Archive for July, 2008

Who Burst the A Cappella Bubble?

Published
by
Mike
on July 8, 2008
in General
. 122 Comments

I still love a cappella music. Just not for the reasons I heard growing up.

Not because scripture demands it. Not because God prefers it. Not because of gopher wood.

But I still love it, and I believe the tradition of a cappella singing is a wonderful gift Churches of Christ (and other denominations) make to the fellowship of believers.

However . . .

A friend of mine just told me about the first time someone put a Christian music cassette in his hands. It blew apart his only-a-cappella-for-these-compelling-reasons world. For him, it was John Michael Talbot’s “The Painter.”

I got to remembering. I think for me it was Amy Grant, Sandi Patty (or is it Sandy Patti — I can’t ever remember), and Steve Green.

Now my “Christian music playlist” is filled with Chris Tomlin, Bebo Norman, and Shawn McDonald.

How about you? Who was the first Christian recording artist you remember? Who are you listening to now?

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We’ve been planning our next Zoe conferences (Nashville in October; Fresno in January; and Lubbock in March). The theme is “Fearless.” Randy Gill and Brandon Scott Thomas were telling me about the songs that are being recorded. Can’t wait.

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I’m sitting here having lunch at Panera while pecking away on my Mac. In the last ten minutes, two guys have attempted to walk through a full-length window.

Now THOSE are some clean windows, my friends.

What happened to academic freedom?

Published
by
Mike
on July 7, 2008
in General
. 114 Comments

I’m sad about this. Thanks, Mark, for your thoughtful posts. The point wasn’t to make everyone agree with you; the point was to make everyone think. You did. That’s not always appreciated. Sad day.

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I’ve been reading The Early Christians in Ephesus from Paul to Ignatius by Paul Trebilco. What an amazing book.

So much of the New Testament centers on faith in Asia Minor, and in Ephesus in particular. To begin with, there are portions of Acts (chapters 18-20) and of Revelation (the letter to the church in Ephesus). There is 1 Corinthians, written from Ephesus — as well as 2 Corinthians and Romans, written just after Paul left Ephesus on his third missionary journey. Add to that Ephesians (which may not have been written to Ephesus — check the footnotes of your Bible in Ephesians 1 to see that many manuscripts don’t say “in Ephesus” — but was likely a circular letter to many churches of Asia Minor, including the prominent one in Ephesus.) Then pile on 1 & 2 Timothy and the tradition that John spent his final years there.

This city, third or fourth largest in the Roman Empire at the time and home of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (the temple of Artemis, was a critical location for the advancement of the good news.

ACU Summit

Published
by
Mike
on July 5, 2008
in General
. 13 Comments

Come join us in Abilene September 21-24 for ACU’s Summit (The Event Formerly known As Lectureship). You can find a full schedule here.

Among the many new features, there will be three main theme classes at 1:30 — taught by Rubel Shelly, Rick Atchley, and Jeff Walling. I love this description of Jeff’s class: “Come discover the amazing power in the ancient wisdom of the world’s greatest lover as he gives us a pattern for living in dynamic community.”

On the plus side for Jeff, he’s been named “the world’s greatest lover.” On the down side, his words are now being called “ancient wisdom.”

(Ok, I consider it possible that this description is referring to someone else . . . I’m guessing Jesus.)

Great Blessings, Great Responsibility

Published
by
Mike
on July 4, 2008
in General
. 15 Comments

There are so many things I am thankful for today on the Fourth of July. So many things to be thankful for in our nation’s history.

But with great blessings comes great responsibility. I’m thankful for every person in government who is working for peace, working for justice, working to speak for those with no voice.

May God’s guidance and blessings fall on this nation — along with every other nation of the world.

(taken from my 05 blog)

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Last night we went to see “As You Like it” at the Summer Shakespeare Festival at ACU. I was reminded again of how fortunate we are to have an Adam Hester-led theater department. And Bill R., you rock in Shakespeare, my friend.

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I was invited to join a group of ministry leaders in Chicago for a meeting with Barack Obama, but couldn’t go because we were in Turkey. But here’s Terry Mattingly’s report of that gathering.

A Boy and His Truck

Published
by
Mike
on July 3, 2008
in General
. 25 Comments

Yesterday our youngest turned sixteen. He got a truck.

When he was five years old, his brother got his first vehicle: a used, black, standard Ford Ranger. Both of them loved that truck.

So when it came time to select a vehicle, he was pretty decisive about his preference.

He wanted a Ranger. Not a Frontier. Not a Tacoma. Not even an F-150 (the State Truck of Texas, apparently).

And he wanted black. Not silver, green, white, red, or yellow. Dark gray would do in a pinch. But preferably, black.

And he wanted a manual transmission. Just like his brother had; and just like his father told him he needed to know how to drive.

So Tuesday, I caught a ride down to Austin to get a used, black, standard Ford Ranger that I’d found on autotrader.com. Fortunately the deal worked out, because I had no real plan for getting back to Abilene otherwise.

Yesterday morning, I took son two to the parking lot of Shotwell Stadium and taught him how to drive a standard. Around noon, I told him he was on his own and to stay away from as much traffic as possible for a while.

Today he’ll be back on the roads. Most of the day, I’d guess. You’ve been warned.

Rubel and Rochester

Published
by
Mike
on July 2, 2008
in General
. 6 Comments

I’ve written a few times before about the wonderful things happening at Rochester College in Michigan. We’ve followed it closely since our good friends John and Sara Barton moved there, after returning from Uganda. (I had spoken there several times before they arrived and was already impressed with the vision.)

Then Rubel and Myra Shelly moved there. So many of us on this blog have been guided and blessed by Rubel for a long time. And now he’s the interim president of the school.

I wrote and asked if he’d write a few things for this blog about his opportunity and challenges. Here’s his response:

If any of your readers are shocked or surprised to learn I am the president of a small (950 students) Christian college in Michigan, they aren’t nearly as shocked and surprised as I am! This has never, never been on the radar for my life. (Man plans. God laughs.)

Myra and I moved here two years ago so we could have a bit less stress in our lives, contribute something to a school whose mission we believed in, and mind our own business. The thing Myra loved most was that nobody knew who we were. We went to campus, shopped at Kroger, and had friends over. We had a normal life — for a change. I left for work on a predictable schedule and got home for dinner. We had most evenings together. Those days are over! And I feel more stress than perhaps ever in my life.

The former president and his wife (Mike and Sharon Westerfield) are friends of ours. They had been talking about divesting administration and choosing for Mike to go back to the classroom as an English prof. We even encouraged it! Now the Board has convinced me to take this role for a time. It was a reluctant decision. But I’ll try to be sure nobody senses my reluctance as I perform my duties.

Michigan’s economy is in the tank. This has caused enrollment at the school to dip a bit, though not dramatically. The real issue is the ability of locals to provide the additional funds necessary to keep this place going. So I have had to put out a major appeal through a much larger network than the school has ever tried to reach. (That is one reason I appreciate some of your blog space.)

We simply have to raise $2.5 million this summer to catch up, do campus prep, and be ready for students who are coming here this fall. As of today, we are at $1.5 million! That is incredible to most of our people — since we only raised $600,000 in unrestricted funds all of last year.

But people need to see this as “investment” — not as a desperate attempt to keep the doors open for another year. If we can get through the next year or two, things can turn around dramatically. We have a hospital partner with whom to begin a School of Nursing. We have approval for ramping up from the state’s Higher Learning Commission and the state Nursing Board. We are moving rapidly and will be admitting the first pre-nursing students this fall. Lipscomb has guaranteed us five slots for RC graduates in their new School of Pharmacy. So we are making a huge push for “partnership in health care” among locals and alumni. Health care is the ONE growth industry in the State of Michigan! So the timing is right. But we have to get through these couple of years to get there.