Grandson of Evangelist Recalls Defining Moment
By Will Graham
Editor’s note: The following article was written by Will Graham, grandson of Billy Graham and vice president and associate evangelist at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Article was first published in 2014, four years before the passing of Billy Graham; Reprinted with permission.
On a daily basis I’m blessed with memories and stories of the many ways God chose to use my grandfather to reach people around the world over the course of many decades. Nearly everywhere I go people stop to tell me about how entire families and generations were impacted by his ministry. It’s humbling.
Penn Professor, Yale Lecturer Make Shocking Statements
By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor
This spring, two academic seminars with ties to Ivy League universities came under fire for incendiary comments regarding race. A University of Pennsylvania professor said white evangelicals are racists who “may end up killing us all,” while a guest lecturer at the Yale School of Medicine expressed frustration with the national dialogue by saying she had fantasies about shooting white people.
CU Lumine Prepares for Fall Semester
By Kelly Parks, Staff Writer
Despite the challenges posed by conducting Bible courses and other events online or with strict social distancing guidelines this past academic year, CU Lumine, Christian Union’s ministry at Columbia, was full of prayer pods, evangelism workshops, and Bible courses - all of which took place online. While the ministry center was open for occasional one-on-one meetings and small groups of under nine participants, Zoom meetings were the primary way students connected with each other.
Catholic Author Weighs In on Students' Pursuit of Happiness
Cognitive scientist Laurie Santos has a thought question for you: if you could live in a simulated reality where you are perfectly happy, would you knowingly choose it over a less-happy real life? Santos, who is a psychology professor at Yale, has been studying the nature of happiness—how we get it, what makes us happy, and how psychology directly impacts our happiness—for years.
Sexual Brokenness
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Looking to the Early Church for Inspiration
The concept of “seeking” God is often attributed to individuals who are interested in the Christian faith but not yet believers. But biblically speaking, seeking God is what Christians do—Christians pursue intimacy with the Lord, knowledge of Him, His guidance and presence, His blessing.
“Whose Voice Are We Hearing?”
By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor
At first glance, the career path of Amilee Watkins may seem somewhat random. A trained classical musician, her resume includes employment as a manager of a Starbucks in New York City, assistant director for the Center for Faith and Work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and COO of a startup that centers on spiritual formation.
Scholars Make a Compelling Case for Dismissal
The legal right to abortion may soon come to an end. In July, Mississippi submitted a brief to the Supreme Court arguing that the Constitution makes no room for legal abortion and stating that all life must be protected. In light of this, the state is asking for two rulings—Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey—to be overturned, effectively removing the current rulings that allow for the right to abortion.
CU Vox Shares Good News at Dartmouth with Blog
By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor
At the beginning of the 2019-20 academic year at Dartmouth, the usual excitement surrounding a new semester was dampened by COVID-19 restrictions; only freshmen and juniors were on campus for the fall, and ministry and other organizational activities were limited to zoom or small in-person meetings.In the midst of this uncertainty, Paul Jeon ’21, a leader with CU Vox at Dartmouth, stepped up to create blog content that focused on the sure promises of God in scripture and the question, “Who Does God Say I Am?”
Dr. Matthew Suh Speaks at NYCU Salon
Dr. Matthew Suh, a Harvard-educated surgeon, retired from the operating room to become a practitioner of ministry that is focused on proclaiming the good news of the gospel and supernatural healing.
Where Does Our Help Come From?
By Chloe Cropper, Cornell ’23
Editor’s note: This article was reprinted with permission from Cornell Claritas, “an ecumenical, interdenominational Christian publication that was founded on the hope of starting thoughtful Christian conversations within the academic community at Cornell University.”
There are few things that elicit such pure joy within me as the first bite of boneless wings with Boom Boom sauce do, under the fluorescent lights of a crowded Sheetz dining room. For those unfortunate enough to have never encountered this fine dining establishment, Sheetz is the East Coast’s premier location for gourmet gas station food. What’s so special about a gas station, you might ask?
CU Ministry Center Named for Brown’s 1807 Valedictorian
By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor
The Adoniram Judson Ministry Center is a strategic meeting place at Brown University.
Christian Union Libertas uses the facility for a wide range of events and functions, including fellowship, Bible courses, one-on-one mentoring, prayer, training, meals, and administrative work.
Thank you so much for your support and partnership with us in advancing the gospel here at Brown. This has been an incredibly difficult year for the students, but we are filled with joyful anticipation for the fall. We expect campus to be fully open, with minimal restrictions, and are eager to greet incoming freshmen with our welcoming campaign in September.
“This felt like I was back home.”
Those words were spoken by one of the football players after our CU Lumine Grilling/BBQ event at the ministry center on the last Sunday of July. We had over 30 students gather for one final summer event to celebrate what God did during our summer Bible courses as we studied the Gospel of John.
As I write this, I pray with joy and thankfulness for you and your partnership with us in the gospel at Cornell. We are expecting great things in the year ahead, for the Lord to work according to His good pleasure and His covenant promises. His steadfast love endures, even to this day, in each of your lives and communities, and on the campus of Cornell University, where we and our student leaders are endeavoring to follow Jesus for the sake of His saving and sanctifying work.
It’s been a rainy summer in Hanover, but it’s still been summer in Hanover. The summer term is always a memorable one for Dartmouth students. Typically it’s just the sophomore class on campus, but this summer the juniors, whose sophomore summer was canceled, are here as well. In addition to these two classes, there are several students here working and doing research, including the entire student executive team.
Dear CU Gloria Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,
Thank you for staying connected by praying for the ministry through the summer. We have enjoyed a very fruitful summer season at Harvard, marked by the weekly Exodus Bible study, as well as the nightly student-led Prayer Corps. We are very excited for the fall semester, which will begin shortly in a few weeks. As we start to turn our attention to the fall semester, when the entire ministry will be studying together the Epistle to the Philippians, we ask you to join us in thanking God and in praying for the following:
Thank you so much for your commitment to Christian Union Nova!
Though the Princeton campus is tranquil, these summer months have energized much thought amongst our CU Nova students in preparation for the 2021-22 academic school year.
We’ve been reading Exodus this summer and just finished the ten plagues, God’s deliverance of Israel through the Red Sea, and the beginnings of Israel’s journey to Mt Sinai. The students on our most recent Zoom call were dumbstruck at both the Egyptians and the Israelites. Which makes less sense: that Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who had ten times experienced firsthand the awesome power of the Lord, were foolish enough to follow the Israelites into the Red Sea? Or that the Israelites, who had seen the same and had been delivered from Egypt by the hand of the Lord, time and time again doubted the Lord's goodness and power and thought he was leading them to their death in the wilderness?
This feels like a season of anticipation. Even in normal times, when you work in a college ministry, as July turns to August you begin to get excited about waiting for the return of the students. There is something amazing about the promise of new lives that God can begin to change. And this year the promise feels even greater. For some of these students, it has been more than a year since they were on campus. At Stanford, for example, the class of 2022 left as sophomores in March 2020 and will return as seniors next month after a full 18 months away. That is a lot of time to dream about what God can do in the midst of faithful people gathered together in person!
This makes me think about the most powerful story of anticipation — the promised coming of the Messiah. The people of Israel had to wait a much longer time than we do — generations passed from the promise in Isaiah until the birth of Jesus. Imagine gathering your children around a campfire and repeating that familiar promise year after year while you waited: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
