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Evangelism: Developing and Communicating Your Story of Jesus
On October 31st, CU New York had the privilege of hosting guest speaker Ken Fish for a salon focused on the topic of evangelism through conversation and testimony sharing.
Greetings from CU Vox,
We just started Week 6 of our ten-week term and our students have their mid-term exams behind them. We have 11 Bible Courses going this fall, all studying Colossians.
‘Keep it simple, stupid’ was something I had never heard before I took a preaching class at seminary. I’m not sure if it qualifies to be one of the true “great” preaching mantras, or leadership mantras, but it gets its point across. Dr. Haddon Robinson, my preaching professor, used to say to us homiletical plebes, things like, “If it’s foggy in the pulpit, it’s cloudy in the pews!”, or “If you can’t say it in 25 minutes, you won’t know how to say it in 45.”
"Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:1-5
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Though Paul and the Colossian church were strangers, they still prayed for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. So it is with us. As you pray for us, we are praying for you. And we are thankful for your partnership in this ministry. It is our joy to serve with you and alongside you for the sake of the Kingdom!
“… if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard …” Colossians 1:23
Dear Prayer Partners,
Praise be to Christ Jesus, the only sure foundation upon which we stand here at Yale! This semester, we're seeing in Colossians how the only way to continue in the Christian life is the same way that we began in the Christian life—by grace, through faith!
We’ve been encouraged with a full month of events, small group meetings and an array of initiatives both large and small. All of these reflect the on-going work of God in New York - a city not widely viewed as a hotbed of spiritual vibrancy, yet vibrant nonetheless with the Spirit working in individual’s lives, in and through churches, and with an increasing hunger for spiritual perspective and truth.
“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel” (Colossians 1:3-5)
What has struck me most this quarter as we revisit Colossians in Bible courses and one-on-one meetings is the relationship of faith and love to hope which Paul here describes.
John Hay Library Puts Emphasis on “Gay Pulp Fiction”
By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer
Christian alumni from Brown and other top-tier universities were disturbed, but not entirely surprised, at the news of the university’s plans to expand and catalog its massive collection of “gay pulp fiction.”
Brown University plans to catalog its massive collection of gay pulp fiction, and the John Hay Library’s curator of literary and popular culture collections would like to add “more books that cover the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum.”
Brown’s more than 4,600 (and growing) volumes of cheap, highly explicit paperbacks is one of the biggest collections – or possibly the largest – of any, according to WBUR.org. The radio station noted that most of the books are “straight up pornography,” but others are categorized as “sexual lifestyle guides.”
In July, Boston’s NPR news station reported on the university’s efforts to catalog its pulps. The majority of titles are geared to same-sex attracted men. Once finished, Heather Cole, the John Hay Library’s curator of literary and popular culture collections, says she is “interested in adding more books that cover the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum.”
