Just in case you’re in the neighborhood (ha!), N.T. Wright is going to be speaking at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky next month.

This lecture series is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis, and will be held in Estes Chapel on the campus of Asbury Seminary.

Nov 13, 11 a.m.
Use of Scripture in Contemporary Political Discourse

Nov 14, 11 a.m.
God is Public? Biblical Faith in Tomorrow’s World

7:30 p.m.
Acts and the Contemporary Challenge of the Gospel

Asbury Seminary is located in a beautiful part of Kentucky, surrounded by some incredibly scenic horse farms, and just up the road from Shaker Village http://www.shakervillageky.org/
It would make a great spiritual retreat!

Dig around for more info on the lectures here:
http://asburyseminary.edu/

Mike I too am glad that youth ministers really have been the ones that seem to be leading the younger generations back to the core of the Gospel by teaching the about living out their love in the world rather than bickering over trivial doctrinal issues that divide us and hurt more than they help.

I’m one of those.

Brian has made clear Dr. Wright comment about history. I attended ACU 1962-1964 and ALL of the main campus buildings had plenty of nice lawn grsss–I don’t beieve thst is was destroyed 2 years later. what did occur the year after I graduation is that enrolment was limited until the facilities could catch up.

A most noteworthy evident that occurred at the lectureship preceding my transfer in the fall of ‘62 was that Dr.Carl Spain, Bible professor, at ACC got up and questioned the scriptureness of admitting blacks from African countries and not admitting blacks from the U.S. The campus was still buzzing about that and it was the catlyst for change.

So… Has your alma mater been recruiting at Highland? (That was sort of a joke. Please don’t send hate comments.)

I like it when people are not afraid to tell you how they feel or where they stand on a subject/issue. Be it a University or a preacher on his blog, up-front honesty is always appreciated. It’s no fun to have to guess where people stand.

BTW, looking at Reese does help me put all this in perspective. She makes me want to get to the heart of this issue and work toward repentance and reconciliation.

Free, open, and honest speech on conservative Christian campuses (which describes maybe all but one or two Church of Christ affiliated university, and that includes ACU as conservative because they make their teaching staff sign faith statements pledging membership only to CofC churches)?

Does anyone remember the good old days at ACU when an innovative and non-traditional, yet very thought provoking Prickly Pear was deep-sixed and banned from the annals of ACU literature? Or when certain phenomenal Bible professors were terminated when they required their students to think outside the box?

‘The point is that there needs to be a consistent message between the policy and practices of the administration and the impressions given by the admissions counselors.’

The problem with this point, Mike, is that at the end of the business day, policy and practises are ruled by The Bottom Line. There are wealthy trustees who sit on these Christian university boards, many of them power brokers in their communities. You get a board-room full of A-type VIP’s, CEO’s, head pastors/preachers, with large bank accounts who are godly men but also very human. They are used to sycophantic admirers who prop them and their egos up, all in the name of God and country. If they do not agree with how things are run in their own companies, communities, or churches, everyone feels the heat. Many men who sit on these boards only relinquish their position when they die, or are close to it. Their CV’s are crowded with news of all the boards they sit and posture on.

One mustn’t lay the blame totally at the feet of these young recruiters. They and the admissions counsellors are the foot soldiers for the development programmes at these schools. They are chosen for their loyalty and they are groomed in the company way with the company spin. Many of these recruiters grow up to become politicians and Karl Roves. Somehow they are taught how to ‘seduce’ young high school students who are young, impressionable, and extremely vulnerable. I remember some of the ones I fell for (sigh… that old heart throb crush!) who recruited me actually turned out to be ‘Mini-Me’s’ of some of the Board of Trustees at ACU. I was just too young to know it back in those days of my youth. The art of manipulation is a powerful tool used in recruiting and salesmanship.

Recruiters at Christian universities have a double-edged sword to wield: not only must they entice teens to attend universities that are not as high profile as others, but they must also promise anxious parents, in blood, that their perfect child will remain in a hermetically-protective Christian Wonderland bubble bodysuit, and will learn to conquer the world before age 22. Lots of sacrifices are made to pay the higher-than-state-uni costs, and these parents have to get their money’s worth. They don’t really want to know their kids are going away to a place where they will learn different ideas, live in a heterogeneous community, smell alcohol, or inhale hazy smoke.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been some tremendous leadership. The balance just needs to be better adjusted. And Christ’s principles need to be continually revisited and applied.

For the Churches of Christ to put out the message that they are each totally autonomous in the church governance, they sure know how to collectively hold Christian educational institutions in a strangle-hold.