InterVarsity Under Fire at Universities

 

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is a vibrant campus ministry that establishes and advances witnessing communities of students and faculty. We minister to students and faculty through small group Bible studies, large gatherings on campus, leadership training, thoughtful discipleship and life-changing conferences and events.
 
InterVarsity Senior Vice President Jim Lundgren is calling on InterVarsity’s staff, students, faculty supporters, alumni, and friends to be in prayer about campus ministry at Vanderbilt University.
 
The leadership of Vanderbilt University has decided that several campus Christian organizations, including InterVarsity’s Graduate Christian Fellowship, should be placed on provisional status until coming into compliance with Vanderbilt’s anti-discrimination policy. The policy, as it currently stands, would prohibit a Christian organization from using any religious criteria when selecting leaders.
 
We believe such a policy not only flies in the face of common sense but is also contrary to the spirit of the Freedom of Religion protections in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
 
InterVarsity is asking for prayers that Vanderbilt will change its position and allow religious organizations to choose leaders who believe in the principles and beliefs of those organizations. A Town Hall meeting will be held on the Vanderbilt campus on Tuesday evening, January 31, 2012. University officials will explain how the anti-discrimination policy will be applied to student groups at that time.

How Great Thou Art on Dulcimer

More Than Just Me

 

(I wrote this seven years ago. I just rediscovered it. My daughter is in 42nd Street now and so it seems appropriate to reprint it)

My Son Edward became part of the cast of 42^nd Street at the High School, and for a while my world revolved around that famous street in NYC. First there were endless shuttles back and forth from rehearsal. We needed to buy the CD and listen to it over and over. Then we bought the video and watched it over and over. Edward came home from school everyday and tapped danced across the oak floors while singing the songs we just listened to on the CD. For months leading up to the big moment we lived 42^nd Street, we dreamed 42^nd Street, we existed in a 42^nd Street universe.
 
Finally it was on with the show. We attended multiple performances. There were cast parties, award ceremonies, etc… My wife even won an award for costume design. And then it ended. We returned to something resembling normal – though Edward still tap dances on the oak floors. And here I sit wondering – how did my world become so caught up in the worlds of others?
 
Well that’s an easy question to answer. I got married and had babies. It used to be just me. I could go where I wanted to go – do what I wanted to do. I could go out with my friends – or not. I could stay with my parents – or not. Then I met Betsy and then it was Betsy and me. And my orbital path fell into her orbital path and we would go where we wanted to go and do what we wanted to do. And then we had children. And more orbital paths fell in with ours – including in-laws, siblings, nieces, nephews, friends, coworkers and so on and so forth. For the briefest time it seemed that my world consisted of just me. But it quickly became more than me.
 
God didn’t need us. Have you ever thought about that? God didn’t need to create anyone or anything. God could have existed as a monolith – massive yet alone. Yet God wanted us – all of us. God wanted to fill the creation with unique individuals – beings in God’s image with whom God could care and share. I think God wanted this because existence is better with others. My life was not so great when it was just me. I could do what I wanted, but it was mostly boring and lonely. My life has been getting better and better as more people become a part of it. No wonder God said that the creation was good.
 
Edward is trying out for another musical. My other children are in the band, chorus, and scouts. Life is busy with all of these people demanding more and more of my time. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
God bless you,

Pastor Bill

Pray for the Church in America

 A popular political and economic analyst and African-American culture critic has stirred controversy with a column bashing Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church over his multiple sexual misconduct allegations, calling the Atlanta, Ga., minister a "bold-faced liar."

Dr. Boyce Watkins, a published author and Scholar in Residence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Syracuse University, bashed the Georgia minister, known for multiple controversies including alleged sexual misconduct with male church members. The critic expressed admiration that the young men who accused Long have been speaking out, "in spite of the consequences for doing so," which he expressed in a column in his online publication, Your Black World.

Read the Rest of the Story…

That such a thing could happen, and continues to happen is unspeakable. Please pray for Jesus’ Church in America.

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Christian Publishing Boom in China

 
China's communist government may be constricting freedom of worship in some places, such as Beijing's Shouwang house church, but Chinese consumers are gaining access like never before to legally published books by best-selling American evangelical authors.
 
Since early April, the 1,000-member-strong Shouwang church has held services outdoors rain or shine, and eight of its pastors are under house arrest. The government, citing the church's lack of registration, pressured the church's landlord to cancel Shouwang's lease.
 
At the same time, there has been a surge across China in the availability of popular Christian titles by authors Rick Warren, Gary Chapman, and Beth Moore, as well as classic titles by C. S. Lewis and others. Statistics on Christian book sales are unreliable in China. But figures on Bible publishing provide one reliable snapshot of the phenomenal growth. Amity, the official publisher of Bibles inside China, increased Bible printing each year from 1998 (2.8 million) to 2008 (10 million). Other than Bibles, top sellers are Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life, with more than 100,000 in print, and the Francine Rivers novel Redeeming Love.
 
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