The President’s Reflections: “Worldview Matters”

For sometime I’ve been encouraged to take the time to write and share some of the leadership principles that have been important to me through 21 years in the college presidency. As our faculty, and others of you who write know, it takes discipline and it’s sometimes hard to stay in the chair long enough [...]

Read Full Post »

Many times when we see news of disasters on TV we want to help, but don’t have a way to respond with help through someone we know and trust to use the money properly.
A friend I’ve worked with in India sent me this email yesterday.  If you have a heart to help with the India [...]

Read Full Post »

This summary report from CNN about a major study from the Pew Foundation shows the changing religious and cultural face of the world.
(CNN) — Nearly one in four people worldwide is Muslim — and they are not necessarily where you might think, according to an extensive new study that aims to map the global Muslim [...]

Read Full Post »

This was such a busy summer, I didn’t get a chance to get out of town the entire time.  So a week ago, I did break away for four days of fishing in Yellowstone National Park.
It is one of my favorite places in the world, and although the fish didn’t cooperate all that much, I [...]

Read Full Post »

The final line of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Rhyme of the Duchess:

And I smiled to think God’s greatness flowed around our incompleteness,
Round our restlessness His rest.

……………………….

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.belhaven.edu%2Fpresident%2F2009%2F09%2F21%2Fencouragement-for-a-monday-morning%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Encouragement+for+a+Monday+Morning’;
addthis_pub = ”;

Read Full Post »

I had some interesting statistics come my way recently.  So often we forget how many, and how deeply, people need to understand and live in the grace of Jesus.
OneHope found 91% of youths in Costa Rica say they do not believe they will go to heaven despite claiming to have accepted Jesus Christ. In Spain, [...]

Read Full Post »

This afternoon I had the joy to share with all our new students and their parents. Several asked for the outline of the challenge to them, and so here it is:
DEVELOP A PATTERN OF PERSISTENCE
Plan a purpose not a path for your life

1.  God called you here, and God never calls us to failure
2.  [...]

Read Full Post »

Five weeks after the horrific accident our friend, Stuart Irby, woke up from his coma on Friday. I received a call from Cal Wells who had just left the hospital and was overwhelmed at the remarkable difference in Stuart. Stuart’s assistant, Sylvia Gore called me Saturday and invited me to come see him.
When I arrived [...]

Read Full Post »

The chief of Chaplains in Iraq is a Belhaven graduate.  Chaplain James Carter greeted the faculty and staff by video at the beginning of the school year, and has spoken in our chapel in the past.  He was head Chaplain at West Point before these tours of service in Iraq.
He is coming home today – [...]

Read Full Post »

Many of us at Belhaven have connections at Crichton College in Memphis. This fall and winter we’ve been working with them regarding options for their future. Crichton is also a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
The sale of the College was announced today. We need to be praying for the faculty and [...]

Read Full Post »

Today we’ve heard the most famous words of Dr. King’s “I have a dream” and his “been to to the promised land” speeches.  But just a month before he was assassinated, Dr. King preached a sermon titled Unfulfilled Dreams, at his home church in Atlanta, sharing this marvelous promise:
It will be dark sometimes, and it [...]

Read Full Post »

Our friend Andrew White, the pastor of St. George’s Church in Baghdad wrote today to ask for prayer. Andrew was our Day of Learning speaker at Belhaven a couple of years ago and is a great champion for Belhaven.
He is personally suffering with his multiple sclerosis and his physical challenges have become increasingly tough, although he [...]

Read Full Post »

From The Times of London
December 27, 2008
As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem – the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset
Matthew Parris
Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it’s Malawi, and [...]

Read Full Post »

Commentary: I know what Illinois governor feels like now
Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Charles W. Colson, a former aide to President Nixon, is the founder of Prison Fellowship, the world’s largest Christian outreach to prisoners. President Bush this week acknowledged Colson’s work among prisoners, awarding him the Presidential Citizens Medal. Colson was imprisoned for obstruction of [...]

Read Full Post »

This story from CNN caught my attention because Joel Hunter is a friend of Belhaven, serves on our Board of Reference, and was our commencement speaker for our Orlando campus a few years ago. Dan Fredericks and his family attended Joel’s church when they lived in Orlando.
Before he delivered his victory speech on Tuesday night [...]

Read Full Post »

No matter how you voted, this is a remarkable and historic day.
Now, we come together under the leadership of President Obama, and Christians around the world need to be joining together in prayer for him and the new administration.
Tonight I am drawn to focus on four remarkable characteristics of this significant election:

It is remarkable that in [...]

Read Full Post »

I received this email from a friend who is VP of the Billy Graham association.  If you’ve been influenced by Dr. Graham’s ministry through the years, you might enjoy the opportunity to thank him as he celebrates his 90th birthday.
I’ve had the joy of being connected with Dr. Graham through my work with the Lausanne [...]

Read Full Post »

Thursday we will bring together the entire campus for a “day of learning” from 8:30 to noon to focus on the remarkable working of God in Korea through the past several decades.
Dr. Billy Jang Hwan Kim, President of the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC), will speak about God’s exciting work in South Korea, and the [...]

Read Full Post »

We have several people on campus who are facing very serious health issues right now.  I pray for them – but when any of us is facing a tough physical battle we need to let our doctor know we are counting on prayer and the healing hand of the Lord to guide the doctor.
It is [...]

Read Full Post »

The Federal Government launched a $700 BILLION rescue plan for the economy.  We need wise action during this challenging time to the global economy.
But no one is sure the rescue plan will work – and in light of the stock market drop today below 9,000, the lowest point since May 27, 2003 – at least [...]

Read Full Post »

Last week I had the privilege of joining with 125 pastors from some of the nation’s most influential churches to discuss the future role and opportunities for American congregations in global missions.  This gathering was called by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (I serve on the Executive Committee and as Treasurer of Lausanne).  Below [...]

Read Full Post »

Dr. Stephen Phillips, Political Science Department, has been selected to present a paper at the Hillsdale College Free Market Forum September 25-27th, which brings together business and political science faculty from a wide range of Christian and private colleges.  His was selected among seventeen proposals.  His topic is “The Morality of Free Trade.”  I asked [...]

Read Full Post »

Dave Freeman, co-author of “100 Things to Do Before You Die,” a travel guide of odd adventures, has died. He was 47. Freeman died last week after falling at his Venice, California home and hitting his head,
“This life is a short journey,” the book says. “How can you make sure you fill it with [...]

Read Full Post »

To me the school year “feels started” when we have the first chapel of the fall semester.  It’s always a packed house, and I’m not sure anything encourages me more than when our students come together to worship.
I really miss our weekly chapels during the summer, so glad tomorrow is almost here.
I’m speaking for the [...]

Read Full Post »

The Associated Press reports:
The “value of a statistical life” is $6.9 million in today’s dollars, the Environmental Protection Agency reckoned in May a drop of nearly $1 million from just five years ago. Though it may seem like a harmless bureaucratic recalculation, the devaluation has real consequences. … Consider, for example, a hypothetical regulation [...]

Read Full Post »

China will be the focus of the world over the new two months with the Olympic Games being hosted by the largest country in the world. Today, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published an interesting background piece from their research in China.
On Aug. 8, 2008 – the eighth day of the eighth [...]

Read Full Post »

My good friend Richard Cizik was recently named to the 2008 TIME 100 list of “The World’s Most Influential People.” Rich, an ordained Evangelical Presbyterian Minister, is Vice President of Governmental Affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).  I think the world of Rich, and tell him often how much we need his clear [...]

Read Full Post »

I’ve had in my office for nearly 20 years a picture of Pastor Chen, because his is one of the remarkable stories of faith I’ve ever heard.  He first shared it publically in 1989 at the Lausanne Congress I was privileged to help put together in Manila. Born into to a wealthy Shanghai family in the [...]

Read Full Post »