenced nearly three decades of organized student movements in service as the national secretary of India, China, Japan, Australia, New the Intercollegiate YMCA of the Zealand, and beyond.

USA and Canada. Likewise, from In 1946, Mott received the 1926 to 1937, Mott served as presNobel Peace Prize for his efforts ident of the YMCA’s World Comto create and bolster international mittee during an era that coincided Protestant student organizations with the founding of Cornell’s mischampioning peace. sionary training program.

Interestingly enough, during As well, Mott helped form the his undergraduate days at Cornell, World Council of Churches in

winter

s part of its sesquicentennial celebration, Cornell University recently spotlighted the institution’s former training program for missionaries on furlough, including the course’s ties to a global evangelist.

In November, the university’s official newspaper paid tribute to the Cornell School for Missionaries, which operated from 1930 to 1964. The annual four-week seminar for veteran missionaries offered instruction on crop techniques, community improvement, and the like.

The Cornell Chronicle noted the hands-on program started on the heels of one of the university’s initial, major international projects, a plant-improvement initiative at the University of Nanking in China.

A pair of Cornell alumni – John Reisner (MS 1914), missionary and dean of Nanking’s College of Agriculture, and John Mott (Class of 1888), former general-secretary of the YMCA’s International Committee – joined forces to implore the university to launch a short agricultural course for missionaries.

While Cornell’s newspaper provided a fascinating snapshot of the pragmatic program of yesteryear, the account of the missionary training efforts also pointed to a slice of the university’s little-celebrated spiritual heritage.

Namely, Mott devoted decades of his adventurous life to mission-

45

the spiritual climate on campus 1948, and his much-touted book, The Evangelization of the World in this Generation, became a Christian slogan in the early 20th century.

Much of the training centered on practical lessons in soils, crops, livestock, pest control, and vegetable gardening. Other curriculum

Mott helped form the World Council of Churches in 1948, and his much-touted book, The Evangelization of the World in this Generation, became a Christian slogan in the early 20th century.

As for the missionary furlough program, the Cornell Chronicle noted it was such a hit that the College of Agriculture added a one-year missionary course in 1941.

covered animal husbandry, plant pathology, agricultural engineering, and nutrition, as well as the social structures of rural communities and the influence of tradition and cus-

tom, the newspaper reported.

Despite packed schedules during their stints in Ithaca, the missionaries often squeezed out time to speak at area churches and Grange halls, which served to advance the social and economic causes of rural farms.

According to Mott, social work and evangelism worked hand-inhand.

In a Christianity Today article published in 2000 (Missions and Ecumenism: John R. Mott), Mark Galli noted Mott’s “middle view” in an era when liberals and fundamentalists debated fiercely on the subject: “Evangelism without social work is deficient; social work without evangelism is impotent,” Mott said. | cu

....................................................................................... c o r ne l l ne w s - in - b r ie f

christian union

::

the magazine

Holland ’79 Authors Touchstone Tools

46

This fall, entrepreneur Joseph Holland, Cornell ’79 and Harvard J.D. ’82, released a new book, The Touchstone Tools: Building Your Way to an Inspired Life.

The book

is “part road map for success, part motivational pep talk, and part memoir of a life of service.”

Holland also wrote To Harlem with Love: An Ivy Leaguer’s Inner City Odyssey, which shared his personal journey, from Cornell football player to attorney and entrepreneur.

In his recent book, Holland once again pulls from his personal journey, but also shares a method of building a solid spiritual and moral foundation to thrive in the face of adversity.

Bobick ’77 Joins Faculty Commons Rev. Dr. Michael Bobick, Cornell ’77, is the new chaplain for Faculty Commons at Princeton University. The ministry consists of faculty and graduate students who gather for Bible study, fellowship, prayer, and outreach efforts. In addition to his degree in Human Ecology from Cornell, Bobick also holds an MDiv and a DMin from Westminster Theological Seminary and a PhD from Drew University.

D A R T M OU T H | On Campus

Training for a New Season ELIJAH SOKO ’16 CO -LEADS DARTMOUTH FCA

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

A

The government and geography major is now concentrating on serving the Lord via a vocational calling that may include legal aspirations.

2016 :: christianunion.org

fellowship he received from the William Jewett Tucker Foundation.

During the summer of 2014, Soko assisted at the orphanage in St. Marcellin Children’s Village.

As he interacts with student-athletes at Dartmouth, Soko shares about his route to faith and his unusual pathway to the picturesque Upper Valley.

As a youngster in Zimbabwe, Soko was a promising rugby player until he decided to concentrate on soccer, the favorite sport of his homeland, in the eighth grade.

Soko’s talent on the field and standing as an excellent student at a top private school caught the attention of former Dartmouth Coach Jeff Cook, who was recruitElijah Soko ’16 is showcasing his passions ing while on a soccer tour in for sports and spirituality via his service to Zimbabwe.

Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Dartmouth As part of his efforts to College. prepare for and secure admission into an Ivy League “It’s exciting to know that because university, Soko spent two years at God loves me, I can plan all I want, Brooks School in Massachusetts. but He directs my steps,” Soko said.

Earlier, another pivotal point “In a weird way, I feel like God for Soko occurred as a young teen brought me to this place with a pas- when he mourned the murder of sion for soccer and then removed his father, an executive who was edmy passion for soccer. I now have ucated in Germany as an engineer. a passion for government and geog- Subsequently, Soko committed his raphy.” life to Christ.

Given Dartmouth’s commitWhile attending a private ment to international exposure, school, a classmate witnessed to the Soko was able to put his practical eighth-grader. The Lord “touched skills to work in Zimbabwe via a my heart,” Soko said. “I became a

winter

n upperclassman from Zimbabwe is using his twin passions for sports and spirituality as a platform to shape the lives of student-athletes at Dartmouth College.

Elijah Soko ’16, who was recruited to Dartmouth as a forward for the soccer team, is part of the leadership team with Fellowship of Christian Athletes (www.dartmouthfca.org).

He co-leads the campus organization that ministers to believers who participate in Dartmouth’s array of sports.

“Athletes have certain struggles that are really kind of magnified by playing sports,” said Soko, whose inspiring testimony includes overcoming the loss of his father during his tender teen years. “A lot are young in faith.”

Though Soko set aside his collegiate soccer career to concentrate on his schooling and faith after his sophomore season, he remains committed to serving athletes at Big Green.

“I am such a relational person,” said Soko. “I have been an athlete. I understand the love of a sport.”

At the same time, Soko marvels at how God replaced his obsession with soccer with intense spiritual fervor. The youth who relocated to the United States with aspirations of using his fancy footwork to play as a professional, acknowledged that soccer became essentially an idol to him.

However, Soko no longer views the sport as a source of self-worth.

47

the spiritual climate on campus

Christian, accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. My life has never been the same.”

Though Soko lost his father through evil means, God has lav-

Soko said. “Lord, here I am. Use me. I am your tool.”

As he waits for a divine plan to unfold, Soko relishes his role pointing collegiate believers to their ul-

“I have been an athlete. I understand the love of a sport.”

—Elijah Soko, Dartmouth ’16 ished remarkable opportunities into his youthful life. “The worst point in my life, God turned into good,” Soko said.

Now, instead of asking God to bless his career plans and ambitions, Soko is praying for direction.

“God is sovereign. It’s something that is so freeing. I need not worry about changing the world,”

timate coach. “I know where the power is coming from,” he said.

Likewise, Soko is thrilled he has found a vibrant body of believers at Dartmouth and via his church, First Congregational Church in nearby Woodstock, Vermont.

Roger and Debra Amato, who serve as campus directors for FCA at Dartmouth, said Soko stands out

for his commitment to faith.

“In light of a highly performance-driven academic environment, Elijah is clear to make sure to set aside Sunday as a day of worship,” said Roger Amato, Brown ’81. “Papers, exams, school work, and the 24/7 nature of these schools are put on hold so that he can focus on what is important – the worship of God.” On campus, Soko leads with humility and sacrifice. “His love for his fellow students and his desire to serve them in the name of Christ is something not often seen in the competitive and demanding arena of an elite school such as Dartmouth,” said Debra Amato. | cu

.......................................................................................

D A R T M OU T H | On Campus

Saluting the Late Norman Koop

BELOVED PA S TOR IMPAC TED DARTMOUTH S TUDENTS

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

M

christian union

::

the magazine

embers of the Dartmouth College community paused to remember Rev. Norman Koop as a faithful Christian servant after his unexpected passage in October.

48

Dartmouth College students recalled Rev. Norman Koop as a faithful Christian servant after his unexpected passage in October.

Koop, who was 69, died on October 7, just months after marking 25 years at the helm of First Congregational Church in Woodstock, Vermont, which welcomes a bus load of Dartmouth students on Sundays.

“Not only did he preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he mirrored it as best as he could,” said Elijah Soko ’16, who attends First Congregational Church. “Pastor Norm wouldn’t just tell me to be blessed, but he would bless me with God’s Word and then ask what material needs he and the rest of the congregation could help me meet.”

Brianna Lohmann ’16 recalled that Koop made it a point of investing in the lives of the Dartmouth

students.

“He took the time to get to know them on a deeper level and was there for them in all of their endeavors,” said Lohmann. “He was a friend, a mentor, a teacher, and so much more.”

Kennedy Jensen ’18 shared similar reflections.

“He was passionate about truth and the messages of God’s Word,” said Jensen. “He had a talent for picking apart any passage of the Bible and revealing one of God’s truths.”

As well, Jensen described Koop as a captivating speaker. “Outside of the service though, he was never afraid to have fun and enjoyed joking around, especially among those

d a r tm o u th ne w s - in - b r ie f

Agape Fellowship Puts Faith in Action Agape Christian Fellowship at Dartmouth College held its annual retreat at Wellspring Worship Center in West Lebanon, New Hampshire in January. The featured speaker was Ryan Bouton, who spoke on the topic of “Faith in Action.”

Bouton, a former ministry director for Dartmouth Cru, is the pastoral resident at Christ Redeemer Church in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Multi-Faith Conversations Continue

:: christianunion.org

The William Jewett Tucker Center at Dartmouth is hosting a series of multi-faith conversations this semester. The dinner discussions began during the fall and will continue through spring. Students of various faiths, or even those with no faith, are invited. Specific topics of discussion are brought up by those in attendance at each meeting. Students sometimes share their testimonies and spirituality experiences and express how their beliefs and perspectives impact their lives and their experiences at Dartmouth.

2016

seven grandchildren.

Other relatives include a sister, Elizabeth Thompson of Birmingham, Alabama, and a brother, Allen Koop Dartmouth ’65, Penn PhD ’75, a visiting assistant history professor at Dartmouth.

Another brother, David Koop, was killed in a mountaineering accident in New Hampshire in 1968 while he was a 20-year-old student at Dartmouth, according to an obituary for C. Everett Koop, who died in 2013.

Before his death at 96, the elder Koop was a scholar at the C. Everett Koop Institute at Dartmouth. The division of Dartmouth’s medical college seeks to promote the “health and well-being of all people.”

Norman Koop was raised in a Christian home, where he was exposed to the teaching of noted theologians from the Reformed tradition.

As importantly, Dartmouth students celebrated Koop’s life for the plethora of ways he embraced Christianity.

“Pastor Norm was a strong light for Christ. The love he had for the Lord was obvious in all of his activities, from the most mundane to the most intense, and time-consuming. He has made me want to be an even stronger light for Christ on campus,” said Lohmann.

Koop liked to remind students they serve “a God almighty, not a God some-mighty.”

“This has helped get me through many troubling times while at Dartmouth, knowing that this is all part of God’s plan for me and that He is in complete control,” Lohmann said. “Pastor Norm was a constant reminder of that and lived his life in a way as to make that obvious to those around him.” | cu

winter

whom he had gotten to know personally,” she said.

Not surprisingly, during Koop’s time at First Congregational Church, the weekly attendance grew to about 275 people.

“It’s overwhelming how many people he touched,” Preston Bristow told the Vermont Standard. As the chairman of the church’s board of elders, Bristow noted the church received an outpouring of letters and comments following Koop’s death.

Koop, who was born in Philadelphia, was the son of former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Dartmouth ’37, Cornell MD ’41, Penn Sc.D. ’47.

As for the younger Koop, he received preparatory training at The Stony Brook School before attending Eastern College and Eastern Baptist Seminary. Later, at Princeton Theological Seminary, he received a master of divinity and a master of theology.

In 1973, Koop began pastoring the historic Deerfield Presbyterian Church in New Jersey. In 1990, he took over the leadership at the First Congregational Church, where he had served as a summer pastor in previous years.

As a young man, Koop developed a heart for the activities, places, and people of New Hampshire, including the wonders of Lake Mascoma. Koop enjoyed reaching out to the community, including a local prison, and he served as an affiliated campus minister in cooperation with Dartmouth’s chaplain.

Koop is survived by his wife of 47 years, Anne Koop, whom he met while working summers at the Cog Railway on Mount Washington in New Hampshire. He is also survived by two sons, a daughter, and

49

the spiritual climate on campus

H A RVA RD | On Campus

Med School Professor Loses Appeal

H O S P ITAL E XPE LLE D D O C T O R OVE R LG B T VIE WS

By Sophia Lee Editor’s note: The following article was reprinted with permission from WORLD Magazine (www.worldmag.com).

christian union

::

the magazine

A

50

fter more than 10 years of tension and conflict over his hospital’s institutional endorsement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activities, urologist Paul Church lost his final appeal to the Board of Directors of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) to reconsider the hospital’s decision to expel him and terminate his medical privileges.

That appeal was Church’s last chance to stay at BIDMC in Boston. The board’s final judgment in December dashed that hope − and appeared to confirm the extent to which social ideologies have infected the nation’s medical field.

Church, a member of the BIDMC medical staff for 28 years and part of the adjoining Harvard Medical School faculty, received the news to uphold the expulsion via e-mail.

After conferring with his attorney at Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit law firm, he ultimately decided not to continue his battle in the Massachusetts judicial system.

“We kind of reached a dead end,” Church said. Despite his initial disappointment, Church said he feels satisfaction that he did his best and “fought the good fight.”

For about a decade, Church was one of the lone voices among the BIDMC staff protesting the hospital’s proactive agenda to promote the LGBT movement. As one

of the nation’s top health facilities and a major teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School, BIDMC ought to be more sensitive and responsible about the kind of sexual and moral behaviors it champions, Church argued through e-mails and intranet comments to higher-ups and fellow staff members.

He considers it an issue of both public health and freedom of expression for BIDMC staff members who hold a diversity of moral and religious values.

“It’s like a baby food company sponsoring an abortion company,” Church told WORLD News recently, still aghast at BIDMC’s public endorsement of LGBT events such as the Boston Gay Pride Parade. “Or like having a cigarette advertisement on a medical journal.

It makes no sense!”

But BIDMC was more focused on his “offensive” and “unacceptable” words toward the gay community, rather than his medical concerns about the health consequences of LGBT activities or even his right to express personal beliefs.

After several tense meetings with Church, a 25-member Medical Executive Committee made up of hospital staff voted on March 15 to expel him and revoke his medical privileges at the hospital. The committee also reported him to the Board of Registration in Medicine, which may affect his ability to renew his medical license in two years.

So far, Church, now 66, has lost his position at two of the three hospitals in which he worked for nearly three decades with no official complaints from patients. The second hospital denied him reappointment, which is decided every two to three years, for no apparent reason other than his dispute with BIDMC. Church is up for reappointment at the third hospital in February, and he’s bracing himself for another possible denial.

Church has considered retirement, but he’s unwilling to make that decision just because he’s been “pushed out.” He’s now looking for other hospitals to accept him, and he recently joined a committee at the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI), a professional organization made up of academics and health professionals who advocate for the right of religious belief and diversity for therapists and clients dealing with sexual orientation issues.

Going forward, Church said he’s praying that God continues to write the narrative in a powerful way.

“I’m praying this doesn’t get lost in complacency or intimidate people even more, but hopefully empowers and enables people to have more success than I did in engaging society as salt and light,” he said.

“We shouldn’t just roll over, especially on an important issue like this. We shouldn’t play victim, but be strong and compassionate.” | cu

H A RVA RD | On Campus

A Radical Calling to Love

F R A N C I S C A N S I S T E R S V I S I T H A R VA R D

By Eileen Scott, Senior Writer

M

Sister Anne Kateri, Harvard ’99, spoke to students about the joy of living the religious life.

rently deciding whether or not to attend medical school.

“The Sisters visited at a very ironic crux in my prayer life,” she said. “Sister Anne Kateri’s story about both her academic and spiritual journey is very similar to mine,

and it was incredible to be affirmed by her story that Christ calls each of us. Their visit really opened my eyes to the variety of ways women are able to give their lives to Christ.”

However, Sister Anne admitted

christianunion.org

going to be in my life?’” said Wade.

The event helped the women think about what God wants them to be, she noted.

This was particularly true for Maggie Hartman ’17, who is cur-

::

—Maggie Hartman, Harvard ’17

2016

“Their visit really opened my eyes to the variety of ways women are able to give their lives to Christ.”

that surrendering possessions and future ambitions can be scary. She feared what giving all for Christ would mean and she feared Jesus not being enough. But her anxieties were calmed as she continued to walk the path God placed before her. She told the students that God revealed Himself to exceed earthly expectations, and that Jesus is, indeed, enough.

That’s a realization that Hartman is also coming to as she discerns her future.

“I think their visit was crucial in giving me the final push to accept the truth that Jesus is enough. What an exciting time to submit myself to this truth and let Christ do with my life what He wishes. I am very

winter

embers of Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, including Sister Anne Kateri (Harvard ’99), recently shared their joyful and challenging journeys and spoke about vocation with the women of the Harvard-Radcliffe Catholic Community.

The sisters work in parallel with the Franciscan Brothers of the Renewal, co-founded by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, PhD, Columbia ’71.

They live out the Gospel in simplicity with lives characterized by prayer, charity, and poverty. Their days are spent among the poorest neighborhoods, where they serve and share God’s love with society’s most marginalized people.

The Fellowship of Catholic University Students sponsored the Sisters’ visit to Harvard. According to Federica Wade, the organization’s team director at Harvard, the message of a radical call to surrender everything for Christ was quite relevant for the students.

“The question on the minds of most undergraduates is: ‘What am I

51

the spiritual climate on campus

grateful for their visit,” she said.

Based upon the discussion with

Maggie Hartman, Harvard ’17, was inspired by the message of surrender presented by the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal.

the sisters, Wade also emphasized that keeping an open heart and mind are essential to living a fulfilling life.

“He can do unexpected things if we are open to Him,” said Wade.

“That is the way the Sisters work.

They don’t live under a rock. Because of the love they receive, they go out with their love. They are magnanimous.”

The discussion also addressed popular culture’s misrepresentation of religious life. “The religious aren’t locked away from the world and from love,” explained Wade, “But, in reality, they live out the deepest call to love.”

To help demonstrate the vibrant, joyful lives of women in religious orders, the Sisters shared the documentary For Love Alone. The film features convents and orders

throughout the country, and juxtaposes such images as brides on their wedding days with these brides of Christ taking their vows. It also depicts other images of how living a radical life of obedience and love for the Lord parallels the life experiences of women outside the orders.

“I believe that the film they shared with us will be impactful in the lives of many others, as well,” said Hartman.

The time spent with those living a simple, sacrificial, and holy life showed the students another side of success and satisfaction, said Wade.

Through obedience and humility, the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal displayed their courageous, radical love for their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. | cu

.....................................................................................

christian union

::

the magazine

ha r v a r d ne w s - in - b r ie f

52

HLS Adds “GenderNeutral” Bathrooms

Local Church Hosts Outreach

This fall, Harvard Law School added “gender-neutral” bathrooms in response to a survey conducted by the housing department. The poll gauged interest by current resident students regarding living on a floor with a gender-neutral bathroom.

The law school has converted one-third of its communal bathrooms in Hastings Hall and the Gropius Complex to genderneutral facilities.

Journey Church, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, held its annual back-to-school outreach for Harvard students this fall.

“We want to see Harvard students thriving in their faith, coming Rev. Kent Murawski into

relationship with Christ, reaching their friends, and actively becoming involved in a local church,” stated Pastor Kent Murawski.

Journey Church, which meets in Harvard Square, was established four years ago.

Approximately 30-40 students attend each week. The back-toschool outreach was supported, in part, by a Christian Union grant.

Matthews Hall is a freshman dormitory in Harvard Yard.

Photo credit: Phil Anema

the spiritual climate on campus

P E N N | On Campus

Faith and Film

P E N N A LU MN U S P U R S U E S H I S PA S S I O N

By Eileen Scott, Senior Writer

christian union

::

the magazine

F

54

ilmmaker Jason Y. Lee, Penn ’09, York City subway to raise money. says Jesus—who often used para- Their goal was to raise $100 that bles to teach truth—is his role model day. Lee described the experience for producing inspiring films. in a piece he wrote for The Hunting“If Jesus were on earth today, he ton Post: might be a filmmaker, too,” he said.

“I didn’t fit the profile of a subLee is the executive director of way busker: a skinny Asian boy with the Jubilee Project, a non-profit me- a terrible voice. But there I was, at dia organization that the Union Square makes movies aimed subway platform, at young adults and standing behind tells stories of rean open guitar case demption and triwith a few coins umph. Although his I had dropped in films might not be myself - and scared. labeled as “ChrisYet, slowly, I began tian,” per se, Lee deto sing…” sires to live out the Jason raised sevGospel through his enty percent of his work and address $100 goal. Somewhat it means to love what disappointed, Jason Y. Lee, Penn ‘09 and walk like Christ. he posted the video The history of of their fundraising the Jubilee Project is a story unto effort online. The response brought itself—a tale of two brothers and in roughly seven times of the goal a friend who attended Ivy League amount. More importantly, Jason universities, served in campus min- and his team realized the impact of istries, and went on to obtain their storytelling, and how God can work degrees. But all three soon stepped when we take a small leap of faith. off the professional fast track to purJason left his work as a mansue a passion that became a mission. agement consultant and Edward Jason, his brother, Edward Lee resigned from his White House (Harvard ’09), and a friend, Eric Lu job as the president’s liaison to the (Harvard ’09), began The Jubilee Asian American and Pacific Island Project in 2010 out of a desire to help community. Lu took a break from when a major earthquake hit Haiti.

Harvard Medical School.

“I had little money, but had a “I wanted to tell stories that gave belief that ordinary people can do people a glimpse into the hope and extraordinary things,” Jason said. love that the Scriptures talk about,” So, he grabbed his guitar and said Edward. “For instance, my fasome friends and sang in the New vorite short film is the one we made,

called The Prodigal. It’s about the Prodigal Son, and I wrote it because it was reflective of my own story of rebelling against God, of being entrenched in the ways of the world, and ultimately of experiencing the unconditional love of Jesus.”

The media company has produced films dealing with family relationships, following one’s passion, and even one entitled The Last Pick, featuring NBA player Jeremy Lin, Harvard ’10. These and other films can be viewed at www.jubilee project.org.

In 2014, Edward left the Jubilee Project and headed to San Francisco with his new wife to become a freelance filmmaker. Likewise, Lu returned to medical school. But Jason remains passionate about his work with Jubilee and the mission of inspiring young people to live for more than themselves.

The Jubilee Project will soon release its first feature-length film, which focuses on human trafficking. Lee said this slave trade—with 27 million victims worldwide—is one of the greatest injustices of his generation.

These kinds of tragedies and every day challenges that people face are what inspire Jason to continue making films. It seems to be a natural extension of who he is.

“The Jubilee Project is a manifestation of my journey with God,” said Jason, “a journey of faith, a journey of growth, and seasons of difficulty.” | cu

P E N N | On Campus

The Enigma of Academic Success C A M P U S O R G A N I Z AT I O N S H O S T V E R I TA S F O R U M

By Rosalie Doerksen, ’17

A

“Achievement can be good,” Su says, “but if we worship it, we realize it cannot deliver on its promise to make us happy.”

“The worship of achievement is only a source of discomfort because it necessarily brings more hoops that one can fail to jump through

Dr. Francis Su (L), Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, and Dr. Stewart Friedman, Practice Professor of Management at Penn

:: christianunion.org

and with those, a lonely isolation from not being able to open up about your fears.”

Friedman, the director of the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project, has spent most of his career researching the key to a fulfilling and successful life.

“I feel a bit strange in this environment, frankly, because I don’t believe in God,” he began.

He offered an approach to societal contribution, however, that he says is rooted in a Jewish spiritual belief and the Hebrew phrase tikuun olam: “to heal the broken world.”

Friedman emphasized authentic and respectful dialogue, like that of

2016

In college, his father was diagnosed with cancer, and his mother with Lou Gehrig’s disease, rendering academic pursuits immediately aimless, he thought. If life, so fragile, was also unpredictably out of his control, what was the purpose of achieving at all? Beginning his graduate studies at Harvard, Su became depressed, and began to experience an all-too-familiar desire to keep his pain hidden.

Aware of the façades most college students present, Su eventually decided to open up to his classmates and found that confessing his own fears helped them to open up as well.

This, Su says, is the enigma:

winter

s Penn students are aware, enrollment at a prestigious university does not, contrary to widespread parental belief, miraculously render a life full of meaning. For most, arriving on campus signals the end of academic royalty and calls for immediate consideration of how, in a large selection pool of talent, one can stand out from the rest.

On November 13, several Penn organizations and campus ministries examined “The Enigma of Academic Success” at a Veritas Forum at the Wharton School’s Huntsman Hall.

Stephanie Virbinsky ’16 served as the student director and emcee of the event.

“Tonight’s event is not a debate,” Virbinsky began, as chuckles rippled through the audience.

“There is no winner, loser, no score being kept…though we are at the Wharton School.”

Dr. Philip Gehrman, professor of Psychiatry at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, moderated the discussion between Dr. Francis Su, a mathematician and Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, and Dr. Stewart Friedman, Practice Professor of Management at Penn and a self-described agnostic.

Su, a Christian, has found an inner source of dignity in a gracious God. But as a student, the constant need to compare himself to others for validation actually began to steal the joy he experienced from doing math.

55

the spiritual climate on campus

the Veritas Forum, as key to living an engaged life.

In 1984, when Friedman, an organizational psychologist, first began teaching at Penn, he was interested in company leadership development. But three years later, when he held his first-born son in his arms, his first thought was, “What am I going to do now to make the world a safe one for him to grow up in?”

At that moment the trajectory of his career changed.

“I engaged in the kind of dialogue that led me to learn that my purpose was to serve him, my child.”

Friedman wanted to be able to articulate and teach principles of success based on those who excel at integrating all of life’s important aspects. Those who are most successful, Friedman found, have fourway wins: they have found a way to improve performance at work, at home, in the community, and within themselves.

He continued to return to the concept of dialogue geared towards self-awareness. A strong connection to others gave those he views as most successful the capacity to achieve.

Productive discussion occurs frequently for Tanya Datta ’17 and her Christian roommate, who invited her to attend the forum.

the reminder that, when midterms are constantly around the corner, her entire self-worth shouldn’t be based on academic success.

“I have been given the priceless opportunity to focus on self-actualization,” Datta said.

Blake Arevalos ’19, a Christian, cited his faith as the cornerstone of

“I feel a bit strange in this environment, frankly, because I don’t believe in God.” —Dr. Stewart Friedman Datta was raised with a semi-religious Hindu worldview, in a first-generation Indian family.

“To my parents, my entire life depends on my studies and nothing else is as important,” Datta said.

Then again, their survival as immigrants depended on the practicality of their life choices, and in times of uncertainty she falls back into the “achieve to succeed” mindset of her upbringing. Mostly, she is glad of

his personal validation. In theory, his solution is simple, but the emphasis on academics at Penn – it can “mess with your priorities,” he says, which piqued his interest in attending the forum.

Arevalos concluded that academic success is a personal exploration, rather than a comparison.

“That (achievement-based) model of academic success is quite depressing,” he said. | cu

....................................................................................... p enn ne w s - in - b r ie f

christian union

::

the magazine

Full Measure

56

In November, Full Measure, an a cappella group at Penn, held its fall concert at Spruce Hill Christian School in Philadelphia.

The concert was entitled “Ask. Seek. Knock.”

In addition to performing concerts, Full Measure has released several CDs, including its latest project, Reason To Sing.

Group members seek “to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, not our own ambitions, to spread the Gospel on Penn campus and the West Philadelphia area.”

“Michelangelo’s Secret” In December, Ola Osinaike ’16 hosted “Michelangelo’s Secret: A Re-examination of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling” in the Harrison Rooftop Lounge.

Osinaike, a cinema studies major, shared his artistic interpretation of Michelangelo’s paintings and discussed hidden images in the famous works, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. Specifically, he referred to “The Creation of Adam,” noting that dividing the

painting in half and overlapping parts formed an image that references the Four Horsemen from the Book of Revelation.

Ola Osinaike ’16 finds hidden biblical meaning in Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel.

PR I N C E T O N | On Campus

Stand Firm!

I N T E R F E L L O W S H I P F R I D AY F E AT U R E S W H E AT O N P R O F E S S O R

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

C

2016 :: christianunion.org

should be doing the things that that moves on the ground.”

As for modern believers, “God are expressions of His love,” said Bacote, an ordained Baptist min- calls us to be stewards of His world,” ister whose research focuses on the Bacote said.

By extension, God also desires intersection of Christian faith and for His followers to champion His public life.

As such, Bacote told students to causes, especially ones involving heed the key directives expressed compassion and justice, even in the by the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Of key significance, God desires for believers Author and theologian Vincent Bacote told students involved to live as shining lights with campus ministries at Princeton University to hold in a dark world. “God God’s priorities as their top concerns. did not call us to participate in this world because it’s easy. He calls us to be His face of so-called “mission fatigue.” faithful people, His hopeful people, In Matthew 5:16, Jesus told His no matter what,” said Bacote, au- followers to “let your light shine bethor of The Spirit in Public Theology: fore others, that they may see your Appropriating the Legacy of Abraham good deeds and glorify your Father Kuyper and The Political Disciple: A in heaven.”

Theology of Public Life (Ordinary Committed believers should be Theology). engaged in life beyond Sunday, beIn Genesis 1:26 and 28, God cause establishing divine order on outlined His plan for mankind to earth reflects Christ’s Great Comassume dominion over a vast spec- mission, Bacote said. trum of creatures. Specifically, God Likewise, being a witness means intended for mankind to “fill the living out the “good news that earth and subdue it. Rule over the God’s kingdom is coming and has fish in the sea and the birds in the come,” Bacote said. “It’s better news sky and over every living creature than you might even imagine.”

winter

hristians are called to be faithful, even to arduous, seemingly impossible missional causes.

During a recent visit to Princeton University, author and theologian Vincent Bacote encouraged students involved with campus ministries to embrace God’s priorities as their concerns, even in the midst of overwhelming challenges.

“What matters to God ought to matter to you,” said Bacote, associate professor of theology and director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College.

Such causes can include combatting racism, sex trafficking, and other injustices. “What’s a Christian to do when facing a world of horrors? The challenge is not to be cynical, not to be apathetic,” Bacote told students. “To be a Christian is to be a disciple.”

Several ministries sponsored Bacote’s appearance on November 13 in McCosh Hall as part of an Interfellowship Friday. The gatherings allow Christians at Princeton to assemble for worship, prayer, and inspiration.

The sponsors of Interfellowship Friday included: Athletes in Action (princeton.edu/~aia), Faculty Commons (facultycommons. com), Manna Christian Fellowship (manna.mycpanel.princeton.edu), Princeton Evangelical Fellowship (pef.mycpanel.princeton.edu), and Christian Union’s ministry at Princeton.

“If you are God’s people, you

57

the spiritual climate on campus

God’s plan to reflect Heaven across the corners of the globe remains close to His heart, and He has not abandoned His intent for creation. “God is reclaiming and will completely reclaim His world. He’s going to renew it completely and transform it completely,” Bacote said.

More importantly, God’s deepest causes center on offering redemption to people throughout the earth. “Salvation is about God saving His creation,” Bacote said.

Humans serve as the crown of God’s creation, and God desires for

His followers to display obedience in caring for His prized possessions.

“Jesus comes and takes flesh on Himself. Bodies matter. Flesh matters,” Bacote said. “If it didn’t matter, He wouldn’t take on a body. It tells us that human lives are the embodiment of something we ought to care about.”

Along those lines, not only did Christ come to earth as an infant, He was resurrected in human form.

Thus, when believers are performing practical service to mankind, they should pause to reflect on

God’s heart toward the human race.

“I don’t know how fruitful my efforts will be, but God tells me to know it’s not in vain,” Bacote said.

As well, Christians can rest in the assurance that their Savior will return to usher in peace and end sin and suffering, said Bacote, referencing Revelation 21.

“We know the story ends in victory. It ends with all evil being eradicated,” said Bacote. “The world that began in a garden ends in a city, and the people are with God. It’s amazing.” | cu

.......................................................................................

PR I N C E T O N | On Campus

Sex and the Academy

S C H O L A R S C H A S T I S E U N I V E R S I T I E S F O R A B D I C AT I N G LE A D E R S H I P R O LE

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

christian union

::

the magazine

D

58

espite widespread unwillingness to acknowledge their roles, universities are inherently involved in the moral development of young adults.

That was one of the themes that emerged from a panel discussion at Princeton University entitled Sex and the Academy. On October 7, the Anscombe Society (anscombe. princeton.edu) hosted the event in McCormick Hall in honor of its 10th anniversary.

“It’s insane to think universities aren’t involved with moral formation,” said Candace Vogler, author, speaker, and philosopher at the University of Chicago. “They are elite institutions.”

Princeton’s philosophy department co-sponsored the forum.

Robert George (Harvard Theology ’81, Law ’81), the McCormick

Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton, served as the moderator for the panel.

Likewise, John Haldane, a philosopher at Baylor University, as well as director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs and philosopher at the University of St. Andrews, served as a panelist, as did Roger Scruton, a philosopher, commentator, and prolific author.

Rounding out the panel was Vogler, who was candid about the natural role universities play in shaping the character and moral core of emerging adults, despite the tendency of most secular institutions to disavow such responsibilities.

Inside the lecture halls of many top universities, students probe the meaning of male and female distinctions and other issues tied to sexual identity and norms, predom-

inantly from humanistic perspectives.

“What they’re trying to do is make room for everybody,” said Vogler.

In an attempt to accommodate sexually diverse students, campus ideologies end up devoid of meaningful tenets. The implications of the resulting campus culture remain troubling to proponents of traditional values.

“We inhabit a world of mass higher education,” said Haldane, a senior fellow at the Witherspoon Institute. Given the ever-expanding scale of higher education, that sphere of authority “takes on quite a different role.”

Historically, the clergy who shepherded the world’s oldest universities prized morality, while recognizing sexual activity as reserved for marital unity and procreation.

In October, participants involved in a panel discussion at Princeton University, Sex and the Academy, probed the nature of how universities are inherently involved in the moral development of young adults.

University over the weekend of October 30 and 31. The Love and Fidelity Network, which provides training to collegiate chastity clubs, organized the annual conference, which featured scholars and experts proffering arguments in support of marriage, family, and sexual morality.

Love and Fidelity Founder and Senior Adviser Cassandra Hough, Princeton ’07, launched the Anscombe Society as an undergraduate at Princeton in 2005.

Ultimately, the purpose behind the recent events centered on pointing students to healthier behaviors.

“The norm I’m defending is one that leads to human fulfillment,” Scruton said. | cu

........................... p r in c et o n ne w s - in - b r ie f

Manna Hosts Vocational Event

2016 :: christianunion.org

Manna Christian Fellowship held a triennial gathering of ministry alumni and undergraduates at Princeton University to facilitate vocational development and spiritual encouragement.

In October, the campus ministry (manna.mycpanel. princeton.edu) staged the conference to allow alumni to share practical insights and challenge students to reflect the Gospel in vocational endeavors. Fifty-plus alumni from classes 1997 to 2015 spoke during plenary and breakout sessions. David Kim, Penn ’94, executive director of Center for Faith and Work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, was the featured speaker.

winter

In modern years, one practical factor behind the shift away from purity occurred with the widespread dissemination of contraception. Absent of concerns for reproductive repercussions, “anything can happen,” said Vogler. “Almost anything goes.”

With largely abated cause to fear unwanted pregnancies among students, universities now focus sexual education upon increasing the breadth of information about sexuality, promoting safer practices in light of transmittable diseases, and teaching undergrads to accept their sexual orientation.

Still, despite efforts to tout sexual responsibility, modern campuses are beset by sexual assaults, the hookup culture, and rampant experimentation, often fueled by alcohol abuse and a profound lack of emotional connection. Such risky

behavior also exposes students to a range of emotional consequences.

Since World War II, “young people have been given no guidance on how their sexuality should be dealt with,” said Scruton, also a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a fellow of the British Academy.

“We can at least recognize that our ancestors believed the sexual relationship to be sacramental… We need to recapture some of that.”

Along those lines, students on American campuses are “confused as to what consent is,” especially outside the boundaries of commitment, Scruton said.

The resulting campus culture contributes to sexual predation.

“It’s perfectly normal for women to feel as if they have been abused,” said Scruton.

As importantly, just as there are differences in fine dining and fastfood fare, students need to appreciate the contrasts between casual sex and intimacy reserved for marriage.

“Fine dining requires culture,” said Scruton.

Such perspectives necessitate nurturing and training. With that as a basis, Anscombe, as a student organization, aims to affirm the centrality of the family, marriage, and a proper understanding of sexuality In other news, nine campus organizations, including a handful of ministries, recently hosted a related discussion. George moderated the session entitled Sex, Love, and Marriage: Witness of the Great Traditions, on October 12 in Whig Hall.

As well, more than 300 people attended Sexuality, Integrity, and the University 2015 at Princeton

59

the spiritual climate on campus

YA L E | On Campus

The Gospel, Solidarity, and Love for Yale I N T E R - M I N I S T R Y TA S K F O R C E R E S P O N D S T O C A M P U S T E N S I O N Editor’s note: The following letter, reprinted from the Website www. loveforyale.com, was written by an inter-ministry task force at Yale in response to racial tension and protests on campus in the fall semester.

The document was signed by over 100 Yale students and staff members from various ministries, including Athletes in Action, Living Water, Yale Christian Fellowship, Chi Alpha, Yale Graduate Christian Fellowship, Yale Faith and Action, Yale Students for Christ, Yale Gospel Choir, and United Church of Westville.

christian union

::

the magazine

To Our Campus:

60

We are writing to you as a family of brothers and sisters in Christ.

We have been deeply moved and affected by the pain experienced by many on our campus. We affirm that there is real, legitimate, and deep pain endured by communities of color here at Yale, not just as a result of recent events, but rather the result of lifelong experiences. We are moved by our pursuit of God to affirm the value and dignity of all people, mourn the pain and suffering of communities of color, seek justice, and promote reconciliation on campus.

We realize that this letter may be seen as disingenuous, for Christians have not always displayed the love and justice of Christ as we have been commanded. Rather than stand up for the oppressed and the broken, we have in many cases directly contributed to injustice. We confess this history and we mourn it as repug-

nant, to humanity and to our God. Although we still fall short of the full expression of Christ’s love and justice, we stand by the belief that our God cares for the oppressed and the downtrodden. We believe that everyone is created in God’s image, and so have inherent and equal God-given worth, value, and dignity. We mourn that this truth has been distorted in various ways, including stereotyping, objectification and exotification, and a denial that these problems exist. It breaks our hearts that these problems affect the daily lives of students of color at Yale.

We believe that God intended for race and ethnicity to be gifts imparted to humanity; and like all gifts, we have twisted and cor-

to pay the penalty of our sin, and rose again to restore our relationship with God, and give us hope for the future. Jesus also gives us hope that, by His Spirit, we can do much better in how we treat one another, being freed by His love to no longer judge people by what we see, but to love them with the love of Jesus. It is because of our hope in Jesus Christ that we press onward, seeking justice for the oppressed and marginalized, as well as genuine reconciliation between human beings. But first and foremost, we affirm that Jesus calls us to better ourselves as instruments of His love indiscriminately to all people.

To this end, we are praying for wisdom for the administration.

We believe that God intended for race and ethnicity to be gifts imparted to humanity. rupted them from their original intent. We all tend to regard others according to self-interest and superficial prejudices. The results, which include racism and misogyny, are symptoms of a deeper problem stemming from our separation from God because of sin. Despite our sin and because of His great love for us, God sent His own Son to restore the relationship between Himself and human beings. Jesus came and lived among us in order to show us the way to live rightly with God and live at peace with each other. He willingly and undeservedly suffered death on the cross

Reconciliation is never easy. Just as Jesus had to suffer and die unjustly to make our reconciliation with God possible, so also we believe that reconciliation on this campus will require mutual sacrifice and forgiveness. Our hope is that the whole of the Yale community maintains a disposition of humility and a willingness to sacrifice as we move forward.

We know the past few weeks have been especially difficult for the communities of color on this campus. We love and value you, and support true reconciliation. If nothing else, please know that you are loved. | cu

YA L E | On Campus

Racial Injustice, Faith, and the Law C A M P U S O R G A N I Z AT I O N S H O S T V E R I TA S F O R U M AT YA L E

By Luke Foster, Columbia ’15

T

University. Anderson’s opening remarks presented a literary-critical take on the ongoing history of racism in the United States: “The black body” has been re-imagined from inhabiting the “iconic plantation”

2016 :: christianunion.org

to “the iconic ghetto,” still fundamentally confined and existing as “a black body in a white space,” resulting in a “deficit of credibility” for even the most successful African Americans. Professor Gillespie, the author of The New Black Politician: Cory Booker, Newark and Post-Racial America (NYU Press 2012), explained that her perspectives ultimately stemmed from the “personal decision for Christ” she made as a girl.

Professor Forman said that he

was conceived with an “unearned commitment to civil rights law” as the son of a black father and white mother who met as members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s.

His parents deliberately chose to raise him as black, instilling in him a duty to work for racial justice.

Both professors concurred that the legacy of racism has wounded both black and white Americans. “It takes a psychic toll on a nation to hold a people in bondage—you have to create myths, which are the source of every cruel stereotype about black Americans,” Professor Gillespie said. “Those myths are embedded into our psyches in ways that we don’t want to face,” Professor Forman concurred.

Gillespie, asked about the parishioners of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church’s ability to forgive Dylan Roof after June’s shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, stated that “a failure to forgive short circuits our relationship with God.” However, she characterized individual cases of forgiveness as “BandAids on a gangrenous wound” and called on white America to acknowledge that “we are all Dylan Roof.”

Forman called for further measures of affirmative action in faculty hiring, and claimed President

winter

he topics for the Veritas Forum’s nationwide series of events— bringing Gospel perspectives through the mouths of eloquent, Christian faculty to college campuses—tend to cluster around two relatively abstract debates: the relationship of science and religion and the place of absolute truth claims in a pluralistic university.

To this end, Veritas pairs a Christian scholar with a professor representing another worldview. The Veritas Forum at Yale Law School on November 5 was therefore unusual, bringing together three African-American professors on the subject of “Working through the Anger: Racial Injustice, Faith, and the Law.” Especially in the context of this fall’s heated responses to Erika Christakis’ campus-wide e-mail defending insensitive Halloween costumes, turnout was going to be high. Over 300 students—undergraduates, law students, and PhD candidates— packed the auditorium to hang on the three African-American speakers’ words. Approximately 13 campus organizations, including the Black Law Students Association, co-hosted the event with Veritas.

The evening’s moderator, Dr. Elijah Anderson, Yale professor of sociology, introduced the two main speakers: Yale Law School professor James Forman, and Dr. Andra Gillespie, a professor at Emory

61

the spiritual climate on campus

Obama had made a “moral mistake” by reforming incarceration for non-violent drug offenders without

both speakers addressed the roots of human dignity and hope. Gillespie said that her source of strength,

Professor Forman said he was conceived with an “unearned commitment to civil rights law” as the son of a black father and white mother who met as members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s. also having “sympathy for those who commit violent crimes.”

In their concluding remarks,

despite the heartache of seeing the continued deprivations of black Americans, lay in knowing that “if

Christ could [give Himself ] for me, knowing how flawed I am, I can’t get disappointed. I’m not alone.

Christ fights with me, for me.”

Forman, though not able to share Gillespie’s transcendent faith said, “Love is not something we talk about enough in law schools.” With love clearly in view, today’s law students could work for justice even if it comes “ten thousand years from tomorrow.” Neither speaker directly mentioned the role of churches in realizing the SNCC’s original idea of the “beloved community,” but many students in the audience drew the clear conclusion. | cu

....................................................................................... y a l e ne w s - in - b r ie f

christian union

::

the magazine

“Take Rest”

62

The Yale Gospel Choir celebrated Christmas with its annual winter concert on December 11 in the AfroAmerican Cultural Center. “Take Rest” was the theme of the event as performers sought to encourage the audience to enjoy times of peace and joy, as well as breaks from the worry and stress of finals and the typical holiday frenzy.

Founded in 1973, the undergraduate musical group at Yale University strives to spread the Gospel through song. The choir ministers throughout the New Haven community, as well as in national and international venues during its spring tour.

Professor John Hare Examines Theological Ethics God’s Command (Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics) is the latest book from Yale Professor John Hare. Published by Oxford University Press, the book provides an inter-religious perspective on the foundations of ethics.

Hare received his BA from Oxford University, and his PhD from Princeton University. He has taught at Lehigh University and Calvin College and also worked on the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington, DC. At Yale, he is a professor in the Philosophy Department, the Religious Studies Department,

the Classics Department, and the Divinity School, Hare has written six books, including The Moral Gap (OUP 1997), Why Bother Being Good? (InterVarsity Press, 2002), and God and Morality (Wiley-Blackwell 2009).

ENGAGING & TRANSFORMING CULTURE The Nexus Professionals conference addresses both the philosophical and practical elements of cultural transformation — understanding the intellectual framework, the Biblical mandate, and the practical implications of the Christian call to be part of God’s redeeming work.

Plenary speakers, outstanding worship, and interaction with other professionals seeking transformative change will challenge you spiritually and intellectually. Join us for a weekend of substance and challenge.

APRIL 1-3, 2016 x NEW HAVEN, CT x NEXUSPROFESSIONAL2016.ORG

the magazine

:: christian union

64

pa rt ing shot

||

Marcus Aurelius Statue at Brown University

|| Photography by Phil Anema

Thank you!

Through your generous giving, Christian leaders are being developed to change culture.

Lauren Smith

ss of 2016

ity, cla cornell univers

Falls, Montana mHometown: Great n Bible Study & Co tio Ac es d nc an ie Sc ith al Fa l ic el og Watch Major: Biol rapher; Corn ology Project Feeder ell Athletics Videog ith rn rn Co O : of es b iti La tiv l el Ac s rn Campu Guild; The Co idows AIDS -Leader; The Quill Co e ic rv Se ral Orphans and W ity Ru un e m th th wi g in rv to empower mmer, se

ROWAN ed last su , which partners with a in 2013 and return on nd ni ga U U ian to ist nt hr we C st “I fir sored by ). The trips were spon Network (ROWAN

by HIV/AIDS. ed ct ed or impa ct fe in ws cared do wi d an orphans the co-founder’s wife e; m r fo ay pr to gathered a team r in the name perienced the powe ently sick. ROWAN ex ol I vi d e an m ca d, be ve I lo p, ly tri ib community. cred On my first , unity, and living in lt situation, I felt in rty cu ve ffi di po is ew th vi I In . y lly wa dships. the for me persona rs into intimate frien ganda, has changed ge U , an ga str an e m aw lco M we in e d is not as ly, an of Jesus. My tim ht me that comfort her, love extravagant ug ot ta ch d ea an r el fo t lev ou al ob ok sion of a gl There, people lo ht to transfer this vi of God’s church on ug e so ps e im I’v gl al. a e tri m of n st ve ersamid These trips have gi g onto hope in the the depth of the conv in ; ld en ho m d wo an e or ng di om an ph co-lead for so important as underst Union Bible study I ian ist hr d blessed me.

C e th to ity commun ve truly astounded an ha d lte su re ve ha at th ter I graduate in tions and friendships d I plan to return af an , ck ba e m aw dr continue to and be a servant.” e people of Mawanga means to trust God it I love East Africa. Th at wh t ou ab e or learn m the spring. I want to

ChristianUnion.org/Giving Giving@ChristianUnion.org

CHRISTIAN UNION 240 Nassau Street Princeton, NJ 08542 USA

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

“Trinity has a culture of being inclusive, of making a space for people who come from various denominational backgrounds. But increasingly today, Trinity is also an inviting place for those who come from different racial, ethnic, cultural, and national backgrounds. We have a calling from the Lord to serve the broader global church.”

PETER CHA

christian union

::

the magazine

a ssociate professor of pa stor al theology

4

TEDS faculty are gifted men and women who represent a wide spectrum of international backgrounds, church and ministry involvements, and evangelical theological positions, but they are united around the centrality of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. They minister as much through research and writing as through local church involvement, but their primary ministry is teaching and caring for our students.

teds.edu 2065 Half Day Road 800 345.8337

| Deerfield, Illinois 60015