Well, here is proof.

Belhaven University students have about taken over the Southern Literary Festival.  This announcement from Dr. Randy Smith is impressive!

I received notification today concerning contest results for the Southern Literary Festival undergraduate writing contest.

Out of 4 writing categories (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and one-act play), Belhaven students won first place in two (one-act play and fiction), second place in two (poetry and creative nonfiction), and third place in one (creative nonfiction).

This is the strongest showing I remember by any single college or university.

Congratulations to the following:

1st Place, One-Act Play:         Lea Schumacher, Shadows on the Walls
1st Place, Fiction:                    Sarah Swenson, The Grandfather Clock
2nd Place, Poetry:                   Adrianne Smith, On Home
2nd Place, Nonfiction:             Alex Freel, The Lodge
3rd Place, Nonfiction:             Anna Marie Rebmann, Reading on Eternity’s Doorstep

These students are invited to attend the 2010 Southern Literary Festival to be held at MS University for Women, April 22-24, where they will have the opportunity to read from their winning works.

Well done and well deserved to all.

Randall A. Smith, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of English

Creative Writing Program Director

Our dancers were featured during the Performing Arts Showcase, and they were magnificent.  They stole the show, and I had dozens of other schools talk to me about the quality of our dance program and how/why Belhaven University has become a significant leader in the Arts.

Another highlight of the event for me was the  privilege to present to Dr. John Perkins CCCU’s highest award, the Mark Hatfield Leadership Award. And Dr. John spoke with great insight, presenting a marvelous challenge to our Christ-centered schools.

Dr. John’s message, along with all the sessions will be available online soon, including the address of  Francis Colins the Director of the National Institute of Health, and Rich Sterns the President of World Vision.

Since Dr. Perkins is such a good friend of Belhaven University, I thought you’d be interested in my introduction:

Those of us who live in Mississippi understand the Magnolia state has often been defined by stereotypes.

In fact, when visitors drive out of the Jackson airport, they are greeted by large banners confronting these assumptions . . . presented in traditional southern self-deprecating humor.

One reads:  Yes, we can read. And a few of us can even write – with the hope visitors to our state will have read William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Eudora Welty, Shelby Foote, Walker Percy, and Elizabeth Spencer – who is one of our Belhaven alums.

Some assumptions of Mississippi are grounded in truth and others are not, but if you take the worst of Hollywood stereotypes of 1940s Mississippi, that doesn’t begin to reflect the difficult and dangerous world faced by John Perkins when he was growing up.  There is no romanticized soundtrack when living through the real thing.

As the son of a share-cropper in the pinewoods of Mississippi, life was hard, people were desperately poor, and racial tension consumed every aspect of life.  Dominating white folks lived in fear that blacks would upset what little comfort they had, and black folks learned to submit to excruciating injustice or pay the consequences.

On a hot Saturday evening in the summer of 1946, 16 year-old John Perkins had come into the little town of New Hebron to escape for a few hours the endless toil of King Cotton.  His older brother, a decorated World War II veteran, was also in town to see his girlfriend.

And while Clyde and Elma waited in line for the movie theater to open, a local sheriff thought they where talking to loudly.  So as naturally as we would shake hands, the sheriff used his night-stick to remind Clyde who was in charge.

It must have been his hard fights against that Germans that made Clyde forget where he was, because rather then submitting in silence, Clyde grabbed the night stick.  And that was all the excuse the sheriff needed to take a step back and fire his gun twice into Clyde’s chest – and then, with no remorse, turn and walk away as Clyde lay dying in the street.

After Clyde’s violent death, his family was determined to protect the younger brother from seeking retaliation, and so John Perkins was put on a bus to go live in California with extended family, taking with him only one change of clothes, a sack lunch, and $3.

My six minutes to introduce John doesn’t allow me to unpack any more of this story, but if you don’t have a glimmer of where he came from, you can’t begin to grasp the enormity of where John Perkins has lead us.

• Introductions like this among the academy are supposed to start with the litany of academic credentials, so let’s begin there:  John Perkins is a graduate of the 3rd grade . . . but I’d make the case that he’s the smartest person in the room tonight, and I believe you’ll agree because 10 of our CCCU schools have awarded an honorary doctorate to him.

• He is the father of racial reconciliation for the evangelical church and more than any other person has moved us from passive observes to active players.

• Dr. John is the founder of Christian Community Development Association, now the leading group for best practices in faith based community development.

• He has traveled the world, often with a former Klansman friend, to preach the message of reconciliation among many cultures divided by hatred and fear.  John casts more bold vision before breakfast than most of us do all year.

• He has served on the boards of World Vision, Prison Fellowship, National Association of Evangelicals, and Spring Arbor College among many others.

• He is the author if 15 books . . . yes, like fellow Mississippi greats, he can write. In 2006 he received the lifetime Achievement Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

• He has modeled hands-on community development in ministries he founded in Mississippi, and California.  And if you want to really see John in action, come be with him as he hugs the kids coming off the bus for afternoon programs, at the Perkins Center on Robinson Road in Jackson – which, for those of you not from our town, is not far from the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, and Medgar Evers Avenue.

We don’t have a street named after him . . . YET.  But who else in this room tonight has a song written about them by an alternative rock band?   Switchfoot’s,  The Sound – (The John Perkin’s Blues), is making John Perkins known to a whole new generation of young evangelicals.  John has become their Tony Bennett.

The leader of Switchfoot, Jon Foreman, wanted to share in congratulating Dr. John tonight and so we have a short video greeting from him.

Download

John Perkins has lived God honoring grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation like no one else I know.

I have found great personal joy in being accepted by and loving the marvelous people of Mississippi who are the best of the New South.  But from John Perkin’s living through the very worst of the old divided South, he had every reason to hate.

Today at 80 years old, his life could be a stockpile of justified resentment, but instead, God has made it a fountain of joy and Godly grace.

From that Saturday night in New Hebron and the arrogance of a small town sheriff with too much power, to the battles of the civil rights era of the 1960s that earned John numerous beatings, endless harassment, and jailings, to the far-to-early death of his son Spencer who was dedicated to carrying forward his father’s work, John Perkins had every right to be angry at God and everyone around him. But he’s fill with grace instead of anger.

But rather than use John’s words, let me use Spenser’s to summarize this grace filled outlook the son learned from watching his father, when no one else was around.  Two days before he died, Spencer preached:

Being able to extend grace and to forgive people sets us free. We no longer need to spend precious emotional energy thinking about the day oppressors will get what they deserve. What I am learning about grace lifts a weight from my shoulders, which is nothing short of invigorating.  The ability to give grace while preaching justice makes our witness even more effective.

Spencer Perkins
From his message, “A Culture of Grace”
October 18, 1997 – two days before his death

John, it seems like yesterday we had Spenser’s funeral.  And it was somewhere in the middle of that three hour service, when your dear wife Vera Mae stood up on the front row and began to sing by herself:  “The Lord knows the way through the wilderness, all I have to do is follow.”

For all these years, you’ve been following Jesus through a wilderness most of us have never seen and little understand. Thank you for being to us a model of grace, joy, courage, inspiration, and insight.

It is a very special privilege to present to all you our speaker tonight and the recipient of the Mark Hatfield Leadership award,

• a humble servant of Jesus – who is celebrating his 50^th year of ministry
• a prophetic voice whose story is deeply rooted in the past, but whose spirit soars into the future
• and leader who embodies the kind of bold breakthroughs, which is not just the theme of our conference, but the dream we hold for our students

Dr. John Perkins

“None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” Romans 14:7-9

Evelyn Zimmerman Usry, 87, died at home Saturday, February 6, 2010. Visitation will be at Fondren Presbyterian Church on Monday, February 8, 2010 from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. The funeral service will follow at 11:00 a.m. Burial will be at Sharon Primitive Baptist Church in Lake, Mississippi with Wright & Ferguson Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

She attended Forest public schools until her graduation. She was employed by Belhaven College as secretary, bookkeeper and chief fiscal officer for many years, and after retirement there worked for Norwalk Furniture.

She is preceded in death by her husband, John Burnham Usry, a beloved aunt, Mrs. Beadie Henderson, and her parents.

Survivors include her only daughter Nancy Usry Bourn and former husband Ralph Bourn, granddaughter Amy Bourn McGowan and husband Joe, grandson Kevin Bourn and wife Leigh, five great grandchildren, and cousin Jean Henderson Harvey.

Below is a summary of that meeting from Lausanne, and you’ll especially be interested in the six key issues of the Congress which will frame the discussion.

In preparation for the Congress, Lausanne is hosting 12 “Global Conversations” across the United States.  Belhaven University will host one of of those conversations, on April 13th.  This will be the focus of our chapel on that Tuesday, and then in the evening, the Global Conversation with Lausanne leaders will be held at First Presbyterian Church.

Here is the summary from Dallas:

Summary Report
Cape Town 2010 US Participants Meeting
Dallas, TX
January 25-27, 2010

Nearly 300 men and women from 175 organizations— local churches, denominations, mission agencies, schools, businesses, and foundations— gathered at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas for a foretaste of this October’s Cape Town 2010 and the Lausanne Global Conversation that will lead up to and ripple out from it.

In October of this year, 400 US participants will be in Cape Town with some 4000 other participants from 200 countries.  Many at this Dallas meeting commented on the beautiful diversity of the participants in age, gender, ethnicity, region, ministry focus and denominational affiliation – a diversity that will also be reflected in Cape Town

The Dallas gathering was intended to catalyze relationships between the US representatives and other leaders identifying with the Lausanne Movement, to begin discussion around the six themes of Cape Town 2010, and to look beyond Cape Town 2010 to collaborative evangelistic efforts in the US leading toward 2020.

Throughout the three days participants met around tables of six to eight. The core of the program consisted of six extended conversations related to the key issues of the upcoming Congress:

1) Making the case for the Truth of Christ in a Pluralistic, Globalized World

2) Building the Peace of Christ in our Divided and Broken World

3) Bearing witness of the Love of Christ with People of Other Faiths

4) Discerning the Will of Christ for the 21st Century World Evangelization

5) Calling the Church of Christ back to Humility, Integrity and Simplicity

6) Partnering in the Body of Christ Toward a New Global Equilibrium

Each topic was introduced by brief, incisive comments by Nikki Toyama-Szeto, complemented by video clips and/or thought-provoking insights from Os Guinness and others.  Woven around the lively table discussions were presentations of the genesis of the Cape Town 2010 idea and of the Lausanne Global Conversation and the supporting technology that would enable participation of thousands of Christians around the world— before the Congress through the Internet, and during the Congress itself through 250 Cape Town GlobaLink sites.

Other highlights included meditations on Paul’s prayers in Ephesians guided by Lindsay Olesberg, worship songs in several languages, live greetings through Skype from Rick Warren, an enthusiastic invitation from Lon Allison for US delegates to regather in March 2011 to tend the flame and to plan for the coming decade of evangelization, and Doug Birdsall’s reminder of the “spirit of Lausanne” as expressed by Dr. Billy Graham: “the spirit of fellowship, humility, study, prayer, partnership and hope.” The spirit of Lausanne was evident throughout the days in Dallas – a gathering that contributed powerfully to the growing momentum for Cape Town 2010.

We’ve also changed out our signs warning of video surveillance to make them stronger and help scare away bad folks.  Here is a picture of the sign:

Below is the story from the Clarion Ledger today.

We have a huge game on Saturday night this week at Tougaloo 7:00 pm.  Our women’s team shouldn’t be overlooked for they are also having a strong season at 12-6, and they also play that evening  at 5:00.  Maybe we can have lots of green and gold in the stands Saturday night.

Blazers boast best bunch in decades

Mike Christensen
mchristensen@clarionledger.com

There’s a buzz around Belhaven basketball that hasn’t been felt in a long time.

Tom Kelsey’s Blazers moved up to No. 12 in the NAIA poll released on Monday and then tightened their grip on first place in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference standings that night. BU improved to 17-2 and 7-0 in the league by beating Spring Hill 77-63 at Rugg Arena.

The program, which won 18 games last year, hasn’t had a 20-win season since 1977-78 in the heyday of former coach Charlie Rugg.

“As far as we know, it’s one of the best starts ever here; we just hope we can sustain it,” said Kelsey, a former Alabama assistant in his fifth year at BU. “You don’t have time to sit back and enjoy it as a coach. … You’re always thinking about the next game and finding ways to get better.”

These Blazers are deep, bolstered by an influx of junior college transfers.

“When you’ve got good assistant coaches and good players, that makes for a good team,” Kelsey said. “We had six or seven back from last year and we had a good recruiting class coming in, so we were confident this would be a good year. We’re athletic, we’re quick, we’re deep … we’ve continued to get better.”

The leading man is Nathaniel Roche’, a 6-foot-8 junior from New Orleans who averages 12.9 points and 7.9 boards. But three others, including East Mississippi CC transfer Woodie Howard, average between 11.0 and 11.6 ppg.

The Blazers will be tested over the coming days. Starting Thursday, they’ll play three GCAC road games in an eight-day stretch, including visits to Tougaloo on Saturday and LSU-Shreveport on Feb. 4.

1.  I saw a draft of the new letterhead from Bryant Butler, and it is really sharp.  It will come to all of us as a generic letterhead, with a word processing template that will put your individualized information in at the bottom, and it will look like it is printed.  This will be a huge cost savings in that we can do only one run for the entire campus since none of us will have individually prepared stationery printed or stockpiled.

2.  A new “BU” logo is in process. You’d think putting together two letters would be simple, but it’s not.  Our marketing group is teaming with our graphic design faculty to get just the right look.

3.  You may have noticed that the state’s signs on the interstate have been changed.

4. The graphic design students are doing an inventory of everything on campus, in print, and on the web that says College so that we can be sure to get them all changed to University.

5. The bookstore has a great new section of university shirts, hats, and other merchandise. If you’re not on campus, you can always purchase through the bookstore online or call or email them if you don’t see what you’re looking for in the online offerings:  601-968-5910, bookstoreonline@belhaven.edu

6.  And if you’re driving up I-55, look at the digital billboard.  Our billboard to announce the name change will really catch your eye…..and here’s a picture:

The water is flowing at full strength on the campus, the heating systems are working, and the rest rooms and showers are fully operational.

RESIDENCE HALL STUDENTS can begin moving back into their rooms at 9 am tomorrow morning.  Those students who are staying in the hotel will need to check out tomorrow morning before 11 am.  We have plenty of bottled water in the residence halls for you to drink and to use for brushing your teeth until the boil water notice is lifted (probably Saturday night or early Sunday)

DINING COMMONS will begin serving at noon tomorrow and will be back on their normal schedule for all meals.

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES will all be back to full strength tomorrow with the all staff back at work.

We need to all be appreciative of our student life and campus operations teams who carried so much during this time to make fast adjustments to help us manage this challenge.  I’m especially grateful to David Potvin and Wayne Green who oversaw the complexity of protecting our mechanical systems without water, and for Scott Little and Greg Hawkins who creatively helped to meet our student’s needs during this challenging week.

Whew, I’m glad that’s over!

Bad news – we don’t have enough water.

Full water pressure has been restored to much of the city, but as the mayor said, the highest areas will be the last to gain water service because the pressure needs to push the water up hill. When we sing in our alma mater “this dear green hill” I never feel like we’re on very high ground, but clearly we are one of the highest places in town.

Hopefully through the day the water pressure will increase, but we can not yet turn on the heating boilers or use restrooms.

There are a number of important issues to share with you:

CONTINUE TO BOIL WATER – Even when we do get the water back, the boil water notice will continue to be in effect at least for a couple days until the city lines have been flushed out and tested.  Hopefully by Sunday it will be lifted.  But until then, use bottled water for drinking, brushing teeth, etc.  We have 6,000 bottles on hand, so we won’t run out.

REGISTRATION – Our staff has bravely worked through the cold to keep the registration process going. If you’ve not yet completed your registration, the offices are open, or if you’re away from campus you can call the registrar’s office at 601-968-5922

RESIDENCE HALLS – We will be keeping students in the hotel at least one more night.  Hopefully tomorrow we will be ready to have them move back on campus but we won’t make that determination until tomorrow morning.

CLASSES BEGIN MONDAY MORNING – We have a great deal of class time to make up but our faculty are creative and I’m sure they will find a way to squeeze it all in.  I know they are working hard so that hopefully we won’t need to take the time from our spring break or extending the semester.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY – For many years we’ve always set aside MLK Day as a time to celebrate his life by joining together in a service project. This has been a high priority to me and to the campus because of the importance of all it represents.  But I also know that Dr. King believed the path to the future was through education, and in fact earned his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston University.  So I think in light of the unusual circumstances he would agree with the decision to be in class on this Monday, especially because our type of education is what he believed was most important – “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically… Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”  So, for this year only, we will honor his legacy by making best use of the vital class time that has been missed.  Further, with the turmoil in the city over the water situation and many of the non-profit groups we help on MLK being exhausted from their efforts to help others during this time, our pushing ahead might put a strain on them rather than being helpful. Other groups we team with have been closed all week, and I’ve been told we can’t even communicate with them to properly prepare . I trust you’ll understand that this decision is made in light of deep respect for the importance of MLK day, and to assure your education is as strong as possible.  We have many service projects all through the year, and will look at adding in some special projects this spring to give us more opportunities to serve our community.

CHAPEL CREDIT – Because we will not have our MLK Service Day Project (the only time all year we give two chapel credits) there will be two less opportunities for students to earn chapel credit this semester. Thus, instead of the normal requirement of 12 chapel credits during the semester, we will require only 10 credits during this spring term of 2010.  We will have our regularly scheduled first chapel on Tuesday next week, and Dr. Sandy Wilson, pastor of 2nd Presbyterian Church in Memphis will be our speaker.

See you Monday morning . . . looking forward to a wonderful semester.

———————–

The good news on the water front is that the city is beginning to get water pressure restored.  At my house, we’re about half the pressure of a normal time.

But on the campus we still have no water pressure, and thus will not have heat back on today for sure….maybe not tomorrow.

To help in the planning for students and faculty, we are canceling adult and graduate classes for the remainder of the week.

The traditional students who are still here were glad to be in the Sleep Inn last night, instead of the very cold temperatures of our buildings.  The weather forecast projects a warmer day, but students will stay off campus until we get water pressure restored.

We continue with a limited staff on campus to handle registration, so offices are open if students need assistance….just wear your coat!

The basketball games scheduled for tomorrow night are still on.  There is heat in the gym, but no water.

We continue to expect that we’ll be ready to go for Sunday move in time for students, and Monday morning classes to begin on time.