Early Saturday morning almost everyone from the conference was making preparings to go to the airport. I was heading to the airport too… But I was going there to pick up a car for my own Georgia adventure. Here I thought the conference had ended. I had said my final goodbyes. On the way to the airport the president from Asbury College sat next to me. SHE and I talked. It was a significant conversation for me personally mostly because she is a president of a college who is also a woman. It was very early in the morning and I was so impressed that she took the time and expended the energy to connect with me. She didn't have to! She learned that I was new to higher education and had such encouraging words for me. She asked if I ever thought about doing a further degree. Well, yes I’ve thought of it but I've not felt like the time is now. She then talked about the incredible importance of experience. Experience is a great teacher. I totally agree!
Among other things I learned that Asbury College has a cross-cultural requirement. She had a big role in implementing this at their school. It was good for me to hear about how her school goes about this requirement for graduation. All week I was reminded that in all that I’m involved in at NNU there are others who have done it before or are currently doing it. It is nice to have a greater perspective for the network that exists in Higher Education. We have so much to learn not only within our own University contexts but there is so much to learn from others too!
2.26.2010
CCCU International Forum--Friday
It has been another full day here at the CCCU International Forum. There continued to be serendipitous moments.
Tim Elmore—Morning Session Devotion:
Yesterday we heard about “inhabiting time” and today Tim Elmore used the term “habitudes”. His basic message was, “Good leaders take what is cultural to say what is timeless.” He challenged the group to keep an eye on our purpose, i.e. God’s mission.
Wendy Kopp –Morning Session Keynote:
Wendy founded Teach For America. What an incredible story she embodies! As she was finishing her undergraduate work she began to realize that her “me generation” wasn’t as apathetic as everyone thought. Instead the problem was that they were not being called upon to serve. The hunch behind Teach For America was that indeed students would serve if they heard someone call them to service as well as provide an opportunity for them to serve. Are we calling our students to serve? And are we giving them some tangible ways to think about why they serve (the educational and social justice piece) as well as preparing them to serve (the spiritual formation and opportunity piece)?
When speaking about Teach for America Wendy said, “Our urgency is related to our optimism.” The felt urgency of the need for educational equality is driven by the conviction that it is actually possible to change people’s life trajectory through education. This quote struck me as I think about the theology of my own denomination. We have great optimism for the work of transforming grace in the life of human beings. If Teach for America can live forward with optimism despite the huge challenges and seeds of change they experience, can’t we? Does our optimism create urgency for us to both listen for God and participate in his activity in the world?
Educating Global Citizens vs. Training Global Nomads—Break Out Session:
I came away with a list of articles and books I want to add to my reading list. A good question asked at this session: “What happens if we allow our ‘homecoming’ to be the guiding metaphor for our educational praxis?” Study abroad and short-term missions often create a sense of homelessness in participants. Many of us go abroad, our lives are changed, and all we want to do is return abroad. There was something “over there” that seems more real than “back here”. So we return home only to begin to plan when we can leave again. The problem isn’t so much the plan making to return as it is a conscious or unconscious choice to not connect with the place we find ourselves---back at school or church or creating a whole new life. The great challenge is to learn how to make anywhere we reside into a home. One of the presenters who runs the study abroad in Australia said, “The magic isn’t in Australia, the magic is where YOU are.” The magic is there when we are present to our selves, God, others and our place no matter what “place” we find ourselves in. Again I’m convinced that a part of the integration piece for any of our time abroad must include a way to take what we’ve learned and put it into practice in our “homes”.
The speakers referred to students who go abroad for mission/study abroad as pilgrims rather than tourists. Tourists seek experiences and the end goal is their pleasure, and their desires. Tourists have barriers between themselves and the true life of the place they visit. Pilgrims however, “remove boundaries between themselves and the other”. They “set limits” for themselves on the way they live—this could be submitting to their cultural context or choosing a simple life upon return. Pilgrims are open to learning from the places they inhabit and tourists are just using the place to get the preconceive notions of what they came for. It occurs to me that students (or anybody really) can choose to be a pilgrim or a tourist in the University setting.
Lunch—Serendipity Conversation with Hamlet from Uganda
I sat next to a gentleman from Uganda during the mid-morning session. He has a name with many accolades around it. I’ll refer to him as Hamlet. Hamlet asked incredible questions and had some very insightful constructive criticism for the presentation we had both heard. I am reminded how easy it is to talk about mission to or with a different culture without really taking the other into account. In order to talk about the other, we so need to hear their voice!
After the session I struck up a conversation with Hamlet and he invited me to join him for lunch. We ventured off to find the box lunches and found a piece of carpet to sit on. This was a stretch for him he said. In Uganda the men do not sit on the floor! As we talked I realized I was sitting with a former member of parliament, the chaplain of the Parliament, and a chancellor of Universities in Uganda. He got his PhD at Fuller. I wish I could have recorded our conversation because he spoke so eloquently and I was hanging on every word. It is looking like I’ll be going to Uganda this summer and I’m hoping to meet up with him to learn more about his work there.
I walked away from the conversation with another connection in Uganda and 2 “learning’s”. 1) Finding out what we can “do” for anyone anywhere involves first and foremost and intentional relationship. Without relationship we are just charity givers. We want to create partnerships! 2) Issues such as human trafficking, terrorism, thievery, and prostitution involve a people who live in desperation. In order for these injustices to stop we have to look in the mirrors and ask, “how are we a part of the global system that is keeping the poor in desperation?” When there are no jobs and no affordable education the only thing left is…selling the only thing you have…. or stealing what isn’t yours… There is so much more needed than just stopping human trafficking or prostitution. There has to be a way of creating alternatives to help people out of their desperation.
International Justice Mission—Afternoon Breakout session
The session began with a video recorded interview with Nick Woltorstorff. This is a new name to me.
“Benevolence and charity can be an instrument of oppression unless justice is in the mix.” Nick Woltorstorff
The presenter gave a good description of the differences between justice and charity. Charity is something you are in control of and there is often an expectation of gratitude. Justice is often de-centered and involves a lack of control. You listen to the call coming to you from the other. It is a “response to the call of the presence of the other”.
Justice promotes peace or flourishing.
“Justice is on the ground floor of the diminution of people’s flourishing.”
After the video a panel of people from several Universities talked about the IJM chapter on their campus. I’m even more convinced that we need a chapter on our campus too. The IJM campus chapters serve as a place for student formation and education around issues of justice.
Evening Banquet/Session—Dr. John Perkins
There was so much about this session that I won’t put in words here and how. If there were any one voice at the conference that I wish my friends and colleagues and students could have heard….it was this one. There is good news. The session will be available soon.
One of the many “take-aways” form Perkins address exposed our new generation of students in a way that calls all of us to reconsider our own convictions. Perkins spoke about how he travels the country speaking to young people. He said we are at a point of crisis and opportunity. The crisis relates to the sate of our nation's economy and health care as two examples. The opportunity is the state of our young people. For the first time in United States history, Perkins suggested, we have a post-racist generation. Instead of fearing this generation of post-moderns we need to embrace them because within them is a people who are being primed to lead us in a new way of being. Perkins said that every time there is a movement it is when students/people enter into the pain of the people or the pain of the moment they live in. And from what he is gathering the students across our nation are more aware of the pains of the moment. There are not as many boundaries when it comes to catholic and protestant, black and white, democrat and republican. The up and coming generation doesn’t value the distinctions as much…they are integrating values rather than separating them out.
Tim Elmore—Morning Session Devotion:
Yesterday we heard about “inhabiting time” and today Tim Elmore used the term “habitudes”. His basic message was, “Good leaders take what is cultural to say what is timeless.” He challenged the group to keep an eye on our purpose, i.e. God’s mission.
Wendy Kopp –Morning Session Keynote:
Wendy founded Teach For America. What an incredible story she embodies! As she was finishing her undergraduate work she began to realize that her “me generation” wasn’t as apathetic as everyone thought. Instead the problem was that they were not being called upon to serve. The hunch behind Teach For America was that indeed students would serve if they heard someone call them to service as well as provide an opportunity for them to serve. Are we calling our students to serve? And are we giving them some tangible ways to think about why they serve (the educational and social justice piece) as well as preparing them to serve (the spiritual formation and opportunity piece)?
When speaking about Teach for America Wendy said, “Our urgency is related to our optimism.” The felt urgency of the need for educational equality is driven by the conviction that it is actually possible to change people’s life trajectory through education. This quote struck me as I think about the theology of my own denomination. We have great optimism for the work of transforming grace in the life of human beings. If Teach for America can live forward with optimism despite the huge challenges and seeds of change they experience, can’t we? Does our optimism create urgency for us to both listen for God and participate in his activity in the world?
Educating Global Citizens vs. Training Global Nomads—Break Out Session:
I came away with a list of articles and books I want to add to my reading list. A good question asked at this session: “What happens if we allow our ‘homecoming’ to be the guiding metaphor for our educational praxis?” Study abroad and short-term missions often create a sense of homelessness in participants. Many of us go abroad, our lives are changed, and all we want to do is return abroad. There was something “over there” that seems more real than “back here”. So we return home only to begin to plan when we can leave again. The problem isn’t so much the plan making to return as it is a conscious or unconscious choice to not connect with the place we find ourselves---back at school or church or creating a whole new life. The great challenge is to learn how to make anywhere we reside into a home. One of the presenters who runs the study abroad in Australia said, “The magic isn’t in Australia, the magic is where YOU are.” The magic is there when we are present to our selves, God, others and our place no matter what “place” we find ourselves in. Again I’m convinced that a part of the integration piece for any of our time abroad must include a way to take what we’ve learned and put it into practice in our “homes”.
The speakers referred to students who go abroad for mission/study abroad as pilgrims rather than tourists. Tourists seek experiences and the end goal is their pleasure, and their desires. Tourists have barriers between themselves and the true life of the place they visit. Pilgrims however, “remove boundaries between themselves and the other”. They “set limits” for themselves on the way they live—this could be submitting to their cultural context or choosing a simple life upon return. Pilgrims are open to learning from the places they inhabit and tourists are just using the place to get the preconceive notions of what they came for. It occurs to me that students (or anybody really) can choose to be a pilgrim or a tourist in the University setting.
Lunch—Serendipity Conversation with Hamlet from Uganda
I sat next to a gentleman from Uganda during the mid-morning session. He has a name with many accolades around it. I’ll refer to him as Hamlet. Hamlet asked incredible questions and had some very insightful constructive criticism for the presentation we had both heard. I am reminded how easy it is to talk about mission to or with a different culture without really taking the other into account. In order to talk about the other, we so need to hear their voice!
After the session I struck up a conversation with Hamlet and he invited me to join him for lunch. We ventured off to find the box lunches and found a piece of carpet to sit on. This was a stretch for him he said. In Uganda the men do not sit on the floor! As we talked I realized I was sitting with a former member of parliament, the chaplain of the Parliament, and a chancellor of Universities in Uganda. He got his PhD at Fuller. I wish I could have recorded our conversation because he spoke so eloquently and I was hanging on every word. It is looking like I’ll be going to Uganda this summer and I’m hoping to meet up with him to learn more about his work there.
I walked away from the conversation with another connection in Uganda and 2 “learning’s”. 1) Finding out what we can “do” for anyone anywhere involves first and foremost and intentional relationship. Without relationship we are just charity givers. We want to create partnerships! 2) Issues such as human trafficking, terrorism, thievery, and prostitution involve a people who live in desperation. In order for these injustices to stop we have to look in the mirrors and ask, “how are we a part of the global system that is keeping the poor in desperation?” When there are no jobs and no affordable education the only thing left is…selling the only thing you have…. or stealing what isn’t yours… There is so much more needed than just stopping human trafficking or prostitution. There has to be a way of creating alternatives to help people out of their desperation.
International Justice Mission—Afternoon Breakout session
The session began with a video recorded interview with Nick Woltorstorff. This is a new name to me.
“Benevolence and charity can be an instrument of oppression unless justice is in the mix.” Nick Woltorstorff
The presenter gave a good description of the differences between justice and charity. Charity is something you are in control of and there is often an expectation of gratitude. Justice is often de-centered and involves a lack of control. You listen to the call coming to you from the other. It is a “response to the call of the presence of the other”.
Justice promotes peace or flourishing.
“Justice is on the ground floor of the diminution of people’s flourishing.”
After the video a panel of people from several Universities talked about the IJM chapter on their campus. I’m even more convinced that we need a chapter on our campus too. The IJM campus chapters serve as a place for student formation and education around issues of justice.
Evening Banquet/Session—Dr. John Perkins
There was so much about this session that I won’t put in words here and how. If there were any one voice at the conference that I wish my friends and colleagues and students could have heard….it was this one. There is good news. The session will be available soon.
One of the many “take-aways” form Perkins address exposed our new generation of students in a way that calls all of us to reconsider our own convictions. Perkins spoke about how he travels the country speaking to young people. He said we are at a point of crisis and opportunity. The crisis relates to the sate of our nation's economy and health care as two examples. The opportunity is the state of our young people. For the first time in United States history, Perkins suggested, we have a post-racist generation. Instead of fearing this generation of post-moderns we need to embrace them because within them is a people who are being primed to lead us in a new way of being. Perkins said that every time there is a movement it is when students/people enter into the pain of the people or the pain of the moment they live in. And from what he is gathering the students across our nation are more aware of the pains of the moment. There are not as many boundaries when it comes to catholic and protestant, black and white, democrat and republican. The up and coming generation doesn’t value the distinctions as much…they are integrating values rather than separating them out.
2.25.2010
CCCU International Forum--Day 2
What a full day! Conferences sure pack a lot into a very small window of time. I’m great-full. I’m grateful for the people I’ve become reintroduced to. I’m full to the brim with burgeoning ideas, thoughts and questions.
As I’ve listened and engaged in conversation today I’ve thought to myself, “Higher Education….I really think I'm going to love this.” I love being in a job in an environment where there is potential and hope for academia to interface with Christian formation and mission. And from what I’m hearing, the integration piece of Christian formation with the entire learning environment needs (possibly more) intentionality.
Lauren Winner--Morning Session:
I’ve wanted to read Lauren Winner’s books and didn’t realize I’d get to hear her speak today. She gave the morning devotion. She spoke about Lent. Good for her! She commented about how silly it is that we “fast” during a season meant for slowing down and paying attention. One year during lent she “fasted” from using monetary words to describe time--spend time, manage time, lose time, etc. Instead she used the term, “inhabit time”. I need to chew on this idea of “inhabiting time” a bit. I know we often treat time as a commodity rather than a home. Lent is a time when we “give ourselves to rest and fallowness.” Winner challenged us to think about the ways we inhabit time in our University settings. Is there a place for rest on our campuses? Or are we just an extension of the fast paced, overcommitted culture? Ouch. She talked about how we live and breath in a culture of insane productivity. Are we teaching our students anything different? Lent invites us to “dwell unproductively with God”. I wonder how it is that a college community inhabits time? What does it look like to choose to live and teach a rhythm of life that includes un-productivity, and rest? How can we help our students know a life that has any rhythm to it at all?
Francis Collins--Morning Session:
I must admit with a tinge of red in the face that I didn’t recognize at first who Francis Collins is. He is one of the fathers of the Human Genome Project. Now I remember…. I first learned of Francis Collins in my second semester of Biology at PLNU. My professor was Dr. Kerry Fulcher. It just so happened that I listened to Collins speak this morning with Dr. Fulcher.
Collins spoke about his journey to faith. What made his story so compelling is that he didn’t grow up in the church. He came to faith as a med student watching people dying. Those with faith died in peace and he knew that if he were dying he wouldn’t have that peace. He did such a good job of speaking to living with tensions—the tensions of science and faith. Collins talked about being a man of God’s works and God’s words. He supports the claims of Evolution because of the scientific evidence and he supports the mystery of God best known in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For me it was a treat to listen to a world-class scientist present the case for his science and for faith in Christ and each complemented each other. And I’m impressed that the CCCU risked having him speak! Collins was a part of starting the BioLogos Foundation.
Spiritual Formation Through Study Abroad--Break Out Session 1:
This was a fascinating session. Cindy Toms Smedley from Notre Dame presented some data about the nature of student transformation related to study abroad. The most interesting piece of data she presented is something I’ve had a hunch about after doing so much travel abroad. The percentage of campuses in the CCCU who are doing debriefing and significant work to help students integrate their experiences in real life is very low. Smedley used the word “sad” to talk about this. I agree! It sounds like a handful of people have figured it out. Notre Dame has a stellar program of preparation, summer service/mission, and then a course upon return to school to help integrate. Students can earn up to 8 credits for the yearlong experience. This is serious commitment to spiritual formation and missional education!
John Skillen shared Gordon-in-Orvieto(Italy) program. Students live in a monastery for a semester. They worship with the community, eat together, attend classes, and have leisure time. They are encouraged to get involved in the town of Orvieto. If there was ever a time today that I found myself drooling with envy it was now. Yet I wonder what could be dreamed up at NNU one day. You don’t have to go to Italy to find a monastic setting where intentional spiritual formation and academia meet, right? We have two settings in our state!
At the end of the session a man from University in Uganda asked a difficult question. He said something like: The students are learning but what about the people on the ground? Is study abroad just about what the students and their institutions are getting out of the program? Ouch....
Someone mentioned, “Communities are tired of being projects.” Isn’t this true…. And how easy it is to treat people this way.... There is a tension here…we want to empower the places we go to learn and serve. Listening and learning is a great place to begin our relationships of mission. But if all we do is listen and learn, don't we take too much? I’m curious what mutually benefiting missional relationships look like within the University world.
I’m interested in what it means to prepare and debrief our students for mission. Yet the mans questions from Uganda makes me wonder how those who host the mission/study abroad are prepared and debriefed too.
The man I sat next to at this session works at Spring Arbor University and is taking a group of students to Korea in May. (Small world....) It is a class where they will be learning about the culture and religions in Korea. I told him about the Benedictine Sisters in Busan (of course...can't hardly talk about Korea without a mention) and his face lit up. He’d love to get connected with the sisters because the trip is missing a catholic component. I’m going to try and connect him with some of my favorite people in the world. I’d be so happy if that could work out for both sides!!
Spiritual Formation Across the Campus--Break Out Session 2:
We heard from several people at John Brown University speak about how Spiritual Formation is addressed on campus through chapels, the hiring process, the training of faculty, athletics, and campus staff. I was most impressed with their initiatives which help foster spiritual formation among the staff. They have what is called 4by4—4 staff/faculty meet for 4 weeks at lunch to share their stories with each other. They offer group spiritual direction (interesting...we are hoping and on our way to doing this). Brown has a pretty extensive program related to training faculty in how to integrate faith and teaching.
IBOE Dinner:
It was just great to be with many of our Nazarene leaders from across the country and Canada! I sat with the folks from Olivet(Illinois) and Ambrose(Calgary, Canada). Thanks Dr. Fairbanks for hosting us!
As I’ve listened and engaged in conversation today I’ve thought to myself, “Higher Education….I really think I'm going to love this.” I love being in a job in an environment where there is potential and hope for academia to interface with Christian formation and mission. And from what I’m hearing, the integration piece of Christian formation with the entire learning environment needs (possibly more) intentionality.
Lauren Winner--Morning Session:
I’ve wanted to read Lauren Winner’s books and didn’t realize I’d get to hear her speak today. She gave the morning devotion. She spoke about Lent. Good for her! She commented about how silly it is that we “fast” during a season meant for slowing down and paying attention. One year during lent she “fasted” from using monetary words to describe time--spend time, manage time, lose time, etc. Instead she used the term, “inhabit time”. I need to chew on this idea of “inhabiting time” a bit. I know we often treat time as a commodity rather than a home. Lent is a time when we “give ourselves to rest and fallowness.” Winner challenged us to think about the ways we inhabit time in our University settings. Is there a place for rest on our campuses? Or are we just an extension of the fast paced, overcommitted culture? Ouch. She talked about how we live and breath in a culture of insane productivity. Are we teaching our students anything different? Lent invites us to “dwell unproductively with God”. I wonder how it is that a college community inhabits time? What does it look like to choose to live and teach a rhythm of life that includes un-productivity, and rest? How can we help our students know a life that has any rhythm to it at all?
Francis Collins--Morning Session:
I must admit with a tinge of red in the face that I didn’t recognize at first who Francis Collins is. He is one of the fathers of the Human Genome Project. Now I remember…. I first learned of Francis Collins in my second semester of Biology at PLNU. My professor was Dr. Kerry Fulcher. It just so happened that I listened to Collins speak this morning with Dr. Fulcher.
Collins spoke about his journey to faith. What made his story so compelling is that he didn’t grow up in the church. He came to faith as a med student watching people dying. Those with faith died in peace and he knew that if he were dying he wouldn’t have that peace. He did such a good job of speaking to living with tensions—the tensions of science and faith. Collins talked about being a man of God’s works and God’s words. He supports the claims of Evolution because of the scientific evidence and he supports the mystery of God best known in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For me it was a treat to listen to a world-class scientist present the case for his science and for faith in Christ and each complemented each other. And I’m impressed that the CCCU risked having him speak! Collins was a part of starting the BioLogos Foundation.
Spiritual Formation Through Study Abroad--Break Out Session 1:
This was a fascinating session. Cindy Toms Smedley from Notre Dame presented some data about the nature of student transformation related to study abroad. The most interesting piece of data she presented is something I’ve had a hunch about after doing so much travel abroad. The percentage of campuses in the CCCU who are doing debriefing and significant work to help students integrate their experiences in real life is very low. Smedley used the word “sad” to talk about this. I agree! It sounds like a handful of people have figured it out. Notre Dame has a stellar program of preparation, summer service/mission, and then a course upon return to school to help integrate. Students can earn up to 8 credits for the yearlong experience. This is serious commitment to spiritual formation and missional education!
John Skillen shared Gordon-in-Orvieto(Italy) program. Students live in a monastery for a semester. They worship with the community, eat together, attend classes, and have leisure time. They are encouraged to get involved in the town of Orvieto. If there was ever a time today that I found myself drooling with envy it was now. Yet I wonder what could be dreamed up at NNU one day. You don’t have to go to Italy to find a monastic setting where intentional spiritual formation and academia meet, right? We have two settings in our state!
At the end of the session a man from University in Uganda asked a difficult question. He said something like: The students are learning but what about the people on the ground? Is study abroad just about what the students and their institutions are getting out of the program? Ouch....
Someone mentioned, “Communities are tired of being projects.” Isn’t this true…. And how easy it is to treat people this way.... There is a tension here…we want to empower the places we go to learn and serve. Listening and learning is a great place to begin our relationships of mission. But if all we do is listen and learn, don't we take too much? I’m curious what mutually benefiting missional relationships look like within the University world.
I’m interested in what it means to prepare and debrief our students for mission. Yet the mans questions from Uganda makes me wonder how those who host the mission/study abroad are prepared and debriefed too.
The man I sat next to at this session works at Spring Arbor University and is taking a group of students to Korea in May. (Small world....) It is a class where they will be learning about the culture and religions in Korea. I told him about the Benedictine Sisters in Busan (of course...can't hardly talk about Korea without a mention) and his face lit up. He’d love to get connected with the sisters because the trip is missing a catholic component. I’m going to try and connect him with some of my favorite people in the world. I’d be so happy if that could work out for both sides!!
Spiritual Formation Across the Campus--Break Out Session 2:
We heard from several people at John Brown University speak about how Spiritual Formation is addressed on campus through chapels, the hiring process, the training of faculty, athletics, and campus staff. I was most impressed with their initiatives which help foster spiritual formation among the staff. They have what is called 4by4—4 staff/faculty meet for 4 weeks at lunch to share their stories with each other. They offer group spiritual direction (interesting...we are hoping and on our way to doing this). Brown has a pretty extensive program related to training faculty in how to integrate faith and teaching.
IBOE Dinner:
It was just great to be with many of our Nazarene leaders from across the country and Canada! I sat with the folks from Olivet(Illinois) and Ambrose(Calgary, Canada). Thanks Dr. Fairbanks for hosting us!
2.24.2010
CCCU International Forum Day 1
I enjoy the moments when different life chapters collide. Today has been one of those days. I'm in Atlanta, Georgia at the CCCU International Forum. I had to remind myself what CCCU stands for. Oh yeah...."Council For Christian Colleges and Universities". I've run into folks from my college days and seminary days. This morning I ran into a gentleman from my home church in Redding who works at Simpson.
Before things got started I ventured out to the Martin Luther King Center with a woman who teaches at Oxford and oversees the study abroad program there. It was a treat to share the MLK Center experience with a non-North American. As we walked the grounds together I realized how little I know about the civil rights movement. Having not grown up in the south I really have no idea what our country overcame (or continues to overcome) with regards to racial and economic discrimination.
I was surprised most by the presentation of state laws in place only 60 years ago. They were absurd and sent chills down my spine. My how close the language was to things I read in Kigali, Auschwitz and Phnom Pehn. I'd like to think we Americans are different. We aren't and we have the history to prove it. Again I find myself asking how is it that humanity acts as if we are better than another? How is it that we rally our own kind together to diminish a different kind(as if they really are a different kind)?
My British counterpart shared that as she read the story and heard the videos in the museum that she was feeling a bit boastful knowing that her country didn't share this specific history. Yet then she came upon the story of MKL going to India to learn from Gandhi's non-violent resistance against the British. She was reminded of her own country's oppressive history. My how connected our stories are--the American and British story of civil rights.
At the opening ceremony this evening I must admit I was a bit bummed. My great hope of hearing from Desmond Tutu was dashed. Oh, we did hear from him. He was "here" but he was "here" in the form of a pre-recorded message. (Someone is laughing in Idaho!)
After the message from Desmond Tutu we heard from Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. Stearns had some great questions and insights to share with us. And what I share below is some of what he spoke about and mostly my response to what I heard.
Stearns spoke as a man who knows the struggle and suffering around the world. He's wrestled with his own Christian vocation in light of his engagement with the "real world", a real hurting world. I especially noted his concern that Christian Universities are creating a comfortable climate for our students.
"Hey, we've talked about this at NNU."
He challenged us to craft a different kind of worldview on our campuses; a worldview that calls us to be aware and active with the needs of the poor.
I wonder with him, "What if students engaged in the real, real-world?"
He mentioned how unfortunate it is that Christian Colleges are so predominately Caucasian. This seems to cry in the face of our collective mission, doesn't it?
I ask, "How can a bunch of Caucasian folks really speak well about changing the world?" He pointed out that "changing the world" (or some form like it) is in most Christian college mission statements. We so desperately need other voices at the table!! If we don't, and we really do want to change the world, then aren't we just perpetuating past failures of imposing on others what is not ours to impose upon them?
Stearns challenged the group to think about ourselves and our institutions as agents of reconciliation and peacemaking. This challenge came out several times during the evening.
My questions are: What might it look like for a University to be an ambassador in our communities and world of reconciliation? And, how does an institution even enter into this kind of work and continue to be a sustainable institution?
More tomorrow.
Before things got started I ventured out to the Martin Luther King Center with a woman who teaches at Oxford and oversees the study abroad program there. It was a treat to share the MLK Center experience with a non-North American. As we walked the grounds together I realized how little I know about the civil rights movement. Having not grown up in the south I really have no idea what our country overcame (or continues to overcome) with regards to racial and economic discrimination.
I was surprised most by the presentation of state laws in place only 60 years ago. They were absurd and sent chills down my spine. My how close the language was to things I read in Kigali, Auschwitz and Phnom Pehn. I'd like to think we Americans are different. We aren't and we have the history to prove it. Again I find myself asking how is it that humanity acts as if we are better than another? How is it that we rally our own kind together to diminish a different kind(as if they really are a different kind)?
My British counterpart shared that as she read the story and heard the videos in the museum that she was feeling a bit boastful knowing that her country didn't share this specific history. Yet then she came upon the story of MKL going to India to learn from Gandhi's non-violent resistance against the British. She was reminded of her own country's oppressive history. My how connected our stories are--the American and British story of civil rights.
At the opening ceremony this evening I must admit I was a bit bummed. My great hope of hearing from Desmond Tutu was dashed. Oh, we did hear from him. He was "here" but he was "here" in the form of a pre-recorded message. (Someone is laughing in Idaho!)
After the message from Desmond Tutu we heard from Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. Stearns had some great questions and insights to share with us. And what I share below is some of what he spoke about and mostly my response to what I heard.
Stearns spoke as a man who knows the struggle and suffering around the world. He's wrestled with his own Christian vocation in light of his engagement with the "real world", a real hurting world. I especially noted his concern that Christian Universities are creating a comfortable climate for our students.
"Hey, we've talked about this at NNU."
He challenged us to craft a different kind of worldview on our campuses; a worldview that calls us to be aware and active with the needs of the poor.
I wonder with him, "What if students engaged in the real, real-world?"
He mentioned how unfortunate it is that Christian Colleges are so predominately Caucasian. This seems to cry in the face of our collective mission, doesn't it?
I ask, "How can a bunch of Caucasian folks really speak well about changing the world?" He pointed out that "changing the world" (or some form like it) is in most Christian college mission statements. We so desperately need other voices at the table!! If we don't, and we really do want to change the world, then aren't we just perpetuating past failures of imposing on others what is not ours to impose upon them?
Stearns challenged the group to think about ourselves and our institutions as agents of reconciliation and peacemaking. This challenge came out several times during the evening.
My questions are: What might it look like for a University to be an ambassador in our communities and world of reconciliation? And, how does an institution even enter into this kind of work and continue to be a sustainable institution?
More tomorrow.
2.23.2010
Balloon Fun At NNU
Dr. Dan Lawrence gave his students an assignment. He is the Physics professor at NNU. "How many balloons does it take to fill up Chaplain Gene Schandorff's office? The answer: 2979
This made for an incredibly fun morning. A student commented that you can not come into a room full of balloons with out smiling. I felt like we were in the play area at McDonalds. Talk about play therapy.......what a blast.
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