[October 15, 2012]

I have to confess that I don’t read a lot of books on prayer. However, last summer a friend told me his spiritual gift was “book recommendation,” and to prove it he suggested two titles. My positive experience with his first recommendation led me, somewhat reluctantly, to read the second—Paul Miller’s A Praying Life. It literally changed my life.

Miller has coined a clever title. It is a book on prayer, but more about a “kind of life,” one lived connected with God. It’s the idea of living in constant communication with God, while accomplishing His kingdom work together. This is a theme that God has been teaching me for the last five years or so through other books (Practicing the Presence of God, Letters by a Modern Mystic). Practicing the presence of God has become the most transformational spiritual discipline in my life.

Welcome Honesty

I liked this book by Miller because he is refreshingly honest. He talks often of his own life and struggles related to prayer. I sensed tremendous authenticity while reading the stories he uses to illustrate his points. Early in the book he gives a wonderful description and explanation for why many, like me, have a rather poor prayer life when he tackles cynicism – a huge problem in American Christianity. He then effectively discusses how to move past this.

I’ve always known intellectually about the importance and necessity of prayer, but if my actions are a reflection of what I really believe, then I suppose I didn’t hold prayer in very high regard. Miller does a wonderful job of imparting a tremendous vision for prayer. His writing gives me the “want to” for prayer.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes:
“When you stop trying to control your life and instead allow your anxieties to bring you to God in prayer, you shift from worry to watching. You watch God weave His patterns in the story of your life. Instead of trying to be out front, designing your life, you realize you are, instead, part of God’s drama. As you wait, you begin to see Him work, and your life begins to sparkle with wonder. You are learning to trust again.”

I loved this book so much that I used it as material for both a faculty Bible study and a student Bible study on campus, and I’ve been going through it with my wife (also a professor) as we learn together to become more connected with God. Now she’s going through it with one of the women that she mentors.

I highly recommend reading this book!

(c) Mark Marten 2012

Phillip Bishop,
Exercise Physiology,
University of Alabama

[Oct. 8, 2012]

Many of our students fall in love while in Higher Education. Some fall in love with other people; some fall in love with science, art, or some other field.

Love can be risky.

As a scientist, I can understand the infatuation some students have with science; I can see why they fall in love. As an experienced scientist, however, I can’t see why they want to “marry” science,“forsaking all else.”

I love being a scientist, but I find I have to be on guard, because Jesus warned us, “No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other…” (Luke 16:13)

Doing science is a worthy calling. According to Proverbs 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” Indeed, scientists have a special access to the truth of Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”However, Romans 1:25 warns that “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator…”

Keeping the Balance

Over the years, I have seen many students struggle with being so in love with science that they forget their long term love of Christ and His Church. Some students are unable to reconcile their new love for science with their Christian upbringing and they choose to abandon their faith.

I have used the following with my students to encourage them to keep the proper balance:
• Love them regardless.
• Connect them with an experienced scientist who is a Christian.
• Gently help them to discover the limitations of science:
- Scientists tend to be very narrow in the scope of their expertise.
- Science, by its own rules, cannot deal with the supernatural or spiritual.
– Scientists can speak with great authority about their own field, but this knowledge does NOT
necessarily inform philosophy or religion.
• Remind them that the BIG questions in life cannot be answered in a laboratory, because they are beyond the scope of science:
- Why are we here?
- What is the purpose of my life?
- What happens when life ends?
- What is good?
• While reminding them that the scientific theory with the most explanatory power rules, I affirm that Christianity and the Bible offer tremendous explanatory power.
• Pray for them.

You may not be a scientist. Your field may have spiritual challenges of its own. But, recognize that when our students fall in love, it can be beneficial… or detrimental.

God put us in a position to help, whether their love is toward science or something else.

“ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

(c)2012 Phil Bishop

The Problem of God (this year’s theme) addressed head-on the issues that keep many seekers from knowing Christ. Over two days of plenary sessions and seminars, ten Christian academics considered questions like:

• Is God a Moral Monster?
• Does God know about the Big Bang?
• If a loving God exists, then why isn’t He more obvious?
• Why does God seem judgmental and intolerant?
• Can Christianity contribute to the rebuilding of business morality in China today?

Dr. Paul Copan, professor and current president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society addressed the question, Is God a Moral Monster? Good, Evil, and the Old Testament.

More than an hour after the lecture ended, long lines continued to snake behind the open microphones when Faculty Commons staff and event emcee Corey Miller had to end the Q&A time. Almost all of the questions came from people who were not believers in Jesus: international students, members of the Society of Non-Theists, leaders of Muslim groups and the Pagan Academic Network.

The weekend succeeded in making God a topic of discussion on campus, and will promote spiritual conversations for the year to come. “I’ve begun follow up and have already had some good discussions,” Corey relates.  “This was really a legacy building event.  We saw fruit all year long in follow-up [from last year’s similar event], and I suspect this year will be even better.”

For more information about the Purdue Christian Faculty and Staff Network visit their website here. 

The Christian faculty group at Western Kentucky University uses QR codes to connect college students with the gospel.

For 25 years, hundreds of Christian faculty groups have published ads that proclaim their faith in Jesus in their campus newspapers. Spiritually-hungry students can seek out one of the professors listed in the ad if they want to dialogue about spiritual topics.

The ad filled three-fourths of a page in the WKU campus newspaper in early December. It stood out since it was the only color ad that day. The 84 Christian faculty names in the ad represent a 50% increase over the “welcome back to school” ad the group ran in September.

The QR code in the ad links to “Who Is Jesus . . . Really?” (whoisjesus-really.com). This Cru website offers information about Jesus in 40 different languages, so it reaches most international students as well as English-speakers.

Dr. Larry Caillouet, the WKU prof who organized this ad, has even bigger plans for QR codes that link to websites about Jesus. “Our campus, like most others, is looking for any way to squeeze out a little extra revenue, so they sell ad space inside the shuttle buses,” Larry explains.

“We intend to put more QR codes there.  Unlike a campus newspaper that lasts just a few days before it’s thrown out, the bus ads can run for weeks or months.  And students don’t have a lot to occupy themselves with while riding the bus, so I think they will read the ads and follow the QR codes.”

Christian professors at North Carolina State recently adopted the WKU idea of using QR codes in ads on campus buses. Using normal web analytics, the NC State professors will be able to track how many students have clicked through from the QR code to the websites about Jesus, how long they stayed on the site, etc.

Not a bad use for 21^st century technology—connecting college students with the first-century man who offers them hope, peace, and new life!

Dusty Wilson,
Mathematics,
Highline Community College

[March 18, 2012]

We attempt to engage and direct our students in a lifetime quest to achieve balance and congruity in all aspects of their lives. While this includes education in our respective disciplines, the “whole person” is broader – encompassing the areas of family, health, education, career, service, finances and spirituality.

Ironically, we live in a fragmented culture where we address health at the gym, education in a classroom, and the spirit through isolationist gatherings on Sundays.

Is developing the whole mind through general education requirements sufficient? Perhaps. But I believe we can do better.

A Look in the Mirror

For example I found it difficult to teach to the whole student when I myself was a fragmented soul. Perhaps this was most evident in my own discipline where we intentionally isolate ourselves from the rest of the academic curriculum. (Did you know a degree in math requires no formal training in any of the other natural sciences?) I found myself wanting to understand how mathematics fit within a broader context. To do so I began to listen to those around me and pray for guidance.

The answer came in this question: Is mathematics invented or discovered? Many great minds have wrestled with this conundrum; more so as the efficacy of mathematics has increased while incompleteness has eroded its foundations. For me finding philosophy within mathematics has breathed life and coherence into my teaching and research. I found a new marvel and awe for the queen of the sciences!

Be Intentional

I encourage you to be intentional in your effort to understand your academic discipline and intellectual passions within a broader context. Mary Poplin (Claremont, Education) said it this way, “Each one of us should read through our Bible at least once from the perspective of our respective disciplines.”

For years I mocked Facebook (Fb) and online social media as disingenuous and faddish. I have come to see it as a way to communicate with students. In addition to numerous math topics addressed via Fb, I have used it to pose questions, share thoughts, and generate conversation with my students and colleagues more freely than time and culture allow on campus.

Perhaps most importantly, it has let me see into the personal lives of my students and provides opportunity to share, challenge, and encourage them through the struggles that rarely come out in the classroom. I welcome student dialogue beyond the classroom.

I know that many faculty feel strongly that there should be an inseparable divide between our personal and professional lives. But that compartmentalization seems at odds with our effort to reach the whole student.

We don’t have to talk or dress like a teenybopper. But this generation values openness, honesty, and authenticity. Consider using social media with your students. Think about it as one way to contribute to learning that extends beyond the classroom.

Share your own faith journey at MeetTheProf.com

©2012 Dusty Wilson
photo©istockphoto

Review by Dr. Jay Lorenzen, Faculty Commons Leadership Team and retired Air Force Academy Political Science Professor

Tim and Kathy Keller helped turn us around. Their book, The Meaning of Marriage, pointed us back upstream and put oars in our hands. Why float down to some kind of “qualified lesser” marriage? Marriage is “hard, it’s also glorious” the Kellers write. And God intends it to be an adventure worth all our blood, sweat, and tears. This book reminded us that God actually planned to take both the humbling defeats and the exhausting victories of our lives lived together and mysteriously display his glory and his Kingdom to the world.

One simple point, in particular, grabbed us.

When God brought the first man his spouse, he brought him not just a lover but the friend his heart had been seeking.

Marriage-as-friendship miraculously combines natural and supernatural elements for the Christ-follower. When our spouse becomes not just our lover and financial partner but our best friend, we move toward adventure and fulfillment–a journey where we help each other become our glory-selves, the new creations that God will eventually make us.

Here are some more of their “friendship” insights:

• Actions of love lead to feelings of love.
• Marriage is a friendship to be nurtured with constancy, transparency, and a common passion. It cannot be merely about itself; but something both friends are committed to and passionate about besides one another. For Christians, that commitment and passion is for Christ.
• Each spouse should commit to being a vehicle for the great work that Jesus is doing in the life of their mate.
• Your spouse IS the “someone better” you’re looking for! This is true if you see him or her in terms of the glory God intends for them, a work to which you are called.

Laurie and I wished we had understood more of this. The years of floating downstream might have been fewer. But we’re thankful now to take the oar in hand and by God’s enabling to work upstream toward both a better and more fulfilling marriage.

A forestry professor spoke through tears about God’s comforting presence since her six-year-old daughter died in a tragic accident in January.

A music professor related to the students how his inaccurate view of God had for years adversely affected his walk with Christ.

The Christian professors at Stephen F. Austin University obviously relished the opportunity last month to serve as spiritual mentors for the students who attended their What I Can’t Say in the Classroom presentations.

The professors had advertised the event on their office doors, and (to our delight and surprise) 10-12 additional faculty members attended, too!  One, a math professor who did not indicate he was a Christian himself, said he came to hear his colleague tell her story.

A Q&A time following the talks prompted some great discussion. One student, who was attending a Cru (Campus Crusade’s student ministry at SFA) meeting for the first time, was overjoyed to learn it is possible to have a ”faith conversation” with a professor in her office. A new student at SFA, she learned after the talk that her academic advisor (also in attendance) was yet another Christian professor in the math department.

Another student was eager to continue this professor-student interaction:  could they regularly pray together for their campus? The professors’ enthusiastic response: “We would love to make the time to do that!”

One student asked the professors why they were willing to come and talk to the students about their faith. All responded that they sense God’s prompting to see their work at the university as their ministry. Though they are active in their churches, now God is urging them to pursue ministry opportunities on campus with students and colleagues.

Some comments from the students:

“I feel like many of my questions about God were answered fully.  I will definitely come again! Loved it!”

“I had no idea what I was walking into tonight, but God definitely did!  Thank you guys for opening your hearts to a bunch of confused “20-somethings”!  I am going to be an elementary ed teacher in a year and you are an inspiration and gave me HOPE!”

“You cannot imagine how much I need this…it’s been awhile that I was falling out of my fellowship with God.  I was in a hard place in my life and still am…this really touched me.”

“It’s awesome to see that staff/teachers here at SFA are seeking to share their stories with their students and really use their profession as a vocation to invest in their students.  I’ve been thinking of asking one of my nursing professors to be a spiritual mentor, and I think I might do it.”

—During the summer of 1994 when I was a camp counselor, a friend told me she thought I had the spiritual gift of encouragement.  She posted a little note by my bed.  It said, “You are an encourager.”

I remember exactly what it looked like–the handwriting, the color–and how it felt to have someone name something like that about me.  My friend saw what I couldn’t see.

That single comment shaped the future of my life.

To Point Others

I wasn’t just an average girl; I was a hope giver, a courage finder, and an inspiration provider. I wasn’t just a nobody.  God wanted to use me to point others towards a beautiful future.It took someone naming it to help me see it.

I had a student who told me that of all my weeks and weeks of teaching, the most memorable thing from my class was a single comment I wrote on one of his many essays.In the margin of his paper, I wrote:  “You sound like a great teacher right here.”   He was overwhelmed that I named that in him, and he later wrote about his dreams for graduate school to become a teacher.

As my husband and I discussed these comments, he told me he remembered the exact words of a Boy Scout leader who pointed out some unique gifts he saw in my husband.   Those were turning point words.

Today as I guide students through their memoir drafts, I realize that I’m not naming what I see enough.  I wonder what I need to name in my children, in my friends, and in my students.  I see this in you.  Maybe God will use it to shape a life.  Maybe those words will be a turning point for someone today.

A Celebration Of Doing Well

As a Christian professor, speaking words of encouragement goes against the grain.  Pointing out a positive trait or complimenting a student seems unusual.  I’ve been told that students normally encounter cynicism, discouragement, and criticism rather than optimism, encouragement, and a celebration of what they’re doing well.

When I go back to my own training as a teacher and scholar, I remember how much time we spent learning how to find out what was wrong with a scholarly article or a piece of student writing.  Rarely (if at all) did we ask the question, “What did this writer do well?”

It became easy—second nature—to deconstruct, rip apart, and expose weakness.  The more we could complain, the smarter we sounded.

What if I decided to take another path?  What if I used my words to heal and inspire?  What would it look like to cast a great vision within a student that could start from a single comment?

I’ve seen the devastating effects of a negative turning point comment.   I often ask students, for example, why they feel so afraid and insecure about their own writing.  They can remember a specific moment when a teacher told them they were incompetent.  They know when and where the insecurity and fear rose up in them.

I want them to know, instead, the exact moment when hope, confidence, and purpose took root inside of them.  I want them to remember my class as a turning point.

(c) 2011 Heather Holleman

During a long career at Texas A&M University, Dr. Bradley had applied his expertise to improving consumer products for companies like 3M, Dow, and Dupont. Now he addresses global poverty by developing appropriate technology for third world countries.

“Rather than helping to make the most comfortable billion people in the world a little more comfortable,” he explains, “God wants me to help the poorest two billion people—who live on less than two dollars per day—have a better shot at survival.”

Toward that end, Dr. Bradley and his team at Baylor looked for an abundant renewable resource that grows exclusively in poor parts of the world and is owned by the poor people of those countries. A former doctoral student—the first person from Papua New Guinea to earn an engineering degree—suggested they take a look at coconuts.

A typical coconut farmer lives in places like Indonesia, Liberia and Sri Lanka. The worldwide demand for his crop dropped 75% in one year during the 1990’s. Now his five acres produce an income of only $500 per year. On this he ekes out a subsistence-level living for his family of nine.

“Please God, let there be something useful and interesting about coconuts,” Dr. Bradley prayed.

And there was. The coconut’s constituent parts of husk, pith, oil and shell all have properties with numerous possible consumer applications in the gardening, packaging, and building materials industries.

But the application that captured the attention of Motor Trend magazine, MSNBC, and the Discovery Channel is in car parts—specifically trunk liners and door panels—made by blending 50% coconut fibers with polypropylene.

“People are looking for green choices today,” Dr. Bradley notes.  “Replacing polyester with coconut fiber is cheaper, greener, and has better mechanical properties. We could possibly triple the income of poor coconut farmers!”

Dr. Bradley’s group aims to work through churches and mission agencies to help poor farmers own the coconut processing facilities, for which his group then becomes a primary customer. Developing technology with patents allows them to maintain a significant price for the coconut and pay farmers a far better price than they get today.

Things are looking up for the 11 million coconut farmers of the world.  All because a Christian professor asked God to show him a holistic way to help them—meeting both their spiritual and economic needs.

Greg was influenced by Cru’s student ministry as an undergrad at UNL. Now, after earning his Ph.D. at Duke University, Greg seeks to be a Christian professor who points his UNL colleagues and students to Jesus.

Months of Prayer

During 2009, Greg and two other Christian professors met regularly to study Ministering in the Secular University, written by one of Faculty Commons’ founding professors, Dr. Rae Mellichamp.  One of many great ideas in the book is to start a faculty/staff ministry.  After months of prayer, the three decided to start such a ministry at Nebraska.

Greg connected with Kansas-based Faculty Commons staff Mark Brown. In the spring of 2010, as the three professors planned the kickoff, Mark provided insight from his experience in working with similar ministries at other universities.  “Mark’s advice was invaluable to the launching of this ministry,” Greg recalls.  “I even asked him to vet the invitation email we were going to send out!”

The Kickoff

At the kickoff meeting, “We offered free lunch and a chance to hear our vision,” Greg explains. He and two other attendees funded the lunch themselves, and were delighted to receive a much larger catering bill than he had planned on: “I expected maybe 10 people there, and about 45 came!”

One of the 45 was a new faculty member who had been a leader in Faculty Commons’ ministry at the University of Florida—and was eager to be involved in a similar group at UNL.

In the fall of 2010, the group organized a bi-monthly meeting. “One of our primary goals is to be a group of action, of spreading the kingdom at UNL,” Greg explains. “In that vein, we scheduled speakers we thought would give us practical advice on how to be a light at the university.”

A core group of 10-15 has since emerged, with over 90 faculty and staff now on the group’s mailing list. “While many can’t come regularly,” Mark notes, “they still email Dr. Bashford and tell him what an encouragement and source of strength it is to know this ministry exists.”

Outreach, Discipleship, and a Vision

The Christian faculty at UNL are following God’s lead in reaching out to colleagues and students with the love of God. “They have recently begun a partnership with a graduate student fellowship to start a new mentoring program between students and faculty,” Mark explains.

These kinds of discipleship relationships pay huge dividends later on, when the graduate students are Christian professors themselves—who influence tens of thousands of students over a 30-year career.

Greg and his key leaders plan to expand their visibility on campus in the upcoming school year. “We hope to start some reach-out activities that Rae suggests in his book,” he says, “such as a ‘Favorite Faculty’ dinner and Easter advertisements in the school newspaper.”