Michael Lindsay a Belhaven University board member , a remarkable scholar holding positions of significance at Rice University, and an insightful sociologist who studies evangelical leadership in the Church and in the marketplace.

His recent article in the Washington Post, is a wonderful synopsis of the leadership opportunities and challenges of highly visible evangelicals in the marketplace

Evangelical and elite: Four approaches to power

Evangelicals have become significant players on the national stage, so much so that the actions and statements of their leaders ripple across the political and cultural landscape. What happens when evangelicals bring their faith convictions to bear on corporate America or the U.S. government? In particular, how does an evangelical Christian who also leads a major American institution–such as Walmart or the National Institutes of Health–invoke his or her faith when making big decisions?

Bradley C. Smith of Princeton University and I just published a study on this subject in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. It emerged out of a larger study (first published by Oxford University Press as Faith in the Halls of Power) for which I interviewed 360 evangelicals who were top American leaders. These elites included former President Jimmy Carter along with 50 cabinet secretaries and senior White House officials from the last five administrations. I also sat down with 100 CEOs, chairpersons and presidents of major companies including New York Life Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, Tyson Foods, and JC Penney. To round out the study, I met with over 150 leaders from the worlds of nonprofits, the arts, entertainment, and the news media.

I wanted to uncover how these people bring their personal religious convictions to bear on their roles as public leaders. In other words, how does religion seep into their relationships, their work, and the decisions they make?

We found four kinds of evangelicals in the corner offices of major U.S. institutions–the pragmatic, the heroic, the circumspect, and the brazen.

Pragmatic evangelicals are serious about their faith, but they don’t advertise it. In the words of Genworth’s Chief Investment Officer, Ron Joelson, “You don’t want to offend people who are not Christians. . . . [As someone] in a position of power and authority, I don’t want people to feel uncomfortable. . . . [That's] not a particularly good witness.” Joelson’s sentiment was repeated by dozens of other leaders we studied.

Ed Moy, director of the U.S. Mint, takes a different approach. Early in his career, he worked in the private sector and was confronted by his boss after submitting his first expense report:

He shuts the door to his office, and says, “Let me explain something around here. We in sales management never believe that the company is paying us enough, and so…we measure the minimum amount of miles from home to work and back again, and that’s personal miles. Everything else . . . gets dumped in the business column, and that way you get an extra 50 [to] 75 bucks a month. If I were to hand this in, accounting is going to ask some questions, and then there’s a massive audit on everyone, and we can’t have that kind of trouble. So I’m telling you that if you’re interested in a career here, you’re going to change this expense report.”

The next week, when Moy submitted the expense report unchanged, his supervisor threatened to fire him (but, in the end, didn’t). Moy refers to the event as a “seminal moment” in shaping his understanding of the relationship between faith and work.

Moy and other evangelicals embody what we call heroic evangelicalism. Even if it costs them their jobs, these evangelicals refuse to compromise their core beliefs. Now, because evangelicalism is a large, diverse group (comprising about one-third of the U.S. adult population), what one evangelical regards as compromise, another sees as prudence.

The circumspect evangelical are leaders who prefer to signal their faith obliquely, rather than make explicit mention. Michael Duke, the CEO of Walmart, keeps a Bible on his desk and reads from it occasionally, but he’s uncomfortable being too direct about his Christianity.

As the CEO of the country’s biggest business, he has received a number of critiques, many of them challenging how he, as a Christian, could lead a company that pays its workers comparatively low wages and drives smaller businesses into the ground. When asked, he provides answers that would likely please Walmart’s supporters and frustrate its critics. But he doesn’t quote the Bible. He embodies a cosmopolitan evangelicalism that prefers to bear witness to his faith through subtle signals as opposed to explicit reference.

Finally, brazen evangelicals work in environments where they can take remarkable freedom in being bold about their faith. Some private companies give rise to this kind of Christianity, but the easiest examples come from professional sports.

Consider David Robinson, the San Antonio Spurs center who won both the NBA’s Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. Robinson felt an obligation to make known his evangelical faith, and he frequently led the team in prayer before games. Not all of his teammates appreciated Robinson’s praying in Jesus’ name, but no one actively resisted, including a Muslim player on the team. Robinson, like other brazen evangelicals, indiscriminately draws upon his faith with no adverse impact on his career.

These four postures of evangelical leadership–pragmatic, heroic, circumspect, and brazen–can be found all around us in American society. My hunch is that there are analogous approaches occurring among devout Jews in senior leadership positions, as well as among practicing Muslims and those of other faith traditions. Naturally, it will always be a challenge for committed people of faith in senior leadership positions to draw upon their faith sincerely and responsibly. But understanding how their beliefs are playing out on the national stage is the first step in helping them do so–and in holding them accountable for it.

For those of us who were here five years ago today in “the storm,” we’ll never forget Katrina.  It brings back to me memories of great joy in trusting God for EVERYTHING, and tremendous stress having to deal with all that was stable spinning out of control all at once time.

If you’d like to take a walk through “Katrina week” at Belhaven, below are my emails to the campus during the storm.

We didn’t have power after it hit, but I was able to dictate these messages through my cell phone to our web director who was living in New York, who posted on our web which was housed in Atlanta.

But all that week, we had no idea if students and families were reading the messages because direct communication was impossible in Jackson.

Without water, AC, power, internet, ice, gas, or very much food……we made it through.

We didn’t know if students would come back — they all did!

Sunday, August 28, 2005, 7:00 pm (CDT) All classes and activities for Belhaven College have been cancelled for Monday.  College officials will make the decision as soon as possible on Monday whether or not we can hold classes on Tuesday.  All administrative offices will also be closed.  Our physical plant team on campus has been and continues to prepare for the effects of the storm.  Be praying for them especially.  Resident students are receiving training today and tomorrow for what to do during the storm.  Our resident life staff will be in full force. We are reminding students that even as the storm passes many injuries from a storm like this come from people who go out after the storm too soon, rather than during the storm.  We have established a central number to call for further information: 601-968-5928.  There will also be updates on our web page (www.belhaven.edu) as additional information becomes available.  We encourage prayers for all of the inhabitants of the Gulf Coast as well as for our on campus team and our students.

Monday, August 29, 2005, 6:30 am (CDT) We will do our best to keep the web report updated as we get news from the campus.  Our web server is housed in Atlanta, so even if the College loses power, we still should be able to give you reports on this web page.

Monday, August, 29, 12:00 noon (CDT) I just returned from the campus and all is prepared for the storm as much as possible.  I visited each of the residence halls and students were in, dry, in good spirits, and safe.  Students will be going to the student center for lunch, but after that, we will be keeping them in the residence halls through the remainder of the storm.  Students will take sack lunches and water back to their halls at lunch and have that for dinner and snacks.  Our maintenance team has done a wonder job preparing the campus.

I understand from students that many of them went home, and took with them other students.  I trust you have been in contact with your student, and know exactly where they are staying during the storm.

The winds and rain picked up significantly this morning.  Right now they are predicting the storm to increase here in the next hour….from 30 mph winds to 75 mph winds by 6pm.  After that, the worst of the storm should pass by and the winds go back down to 30 mph through the night.  I’m glad it is coming during the day so we can better see what is going on.

We have cancelled classes for Tuesday.

We are expecting to lose power as the storm hits harder, and of course, since this storm is hitting nearly all of Mississippi, we anticipate that getting service reconnected will be a slow process.  Tornados are of course a primary concern for us.

We will keep you up to date as we have further information.

Monday, August 29, 4:00 p.m. (CDT) Power is still on in the Jackson area.  However, the Belhaven e-mail server has gone down, so students have lost access to their Belhaven e-mail accounts for the time being.  Large trees are down on campus, but no significant damage.  We have received assurance from Entergy in the event of a loss of power that Belhaven is a high priority to resume power after the storm.  Please continue to pray as the most intense part of the storm is about to come.

Monday, August 29, 6:45 p.m. (CDT) The worst of the storm seems to have passed.  Thankfully it weakened some before hitting Jackson.  Sustained winds were 50 mph with gusts reaching 65 mph.  Power was up on campus all day until 6:15 p.m.  At the same time, a tree fell and broke the main gas line, which can’t be fixed until tomorrow.  The city of Jackson’s water pumping plant has experienced problems and there is no water at this time either.  Cell phone service is spotty around the city and residential/long distance phone service is down.  While there are several utilities that are down at this time, there has been no damage to Belhaven buildings.  Overall we feel very fortunate; most importantly our students are safe and dry!

Monday, August 29, 8:45 p.m. (CDT) Winds have now died down to 15/20 mph, which seems quite calm.  Utilities will remain out throughout the night, except for water which seems to be restored.  The Belhaven e-mail system remains down and will until power is restored.  Other than downed trees, there doesn’t appear to be any damage to the campus.  All students are safe and encouraged to remain in the residence halls throughout the night and into the morning.  Unfortunately one fatality was reported in Jackson a few blocks from campus; a tree fell onto an elderly woman’s house and she was killed.  Our maintenance crew is reporting to campus at 6:00 a.m. to begin clean up efforts.

Tuesday, August 30, 10:00 a.m. (CDT) The campus came through the storm well.  Four major trees are down on the campus, but thankfully no structural damage.  Many roads to the campus are blocked due to downed trees, except for access from the North.  Power, gas, and water remain off and we are not sure at this time when they will be restored.  Classes will not resume until power is restored.  We hope the power might come back today, but there are no indicators yet.  They tell us that 95% of Entergy’s customers are without service at this time.  The students are in good spirits, but tired after a night without utilities.  We have encouraged the students to remain on campus still and many have been helping clean up limbs across the college property.   The food service personnel are continuing to feed the students despite not being able to use their kitchen appliances.  Our Gulf Coast students are particularly concerned about families members and anxious to hear from them soon.  We are hearing good reports from our faculty and staff members that they have little or no damage to their properties.  We are very grateful for the Lord’s protection.  Thank you for your prayers.

Tuesday, August 30, 2:00 p.m. (CDT) All classes will be cancelled for the remainder of this week and through Labor Day weekend.  Classes will resume Tuesday morning, September 6.  Administrative offices will open when power is restored.  Still no definite word when this will be.

Wednesday, August 31, 2:00 p.m. (CDT) The power remains off on campus, although sections of Jackson are regaining power.  We are hopeful the campus might have restored power within the next couple days.  The football game scheduled for this Saturday has been postponed; the new date for this game will be November 19.  Those players living close by have been encouraged to return home.  The number of students on campus has dropped to 200.  If rental busses can be secured, the soccer and volleyball teams will still play their out-of-town games this weekend.

For students attending colleges on the Gulf Coast, if your institution has had to cancel classes for the remainder of the semester and you would like to attend Belhaven, we will hold an open enrollment on Tuesday morning, September 6.  Our admission and financial aid offices will be open to help process your application and aid.  If you are qualified and enroll, you will only have missed the first few days of the semester.

Note to Belhaven employees:  Your direct deposit paychecks will be processed today and those who want to pick up their paychecks can do so at the Center for the Arts.

Thursday, September 1, 7:15 p.m. (CDT) Word has come from Entergy that power should be restored tomorrow morning.  We will be getting the campus back into operation and preparing for classes to resume next Tuesday, September 6.  Most students have gone home with only about 30 remaining.  We have received additional food and water to provide for these students.  Please pray for a safe return of our students next week.  We are thankful for how God has blessed up through this tragedy.

There will be a special service of prayer and thanksgiving on Tuesday, September 6, at our normal chapel time, 11:00 a.m. in the Center for the Arts.  All classes will be cancelled for the remainder of this week and through Labor Day weekend.  Classes will resume Tuesday morning, September 6.  Administrative offices will open when power is restored.  Still no definite word when this will be.

Friday, September 2, 2005  7:45 p.m.  (CDT) THE POWER IS ON!!!! The campus is fully operational and we are ready to start classes on Tuesday morning, September 6.  We encourage students to come back to Jackson on Monday if possible.  If you are held up due to fuel or logistical reasons we understand, just come back as soon as you can.  We will help catch students up.  Just a note, fuel trucks arrived in Jackson in mass transit today.  Gas stations here are back in business. We are encouraged that we only missed five days of classes and we will put plans into place to ensure we can have adequate class time without further imposition to families.  We are thankful for the patience of our students, their families, staff, and faculty during this trying time.

Saturday, September 3, 2005 10:15 a.m.  (CDT)

Students: In order to facilitate your travel, classes will not begin until 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 6. Residence Halls are open now; we hope you can return by Tuesday.  We are praying for your safe return as soon as possible.

Faculty: Classes will not begin until 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 6.   There is a mandatory meeting for faculty and staff at 11:00 a.m. in Barber Auditorium on Tuesday.

Staff: Administrative offices will be open at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 6.  There is a mandatory meeting for faculty and staff at 11:00 a.m. in Barber Auditorium on Tuesday.

Please Note:

The Chapel of Prayer and Thanksgiving will be held on Thursday, September 8, rather than the earlier announced date of Tuesday.

The fall break, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, will be held as originally scheduled.

Saturday, September 3, 2005  4:00 p.m.  (CST) On Sunday morning, September 4, at 10:00 a.m., Belhaven College will host a special worship service for the college, community, and friends at the Center for the Arts.  The worship will be led by Mr. Doug Eltzroth and Rev. Rev. Dolphus Weary, President of Mission Mississippi will preach.  All welcome.

The Mission Exchange is the largest evangelical association of missions organizations. And so I was especially pleased they featured my book, The Longview: Lasting Strategies for Rising Leaders

In their monthly “Leaders Edge Book Summary,” they did a nice job pulling out some of the major ideas.  You can read the review HERE

They also did a 35 minute interview about the book, and that can be heard HERE

Or if you’d like to see my 3 minute video summary of the book it is HERE

Our alumni go on from here to bring all kinds of recognition to this University.

But it’s not often two of our alumni are featured on national television for getting married.

Belhaven alumni Dave McKay (’08) and Genevieve Tallarico (’07) are one of
four couples featured on the Today Show, one of whom will
be chosen to win a wedding planned by viewers through Facebook.

Dave,  from Dublin, Ireland, was a captain of the men’s soccer team, and
Genevieve, from Pennsylvania, was a dance major while at Belhaven. She now works with the International Ballet Competition based in Jackson.

I know Dave and Genevieve would appreciate your voting for them, which you can do HERE on Facebook.  They are the 4th couple. (You must vote by 1pm today.)

Here is the clip from Dave and Genevieve shown on the Today Show – shot on our soccer field.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Two new books have jarred the world of higher education this month.

Both are right on target and I applaud the authors for pulling back the curtain to reveal the dramatic deterioration of higher education.

The books attack both the quality and cost – and rightfully so.

Belhaven  University has been consistently ranked as one of “America’s Best Buy Colleges and Universities.”  We are committed to good stewardship of our resources in order to keep Belhaven as affordable as possible.

More importantly, we are committed to stewardship as a biblical principle, and thus are accountable to God for using our resources wisely and offering a rigorous education for our students.

But . . . for much of higher education the costs and priorities have gone off the charts.  These two books will help students and families to understand why.

And these books will make you more thankful than ever for the dramatic difference we offer at Belhaven University.

Here are short summaries of the books from the authors:

The Five-Year Party

Parents Beware.  Party schools can ruin your children’s lives!

The cost of college tuition is rising faster than health care or gasoline, and students are struggling to pay the bill.  They take out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, and assume they can pay them off from their high salary jobs after graduation. It’s a bad assumption.  Half of college students move back in with their parents because they can’t find good jobs.  Students are working as waiters and clerks while struggling for decades to pay for an education they didn’t use.

Where does all that tuition money go?  Only one dollar out of five is spent on instruction.  The rest goes for bloated administrative salaries and multi-million dollar buildings like student centers, workout centers, and gourmet food courts that have little to do with education. These unnecessary frills push the costs up year after year, while national surveys show that students are learning less and less, and many of them are functionally illiterate.

Party schools operate more like adolescent resorts than higher education institutions.  Students are pampered with five-star residences and gourmet food courts, but education is strictly optional.  Students get away with doing as little work as possible while still earning A’s and B’s.  Half of the freshmen class drops out before graduation.

“The Five-Year Party” unravels the mystery of why so many of our colleges have become so dysfunctional.  The book helps parents determine which colleges are party schools, and includes recommendations for the reforms necessary to restore rigor to these colleges’ programs and put education ahead of entertainment on their agendas.

Craig Brandon is the author of six books about popular history and public affairs, and a former award-winning education reporter.

Higher Education? How Colleges are Wasting Our Money and and Failing Our Kids — and What We Can Do About It.

In the coming weeks, millions of American parents will be writing checks for their offspring’s tuition at our 4,400 colleges and universities. Yet even in a recession-stricken economy, almost every school has raised its fees for the year.Tuition at Northwestern, before meals or a mattress, will be $39,840. Penn State charges $15,267 for in-staters — less, like most public schools. But added costs bring the tabs closer. Living away in University Park is about the same as Evanston. Sad to say, each year sees more students having to finance their degrees through borrowing; six-figure debts are not unusual.

The chief reason why costs keep rising is that education has become a minor player in higher education. At public universities, only 28% of spending goes for instruction; private colleges do a bit better at 33%. Here is some of what will come out of your tuition checks:

Costly varsity teams. While some high-powered sports make a profit, the great majority of athletic programs are money losers. Maine’s Bates College, with only 1,776 students, supports 31 intercollegiate teams, all requiring salaried coaches, travel budgets and custom-made apparel. Golf at the University of Southern California costs $33,961 per player per year. Stanford’s women’s softball team plays 57 games, half of them away, flying to colleges in Arizona, Hawaii and Washington. Even if creative accounting masks athletic deficits, they end up included in students’ tuition bills.

Paying for not teaching. Perhaps all occupations should have sabbaticals. For professors, it mainly means being paid for not teaching. At Williams College, in a typical year, one-third of the faculty are away on leave. In Harvard’s history department, 20 of its 48 professors will be absent in the coming academic year. Students continue to pay the full rate, even when they are taught by visitors and courses they want are cancelled.

Financing research. Princeton President Shirley Tilghman told a congressional hearing that a big reason for rising costs is higher education’s commitment to research. Her university spends $34,213 annually on such studies in the name of each student, but takes in only $17,318 in government grants. The rest is part of your tuition bill.

Staying with the pack. Here were last year’s tuitions at five reputable schools: Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), $39,036; Gettysburg (Pa.), $39,200; Haverford (Pa.), $39,085; Mount Holyoke (South Hadley, Mass.), $39,126; Pitzer (Los Angeles), $39,332. Notice anything odd? Although they vary in location and endowments, there’s an unspoken pact not to break ranks. A school such as Wesleyan (Middletown, Conn.) is so well endowed it could halve its price ($38,934). But because enough parents are willing to pay the full tab, it stays close to the pack.

Seven-figure CEOs. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the average pay of college presidents has doubled in the past 15 years. At New York University, it tripled, rising to $1.4 million. Each year sees more above the seven-figure mark. We’re told there’s a shortage of talent, so colleges have to bid. Perhaps; but at Rensselaer, it takes the tuitions of 43 students to pay its president $1.6 million.

Colleges or country clubs? Washington State University provides a jumbo Jacuzzi with room for 50 students, while the University of Houston offers a five-story climbing wall. Bowdoin has a chef who prepares butternut soup, Dijon chicken and vegetable polenta for its incipient epicures. According to the College Board, room-plus-board-plus-extras averaged $12,582 last year. But it doesn’t include travel or a night or two out. Harvard advises that after-tuition costs can reach $21,774, spurred by the theory that amenities attract better applicants. True or not, it heightens the cost of higher education.

The price of prestige. Colleges have a monopoly. Only they can bestow a bachelor’s degree. Having a diploma establishes you as acceptably middle class and opens access to favored jobs. So University of Southern California’s $40,384 annual tuition tab is viewed as a long-term investment, as is the $38,529 out-of-staters are willing to send the University of Michigan. (In-staters, who are finding it harder to get in, remit $13,343.)

In fact, prestige degrees pay off less than is thought. One major study shows that matched students who went to non-elite colleges did just as well financially as their elite peers. For our book, we tracked 900-plus Princeton graduates into their middle years to find what they made of their lives. As a group, they ended up very average. Even so, there are parents who want their children to succeed; so they curtail their own living standards and write the checks.

Andrew Hacker is a political science professor at Queens College in New York. Claudia Dreifus is a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.