Editor’s note.
BY RANDALL FREDERICK
Recalled to Life and the Golden Thread As Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities, it is indeed the best and worst of times. Our special relationship with Europe stands upon the brink of collapse as banks and lending institutions drown in the weight of their oppressive greed and our generation responses dismally with marching bands of protest. Having your picture taken holding a witty sign and yelling (or alternatively not yelling for those invoking Quakerlike intensity towards peacemaking) has become our chosen rite of passage even as we rush headlong into a feral hope for messianic political leaders to deliver us from the mortal coil of intolerable injustice. Still, our saving hope is that all is not lost in this chasm of abyss, for it is here that we have found a new America charged with the boiled blood of youth and inexperience, a
new America once again charging towards revolution and casting off the (financial) bonds of liberty for manifest destiny. In our fervor for a new America, the articles in this issue of The SEMI each address concerns of the world we find ourselves in as students, religious people and humans in relationship with one another. We encourage you to read these articles in connection with one another, questioning whatever parallels make you uncomfortable (ie: What do angelic visions have to do with financial reform?) even as you ask yourself those deep, personal questions about who you are becoming. As we head into the holidays, let us not get caught up in commercialized inauthenticity but reflective progress.
Semi Credits Managing Editor Carmen ValdĂŠs Editor Randall Frederick Production Editor Matthew Schuler
Legal Jargon The SEMI is published bi-weekly as a service to the Fuller community by the Office of Student Affairs. Articles and commentaries do not necessarily reflect the views of the Fuller administration or the SEMI.
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the denial of demons by kevin gonzaga
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Years ago, I was doing outreach every Friday night in the Lower-East side of Vancouver, British Columbia. I regularly met with several people including Bev, a First Nations (Native American) woman. One Friday, I met her boyfriend. At the time, I did not think anything of it. Nothing out of the ordinary, just meeting a new face. The next week, Bev was bandaged with gauze in her mouth and clearly in a lot of pain. I slowly pieced together, from what I could make out, a story that made evil far less of an abstract concept and far more of a concrete reality for me. Her boyfriend, apparently moments after I had left, had stabbed her repeatedly with a knife in an attempt to kill her. It took seven grown men to pull him off of her. As more details emerged, it was revealed that he was heavily involved with the demonic and witchcraft. It seemed plain to everyone there that some demonic spiritual force provided the motive for his attack and his inhuman strength. But what was there to do? Despite being raised in Christianity and going to church for many years, I had absolutely nothing to
powerless. My inability to help her should not have come as a surprise to me. Despite years of involvement in the Church, I was still carrying my own physical, emotional and spiritual wounds. How could I ever hope to give away freedom, hope and healing I had not received myself? Since then, I have been on a journey to be equipped to deal with evil and its aftermath. The results of all of my previous education and experience had been dissatisfying, even here at Fuller. Much of what I have studied has been completely disconnected from the world beyond our walls, a world on fire with pain and suffering. The middle school boy who told me his step-father threw him against a wall so hard that it cracked his skull open does not care if I understand a scholastic theologian’s position regarding half-merits and fullmerits. Women who have escaped the sex-trafficking industry do not care about my ability to parse Greek or Hebrew. Combatants and victims from one of many of the world’s conflicts struggling with PTSD do not care if I know how to properly order a church
I fear that even if someone earned every degree offered at Fuller, they would be unable to offer a response to evil offer Bev that Friday night as I listened to her pain-garbled speech. I could not heal her wounds, either supernaturally or through modern medicine, I could not end her poverty, and I certainly could not have stopped her demonized boyfriend. Faced with such evil I was completely
service. Now, one might suggest I am simply in the wrong degree program and I should have started a Psy.D. or an SIS degree if I wanted to help people and it saddens me to think that an MDiv degree, a degree for future ministers, is often not seen as a
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degree that equips one to help hurting people. More importantly, I fear even if someone earned every degree offered at Fuller, they would be unable to offer a response to evil outside the norm. Non-Christians can do development work, be competent counselors, and run successful service programs. If we claim to have the very Spirit of God within us, shouldn’t we be able to offer something distinct from altruistic atheists?
Angelic visitations and demons, if accepted at all, are reserved for the gullible, the “crazy” Last Spring, I started to confront why I still felt so powerless. My roommate was taking the class Power Encounter and we had many conversations about the supernatural realm. One night, I found myself saying, “You know, I say the spiritual realm exists, but I do not act like it.” For most of my life, I have not taken the spiritual realm and the demonic seriously, despite the spiritual realm being on every page of the Bible and despite tangible evidence in my life that the demonic was real. I did not take the spiritual realm seriously for the same reason I am sure many of my peers have (and still do) not: I am a product of Western culture. The focus of this culture has been on what can be proven by science or explained through reason. Spiritual and religious beliefs have become increasingly marginalized to the
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status of quaint superstitions, myths and private beliefs that do not impact our shared public reality. Western Christians cannot help but be impacted the culture around us. We have gone along with our culture’s dismissal of the supernatural realm lest we offend other people, lose a seat at the table of public discourse or be written off as
weird. We often read the Bible as if every passage dealing with demons, angels or supernatural healings has been blotted out. Blinded in this manner, we try to follow Jesus, help others and solve the world’s problems with only a partial picture of reality. Churches ignore, explain away or outright deny the spiritual realm beyond the Incarnation, the Resurrection and the mechanics
of salvation and miracles. Angelic visitations and demons, if accepted at all, are reserved for the gullible, the “crazy” Charismatic or Pentecostal types. At best, they become quaint missionary experiences in the deepest darkest parts of Somewhere-OtherCountry. Unable to heal the sick or deal with demons, we have had to develop theology to explain our impotence.
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As a result, to the extent that Western Churches ignore the spiritual realm beyond salvation, we devolve into a powerless civil religion that can only give people hope after they die. The results have been nothing less than disastrous. Most of what Western churches do and offer, across denominational lines and including the most progressive Emerging/Emergent churches, can be accomplished by human effort and willpower alone. We cannot offer the wider world, a world reeling from personal, systemic and global evils, anything that they cannot get elsewhere. Honestly, sometimes I feel we may as well just be the Boy Scouts or Rotary Club. Do we honestly believe that Jesus’ Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Glorification and our Baptism with the Holy Spirit all happened so that we could be one of many organizations that help people and teach morality and ethics?
had I suggested we should obey Jesus’ commandment to “cleanse the leper, heal the sick, and cast out demons” (Matt 10:8), I would have been told that kind of stuff does not happen today. If I went to my pastors with a prophetic word, it would have been categorically rejected – even though prophecy is affirmed in countless scriptures (among them, Amos 2:28 and Acts 2:17). The denial and ambivalence towards the spiritual realm, miracles and the demonic is the number one crisis in the Western Church. While there are many pressing issues facing Western Christianity, if we cut ourselves off from the spiritual realm, we cut ourselves off from the Spirit of God and the unique way we as believers are able to respond to other issues. In short, we lose our identity. The availability of healthcare is a serious
Spiritual and religious beliefs have become increasingly marginalized to the status of quaint superstitions, myths and private beliefs that do not impact our shared public reality. I was raised in churches thoroughly compromised in this manner. They taught me to affirm some of what the Bible said about the spiritual realm but not all of it. I have come to feel that such a stance leads to an incoherent understanding of the spiritual realm. In that environment, I would have been branded as a heretic if I suggested we did not have to obey Jesus or that the Bible should not be read literally. But
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issue, but how different would our discussion be if Christians were known for their ability to heal the sick? Yes, addiction is a serious issue, but how different would our discussion be if Christians were known for their ability to pray for inner healing emotional wounds, which are often the root cause of those addictions? Many ideologies promise safety and salvation to people, but how different would the world be if Christians were confident God could
act in this world? Furthermore, because we deny the fact that the demons exist, whatever demonic forces are at work go unchecked. While I do not believe there is a demon under every rock and tree, this is an issue that cannot be dealt with through secular means. Until we take the demonic seriously, many of us, our families, our clients, our congregants, our staff and faculty here at Fuller, our communities and our nation will continue to struggle with demonic oppression. Despite the magnitude of the current crisis before us, I believe there is cause
truth on these matters? In addition to this, globalization has exposed Western Christians to many other cultures that do take the spiritual realm seriously. As Western Christians go out to help other cultures, our dismissal of the spiritual realm is exposed and our curiosity is ignited. Perhaps more importantly, at least for our campus, supernatural signs and wonders are becoming more commonplace here. Just a few weeks ago, I was part of a ministry team that prayed for supernatural healing for fellow students. A number of them
Do we honestly believe that Jesus’ Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Glorification all happened so that we could be one of many organizations that help people and teach morality and ethics? for hope. Culturally, the pendulum is swinging back and people are increasingly hungry for spiritual power and spiritual answers. Just take a look at the number of popular movies, TV shows, and books in the last several years that have had the supernatural as a central facet of their stories. True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Harry Potter, Paranormal Activity, Lost, Supernatural, Medium, Fringe, and Twilight are just a few examples. People are increasingly open to conversations about spirituality and the spiritual realm. If the Western Church does sort out what it believes about the spiritual realm, who would be better equipped to guide people into
were healed or experienced something supernatural. When similar supernatural healings and demonic manifestations were first being experienced in Fuller classrooms, it was when John Wimber was teaching here. Those supernatural experiences sparked the third wave Pentecostal movement and forced many cessationists to give up their theology. Sadly, the impact such experiences could have had on Fuller was diminished by faculty and students who were uncomfortable with what was happening on theological grounds. Two classes, Inner Healing Prayer and Power Encounter, are the only institutional traces of this amazing time
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in our school’s history. The question then posed to us is what are we going to do about the experiences that are happening on our campus and elsewhere? Will we embrace them or explain them away? I would encourage anyone who is curious about these matters to critically investigate them. Check out groups like Live Bones or places like Pihop. Take Inner Healing Prayer or Power Encounter. Read and listen to the books, sermons, podcasts and videos available to you that can provide different perspective on these issues. While you still may need to curb your criticism to some extent and be willing to admit that you and your tradition may not have all the answers, these are very relaxed ways where you can experience and explore the supernatural in safe ways. Moreover, I would encourage you to get with friends, mentors, or pastors that you trust and are well experienced in these types of things and go do it with them. Stepping out in faith is important and these things are best caught rather than taught. As an encouragement to everyone who is curious and may be timidly starting on this journey, I want to say it is actually very easy and worth it. Since last Spring I have become increasingly open to the movement of the Holy Spirit and begun to take risks outside of my comfort zone. In the last six months I have had a number of supernatural experiences. While they initially struck me as exotic, as I re-read the Bible I saw them all throughout the story of God. There are so many stories in the Bible about Jesus and His disciples healing people. Is it really that odd that I have seen
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supernatural healings take place? While I am still wrapping my head around all of this, I feel more equipped than ever to deal with evil in this world as only someone who has the Spirit of God inside of them can. And this required very little of me. Yes, I had to be willing to change the way I thought about many things. Yes, I had to be willing to admit that I had been wrong. Yes, I had to be willing to explore things I had scoffed at not a year ago. Yes, I had to be open to hearing and evaluating teachings I previously would never have given the time of day. But was this really doing more than maintaining a humble posture, accepting that I do not have all the answers and trusting God to lead me into the truth? Conversely, for those of you who think everything I have said about the demonic and supernatural are misguided, theologically uninformed or untrue, I invite you to read your bible with two highlighters of different colors. With one, highlight everything supernatural that happens in God’s story including demonic manifestations, supernatural healing, prophetic words, God speaking to people directly, angelic visitations, visions, etc. With the other, highlight every verse that suggest such supernatural things will stop, will stop after a certain time period, or will stop after a certain criteria has been met and that the demonic will vanish and no longer be an issue for Christians. Then let’s discuss what we find. Kevin Gonzaga (MAT, 2012) serves regularly at the Pasadena International House of Prayer and is a student in their School of Supernatural Ministry. He challenges the status quo and encourages people to think critically through their faith because the status quo is boring and far less than what God has for us as individuals and as the people of God.
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it’s much nicer to kiss a face than a facebook by lincoln moore 012
Here’s a disconcerting idea with interesting implications: when technology acts like a person, you will respond to it as if it were a person. MIT Professor of Social Science and Technology Sherry Turkle argues this point in her book Alone Together. Through her work with interactive bots, “Cog” and “Kismet,” Turkle found that when we are interacting with pieces of technology that have taken on human responses and actions, those bots can impact our emotions in much the same
you’ve been and where you’re going Stuff... Because what are you without your Stuff? Better yet -- without your Stuff, who are you? The message is clear: you are your stuff. Your data is what makes you, not your humanity. These statements should make any thinking person stop for a moment and consider the implications. Do the contents of my hard drive provide my identity? Does my data constitute my person? We don’t want to answer
The message is clear: you are your stuff. Your data is what makes you, not your humanity. way as a living breathing person. If the robots are warm and interactive, Turkle’s test subjects leave happy and comforted; when the bots are cold and distant, the test subjects try to gain their attention. If they are unable to, the human subjects feel jilted, indicating that our brains can respond to an It as a Thou. Recently, Symantec Corp. started running a campaign for their Norton Security software in which a little orange man walks around his animated world while headphones, tablets, music and money float tethered above his head. A voice narrates: Your stuff. The Stuff that lives on your hard drive, your devices, and on the web. Your stuff is more than just data. It’s your life. The Stuff that connects you with the people you love. The Stuff that puts you on the grid as a contributing member of society. It’s who you are Stuff, where
“yes” to these questions and don’t want to be defined by the sum total of our Facebook page. If we will be judged by its contents, we will do our best to cast ourselves in favorable lighting and create an image of ourselves with a fit body, witty mind and security settings that keep our grandparents from seeing the pictures of us drinking beer. Our social networks become the nexus of strategic disclosure and concealment. This may seem alright for you, but here’s the problem: we struggle to know the difference between interacting with a person and interacting with their neatly crafted digital presence. Text messages hurt feelings. Facebook posts send the wrong signals. Matters that could be cleared up by your physical presence are left to fester in the cloud when you are unable to witness the comic tone or sheepish grin that accompany them. Technology has done much to create
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new efficiencies in communication. In the areas of business, medicine and the arts we are able to share data in ways that are unprecedented. As this has spilled over into social spaces, we have been able to quickly learn about our new acquaintances and then pretend that we don’t actually know the things we have gleaned from their profiles -“CS Lewis is your favorite author? Mine too!” These new relational efficiencies take the stead of actually developing an acquaintance into a friendship. There is nothing efficient about knowing and loving a person. It is a task that takes time and presence. And it is a joy filled task. Again, we are being told that we are our stuff but can’t tell the difference between being with a person and experiencing their digital presence. Our social networks allow us to craft an identity that we wish to present to the
with new ways to conduct relationships, it is up to us to find the way to merge the two. Technology gives us the freedom to share news and information in new and exciting ways but it must be understood that at no point will it be able to replace the inherently valuable act of being with the person we are trying to relate to. We need to be able to experience each other in deeper ways than short burst updates. Loving relationships are the result of extensive self disclosure and discussion. If we fail to have these conversations, we not only lose the ability to relate to each other but also the ability to develop meaningful inner conversations. At the end of Alone Together, Turkle discusses a conversation that she had with her daughter via Skype. Her daughter was studying abroad in Ireland and Turkle was tired of hearing only about the day in day out activities of the program and asked her daughter to be more
it must be understood that at no point will technology be able to replace the inherently valuable act of being with the person we are trying to relate to world, but bypass the process of getting to know someone experientially. We are in the cloud: our images, our hopes, our frustrations and our snarky quips seated ethereally above the fray of loving correction in a space where we receive easy assent to our musings in the form of “Likes” and the private act of friendly dissent becomes combative because, after all, the public arena is much too personal. How then should we live? Being called to loving relationships and provided
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intentional in her communication. She writes of her daughter’s response, “Over time, over distance, through the fishbowl of Skype, Rebecca stares at me from her dorm room and repeats, ‘Maybe if I could find a subject.’” Lincoln Moore is a first year MAT student and occasional Luddite who deleted his Facebook account after reading Alone Together but then found the experience too isolating and signed back up. He’s from Detroit.
Moneyball, the Bennett Miller movie adaptation of Michael Lewis’s 2003 bestseller, is that rare movie that hits a home run. An exuberant, somewhat fictionalized account of how Billy Beane transformed the Oakland A’s baseball team in 2002, this is not the typical sports movie. Unlike The Natural or Bull Durham, it is not about washed up heroes who come back one last time, or rookies that are mentored into the big leagues. Rather, Moneyball tells the story of how an impoverished baseball team switches paradigms with regard to how one should rebuild its team after its money-rich rivals buy out in the off-season the contracts of three of the A’s best players. In Lewis’s words, Beane, the A’s general manager, was willing “to rethink baseball; how it is managed, how it is played, who is best suited to play it, and why.” Beane was willing to ignore most of what he had been taught about the game and adopt new ways of projecting the team’s future. The results prove compelling on screen, as viewers root for his team to win it all. As the movie opens, Beane realizes that
the small budget made available to him by the club’s owner would never allow him to win against those teams like the Yankees with four times his resources if he continued to use the same strategies they used. If that was how he played the game, “moneyball” would always trump his “baseball.” Beane concluded that his seasoned scouts who had been prognosticating player-success the same way for thirty years, picking who they subjectively believed to be the best good-looking prospects who fielded well and had high batting averages, could no longer dictate his actions. After all, they once had picked him, causing him to forsake a college education at Stanford, and he had proven a bust. A new paradigm on which to build for the future was called for. Beane, therefore, chooses to take the wisdom of a young, pudgy geek, a recent graduate of Yale in economics by the name of Peter Brand. Brand was committed to a kind of quantitative analysis known as “sabermetrics” to track those
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undervalued players who had a high onbase percentage, even if their batting average was lower. He was convinced that the game was won by having a higher number of runs scored, and those who got on base by any and all means, however unglamorous, were those best able to help a team when the big hit arrived. Using Brand’s wisdom and computer results, Beane trades for a team of no-names over the strong objection of his manager and scouts. (When Art Howe uses his power as manager, for example, to play another first baseman, Beane simply uses his power as general manager and trades the player.) And, after some initial growing pains, the team gels into a pennant contender. Viewers find themselves rooting for Beane and his new system to succeed, despite Beane’s continuing personal rough edges. As one reviewer wrote, “Moneyball is a story about how Billy, with Peter’s help and his laptop crammed with numbers, trades old knowledge for new.” Or as Beane tells his team, “Adapt or die.” Of course for the movie to work there needs to be a smart script, talented actors, and an accomplished director. Moneyball has all three. Bennett Miller, whose earlier movie, Capote, was nominated for an Oscar, took over a troubled production and guided the story with a sure hand. Steven Ziallian (who wrote Gangs of New York and Schindler’s List) and Aaron Sorkin (whose script for The Social Networkwas about the creation of Facebook, but also much more) worked on the script. Together, these writers produced a compelling storyline with clever dialogue. As importantly, they wrote a movie that transcends baseball.
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Key to the movie’s success is also the chemistry between Jonah Hill as Peter and Brad Pitt as Billy. Brad Pitt is at his best; he should get an Oscar nomination. Willing to play down his rugged, good looks, Pitt is at one and the same time inviting and unsettling, confident and yet filled with self-doubt. Viewers never move far from the sense that Beane must prove himself not only to others, but to himself. Moreover, Pitt allows his character’s acerbic and a-social character traits to remain in play throughout the story, even as his role as the “good guy” emerges. The movie never becomes saccharine. And Jonah Hill, more used to being showcased in Judd Apatow comedies that are rude and crude, but also humane and with a moral, almost steals the movies from Pitt. He too is an Oscar contender. Hill’s deadpan humor and pinpoint timing play off Pitt’s character brilliantly. His somewhat more serious roll as the pudgy genius provides Beane both his new game-plan and a confidant who is endearing. The subtitle of Lewis’ 2003 best-seller was “The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.” This sums up exactly the appeal of Moneyball. Why we are attracted to
this movie goes beyond its entertainment value or the potentially award-winning performances of its two lead characters.
Beyond the humor, smart script, and personal chemistry, is our recognition that many of life’s games are also unfair. We also sense that today, we must “adapt or die.” We will no longer succeed playing with old game plans. This is the reason that executives throughout the entertainment industry both discussed the book when it came out and quickly bought its option. In just about every seminary across the country, there is the similar recognition that unless we adopt new measures and new metrics, unless we change the way we go about projecting our endeavors, we will no longer be effective in serving the church. We might not even long be in business. The same sense of a changing scenario holds true for those running hospitals. Even the very best stand-alone hospital knows that within ten years, it will be out of business if it doesn’t reinvent its business model. Does the same go for the church? I think it does. To give but one example, my church is soon to celebrate its one hundredth birthday. It sits in the shadow of a megachurch with ten times our membership, multiple times our budget, and every
specialized ministry conceivable. Can we as a church of 250 members compete with them? Not if we adopt their paradigm. Not if we try to use the same criteria for selecting staff, try to develop the same programming (only dumbed down to our budget), try to have the same quality of professional excellence, and so on. Instead, a new set of metrics is called for; one based on a new vision of what our church can and should be. Our less resourced church needs a minister, for example, who will be my pastor and not just my preacher; he/she needs to know the names of my children. We need a worship service that promotes community by building into it lay participation and congregational prayer, turning our size into an asset. We need a few well-focused outreach ministries (in our case, we house Pasadena’s only shelter for the homeless on cold nights) that both make a difference and allow for congregational participation. If smaller churches simply aspire to become smaller versions of bigger churches, they will dwindle. If, instead, they opt for a strategy tailored to who they are, they might not only succeed in their mission, they might thrive. Moneyball invites its viewers to find in it a parable – a story about the art of winning given unfair odds. Here is a movie to show to your church’s leadership, and then to have a discussion about how its wisdom might fit your own “unfair games.” Robert Johnston joined the faculty of Fuller in 1993, serving as provost until 1995 and now serving as professor of theology and culture. His recent books include Useless Beauty (2004), Finding God in the Movies (co-written with Catherine Barsotti, 2004).
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I don’t know if you’ve heard but there’s a debt crisis going on. It’s kind of a big deal. I mean not 95 Theses big deal, but still it’s pretty important. Even those living in the bubble of academia are not making it out unscathed. Congress and the U.S. Department of Education have had to make some tough decisions about educational funding and here’s the bad news: they’re not making graduate students their top priority. The main focus now is on saving the Pell Grant program for undergraduate students. Congress has shifted money around and unfortunately some of it is coming from programs that used to help graduate students. Here are the changes that are most relevant to graduate students in the foreseeable future. First, and potentially most distressing, is that as of July 1, 2012, Federal Direct Subsidized Loans will no longer be offered to graduate students. Subsidized loans are the loans that
the Doe is getting rid of the .5% rebate graduate students currently get off their Direct Loan origination fee the government pays the interest on while students are enrolled half time or are in their grace period. In past years, graduate students could qualify for up to $8,500 in Subsidized loans as part of their annual loan limit. Starting in July 2012, these loans will be replaced by Unsubsidized loans, which start to accrue interest as soon as they are
disbursed. Students have the option to pay the interest while in school to help keep their balance lower or they can have the accrued interest added to the amount they borrowed when they go
of the students who began repayment in 2009 only 1.2% of them have defaulted on their loans. into repayment. The good news is that this change doesn’t affect the annual loan limits graduate students can take out. Graduate students in the SOT, SIS, and MFT program will still be eligible for up to $20,500 in Direct Unsubsidized loans and clinical psychology students will still be eligible for up to $37,167 annually. Also, any Subsidized loans from this current aid year and from previous years will remain subsidized. Second, the Department of Education is getting rid of the .5% rebate graduate students currently get off their Direct Loan origination fee. This will take place with Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans for the 2012-2013 aid year, starting in the Summer quarter. Currently Direct Loans charges students a 1% origination fee to create their loans. The government currently has a .5% ontime repayment rebate that it applies to each loan assuming that the student will make their first 12 loan payments on time. In essence, the government and the student have been splitting the 1% origination fee. Next year, the .5% rebate will be eliminated and students will be charged the full 1% origination fee. This higher fee will still be taken out of the loan before it arrives at Fuller and,
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as always, will also be reflected when students calculate the aid they have available during registration. Third (this is the good news – or at least better news), if the Department of Education doesn’t have enough money to go around, they’re aware that recent graduates probably don’t either. They have put in place several options to help new graduates manage their student loan debt including several payment plan options as well as revised deferment and forbearance programs. Let’s talk about loan repayment options first. There’s the standard 10-year repayment option and the extended 25-year repayment plan. These plans
There is also the Graduated Repayment Schedule. This repayment plan assumes that after graduation, as you progress in your career, your income will also progress. It is a 10 year repayment plan and the monthly payments increase every 2 years. Your monthly payments for the last 2 years will never be more than three times the monthly payments of your first two years, so if you have a clear career path that anticipates income growth, this may be an option to look into. Lastly, there are the Income Contingent and Income Based loan repayment options. These require a bit of extra paperwork on your part, but for students who are having a difficult time
The new Pay-as-You-Earn proposal introduced by President Obama on October 25th would also create an additional income-based repayment plan that would reduce the repayment to only 10% of a student’s discretionary income, but information on that plan is still forthcoming. offer students fixed monthly payments that will remain the same throughout their period of repayment. There are no special benefits or loan forgiveness programs for these loan repayment options. If you’re the kind of person who likes consistency and knowing what you’ll have to pay every month for the next 10-25 years one of these repayment plans is for you.
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making their loan payments, doing a little extra work can make all the difference. Income Based Repayment takes into consideration your documented adjusted gross income, amount of loan debt, household makeup and state of residency. In this plan, your repayment will not be more than 15% of your discretionary income. You will also need to submit annual documentation to verify your income.
The maximum repayment period is 25 years. If, at the end of 25 years, you have made all your payments on time and still have a remaining loan balance that amount will be forgiven. Also, this repayment program qualifies for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. If you work full-time in a qualifying public service job and make 120 qualified loan payments in this
But if you are unable to make any type of loan repayment, know that you don’t have to go into default! You can apply for deferment or forbearance. Deferment is a period of time when a student is not required to make payments and their subsidized loans do not earn interest. Students who are unemployed or are in severe economic hardship may qualify for deferment.
Students who do not qualify for deferment may qualify for a temporary forbearance, in which loans do earn interest but a student does not need to make payments. program the remainder of your loans will be forgiven. The new Pay-as-YouEarn proposal introduced by President Obama on October 25th would also create an additional income-based repayment plan that would reduce the repayment to only 10% of a student’s discretionary income, but information on that plan is still forthcoming. Income Contingent Repayment requires the same type of documentation as income based repayment but does not take into consideration the state of residency. Also, income contingent monthly repayments can be up to 20% of a student’s discretionary income. This repayment option also applies to GradPLUS loans. If, after 25 years of on time payments there is still a remaining balance, that portion of the loan can also be forgiven. Payments under the Income Contingent plan also qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
Students who do not qualify for deferment may qualify for a temporary forbearance, in which loans do earn interest but a student does not need to make payments. Fuller students have been particularly good at utilizing these repayment options. In fact, of the students who began repayment in 2009 only 1.2% of them have defaulted on their loans. So as you’re looking at funding your education and your student loan debt, take comfort in the success of those who have gone before you. There is hope, there are options, and there are people who can help. Martha Hunyadi (SOT M.A. 2008) has spent the last 6 years studying at or working for Fuller. Most of this time has been trying to complete her novel to be published under the nom de plume Elaine Whisperbrook.
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fuller happenings Film Screeing Wed, November 30, 7:00pm Travis Auditorium LiNK (Liberty in North Korea), the world’s only grass-roots organization working on the North Korea human rights crisis, will be showing their documentary, “Hiding: The Final Cut”. LiNK has been raising awareness about the crisis as well as providing relief to North Korean refugees. For more information on the crisis and organization please visit www.linkglobal.org. Stephanie Obad, stephanieobad@yahoo.com. World AIDS Day Prayer Thurs, December 1, 7:00–8:30pm Catalyst The CENDM student group invites you all to participate in a prayer gathering on the occasion of World AIDS Day. Join us as we intercede for those around the world who are affected by HIV/AIDS. Christmas Concert & Sing-Along Sat, December 3, 7:30–10:00pm Travis Auditorium Come enjoy a night of musical performances featuring singer / song-writers (and Fuller Alum’s) Beau Wammack & Keri Taylor as they debut their Christmas CD release with new original songs from “Fill the Night.” Various other musical performances by Fuller students followed by a Christmas SingAlong at the end of the night. Refreshments provided. asc-tgu@fuller.edu Cram Jam Tue, December 6, 8–10pm Cram Jam is a fun break for students during finals week. The event will include free food, activities, and a chance to connect with peers for a short study break. asc-campuslife@ fuller.edu. Morning Prayer Wed, 7:30–7:55am, Catalyst A Sacred Space for a Variety of Prayer Traditions. Find community and rest as
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you breath new life into your mornings. Free coffee. Office of Student Affairs ,626.584.5433, studentaffairs@fuller.edu. Thursday Devotions Thurs, 10:00–11:00am Payton 100 Join us for weekly Thursday Devotions. Sponsored by Africana Student Association. Refreshments will be served. asa.fuller11@ gmail.com Strong Marriages/Successful Ministries Small Groups available • Small group psycho-educational opportunity to enhance your marriage. Groups meet one night a week for 9 weeks. • Small group marriage relationship enrichment experience for Asian and Asian American students. Winter Quarter Tuesday nights, 7:00–8:30pm. Total cost $40. Sharon Hargrave, sashargrave@aol.com. FIELD ED Chaplaincy Internships Hospital, hospice & correctional institution internships are being offered in Winter ‘12. Before registering, interns must be interviewed & accepted by the prospective site. FEMF, 626-584-5387, fielded@fuller. edu or visit the FEMF website for more information.
classified ads CHRISTIAN WOMAN SEEKING WORK! Elderly care, nanny, house cleaning. Dependable, own transportation. Contact Shelly at 626-773-6030 or shellyupright@aol. com.
OM FR S W NE S ID E U O T T HE FU LL ER BU BB LE
001 OnLocation and Premier Casting have issued an open casting call for 1,000 extras and 550 crew jobs related to Iron Man 3. The next entry in the Marvel stable will be filmed in Wilmington North Carolina, previously home to Dawson’s Creek, between May 2012 and January 2013. Hopefully, we will not see Tony Stark and Steve Rogers rowing across the stream to win the affections of Black Widow – but only because we don’t wanna wait for our lives to be over and we want to know right now what will it be.
Source: CNN Entertainment
002 Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to repeal the federal law defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The proposal has been sent to the Senate floor where it is expected to fail scrutiny by the Republican-led House. Repealing the measure may allow same-sex couples wed in the six states and District of Columbia to be eligible for full federal benefits afforded other couples. Gay rights advocates and polygamists hail the vote as historic. Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vermont) called the measure a “historic step forward in righting an injustice that goes right to the core of what we stand for in this country – freedom and equality.” Social conservatives see things differently. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, “No one has paid into Social Security expecting benefits to be paid to same-sex partners,” as many Republicans agree that the repeal would increase the cost burden on the federal government by expanding the number of beneficiaries at the worst possible time.
Source: C-SPAN
003 A study has found that blacks and Hispanic children and teenagers are the major target market of soda advertising. Yale Univ. Rudd Cntr. for Food Policy & Obesity found that ads for fruit and energy drinks doubled from 2008 to 2010, driven by Coca-Cola and Dr.PepperSnapple Group. Inc. while PepsiCo Inc. had 22% fewer ads towards that same demographic. Hispanic children saw 49% more ads for sugary drinks and energy drinks on Spanishlanguage television while Hispanic teens saw 99% more. Co-author of the report Kelly Brownell said, “The companies are marketing them in highly aggressive ways. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that 15% of children are overweight or obese and are consequently likely to have shorter life spans than their parents, affecting their ability to work and pay taxes even as they drive up healthcare costs.
Source: Thomson Reuters
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