President's Blog

New Year Resolution: Continuing In Christ

2012-01-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

In giving some thought to resolutions for this new year, I contemplated resolutions of heath (diet, exercise, etc.), of intellectual pursuit (more reading, less mind numbing TV, more discussion with friends of current events, etc.) and of spiritual benefit. I've concluded that his last one, pursuing spiritual vitality, is the key to the others because at our very core, our true essence is our soul. So my #1 resolution for 2012 is to continue in Christ. If you are also so resolved, here are some encouraging words from The Word . . .

John 14:23 – Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

John 15:4 – Remain in me and I will remain in you . . .

John 15:5 – I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:10 – If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my fathers commands and remain in his love.

Acts 2:42 – They continually devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:47 – And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

2 Corinthians 5:21 – God made him (Christ) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Galatians 5:25 – Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Philippians 1: 6 - . . . he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:10 - We pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: `1) bearing fruit in every good work

2) Growing in the knowledge of God

3) being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and . . .

4)joyfully giving thanks.

Colossians 2:6&7 – So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

2 Thessalonians 1:3&4 – We ought always to thank God for you, brothers (and sisters) and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

2 Timothy 1:6 . . .fan into flame the gift of God Which is in you . . .

1 John 1:7 – If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 2:28 . . . continue in him . . .

1 John 3:24 – Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them . . .

1 John 5:2&3 – This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands.

2 John v.6&9 – And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands . . .walk in love. . .Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

Revelation 22:11 . . . and let him who is holy continue to be holy.

Psalm 86:11 – Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Psalm 15 1&2 - Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from heart . . .

Psalm 17:15 – And I – in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

May every blessing in 2012 be yours continuing in Jesus Christ!

Miracles & Grace Throughout 2011

2011-12-22T11:22:00.000-08:00

2011 - A most remarkable year. Here's a brief exercise that will encourage your heart and soul regarding Trinity Western University. If you go the the TWU home page (google TWU.CA) and click on LATEST NEWS, you will quickly come to "2011 NEWS". Scroll through all the news of the university over the entire year, the news that was featured on the TWU home page and quite often featured in the media throughout the year. Just taking in the scope of activities, celebrations, achievements, and events is breathtaking: from a CIS National Championship in Men's Volleyball, and the BC Premier's visit to campus to the recent estate gift of $4 million, the $5.2 million extension of TWU's science facilities, and the TWU Men's basketball tour in China. What a great year has been ours. In the aggregate, the stories are a testimony to God's presence and grace. As you look over the long list of wonderful stories, please know that there were so many stories of miracles and God's grace that were not reported on throughout 2011.

The sum total of all the stories creates a mosaic of a university whose essence is Jesus Christ, whose mission is to develop Godly Christian leaders in Jesus' name, and whose "ends" are that the world may experience Christ's Truth, compassion, reconciliation and hope. All of this is a reality based on the grace of God by the Holy Spirit in and through a wonderful university community as a gift to the world. At this special time of Christmas, we embrace the directive from Jesus to his disciples when he said "Let your light shine in such a way that others see your good works (read the great stories) AND glorify the Father (Matthew 5:16). So the glory goes to God!

Taking the time to review the list of stories and reflect on God's goodness throughout 2011 now makes Christmas even merrier!

Merry Christmas and Every Blessing in 2012 in Jesus' name!

The U: Magnificent in Mission, Glorious in Achievements

2011-12-16T18:08:00.000-08:00

In a few weeks I will celebrate thirty-seven years of engagement in the service of higher education. In January 1974, as a doctoral student, I was tossed into a developmental psychology course as the instructor. Thence began my journey from the University of Kentucky through brief stints at the University of Maryland (European Division; one year) and Arizona State University (four years), eleven years with the University of Hawaii (tenure and promotion to full professor) and then administration in three Christian liberal arts colleges (16 years: Wenham, Mass.; Greenville, Illinois; Winnipeg, Canada) until my most recent five and one half years at Trinity Western University. That's a total of teaching, research and administration in eight institutions since doctoral study days in the early seventies. I've come to know first hand that universities and colleges are among the most remarkable innovations in human history. Reflections of the flawed humanity of universities aside, universities and colleges are magnificent in mission and glorious in achievements.

Recently a loose slip of paper dropped out of a book that I rediscovered on a book shelf at home. The notes on the paper express some thoughts about universities worth sharing. The text is in my handwriting, but I have no recollection of authorship, whether it is my pensive pondering of the essence of the university or the captured thoughts of another. If the latter, I apologize for the absence of a citation and credit due. Here's what I wrote long enough ago to not remember the source . . .

The university is always in the process of becoming. At any moment it is both the product of the past and the seed of the future.

A university thrives when there is an ongoing dialogue about the most important questions and less a power struggle about who is to be allowed to speak based on who alone has "privileged knowledge."

A university suffers when there is a deficit of unity. (There is sometimes not much "uni" in the university.)

A university is at its best when it models reconciled diversity while manifesting itself as unity which preserves diversity and diversity which strives for unity.

A Christian university does not stand over against the world, but rather is sent into the world and exists for the sake of the world.

It strikes me that the word university above could be swapped-out for the word "church". A university, even a faith based one, is not a church. Nevertheless, in the very back of my mind, lost down in some cranial crevice, is the thought that the five statements above about the nature of universities may actually be paraphrases of the writings of David Bosch, the deceased missiologist from South Africa. A return to my office on Monday and a perusal of my Bosch writings off the shelves of my bookcases at work may occasion an updated citation. In the meantime, I marvel at all the universities and colleges in which I've had the privilege and joy of service. Each one is remarkable in its essence, mission, and achievements to the betterment of society and hopefully in attribution to the glory of God! They are magnificent in mission and glorious in achievement!

Same old, same old ambivalent embrace?

2011-12-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

In the Canadian context, public universities comprise approximately 99% of higher education. Independent universities (private, not-for-profit) are an anomaly making-up less than 1% of higher education institutions; a 99-1 ratio. Christian universities and colleges in Canada make up most of the tiny 1% of private, independent institutions. In the USA it's different. The public state universities and community colleges (UCLA, U Texas, Ohio State) and private universities and colleges (Harvard, Stanford, Baylor, Notre Dame) comprise a 3-2 ratio (60% public, 40% private). This makes cross-border comparisons of higher education systems difficult if not impossible. For example, usually of the top twenty-five US universities annually ranked in the US News & World Report magazine, twenty-two are private. The three public universities are ranked in the twenties leaving nearly all of the very best ranked universities in the private, independent column. The US system of higher education is a mix of public and private institutions with a range of options across the board. A university is a university is a university, public or private. Not so in Canada.

In Canada, private (not-for-profit) universities are rare and receive an ambivalent embrace within the culture. It is curious that two nations evidence such an enormous difference in the role of private, independent institutions in each respective nation. Why is that? Why do private, independent universities in Canada struggle with basic access issues to higher education programs and support systems available only to public institutions when all parents of students pay the same taxes? Should Canada's future include a more intentional embrace of private, independent universities? What does such an embrace look like? Provincial governments have the responsibility and authority for the framework of higher education in each province. What adjustments must provincial governments make to add value to society through the resources that private, independent universities represent? In what ways might private, independent universities further bring added value and consumer choice to the citizens and residents of each province? These are not unimportant questions. As the cost of higher education rises and government funding for universities declines, provinces must wrestle with the questions raised above. Canada can no longer afford to give private, independent universities the same old, same old ambivalent embrace.

Between Thanksgivings and Christmas

2011-11-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

Canadian and American Thanksgivings for 2011 are past. We find ourselves between Thanksgivings and Christmas. Glory in the highest. We live between thanks and praise. It is for many a time of the year to let our thanks for what has been done to spill over into praise for the doer. We are especially mindful of others by whom, in their goodness and kindness, we are the beneficiaries: friends, family members, work supervisors, faithful employees, honest public servants, those who serve in the military, health care professionals, pastors, librarians, and many others. When we reflect on their acts on our behalf, it is easy for thanks to spill over into praise. Praise spoken becomes a much deserved expression of affirmation. Too often the grace and goodness shown to us by others can go unrecognized and unacknowledged. This season between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a time to generously express our thanks and praise.

The Bible has something to say about thanks and praise. In Psalm 100, verse 4, we read "Come unto his gates with thanksgiving. Enter his gates with praise." I truly love this brief passage. This is one of the several Psalms of ascent, songs sung by pilgrims ascending up to Jerusalem to worship. Wherever you are, you go up (ascend) to Jerusalem and up to the Temple mount. This is a picture of upward movement into intimacy with God. The Temple has several gates and courts leading eventually to the most intimate place of all, the Holy of Holies. Thanks moves us through the various gates into ever increasing proximity to and intimacy with God. Thanks to God for what he has done moves us through each gate into the next court. Thanks spills over into praise to God for who he is, a God who does great things: blesses, sustains, strengthens, gives good things to his children, and so on. Elsewhere in the Bible it says "God inhabits the praises of his people." We thank him increasingly for what he has done, is doing, and will by faith continue to do in the days ahead. Our thanks spill over into praise to God when our reflection on God's acts on our behalf reveals his character of perfect (holy) love for us. In response to God's grace, we praise Him. God responds and honours our praise by drawing even closer. Remember God also says "Draw near to me and I will draw near to you."

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we find ourselves between thanks and praise. We see the deep, intimate possibilities we may pursue in relation to our personal intimacy with God. It is our abiding privilege, our remarkable opportunity to be rooted in God's past faithfulness and yet reaching with thanks and praise for even more of his grace in the days ahead! With thankful hearts, we praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Where Smaller Is Better . . . A Greater Blessing!

2011-11-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

When I was seventeen, I had my heart set on going to a large eastern university. My father saw differently. My two older brothers had left home a few years earlier to study at a large university, though not the same one that I had picked out. Millions of students do well in large university settings. My brothers' experiences, however, were far from positive. They were just numbers in a large system. Their professors did not connect with them on a personal level. Their social lives were not enriched, and their spiritual development was completely disconnected from the university experience. After one semester, they transferred to separate, smaller Christian liberal arts colleges where they thrived. One went to Malone College and the other to Asbury College (both now small universities). Both brothers are physicians today, having built strong, positive lives on the foundation of their subsequent undergraduate experiences. From observing my older brothers' experiences, both within separate Christian higher education contexts, my father quickly developed settled views about what kind of environment was optimal for my future. In his mind, a smaller Christian setting was a "best buy." I enrolled in Asbury. While I was tremendously unhappy about his choice, it turned out that he was right. The small Christian liberal arts college was a healthier, more caring, more engaging context for my holistic development through my undergraduate years. Besides, I found the love of my life there and married her. This alone had lasting social-spiritual impact. My two younger brothers followed suit and the five of us were the beneficiaries of a higher higher education where smaller was better, more personal, more engaging, and a greater blessing!

Transcendence, Ascendence, Presence

2011-10-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Is it truly possible for a university to develop graduates of competence and character who are real servant leaders, transformed to impact the world in Jesus' name and for his sake? Can a university aspire to such a lofty vision and be the kind of dynamic, educational community so devoted to such an end? And if so, what would be the essence of graduates from such a university? In Called to a Higher Purpose* (p. 74 & 75), I suggest three distinctives:

1) Transcendence - rising above and going beyond the ordinary in the case of seeking unprecedented, unparalleled shalom for the world. (Here shalom is defined broadly as human flourishing);

2) Ascendance - gaining and moving ever upward in intimacy with God, and in justice, mercy, and solidarity with others; and . . .

3) Presence - personally recognizing and meeting the real needs of the poorest of the poor and loving those in need, even when some may be unlovable and seemingly undeserving.

With discipline consecration, the aspirations of such a university may be realized in its alumni whose transcendence, ascendance, and presence in the world ("the marketplaces of life") truly have a lasting impact on the world to the glory of God. May it be so!

*Called to a Higher Purpose is available in the Trinity Western University bookstore.

A University of Reconciliation In Word and Deed

2011-10-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross not only paid the price for the sin of the world but also bridged the divide between God and man caused by sin. What was a broken relationship was bridged. What was separation and death became reconciliation, reunion, and life. What was made possible between God and man is possible between mankind with each other. The Christian university teaches the importance of reconciliation and is the catalyst for the transformation and impact that can be found when and where there is truth and reconciliation.

The university teaches reconciliation when it sponsors and conducts programs of interfaith dialogue, when it brings students and faculties together from a great diversity of nations and ethnic groups, and when it sponsors common ground for persons of differing political views and convictions. The university teaches reconciliation when its faculty and staff model ways and means by which disagreement and disparate views may be moved to productive resolution and consensus on the essentials. The university teaches reconciliation when it brings together in worship and practice people from a diversity of faith communities and denominations, including Baptists, Mennonites, Pentecostals, Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Salvation Army, and Alliance.

The intentional teaching of reconciliation in word and deed is a university's privilege and calling as an institution of higher higher education. It is one of the chief ends of a Christian university and one of the characteristics that make it distinctive and remarkable in its mission fulfillment. In a day of interpersonal conflict, disparagement, discrimination, and prejudice, and in a time of increasing tensions and polarization politically and in world views, a university is first and foremost a people gathered with common purpose and shared commitments. A university can be a place where people strive to achieve together laudable ends through higher education. Among those most laudable ends is the promotion of the value and skill set of reconciliation fulfilling the hope of peace and harmony, especially in Jesus' name and in his likeness.

An excerpt from Called to a Higher Purpose by Jonathan Raymond - available in the Trinity Western University book store.

A time for thanks and praise!

2011-09-29T10:33:00.001-07:00

There are times in life more than others when it truly seems like all's right with the world. This is one of them as I travel from Langley, BC to Lexington, Kentucky with my dear wife and good looking son to attend my daughter's wedding. We travel with a strong sense of God's providence and grace knowing that he answers prayer. For years we have prayed for the future spouses of our children. This wedding is an answer to those prayers for our daughter and her soon to be husband. We believe in responding to God's grace given to us in the past, and in the present, but also for his grace yet to be received in the future. In an age when God's grace too often goes unrecognized and unacknowledged, we give God our thanks and praise. Psalm 100:4 - "Come unto his gates with thanksgiving and enter his courts with praise!"

Compassion in and through the University

2011-09-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

The first chapter of the Gospel of John says that God is love and love is embodied in Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth. John says that God had so much love and compassion for the world that He took on to Him, through his revelation in Christ, the punishment for the sins of the world for all peoples at all times. That compassion continues to be at work in the world. Just as the work of Christ continued in and through the Apostles and early followers of Christ by the Holy Spirit to the world, His compassionate, salvific work of love continues today. The Christian university is part of the continuing compassion of Jesus Christ in and to the world. It is expressed especially through God's love for the poor, the vulnerable, the dispossessed, and the marginalized. By showing the impact of compassion, the Christian university teaches both discovered and revealed truth.

The Christian university teaches compassion when its students go off campus to rake leaves and wash windows for senior members of the community, when teams fan out across North America during spring break to partner with Habitat For Humanity to build houses for the poor, when student teams travel internationally to work with women and children caught-up in the slavery of human trafficking, addiction, and poverty, when nursing students travel to Zambia to work for free in a Salvation Army hospital caring for HIV/AIDS patients and their children, and when business students and their fathers travel to Thailand to promote micro-economic development, lending their own money to start new micro-businesses. In the teaching, there are exposures and encounters that are transformational, because engagements in acts of love and compassion in the name of Jesus Christ transforms and creates a lasting impact on the character of all involved.

(Excerpt from Called to a Higher Purpose, pages 21 & 22 available in the TWU bookstore)

In honour of John Stott, a life to emulate.

2011-07-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

Possibly the most admired and influential voice of a compassionate evangelicalism in the 20th century into the present day was that of Rev. John Stott. John Stott passed on into eternity this past week at age 90 having written fifty books and influenced the thinking of of evangelical Christendom more than any other of his generation. Time magazine named him one of the globe's most influential people. He taught and preached a Gospel of compassion and encouraged all people to live lives after the likeness of Jesus. Stott's writings like The Cross of Christ and Life In Christ are wonderful guides to Christian life as more than mere religious advice, rules, regulations, rituals and traditions. His writings bring clarity to the grand idea that Christian faith is grounded in a Gospel of Good News for all humanity. His thoughtful reflections underscore the reality that faith and intellectual pursuit are not incompatible, but rather mutually in the service of each other. Throughout his life he especially championed the cause of those in need of justice, dignity, relief from oppression, poverty, and exploitation, and those deserving opportunity.

Personally, the writings of John Stott have been an enormous blessing and none more so than his brilliant commentary on the book of Acts. Herein, he states that Luke's writing of Acts is the sequel to the Gospel of Luke and actually is not so much the "Acts of the Apostles", but more accurately as expressed in the subtitle of his commentary, it is "the continuing work of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit through the church to the world." I love his characterization of the book of Acts. It resonates with my view of the church universal and of Christian higher education. We are called to a privileged participation in a grand divine initiative that began with the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension of Christ, and continued through the book of Acts to the present day. Therefore, when the essence of Christian university education remains Jesus Christ the ministry and mission of the university is "the continuing work of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit through the university to the world." This is dynamically lived out through every encounter of students with faculty, staff, and with each other. As importantly, this is lived out through the thousands of graduates as transformed alumni who continue daily to live their lives "in Christ" in ways that are pleasing to God and in ways that glorify God.

Often over the past 37 years, as I have been blessed by an immersion in the work of higher education, I have encouraged faculty to write so that the wisdom and insight that God gives them may be found in the written word by succeeding generations. Thereby their scholarship and writings are less perishable to the benefit of posterity. Their writings are gifts that will far outlast their life times. This is the case with the marvelous writings of John Stott. As his life was a blessing to many, so will his writings for generations to come. He led a humble, yet glorious life to the glory of God. His was a life to emulate.

Acute Suffering and Human Agency: God's Means of Grace

2011-07-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

Summer 2011 temperatures in Vancouver, Langley, and the Fraser Valley of British Columbia are cooler than normal with an abundance of rain. BC is well watered and green. We are blessed. We stand in stark contrast to the rest of Canada and the United States where summer temperatures are sky high and breaking records. Across the United states from Texas to the Dakotas and up into the Canadian prairies, from Colorado to New England and Alberta to Nova Scotia, the hottest summer in sixty years occasions a horrible drought devastating live stock, wild life, crops, and forests across the continent. It is a summer in need of prayer on top of a spring of floods, tornadoes, fires, and for Japan earthquakes and a tsunami. There is much to pray about and much to move our hearts and helping hands in concern and compassion across North America and around the world.

Not to minimize the importance of the suffering of many in North America, I wish to focus on two parts of the world where suffering is particularly acute, not in the lime light of the world's media attention, and therefore "out of sight and out of mind:" Kenya and North Korea. . .

In north eastern Kenya, also experiencing drought, the town of Dadaab hosts a refugee camp built to accommodate 80,000 refugees. According to Amnesty International, 1,300+ refugees are pouring into Kenya daily in flight from Somalia's civil conflict and the worse drought in over 60 years. The United Nations High Commission on Refugees is pleading with Kenya to open an extension of the Dadaab camp with the likelihood of increasing the camps population five fold to 400,000 making Dadaab the largest refugee camp in the world growing by 15,000 each week. The associated problems are enormous. What can be done for Somalia's starving millions who are beyond the help of international agencies. At the Dabaab refugee camp, how do you feed 400,000 refugees and attend to the medical conditions of starvation, especially for grossly malnourished, starving children? How do you triage and transition 400,000 refugees into lives beyond temporary custodial care? How do you raise the awareness and intervention to the rest of the world to provide answers to a region, the Horn of Africa, where more than 10 million people are being affected by the drought? The Canadian government has pledged $50 million of aid through aid groups responding to the crisis.

In North Korea, famine once again threatens the lives more than 6 million people. In stark desperation, millions of North Koreans are desperately hungry living on the edge of life eating grass and weeds, the sole ingredients of watery soup. The most vulnerable and most likely to perish are the children and the elderly. The United Nations World Food Program, according to the Vancouver Sun (July 23, 2011), "says North Korea faces its worst food shortage in a decade . . . " and yet "the world has been slow to react . . ." What can be done in the face of realities that shut out the world from humanitarian intervention? How does one penetrate the seemly impenetrable for the sake of suffering millions?

Within the framework of a Christian world view, we know that Christ identifies with the suffering of others, especially of innocents. He calls us to action in prayer and human agency. Through our prayers, God understands that we are focused and attentive to the needs of others. He knows whose hearts and lives are open and ready to act in response to suffering humanity. We can daily pray personally for the dear, suffering peoples of Somalia, Kenya and North Korea. We can organize expatriate immigrants from Horn of Africa nations and Korea, north and south, to pray.

We believe God moves our hearts to act in ways we can. For many it is to provide the ways and means to intervene financially. For fewer with skills and expertise, it is to be available and to go when and if called to serve directly when the opportunities arise. It is to rise above complacency and to act personally and collectively on their behalf. God's response to human suffering is often to engage human agency as a means of grace on behalf of others. In Matthew 25: 35 & 36, we read Christ's words: "I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was in prison (refugee camp?) and you came to Me. . . in as much as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to Me." Human agency! You are God's means of grace!

I write specifically to the 22,000 TWU alumni now living and working in more than 80 countries around the world. Rise-up! Pray for the 10 million starving people in Horn of Africa, for 400,000 refugees in Dabaab refugee camp, for the 6 million starving people in North Korea, for the international aid agencies working to serve the enormous needs that confront millions of others. For those who are specifically called to go and serve directly, go! Serve, in Jesus' name! Embrace for yourselves personally the one word motto of the world-wide Salvation Army: OTHERS! Know that when you pray, and go, and serve, you are not alone! Christ also said (Matthew 28:20) "I am with you always . . ."

THE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY: A PEOPLE & A PLACE

2011-06-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

The Christian university can work to develop itself as a people and a place. It can thrive as a social-spiritual ecology of holiness by pursuing a "tabernacling" of the presence of Christ in everyone and every place. Every classroom, every seminar room, the dinning commons, each office, and each residence lounge, the soccer pitch, basketball and volleyball court, and the locker rooms can become places where the permeating presence of Christ is an appreciated reality. Every interaction, every gathering, every lecture and conversation, every e-mail, every use of the internet can be filled with the acknowledged and appreciated presence of Christ.

If the essence of the university is truly Jesus Christ, if He then, through human agency, is allowed to not only be Rabbi (teacher), but also Lord, as the Apostle John tells us, then the mission of the Christian university stands a chance of succeeding. What the university strives to do in the lives of others will succeed. Its identity and mission will be empowered and Kingdom ends will be achieved. The university will live out its destiny as a people of faith seeking understanding, a people of hope for a world that is so often in despair, and a people of love who, in Jesus' name, participate with Christ in the transforming love of Christ for the world and who, in the end, are part of the redemption, reconciliation, and restoration that God intended since the beginning of time.

Excerpted from Called to a Higher Purpose, by J.Raymond, 2009 (available in the Trinity Western University bookstore.)

The Ever-increasing Glory of Graduation

2011-05-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Across North America, for the past few weeks and weeks to come, it is graduation time. Students become graduates and hence ambassadors for their alma mater. They benefit by the reputation of the school, college, university and by their competence and character add (or detract) from the glory of the institution. Each student becomes a living testimony to the value of the institution and its ability to turn-out graduates of worth. Their life going forward becomes an advertisement or letter of recommendation for their college or university. This reality has been with us since the founding of Harvard College in 1636.

Reading my Bible this week in a devotional moment, I encountered once again the words of the Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 3:2-6 & 18). As I read it more than once, I thought of graduating students and their alma mater and specifically about Trinity Western University. Paul writes (the words in parentheses are mine):

You yourselves (graduates) are our (TWU's) letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You (graduates) show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our (TWU's) ministry, written not with ink (as in your degree/diploma), but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone (or parchment), but on tablets of human hearts. . . Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves (as TWU), but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant - not of the letter but of the Spirit.

To the extent that this is true in a TWU graduate's life, it brings glory to the university. It means that our desire that university education be more than a transaction, that it be focused on "whole person development" and transformation, intellectually, socially, and spiritually, and therefore glorious! The Apostle Paul's letter to the Corinthians speaks to this transformation, one that brings glory beyond the realm of the university. He writes:

And we, who with unveiled faces ( a reference to Moses on Mt. Sinai) all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Coming down from Mt. Sinai, Moses' face reflected God's glory having been in God's presence on the mountain. He had to cover his face with a veil, but it was a fading glory. Paul says that we are being transformed into the likeness of Christ with ever-increasing glory., one that need not fade. What a difference. What a transformation. What a reality that brings hope for a future of impact on the world and glory to God. The potential here goes far beyond glory to one's alma mater. Yet it is the greatest testimony to one's university possible. It is a witness that the university is a means of grace in students' lives and that through the education the university provides, God is able to get his hands on the clay of their lives and shape students into his likeness if they let him. Glory to God! This is special. This is different. The university exists for education, transformation, and impact on the world. Changed lives become world changers to the glory of the university, but more importantly to the glory of God!

BEYOND DOING . . . BEING!

2011-05-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

It's mid-May. Following three graduation ceremonies, the spring meeting of the Board of Governors, receptions, pinning ceremonies, and a host of other celebratory events, we turn the corner into the summer schedule with summer sessions, assessments of the past year and planning for the next. It is a time of reflection. What did we achieve in light of the purpose for the university's existence? In the end, in addition to the articles and books written by the faculty, the papers written by the students, the academic study groups that traveled all over the world, the mission groups sent to sobering settings, the athletic teams that won and lost to others, what was accomplished? Hopefully, students were transformed by their education and now have a positive impact on the world that otherwise would not be possible. We live by faith that this is so, as do all universities.

All universities seek to produce graduates of competence. Regardless of their field of studies and degree of expertise, the great hope is that students will graduate with competence in their chosen field and with good prospects in the job market, in entry into graduate, law, medical school. We pray that in general they will have success in launching their career and life going forward. Hopefully, what they will be doing they will be doing well, and will have opportunities to do what they do best. I would contend, however, that a university that prepares students for doing is itself not doing enough. University education for competence is good, but there is something much more that can and should be done. Doing good and doing well is only half an achievement. The complete package of well educated graduate entails excellence in both doing and being. A university can do more for students to see that they excel in competence and character. All universities strive to produce graduates of competence. Very few press on to a high goal developing students in both character and competence, in doing well and being good in the fullness of the word, good, with character, integrity, moral fortitude.

The question for students when they choose to invest four years and tens of thousands of dollars in a university is "What will I receive for my investment?" The question is not only "What will I be able to do when I graduate?", but "What kind of person will I be going forward?" What kind of friend, spouse, neighbor, colleague, employer, employee, team member, public servant, professional, father or mother, mentor to others will I be and how will this university help me to become a person of integrity and character? Some will say that such an expectation is beyond the role and mandate of a university, that it is expecting too much of a university, that it is unrealistic. I unequivocally disagree. Educating for the fullness of competence and character should be and can be the goal of every university, but only certain universities can achieve what I would call a higher form of higher education: "Higher higher education." To educate beyond competence requires an orientation toward virtue, highest principles, and transcendent aspirations for every student.

It is that time in the university calendar to reflect on the past year and to plan for the next. I am reflecting/planning with the question in mind: What do we do well and what can we do better to provide a complete value proposition for our students going forward, one that promises they will receive an education that prepares them not only with competence, but also promotes character formation, not only to do great things in the days and years ahead, but to thrive as human beings, being all they can abundantly be!

The words of Jesus: " I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly." John 10:10; ". . . do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God", Micah 6:8

Beyond Elections? Hope for Human Flourishing!

2011-04-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

Elections, elections! What to do about them? Canada is well into another federal election, its fourth in seven years. It is an election that most Canadians don't want, and many may skip altogether. US President Barack Obama, with diminished popular support, announced this past week his run for a second term at a time when he faces challenges quite different from his first campaign for the president's office in 2008 including the determined agenda of a rascally Tea Party. Peru, with the fastest growing economy in Latin America (7% growth last year), is about to hold its next presidential election with a close field of candidates and a lead candidate , Ollanta Humala, who cozies up to and admires Venezuela's far left president, Hugo Chavez. Then there is the despot Robert Mugabe, in power for the past 31 years, 87 years old and in poor health, who is looking to run at least one more time soon while he has the health to campaign. His mother lived to be 100. Finally, there is the Arab Spring of 2011 with the enormous hope of hundreds of millions of people for democracy, especially among young Arabs, Muslims and Christians, in the Middle East: Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and the Ivory Coast.

Elections and the great hope for the blessing of elections are on peoples' hearts and minds as a path to democracy and freedom. Beyond elections is the hope for human flourishing! Democracy is more than elections. In true democracies, elections are free and fair. Unlike the long, sad history of Mugabe's reign of terror in Zimbabwe for 31 years, opposition parties are not violently suppressed. People do not permanently disappear. Opposition candidates are not imprisoned. Beyond free and fair elections, democracies are characterized by freedom of the press, a freely, well informed populace, an independent judiciary, and the rule of law. Without the whole package, democracy fails and falls into corruption and tyranny grounded in the rule of despots' whim. Freedoms of speech, of religion and worship, to gather and protest, of movement within one's country, and so many more are not possible. Democracy is a mockery. We see a mockery of democracy in Zimbabwe's Mugabe, Libya's Gadhafi, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Yemen's Saleh, so many more. Elections are greatly rigged by way of significant oppression and none of the other elements (free press, independent judiciary, rule of law, etc.) exist.

Hundreds of millions of people suffer under the will of a minuscule, yet powerful elite. The great hope is that the deplorable political conditions in so many countries are changing. So many countries struggling under the tyranny of ruthless despots have very young populations who are wired into the wider world through the internet: e-mail, twitter, face book, and other social network media. In cyber-cafes and by cell phones, there is an awakening to the possibility of a better way to live as a people. In particular, the Arab Spring represents that awakening. It is, as they say, a game changer. But it is not clear if the game will shift toward authentic democracy or a deeper, more aggressive tyranny and oppression as witnessed subsequently to the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979. What hundreds of millions of people today yearn for is authentic democracy and peace. They desire respect for all people's rights to life, freedom, health and wholeness. When there is democracy and peace within a nation, and mutual trust and respect among nations, there is the possibility of human flourishing. We pray for these ends and for those living under oppression today whose hope is based in the increasing awareness that we have that for which they yearn. We pray, but we must also work for and commit ourselves to the ways in means by which others may be blessed by democracy and peace. Our work starts here at home making sure our democracy is strong, that we elect public servants who have servants hearts not only for our interests, but also for the interests of others throughout the world: for Palestinians and Israelis, North Koreans and South Koreans, Chinese and Taiwanese, South Sudanese and North Sudanese, Ethiopians and Eritreans, Egyptians, Libyans, Iranians, and so on.

Democracy is not a perfect system by a long shot, but it has proven to be the best system. When guarded and supported, and when it fully flourishes in all its characteristics, it offers the best hope for the full flourishing of humanity. It has the potential to be foundational to the hope we find in Jesus Christ who said - "I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly."

What to do about Japan? "Some things we can carry!"

2011-03-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

What are we to do about Japan, personally? In the pedestrian traffic of Trinity Western University today, just outside the bookstore, students of Japanese heritage and/or citizenship are gathered at a table making origami items (birds, etc.) and bookmarks to give away to other students, faculty, staff, campus visitors, etc., whomever gives to the Canadian Red Cross to help with earthquake/tsunami relief. The distruction of so much of Japan is beyond comprehension. The global media night after night works to make the disaster as comprehensible as possible with the help of stories of individuals in mourning, stories of rescue, and stories of heroism. Without a doubt, Japan has a long road ahead of restoration of whole communities and the nation. What are we to do when moved by the magnitude of the disaster?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's words come to mind. Facing the atrocities of Hitler's regime in the early 1940's and the disastrous consequences of Nazi immorality and raw evil, and speaking of what had already transpired, Bonhoeffer said - "Some things we can not change, but we can carry." That's the case with the plight of Japan today. To paraphrase Bonhoeffer, some things we can not change. The earthquake and tsunami has transpired. They are like the arrow shot from the bow. The reality cannot be pulled back and undone. We can not change the reality, we can only help to carry it.

On an individual level, you can help carry the burden now faced by the Japanese people. Some will actually volunteer traveling to Japan to give time and effort over the short and long haul of relief and restoration. Most of us will not, but we can do what we can by supporting the Canadian Red Cross and The Salvation Army (see their websites to donate), and others whose missions and savvy can help carry the burden. I encourage you to be generous to Japanese relief while at the same time not forgetting Haiti. Pray for the people of both countries. God loves them and calls us to be human agency in his name to reach out and respond. We can not change the burden of history for the Japanese people. We can nevertheless help them carry the great task of relief and restoration.

Relational Intelligence: A Special Wisdom

2011-03-17T08:27:00.001-07:00

One of the booming topics in our culture today is relational intelligence. Magazine articles and books now abound on the topic. In short, there is more to intelligence than IQ. The intellectually brightest can be a disaster relationally. Who among us has not had social blind spots and a major embarrassing social faux pas. For me, its especially when I struggle to relate to with others in another language, but it is more than that. Social psychologists say "behavior engulfs our perceptual field." Translation: what we are highly engaged in tends to put blinders on what we see. We miss the non-verbal cues and affective responses of those with whom we are working and living, because we are so focused on the task at hand. We may be brilliant in solving the problem, but totally ignorant of the diminished quality relationships that are so important to sustained progress and success.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians (3:11-17) has some wisdom to share about relational intelligence:

"In this new life (with Christ), it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

"Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father."

Relational intelligence has much to do with love which comes from Christ. Such love "binds us together." Paul is saying - in love, give yourself permission for "the peace that comes from Christ" to rule. Remember Christ's words (read them in the four Gospels; start with John 15) and "let" them "live in your hearts and make you wise." Relational intelligence!

Paul starts chapter three of his letter with these words - "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven . . . Let heaven fill your thoughts." Heaven's focus is on us, on others, a focus of love. Paul elsewhere said - "The love of Christ compels us." Relational intelligence does not lose its focus on others. It honours the other remaining focused on and concerned about the other. We are not alone striving to do better on our own. The love of Christ in us is the source of our relational intelligence.

TWU Spartans: National Champions Once Again

2011-03-06T21:08:00.000-08:00

When a university wins a national championship, there is great room for many things: pride mixed with humility; the clarity of seeing a team's head and heart come together with discipline to achieve great results; competence and character intermingled; great coaching in the technical aspects of the game, but also in lessons of poise, patience, and integrity. I witnessed all these things tonight as I proudly witnessed the Trinity Western University men's volleyball team win the Canada Inter-university Sport (CIS) National Championship. I also witnessed the tremendous enthusiasm and support of TWU's students and alumni, parents and friends in cheering the TWU Spartans on throughout the season and tonight in the national tournament. William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army, said "It is the tendency of fire to go out." He was speaking spiritually, of course. But it is true in life in general. The TWU faithful did not let the fire go out tonight. They were fired-up like I've never seen. Such support makes a difference.

Somewhat miraculous is the fact that Trinity Western University is only 4,167 students (approximately 3,300 full time equivalent) in competition with universities 10 to 13 times the size and yet still manages to knock down national championships (five since 1999: 2 in men's volleyball and 3 in women's soccer). TWU Spartans are national champions once again. I truly believe it has a great deal to do with TWU's "complete champion" approach in which the development and transformation of the whole student athlete is a priority (intellectually, physically, socially, and spiritually). We strive with a passion to help student athletes be complete persons and completely successful in every way. We give the all we have to give and in prayer and care we give them to God to bless. I remember a speaker once saying "Whatever we give to Christ, he takes, he blesses, and he multiplies so that little becomes much when God is in it!" And I believe he gives it back so we will give it to others.

Tonight the TWU Spartans men's volleyball team gave the university a national championship. But the rest of the story is that they and our Spartan student athletes on other teams have been giving to others all year long. Their gift has come in the form of their witness on the courts and playing fields, in the hotels and restaurants, and on the road and in the air by their exemplary comportment and character. TWU Spartan student athletes do the university proud not only in their tremendous athletic achievements, but even more importantly in the character of their witness. May they always live out the directive of Jesus Christ who said in Matthew 5:16 - "Shine in such a way that others see your good works and glorify the Father who is in heaven."

Congratulations TWU Spartans! Thanks for giving us a great year! Every blessing in Christ!

Now be sure to follow the TWU Spartan men's basketball team next Thursday through Saturday for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championship tournament in Halifax, Nova Scotia this coming week! Go Spartans!

In A Glorious Yet Frightening World . . . The Next Generation

2011-02-27T10:38:00.000-08:00

At the top of my home computer screen are the following home pages just a click away: the BBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, Macleans, National (US) Public Radio, CNN, and Fox News. Together they give me a broad overview of what's happening in the world. I scan all of them in the morning and evening trying to stay in touch with the panoply of world events. It is sometimes like drinking from the proverbial fire hose. What's the reality accrued? We live in a glorious and yet frightening world.

The byline of the lead article in this week's Economist reads - "As change sweeps the Middle East, the world has many reasons to fear. But it also has one great hope." International media covered the deposing of a tyrant in Tunisia followed by the public protest and forced departure of Egypt's long seated strongman, Hosni Mubarak. Now we await the prospect of the 40 year reign of Col. Omar Gaddafi in Libya coming to an end. We are witnessing sweeping change with more to come possibly in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. An uncertain future characterizes this most volatile part of the world.

Much of the change we are seeing is due to advances in technology, especially in communications. Technological innovations continue to shape the way the world lives, works, and advances materially, politically, and spiritually. Nevertheless, human nature remains unchanged reflected in both remarkable acts of altruism and compassion on the one hand, and ruthless acts of aggression, violence, and degradation on the other.

These are but two ways that the world continues to undergo seismic change. A world both battered or blessed by radical change calls for heroic leadership. Such leadership can not be merely grounded in universities that excel in preparing young people for their first job or an entry into the job market with a basic level of competence alone. The world cries-out for leaders of competence and character and the highest standards of character is the likeness of Jesus Christ. Now is the time for universities to come along side of the next generation of Christ-like leaders helping them to renew their minds, to embrace a Christ-centred world view, to be guided by a Christ-like heart, to seek truth wherever it may lead and wherever it may be found, to know compassion, reconciliation and hope, by faith seeking understanding. The task of a Christian university is to help develop such leadership and equip the next generation.

One day, Mozart's greatest symphony

2011-02-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

Today, February 11, 2011, is a milestone point in history not only for Egypt, but for the middle east and therefore for the world. The thirty year reign of Egypt's president,Hosni Mubarak, has come to an end with his resignation. Now Egypt faces a major fork in the road. Will the hope and aspirations of the Egyptian people be realized in a democracy like Turkey's, or will Egypt's future be hijacked like that of Iran when Iranians overthrew the Shah? The joyous celebration of the Egyptian people and people around the world is based on a great hope that Salaam, Shalom, Peace and justice will reign, and that Egypt will be a beacon of light, a bastion of democracy, and a haven of prospering community and quality of life.

In hope, we find the ever pregnant desire that there is something better in the days ahead, faith that there is more to life, and that something greater, more wonderful, and more beautiful can be realized, even in the darkest hour and most oppressive circumstances. In the Christian life, we are a people of faith, love, and hope.

As a father, I rejoiced in more than a spark of hope and a ray of light when my son said today “On this side of heaven, we’ve not yet heard Mozart’s greatest symphony.” That's hope and faith. We’ve only a thimble full of God’s creative grace. compared to what we will receive. Each day, life just begins. Things don’t stop with death. Our joys and passions just begin. They will not end, but have an ever greater fullness in heaven. The great task we never give up on is taking the next step in this life for the better, for that which is greater, more wonderful, more and more toward truth, compassion, reconciliation, and hope. This is what the Egyptian people have done in the past eighteen days. Their faith and hope in a better future is a blessing to the world. Pray that the opportunity that is ahead for them and the world is not high jacked, but becomes a reality. And personally look forward to hearing one day Mozart's greatest symphony.

Egypt and Ultimate ENDS

2011-02-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

"That the world may experience Christ's Truth, compassion, reconciliation, and hope." These are the key words in the ENDS policy of the Trinity Western University Board of Governors. In the end, when all is said and done, this is the intention of the women and men who oversee the life, mission, and work of the university. These are the ends we pray that all graduates of TWU will bring to life in the world in their life times. These are what I call ultimate ends. They are accompanied and preceded by instrumental ends. People are the instrumental ends. What happens in people's lives, how they relate to one another, the kinds of families, communities and nations they strive to develop in the end have ultimate consequences for humanity's quality of life as characterized by truth, compassion, reconciliation and hope.

This is what the campaigns by the people of Tunisia and Egypt are all about. The people want the President out and a new government with a new constitution in. The mass rallies in Cairo and throughout Egypt are the means to New leadership and a new framework of democracy. A new government, constitution, and true democracy are instrumental ends. The people yearn for ultimate ends that all persons yearn for, the reign of truth, the reality of a compassionate society that blesses all peoples, the means by which division and hurt can be reconciled, and a future that realistically offers hope for an ever increasing better life.

Canada and the United States are right to support both the instrumental ends and ultimate ends for Egypt and for all the world. Stability in the middle east is not an ultimate end. It is desirable, but only if it is instrumental in serving ultimate ends for all humanity. Pray for the wisdom and discernment of our leaders to keep the ultimate ends in mind as they navigate the diplomatic waters of this significant global issue. As Christ followers, pray for the people of Egypt, Tunisia, Jordon, other middle eastern nations, and the newest nation in the making, South Sudan, that they may be blessed by Christ's Truth, compassion, reconciliation, and hope.

Friendships of Character: Moral Enterprise

2011-02-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

Friendship is like water. We can be immersed in it and yet we don't think much about it. We take it for granted. We forget the blessings that come to us because it is there and available to us. We forget its potential for both giving and receiving. Count your blessings and notice how many of them are tied to friendships.

Just this weekend I encountered an article by Daniel Costelo in The Asbury Journal (Spring 2009, Vol. 64., N0.1) that portrayed friendship as a "moral category." In it Costelo suggests three levels of friendship: (to both closely paraphrase and quote Costelo) 1) Friendships of Utility - the good sought is the usefulness of the other person in a given situation for a certain purpose; 2) Friendships of Pleasure - when the fancy of another creates longing and interest; and 3) Friendships of Character - based on the good, they last. They are more enduring than the first two types, because what binds the friends together endures, namely the character or moral goodness of each participant involved. Costelo goes on to say - "These people's friendships last as long as they are good; and virtue is enduring." Costelo quotes Paul Waddel - "By spending time together with people who are good, by sharing and delighting with them in our mutual love for the good, we are more fully impressed with the good ourselves . . . Friendship is not just a relationship. It is a moral enterprise." (Friendship and the Moral Life, Notre Dame, 1989).

This resonates with me. I think of what it is that has given me a strong quality of life down through the years. Hands down, it is friendships within my immediate and extended family; friendships within a circle of friends who are as close as immediate family; friendships in the work place that extend well beyond the work; friendships literally around the world that are so easy and comfortable to pick back up in spite of long periods of inactivity, like the wonderful reunion I had with my college roommate this past year after not seeing each other for more than thirty five years. I am reminded once again of how God uses the social/spiritual ecology of friendships to shape us into his image, of how he uses human agency as a means of grace to form us into the moral beings, how he shapes the clay of our lives after his likeness which he intends us to be and to become.

In my personal opinion, Costelo and Waddel are right. Beyond friendships of utility and pleasure, friendships of character are moral enterprises. God is at work in and through us as we seek to establish and maintain meaningful, lasting, loving friendship with the Lord Our God and with each other. What a privilege. What a blessing!

The Way of a Christian Leader . . .

2011-01-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

Henry Nouwen wrote - "The way of a Christian Leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending in the cross. It is not a leadership of power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest. If Christ is truly living in us, then we can in turn live for others in our work. . . Godly leadership is a call to a lifestyle of an ever-decreasing thirst for authority, power and influence, where the quest for reputation is replaced by the power of God's anoiting."

Wayne Pederson, President of HCJB Global, puts it this way - "True Christian leadership is an ongoing, disciplined practice of becoming a person of no reputation." William Booth, founder of the worldwide Salvation Army over 100 years ago captured it in one word - OTHERS! Christian leaders live in fidelity to the Great Commandment to love the Lord completely and others not leaving out themselves.

So, was Henry Nouwen, Wayne Pederson, and William Booth right? Any thoughts?

LOFTY IDEALS AND LAUDABLE LIVING

2011-01-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

This past week the world media highlighted the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and much was said of his famous words "Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for your country." Kennedy captured more than the mere spirit of civil service. He expressed a much bigger ideal well beyond the parameters of civil service: service to country and ultimately to others. Kennedy's presidency excelled in communicating lofty, laudable ideals reflecting the best of America.

The media last week focused not only on Kennedy, but also on someone very close to Kennedy who outlived him by forty-six years. Fifty years following the historical moment of Kennedy's speech, a member of the Kennedy extended family passed away. The media carried the news of the death of Sargent Shriver, John Kennedy's brother-in-law married to Eunice Kennedy,the presidents sister. Shriver was the first director of Kennedy's Peace Corps, Job Corps, Vista, Head Start, Upward Bound, architect of President Johnson's War on Poverty, U.S. Ambassador to France, and later in life a recipient of the highest honor a U.S. citizen can receive, the President's Medal of Freedom. It was noted more than once in the media that while President Kennedy espoused high values and virtues, Sargent Shriver actually lived them all his life. That accolade is worthy of reflection.

Sargent Shriver will also be remembered for his faith. He was a devout Catholic and attended mass daily. He lived-out his faith vertically to his Lord and horizontally to his neighbor. The Gospel of John has something to say about that in the poignant description of Jesus (John 1:14): "The Word became flesh, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." It was in the image of Christ that Sargent Shriver, in the flesh and the fulness of his humanity, lived out the noble words of Kennedy concerning service and sacrifice. The principles and ideals spoken by Kennedy became the life long practice of Shriver. This is grace lived out in human agency. The world embraces, or at least gives lip service to those ideals. The world media reflected on the virtues lived out by Shriver with a sense of hope for the future. Such hope yearns for the essence of principles to become reality (flesh, action, alive), to take form once again in real life persons like Sargent Shriver, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Nelson Mandella.

Sargent Shriver walked the talk, was a person who lived out his faith and his most cherished principles. He deserves more attention, because his life is exemplary. In my book, he is a true American hero, a world citizen, and someone whose life is to be studied, discussed, and emulated. In the likeness of Christ, his principles became embodied and lived out, and the world is better for his fidelity to his faith, his life's achievements, and the spirit of his service for others.

Acts of Mercy by Human Agency = Shalom!

2011-01-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

In times that are particularly tough, we find in Scripture great reminders, comfort, and encouragement. The 23rd Psalm comes to mind. Recently I was working through Psalm 146 reflecting on particular verses: Verse 5 - "Blessed is he . . . whose hope is in the Lord; V7-9 - He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow. . ." It occurred to me that indeed God is faithful, but that fidelity is so very often worked out through human agency. We become the means. His grace is occasioned by the faithfulness of persons like you and me. The high privilege we have is to be called into action by God on others' behalf and through our response to human need he answers our prayer: "Thy will be done!"

While reading this Psalm, it occurred to me that the essence of the"shalom" (peace) of God is human flourishing, something I was reminded again recently from the writing of Nicholas Woltersdorff (Educating for Shalom, 2004). God chooses to use human agency (people in partnership with him) to bring grace and human flourishing to the prisoner, to the blind, to persons who are oppressed, to the widow and the fatherless, to the alien (immigrant). Where there is no flourishing, there is injustice and God depends on human agency (us) to intervene with compassion and justice. The psalm includes the affirmation that "the Lord loves the righteous," those who respond to the grace God pours into their lives and who pass that grace on to others.

These are tough times for so many people. In our communities there are not only the fatherless, widow, blind, and those in prison, but there are the oppressed, those who are so in this oppressive economy, the unemployed, the underemployed, and the alien (immigrant). The opportunities for the righteous to act are abundant, even more so when times are tough. If you are wondering at this particular stage in life what is "God's will" for you, I am confident that it is to go forward with acts of mercy, compassion, and justice bringing peace (shalom) into the lives of others. In the words of my friends in The Salvation Army, by our human agency we can "love the unloved" and "meet their needs at the point of need." Finally, in embracing Christ's command to "love one's neighbor as oneself" it is the sure cure for depression and narcissism, two maladies so prevalent in our culture. Love yourself too. Do yourself a good deed. Break open the Bible. Get into the Psalms. It's bread for the journey! SHALOM!

The Velvet Covered Brick - Hesed!

2011-01-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

More than thirty years ago a terrific book came into my hands the title of which was The Velvet Covered Brick by Howard Butt (1974). The central idea was that Christian leadership should be like a velvet covered brick, strong with a loving touch, "as wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove." Is there one word that can convey strength and gentleness at the same time? I belive there is. The Hebrew word hesed is such a word. I am told by my friends, who know the language far better than I do, that hesed means a redeeming, embracing love that sees brokenness and initiates a response, that reaches out and saves. We encounter the word hesed in the Old Testament book of Hosea (3:1-5) where God instructs Hosea to find a woman who is a harlot and to love her anyway. Hosea does so. Her name is Gomer. She is an adulterer and he buys her and so redeems her. Despite her subsequent unfaithfulness and multiple recidivism into sin, Hosea continues to show Gomer loving kindness. The Scripture makes it very clear that Hosea and Gomer's story is the story of God and Israel. It is also our story. Hesed, God's redeeming love, in the face of our recidivism of sin and unfaithfulness, embraces us, reaches out to us, and welcomes us back. This is the amazing grace to which the song witnesses.

This is the love of the father in the parable of Jesus of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). The text says "But while he (the son) was still a long way off (almost home), his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." Hesed! Amazing love from the father, initiated in response to the son's return. The father's love was always there for the son to rediscover and so it is with us to seek God's presence, receive his love, and respond in loving the Lord with all we've got and our neighbor as our self.

Read 1 John chapter 4 this week. God is the source of love and has a purpose: 1) he personifies love and desires that we reflect his love to the world; 2) he loves us and desires that we love him in return. We do that by our obedience to his directives; 3) God the father gave his Son for us at Calvary and he desires that we give our selves for others; 4) Christ laid down his life for us and directs us to lay down our lives for others. Hesed!

Auld Lang Syne - remembrance and hope!

2011-01-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

An opinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal (January 1, 2011) occasions a quiz: What's the most popular, best sung song every year seconds after midnight New Years eve, at least in the English speaking West? If you said "Auld Lang Syne" the chances are good that you are right. Untold millions break out into kisses and song with those old lyrics. What does it mean anyway? Penned in 1788 by Robert Burns, poet laureate of Scotland, it is written in Scottish dialect. The title literally means "old long since." It is a song of reflection as it poses a question and then answers it:

"Should old acquaintances be forgot and never brought to mind?" In other words, should we forget old friends, beloved family, even the mere casual acquaintances over the years of our life and along the path of our journey? Heaven forbid. There is much virtue in remembrance. Those memories are precious, valuable, and help form the essence of who we are today. They render spiritual value by their examples of loving kindness and grace. Instead, we will toast them and never forget them. We will raise a cup of kindness in their memory. We are better persons for passing that cup of kindness on to others going forward with all the promise that our kindness and grace shared will have an impact on others and form new, precious memories in the future.

Therein too lies that essence of the Gospel as Good News, in the remembrance and promise. Should our acquaintance with God's grace and favor in the past, along the journey, be forgotten? What virtue is there in remembrance of his amazing grace? We reflect and remember that in his essence as holy love seen in Christ Jesus, we remember God is faithful and by our faith in his faithfulness we know that the future holds great promise. We enter the new year a people of hope in possession already of a Divine Yes! The Apostle Paul says to us what he said to the Ephesian faith community: "Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more that we ask or imagine . . . Glory!" (Eph. 3:20&21). Blessings abundant in this new year be yours as you meet new acquaintances, renew old friendships, and remember God's grace and faithfulness!

JSR

The Joy of Gizmo

2010-12-30T20:59:00.000-08:00

Gizmo is the name of our little dog, a cross between a cavalier King Charles spaniel and a Pekingese. He weighs only 12 lbs. and is now 12 years old. With our daughter and son long out of the nest, Gizmo is family and for many years has effortlessly filled the void left by our children's departures off to college years ago. Among his many virtues, the most amazing may be that he has never failed to give us a tremendous welcome every time we come home. It is a hero's welcome, a long-lost lover's welcome, a loved one-come-back-from-the-dead welcome. He never fails to demonstrate an enormous joy upon our arrival back home. What a blessing is ours in his simple, effusive response of excitement and delight by our presence.

Gizmo reminds me of the unreserved, irrepressible joy of the father in Christ's parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31). Of course, the father in the parable is metaphor for our heavenly Father whose joy is occasioned by our response to his grace in our prayer, reading the Word, and in engagement in acts of mercy in his name. How incredible is life with Gizmo who without knowing it helps us remember the love of God and the joy he has when we come into his presence and open ourselves up to his welcome once again.

JSR

Looking back and facing forward . . .

2010-12-29T18:15:00.000-08:00

It's over and it begins. It is time for the annual changing of the guard. Once again it is time to take down the 2010 and put up the 2011 calendars. January is upon us once again. The month of January is named after the ancient Roman god, Janus, the god with two faces, one facing back and the other facing forward. In the act of taking down the old calendar we look back on 2010 with a degree of sober reflection and look forward with hope.

2010 has been a challenging year for the world from the earthquake in Haiti to the aberrant, hostile behaviour of North Korea and the crazy weather around the world which creates snow deluges, mud slides, flooding, and accompanying sequella. Nevertheless, through it all, we remain alive, blessed, and in remembrance. We appreciate God's grace and faithfulness. In looking forward into the future, we know that God's faithfulness is constant and while 2011 will bring its challenges, it also brings promise and occasions hope.

The New Year is a time of remembrance and promise. We celebrate the past, its moments of grace and blessing with an anticipation of grace and blessing still to come. We remember that in the good times and the bad, God is present and his love sustains us. The affections that characterize our lives in Christ continue into the new year: "a living faith, an expectant hope, and a humble love of God and one's neighbor" (see Henry Knight, The Presence of God in the Christian Life, p. 96).

For me personally, looking back and then forward occasions resolve (resolutions): 1) to pay more attention to God being more aware of his presence and deepening my understanding of his identity in Christ; 2) to intentionally nurture my faith and counter dissipation of faith by spending more time in communion/communication with God in prayer and reading of Scripture; 3) to more intentionally engage in acts of kindness and mercy with an increased sensitivity to the needs of others and a deepened capacity to love others in practical ways. In short, I hope to be more faithful to Christ's Great Commandment to love the Lord with all I've got and my neighbor, broadly speaking, as myself. How is this possible? By faith I know that God in Christ by the Holy Spirit both enables and invites us to do so, and to do so in response to his faithfulness and grace is pleasing to God.

My prayer for you for 2011 is that you will not merely have a Happy New Year. I hope your year will be a blessed one filled with meaning and purpose, because of your resolve to respond to the grace you continue to receive. May your life throughout 2011 be filled with joy and pleasing to God.

JSR

Christmas: Christ in us, hope!

2010-12-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas! What comes to mind this year, or rather what keeps coming to mind? At this time of year, the Biblical idea that keeps coming to mind for me is Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us! Back in the day (his life on earth) that meant literally God present in human form, the Incarnation. Today our orthodoxy speaks to Emmanuel, God with us, as a reality we understand as the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit. He is not only with us, but for people of faith he is in us. That is an incredible blessing, an ultimate proximity, his infilling presence.

This past Sunday, the fourth advent Sunday, we were blessed by the Bakerview Church's choir and a string quartet rendering Handel's Messiah. It was a celestial rendition. On either side of the choir hung four Christmas banners, one each for each advent Sunday, proclaiming Love, Peace, Joy, and Hope. It is the Hope banner that also stayed with me. It is the other theme that keeps coming to mind this Christmas: God with us and hope. So what's with Emmanuel, Christ with us, and Hope. Here's the integrative message in the juxtaposynthesis of the two: The Presence of Christ in us gives us the wonderful gift of Hope. It is a both/and kind of hope, both a hope in the now and a hope in the then of eternity. With a living faith there is an expectant hope grounded in the continual awareness that Christ is alive in us and we live now in his presence. The gift of the Christ child in the manger back then is a gift that keeps on giving today. Remembering the Father's gift of his Son, the Son's gift of his life on the cross, and of himself as the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we remember that God is faithful and keeps his promises. This evokes hope in the future and in the Kingdom, a Kingdom of grace here and now and the coming Kingdom of glory yet to come, both the same Kingdom of God.

While the culture seems constantly to be pulling away from rich, deeply meaningful reflections on Christmas toward an increasingly superficial celebration of the holidays, I feel blessed by the continual reminders this year of "Emmanuel" and "Hope." I believe God keeps laying these on my consciousness. This then begs the questions: "What keeps popping-up in your mind these special days and what might God be saying to you this season?" Think about it. Perhaps slow down, reflect, take a deep breath, and be aware. Be assured. God is not silent. Listen and be blessed once again! Merry Christmas!

JSR

Christmas Blessings: More to needy, less for oneself!

2010-11-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

Joy to the world! If you want to experience something deeper than mere happiness and in its place embrace real joy, then here's a principle to live by: Give more to those in need and spend less on oneself. Retail stores are hoping for a significant upturn in retail sales this Christmas. It is likely to happen, but not at the level hoped for. People are saving more and moderating the rate at which they are spending, at least those who have a job and some measure of income. Many still suffer from the global economic down turn and joblessness remains an oppressive reality for millions of families this Christmas time. The needy are truly hurting. It is easy to look not very far to see it. One does not have to think very long to call to mind someone who is not employed, who is underemployed, whose home has been repossessed, whose payment of educational loans is a struggle, or who is forced to choose between feeding the family or paying the heating bill. The economy will grow stronger. Jobs will come back. A better day is out there in the future, but the progress will be painfully slow for many. It's a good time to be ones brother's keeper, to embrace the one word motto of The Salvation Army around the world: Others! It is a good time to be a Christmas blessing and live the principle that brings true joy: Give more to those in need and spend less on oneself! That's the Spirit of Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel!

In the early fall of life . . .

2010-11-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

It's November in BC. The latter part of October and the first week or so of November are glorious in this very beautiful part of the world. All summer long, BC is lush with green everywhere. In the Fall of the year, the deciduous green turns to beautiful yellows, orange, and brilliant reds, especially the maples. This is the scene until the wind and rain hits hard, and the leaves come fluttering down by the millions. Then the streets, sidewalks, and yards throughout the neighborhood call out for a major clean-up. The sun comes out and neighbors greet neighbors as the rakes and the large paper leaf bags come out in the effort to gather up every leaf. If there are elderly in the neighborhood or people who are handicapped, the best of human nature shines as people help one another in the great exercise of raking leaves. Children in the neighborhood love to jump into the middle of a good size pile of leaves or to pack them into an orange plastic sack to create a facsimile of a giant pumpkin.

It is terrific to be right here, right now as the trees drop their leaves and nature responds to the annual cooling of this part of the world. It is a reminder that there are season's of the year and seasons of life, and that life's journey is about transitions. In the northern and southern parts of the hemispheres we are blessed with this reminder of changing seasons. We lived in Hawaii for over a decade, where the change of seasons was hardly noticeable. We barely noticed winter when the temperature in Hawaii only varied by ten or so degrees. I missed the seasons then. Now I am enjoying the whole package: autumn leaves, a fire in the fireplace, a hot drink after coming in from the cool of the day having raked more leaves.

At the honourable age of sixty-one, I have lots of energy and a passion for living, but the leaves of Fall do remind me that my capacities and possibly my faculties may gradually drop like the leaves of the tree in my front yard, leaf by leaf. On the other hand, I am reminded that with the falling leaves, one sees better in the fall. Things hidden before become visible. I do take heart and hope in one tree down the block, an oak tree, that for some reason does not drop all its leaves until Spring. In a time when more and more people are living into their 90s in relatively good health, there is hope. Nevertheless, a wholesome position to stake out in the early fall of life is to live every day as if it is the last and to live life to the glory of God just in case the rain and the wind pick up and hit hard and there are no more leaves left to fall.

Leaks happen and never fix themselves!

2010-11-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

As I write, I am in the middle of a small crisis. My wife and I returned home this afternoon to a large puddle on the kitchen floor. The small pipe leading up to the faucet on the kitchen sink was leaking fast. It gets worse. The main shut-off valve in the crawl space does not shut off. It is Saturday. So the plumber on his way will charge an extra high weekend rate to intervene and fix the problems of the leak and the dysfunctional main shut-off valve. Alas! I write as I wait for the plumber to arrive. This small crisis of a leak occasions reflection on some truths about leaks and in general problems in life:

Life (difficult things) happen: Problems like leaks are part of life. They should be preventable, but may not be.
Imperceptible: They often begin very small, often imperceptible at first.
No self-repair: They rarely fix themselves.
Worse with time: Problems tend to grow. They gather momentum and impact.
Can't be ignored: The longer they go unaddressed the more damage and cost is incurred.
They hurt to fix: There is always a cost, pain, and sacrifice to the solution.
After the solution is engaged, there remains collateral challenges and damages to address.

The plumber has not yet arrived, but I am anticipating a large bill and the need to clean-up the mess in the crawl space (puddles of water that could cause mold, mildew, and rot).

This side of heaven, leaks, problems, disasters, and pain are part of life. We try to anticipate the struggles and setbacks and believe in practicing "an ounce of prevention", but nevertheless . . . Alas! Things happen! However, the leaks and other problems occasion reflection and lessons along the way. And from time to time a good story with which others may identify.

There's the doorbell. The plumber has arrived.

God In The Details

2010-11-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

You have likely heard the expression "The devil is in the details." It's a quick way of saying that big ideas usually have a great deal of work behind them if they are to take shape and become a reality. In another way, it is fair to say that God is in the details. Some people believe God is an ethereal, super-distant, higher power, so distant as to be irrelevant to our daily lives. On the contrary, its my experience that He cares about the details of our lives. Jesus himself said (Matthew 10:30), "Even the hairs of your head are numbered."

Yesterday, my son turned 28 years old. I spent the day on the phone twice with him and reminiscing over his life throughout the day. I remembered when he was five years old. We were living in Kailua, Hawaii and I was a professor at the University of Hawaii. One morning I was late for work and an important meeting, because I could not find my car keys. I had looked absolutely everywhere at least four times. Finally, I sat down on the sofa in the living room and said to God, "Lord, I don't know where my keys are this morning, but you do! And I am going to just sit here and thank you for telling where they are!" Instantly, one word and one picture came to mind. . . Aaron's toy box. I emptied every toy out of the toy box and there they were. Praise God! My little guy had tossed the keys into toy box and they had made their way down to the bottom.

God answers prayer. Sometimes he does so immediately. I believe he particularly enjoys hearing our thanks and praise, and enjoys reminding us that he is interested in the details of our lives. It is my experience over and over again that in fact God is in the details. There is no need nor request too small that we cannot share with him in prayer with thanks giving and praise for what in faith believe he can do.

CONFESSION IS GOOD . . .

2010-09-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

Remember the old saying, “Confession is good for the soul!” I hope so. I have a confession to make facilitated by feedback from my life-long partner and friend, my wife, Irene. Looking for some entertainment and an opportunity to spend some time with my son over the long weekend, we watched two movies. One cost us $22 for two tickets at the theatre and the other about $5 from Block Buster. Both were an enormous waste of good money. That’s not the worst part. Both left me feeling dirtied.

In the first big mistake, I was looking for a good action movie hopefully with some humour. I thought George Clooney’s billing in The American might do just that. Was I ever wrong! I dragged my son to see what turned out to be a depressing trip through a pathetic portrayal of decadent, existential malaise with scenes that I wish were not now recorded in my memory. I confess an enormous waste of time, money, and brain cells. The second mistake was renting an action-comedy staring Bruce Willis. Wrong again! The language alone would make blush an ordinary seaman in the merchant marine. The plot was simplistic, and the narrative lacked any redemptive value. I am not a prude, but I confess two really poor choices that left me diminished in my sense of self. I am not proud of paying good money to support a truly decadent industry.

Here’s the most disturbing part. In both cases, children were being exposed to this trash. Children were in the theatre for the one, and at Block Busters the second film was rented by a mother who likely was looking for a funny film for the two small children who helped her pick out the DVD. Reflecting on this whole thing, I personally lament my decisions and the fact that I feel personally diminished and dirtied. More troubling, I am concerned that these exposures have become normative for younger and younger children whose moral and spiritual development is at stake.

I woke-up this morning to two things, one – my dear wife asking is there is a disconnect between what I believe and espouse on the one hand and how I spend my leisure time on the other. I can tell you she was not favorably impressed by my choices in movies and did me a favour in expressing her opinion. She’s right! Two – I am reminded by memory of the Apostle Paul’s encouragement: Philippians 4:8 – “ . . . whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

I confess I made two really poor choices over the weekend. I feel dirtied. What can I do about it? I find myself embracing the grace of God who blesses our good decisions, and if we ask will redeem us from our poor ones.

O Blessed Saviour, is thy love
So great, so full, so free?
Behold we give our thoughts, our hearts,
Our lives, our all, to thee.

Make us like thee in meekness, love,
And every beauteous grace,
From glory unto glory changed
Till we behold thy face.
- Joseph Stennett (1663-1713)

WALKING THE WALK

2010-09-05T08:46:00.000-07:00

How often do you hear the old comment "Life is a journey"? It is a long walk meant to be taken with others. Across Canada, the USA and the world, at least in the northern hemisphere, millions of college and university students begin this week a new phase of their journey. They begin their university years of study. They begin to walk with a whole new community made up of other students, professors, and university staff. Those with whom they walk will have a tremendous impact on them for the remaining years of their lives. With whom they walk and how they walk will make all the difference in their future success and how they define success.

God's Word has much to say about walking the walk. From the first book in the Bible to the last, scripture speaks to us about the importance of walking. We were made to walk with God, to walk in righteousness and holiness. Here are but a few references to walking I discovered recently while reading devotional messages from the pen of Adrian Helleman:

Genesis 3:8 - The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
Genesis 5:24 - Enock walked faithfully with God.
Genesis 6:9 - Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of this time, and he walked faithfully with God.
Genesis 17:1 - The Lord appeared to Abraham and said ". . . Walk before me faithfully and be blameless."
Genesis 24:40 - As Abraham journeyed to find a wife for his son Isaac, "The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will . . . make your journey a success."
Genesis 48:15-16 - "May the God before whom . . . Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully ... may he bless these boys."
Leviticus 26:12 - "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people."
Deuteronomy 5:33 - "Walk in obedience to all that the Lord . . . has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper."
Deuteronomy 30:16 - "I command you today to love the Lord you God, to walk in obedience to him . . ."
1 Kings 3:14 - God says to King Solomon,"If you walk in obedience to me and keep my . . . command . . . I will give you a long life."
2 Chronicles 6:16 - "If only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me."
Psalm 1:1 - "Blessed are those who do not walk in step with the wicked . . ."
Psalm 15:1-2 - "Who may dwell in your sanctuary? . . . Those whose walk is blameless, who do what is righteous . . ."
Psalm 119:1 - "Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord."
Isaiah 35:8 - "A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way."
Jeremiah 7:23 - "Walk in obedience to all I commanded you, that it may go well with you."
Micah 4:5 - "We will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever."
Micah 6:8 - "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
John 8:12 - The words of Jesus, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 12:35 - "Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you."
2 Corinthians 6:16 - The Apostle Paul references passages from Leviticus 26, Jeremiah 32, and Ezekial 37: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
1 John 1:7 - "If we walk in the light . . . we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus . . . purifies us from all sin."
Revelation 21:23-34 - "The glory of God gives the city light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light . . ."

Choose carefully with whom you walk. Walk with the Jesus and with those who walk with him. You may remember the story of the two disciples in the early post-resurrection days as they walked with Jesus to the little town of Emmaus, later they said (Luke 24:32) - "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us." With whom do you walk each day? Walk with Jesus. Let him open your heart and mind to the Scriptures. Let him speak to you, guide you, encourage and affirm you in your journey through this life. Then you will walk the walk in ways that bring a blessing to others and in ways that change their world and yours.

JSR

It all begins with prayer!

2010-08-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

Trinity Western University is an academic community of people who believe in the importance of prayer and live out core beliefs by praying for students, alumni/ae, and for each other. Prayer is a powerful means of bringing peace and promise upon others. Prayer has impact and brings God into the work we aspire to do in and for the lives of our students. Prayer acknowledges that it is God who is at work and calls us into the privileged roles of being the means by which he works grace and truth into their lives.

Our students come with giftedness and strengths, aspirations, promise and potential, great questions and great longings to know and be known, but also to be loved, accepted, included, and affirmed. So many students come to university with fears and anxieties, biases and baggage, false ideas about self and the world, immaturity and poor habits. So many come wounded and worried from broken families, ineffective and sometimes toxic churches, and from high schools which mirror corrupted contexts of society. Some students come with the adrenalin of new found freedom, yet without the self-control and wisdom to know how to handle it. They come with patterns of behavior that remain anchored in adolescence, a preoccupation with self, a debilitating lack of confidence, and insecurity masked by bravado. Some come with escalating idealism wherein the failures and faux pas of others are too easily labled as hipocracy.

Then, with other students who seem grounded and at peace about their purpose in being there, they enter this covenant community, this social, intellectual, spiritual ecology of higher learning where truth is understood as both discovered and revealed, where what is real and true is understood in the context of grace, and of love lived out not merely as a feeling, but as an action, a verb. They enter a community where they are loved and prayed for by others. They enter a community where faculty, other students, and staff come along side to help them navigate the difficult waters of university life, of "Life Together" in the words of Deitrick Bonhoeffer. They find themselves immersed in a fabric of faithfulness where education is grounded in the desire that every student undergo a transformation and every student grows to be a person of positive impact on the world, where every student is respected for whom they are becoming and shall one day be. They enter a community of faith, hope, and love, real and sometimes tough love, where they can know in full and be known in full. Their entry begins before they arrive. It begins with the anticipation of a community who has already begun to pray for them before they are met and welcomed. It all begins with prayer!

Then how much more? All the more!

2010-08-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

John Gowans writes the words to a beautiful song*:
If human hearts are often tender,
and human minds can pity show,
If human love is touched with splendor,
and human hands compassion show,
Then how much more shall God our Father
In love forgive, In love forgive.
Then how much more shall God our Father
Our wants supply, and none deny!

My thoughts ran to that song this morning while I was preparing my heart for Sunday worship and turned in my Bible to Romans 5:1-18 (NIV). The Apostle Paul uses the phrase "How much more" four times between verses 9 and 17. This is a tremendous passage. Read it when you can. It speaks of God's marvelous gift of salvation and God's demonstration of love for us in the death and life of his son and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Verse 17 says ". . .if by the trespass of one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

The answer to the implied question of "How much more?" is not "so much more". The answer and affirmation is found in Verse 20 - "All the more!" Paul writes "The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Who does not long for abundant life, forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with others, God's mercy and grace? The tremendous message in Gowans' song and Paul's letter to the community gathered in Rome nearly 2,000 years ago is Good News - God our Father's love has no limits, it is not a little bit more, or just so much more than we imagined. It is all the more and more than sufficient grace for every day. Gowans' song goes on:
If sometimes men can live for others,
And sometimes give where gifts are spurned,
If sometimes treat their foes as brothers,
And love where love is not returned,

If men will often share their gladness,
If men respond when children cry,
If men can feel each others sadness,
Each other's tears attempt to dry,

Then the refrain -
Then how much more shall God our Father
In love forgive, In love forgive.
Then how much more shall God our Father
Our wants supply, and none deny.

Gowans uses the single gender of "men" which speaks to his generation, but I believe the meaning of the song suggests on the one hand that he is speaking generically of men and women. On the other hand, men especially may be touched deeply by his words - "If men respond when children cry" for example. Then how much more . . .!

I am touched by the reality that our God is an "All the more" God. We see that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We participate in it all the more by the gift of his Holy Spirit in our lives today. We rejoice in the high privilege and blessing of God's grace that makes us "all the more" humans becoming "all the more" like our Lord each day. Here's the kicker. God does not love me less for who I am. He loves me and you all the more!

*From The Salvation Army Song Book, 350.

Parents never stop . . .

2010-07-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Parents never stop! Several years ago my work took me close to where my dear mother was living. This was special for the both of us, because for years I had lived thousands of miles away from her, not intentionally of course, but just because life took my wife and me to Germany, Arizona, and then to Hawaii where we started a family. From time to time, my work would occasion an opportunity to visit with Mom and with each visit a reaffirmation that she is always my mom and forever will be so. Her love for me is an everlasting love. On this one occasion, with my mother well into her years of retirement, I remember arriving at her back door and walking with my suitcase into the kitchen. Immediately after a warm declaration of joy, she immediately kicked into gear as a mom and did something she has so often done. She said, "Sit! You must be hungry. What can I fix you to eat!" Before I could blink three times, a sandwich was there before me with a glass of milk and an apple cored and cut into slices. Amazing! The guest room was all prepared with clean linens on the bed and fresh towels laid out in the guest bathroom. My dear Mom, with all six of the children she brought into this world has never stopped being Mom. For each one of us, we are her "kids" and her maternal instincts remain undiminished.

My children are now in their late twenties. They are now well into adulthood. They are very mature, wise, and capable adults. Nevertheless, I can't help myself. When I am with them, they remain my "kids". My wife and I refer to them often as such. We can't help ourselves. We love them so much and our paternal inclinations remain unabated. Alas! Parents never stop being parents! Actually, it is a wonderfully illuminated reality when it dawns upon one's consciousness. I am their father and I always will be. It is only matched by their awareness that I am their father and will always be, and will always love them with a father's love.

The Lord God our Father says "I have loved you with an everlasting love." (Jeremiah 31:3) What a wonderful moment in our lives when that reality hits home and we fully realize our Father God's love for us! He never stops being our Father! He never stops loving us with a pure and perfect love, a holy love! What a joy and blessing! Reflecting on my mother's love that day that she fixed me a sandwich and a sliced apple, I am reminded that love is not merely a feeling expressed. Love is an action. She did not merely express her joy. She met what she believed to be my need. She fed me within minutes of my arrival! How like God she is in her love for me! For God so loved us, he came to us and showed through great sacrifice and absolute humility as a suffering servant his unreserved love. He met our greatest need for forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, and life eternal. I am so grateful for my mother's love by which I come to know in the most tangible ways the Father's love for me his child, a love I pass on to my children so they can pass it on to theirs.

A University of Hope

2010-06-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

A fourth distinctive of a Christian university, along with truth, compassion and reconciliation (see the last four blogs) is hope. Where there is truth, compassion, and reconciliation, there is hope for shalom, for human flourishing. Hope is the message of the Gospel. It is at the heart of the Gospel narrative, the story of a loving God and the people he loves. Hope is the promise of a faithful God that the best is yet to come, that there are Kingdom ends, and that in the end we shall be like Christ, united with him, and flourishing in the life he has called to, a life for which he created us in the very beginning. A Christian university teaches hope. It is forward looking and anticipates the day when wisdom, truth, grace, love, and peace shall reign.

While many universities dwell on the despairing teachings of Nietzsche and Marx, the Christian university studies them in the context of hope. While many universities teach and propound the hopelessness of the human condition and the flawed nature of man, the Christian university emphasizes the promises of God to do new things and His ability to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, as the Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians. The Christian university teaches the presence, power, and providence of God in every situation and in every circumstance in life. Teaching in the Christian university is informed by people's direct experience of God's mercy and grace and his answers to prayers and petitions. Christian universities are communities of faith, hope and love in action, action that leads to shalom, mercy and justice.

A Christian university teaches from a position of faith, hope and love. it looks to the ends of all of its endeavors and embraces Kingdom ends of truth, compassion, reconciliation and hope. Its research and discovery, teaching and learning, and its service and engagement with the larger community and the world is carried out in fidelity to its essence, Jesus Christ, toward the fulfillment of Kingdom ends.

A University of Reconciliation

2010-06-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

A further distinguishing mark of a Christian university, along with truth and compassion (see earlier blogs) is reconciliation. So many people in the world remain unreconciled. I think sadly about the ongoing unreconciled conflicts of Israelis and Palestinians, and the seemingly intractable division and hostility of North and South Korea. Inherent in every conflict and divide is sin. The greatest divide in human history due to our sinful nature is that between God and mankind. We need reconciliation, but reconciliation brings with it the requisite willingness to pay the price.

Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross not only paid the price for the sin of the world and thereby bridged the divide between God and man cause by sin. What was a broken relationship was bridged. What was separation and death became reconciliation, reunion, and life. What was made possible between God and man is possible between mankind with each other. The Christian university teaches the importance of reconciliation and is the catalyst for the transformation and impact that can be found when and where there is truth and reconciliation.

The university teaches reconciliation when it sponsors and conducts programs of interfaith dialogue, when it brings students and faculties together from a great diversity of nations and ethnic groups, and when it sponsors discourse and common ground for persons of differing political views and convictions. The university teaches reconciliation when its faculty and staff model ways and means by which disagreement and disparate views may be moved to productive resolution and consensus on the essentials. The university teaches reconciliation when it brings together in worship and practice people from a diversity of faith communities and denominations, including Baptists, Mennonites, Pentecostals, Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Salvationists, and Alliance.

To paraphrase Jesus with a focus on the Christian university, it is a city set on a hill, and in the darkness of unreconciled conflict, hostility, and mistrust it serves as an exemplary reminder that reconciliation is possible and its greatest possibility is found in Jesus Christ.

A University of Compassion

2010-05-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

Another distinguishing mark of a Christian university is compassion both taught and lived. The concept of compassion permeates the intellectual life of the university community. It is normatively highlighted along with its absence. It is celebrated and admired. It is practiced within the life of the university community and importantly it is lived-out in the community far beyond the university.

What do I mean by compassion? The first chapter of the Gospel of John (chapter one) says that God is love and love is embodied in Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth. The Apostle John stated that God has so much love and compassion for the world that He took on the punishment for the sins of the world for all people at all times. That compassion continues to be at work in the world. Just as the compassionate work of Christ continued in and through the Apostles and early followers of Christ by the Holy Spirit to the world, His compassionate, salvivic work of love continues today. The Christian university is part of the continuing compassion of Jesus Christ in and to the world. It is expressed especially through God's love for the poor, the vulnerable, the dispossessed, and the marginalized. By showing the necessity for and impact of compassion, the Christian university intentionally teaches and lives out both discovered and revealed truth.

The Christian university teaches compassion when its students go off campus to rake leaves and wash windows for senior members of the community, when teams fan out across North America during spring break to partner with Habitat for Humanity to build houses for the poor, when student teams travel internationally to work with women and children caught-up in the slavery of human trafficking, addiction, and poverty, when nursing students travel to Zambia to work for free in a Salvation Army hospital caring for HIV/AIDS patients and their children, and when business students and their fathers travel to Thailand to promote micro-economic development lending their own money to start new micro-businesses. In teaching and living-out compassion, there are exposures and encounters that are transformational. This is because engagement in acts of love and compassion in the name of Jesus Christ transforms and creates a lasting impact on character of all involved.

Another way of defining compassion is "acts of mercy and love." The prophet Micah (6:8) underscored the importance of mercy when he wrote - "What does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." The Christian university is a particular university devoted to developing the whole person intellectually, socially, and spiritually by intentionally teaching compassion and living compassionately. It intentionally finds the many ways to engage students in acts of mercy and love, hospitality to the other, making room for others, paying attention to the giftedness and needs of others, and as a result growing into the likeness of Jesus Christ. What a privilege! What a joy and blessing!

TRUTH: DISCOVERED AND REVEALED

2010-02-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

A distinguishing mark of a Christian university is how its faculty pursues truth as a desirable end. There was a time when universities pursued truth. Today they only aspire to produce knowledge. For many truth is a relative concept and an artificial construct. The Christian university aspires to produce knowledge with the hope that knowledge can be transformed and engaged in wisdom. Wisdom is the domain of truth engaged in reality. The Christian university embraces truth in two forms: discovered truth and revealed truth. Truth discovered is that which we understand to be true and real through the faculties of logic and reason. The research biologist, psychologist, and physicist engage the scientific method, empirical observation, logic, and reasoning to attain a limited grasp of what is real and true. We discover that which is hidden and made known through the application of the higher order gifts , abilities, and intelligence that distinguishes us as humans. In the social, behavioral, and natural sciences, truth is a discovery framed as a construct derived from observation. Then there is revealed truth, truth that cannot be discovered, but must be revealed. It must be disclosed and given away, because it is beyond human efforts of discovery. While discovered truth involves human effort and ingenuity, unraveling mysteries and uncovering hidden realities, revealed truth comes to us from a God who delights in making himself known. Discovered truth is about the world that we can directly experience. Revealed truth is about the God who we can directly experience, and who is separate and beyond. In the Christian university, there is a unity of belief that Jesus Christ is the perfect, intentional revelation of God himself, the God who as himself comes, dwells, and moves among us, the God of relationship who seeks fellowship and intimacy. Jesus is the truth that puts a face on God the Father, the truth that is self -evident in His grace, mercy and blessing.

In the Christian university, through the panoply of exposures and encounters, the truth of the living Christ is seen in the people of Christ who make up the university. Christ is seen in the care of the faculty for the students. He is make known in the diligence in which staff members do their part to promote an environment that ensures student development and success. He is present in the spirit of love, compassion, and accountability all people in the university have for one another. When faculty and staff invite students home for a meal, when staff take-up a collection to send an international student home for the funeral of a loved one, when the students in a residence hall gather to pray for a student's father who has cancer, or when a faculty member take the time to come alongside a failing student and become a mentor and a friend, there is the truth that God is love and He is at work through others.

Distinguishing Marks of a Christian University

2010-01-23T13:53:00.000-08:00

What distinguishes a Christian university from others? Every university has an essence in pursuit of desired ends (achievements, impact). I believe it is not only the ideal of a Christian university's essence (the presence of the Trinity: God in Christ by the Holy Spirit lived out by the university community), but its passion for achieving its special ends (in TWU's case: Truth, Compassion, Reconciliation and Hope) that is the difference. To quote page 19 in my recent book, Called to a Higher Purpose -

"Without a doubt, universities are places of discovery, learning, and engagement, but not necessarily exceptionally so. They pursue truth without acknowledging it as such, without acknowledging that all truth is Christ's truth. They may offer examples of compassion, but not compassion compelled purposefully as the love of Christ. They may seek reconciliation, but without the power of Christ to make it a lasting reality. They may be hopeful, but not occasion hope beyond the hope of career advancement and personal success. And all these things - truth, compassion, reconciliation, and hope - are not part of a typical university's mission, intentional design, and desire for the world. For the Christian university, they are the raison d"etre, the driving motivation and reason for existence."

In the next few blogs, I intend to share my thinking about each of these four "ends" which now comprise the TWU Board of Governors ENDS policy. A Christian university is a social/intellectual/spiritual ecology of grace and truth whose core nature is the very essence of Christ incarnated in the daily life of the university community. And it is in the pursuit of the ENDS, to which the university is passionately committed, that all who come into its sphere of participation and influence find meaning and purpose in an enterprise of higher, Higher Education.

Also do you ever wonder . . .

2010-01-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder about the seemingly infinite vastness of space and the amazingly minute realities of cells, DNA, atoms, protons, and so on, and how mankind seems to be a reality at a point somewhere between the two? And do you ever wonder along the same comparative contrast about the transcendence of God beyond us and God's immanence within us and how we are a reality that exists in the middle of the two?

Do you ever wonder how the presence of peace calls for an absence of injustice, how human flourishing (shalom) is possible when justice reigns and injustice is banished? Does it seem amazing how in the face of gross injustice, nevertheless some people have a way of embracing and abiding in peace? Jesus said, "My peace I give you, not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled . . ." (Gospel of John 14:27)

Do you ever wonder why we are made so that in our youth at the peak of our physical abilities we often lack wisdom, yet at the end of life when our abilities wane and our physical capacities diminish prudence and wisdom are a more abundant blessing? Scripture says the Lord God gives us the Spirit of Wisdom (Ephesians 1:17).

Do you ever wonder . . .?

2010-01-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

I wonder if you wonder about some of the things I wonder from time to time.

Do you ever wonder if people, as they enter the winter season of the life, go in one of two directions: either into joy and a deep sense of fulfillment or into sadness and a profound lack of fulfillment. If there is some truth to this observation, what occasions one path or the other? Scripture says the joy of the Lord is our strength and Jesus said (John 15:11) that his joy may be in us and our joy complete (full).

Do you ever wonder why it is that many people who suffer the most and live in the most oppressive countries of the world seem to have the greatest faith and are in the greatest numbers while so many people in the affluent nations of the world who seemingly have everything, every advantage, seem to have lost their faith and live in an existential malaise? Jesus also said "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."

Do you ever wonder how it is that the more you learn about life and this world, the more you realize how little you really know? There sometimes seems to be a paradox of humility in direct proportion to wisdom accrued as one grows older. Does it seem to you as it often does to me that the paradox is that the more I learn in life the more it seems I am just getting started and there is so much more to take in, to learn, and to appreciate?

What to do about the future?

2010-01-17T16:29:00.000-08:00

Universities ought to take seriously the preparation of leaders for the future. Trinity Western does, but for what kind of future? I am drawn to the writings of those who help us see alternative futures, especially those who look at demographic trends and project what might be ahead. Over the past few years, here's what's engaged my thinking going forward:

Looking to 2015, of the eleven largest urban centres with populations that will range from 16.8 million to 26.4 million, only Tokyo is in the "North". All others are in the "Global South." (Africa, Latin America, Asia)
By 2050, forty years from now, an 18 year old first year university student today will be 58 years old and in the prime of their leadership influence. By that time the "North," made up of traditionally "advanced" nations, will comprise only 10-12% of the world's population.
Between 2010 and 2050 (the next 40 years) the world's population will grow from 6.75 to 9 billion, a nearly 50% increase. Africa and Latin America will account for 30% of that growth.
The epicentre of Christianity keeps dropping south. Christianity now can no longer be thought of as dominantly a Western or Northern reality. The overwhelming majority of Christians reside in the Global South (Africa, Latin America and Asia).
Today (2010) Christianity has become and will continue to be the most extensive universal religion in history. Most of Christianity resides in the non-western world, the "Global South." Islam is the next extensive religion.
We now live in a post-secular world. The overwhelming majority of the world's population are people of faith. In the next 40 years an increasing share of the world's populations is going to identify with one of two faiths, Christianity or Islam.
Global Christianity is deeply associated with poverty and is flourishing among the poor and persecuted while it atrophies among the rich and secure. Europe is faithless; a spiritual desert.
Global South Christians are migrating to and rechristianizing the north. Today Korea is the second largest missionary sending nation. Great Britain has 1,500 missionaries from Global South nations and half of all churches in Britain are black.

The emerging demographics of the next 40 years comprise one of the most compelling social-political realities facing humanity yet we hear very little about it in the media or in the international dialogues regarding globalization. It may be one of the most important issues of our time.

So what do we do with this picture of the present and the future? If it is real, what does it mean for how we do university education in the next decade as we develop leaders for the next forty to fifty years? What should a globally sensitive, future looking university do with its curriculum, faculty hiring, pedagogy, and recruitment of students to prepare for and anticipate the future? What are the implications of doing nothing and just carrying-on the business of the university as usual? Any thoughts?

LEANING INTO HOPE

2009-12-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

In C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, the story starts with the children between the wardrobe and Narnia in that gray place in between two worlds. We find ourselves between Christmas and New Years in that brief period of time when it is still possible to stop by a Salvtion Army Christmas kettle and act on the media reminders that not everyone's cup "runneth over." While the masses continue to crowd into parking lots and department stores to expend billions of dollars, televised football has record attendances, and hundreds of millions of dollars are being accrued at the holiday movie box offices. Others continue to struggle for survival against daunting odds. Crime is up in major cities around the world. Twenty-four thousand children continue daily to die of preventable causes. Rogue nations continue to build nuclear weapons. Unemployment continues at unacceptable levels. The globe continues to warm, and America continues war on two fronts. Between Christmas and New Years, we ponder these things in our hearts. We are pleased to see the old year come to an end and wonder what the new year will bring.

When we look forward to the new year, we ask the old question, "Is the world's glass half empty or half full?" Are things getting better or worse? Will the future be given over to the dark side or to the light? Will the economy get better or worse? Will climate change bring us closer to disaster and the end of the world, or force us to change and move us eventually to becoming a better world? Will human nature capitulate to corruption, degradation and sin, or will humanity rise to new levels of virtue, altruism, reconciliation, and compassion. Are we to embrace despair over the future or exercise hope? These questions are variations on pessimism and optimism. Pessimists believe they are realists and the optimists are very out-of-touch with reality. They may be right, but in reality most people are realists. They are not steeped in pessimism, but live in a real world where pessimism and optimism are simultaneously held in tension.

The truth be told, we live in a world of tremendous opportunity for many and of overwhelming, nearly unimaginable circumstances and suffering for others. Materially, never have there been more millionaires and billionaires in the world, nor a higher quality of life for most of the world's population. Nevertheless, a great gap exists between the material quality of life and the spiritual search for meaning and purpose in life beyond the material. I raise here the hypothesis that when the spiritual part of humanity is left unaddressed, devoid of meaning and purpose, people will eventually lean into depression and pessimism. When people spiritually experience meaning and purpose, they will lean into optimism. The challenge is to achieve a state of realistic optimism, realistic because tomorrow will not be all rosy and wonderful. There is corruption, degradation, and sin in the world, both personal and structural. Millions of people, approximately 1.4 billion, still live in deplorable circumstances and contexts and continue to be referred to as "the submerged tenth", the severely disadvantaged peoples who are at the bottom of the world's economic order. Deplorable circumstances were and continue to be created by man. People suffer because of the decisions of others. Nevertheless, it is possible to lean into a realistic optimism that occasions hope.

The words of the Apostle John still ring true: "For God so loved the world . . ." He still does, and yet our God chooses to engage human agency to bring about the impact of his love. He calls and commissions us to be a people of hope; of faith, hope, and love with him and in him. Later in the Gospel of John (15:5) we are encouraged by these words from Jesus Christ - "If you abide in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit." For what purpose? So that we can embrace the motto of a people who year round bring hope to many around the world, The Salvation Army. Their motto is "Others"! We lean into hope as realistic optimists who acknowledge the world's most deplorable circumstances and greatest needs, and yet remain determined to make a difference for others. We lean into hope with realistic optimism at this time of year and celebrate tomorrow's possibilities. "With Christ, all things are possible!"

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas

2009-11-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

We find ourselves between Thanksgiving (Canadian and American) and Christmas. In the clutter of retail advertising, Christmas music, "Seasons Greetings," and so on, there will be our God who is not far off. He is Emmanuel, God with us! His voice is not in the howling wind, nor in the raging fire, but in the breeze, a "still small voice." Our God, whose incarnation in Jesus is the greatest story we can ever celebrate, is not a God "out there" or "up there," but rather he is always right here, Emmanuel, God with us! Rejoice! Be thankful! Give praise! He is ours and we are his!

Grace and Peace in Jesus' name throughout this special season!

It's All Good! It's remarkable!

2009-11-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

It's a good week for Trinity Western University when four of its six athletic teams are ranked in the top ten nationally and a fifth team is ranked eleventh. It was a good week last week when TWU received a long list of A+s and As in the Globe & Mail Report Card on 53 universities across Canada. TWU rejoices in being the only university in Canada to receive an A+ in overall quality of education four years in a row. Its a good year that starts with the federal government awarding $2.6 million to TWU for the university's research/knowledge infrastructure. It will be a good year again when friends of the university rally to help the university raise the $2.6 million in required matching funds. It is a good start to the academic year when faculty gather together for two days around the topic of the faculty's role in student spiritual formation and when forty faculty and staff meet to discuss a proposal to establish a Centre for Spiritual Formation in Higher Education. It's a good year when Trinity Western University Spartans move into a new venue for Spartan home games, the $57 million Langley Events Centre, and when the university is host to not one but two national championships. It's all good! We rejoice! It's a remarkable university and a remarkable God!

Higher Higher Education: Character and Wisdom

2009-10-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

For the past several years I have enjoyed talking to students, faculty, prospective students, their parents and others about "higher higher education". Such university education is advanced by occasioning reflection and discussion and worth some space in this blog. It is quite apparent to me that all universities aspire to two things: 1) to produce graduates who upon graduation are competent in their chosen field, and 2) to produce knowledge. I once heard a distinguished university president at a gathering of peers declare boldly that the mission of all universities is to produce knowledge. I agree that producing knowledge through scholarship is a significant part of the jobs universities do in society. However, I contend that higher education can rise to greater heights by striving to go beyond competence and the generation of knowledge. To have real impact for good on the world, universities must do more. They must promote character and wisdom. For universities to help students go beyond competence is to help them in their development of character. When competence and character intersect and interact, the result is wisdom. Remember the boys at ENRON. Because they had shortfall in character in doing the stewardship over the business, they lacked real wisdom and they fell. ENRON crashed. It was a financial train wreck. As a result, a great many people lost enormous amounts of money. People were hurt. Competence alone of ENRON executives could not have buffered them from the storm they created. Their plight was financial ruin based on moral failure. Instead of character, they demonstrated pride and hubris. I suspect they were not the products of a higher, higher education. One may be competent and have great knowledge, but that is not enough. Moreover, we live in an overabundance of information. We are hit by a tsunami of information every day. Imposing order on the chaotic wave of information can lead to knowledge, but how do we go beyond knowledge to wisdom. I believe it is by coupling competence with character so that brilliance in analysis, execution, and performance by leaders in chosen contexts may be tempered, guided, and informed by an inner faith in what we believe to be good, right, and just. More needs to be said about the pursuit of wisdom within universities. Character and values need to be front and centre in the formal and informal discussions and dialogues that permeate the social and intellectual atmosphere of universities. This is the distinctive of Christian universities: higher higher education which brings with it competence and character after the likeness of Jesus Christ. There will be more to come in this blog about the place of character and wisdom in the university. Any thoughts?

Does "higher" mean higher reputation or greater engagement?

2009-07-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

Can Higher Ed Reach Higher? When Maclean's magazine (July 27-August 3, 2009) uses the phrase "reach higher" do they mean higher in the international standings reflecting reputation and the capacity to produce even more doctorates and ground breaking research? Or do they mean higher in Canadian university success in undergraduate education which, frankly, is what the public desires?

The answer is important. Hundreds of thousands of first year students pack off to universities each September with the prayers and well wishes of parents who are footing much of the bill, anticipating that if they can only get their son or daughter launched into four years at one of the big box universities, all will be OK. They are banking on the hope that the the big university will engage their child in a strong, positive undergraduate experience, and that the reputation of the institution will make the critical difference as their son or daughter enters the job market.

Personally, after spending 35 years in higher education teaching at large, big box universities (U Maryland, Arizona State U, U of Hawai'i) and in leadership roles in small liberal arts settings (Gordon College-Boston; Greenville College-Illinois; Booth College-Winnipeg; and now Trinity Western University-Langley, BC), I think Maclean's has missed the mark in thinking of higher "higher education" as scoring higher in the international rankings, in achieving greater levels of research funding, or producing greater numbers of doctorates.

Those are all worthy goals and visions. But "reaching higher" in higher education is something more noble and more needed than ever before. It encompasses a much grander, more vibrant, more distinctive vision for Canadian universities. It calls forth a passion for discovery, engagement, and impact for undergraduate, the doctoral student, and the distinguished professor. It calls for a freedom to soar to unimagined heights in creative ways so that the human spirit can pursue knowledge, engage the mind and the heart, and all the while address the nation's and the world's greatest opportunities and deepest needs. It means bringing universities ever closer to communities and the pressing realities of the world, and pursuing a more humble posture as servants to the world and to the generations that are to come.

So much depends on how you answer the question "What do we mean by higher?", not only higher than what, but also higher in what way. In the blogs to come, I hope to unpack "a more excellent way" of answering the question as we all stay posted for Maclean's Part 2 coming out next week.

What does Maclean's mean by "higher"?

2009-07-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

Maclean's magazine this week (July 27-August 3, 2009) features an article (Part 1 of 2) entitled "Can Higher Education Reach Higher?" It brings to light two Canadian realities: the first - the large foot print of the nation's five largest universities (U British Columbia, U Alberta, U Toronto, Mc Gill U, and U de Montreal), and second how Canada's universities stack-up on the world stage. Depending on how you count, Canada has nearly 100 universities. On the one hand, these five serve nearly 22% of the undergraduate population of the country, produce 45% of the nation's doctorates, receive 46% of the all the funding disbursements from Canada's main granting councils, and get 47% of the money paid for new labs and researh infrastructure by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. On the other hand, Canada's universities often fall short when compared to their counterparts world wide. Mc Gill U is in the top 20 (ranked #20) world wide; UBC 34th; U Toronto 41st. The big international rankings are mostly about reputation and research and largley ignore undergraduate education. That may be OK for the big five in Canada, because they are "not necessarily ideal educators of undergraduates" according to the article's interpretation of the National Survey of Student Engagement. In the NSSE, "the large Canadian universities, the big schools that most students attend, tend to record the weakest NSSE results." In short, Canadian universities are big. U of Toronto serves 70,000 students. Even smaller Canadian universities like Brock, Lethbridge, and U Regina have more undergraduates than Harvard (7,000). While big, they fall short in comparison to countries like Australia and Hong Kong in the international rankings and likewise in comparison to small Canadian universities on the NSSE, , in regard to undergraduate education. Here the NSSE suggests the smaller the better.

All of this begs the question: What does Maclean's magazine mean by "reach higher".

Leaders As Servants!

2009-06-18T11:37:00.001-07:00

Ask yourself not "What service can I render as a leader?" but rather "What leadership can I exercise as a servant?" - Peter Vail, 1998

Peter Vail wrote these words in his foreword to Robert K. Greenleaf's masterpiece on leadership entitled The Power of Servant Leadership. Of the untold hundreds of thousands of books written in the past fifty years on leadership, Greenleaf's writings, especially this one book, stand out above the pack. It is a remarkable compilation of his finest essays on leadership and has become a classic.

Vail's quote captures the heart of the matter and the essence of Greenleaf's eloquent and profound writings. It is a huge difference in approach to render service as a leader, implicitly as an aside, or render leadership out of one's core commitment to serve. The latter is at the heart of many of the contributions of the world's most respected leaders throughout history. Servant leadership is the essence of such highly regarded institutions such as the internationally renowned Salvation Army, whose motto is "Others" and the US Centers for Disease Control, whose history is resplendent in the protection and promotion of health and well being of countless millions.

The calling to develop authentic Servant Leaders is the compelling mission of values oriented, faith based universities like Trinity Western University in Langley, BC. It is what the world desperately needs to bring truth, compassion, reconciliation, and hope to the challenges of the world today and in the future. It comes to us as a fulfillment of the ancient scriptures found in the book of Micah (6:8) - "What does the Lord God require? To do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." The enormous promise of the future in the midst of daunting global challenges ahead rests squarely on the shoulders of redemptive institutions, public and private, that can develop and encourage "servant leaders" whose leadership is an expression of their commitment and resolve to serve others.

More Than Gold

2009-05-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

Every four years the winter and summer Olympics occasion the gathering of the world to a desirable and desirous venue; desirable because the destination holds some promise of discovery for persons who not only wish to see the games, but also experience some exotic or historic part of the world, and desirous because the venue hopes to attract further fame and fortune believing the Olympics to be an economic engine for the local and national economy for years to follow. That is the promise of the winter Olympics as they are to be held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia in 2010. In hosting this grandest of grand sports events, Canadians will hope for a treasure trove of gold medals and identify with every success by Team Canada.

There is a whole side to the Olympics that holds ever greater promise, the promise of something more than gold. It is the promise of radical hospitality. Radical hospitality is more than the occasional, superficial tea party on a Sunday afternoon, or beverage offered on a flight to Vancouver. Radical hospitality is “Making Room” which is the title of a wonderful book by Christine Pohl, Associate Professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky (USA). In Pohl’s book, such hospitality intentionally goes out of the way for the good of the stranger. It is hospitality after the teaching and example of Jesus Christ whose directives included feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving shelter to the those without, and otherwise making room for the marginalized, dispossessed, and forgotten. In short, Christ’s priority is on radical hospitality to the poor, to those in need, to the estranged. It is a radical priority on the importance of making room to love even the unlovable. The inherent value to be found in such hospitality is worth more than gold.

As the world comes to Vancouver, there is the tremendous opportunity for more than merely economic gain. There is the prospect of being known as a city, region, and country that makes room for others, all others. For Christians, it is an opportunity to lead the way, to be exemplary, to set the bar high in making room and living out radical hospitality. To do so is to live out the Gospel, the Good News found in the foundational verse about the identity of Jesus, John 1:14 – The Word became flesh . . . full of grace and truth.

When radical hospitality is lived out in ways that bless the world, the grace of Christ makes the truth of the Gospel self-evident, clear, and transparent for all to see. We are reminded of the accompanying scripture in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 5:12 - “Let your light so shine that the world sees your good works and glorifies the Father."

Radical hospitality brings rewards to the world worth more than gold!

PS. To know how you can participate in radical hospitality and bring More Than Gold to the 2010 winter Olympics held in Vancouver, British Columbia, check out this web site: www.morethangold.ca

Thanksgiving Every Day!

2009-05-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

A little book on the shelf at home is entitled Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein. I read it about once a year for the philosophy, but even more for the jokes. Here's one I love:

"A grandmother is watching her grandchild playing on the beach when a huge wave come and takes him out to sea. She pleads, "Please God, save my only grandson. I beg you, bring him back." A big wave comes and washes the boy back onto the beach, good as new.
She looks up to heaven and says: 'He had a hat!' "

I love that joke because it reminds me that we so often want God to solve our problems and when we are on the receiving end of God's grace we so easily forget providence and move quickly to complaint. A friend of mine, Lyell Rader, once prayed "Dear Lord, thank you for your grace which often goes unrecognised and unacknowledged." The joke and Lyell's prayer help me remember that thanksgiving is something I can do every day, not just once a year.

In Rememberance - World Press Freedom Day

2009-05-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

My dear, old friend Jerry Michael often said to me - "Life is on the one hand and on the other." So, on the one hand, while the 20th century was the bloodiest century in human history, it ended with democracies on the rise around the world. Imperfect in their varied expressions, they remain the most effective and promising form of governance guaranteeing freedoms and respect for human dignity of individuals, marginalized groups, and vulnerable peoples. On the other hand, hundreds of millions of people live daily under the guise of democracy, vulnerable to suffering, injustice, and oppression. So called democracies engage in "elections", but the vote does not guarantee democratic outcomes and the sequella of freedom and human flourishing.

True democracy goes well beyond the vote, the ballot box, and a free, open, unconstrained election. Democracies are safeguarded by independent judiciaries and free press. It is this last element, the necessity of a free press, that makes a short brief article in the Calgary Herald newspaper (May 3, 2009) so disturbing.

In recognition of World Press Freedom Day, the article reported that in the past sixteen years since the first celebration of World Press Freedom Day in 1993, nearly 700 journalists have been killed worldwide by repressive governments. Many of these governments have the appearance of democracy by way of the vote, but in fact have no independent judiciary and no free press.

The guise of democracy is insidious. These countries use the appearance of free elections to elevate their global status while engaging a controlled judiciary to persecute a "free" press through the manipulation of justice. The result is gross injustice targeting and eliminating on the average forty-three journalists worldwide each year. The courage and valour of these journalists has often gone unrecognized and unacknowledged. They are martyrs in a global struggle for "shalom" - peace - which is not merely the absence of conflict, war, and civil strife, but in the words of Nicholas Wolterstorff, "human flourishing."

Most readers of this blog will recognize the issue. I only highlight it once again to underscore the necessary role and heroic contribution of journalists to the cause of democracy in support of a greater good - shalom - the flourishing of all peoples. Jesus said - "I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly." That remains the greatest good! Fallen journalists deserve remembrance and reflection in light of their sacrifice.

IN THE PAST, HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

2009-03-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it helps to look back a few generations to discover a reason for hope in the future. This became a powerful reality for me recently around the USA presidential campaign and subsequent inauguration of President Barack Obama. You may recall an escalating commentary by many about how the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) made it possible for the USA to elect its first black American president and what that means to the world today. The other profound commentary we heard was the significant regard that the new president holds for the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. You may be intrigued by a little known part of history subsequent to Lincoln twenty years after his tragic death.

On January 3, 1884 in Clarksville, Maryland, E. Stanley Jones was born. Nineteen years later Jones was a student at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky graduating from the college and soon thereafter journeying to India as a young Methodist missionary. He immersed himself in India for the next fifty-five years. During that time, Jones wrote twenty-eight books out of his pastoral experience ministering to the people of India and preaching and sharing "Christ and Christ's Kingdom". Along the way, Jones became very close to Mahatma Ghandi. They were contemporaries and became close friends. Jones wrote often about his friendship with Gandhi. Two of his books were entitled "Christ of the Indian Road" and "Christ of the American Road." Both books were written around the time of World War II (early 1940s).

Fast forward a decade (early 1950s) and the story jumps to the library at Methodist Divinity School at Boston University where several of Jones' books are on the shelf. A curious divinity doctoral student, Martin Luther King Jr., reads Jones' writings on India and his friendship with Gandhi AND through Jones' friendship and writings MLK encounters Gandhi's major tactic in addressing British colonization and occupation of India: non-violence. He reads how Gandhi learned from his discussions with Jones about Jesus Christ and non-violence, non-cooperation. Jones directly impacted Gandhi's thinking. This led eventually to the liberation of a nation. Jones and Gandhi impacted MLK leading to the civil rights movement.

Recently I received a personal communication from E. Stanley Jones' granddaughter, Anne Mathews-Younes. In a lovely note, she shared with me the following: in a recent article in the Washington Post (February 18, 2009) regarding a trip to India by MLK's son - a connection was made "of King to Gandhi - perhaps E. Stanley Jones's role has been set aside. My parents have a wonderful picture of MLK telling them about my grandfather's role in his (Gandhi's) decision to pursue non-violence and MLK's archive includes my grandfather's

book on Gandhi - where MLK wrote in the margin - 'This is it!' referring to comments in Jones' book on the significance of non-violent, non-cooperation. So we stand on the shoulders of others."

This last comment is so true and profound. We stand on the shoulders of others. Gandhi on Jones (and Jesus), Martin Luther King, Jr. on Gandhi, and perhaps Barack Obama on MLK. Sometimes it helps to look back a few generations to discover a reason for hope in the future. Across the generations, God is at work and his means of grace and hope is often the faithfulness of human agency. In this case it was E. Stanley Jones who answered a call to India, disciplined himself in immersion into the culture, opened himself up to a wonderful friendship, wrote about his experience and had an impact on a young divinity student looking for answers that he found along the way of his own faith journey. We can look back a few generations. We see God at work using Jones' obedience to his calling to India. God worked in and through him as a means of blessing the world. Through a significant cross-cultural friendship, through Jones' discipline of writing throughout his life about his experiences, and through his testimony of Christ and his Kingdom, Jones impacted a young divinity student at Boston University (MLK), and through him millions of people today who hold great hope for the future.

SOME THINGS WE CAN CARRY

2009-02-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

No one questions the fact that we are in difficult economic times. The evidences of global economic challenges are felt at the local level in every corner of the world. In this volatile environment, rumours and falsehoods can proliferate. Despair can take hold. Truth is bent. Predictions about the future can run wild.

How shall we respond? The Apostle Paul's words to the faith community gathered in his day at Ephesus bear repeating (chapter 4, verses 14 & 15) - ". . . we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ . . ." Children are beautiful, but they are unstable, insecure, and egocentric. Instead, to be like Jesus is to be connected, to be focused and missional, to work at our calling, to be full of love for others.

The words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the chapter on ministry in his classic work "Life Together" helps keep these difficult times in perspective - "Some things we can not change, but we can carry." We carry some tough loads right now, but these burdens shall pass.

TWU At The Top Again In Canadian University Standings

2009-02-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

I hesitate to brag, but I don't hesitate to celebrate. Once again Trinity Western University is at the top of the standings among Canadian universities. In a recent issue of Macleans magazine (February 16, 2009), the 4th Annual Student Issue, university students across Canada graded their schools. Along with the Globe and Mail Report Card on Universities in the Fall, the Macleans issue is the ultimate in a university consumers' report. The report "finds small schools in the lead." Why am I celebrating? Out of the 52 Canadian universities participating in the National Survey of Student Engagement, Trinity Western University ranked consistently near the top in all eleven areas and within the top four universities in 8 of the 11 categories. This confirms the three years in a row that TWU has received an A+ in several areas including Overall Quality of Education in the Globe and Mail Annual Report Card on Canadian Universities. The recent Macleans results look like this:

Category Ranking
Level of Academic Challenge 4th out of 52
Student-Faculty interaction 4th/52
Enriching Educational Experience 1st/52
Supportive Campus Environment 2nd/52
Evaluation of Educational Experience (1st year): 3rd/ 54
Evaluation of Educational Experience (4th year): 3rd/ 54
If starting over, would go to same university (1st year): 4th /53
If starting over, would go to same university (4th year): 3rd / 53

On two other scales in the survey by the Canadian University Survey Consortium we scored above the middle of the pack: Satisfied with the quality of teaching - 11th/31; and satisfied with my decision to attend this university - 14th/31.

Overall, I am more than satisfied with our results. I am please and plan to celebrate. But this raises questions: What is it about smaller university settings that occasion such good responses from students who are the consumers of university education? What is it about Trinity Western University as a particular university, a private independent Christian university, that results in high marks by its students? I think a big part of the answer is that 1) we have remarkable faculty and staff and 2) we are fiercely, doggedly committed to maintaining an environment and an ethos that is optimally supportive of each and every student's well being and success. We define success as transformation in competence and character so that as graduates they are prepared to seize the world's greatest opportunities and address the world's greatest needs, and frankly to do that in Jesus' name!

But, I would be curious to hear from our present students, our 20,000 alumni in over 80 countries around the world, from our student's parents (present and past), and from the thousands of employers who seek our graduates for jobs even before they are graduated. Why do you think we are blessed with such high marks and such high ratings among the 54 Canadian universities in the Macleans 4th Annual Student Issue? Let me know by writing and sharing your response. Write your comments at - Jonathanraymond.blogspot.com

IN CELEBRATION OF TRANSGENERATIONAL CONVERSATION

2009-02-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

Along with the Psalmist (45:1-NLT), I say “My heart overflows with a beautiful thought . . .” I just hung-up the phone from talking to my 26 year old son. I am going to be a little personal in this particular note (blog entry). I am in BC (Canada) and he is in Southern California. We talk off and on in the course of each week. The same goes for conversations with my 28 year old daughter in the North West USA. We seem to be a high contact family including frequent e-mail as well. In all the discourse, I am blessed.

The trans-generational chatter has been going on for several years. For me personally their interest in talking is a tremendous gift back to me. Frankly, I am learning a lot. In some ways, as they have been reading, thinking, writing, taking classes, and knocking-off degrees along the way, I am undergoing a whole new education. In so many ways, I am taking in all the life they are inhaling, absorbing, and acquiring. Actually, it is humbling. As I learn new things from them, I have a strong sense of what I don’t know and am now just learning. I also have a growing appreciation for how they are maturing and becoming strong, competent and resourceful. They are achieving insight and wisdom that I don’t have and passing it on to me. I find my heart warmed and my inclination growing to rejoice in their flourishing and in the ensuing, residual blessing in my own life. Is this not what parenthood should be? Is this not a tremendous return on investment?

It occasions a celebration, a rejoicing, a continuing expression of thanks and praise for the privilege of being a parent. Don’t get me wrong. Some of the conversations are stressful. We don’t always agree and they don’t always embrace my offerings of sage wisdom mellowed by time and experience. But, on the whole, they offer up much for which I am thankful.

THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS: A REFINING FIRE

2009-01-15T15:56:00.000-08:00

I want to share some of the words I spoke in the all university chapel today on the Langley campus of Trinity Western University. Presidents at universities across North America are taking time to communicate with their constituent communities as they strive to address the challenges of the present and the circumstances within which we all find ourselves.

The world is in great distress. . . It’s the reality of the Global Economic Crisis. The world was in great distress before September 2008 with wars, civil strife, periodic genocide, global warming, and epidemics like cholera in Zimbabwe, infant mortality in Sierra Leone, drug vendettas in Mexico, and greed on Wall Street. But now add to all of this, as if it is not enough, we have The Global Economic Crisis. It is bigger than 9-11 in its world wide impact. In the USA, but also around the world, there are: Financial deficits in the trillions of dollars, pounds, yuan, and pesos,sky rocketing unemployment, mortgage foreclosures, bankruptcies, suicides on the rise, homelessness, desperate people engaging desperate measures, food shortages in underdeveloped countries, rising prices of food, medicine, and shortages of water. The world is in great distress. Things are tough in North America and they are getting tougher. Yet it is the poorest countries in the world that are suffering the most

Universities are highly impacted. Universities worldwide are facing challenges and reflecting on their situation. Every university is working to figure out its future. Every university is going through the fire. Universities in Canada and the USA are reeling from the market loss of billions of endowment dollars in their investment portfolios. Most are bracing for losses in enrolment. Most are not agile and capable of quick adjustments in how they do their business. Many universities will experience severe financial losses because the economics in the communities they serve have shock waves that hit the universities bottom line financially. Donors are holding back in their giving and many student’s families can no longer find the resources to help make ends meet.

How are universities coping? How are they striving to just get through the fire? Like so many corporations, universities are downsizing their faculties and staffs, adjusting their strategic plans, crafting new assumptions and anticipating plunging enrolments, deleting whole programs, departments, and degrees, cutting payrolls and slashing personnel budgets. Universities and colleges across North America are facing an uncertain future. We know this because its is in the media every day, in news papers, on the evening news, and coming in daily by e-mail from colleague presidents and from our own faculty and staff who are alumni of other universities in the fire (i.e. UCLA, Harvard, University of Toronto, Gonzaga). Some colleges and universities will not make it.

For some universities, we are entering a period of growing from strength to strength. The crisis is an opportunity. Some will emerge from the fire stronger, more focused, more resilient and capable of high quality mission fulfillment. For some it will a refining fire.

If you are wondering and even worrying about TWU, let me help you with some clarity. While we are potentially vulnerable, we are strong and well positioned. The fire of economic crisis may not be all consuming. It can be potentially a refining fire. It will push us to be better. It will be a fire that will help us refine our design, rethink how we do business, challenge how we think about who we serve and how we serve. We will be refining our design of our operations, reviewing all programs and structures, and re-imagining the university to keep it strong. We will be calling on all members of the university community including students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni, donors and other friends to help lift the university to the next level, to provide us with tangible support, to help send terrific, new students our way, and to invest financially in the future of the university.

In study, research and scholarship, in study abroad opportunities, in mentoring, in leaders development, in athletics, in a holistic approach to student development including spiritual formation, we are strong. We are an exciting university full of future promise. We have a proud past and a promising future. We are good and getting better. At the same time, like all universities today, we are vulnerable. Our vulnerability is only a reality if we continue to do business as usual and fail to rise to the challenge that the global economic crisis presents. Therefore, as we go through the fire, we will respond to it as a refining fire. We will refine the design of the university, recruit great students, and engage an ever expanding community of friends and donors, and use the resources we are given with prudence and thanksgiving. Most of all we will remain a people of faith and hope in our engagement of prayer and praise for God's providence and provision.

The global economic crisis is real. We are not exempt. It will change us. It can change us for better or worse. Change will not be easy. It will take effort, sacrifice; it may even hurt. But we shall be a better university; one of the universities that emerge stronger, better, more transformational with greater impact on this fast changing, distressed world. As we go through a refining fire, in the words of John Wesley . . . "The best is yet to come!"

LOOKING BOTH WAYS AND WITHIN

2009-01-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

Happy new year. It’s the start of a new year. Like the face of the ancient god, Janus, we look back reflectively at 2008 and anxiously forward at 2009. Janus was the Roman god of doors, gates and portals; of new beginnings; the god with two faces, one regarding what was behind and the other looking at what lies ahead. In facing a new year, we hope for providence to bless us and count on prudence to navigate the challenges ahead and seize the opportunities that arise. We are wise to exercise a “Janusian” kind of strategic thinking that learns from the past and yet knows that the unfolding events of life are more linear than cyclical. Life is a journey more than a repetition of the past. Over the US National Archives cast in stone are the words “The Past is Prologue to the Future.” That is to say, history has lessons that ought to be learned and not forgotten. Human nature has its predictability. Power, for example, has been corrupting for millennia and original sin is not so original any more. Only its variations seem original when supported with new technology and scientific innovation.

There is an ebb and flow to life with its good times and challenging ones. There is exile and Diaspora, and yet there is homecoming. There is rebuilding the walls and resettling abandoned villages. The human story is one of new beginnings, new discoveries, and the possibility of new life. We are not locked into a destiny that is fatalistic and predetermined. As we face the new year, we can be encouraged by the ancient words of God through the prophet Isaiah (43:19) – “Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” We can take to heart the fact that though the short term has its challenges, the long term holds great promise. In the midst of adversity, we are a people of hope and confidence. . . “con fide” . . . with faith, faith in Christ. We resonate with the words of the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth (5:17) – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

We pray for the millions who linger and languish in refugee camps around the world, for millions displaced from their homes by natural disasters, civil unrest and war, inter-ethnic discrimination and violence, and genocide, for millions who now comprise the ranks of the unemployed, millions who suffer from HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, fecal contaminated water and ensuing preventable infant mortality. We pray for leadership around the world to rise-up and embrace with confidence a lofty vision of a different world, a vision that life can be different for millions and especially for the “bottom billion” to use the title of Paul Colliers poignant and disturbing book (Oxford, 2007).

We look back on the past year, a disturbing year filled with overwhelming human tragedy and yet tremendous human achievement. We look forward and say we can do better. We will do better. We resolve to gain higher ground, achieve greater heights, succeed in larger ways to bring real shalom, peace, human flourishing to the world, and to do it where we live not leaving it to some hypothetical other. We will look both ways, but we also look within to create room in our lives for God to do a new thing within us so that out of us may spring roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert places. We will look into the past for lessons, into the future for new life, and within for courage and confidence to make new life a reality for others. Happy new life in the new year!

Christmas Reflection On The Grace Of The Day!

2008-12-25T22:46:00.000-08:00

I hope you’ve had a good day today. It’s Christmas evening on the west coast of Canada. Fraser Valley, British Columbia has about 60 centimeters (two feet or more) of freshly fallen snow. My quiet hope for a white Christmas a few weeks ago has been fulfilled way beyond my most active imagination.
Once again, for approximately 2 billion people world wide, Christmas marks a significant opportunity to express one’s faith, reaffirm hope, and exercise one’s love for others. One of the great beauties of the season is to see love in action. So many people give time and resources to others who are in need of a hand up; volunteerism spikes; worthy causes are supported in ways that benefit others who are less fortunate, down trodden, or weighed down by difficult circumstances. In spite of the tsunami of materialism and the frenzy to buy, buy, buy that Christmas brings, it also carries us to new heights of consciousness about the plight of others. It provides vehicles for responding to others’ needs. It brings friends and families together to sing, dance, eat and enjoy a sense of being and belonging.
Most importantly, Christmas brings into focus the remarkable story of God’s initiative of self-giving love, self-revelation, self-disclosure, and self-sacrifice through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is this story that unites the hearts and minds of 2 billion people in every nation of the world around a common faith and shared hope. Christmas is a time for exposures to the joy, faith, and hope inherent in the story. It is a time for reflection on the courage and obedience of Mary and Joseph and the humility of the advent. It is a time for the celebration of Jesus as God’s remarkable gift of salvation, reconciliation, and restoration for which the world so deeply longs.
I hope you’ve had a good day today because you see beyond the materialism. You see beyond the frenzy and the hectic rush that Christmas these days seems to occasion. I hope that after opening the gifts, having the Christmas meal, and accommodating the day’s social calendar, you had some quiet time to reflect on the grace of the day. God’s grace is too often unrecognized, unappreciated, unacknowledged, and undervalued. What a remarkable blessing is Christmas when fully embraced for all its simple yet profound meaning and for the precious gift the story conveys. Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, goodwill to all! Emanuel, God is with us! Merry Christmas!

LOOKING FOR HEROIC LEADERSHIP?

2008-12-12T09:48:00.000-08:00

Ask anyone to name great leaders and you will get ready answers. The answers cover a broad spectrum of society, geography, time, and opinion: Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, Catherine Booth, Tommy Douglas, Pope Benedict, Nelson Mandela, and the list goes on, as varied as the responders. Most of us will agree that leadership is key to the success of any enterprise. The enduring worldwide hope for competent, ethical leadership characterized the recent twenty-one month long marathon of the American presidential primaries and election. The international disgust with the corrupt, dictatorial, nightmarish leadership of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe stands in stark contrast to the hope of Zimbabweans and their dream of a leader of competence and character who will usher in a brighter day and better life.

Leadership is a reality filled with paradox and irony. On the one hand, I often encounter comments from people engaged in the work of the church, NGOs, education, government, and business lamenting the absence of leadership in the various sectors of society. People are longing for inspirational leadership, which is visionary and competent with character and integrity. On the other hand, while the world longs for great leaders and complains of the paucity of exemplary leadership, the publications of books on leadership and the university programs and offerings on leadership have never been more abundant. The world’s bookstores and universities' course schedules are bursting with information and knowledge designed to promote excellence in leader development. The wealth of resources promoting leadership development are unprecedented in human history. Successful pastors and religious leaders churn out massive amounts of literature from their personal experience and exegesis of scriptures. Successful captains of industry and business do the same. Academics represent a third source of leadership literature based on scientific study and inquiry. In a time when the public feels a great shortage of effective leaders, leadership nevertheless has never been more studied, taught, and reflected upon. In spite of all the attention to leader development, leaders are believed to be in short supply.

An unusual, fresh take on leadership comes to us from a source other than the academic researcher, pastor/religious leader, or business executive. It is written by a monk turned investment banker, and now author and consultant, Chris Lowney, and is entitled Heroic Leadership. Its content shares the unusual yet compelling insights and principles gleaned from the author’s study and reflection of a four hundred and fifty year history of the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church. Lowney’s writing is clear and engaging and the book is well worth the price. I've been so intrigued with Lowney's perspective and insight that I want to share the basic attributes and characteristic of leaders that he unpacks for the reader. In doing so, I will sometime paraphrase and sometime take directly from his text, verbatim. As Lowney recounts the history of the Jesuits and lessons learned from their remarkable history, Heroic Leaders . . .

• Aim high and keep relentlessly pointed toward something more, something greater. They conceive great resolves and elicit great desires. They are not satisfied with doing things half way. Their heroic leadership is not measured by the scale of their opportunities, but by the quality of their responses to the opportunities at hand. They don’t bide their time until the big moment comes along; they grasp the opportunities within reach and extract as much richness form them as possible. They commit to a way of life that focuses on goals that are greater than oneself.
• They don’t just think outside the box. They live outside the box. They cultivate a liberating attitude of indifference – a lack of inordinate attachment – not to others, but to material belongings, positions, and titles. They possess an inspiring spirit thinking of the whole world as their house. This promotes a spirit of ingenuity and innovation, a personal point of view in life that looks at the future with optimism, living with "one foot raised" ready to step out into the adventure that awaits.
• To their heroism and ingenuity, their love of God and others lends purpose and passion to life. They love to see others, all others, excel, benefit, and flourish. They work and serve to make stronger all souls in their sphere of influence. They see the world as full of uniquely dignified others and live by the premise that people perform their best when working with and for people who offer genuine support and affection to others.
• They are self-aware and understand how their self-awareness roots and nourishes other leadership virtues. They appreciate who they are, what they stand for and what they want. Their self-assessment is the foundation of their quest for continuous self-improvement. They regularly assess their strengths, weaknesses, values, and worldview cultivating the daily habit of self-reflection. They learn from their mistake and actively seek a limitless capacity for growth and development.
• They lead leaders, leading themselves and others by example. They do not behave as if they are leading followers. They act as if they are leading others by doing those things that help others to lead. They look for the very best to develop committing time, insight, and energy to unlocking the total potential of those most important assets which comprise leader excellence. Their investment in others is enlightened by love. They understand that the return on their investment on a well-developed leader far outstrips that of countless other investment opportunities.
• Instead of resting on their laurels, they keep reinventing themselves. They accept themselves, but they understand their missteps, learn from them, pick themselves up, and move forward again a wiser and better leader.

In the millions of pages published each year on leadership, Heroic Leadership, by Chris Lowney (Loyola Press, 2003) stands out for me as among the best in my memory. It rings with truth gleaned from the long run of an institution that has stood the test of time. I am now looking not merely for good leadership, but rather heroic leadership after the likeness of Jesus Christ.

The Pragmatism of A "Soldier Saint"

2008-11-16T18:49:00.000-08:00

William and Catherine Booth were the co-founders of The Salvation Army back in the late 19th century. William outlived Catherine by more than twenty years and is credited as “The Founder”, but it was a shared ministry. Years after Catherine’s passing, Booth authored a seminal book entitled Darkest England and the Way Out. For much of the twentieth century, it was used as a text in some of the world’s best universities. In brief, it discusses the plight of what Booth called “the submerged tenth”, the bottom tenth of the population of London that lived in abject poverty, desperation, and seemingly hopeless vulnerability. The unique character of the book is that it offers possibly the earliest example of a social epidemiological study. It was an innovative approach to portraying the social strife of London’s submerged tenth. Prior to Booth’s tome, no one had attempted to study and document with data the desperate straits of the poor of a major metropolitan area. Not satisfied to merely describe their plight, Booth went on to propose broad, strategic responses to their suffering and then to actually put in place comprehensive programs and solutions. His approaches were radical and visionary in loving those who society deemed unlovable and forgettable. His reach went far beyond London and swept around the world in what today is a missional movement in over 114 countries and 157 languages.

The theology of Booth’s life work and global legacy was summed-up by Professor Roger Green of Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts in his book entitled War on Two Fronts. Booth’s preoccupation for the poor grew beyond an evangelist’s concern for spiritual salvation to include social salvation as well. The Salvation Army is well known today around the world as an organization of “social salvation” helping the poor, the addicted, the alcoholic, abused children and spouses, HIV/AIDS victims, women and children trapped in the slavery of sexual trafficking, and more. Booth, however, never lost his focus on the spiritual heart of every person. He acted on the belief that every life could be centred in Jesus Christ and be the outworking of the indwelling Spirit of God. With this in mind Booth is said to have written two things that speak to his “War On Two Fronts.” First is his “Cab Horse Charter” in which he says that before one can address a person’s spiritual needs one must address the same basic human needs that we find in a cab horse “An adequate food supply, a roof over one’s head, and meaningful work.” This is war on the social salvation front. But Booth also said “To get a man soundly saved, it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a university education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged, you have wasted your labour. You must in some way or other graft upon the man’s nature a new nature, which has in it the element of the Divine.”

In his own special way, William Booth was concerned with the whole person. The lesson remains today. Life in its fullest must be lived with attention to the whole. It is not enough to be of service to others and merely attend to a part. The physician must treat more than the body. The bedside manner must speak to the spirit of the patient. The architect must not merely construct functional space. The aesthetics that lift the spirit and permit optimal social development is part of the architectural challenge. The university professor must not merely promote cognitive ascent to truth, but be mindful that each student is a moral being capable of heart wisdom, transcendent values, meaning and purpose.

William Booth had it right. Like William Booth, we do well to keep the holism of others and of ourselves in mind as we strive to achieve fidelity to the work to which we are called. These are lessons we may find in the notes from the margins of a special life. After Booth’s passing, he was sometimes referred to as “The General Next To God” and “The Soldier Saint.” His gift to the world was not only an enduring worldwide Christian ministry we still know today as The Salvation Army, but an exemplary pragmatism that kept the integrated physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual reality of our being in focus as we “Love the Lord with all our heart . . . and “love our neighbor as ourselves.”

By the way, the next time you pass a Salvation Army kettle this Christmas season, know that the Army continues to practice Booth’s pragmatism of integrated, holistic love of neighbor. That’s something worth supporting and emulating!

Beyond Loving One's Neighbour

2008-11-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

Recently at the annual meeting in Ottawa of presidents of Canadian universities, I had the opportunity to listen to a very interesting speaker, Phil Fontaine. Mr. Fontaine is the National Chief heading-up Canada’s Assembly of First Nations. He had much to say of importance to those who think it is important for Canada to have a compelling vision of itself for the 21st century. The 19th Century had a big vision for the nation. It brought into being the birth of modern Canada as a nation. A critique of that era was that only a very limited array of voices were permitted to speak into that vision, mostly white, males of means. Women, Asians, young people, and First Nations peoples were among those whose voices were not heard in the public square. Things have changed. Today, more than ever, it is possible for a rich array of voices to be heard, some more loudly and more clearly than others. Phil Fontaine is one of those voices. When listened to, it leads to much learning. Here’s some of what I learned and some I learned since then:

On the up side, there are today forty-five Canadian indigenous institutions of higher learning, such as the First Nations Technical Institute near Belleville, Ontario. The work of these institutions has made possible a growing population of Aboriginal business men and women. There are over 30,000 First Nations students enrolled in post-secondary education institutions every year. There are over 27,000 aboriginal owned businesses today in Canada. First Nations peoples own over 20% of Canadian land mass and that is estimated to grow to 30% in the next fifteen years. The Aboriginal population, today totaling over 4% of the national population, is the fastest growing segment of the overall Canadian census. Half of the First Nations population, along with Inuit and Metis, is under age twenty-five. The First Nations people represent an up and coming segment of the nation’s economic progress and promise for the future.

On the other hand, tremendous barriers exist to dampen and discourage progress for First Nations peoples. Of the 30,000 Aboriginal students in post-secondary institutions, too many never finish their degrees or diplomas. Sustained funding is the primary barrier to degree completion, but other social-cultural factors impede higher education progress for many students. More basic barriers exist. Forty first Nations communities are without schools and eighty schools are in radically poor repair. A shortage of basic housing suggests the immediate need for more than 80,000 units. Urban homelessness is a problem in metropolitan areas disproportionately characterized as Aboriginal in nature. Over 100 First Nations communities do not have the basic necessity of clean drinking water. Poor access to health care combined with epidemic diabetes further compounds the lives of too many First Nations peoples. These reflections and data are just the beginning of describing the profile of a people with promise, but overwhelmingly discouraging problems. If money alone could alleviate the pain and prevailing problems, the days ahead would be bright. The challenges facing First Nations peoples are more than financial. They are woven into the social, behavioral, and spiritual fabric of the nation’s history with its biases, prejudices, well intentioned altruism, and failures of the past. For example, of the fifty-five indigenous languages of Canada, only three remain actively in use by First Nations peoples. The cultural, linguistic foundations of Aboriginal identity are irrevocably impacted by the loss of language alone.

So, what are universities to do to be part of the solution and not part of perpetuating the problems? After all, Phil Fontaine was speaking to a room filled with university presidents. Many universities have been faithfully working on these matters for decades. At TWU the efforts have been impressive at the individual faculty level, but an institutional response is overdue. In acknowledging this, we have recently formed a task force to explore the depth of faculty experience and the collective faculty capacity to engage in an intentional partnership with First Nations peoples. The diversity and breadth of existing competence and experience among the TWU faculty is encouraging. There is a strong history of faculty engagement in health care, agriculture (fisheries), education, and business with First Nations peoples. Can the university can be better organized to support intentional engagement? Can we form genuine partnerships with First Nations peoples? The opportunities to do so in the future are presently under study by the task force.

Christ said “Love your neighbour as yourself.” The university is driven to respond to the simple command of Christ to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and to love our First Nations neighbours as ourselves. In the Canadian context and in the world as increasingly a global village, this is an all inclusive directive. First Nations peoples should be more than just our neighbors. The inclusive embrace as brothers and sisters of Aboriginal neighbours in working partnerships, in community, and in fellowship is compelling, but not without its challenges. This is not the conventional posture of Canadian universities. It’s different. It will not only (hopefully) connect with First Nations people, but it will change the university in as much as the university community is a social ecology (more on that later). As such it takes risks to live out its missional orientation to a higher form of higher education. If faithfully missional, then the university will succeed in having an impact with First Nations peoples with whom the university is meaningfully engaged. By moving forward with this initiative, we live out the words of the Old Testament Bible prophet Isaiah: “Let out the curtains of your tent, don’t hold back. But lengthen your cords and strengthen you stakes.” This metaphor means in part that the TWU tent needs to be more inclusive. To be joyful with First Nations peoples when they succeed and to weep with them when in pain or failure is to let out the curtains of our tent in mission. It is to live with fidelity to our commitment to missionally inclusive higher education. It is a risk if we don’t lengthen our cords and strengthen our stakes with the wellbeing of others (First Nations) kept clearly in mind.

UNITY in the UNI-versity . . .

2008-10-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

On a scrap of paper in the past year, I scribbled this series of thoughts:

• The university is always in the process of becoming. At any moment it is both the product of the past and the seed of the future.

• A university thrives when there is an ongoing dialogue about the most important questions and less a power struggle about who is to be allowed to speak based on who alone have privileged knowledge.

• A university suffers when there is a deficit of unity. We must be a missional university with a mutual coordination of mission and unity. We must be a university which models reconciled diversity embracing a post-modern paradigm which manifests itself as unity, and which preserves diversity, a diversity which strives for and commits to unity.

• A Christian university does not stand over against the world, but rather is sent into the world and exists for the sake of the world.

These were my thoughts written a few years ago in response to reading I was doing at the time and tucked away in the back of a book entitled Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, by David J. Bosch (New York: Orbis Books, 1996). I believe I must have been reading Bosch and his writing occasioned reflection on its relevance for Christian university education. So, I revisited Bosch and found on page 465 these words:

“In the midst of all diversity, however, there is a center: Jesus Christ . . . the center of the community and of life . . . Unity in mission is no lost cause as long as the Bible, which witnesses to this Christ, is opened, read, and proclaimed . . . Listening to God’s word and listening to each other belong together, however; we can have the first only if we are also prepared to have the second.”

It is often said that there is not much unity in the typical university. The well noted joke is that the university is a collection of departments, schools and faculties united by a central heating system. The Christian university strives to achieve a unity which makes possible the achievements of its mission in fulfilling its ends. It does so in Christ, for Christ's sake, to the glory of God, and for the sake of the world.

Keeping the Kite Aloft

2008-09-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

On both sides of the Canada-USA border, the air is electric with political speculation and anticipation. This blog is not about my personal political views and leanings. I do, however, want to say something relevant to the times we are in, politically and otherwise. I start out with simple observations occasioned by kites.

China is famous for its kites. During the Olympics, there was a special program on TV about a city in China that was the hub or capital of Chinese kite flying. At one point in the program, hundreds of kites were in the air. It was spectacular. Ever since, I've been thinking a great deal about kites and how they are a metaphor for the ebb and flow of life.

Adjusting the tension on the string keeps a kite successfully aloft and soaring to new heights in the wind. Things tend toward self-corrections. Economies and markets go through corrections. Look at the economy and the stock market today. They are going through major corrections. Once corrected, they will likely go on to greater heights and success. Having over-heated and now cooling off, the adjustment will set the stage for new developments and progress. Look at the over-heated economy of India right now. It is going through a major economic correction and cooling off as well. The same may be said of the politics of Canada and the USA, though in opposite directions.

In Canada, the Liberal party has prevailed for the greater part of Canadian political history, holding on to power and exercising political will for much of the country's history. Power corrupts. It often does the longer a party is in power. A nation's self-correction is a way of dealing with the unintended consequences of being in power so long.

In the USA, Republicans have been in power 70% of the time for the past forty years, since Richard Nixon's election in 1968. I predict political self-corrections are realities on both sides of the border. In the USA it may happen soon. If not in this election, perhaps the tipping point will come within the next four years. In Canada, I predict a longer run in power for the Conservatives, because the Canadian people may not be done with this round of correction. Eventually, they will likely turn back to the Liberal party again as a kind of self-correction. In both cases, the beauty of democracies like Canada and the USA is that they continue to have peaceful self-corrections in contrast to extreme civil conflicts, revolutions, and political upheavals of so many other nations.

Life ebbs and flows. Economies and political contexts adjust and self-correct. Individuals and societies can go beyond regret. They can repent. They can turn 180 degrees in the other direction. This keeps tension on the string and the kite aloft, regardless of whether the string is being pulled in or let out.

God's word to us provides wisdom in responding to the present circumstances, economic, political, or otherwise: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path." (Proverbs 3:5-6). The Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right (justice), to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8) (NLT).

The Unrelenting Pursuit of Wisdom

2008-09-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Should university education be more than the aggregation of information and skills, or the pursuit and creation of knowledge? At its finest, should it not entail the unrelenting pursuit of wisdom? As noted by Professor Marvin Wilson in his classic work Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of Our Christian Faith, such pursuit "was a vital part of the pre-Holocaust Jewish community of Eastern Europe" (p. 305). Wilson's quote of Abraham J. Heschel, The Earth is the Lord's, is worth reflecting on . . .

"In almost every Jewish home in Eastern Europe, even the humblest and poorest, stood a bookcase full of volumes; proud and stately folios together with shy, small-sized books. Books were neither an asylum for the frustrated nor a means for occasional edification. They were furnaces of living strength, time proof receptacles for the eternally valid coins of spirit. Almost every Jew gave of his time to learning, either in private study or by joining one of the societies established for the purpose . . . .

Poor Jews, whose children knew only the taste of "potatoes on Sunday, potatoes on Monday, potatoes on Tuesday," sat there like intellectual magnates. They possessed whole treasures of thought, a wealth of information, of ideas and sayings of many ages. When a problem came up, there was immediately a host of people, pouring out opinions, arguments, quotations. . . . The stomachs were empty, the homes barren, but the minds were crammed with the riches of Torah" (42-44).

Our world today is gushing with information. Its abundance can be overwhelming. With the help of universities, every day brings a new pinnacle of achievement in the transformation of information into knowledge. But knowledge does not always spill over into wisdom. We thirst for wisdom and for leadership with wisdom and character to apply it. Can universities rise to the challenge of helping us develop leadership characterized by wisdom and character? Can wisdom and character come together in a holy kiss so that their integration promises hope for the world's deepest needs? If the answer is yes, what would such a university look like?

Job 28:28 reads - "God alone knows the way to wisdom . . ." and James 1:5 - "If you want wisdom, ask God the father . . ." Matthew 6:34 - "Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added . . ."

Does private or public matter in university excellence?

2008-08-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

US News and World Report magazine released their annual ranking of the top twenty-five American universities this weekend. As I reviewed the list and rankings, a number of questions came to mind in light of Canadian higher education. Since the American higher education system is composed of both private and public universities, my first question was "Does private or public matter?'' That is to say, how do the private institutions do along side the public ones in the ranking? I was shocked to find that of the twenty-five uppermost-ranked universities, twenty-two were private. That's 88%. It is not to say that Ohio State, Michigan State, the University of Arizona, and the University of Kentucky, for example, are not great universities, but it does say to me that private universities do not take a back seat to public-sector institutions and, in fact, are national treasures as centres of excellence and strength.

The top five ranked institutions were, in order: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, and Stanford. This posed a second question. Does size matter and is bigger better? Of the universities ranked in the top five, three universities enrolled fewer than 12,000 students. Yale, ranked third, enrolled 11,454. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ranked fourth, enrolled 10,222, and Princeton, ranked second, enrolled 7,334. Two other cases in point in the rankings were Brown University (ranked 16) with a students enrolment of 8,167 and Rice University (ranked 17) with 5,243. The smallest enrolment of the twenty-five institutions, the California Institute of Technology, had an enrolment of 2,133 and achieved a ranking of sixth tied with the University of Pennsylvania. Apparently, bigger is not necessarily better. In fact, UC Berkeley with 34,953 was ranked twenty-first and UCLA with 38,896 was ranked twenty-fifth (last).

I have other questions, but I will need to look at other sources of data to gain any insight. For instance, "Does size of a university's endowment matter?" Of course it matters, but I want to see the whole picture. In The Chronicle of Higher Education this past Spring, I noticed that Harvard has an endowment totaling more than thirty-four billion dollars. I plan to look up the endowment information for each of the other twenty-four universities. When I get an answer, I will let you know.

Another question might be "Does the design of a university matter?" I believe it does. Universities are like computer chips. They can be small and private, and if they are well-designed, well-positioned, well-connected, and well-resourced (empowered), they can achieve excellence-producing graduates who address the world's greatest opportunities and its deepest needs. This last questions deserves more in-depth study, and when I have some insight, I will look forward to sharing this too.

Canadian higher education, sometimes referred to as "advanced education," is a different reality. The system is comprised almost entirely of public sector universities. Of the ninety-three institutions that comprise the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, I believe only a few are private. The remaining (90+%) are public institutions. Canada has excellent universities. Some are considered world class. Might Canada foster further excellence through its private universities in the future? Like our friends to the south with their high-ranking private sector universities, I would argue that a stronger mix of public and private universities in Canada would bring further excellence and diversity to Canada's higher education future.

JSR

Olympic Highlight: Singing By Canadian Team

2008-08-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

The best singing group at the Beijing Olympics so far is the Canadian men's rowing team. Their swift, powerful, gold medal winning performance was a 90 second symphony in motion only surpassed by the beauty of their heartfelt rendition of the national anthem, "O Canada." They sang their hearts out, all eight of them. What was so great about their singing was that they sang so proudly that we found ourselves singing along with them and ending with a great outburst of cheer. We had never seen a whole team sing their national anthem together during a medal ceremony. For my family and I it was the highlight of this year's Olympics! Our house is ready to give them another gold medal for their chutzpa and pride in their country. They truly modeled the Olympic spirit and Canadian patriotism. It was wonderful to behold. Three more cheers for the Canadian men's rowing team! Bravo!

YOU WILL BEAR MUCH FRUIT

2008-08-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

In two earlier blogs, I wrote about my trip to Israel and a litany of impressions including the abundance of fruit. With fruit in mind, I wrote the following:

Watermelon, Papayas, Grapes, Bananas, and more. The fresh fruit locally grown is a source of daily refreshment. Northern Israel is rife with orchards and vineyards. Bee farms and dairies make the country truly a land of milk and honey. The fruit of Israel is abundant due in large part to the extensive system of drip irrigation and world class agricultural science. Figs, guavas, pomegranates, pears, and melons are wonderful.

I was especially struck by the vineyards of Israel. They cascade down the slopes of the hills and valleys and continually reminded me of Christ's words in the Gospel of John (Chapter 15), I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me you will bear much fruit. It was easy to imagine Jesus walking in the moonlight through a vineyard below the old City of David, plucking a grape from the vine and teaching his friends, his disciples the profound truth that to remain in him, as a branches remains connected to the vine, occasions the most fruitful of lives. Likewise, to not remain in him would be the same as the branch that is separated from the vine, cut-off from the life bearing sap of the vine, eventually drying-up and dying out to never again bear fruit. It's a powerful metaphor. I was reminded that one can be very busy and faithful in service, working hard, sacrificing time, energy, and personal resources and yet not bear fruit. Fruitfulness is based on the relation of the branch to the vine.

The vine dressers of Israel excel in their care of the vine and branches. I was reminded that the branch inevitably undergoes pruning. Pruning hurts. It involves cutting and loss. Two related thoughts: First, to achieve excellence, it is often necessary to cut-out (prune) those things which are good. A friend of mine, Roger Green, often reminds me that the enemy of excellence is not the pitiful or horrible, but rather just the good. So many good things in our lives which are not inherently bad, can undercut, dilute, or choke out those things which are most important and most valuable, helpful, and wholesome. Second, the Lord, our God, prunes. He takes away things which seem good, enjoyable, and have value. We experience pain, struggle, and loss. But struggle, pain, and suffering can be the foundation of character, especially character after the likeness of Christ.

Finally, we are learning more each day about the antioxidants in fruit. I grew-up being taught by a wonderful mother that fruit was healthy. Only recently are we learning more and more why fruit is healthy and how and why blueberries, grapes, and pomegranates in particular pack a wallop of good in the prevention of cancers and heart disease. The application couldn't be more straightfoward. Remaining in Christ and bearing fruit is beneficial for others, especially when the fruit is of the Spirit.

These lessons, derived from contemplating Israel's wonderful fruit, continue back home in this early August season. British Columbia's fruitful abundance make these lessons linger as I now frequent the many local fruit stands throughout the Fraser Valley.

A MOST REMARKABLE REALITY . . .

2008-07-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

In my recent trip to Israel this summer, everyone with me kept hydrated by drinking litres of water. Bottles of water became the number one purchase of the group every day. One of the most remarkable realities of life in Isreal is the absolute necessity of water to sustain life and yet the absolute paucity of its supply in nature.

The country exists on a very fragile system which begins with the snow fall upon Mt. Hermon in the farthest corner of Israel. Mt. Hermon is the very place where Israel, Syria and Lebanon come together. The snow of Mt. Hermon melts and runs down through the sandstone forming springs at the base of the mountain. These springs bubble-up and out forming three small, short rivers which flow together to form the upper Jordan river. That's it. There is no other system. No other supply of water for the nation. It is simply the upper Jordon which flows into the "Sea of Galilee" which is not actually a sea, but a fresh water lake. The lake flows out to make-up the lower Jordan which flows into the dead sea. The whole system of river, lake, and river runs the length of the country.

The well being of Israel depends largely on this very simple, fragile supply of fresh water. The present level of the lake is dangerously close to its lower limit below the pumps so that it can no longer be pumped out into the extensive system of distribution throughout the nation. This now occasions the building of desalinization plants that convert sea water into fresh water. Israel's natural water supply has its limits possibly due to the reality of global warming and its impact around the world.

Israel's water supply and its present challenges make me think of the old hymn:

"He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength as our labours increase. To added affliction, he addeth his mercy. To multiplied sorrows, he multiplies peace. His love has no limits. His grace has no measure. His power no boundaries known unto man. For out of his infinate riches in Jesus, he giveth and giveth, and giveth again.

God is faithful. His love really does have no limits. When we have exhausted our store of resources, patience, strength, etc., God remains the inexhaustible source and our constant supply. Unlike Israel's water supply, is the never ending supply of God's grace, his "amazing grace", a most remarkable reality necessary for sustaining life.

SEEMS LIKE HOME TO ME

2008-07-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a terrific trip to Israel and Egypt sponsored by Trinity Western University. It's been at least ten years since my last visit to the Holy Land and this was, without question, the best of the five visits over the past twenty years. Each visit gets richer and richer and the resultant reflections deeper and deeper in their personal relevance and meaning. This most recent trip was full of highlights and special moments. In the next few blogs, I'll unpack some of exposures and encounters that made a salient impact on me. Here's the litany of a few things that made the trip so meaningful:

* WATER - What a difference water makes. Israeli drip irrigation transforms the desert into a veritable garden of remarkable abundance. The snow from Mt. Hermon drips through the limestone and bubbles up in the Hermon Springs forming three small rivers that flow together to make the upper Jordon River which flows into and creates the Sea of Galilee. The miracle of water in the desert making possible transformation is a constant reminder of Christ's proclamation "I am the living water . . ."

* FRUIT - Watermelon, Papayas, Grapes, Bananas, and more. The fresh fruit locally grown is a source of daily refreshment. Northern Israel is rife with orchards and vineyards. Bee farms and dairies make the country truly a land of milk and honey. I was struck by the vineyards of Israel. They continually reminded me of Christ's words in John 15, "I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me you will bear much fruit."

* STORY - Israel is a land of stories and history. While British Columbia celebrates 150 years of provincial history and Quebec 400 years, Israel talks in terms of 4,000 years of story, especially history which is "His Story", the narrative of divine and human encounters and salvation.

* HETEROGENEITY AND CULTURAL VARIANCE - Inhabitants of Israel seemingly reflect the world's diversity of ethnicity, language, culture, custom, and faith. Whether in the market of Tiberius or the streets and cafes of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the variety of the world's languages seem innumerable.

* SEEMS LIKE HOME TO ME (aka Heaven) - Perhaps because of the diversity of nationalities, cultures, faiths, and languages, Israel has the feel of home to me. This is especially true of the Christian holy sites that attract Christians from all over the world of every conceivable nationality and language who worship in their own languages all at the same time in the same place. The mix is more like the Kingdom of God and what heaven is like than any other place on this planet. Israel seems like home to me in the personal realization that this is where God was and still is at work revealing himself in the person of the Son, Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

* CONFLICT AND STRIFE - On the other hand, as engaging and spiritually meaningful Israel may be, it is a place of seemingly unresolvable conflict and strife. The contemporary history of animosity and hostility between Israelis and Palestinians is more than just sad. It is without words a great tragedy and travesty, impossible to unravel its beginnings and imagine its end. Both Palestinians and Israelis tremendously suffer in ways and degrees that are unimaginable to many of us in Canada. The daily stresses of never ending conflict and strife for both Palestinians and Israelis is a burden that is passed on from one generation to the next with little relief in sight. It seems that only God can bring about the miracle of reconciliation.

Israel is more than a remarkable place. It is a remarkable experience. The fact that it is a "Holy Land" for three of the world's major religions alone makes it so, but, more than that, it is remarkable in its capacity to make Scriptures come alive and to occasion deep spiritual reflection and renewal. I returned home to BC tired from the long flight home, but with a deep appreciation for the unique beauty of both Israel and British Columbia. I feel refreshed and renewed in spirit, a bit wiser from Israel's sobering realities, and ready to turn the page and with great expectations begin a new academic year.

WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE CANADIAN UNIVERSITY GOOSE . . .

2008-06-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Today's Globe and Mail (June 4, 2008) carries an interesting article by Elizabeth Church entitled "Scholars must encourage 'hot debate' on campuses, UBC president says." UBC is the venue for The North American Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, a gathering of 10,000 academics, including several professors from Trinity Western University.

UBC president, Professor Stephen Toope, in speaking to the gathering underscored the importance of "hot debate" saying, "I think in Canada we are a bit too polite... we are a little afraid of controversy." In his remarks, Dr. Toope may himself be a bit too polite. The reality, within Canadian higher education, may be a profound intolerance on university campuses for any position on certain topics that may be articulated outside a narrow latitude of acceptance.

In more everyday language, Canadian university campuses have an ironic problem of political correctness and debilitating dogma that undercuts true academic freedom. The problem is ironic in that universities at their best are to be champions of diversity, models of freedom of thought and speech, promoters of plurality, exemplary of tolerance, and beyond mere tolerance, advocates and provocateurs of open expression and debate. As civil society's fountains of discovery, learning, and engagement, universities in their essence are to appropriate forms of exposure, reflection, and dialogue that permit new thinking, illumination, transformation, and refinement, embracing nuances of truth and the legitimacy of all voices spoken in the public square. In a civil society, universities shape the highly formative lives of undergraduates who are peaking in their moral development, formation of identity, and orientation toward leadership roles in society.

I was very pleased when Trinity Western University in partnership with Rogers Omni Television (now CHNU 10) began a five year project in 2006 entitled Faith Forward: Exploring Religion, Culture and Conflict. The yearly symposium which is open to the public gives our university community and a wide spectrum of people from outside of academia the opportunity to engage in open dialogue and expression on religion and culture and the part they each play in the world we live. This symposium is an excellent example of, and if I can use Elizabeth Church’s phrase, “engaging hot debate” on university campuses.

Like all human institutions, universities need reform and renewal. A good place to start is with reflection and that old fashioned idea of confession. Congratulations are in order to Dr. Toope who went on to confess, "Canadians are pretty good at tolerance. We are not so good at principle, but open-minded, engagement with people whose values are not compatible with our own.." Church writes that Dr. Toope went on to challenge Canadian scholars yesterday to have open conversations and that academics from the various disciplines work together to tackle the significant challenges in this generation. Toope says, “… they(academics) need to be willing to engage with those who have different perspectives, not just tolerate them or take part in what he called 'dialogues of the deaf'."

I could not agree more with Dr. Toope. Since this was a North American Congress, I would add what's good for the Canadian university goose is good for the USA university gander!

CHARACTER AS CHRIST LIKENESS

2008-05-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

When I think of the nature of character as found in real people, several wonderful friends over the span of my life come to mind. So do people I've never met, but about whom I've read, and by whose writings I have been nurtured and impacted. They all have a Christlikeness in common. The essence of character is for me a likeness to the person of Jesus Christ.

When I say "character", then, I acknowledge a person's likeness to Christ both socially and morally. Character deepens morally as it experiences socially derived exposures to God’s grace through the means of grace God provides in the love and support of others. Socially, we are always in relationship to another. This includes being in relationship to God whose very nature as Trinity is social, and we are always in some form of relationship to others through whom God works to shape us into the kind of persons he desires. Both socially and morally, we become the company we keep, a person of likeness to the other, taking on the nature and characteristics of the other. One of my earliest moments of awareness of this reality was as an undergraduate student rooming with two other fellows. One day, in response to a humorous comment, I burst out in laughter. To my surprise, I realized that I was laughing the same laugh as one of my roomates, the same pitch, pattern and length. It was a perfect replica of his laugh. Since then, again and again, I have noticed that in the smallest, almost insignificant ways, people grow into the likeness of the company they keep. This should give pause regarding with whom one spends time. It also commends a life of prayer, reflection, and awareness of living in the presence of God, practicing his presence, seeking to be like Christ, in word and deed, taking on his character.

THE DEEPENING DESTINY OF CHARACTER

2008-05-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

I continue to reflect on the matter of character formation and the role of universities. While all universities strive to create knowledge and develop students of competence, few intentionally promote character development as well. I am convinced that competence without character can lead to personal and social disaster. Universities must help students deepen in the areas of personal character, moral virtues, and internalized (incarnated) values. What the family has begun, or not, in the way of social, moral development of the child is to be continued through the highly formative years of late adolescence and early adulthood. The social-intellectual millieu of the university ideally seeks the development of competence amplified by character toward healthy, wholesome, holy ends.

You’ve heard it said, “Change is one thing that doesn’t change.” Our world keeps changing, sometimes for the better, but not always. Science and technology bring innovations which push and pull us in new and often unexpected directions. At the same time, human nature continues to range from dangerous and disturbing to noble and nearly divine. Technological innovations may have the appearance of ethical neutrality, yet may be used in both glorious and banal ways in their personal and social impacts. The world wide web reflects the very best and very worst in humanity. It provides the means for both human glory and human depravity. It depends on the way we engage, deploy, and use it for enobling or debasing achievements. Look at how the internet promotes the wellbeing of children and families, and yet puts children at terrible risk; brings people together transcending racial, class, and cultural barriers while advancing the most heinous acts of discrimination, prejudice and abuse; promotes the restoration of community and cause of social justice while furthering the realities of social isolation, alienation, deindividuation and degredation.

We are reminded that the postive and negative impacts of changes in society and cultures are not driven so much by advances in science and technology as in the values we hold and the choices we make to use these advances for noble purposes or otherwise. Choices reflect values and convictions which are grounded in character. While change is ubiquitous and an ever pressing reality, matters of character to are forever present in how we relate to each other in an ever changing world. Character and its failure is the central issue confronting human kind. It transcends time and place. It is the major challenge across cultures and contexts. It is what sells newspapers, air time on cable news, and DVDs of mega-blockbuster movies like J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, George Lucas’s Star Wars, The Matrix, and C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. What doesn’t change is the fact that character is the central reality of human existance, the key element by which humanity judges itself, and the central principle around which the human - divine narrative is organized.

Character is more than an attribute of the self. It is the heart of each person. One may assert or deny one’s self. One may be selfish or selfless depending on the interaction of one’s character with her or his social circumstances. While the self is a single entity, a construct of one’s identity, an ephemeral reflection of a perceived truth, the person is the abode of the soul whose essence is spirit with, without, or realizing to some degree that core of our being we know as character. One’s character is the most central defining attribute of a person. By nature, person’s are designed for change and character is that part of our nature that is intended to deepen and develop after the social, moral image of Christ.

THE QUEST FOR CHARACTER (more)

2008-05-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Quests are historically thought to be massive, adventurous undertakings sometimes well funded if not always well founded. Young students first encounter the idea of quest when hearing for the first time the stories of the explorers of the New World such as Amerigo Vespuci, Chritobal Colon (Christopher Columbus), Ferdinan de Magellan, Vasco Balboa, Hernando Cortez, Francisco Pissaro, John Cabot, and Francis Drake. Such quests for the adventurous posed high risk, but potentially high reward. Significant adventure accompanied enormous expectations and hope for success. Each quest provoked a sense of purpose in life and the potential for fulfilled destiny. If successful, such quests held the promise of wonderful life change. The life that followed would never be the same. All great quests are lived from the inside out. They begin in the interior of the heart. They find their still point in the soul. Noble quests are fundamentally about integrity and character and often bring out the best or worst in the human spirit. Such quests are still possible today. The greatest quest is personal, one that all persons can pursue, one that deepens into destiny, the quest for character. More to come . . .

The Quest For Character, A Rare Essential

2008-04-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Character is on the minds of people and in the headlines of the popular press and tabloids. It is the focus of talk radio, network and cable television, and the world wide web. It is often the missing ingredient in leadership. In Canada the matter of character, and its seeming absence, occasioned the Liberal Party's loss to Conservatives of their control over the federal government . In the American primary elections, it is a central reality in the present run for the White House by presidential candidates. Character matters and people long for leaders who have it.

Universities in their development of leaders may be missing the mark in ignoring this essential element of leadership. Among North American universities there is too often the single focussed desire to produce graduates who are competent. Too many universities ignore the world’s great need for competence to be amplified by character. The synergy of competence and character is rare, but it is absolutely essential if a univeristy's graduates are to postively impact communities, nations, and the world. In the singlar pursuit of competence, unbelievable indiscretions and ethical shortfalls are characteristic of so many corporate CEOs and CFOs, boards of directors of multi-nationals, national political parties . Religious leaders, denominations, and sectors of the church are too often found swimming in hubris and grossly lacking in character. As a consequence, university graduate study programs in business administration, psychology, medicine, nursing, law, and other professions are now increasingly introducing character content into their curricula. Board policy governance, national legislation, and accreditation standards increasingly seek to build in methods and measures of accountability to ensure that character characterizes private and public institutions, organizations, and charitable giving.

Institutions, organizations, communities, groups, and individuals that exemplify character find themselves honoured and benefitting by the public’s trust and admiration. The Salvation Army, World Vision, Habitat For Humanity, and Partners in Health lead the NGO world in exemplary character and transparency. Individuals most celebrated and honoured in the past 100 years were persons of exemplary character, sacrifice, and perseverance: They include William and Catherine Booth, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Billy Graham, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul,and Mother Teresa.

Across the spectrum, society is on a quest for character. From Zimbabwe, China, and Venezuela to Italy, Sri Lanka, Russia and the USA, whole nations long for trustworthy, leadership that is more than competent and brings to the people the fruit of integrity, character, transparency, and compassion. Character seems to be a rare essential in leaders throughout the world at a time when the world's greatest needs and deepest longings are for the depth, substance, and selfless engagement that characterizes leaders of competence and character. I have faith that character can be developed, nurtured, taught and caught. Universities can play larger role in the quest for character and the creation of the critical mass of integrity and character in leadership that can change the world.

Good News: One Life Can Change the World

2008-04-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

The other day I helped my wife, Irene, put up a new bird feeder. Irene's a "birder". She has the binoculars, the bird book, and the great love for knowing the various little winged visitors who routinely show-up and show-off. The new feeder is about fifteen feet from the kitchen window. When the first little friend alighted on the feeder, took nourishment, and flew away, Irene's heart lifted and speaking of the newly available food supply she said "Go little one. Go tell others the good news!" Over the past few days the thought has come back to me again and again. There is so much good news to share with others. I want to share just one that I am celebrating continually these days: One life CAN change the world! The examples are limitless, but let me share three on my mind lately. This is particularly poignant for me as I will soon sign approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees conferring the degrees on soon-to-become "graduates" of Trinity Western University.

The first example is Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician and professor of medical anthropology at Harvard University's Department of Social Medicine. He is the co-founder and founding director of Partners In Health, the charity organization that provides direct health care, conducts research, and advocates for millions of people who are sick and living in poverty. His focus is on diseases that disproportionately afflict the poor. In his advocacy, he writes extensively about health and human rights and the role of social inequities in how infectious diseases are distributed and how they disproportionately take their toll on people trapped in poverty. Dr. Farmer and Partners In Health started to work on these challenges in Haiti, then Rwanda, and Russia, but their work, especially with TB and AIDS, has spread to countries throughout the world impacting millions in poverty. What has caught the world's attention is that their work has brought the cost of treating TB to 1% of the usual cost of treating the disease in the United States. You might be surprised to learn that Dr. Farmer grew-up in poverty himself where his family lived for many years in the family bus in a Florida trailer park. Bright and determined, he received scholarships that helped him attain his Bachelor's degree from Duke University and His MD and PhD from Harvard. One life can change the world.

Dr. Dame Jane Goodall is one of the most recognized and celebrated women in the world. At the age of twelve, she was given a pet chimpanzee. Her love for that pet helped raise questions and provoke learning that transformed her life through exposures and encounters that led to a PhD from Cambridge University and a world renouned life as a primatologist and anthropologist. She has made major contributions to the study of social learning, cognition, thinking and culture through working with chipanzee species and gorillas. As a globally respected voice for conservation, the environment, animal rights, and the sacredness of all life, she today serves as the "United Nations Messenger of Peace" and testimony to the reality that one life can change the world.

Dr. Muhammad Unus is known around the world as "The Banker to the Poor", which is the title of one of his books. Professor Unus, a Bangladeshee, along with the Grameen Bank that he founded in 1983, is the recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. The prize was awarded for his pioneering work helping the poor of Bangladesh escape from poverty by providing loans and teaching them a few key financial principles. The Grameen Bank was started with $27.00US out of Dr. Unus's own pocket with a handful of his students helping him. It now has 7 million borrowers-cum-owners. It's loans total more than $6 billion with a repayment rate from the poor of 99%. One of the key emphases of the program is to send children to school now giving 30,000 scholarships a year. Many of the children go on to higher education becoming doctors, engineers, college teachers and other professionals. Professor Unus's work has become a worldwide movement toward the eradication of poverty through micro-lending. Replicas of the Grameen Bank now operate in 100 countries worldwide. This "experiment" over the past thirty years gives Dr. Unus a platform to proclaim that poverty is a threat to peace, a denial of all human rights, and that even beggars can become businessmen. One life can change the world.

Paul Farmer, Jane Goodall, and Muhammad Unus represent three exemplary lives that have changed the world for the better. Their lives remind us of the verse in Proverbs (19:17), "If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord - and he will repay you." This spring, millions of students in North America will walk across a platform, shake the university president's hand, and graduate. For each student cum alumnus, graduation is just the beginning, a commencement of a life that can change the world. That's good news!

Envisioning Renewal of the Community

2008-03-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

Communities in general are organized into specific forms to support their particular identities and essences and achieve their intended ends. Christian communities are no different. They take many forms, and forms within forms: churches, congregations, Bible studies, support groups, youth groups and programs, and social service initiatives targeted toward specific groups of people in need. The same may be said for universities, and their colleges, schools, departments, study groups, and campus student associations. Often the identity and essence of each respective community precedes the form and the form is transformed or changed in some significant way over time.

Throughout my life, I've attended and participated in a diversity of Christian communities/churches. In the past forty two years, its been my privilege to be a student, graduate student, lecturer, professor, dean, vice president and provost, and two times a president in a diversity of higher education settings. This includes small liberal arts colleges, larger universities, both public and private, Christian and secular. It is out of this significant diversity of special communities that I make the following observations:

1) The identity and essence (nature) of a community is in constant threat of drift and/or dissipation and requires the hard work of constant affirmation and attention if it is to hold constant and be sustained;
2) The forms that carry the essence of a community will be constantly changing and transforming which occasions the potential drift or dissipation of the community's identity and essence. This is because maintaining the form of the community is too often deemed more important than sustaining its identity and essence. Finally,
3) the ends of the community, its raison d'etre and purpose, is originally intended to be an intentional outcome or outcomes, but often is lost in the effort to focus on and maintain the forms designed to carry the essence and achieve the intended ends.

These three realities explain why churches, congregations, social service organizations, colleges, and universities drift into a poor shadow of their former selves and lose the dynamism, vision, and success of their earlier beginnings.

Every community has a history of development, maturity, and decline. Many decline imperceptibly slowly over long periods of time, continuing a form of existence, but in reality remaining lifeless, empty shells no longer viable for the purposes to which they were earlier devoted. Other communities, however, succeed in reinventing themselves. Their renewal and revitalization may maintain the form of their prior existence, but not necessarily. Often, rebirth and renewal means housing and carrying the community's identity and essence in new forms, new structures, old wine in new wineskins. Universities are communities that face the same challenges and opportunities. The antidote to predictable decline, stagnation, dissipation, and drift is vision. Vision always builds on a clear sense of identity and essence and the courage to explore and experiment with new forms. It involves envisioning new ways and means of achieving the same valued ends. Just as a painter helps the viewer by deftly handling the painting's light, texture, colour, and space, those charged with the renewal of communities work to help others to envision the community's future by focussing on the university as a people, a place, a provision, and a priority.

For a Christian university, this means that we may envision faculty and staff as devoted to occasioning noble ends for others and graduates becoming people of competence and character, calling and commitment. We may envision the university as a place which draws learners together with scholars who together forge profound exposures to unvarnished truth, truth both discovered and revealed, through highly engaging dialogue which illumines the implications of truth for the future of the world. We may also envision the Christian university as God's provision, a wonderful gift to the world of remarkable resources to be cherished and further developed including intelligent, capable, committed people; attractive, functional facilities; adequate lands; state-of-the-art technology; generous financial aid; everything needed to support educational excellence. Finally, we may envision the Christian university as a priority attracting the finest students, faculty, and staff; engaging visionary, compassionate partners who enable mission fulfillment (essence, forms, and ends); a university with a profile and prominence nationally and internationally, known for graduates who are among the finest in the world having unparalleled excellence in competence and character.

Christian communities, universities included, which sustain their identity and character, which adapt and adjust to engage the most effective forms to convey their essence and achieve their desired ends, will be those whose members have a tremendous impact on others as they strive to seize the world's greatest opportunities and courageously address the world's greatest needs.

A Blessing For Innumerable Others

2008-01-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

Martin Luther King's contribution to the world is celebrated each year about this time. This year Martin Luther King (MLK) day and the USA's Black History Month come at a special time in history when the democratic Presidential Primaries include an attractive, dynamic candidate in the person of Senator Barach Obama. I recently heard the rhetorical question raised "Wouldn't Martin Luther King be pleased to know that a person of African heritage was a serious candidate to become president of the United States?" It gave me pause to think of how one generation sets the stage for another's progress and the truth of the old platitude that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before. As I reflected on the impact of the life of MLK on the world today, my thoughts drifted to the question "Who were the provocative, guiding influences on MLK's life. The full answer may best be found in one or more of the biographies written since his tragic death. I have learned this much though: In addition to the well known influence of Mahatma Gandhi on MLK's embrace of a non-violent, passive resistance strategy of political engagement, MLK was also influenced by the writings of E. Stanley Jones. In fact Jones and Gandhi were good friends for decades in India. Jones served India for fifty-five years as a culturally sensitive Methodist missionary. He too believed the the correctness and efficacy of non-violent political resistance.

I believe MLK first encountered Gandhi's thinking as a doctoral divinity student at historically Methodist Boston University through the writings of E. Stanley Jones. Of the 30 some books Jones had authored, his early writings included "The Christ of the Indian Road" and "The Christ of the American Road". In "The Christ of the American Road", published during the Second World War (exact date unknown), E. Stanley Jones writes on pages 95 to 98 about Ameica's "hesitation to apply the Christian faith to the question of race". This passage when read is powerful today. He called the racial prejudice that had invaded the church an apostasy and an absurdity. Instead of the church being a voice against discrimination and prejudice, it had become an echo of society. Instead of influencing society for the good of all, it simply reflected that society and "the spirit of the surrounding culture." I can only imagine that when Martin Luther King read that passage a decade or more after it was written, he was profoundly moved and encouraged to pursue the path he eventually was to take.

The reality that strikes me is multi-dimensional: First, the profound impact that the writings of one generation can have on another. E. Stanley Jones' and Mahatma Gandhi had an impact on MLK. MLK had and continues to have a world-wide impact on generations of people today and no doubt tomorrow. His small book of sermons entitled "Strength to Love" alone is a powerful influence. The postive events of the present day's political scene with Senator Obama builds on the faithfulness of those who have gone before.

Second: It was the co-leadership influence of Jones and Gandhi and the co-leadership influence of MLK and President Lyndon Johnson that laid successive generational foundations of courage and "righteousness". President Johnson was not a paragon of virtue. He was a shrewd Texas politician skilled at backroom deals. But he rose to the occasion in championing ground breaking Civil Rights Legislation and Voters Rights Legislation that paved the way for progress and advancement of human rights and human dignity of all peoples.

Third, it strikes me that God is at work from one generation to the next,and on to the next, through the writings of heroic, disciplined leadership of Gandhi, Jones, MLK, Johnson, and so many others whose character, commitment, and courage are sustained through conflict, suffering, and troubles. God is at work giving insight, ingenuity, and inspiration to act heroically on behalf of those who cannot.

Fourth, heroic leadership often includes articulation: both the written and the spoken word. The writings and public addresses offered-up with conviction are used by God often to reach people not foreseen or known by the author and speaker.

Fifth, and I say this especially to young people who wonder if their lives will count for anything good and noble, your life matters. Listen to the still small voice of God. There is more work to do. Your life can be not only a reflection of competence and character, but there is a calling that will require risk, sacrifice, struggle, pain and suffering. But such a calling will be blessed and will be a blessing for innumerable others.

Tough Love in the University

2007-12-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

A generation ago the idea of "tough love" surfaced in the context of writings on child rearing. Parents were encouraged to not just coddle their kids, but to provide structure, boundaries, discipline, and reality checks as part of the guidance children require for healthy progress and development. The idea of tough love generalized beyond parenting to supervising in the workplace and to providing 360 degree assessments of performance by garnering feedback from others who work with the individual being assessed. The idea of giving them feedback in the spirit of "tough love" is that they will be better for it. This is a tricky exercise which can backfire. Tough love requires tough, candid feedback that at first pass can be most unwelcomed by the recipient and even highly threatening to the old ego. How to say "We love you, but . . ." often requires skill and adroit handling. The "We love you . . ." part is like putting on the lifejacket before going whitewater rafting. It's the "but" that turns the corner into the rough water rapids that inevitably must be navigated. Anyone who's gone white water rafting on the Kicking Horse river in British Columbia appreciates the metaphor. Now the truth of the matter is that skill and finesse in exercising "tough love" in the way of prudently delivered feedback is needed not just in child rearing and workplace supervision, but in faith communities, politics, government circles, and international relations. Anywhere and everywhere there are people in need of principle grounded accountability. It is a blessing to all if the result is enhanced performance and positive human relations via "tough love" feedback. It's the "blessing" part that carries the love, the respect for the dignity of the receiver of feedback, the one who can most benefit by the truth expressed with care and concern. As I write this, I am faced with delivering such tough love messaging to good friends and colleagues for whom I am responsible in the workplace. I confess, I have been dragging my feet lacking enough courage to exercise the requisite tough love. I fear that in the delivering the message I lack the necessary skill to be effective and risk just occasioning hurt and wounded feeling. Alas! To not face the music and pull the string, do I not commit a greater sin of omission . . . failing to be the friend who can speak the truth in love in such a way that creates hope for something even better? That something is even more effective leadership for the university community. Universities are particularly vulnerable to these dynamics where bright minds and passionately engaged hearts raise the stakes in seeking continuously improved performance through tough love kinds of feedback.

There Will Come A Day . . .

2007-10-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

There was a day when the people in key leadership roles in Canada, the USA, and around the world were the age of our students today. Their lives were still being shaped. The quality of their future leadership was being forged on the anvil of higher education.

There was a day when the leaders of ENRON and NORTEL, those great failures of corporate responsibility, were university students.

There was a day when Billy Graham was an undergraduate student along with Nelson Mandella half way around the world, both students at Christian universities, Billy Graham in a Baptist context and Mandella in a Methodist one.

There was a day when Members of Parliament and members of Congress were undergraduates being prepared for leadership in the future. When the Prime Minister and the President were similarly still in some of their most formative years as university students.

There is a day coming when students in universities across North America and around the world will be on the world’s stage. When that day comes, Trinity Western University students will be among them with competence second to none, but even more importantly their competence will be amplified through character that will make all the difference, because it will be character not only after the likeness of their wonderful faculty, but even more wonderfully character after the likeness of Jesus Christ. They will lead out of a passion and compassion to serve in Jesus name. They will have an impact that is inspirational, because it is God inspired. They will wrestle with new challenges we ourselves have not yet seen, and yet they will deal with old challenges of humanity which are as old as Adam. They will be the light and salt in the world that Christ spoke of. They will embody the hope he promises.

The World's Deepest Needs

2007-10-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Two pieces of journalism intersected each other in the firing of my cerebral synapses recently. One entitled "Our Greatest Challenges" appeared in Newsweek magazine. The other, a point of view piece written by David J. Skorton entitled "A Global Plan for Colleges" appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education (September 21, 2007). Together they raise the question in my mind - "What more should universities do to address the world's greatest needs?" This question has been hauntingly on my mind ever since taking the president's post at Trinity Western University July 1, 2006. Hunger in Africa, pollution in China, 146 million children in the developing world suffering from malnutrition, pandemics of infectious diseases, conlficts and crisis in Darfur, Israel, Iraq and Afganistan, natural disasters, violations of human rights and religious freedom, the lack of access to clean drinking water for 1.1 billion people and the lack of sanitation for 2.6 billion, and preventable infant mortality for 10 million children a year - these are but a few of the enormous challenges facing the world today. World Bank estimates exceed 2 billion people worldwide currently living on less than $2 per day, according to David Skorton. Is there a university in the world today intentionally committed to developing graduates of competence and compassion to address the enormity of the world's greatest needs? Skorton, in his point of view article, calls for a kind of Marshall Plan for today's world - the kind of plan that restored war torn Europe to economic, political stability and peace after the 2nd World War. It seems to me that what is needed is leadership and political will to conceive such a plan and universities to adjust their curricula and programs to produce the kind of leadership to rise to the occasion and carry out such a plan. A collective movement of governments along with private philanthropy is needed to resource universities on a massive scale to make this shift in focus and this commitment to the moral, ethical challenge before us. The deplorable international situation must be addressed. It is the right thing to do. The stakes are high. University teaching, research, and service to a needy world, if responsibly redesigned and refocussed, will achieve what I believe is a higher level of higher education. Such univeristies will truly exhibit higher higher education.

Pursuing Shalom

2007-09-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace. Should universities be places of shalom? Should they also be devoted to promoting shalom in the world? This is a question not often raised or answered by univerities. By shalom, I mean that which Yale professor emeritus of philosophical theology, Nicholas Wolterstorff, refers to as "human flourishing". Usually the translation of the word is restricted to "peace", but it has a richer, more profound meaning when thought of as "flourishing". Woltersdorff's characterization of shalom is worth visiting. He states - "Shalom as human flourishing requires justice. . . how does one not just teach justice, but teach one's students to pursue justice, and to struggle against injustice? . . . how one shapes dispositions -- virtues, if you will." He goes on to say that shalom goes beyond justice to incorporate right relationships to God, to one's fellow human beings, to nature, and to oneself and that to dwell in shalom is to find delight in living. Is it not a primary endeavor for a university like TWU to be guided by this idea of shalom as human flourishing, to be guided by this in the design of curriculum, in the promotion of authentic community, in the staging of profound, life changing exposures, in the conceiving of the university's impact on students and through students as graduates its impact upon the world? If the answer is yes, then the university is responding to the command of Christ to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. . . bringing true shalom to a world that so desperately needs peace, justice, and the opportunity to flourish!