Okay, we don’t have snow as the semester starts!
But we are having our winter worship service.
Please join us and bring a staff, faculty or grad student to join us.
a. Highlight the number of students faculty and staff interact with daily
b. Highlight new faculty and staff that we interact with and the future students these new faculty and staff will interact with throughout their careers
c. Highlight the discoverability of knowledge, or truth, done at the universities
d. Highlight the impact on society and culture by the universities
e. Highlight the CULTURE that the universities have
i. Dress
ii. Language
iii. Customs
iv. Organizational structure
a. Mark 5: 1-20
i. Even though the demonic wanted to follow Jesus after his “cleansing” Jesus sent him back to his home. Why? Those from within a culture are best to be able to reach others inside the same culture.
a. Fear can be real at a university
i. Promotion
ii. Tenure
iii. Hiring sequences
iv. Resources
b. The opposite of faith is not fear, the opposite of faith is paralyzing fear
c. If realizable fear can exist, then that raises the question how can Christians be effective in the academy?
Learn from these workers
a. Prayer. One can always pray, so pray often and strategically
b. Embrace and engage in the culture. Learn the language, be part of your universities culture, recognize God called you to this culture, engage it.
c. Be a TREMENDOUS resource/asset to your Department/College/Unit/University
i. Service is a very visible source of witnessing
ii. Allows you to “bank” goodwill in case you ever need to make a “withdrawal” against the goodwill
a. Almost always a trap from the enemy
b. Don’t avoid Christian aspect of geopolitical conversations. E.g., support the unborn without supporting a specific political party
a. A strange protection exists for faculty’s office door and office and email signatures. Own them, use them, allows you to make a statement without directly stating it to someone in the moment.
a. Hey class, they say confession is good for the soul…I gotta confess I got this part of the lecture wrong…
b. I need to change a test date, can you show me mercy here?
c. I wasn’t nice in that response, could you forgive me?
d. That’s a reasonable excuse for the assignment to be late, I’ve gotten grace in my life let me show you grace also
a. Students come to your office in pain, scared or often in crisis.
b. I will almost always ask “tell me, do you practice a faith?”
a. It is impossible to get into trouble for answering a question
b. Construct situations so that people ask you questions
c. Answer honestly, opening and let them know you enjoy the conversations
a. Individuals that if they became a believe would rock the local university.
b. Every campus has them, figure out who they are
c. Pray for them
d. Engage them
a. CRU
b. IV
c. Navs
a. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God
b. Be willing to risk backlash so that the Gospel is clearly, directly and lovingly stated.
He has traveled extensively throughout Latin America. Here is a trip to a university in Guatemala:
And to the Middle East and to Africa (below)–both for professional and missions purposes.
While his presentation will talk about trips globally, he will also explain how to become more involved locally.
Goolsby Chapel
Credit: Stevie Lesko
June 2017 –Faculty Commons is offering a free copy of A Grander Story to any faculty or administrator who would like one. It combines Biblical understanding of God’s place in our lives and work with personal narratives from faculty from across the country as they succeed (or fail) at living out their faith.
“The book will certainly be valuable to those who are already in their careers, but it will be a special blessing to those who are just starting out in academic life.”
— Robert P George, Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
If you would like a copy for summer reading, contact Steve Pogue.
Friday, Feb 3
8:00 AM
Goolsby Chapel
Kay Littler, who recently retired as a senior lecturer in physics, will be talking about her own journey of faith.
We look forward to seeing you (though hopefully there won’t be any snow).