A Review of “Sex & the Soul” in the WSJ

If it seems like I’ve been writing about college students and sex a lot lately, it’s because 1) it’s a major issue, and 2) it’s been in the news a lot recently. 

The WSJ offers a helpful review of the book Sex and the Soul by Donna Freitas. Freitas writes about the prevalence of Hook-Up culture in today’s universities and the devastating effects on both men and women in their views of sex, each other, and themselves.

No doubt lurid anecdote and popular myth cause us to exaggerate the actual frequency of campus hook-ups: Most college students do not share in these delights. But most students also believe that “everyone does it,” even if the individual student, for some reason, cannot locate a partner. Thus an active minority sets the tone and makes hooking up a “culture.” When there are no sexual boundaries, either official or informal, the standard becomes the extreme, and all students feel the pressure to appear more promiscuous than they are. The traditional double standard of sexual conduct – more restrictive for women than for men – has been replaced by the single standard of the predatory male.

The Sexual Revolution has not resulted in equality, empowerment, and enlightenment among men and women. Rather, it seems to have done the opposite. 

According to one feminist professor of health – the head of a recent Harvard committee on student sexual relations – sex on campus should be “mature, respectful and life-affirming.” But, as Ms. Freitas shows, it usually is not. Instead it degrades both women and men. Women lose their sense of having a choice, to say nothing of “autonomy,” the supposed goal of sexual liberation. They feel compelled to offer a hook-up when they really want a date without the expectation of sex. And yet they fear “getting a reputation” for doing just what they are expected to do. “I felt a lot of regret . . . ,” one female student tells Ms. Freitas, speaking about a hook-up experience. “I felt that I kind of just gave myself.”

College men, meanwhile, degrade themselves by becoming callous. They behave like charmless Don Giovannis who cannot sing. They are indignant at girls who “want to spend time with guys during the day.” The nerve! 

She also examines how sexual identity and pressures are dealt with among the “religious” and the “spiritual.” 

 

Rather than confine her interviews to secular colleges, she visits religious ones, both Catholic and evangelical. The Catholic colleges, she finds, are little different from their secular counterparts; they seem “more adept at creating lapsed Catholics than anything else.”

But evangelical colleges make an effort to oppose the hook-up culture with a “purity culture,” asking a level of sexual restraint that would seem, for most young people today, all but impossible. One is inclined to admire the students who attempt to meet the purity culture’s strict demands. But it is clear that such students often suffer deep anxiety in their search for a mate. The boys find it troublingly difficult to put off sex, and the girls are fearful that they will have failed in college if they do not get a “ring by spring” (of their senior year). While students in the hook-up culture appear more promiscuous than they are, purity students appear more virtuous than they are…

Ms. Freitas considers sex to be a yearning of the soul, not an expression of power (as feminists would have it). She thus dubs secular colleges “spiritual,” noting that women in particular enter into hook-ups looking for a “relationship.” Both sexes, she argues, foregather “for a reason,” if not necessarily for marriage. Both would like to have a shot at the romance (from olden times) they have read about. But romance requires holding back, and no one at Ms. Freitas’s “spiritual” colleges has a respectable reason for doing so.

 

What about the role of the University in all this? Does it have one? Should it?

Colleges find it risky, Ms. Freitas notes, to oppose the hook-up culture. They do not boast of it when parents visit, but they are happy to look the other way throughout the year. Their main concern is to be sure that they cannot be accused of treating men and women differently, and they do not care, or do not see, that the result of sexual liberation is a culture that does harm to the young people caught within it. “Sex and the Soul” doesn’t offer an easy way out, because there isn’t one. But it makes us eager for something better than the goings-on at colleges today.

If the colleges won’t do it, how can friends, fellowship groups, and churches help students not fall prey to destructive sexual practices. Students, what have you found helpful in this? 

Living the High Life in College?!

First Rolling Stone had this story on the high-life living couple (a Drexel student and Penn alum) who defrauded dozens of people of hundreds of thousands of dollars to live in Rittenhouse Square and cavort around the globe. Some dubbed them “a 21st century Bonnie-and-Clyde.” 

Now Philly mag has a story this month on “Tanning Beds! Flat-Screens! The New College Dorm,” featuring David Adelman, the president and CEO of Campus Apartments, the largest provider of student housing in Philly (with over 2 million square feet of real estate!). They also own properties in 50 other college markets around the country. 

“Schools have three problems: They don’t have enough housing, the housing they have is obsolete, and they just don’t know how to think about real estate properly,” says Adelman. 

This is absolutely true. We’re in the midst of the largest college-going generation in history–2009 will be the largest graduating class ever–and yet colleges seem to be steadfastly refusing to build the housing to accommodate them. They’ve added WAY more students than they’ve added housing. For instance, at Temple they’ve kicked upperclassmen off of campus and (if memory serves) can’t even guarantee housing for sophomores. This creates a demand that well exceeds supply, drives up prices to ridiculous levels, and drives cost-minded students (and their parents) to live in shells in some BAD neighborhoods. Imagine paying near $600 month to live in a house where the heat doesn’t work, rats fall through the drop ceiling, and you’re dodging drug-dealers on the way to your door. That’s what some of my Temple students dealt with. 

This isn’t only an issue in N. Philly. Last I checked, Penn State had the 2nd highest cost-of-real-estate rating in the state, because of the extent to which demand exceeds supply in State College. While rental rates continue to climb, students must also deal with rapidly escalating tuition rates–the only thing that seems to climb faster than the cost of gas.

This is a justice issue. The Universities passively allow their students to be victimized by slumlords and mortgage away their futures with massive amounts of debt, because I think they’ve determined that building more dorms isn’t profitable enough for them. Students aren’t so much a constituency to be served, as a commodity to be maximized as efficiently as possible. 

Meanwhile, Adelman is capitalizing on a paradoxical trend: 

 In the case of student housing, the market is really about parents, who are generally footing the bill. A decade ago, all parents wanted was someplace clean and free of rats. Today, a new generation of parents intent on pampering their kids is looking for luxe places filled with high-speed Internet access, intercom systems, Xbox rooms and gyms — and Adelman is providing them. The man who helped revolutionize University City is rewriting the blueprints for student housing at campuses across the country…

The word he hears now from kids and their parents is “luxury.” Today’s overprotective, coddling moms and dads are most particular about where Johnny and Susie live during their collegiate days, which has ultimately raised the bar for universities to rethink their decades-old dorms and housing units.

So where the trials of “college housing” used to be a rite of passage, these days, if Susie wants a tanning bed in her apartment complex, Susie will bronze with the best of them. Or so Adelman quickly learned from conducting focus groups about what students consider “necessities” nowadays. By giving them what they want (media rooms, computer labs, lounges, gyms, etc.), he makes his complexes that much more appealing than the next guy’s.

This new housing trend—catering to a spoiled Generation Y, and their spoiling parents, nationwide—is working. Last year, Campus Apartments invested more than $400 million in new acquisitions and development on college campuses across the country. Over the next two years, Adelman projects $700 million in transactions. (Yes, cha-ching is right.)

So, members of Gen Y (and their spoiling parents), do you object to this characterization? Do you agree these are “needs”?  Do you think Universities should care more about housing, or work to make it more affordable? What do you think about pursuing the luxurious life while in college? See any problem with it? Some do:

Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of the history of education at NYU Steinhardt, describes the recent construction of multi-million dollar luxury dormitories on college campuses as troubling.

“By providing really nice things for our kids, we’re teaching them to expect such goodies as their due. And we’re forgetting the older collegiate ideal, which prized the life of the mind over the lure of materialism.”

Philadelphia Inquirer (10/23/07) 

For more on the luxury housing trend, check out this post.

THIS MANY College Students Pay for Sex?!

Every time I think I have a decent understanding of college students, I come across something like this: 

 

When the price of loving grows dear

 

For singles, apparently, the price of sex is going up, and not just for men who share Eliot Spitzer’s taste. Ordinary people legally exchange valuable items for sex all the time, says Daniel Kruger, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Michigan.Kruger’s claim had me flashing back a few days, when I let my fiance fill my gas tank. Was this generous and gentlemanly behavior or a sex-for-fuel exchange?  

It might seem obvious to most regular people but to scientists who study such things, there’s no clear line between gift-getting and prostitution.

In a paper published in this month’s issue of the journal Evolutionary Psychology, Kruger interviewed 475 college students and found that 27 percent of the men and 14 percent of the women reported trying to trade something to get sex. “Sometimes it was money, sometimes it was funding voice lessons, and sometimes it was giving tickets to the Ohio State versus Michigan game,” he said. “There’s a black market for those tickets – they’re quite sought after.”

Conversely, about 5 percent of men and 9 percent of women reported offering sex in the hope of getting some kind of freebie.

It’s not surprising that men are the ones more likely to give gifts or money or fuel, and women are more likely to receive such bonuses. That happens among penguins (nest-building rocks for sex), as well as monkeys and even insects (food for sex).

But now the economy is bad, how’s a guy to get some action if he can’t afford those coveted football tickets or even a tank of gas? “Some of them did laundry,” Kruger said, or they cleaned up a woman’s room.

 

More than 1 in 4 men trades something to get sex? Look, I realize this always goes on, but 1 in 4? And even harder to believe is that 14% of college women feel the need to trade something for sex. What kind of sad, messed up world do we live in where a WOMAN IN COLLEGE can’t find someone to have sex for free?! 

A few thoughts:

1) 475 college students isn’t much of a sample. I’d be more convinced of these stats if the sample was in the thousands. I’d like to believe these numbers are high. I’m also tempted to say something about the research being done at the University of Michigan, but I’ll exercise self-control. 

2) I tend to agree that trading material possessions or favors for sex is a form of prostitution. A little harder to define, maybe, and perfectly legal in many cases, but still prostitution. 

3) Our society’s view of sex and sexuality has become seriously warped. Even if you don’t buy into cultural declensionist narratives, you have to agree that commodifying sex to this degree is tragic and dysfunctional. To those who argued that “Friends with benefits” and “just hooking up” weren’t a big deal, have you changed your tune at all? And with evidence that the “just hooking up” culture is wreaking havoc on girls’ self-image (read Unhooked, by Laura Sessions Stepp) do you think that prostitution in its various forms is a “victimless crime”? 

College students reading this, do these numbers ring true with what you’ve seen and heard? Help me out here!

This story ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer, by Faye Flam. 

Henry Ford & the Cost of Not Innovating

I’ve been doing a good bit of thinking & reading recently on innovation, for ministry and otherwise. I have some ideas that I’ll be posting here eventually. I came across this terrific story about the innovative, stubborn, cantankerous, and deeply flawed Henry Ford. Ford changed the world with his Model T, but his “obsession” with it put the company firmly and permanently in 2nd place (now third, right?)  Clearly, even the most gifted innovators can become enamored with their creations, and ultimately harm what they care most about. 

So I’m asking “What are our Model T’s in ministry?” The basics stay the same, but what time-specific approaches do we need to let go of in order to move from the dirt roads to the paved highways? 

 

Background: When Henry Ford first marketed the Model
T in 1908, it was a state-of-the-art automobile. “There were cheaper cars on the market,” writes Robert Lacey in Ford: The Men and Their Machine, “but no one could offer the same combination of innovation and reliability.” Over the years, the price went down dramatically … and as the first truly affordable quality automobile, the Model T revolutionized American culture.

Decision: The Model T was the only car that the Ford Motor Co. made. As the auto industry grew and competition got stiffer, everyone in the company – from Ford’s employees to his family – pushed him to update the design. Lacey writes:

The first serious suggestions that the Model T might benefit from some major updating had been made when the car was only four years old. In 1912 Henry Ford had taken [his family] on their first visit to Europe, and on his return he discovered that his [chief aides] had prepared a surprise for him. [They] had labored to produce a new, low-slung version of the Model T, and the prototype stood in the middle of the factory floor, its gleaming red lacquer-work polished to a high sheen.

“He had his hands in his pockets,” remembered one eyewitness, “and he walked around the car three or four times, looking at it very closely … Finally, he got to the left-hand side of the car that was facing me, and he takes his hands out, gets hold of the door, and bang! He ripped the door right off! God! How the man done it, I don’t know!”

Ford proceeded to destroy the whole car with his bare hands. It was a message to everyone around him not to mess with his prize creation. Lacey concludes: “The Model T had been the making of Henry Ford, lifting him from being any other Detroit automobile maker to becoming car maker to the world. It had yielded him untold riches and power and pleasure, and it was scarcely surprising that he should feel attached to it. But as the years went by, it became clear that Henry Ford had developed a fixation with his masterpiece which was almost unhealthy.”

Ford had made his choice clear. In 1925, after more than 15 years on the market, the Model T was pretty much the same car it had been when it debuted. It still had the same noisy, underpowered four-cylinder engine, obsolete “planetary” transmission, and horse-buggy suspension that it had in the very beginning. Sure, Ford made a few concessions to the changing times, such as balloon tires, an electric starter, and a gas pedal on the floor. And by the early 1920s, the Model T was available in a variety of colors beyond Ford black. But the Model T was still … a Model T. “You can paint up a barn,” one hurting New York Ford dealer complained, “but it will still be a barn and not a parlor.”

Impact: While Ford rested on his laurels for a decade and a half, his competitors continued to innovate. Four-cylinder engines gave way to more powerful six-cylinder engines with manual clutch-and-gearshift transmissions. These new cars were powerful enough to travel at high speeds made possible by the country’s new paved highways. Ford’s “Tin Lizzie,” designed in an era of dirt roads, was not.

Automobile buyers took notice and began trading up; Ford’s market share slid to 57% of U.S. automobile sales in 1923 down to 45% in 1925, and to 34% in 1926, as companies like Dodge and General Motors steadily gained ground. By the time Ford finally announced, that a replacement for the Model T was in the works in May 1927, the company had already lost the battle. That year, Chevrolet sold more cars than Ford for the first time. Ford regained first place in 1929 thanks to strong sales of its new Model A, but Chevrolet passed it again the following year and never looked back. “From 1930 onwards,” Robert Lacey writes, “the once-proud Ford Motor Company had to be content with second place.”

I read this story here.

Running in a Cemetery with Moses

Lately I’ve been running through a nearby cemetery (for exercise, not from scary creatures).  Not only is it a pleasant setting and free from oncoming traffic, but it’s helpful for getting some perspective. I’ll sometimes take a breather and look more closely at some of the markers. Some are ornate, some are rather plain. Some are adorned with flowers, both real and fake. This morning I saw a man planting flowers at a family member’s grave. The kids who have died too young often stand out, because of the toys piled all around. I’m not gonna lie–those get to me. 

I was reminded of Moses’ words in Psalm 90:

 

2 Before the mountains were born 
       or you brought forth the earth and the world, 
       from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

 3 You turn men back to dust, 
       saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.”

 4 For a thousand years in your sight 
       are like a day that has just gone by, 
       or like a watch in the night.

 5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; 
       they are like the new grass of the morning-

 6 though in the morning it springs up new, 
       by evening it is dry and withered… 

10 The length of our days is seventy years— 

or eighty, if we have the strength; 

       yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, 
       for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

 11 Who knows the power of your anger? 
       For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

 12 Teach us to number our days aright, 
       that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Here’s how running through the cemetery is teaching me to number my days:

1) Take myself less seriously. I’m dust, grass, here today and gone tomorrow. C’mon Steve, in the grand scheme of things, get over yourself!  God’s clearly in charge; I, clearly, am not. This is helpful! 

2) Take what God calls me to–especially loving and serving other people–more seriously. There are no mere mortals, and running through a cemetery presses the Weight of Glory more deeply on me. I sometimes wonder about the lives of those I run by. Did anyone love them? What were their hardships? How many of them died without knowing Jesus? This grieves me. It also makes me mad about that which is called “ministry,” yet has no sense of urgency or burden to share Jesus with others. 

I commend the “cemetery route” for your next run if you’re looking for some “spiritual cardiovascular” exercise.

 12 Teach us to number our days aright, 
       that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

 

My Miserable “Fun Wall” experience & an apology

First, let me say that I’m not a technophobe. While I’m not the earliest adopter on the block (I’m not twittering yet), I do like to keep up on things. I think technology is an incredibly powerful tool. I’ve sought to utilize new techie innovations to help in my ministry, using this blog, YouTube, facebook, and Constant Contact to help in support-raising. I think every ministry should have an internal wiki for policy, procedures, and resources. I’ve been on facebook for 2+ years now and it’s been fun and helpful. 

But this techie sword cuts both ways. At times, it can cause excruciating unintended consequences. All of you who are my facebook friends received an inappropriate “Fun Wall” post from me yesterday. No need to describe it, except that it featured some crude (and crudely drawn) content. I had received it from a friend by accident. In my haste to get it off my screen, I pressed “forward” to the next screen, only to realize in horror a moment later that I had actually FORWARDED it to ALL of my friends!! You can imagine the sinking feeling I had in my stomach. I’m still both angered and ashamed by the whole thing. Some of my facebook friends are people I don’t know very well. Many are partners and colleagues in ministry. Some are even minors. So I felt awful knowing that this was going out to all 450+ of my friends with my name on it. 

I have several problems with how Fun Wall (made by slide.com) configured their website. First off, the interface is confusing. The biggest, most obvious button is “forward,” and in one quick, unthinking moment, that’s what me (and my friend before me) pressed. But there weren’t any other buttons, any other options. You have to go to an entirely different screen (see below) to delete the post. 

Secondly, why was the forwarding feature automatically configured to send to ALL of my friends? Who in their right mind would send something to all their friends? I didn’t check everybody off. I feel like I got trapped. It was like a bad Psychology 101 experiment. 

Thirdly, facebook used to be clean. Clean in presentation, generally clean in content. It was the non-creepy, non-shady, non-stalker version of MySpace. That’s part of the facebook brand. When the “new facebook” opened itself up to all these proliferating applications, they gained a ton of fun new things to do but lost some control. They’re losing their clean branding. Everyone’s profiles (including mine) are now as cluttered and hard to navigate as any other website. And the content is free to be smuttied up. Too bad.  I realize everything’s open-source these days and losing control is part of that, but this whole thing reflects badly on facebook, and if I were them I’d be figuring out a way to address it. 

I wrote to Fun Wall about this whole thing. I voiced my complaints about it and asked if they could delete it from all of my friends Fun Walls. They didn’t do anything about deleting it (yet), but I got a personal note back in less than 24 hours (awesome!) which gave me some pointers on how to navigate Fun Wall (including deleting it, which I’m still leaning towards). I’ve pasted it below for you.

Once again, I apologize!

 

– 

Hey Steve,

 

Thanks for writing in. Thank you for your message and letting us know

about the inappropriate content you found on the Fun Wall application.

We are looking into various options related to this issue and hope to

find a solution in the near future.  Currently there isn’t any sort of

“approval” or “screening” option, so as of right now, your only option

is to delete the posts once you receive them.

 

To delete a post from your FunWall, please follow the steps below:

 

1. Login to www.facebook.com

2. Click on ‘Applications’

3. Click on ‘FunWall’

4. Click on ‘My FunWall’

5. Click on the ‘Delete’ link just below the post you wish to remove

6. Click ‘OK to’ confirm your deletion

 

We also have the ability to remove inappropriate material that you find

on our application. Please send us a link to the profile the material is

posted to as well as information pertaining to the date and time that

material was posted, so that we may locate it on that members’ FunWall.

 

You can remove posts from your own FunWall by clicking the ‘delete’ link

just below each item you do not want displayed.  There are several

places you can configure Facebook to block notifications from the

FunWall as well.  This will help limit the content you have to view. 

First, start by following these steps:

 

1. Login to www.facebook.com

2. Go to http://www.facebook.com/notifications.php

3. Uncheck the box next to “FunWall”

 

If you would like to prevent any of your own FunWall posts from

appearing in your News Feed or Mini Feed areas, you can disable those

features for FunWall by following these steps:

 

1. Click on the ‘Edit’ link next to the word ‘Applications’ in the left

column

2. Find the application and choose ‘Edit Settings’ next to it

3. Uncheck the boxes next to the News Feed and Mini Feed options

4. Click ‘Save’

 

If you do not approve of the posts from others, you may want to suggest

to them that they configure their FunWall settings using the above steps

as well.  This will prevent all of their friends from getting the

“adult” material sent to their News Feed and Mini Feed areas.

 

As a last resort, you have the option to uninstall FunWall:

 

1. Click on the ‘Edit’ link next to the word ‘Applications’ in the upper

left of your page (http://www.facebook.com/editapps.php)

2. Click on ‘Remove’ on the far right next to the application you want

to remove

3. Confirm deletion

 

I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please

let us know if you have any further questions.

 

Cheers,

 

Megan P.

Slide Community Support

 

Penn State & the JoePa Conundrum

ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel recently wrote an interesting piece on JoePa’s coaching future at Penn State. Though Maisel harped on the age thing more than he needed to, the article was pretty good. (In previous years I’ve felt like Maisel had a Pac 10/Big 12 axe to grind against PSU and the Big 10 in general, but this was devoid of that). 

Let’s face it PSU fans: JoePa, the football program, and the administration & board are all in a VERY tough place with this whole succession thing. There’s no question that the uncertainty with his future is hurting recruiting. The Terrelle Pryor episode revealed that. If the State College area is undesirable to certain people, than you need everything else to be strong to land those players: a strong, winning, regularly-televised, playing-in-major-bowls, sending-players-to-the-NFL program will overcome objections to locations. But we haven’t had that consistently enough. Nor is the program spic-and-span these days–we used to be much more distinguishable from the Florida States and Miamis. 

I understand both sides on this: JoePa has earned the right–more than any other football coach–to determine when he should step aside. Penn State has the most D-I sports in the NCAA. Who do you think funds them? Countless buildings have gone up on campus. Who do you think built them? JoePa will know when he doesn’t have “IT” anymore. I don’t think he’s just a figurehead or a mascot. Heck, even Charlie Weis doesn’t call plays anymore–does that make him a figurehead? Joe should be able to step aside when he’s ready. 

But Joe also needs to keep the good of the program in mind. They need to think about the future. And because of how recruiting works, the future is always NOW. What do you tell the recruits who wonder what will happen if/when JoePa moves on during their career? PSU has no good answer to that. And they need to. They’ve lost too many recruits to their rivals because of it. 

For this reason, I think the succession plan that FSU has put in place with Bowden makes sense here. (This is the only time you will see me endorse something from Florida St.) Bowden essentially coaches year-to-year, and calls quits when he’s ready. But they have named and appointed the successor, so players know who they’ll be playing for when he moves on.

JoePa says he wants the next coach to be from the program. Tom Bradley is a really good Defensive Coordinator, and a good recruiter. He can lead the program. So why not appoint Bradley the successor, at whatever point JoePa finally steps down, whether that be a year or 5 from now? Then you have continuity, and a much smoother transition that doesn’t hurt recruiting in the meantime. Why can’t both sides agree to this? Everybody wins: JoePa gets to make the call; PSU gets the successor it needs.

Now, here’s my rant on Bowden. It’s an absolute joke that Bowden “leads” Paterno in coaching victories. Currently Bowden is only ahead by 1, but 31 of his total victories came at D-II Samford. So why do they count, since the record is for coaching victories in D-I?!! His “record” is a fraud. 

Here’s the link to the ESPN article by Maisel

Philly and Pittsburgh; Obama and Clinton

As a Pennsylvanian, it’s enjoyable to matter politically for the first time in memory. And I’ve enjoyed the media’s attempts to analyze and understand our state. I thought this article in today’s Inquirer was spot-on:

By Tom Infield
Inquirer Staff Writer

PITTSBURGH – Steelers or Eagles? Pro-football loyalties are not the only differences that divide Pennsylvania’s two big cities.
In Democratic politics, the contrasts between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are so sharp that they might decide the outcome of the state’s presidential primary April 22.

The Pittsburgh area, according to polls and politicos-in-the-know, is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton territory.

The Philadelphia area is the Keystone State’s biggest stronghold for Sen. Barack Obama.

The differences that 300 miles can make stem mainly from one thing: demographics.

“Look at who Barack Obama appeals to,” said John Brabender, a Republican consultant from Pittsburgh who is tracking the Democratic race from the sidelines.

Brabender ticked off the list: younger voters, better-educated voters, more-affluent voters – and black voters.

Percentage-wise, Philadelphia has more of all of these.

Neither of the state’s big metropolitan areas – Philadelphia ranks fourth nationally; Pittsburgh, 21st – is anywhere near the most youthful, the trendiest, or the fastest-growing.

But compared at least with Pittsburgh, the Philadelphia area, including its four suburban counties, is young and booming.

Basically, Pittsburgh belongs to Clinton, Philly belongs to Obama, and in-between belongs to Col. Sanders. (You know, the old Pennsyl-tucky joke). 

(Penn State is clearly Obama country, as he drew 22,000 people to Old Main Lawn a couple weeks ago. This was perhaps the biggest rally so far in his campaign). 

“A bunch of pointy-headed liberals – that’s how Philadelphia looks to the rest of the state,” said Bill Green, a Pittsburgh-area consultant who had worked with both major parties.

“They see Philadelphia as an elitist, white-collar kind of place,” Green said.

This is hilarious. Hasn’t anyone seen Rocky? Heard of the 700 level? Ordered in English at Geno’s? Met all my old South Philly neighbors named Tony? I guess wanting less guns on the street makes you a “pointy-headed liberal.” (What does that mean anyway–a Conehead?) 

Philadelphians wear less black Nikes, black jeans, and less black and gold in general. Perhaps that is “elitist.” 

“Some people say Pittsburgh is more Midwest whereas Philadelphia is more East Coast,” he said. “. . . The experiences of the two areas are different.”

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been arguing this for a decade. Once you get past Downingtown on the PA Turnpike, you are out of the East Coast and into a transition zone. Once you get past Harrisburg, it’s safe to say you are functionally in the midwest. Agree/Disagree? 

Pennsylvania is at least two states, maybe more if you count the Dunder-Mifflinites in the northeast, when it comes to interacting with the world. One of the things that makes Penn State such a fascinating place is that it brings together the Blue state/Red state cultures within the state, plus international students from all over the world, to create a fairly diverse Global University in the middle of nowhere. 

Here’s the link to the whole article. 

From the Archives: My Own Confession Booth Story

Some of my new CCO friends have been asking about the time(s) that we had a confession booth at Temple’s Spring Fling, as in Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. So I went to the vault and pulled out these accounts.

The first time we did this was in Spring 2004. I sent out an email in advance, asking people to pray. (Over time I had forgotten the spiritual intensity of that time on campus). The second is my account of how things went. The third email is my account of when we did it again in Spring 2006–also a spiritually intense time on campus. 

PRAYER REQUEST IN ADVANCE OF CONFESSION BOOTH (Spring 2004):

 

Dear prayer supporters,Please intercede for the ministry at Temple over the next few days. This semester is wrapping up with a flurry of gospel-sharing. This past Friday was “United in Christ Day,” when many of our students came out to share their faith (many for the first time). There were quite a few very good conversations, and contacts for future follow-up. It was also the most intense day I’ve experienced at Temple. I’ve never seen so much hardness and hostility when I’

ve approached people. Two other groups were preaching and sharing, neither of which I had heard of, and neither were from the campus. (I later found out that one was the cult International Disciples of Christ, which preys on college students). All this, plus the regular hellfire-and-brimstone guy. This led to a lot of confusion and made sharing the gospel more difficult. This spiritual warfare is real.

 Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the biggest day of “Spring Fling,” a time for typical campus debauchery and rowdiness before the semester ends. Our group will be setting up a confession booth—not for people to confess their sins to us, but to allow us to confess the sins which have been done in the name of Christ, and to tell them that’s not who Jesus is. (This is based on Donald Miller’

s story in Blue Like Jazz).

The students are telling me the responses will be strong, either way. I hope they’

re right.

Please pray that the light of the gospel would shine through us, and that people’

s perceptions of Jesus would be changed.
Please pray for boldness and open doors for us.

Pray that we would be allowed to set up the booth and use it the entire day

Pray that Satan would not be able to spring any more surprise obstacles on us.

Pray that God would be glorified through all this!

I am so thankful for your intercession and support in these things.

All for Jesus,

Steve Lutz

 

REPORT ON CONFESSION BOOTH

Dear Pray-ers,

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.”

 

 On Tuesday at Temple we had a different sort of outreach on campus. For “Spring Fling,” we set up a Confession Booth. Some students from our group designed and built it. We were right next to a table giving away Frisbees. The idea wasn’

t for people to confess their sins, but for us to confess our sins to them as Christians.
One thing that’s cool was that this wasn’t a numbers game type of outreach.We talked to over 30 people. That’s not a lot. But I guess this was a case of quality over quantity. A few tables down, another ministry was giving out every type of Christian tract possible. People were tossing them instantly, so you almost couldn’t see the ground at certain spots. People were walking all over them. But I don’t think anyone trampled over what they heard in the booth.One thing I was praying as I stepped in the booth was that this wouldn’t just be a gimmick, an idea from a book, but that it would be the real thing, that my confessions would be heartfelt and genuine. God answered that prayer.

The more I did it, the more I felt it. It was hard.

We talked about how as Christians we do such a poor job of being like Jesus; how we don’t love our neighbor or even give 2 seconds to them; how we’re judgmental and indifferent and often just like the culture that we condemn for it’s materialism and impurity.
I was personally confessing these things to people as they stopped in. I apologized to Muslims for the Crusades. I apologized to African-Americans for the way people used Christ to justify slavery or not stand up for civil rights. It was extremely humbling. I became emotional at times. People have really been hurt, directly or indirectly, in the name of Christ. That is grievous. And it has prevented them from seeing who Jesus really is, which is even more grievous. Quite a few people were deeply touched. People don’t own up to anything these days, so for Christians to do that speaks loudly. Maybe what’s prophetic these days is to come in weakness and humility, and to show people that we know we’re sinners in need of a Savior. (They know we’re not perfect).  When we confess our need for the Cross, it disarms people and gives us an opportunity to share what Jesus is really about—not those many things that have become attached to his name but aren’

t of him.
Let me tell you about a few of the people we spoke to yesterday:

The first two people who stopped in said, “this is crazy! You’re nuts!” That was encouraging—
they got it!
One Muslim girl I know was deeply moved. She said it was “awesome”

ten times and brought back some friends.
Another girl has been questioning her faith, and actually been looking into other religions. Our conversation set off something in her. One of her friends, who is a Christian from our group, talked with her at length last night about Jesus. He asked her if she has a personal relationship with Christ. She said no, but she wants one. She is SO close! Let’s pray her in!One guy was invited to our weekly meetings many times and he never came; but he and his friend stepped inside the booth, and later heard presentations of the Gospel. He too has Christian friends who will follow up with him.

One girl Geoff Bradford talked to is a Muslim, she said she had no idea this is what Christians were about; she hated Christians but now she wants to visit a church.  She said “This is the way things are supposed to be.” 

One girl said she’s been having a lot of doubts—the confessing spoke to her, and she gave me her contact info so we can talk some more. Please pray that we would be able to talk soon, and that the Spirit would be growing saving-fruit in her. 
The last girl I spoke to said she used to be a part of the church, but been hurt by people there. As we spoke, she concluded that she needed to get back in fellowship with people. She said “God is so patient and forgiving; I need to do that too.” 

 

 
Join me in thanking God for the many good conversations we had yesterday, and join me in praying that the seeds which were sown yesterday would grow and be harvested.

 

Thanks for your partnership in these things,

 

Steve Lutz

 

REPORT ON CONFESSION BOOTH 2006

Hey everyone–thanks for your prayers for the confession booth last Thursday. Many of you emailed and asked how it went, so I’m encouraged to know you’re actually reading these things!

I was really pleased with how this year’s Confession Booth came together. Andrew, a sophomore majoring in Engineering, designed and built an AMAZING booth out of PVC and curtains. Hopefully, you can see it in the pictures here. The weather was perfect–sunny and 80. Thank you Lord! In all, we spoke to around 20 students. The reactions ran the gamut of what we’ve come to expect, from confusion to being deeply moved. We had several Catholics or lapsed Catholics who were–no surprise–expecting something very different. We had several others with some kind of Christian background, but also many non-Christians and people of other faiths.

The first girl I spoke to was from a catholic background. I confessed the various ways Christians–including me–have done a poor job of being like Jesus to those around us. I have found that it really resonates with people when we confess “Yes, I know I am not perfect. I don’t have it all together. I’m messed up.” And I’ve also found it’s an incredible bridge to the Gospel. It helps people understand why we say we need a Savior. People today often don’t have that baseline sense of “I’m a sinner who needs to be saved” that the big evangelists could assume in previous generations. Instead, we need to explain why “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst!” Putting our own mess out there can do that. You know, it’s really amazing how humility connects so easily to the Gospel. It’s like God designed it that way or something.

One blessing of doing this is the way it can connect us to people who previously weren’t aware we existed. The second girl I talked to said she was a Christian, but hadn’t connected with a christian group or church in her time at Temple. We are now “Facebook Friends” and I’m praying our conversation will lead her to get reconnected.

I wanted more students to get a taste of doing the confessing, so I only started off the day and talked to a few students before giving way to 5 others who confessed during the day. Several of them were nervous and a little fearful, so it was a big step. Each of them said it was hard to confess these things, and that the more they did it, the more real these sins became to them. One of our confessors spoke to a couple where the guy is Hindu and the girl is Muslim. Now there’s some worldviews colliding! But they had a good conversation, and I trust some seeds were planted.

Barna once found that the average adult convert knows 27 different Christians before they become Christians. I often tell my students “You may not realize it, but people are always watching and drawing conclusions from your life. You don’t where you are on that timeline. You might be number 1. Once in a while, you’ll get to be number 27. You might be number 14, but that doesn’t make your role or words or example any less important! We’re called to be faithful in living out the Gospel in Word and Deed, and God makes the seed grow.” It’s important to remember that when you’re out there having conversations with people, and you have no idea how it’s going.

Please pray that God would make those seeds grow in each of the people’s hearts we spoke to. Through the wonders of Facebook (btw, Facebook is like myspace for college students. It’s an awesome connecting tool), we’re able to follow up with many of these people.

Thanks for your prayers, and your holy impatience to know how things went!

Grace and Peace,

Steve