What do you do to stay “in the loop”?

As a minister, and perhaps even more particularly, as a campus minister, it’s important to stay in the loop.

Theologian Karl Barth famously stated that it was wise to begin the day with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.  Nowadays, we may integrate all our Scriptural and news resources into our laptop or smartphone.

I can think of 3 reasons why it’s important for campus ministers to work at staying in the loop, every day:

1. For personal reasons

We need new ideas. We need to be challenged. We don’t want to become static entities, just doing the same old stale things we did 5-10 years ago. This is what Stephen Covey calls “sharpening the saw.” One of the best ways to stay active, alert, vital, and fresh is to know where to go to sharpen your saw.

2. For professional development.

These first two overlap, but are important enough to be distinct. Campus ministers, like anyone else who believes their field is important, need to be active learners. Some of the best lessons to be learned are across disciplines. For example, it was through faithfully reading the Harvard Business Review email that I read an article on “How Innovators Think.” The first characteristic of an innovator is “Associating,” that is, making connections across disciplines. Quite a few good ideas have come to me through the seemingly incongruous reading of the HBR.

3. For missional reasons.

We work in places that highly value knowledge. A fully incarnational and faithful ministry should be constantly building our own knowledge-base. When we’re constantly reading, associating, and connecting the dots, it builds credibility with those we’re serving. I’ve had more than one professor smile with surprise and recognition when I cite something I’ve read in the Chronicle of Higher Ed or the New York Times related to their field.

Being active learners can open doors to new opportunities. It helps us learn and listen. It helps us remember what our students are (supposed to be) doing much of the time they’re not meeting with us. It helps us feel that we too are part of this learning community called a university.

So what do I do to stay in the loop?

It starts with my daily emails. Every morning, I get emails with headlines from the following sources:

The New York Times

I always read David Brooks on Tuesdays and Fridays. I also like Thomas Friedman. I read a lot of the Tech articles, including David Pogue’s posts. I’ve set up an “Alert” for special emails on anything related to Higher Ed. This saves me some search time. I also get special emails for movie and books reviews.

The Chronicle of Higher Ed

Much of the content they distribute is “premium,” which I don’t subscribe to, but a good bit of it is free. Plus, just glancing at the headlines gives me a feel for what people are thinking about and discussing.

Inside Higher Ed

Not as polished as the Chronicle, but with more free content. Also very valuable as a gauge of what’s “hot” in Higher Ed.

Harvard Business Review

Tons of great, readable articles on leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship, and other areas that are very relevant to what I’m doing.

I typically scan all these emails, clicking on articles that pique my interest, and I typically end up with anywhere from 5-10 that I’d like to read.

The only actual newspaper I read is Penn State’s Daily Collegian, one of the best student newspapers in the country.

Now, call me old-school, but I still like magazines: There should be a place for long-form journalism. I subscribe to several mags:

Rolling Stone

Fast Company

Inc.

The Atlantic

Christianity Today

Books & Culture

Also: Time, Wired, Comment, Entrepreneur

Add to these a host of blogs, many of which are listed at the right. My blog reading ebbs and flows though.

How about you? What do you read to stay in the loop?

What is a Movement? 12 Marks

If you hang around me long enough, you know I’m fond of talking about Missio Dei as a movement. But what exactly IS a movement? How is it different from what others may be doing? And why is this distinction important?

Recently a pastor friend challenged me with those questions, and this was my response. I drew it from my study of revivals and awakenings, going back to the first Great Awakening of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield and the Wesleys; the Haystack Revival; the Welsh Revival; the Student Volunteer Movement; the work of men like D.L. Moody and Billy Graham; and modern movements ranging from Vineyard and Calvary Chapel to Sovereign Grace, Redeemer, and Acts 29. Part of this draws on a talk I heard Mark Driscoll give at an Acts29 Boot Camp in Raleigh in Feb 09.

1. It’s an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit of God upon a praying people. It is inherently something beyond the normal workings of God, and well beyond man’s ability to create.

2. It’s characterized by extraordinary events and transformations: the renewal of an apathetic, dry church; resulting in many conversions of people within and without the visible church.

3. It is unusual in its degree and scope. It breaks down human distinctions which are not biblical and which have impeded Kingdom expansion (ie, the convergence of charismatic theology with the Reformed world in recent years).

4. It actively seeks to NOT become institutionalized. When it becomes institutionalized, it loses a great deal of momentum.

5. It is discerning about the essentials–those things which must be agreed on or maintained (closed hand), and which are non essentials—those things not necessary to agree on (open hand). There is unity in diversity.

6. It CAN work in concert with institutions, to renew and expand them.

7. It is a recovery of sound theology and practices—what are not new, but seem that way to those experiencing them.

8. It is messy around the edges—and sometimes at the middle. It attracts bad theology, bad practices, and unstable people.

9. A movement generates a lot of discussion, both within and without the movement. Some of it is healthy; much of it is gossip and speculation and criticism. But it cannot be ignored.

10. It takes hits on both sides. From secular leaning folks, and from the religious establishment. The bad apples are used by skeptics to discredit the entire movement.

11. It is frequently spearheaded by a particularly charismatic or larger-than-life leader who seems to be anointed for the task. These leaders are lavished with praise by their followers, but are frequently unfairly criticized and undergo great suffering and temptation.

12. It leaves lasting changes in those impacted by it: individuals, families, churches, communities, and even cultures are never the same.

So is Missio Dei a movement? Not yet. But I think we’re heading in the right direction. You should also know that I’m personally uncomfortable with #11, but it seems impossible to ignore when you look at history.

Prop 8:The Musical, and the Debate

Funny Or Die has posted a video of Prop 8: The Musical. While undeniably clever and pretty funny at points, I have to take issue with how “religious” people are depicted in this lampoon of the Prop 8 controversy.  Mormons were largely behind opposition to Prop 8, though the video doesn’t seem to differentiate between them and other “religious” folks.  Besides the Jack Black portrayal of Jesus, which seems partly motivated by a desire to irritate people who worship him, I tire of the Leviticus/shrimp cocktail line of argument, which is always trotted out in situations like this .

1) Leviticus is not the only place in the Bible which categorizes homosexuality as against God’s design/will and therefore a sin. The most notable place in the New Testament is in Romans 1, where it is mentioned as one of the results of rebellion against God. It’s not like modern-day opponents are citing some obscure text.

 

2) Evangelicals are far more nuanced in their reading of Scripture than given credit for (can’t speak for Mormons here). It’s not that they just ignore the weird Old Testament stuff, or randomly pick-and-choose. Christians believe that the portions of the OT including the sacrificial/ceremonial law were written to the people of Israel, but these laws were fulfilled by Christ. No animal sacrifice, because the sacrificial system is over (Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice). No problem eating pork and shellfish, because God told Peter in Acts 10 to “kill and eat” all the formerly unclean animals. (This was symbolic of the Gospel going to all nations, not exclusively the Jews anymore). God’s moral law is always true, however (ie, “Do not murder”).

 

3) The whole separation of church & state thing: are religious people–of any persuasion–somehow supposed to tune out their most fundamental beliefs when it comes to voting and civic discourse/participation? Is that even possible? Of course not. And why are religious people singled out? Everyone has deeply rooted beliefs and convictions that shape how they think, speak, live, and vote. Democracy is based on the principle that every human being has the right to vote as they see fit, regardless of their convictions. The church and state principle as outlined by the framers cuts both ways: Freedom from religion (the state is not to be governed by one particular church or religious persuasion) but also freedom FOR religion (the state cannot interfere, suppress, or even criminalize free religious expression). As much as I disagree with Mormonism, I can’t deny that they have the right to free expression, to worship as they see fit, and to organize and vote as they see fit. And this goes for any other system of belief(s), religious or otherwise. So I find the implication that all religious people should just stuff their most deeply rooted beliefs to be ignorant, at best. (Keller deals with this issue well in The Reason for God).

4) It needs to be said that regardless of where you land on Prop 8 (or homosexuality, or God for that matter), that people should be able to live peaceably together, with mutual respect.  To those of you outside the evangelical fold, you may be surprised by the amount of friends, and quality of the friendships, that Christians have with gays and lesbians. It is possible to coexist while disagreeing on certain issues. While some comments will undoubtedly disagree, falling on the other side of Prop 8 is not automatically hateful.

An Interpretation of Coldplay’s Violet Hill

(For my reading of Viva La Vida, click here)

Violet Hill

It was a long and dark december

from the rooftops i remember

there was snow

white snow

clearly i remember

from the windows they were watching

while we froze down below

when the future’s architectured

by a carnival of idiots on show

you’d better lie low

if you love me

won’t you let me know?

It was a long and dark december

when the banks became cathedrals

and a Fox

became god

priests clutched onto Bibles

hollowed out to fit their rifles

and the Cross was held aloft

bury me in honor

when i’m dead and hit the ground

a love back home unfolds

if you love me

won’t you let me know?

i don’t want to be a soldier

with the captain of some sinking ship

with snow, far below

so if you love me

why’d you let me go?

i took my love down to violet hill

there we sat in snow

all that time she was silent still

so if you love me

won’t you let me know?

if you love me,

won’t you let me know?

This song, like Viva La Vida, is a protest song. But where Viva La Vida is written from the perspective of the pious-but-perplexed head of state (whether that be George W. Bush or an English king of old), this song is from the vantage point of the foot soldier. As such, it is less oblique than Vida, and about as preachy as Coldplay gets.

The song begins with snow, which is often a symbol of purity, in Scripture (eg, Psalm 51:7; Isaiah 1:18 ) and elsewhere in literature—perhaps indicating innocence and purity of heart in the soldier.

But it also indicates vulnerability. He’s freezing “down below” on the ground, in the cold of the snow (it is a “long and dark December,” after all), trying to make sense of his circumstances.

As the pulsing drumbeat kicks in, reminiscent of both armies marching and cannon fire, his position is contrasted with that of his leaders, who are up high in some edifice “architectured” (is that a word?) by the “carnival of idiots on show.” They are watching “from the windows” (and warmth and safety). This soldier is like one of the Revolutionary soldiers at Valley Forge, but without the benevolent George Washington leading him.

The bleak December continues as corruption politics makes its way into money and the media: The banks became cathedrals—in worship of the “almighty dollar.” Soldiers are being sent into battle not for peacemaking, but for money.

“The Fox became god”: Rolling Stone caught that this was a Fox News reference. Very clever, there Chris. (Thanks to the commenters below for catching it too!)

But TV is not the only propaganda tool. Again, (as we see in Viva la Vida) religion was employed in efforts to marshal support for military action: priests with Bibles in one hand and rifles in the other. The Cross was held aloft, as a banner to rally to, as a banner to lead into battle. This war is couched as a religious effort, a new Crusade. Despite the aforementioned unrighteous motives, public opinion is swayed by more righteous motives.

In the US, evangelical Christians have been seen as the “useful idiots” of the Republican party, whose hot-button issues have been co-opted by power brokers to further Right wing agendas. Bush won election, and especially re-election, with the support of this powerful voting bloc.

(Interestingly, unconditional evangelical support of Republican politics seems to be changing. The recently issued Evangelical Manifesto declared, among other things, that Christians ought not to fit comfortably into either political party, and called for a new style of political engagement. Also, voting habits of younger Christians reflect broader and different areas of concern, which in some cases make them more left-leaning).

Back to the soldier at the center of this song. He is conflicted about the conflict he finds himself in. He’s skeptical, even cynical, about the motives for this conflict, and doesn’t want to be a soldier on a sinking ship. But if he must fight, and likely go to his death, he wants to be buried in honor. He will serve with honor even if the conflict itself is not honorable.

While he clearly can’t control world events, he pleads for his love to at least let him know if she loves him. He would like to know this before he is buried with honor. This is a plaintive, heart-rending cry. As he stares death in the face, he repeats “If you love me/won’t you let me know” several times. It is his greatest wish, desire, and vulnerability. He feels powerless, and wonders what will happen to him.

In keeping with the “Death and All His Friends” theme of this album (which is shaping up to be more political, angry, and morbid than previous efforts), it seems that the Violet Hill in question may be this soldier’s cemetery plot, where flowers are laid on his burial mound. At this final resting place, he hopes his love will finally be requited by her presence, if not her words.

Why a violet hill? Perhaps we are meant to recall the Purple Heart, the award to those who have been wounded or killed in combat.

Some have suggested that the Violet Hill is a snow-covered hill stained with blood. This seems unlikely given that the song is called “Violet Hill,” not “Crimson Hill.”

It the end, this song protests unjust war by compassionately entering into the condition of the individual soldier. It is a caring expose of the pressures placed on soldiers in wartime. As recent media reports have noted, divorce rates and depression rates among US soldiers are sky high.

This song also demonstrates that this foot soldier is no faceless entity, a numbered dog tag attached to a “military asset,” but a human being with love and fear and questions. He isn’t as dumb or naïve as the carnival of idiots think he is—just vulnerable.

Back from Vacation

We had a great time in the OC (Ocean City, NJ) last week. Some great weather, time on the beach, bike riding, mack & manco’s pizza, and fun on the boardwalk. During the week it was definitely off-peak and the beach & boardwalk felt like a ghost town.

Sam especially is a real beach bum and enjoyed all aspects of the sand and surf. He even biked all the way up and down the OC boardwalk (4.5 miles)!

The highlight of the week was probably our ride on the ferris wheel which perfectly coincided with a fireworks show. We were stopped at the top during the finale. It was awesome. 

Now we’re back in the Philly heat, and gearing up to move on to 5 weeks in Grove City in ONLY A WEEK. Then we’ll finally be moving in to our new home the weekend of July 26th. A lot to do between now and then. 

Down the Shore this week

We’re down in Ocean City (NJ) this week, getting in some vacation time before our transitions to Grove City and then State College over the next couple months.

After our vacation, we only have 10 more days in the Philly area before moving on! 

I won’t be blogging this week, but look for some updates after June 7.

What I’m listening to: The new Al Green/The Roots album

I love Al Green, and have for some time (I trace it back to getting the Pulp Fiction soundtrack with “Let’s Stay Together” on it in ‘95. That led to several other Al albums, including his Gospel stuff). 

I also enjoy The Roots and their live, tight, hip-hop sound. A friend of mine used to work at “The Studio” here in Philly where stringmaster Larry Gold, Amir “?uestlove” Thompson, and the crew recorded & produced just about every big name in music, from Justin Timberlake to John Mayer to Korn. 

So I was real excited when I heard that the Reverend Al would be recording an album with guest vocals from Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae, and John Legend, The Dap-Kings Horns, strings orchestrated by Larry Gold, and “?uestlove” and James Poyser on production. The album, more than any other I’ve heard, recaptures Al’s old school sound, while still bringing in some tight hip-hop sensibilities. The Nu Soul crowd should dig it as well. Here’s the tracklist:

1. Lay it Down

2. Just for Me

3. You’ve Got the Love I Need (feat. Anthony Hamilton)

4. No One Like You

5. What More Do You Want From Me

6. Take Your Time (feat. Corinne Bailey Rae)

7. Too Much

8. Stay With Me (feat. John Legend)

9. All I Need

10. I’m Wild About You

11. Standing in the Rain

12. Wanna Say

Favorite Tracks: You’ve Got the Love I Need, What More Do You Want From Me (with a signature Roots riff), Take Your Time, All I Need, Standing in the Rain–heck, the whole album is great!

Good article on the making of this album:  

http://indangerousrhythm.blogspot.com/2008/04/al-green_03.html

 

In case you missed them: My Top 10 posts

Thanks to everyone who’s become a regular reader of the SENTinel! I’m only a few months in to this thing, but it’s been fun to interact with you–both online and offline–over the topics here. I’ve also enjoyed seeing which posts generate the most interest. Sometimes its surprising. I expected the Coldplay post to get some hits, and it has. It has probably already passed the Atlantic article. 

The Funwall post is surprising. Every day I see people ending up at my site because they google “how to remove funwall” or some similar search. So I know I’m not alone there! 

All in all, this list is a good representation of what I’m trying to do here: three posts on college students/campus ministry, three posts on larger missional/cultural issues, two posts on music, one random post (Funwall), and one “About Me.” 

[Note: The "Top Posts" column to the left seems to indicate what's getting the most action over the last 24 hours or so. The list below is "all-time" (that is, since February).]

 

About Me
Challenge to Men in The Atlantic–Must read!
What’s Coldplay Getting at in “Viva La Vida”?
My Miserable “Fun Wall” experience & an apology
Jubilee ‘08
THIS MANY College Students Pay for Sex?!
Keller on his book, C.S. Lewis, “seeker sensitivity,” and the PCA
Living the High Life in College?!
Have you heard SoulSavers?
Book Review of “UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…

Our New Home

Yesterday Jess and I closed on our new home in Boalsburg (just 4 miles from the Penn State campus). Everything went very smoothly and we’re glad to have made it official!

We won’t be moving in for a while yet. We’re renting the home back to the sellers for the next few weeks before their new place is ready. Then we’ll be getting some work done on the house while we’re in Grove City at summer Staff Training with CCO. We’re going to be taking out some old, cat-infested carpets and putting in some needed hypo-allergenic flooring (haven’t decided between hardwood and laminate yet. Maybe some of both). 

We’ve been really blessed during this process and are still pinching ourselves over this house. We were even more surprised & blessed when we found out the owners would give us a couch, old piano, and their entire master bedroom set for CHEAP–wow! Just some of the many ways God has met us and shown his goodness along the way.

If you ever need a realtor in Centre County, don’t hesitate to use Jill Seybert. We were absolutely thrilled with her. Thanks Jill!

 

 

The Worst Church Marketing Ever?

Bad Church Marketing is surely one of the most embarrassing things about being a Christian. You’ve seen it, you’ve heard it. If you’re not a Christian, you wonder “What’s WITH those whack jobs?”  If you’re a Christian, you wonder “What’s WITH these whack jobs?”  My brother-in-law sent this to me. This has to be one of the worst, most embarrassing pieces of church marketing I’ve ever seen. 

I don’t know this guy or this church. I can’t comment on their ministry, good or ill.

But even if this is meant to be ironic–which I sure hope it is–it’s still embarrassing. 

WWJD indeed. 

 

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

 

Some Penn State Trivia

On Sunday, we had a great mini-reunion of Penn Staters. Old friends, spouses, and roughly a million kids came from Pittsburgh, Philly, State College, and all over the Susquehanna Valley to the Davis home in Palmyra for some quality catch-up time, food, AND some high stakes trivia. (PSU prizes up for grabs). We really cherish our PSU friends and were blessed by their heartfelt prayers for us. I promised I would post the trivia. We had 3 categories: Penn State football; State College/Penn State trivia; and ACF in the ’90s.The runaway winner was Rob Watts (big surprise).The football questions I pulled off of facebook (the green ones are correct), and the other ones I cobbled together from Google searches.

Penn State Football Trivia

1. Since the last expansion was completed before the 2001 season, What was the lowest attendance for a home game?

 

Akron, 2004 (25%)

 

USF, 2005 (13%)

 

Cincinnati, 2005 (21%)

 

Temple,2003 (41%)

 

 

2. How many yards did Austin Scott rush for in the 2006 Orange Bowl against Florida State when he replaced Tony Hunt?

 

	134 (28%)
	109 (33%)
	110 (37%)
	87 (3%)

 

3. What quarterback did Kerry Collins beat out for the starting position in 1993?
	Tony Sacca (25%)
	Mike Knizner (14%)
>	John Sacca (33%)
	Wally Richardson (29%)

 

4. Who has been Penn State’s final regular season opponent since joining the Big Ten Conference?

Michigan (5%)

>

Michigan State (86%)

 

Ohio State (8%)

 

Pittsburgh (0%)

 

5. In numerous interviews, linebacker Paul Posluszny has mentioned 2 former Nittany Lions that he idolized growing up. Who were they?
	Todd Blackledge and Larry Johnson (6%)
	Kerry Collins and Ki-Jana Carter (13%)
	Jack Ham and Franco Harris (53%)
>	LaVar Arrington and Brandon Short (29%)

 

6. True or False: Michigan State has never defeated Penn State at Beaver Stadium since the Land Grant Trophy series began.

Answer Choices

	True (63%)
>	False (38%)

 

7. How many quarterback sacks did the offensive line of the undefeated 1994 Penn State team allow during the season?

Answer Choices

	4 (58%)
>	10 (32%)
	16 (8%)
	18 (1%)

 

8. Which current PSU wide receiver has a father that coaches the safeties for PSU?

Answer Choices

	Deon Butler (9%)
	Terrell Golden (17%)
	Derrick Williams (13%)
>	Jordan Norwood (61%)

 

9. Who scored the touchdown on a fake field goal to ice the Snow Game against Michigan in 1995?

Answer Choices

	Curtis Enis (22%)
	Joe Nastasi (52%)
	Wally Richardson (13%)
>	Freddie Scott (14%)

 

10. Who did Penn State play when the attendance record was broken for Beaver Stadium?

Answer Choices

	Ohio State (20%)
>	Nebraska (73%)
	Michigan (5%)
	USC (2%)

 

State College/Penn State University Trivia

 

1.  This now-defunct restaurant used to boast “burritos as big as your head!”

(La Bamba)

 

2.  What was the original name of the place where students donate plasma as often as 4/month? (Sera-Tec)

 

3. True or False: There are no sorority houses in State College because the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania still has laws against brothels which forbid more than 6 unrelated females living together.   (False)

 

4. Which actor on Star Trek: The Next Generation was a Penn State graduate?

a) LeVar Burton—Lt. Commander Giordi Laforge

b) Patrick Stewart—Captain Jean-Luc Picard

c) Jonathan Frakes—Commander William Riker–correct

d) Michael Dorn—Lt. Worf (the Klingon dude)

 

5. In the 1960s, these four buildings on the University Park campus had something in common: Hammond Building, East Halls, Chambers Building, and Old Main. Which of the following characteristics did they all share?

a. fallout shelters in case of nuclear attack
b. radio relay stations for police or national guard in case of campus unrest
c. use of stone that had been part of previous campus structures
d. only major academic buildings NOT equipped with vending machines

ANSWER:
a. fallout shelters in case of nuclear attack. They were fully stocked with food, water, and emergency supplies.

6. The father of which of the following well known actresses is a Penn State graduate?

a. Kirstie Alley
b. Lauren Graham
c. Molly Ringwald
d. Jennifer Aniston

ANSWER: 
d. Jennifer Aniston, whose father, actor John Aniston, graduated from Penn State in 1955 and is perhaps best known for his role as Victor Kiriakis on the daytime TV series Days of our Lives.

 

7. Which politically connected individuals graduated from Penn State University?

a) Valerie Plame Wilson ‘85 — U.S. CIA Officer; identified and outed by syndicated columnist Robert Novak in 2003, which caused the political controversy “Spygate”

b) Thomas Ridge ’72g — Former governor of Pennsylvania and first director of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush

c) Hugh Rodham and Hugh Rodham ’35, ’72 — Father and brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton respectively

d) Rick Santorum ’80, ’86g — Former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, now a Fox News contributor

Answer: All of the above!  

 

8. This former PSU men’s basketball player is also an outspoken Christian

a) Titus Ivory

b) Pete Lisicky

c) Joe Crispin–correct

d) John Amaechi

 

9. Name the park/playground that JoePa’s house backs up to.

(Sunset Park)

 

10. True or False: Beaver Stadium is the largest stadium in the United States?

TRUE! Beaver Stadium has a capacity of 107,282, making it the largest stadium in the United States at least until 2010, when the renovation of Michigan Stadium is planned to be complete. (It was announced on March 11, 2008 that Michigan Stadium, previously the largest, will have a capacity roughly 1,300 less than in 2007 as a result of an accessibility-related lawsuit)

 

ACF in the ‘90s Trivia

 

1. The original name of the Guys house on Beaver Avenue was:

a) 622 Manly Zoo

b) 622 Motley Crue

c) 622 Male Revue–correct

d) “Your Mom’s”

 

2. This ACF elder punched a hole in a wall at a retreat center during a Penn State loss to Northwestern?   (Alex Leighton)

 

3. At a Christmas Banquet, Pete inadvertently referred to a poinsettia plant as what transitory part of the human reproductive system?   (Placenta–we now realize he was very sleep-deprived at the time due to the birth of their firstborn)

 

4. What does the acronym “AWS” stand for?

(If you don’t know I’m not telling you).

 

5. Which sermon analogy did Pete get teased the most for?

The Chicken’s Sister

(also accepting the Cantaloupe)

 

6. Some guys used to call the A-House this alternative nickname:

a) The Mansion

b) The Brothel

c) The A-Hole–(correct)

d) The Dump

 

7.  Quite a few ACFers went out of duty to the concert for this Christian recording artist at Bryce Jordan Center because it was free and they were afraid no one would show up; the arena ended up being packed.  (Carman)

 

8. Name 3 bands that came in for outreach concerts at Penn State

(Third Day, Sixpence, The Choir, Black-Eyed Sceva, and many more)

 

9. Name the Retreat speaker who came to both speak on and lead in worship, and ended up inducing a worship conga line?

(Mike Cannon)

 

10. True or False: ACF is the best campus fellowship group at Penn State

(True)

 

 

 

Check out the Changes!

I’ve been at work improving this website for YOU!

Check out the new sections!

I’ve created a section for some articles I’ve been working on related to campus ministry. I’ve also been submitting these over at campusministry.com.

 I’ve created a section for those of you who are supporting (or thinking about supporting me in my ministry). You can download a .doc that gives you some info about what I’ll be doing, as well as view a couple videos from a dessert. I’ll be posting ministry updates here as well. 

Finally, I’ve created a family section, where I’ll upload family news, pictures, and videos like the one already posted.  

Eliot Spitzer Makes “Bill Cowher face” during press conference

Look at these two.I’m just saying. Plus, Cowher’s been known to be quite a spitzer, I mean spitter, over the years (ba dum cha).

Making Men with “Pilgrim’s Progress”

Last week I bought “The Dangerous Journey,” an illustrated and adapted version of the classic “Pilgrim’s Progress,” for Samuel.

 

It’s pretty intense & scary at several points: the battle with Apollyon, the Giant Despair, people dying, lots of skulls and bones and sword fights.

 

Some would argue it’s not a good book for 4 year old boys.

 

I would say it’s just what a boy needs to grow into a MAN of God.  It’s like Wild at Heart, except it’s biblical. (oooooh!)

 

Samuel, of course, loves it. We’ve already gone through it 3 times (125 pg. book!) He’s grasping so much biblical truth and asking great questions. 

 

It’s also been a great encouragement to me as I read it to him, and a reminder of the power of the 2nd most published book in human history, not to mention the power of story to communicate truth to children and adults alike.  

The Apple Effect

I was just looking at the covers of 3 books I’ve recently read or am reading. Notice the similarities? I’m no design expert–that would be my brother Ben–but it seems that the Apple effect is having a profound impact on Christian book cover design, at least. Clean, simple, stylish.  And that’s a good thing.BTW–all books worth reading! Can you think of any others?  

The latest swing in the worship wars

As a worship leader and campus pastor, I’ve followed the so-called “worship wars” with some interest over the years. You could read one of the latest salvos at my friend Anthony’s blog. These conversations get heated because they not only involve our personal preferences, but have huge implications for how we “do church;” how we pursue our God-given mission and how we express it in corporate worship. These conversations usually lack adequate historical context, and devolve into name-calling or silly absolutizing of personal preferences. So while recognizing that I have my own preferences, let me try and give a quick and over-generalized take on the current worship scene. If you accept the thesis that history is made by people acting & then reacting–that we’re always somewhere on a pendulum swing–my take is that we’re at the end of one pendulum swing, and need to start heading the other way. (BTW, things aren’t great at the extremes). Up until the mid-90s, most of the worship songs (non-hymns) being sung in churches were ’70s Jesus People stuff (very simple bible choruses) and ’80s Graham Kendrick type stuff (Shine Jesus Shine, Lord I Lift Your Name on High). These were more catchy than hymns but were not as personal or emotive as what followed: Hillsongs (Shout to the Lord), then the UK (Matt Redman, delirious, Tim Hughes) and Passion (Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, David Crowder) stuff. (IMO Vineyard was no longer a pacesetter at this point, but following the trends above).As someone who started leading worship in the mid-90s, it’s hard to express how refreshing those first few albums from the UK and Passion were. Much of what came before was more removed, much more in the 3rd person. Singing ABOUT God. What came later was more intimate, more the 2nd person, singing TO God. Those songs were a needed reaction against some REALLY stale stuff. They injected warmth and life into worship again. But over the past decade, the pendulum has swung too far that way, so that in some circles it’s hard to AVOID “prom songs to Jesus” as Mark Driscoll says. By the way, this trend has happened before in church worship: have you ever heard or sung “In the Garden”? These pendulum swings tend to repeat themselves.  One fallout from this trend is that guys–many of whom already have a hard time with singing in church–are even more alienated by singing songs to Jesus whose lyrics they would never say to another man. This is a problem. I’ve talked with more than a few young men who would be happy if church or campus ministry didn’t include musical worship at all for the next year. The Church has gathered that “the market” wants emotionally cathartic, therapeutic songs and worship experiences.  Hmm, is this why we gather and do music? The “service” in “worship service” is meant to be our service to God–not self-service.I don’t think this vindicates the traditionalists who chortle that their hymns-with-organ-only approach has once again been proven right.  They have their own issues, and like it or not, they’re merely catering to their own market segment. I don’t think the answer is as easy as blending everything to achieve a mythical balance. I don’t think the answer is as easy as taking old hymns and putting them to new (folk, rock, or folk-rock) tunes.   The questions ought to be: 1) what is biblical? and 2) what is missional?   A biblical take will correct the tendency to sing about Jesus as your boyfriend. Like the psalms, we shouldn’t sing about intimacy all the time–though it should be in there sometimes.  We’ll sing much more about God and to God, and less about ourselves. We’ll sing much more about what He’s done, and much less about what we’ve done or how we feel about it. God is a missionary God, so thoroughly biblical reflection will lead us to missional considerations. We’ll consider what musical forms will be conducive to expressing eternal, biblical truth in forms that unchurched people will be able to enter into.  For example, I have a couple friends who are planting a church among urban African-Americans, and they are deep into the hip-hop scene. They’re reaching a hip-hop generation through…hip-hop. What a concept! Solid, biblical truth in hip-hop form.  Deep reflection on biblical & missional issues should deliver us from the stale worship that many of us experience week after week. It should lead to urgency and vitality in our worship ministries. We won’t just settle for songs we did 20 years, 10 years, 5 years, or 1 year ago, for the sake of tradition. We’ll always be on the lookout for new songs and very likely writing our own. We won’t unthinkingly import songs from elsewhere (be that 18th century England, Australia, or Nashville). And we will very likely do songs that we ourselves aren’t that into, for the sake of the mission. Personally, much of the UK & Passion style worship doesn’t “do it” for me like it used to, but that’s not the point. Perhaps the next pendulum swing will. I don’t know. I can’t say where the next pendulum swing will take us, but I know it’s needed. Let’s hope it’s both biblically and missionally informed.Your thoughts?