Study Center Newsletter Fall 2013

FALL PROGRAMS!

Special sectio

n, pages 8 - 9

SO WHAT IS THE STUDY CENTER?BY B I L L W I L D E R , PA G E 3

A P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E C E N T E R F O R C H R I S T I A N S T U D Y | F A L L 2 0 1 3

STUDY CENTER STAFF

BILL WILDERExecutive Director [email protected]

LANE COWINDirector of Undergraduate Ministries

for [email protected]

FITZ GREENDirector of Educational Ministries

[email protected]

JAY MCCABEDirector of Undergraduate Ministries

for Men [email protected]

SHELLY PELLISHDirector of Administration + Development

[email protected]

DEBBIE RODRIGUEZDirector of Finance

[email protected]

ASHLEY WOOTENDirector of Communications

[email protected]

AMY ZELLDirector of Counseling Resources

[email protected]

WHO WE AREWe are a non-profit education and outreach

ministry serving the University of Virginia

and Charlottesville since 1968. We seek to

serve Jesus Christ by fostering the serious

consideration in the university environment of

a Biblical worldview, and by encouraging and

facilitating wise discussion of the Truth in light of

the challenges of contemporary culture.

CONTACT USPhone: (434) 817-1050

Email: [email protected]: www.studycenter.net

Twitter: studycenteruvaFacebook: studycenteruva

The Study Center Newsletter is published for our friends and supporters.

University Christian Ministries, Inc. (dba Center

for Christian Study) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit

corporation EIN 51-0192618.

THIS ISSUE:

On the cover: One of the Study Center’s missional priorities is to be a place of welcome as seen each year at our Move-In Day Lunches and many other events. Pictured here from Move-In Day 2012 are students William Barber, Jessica Napolean, and Abby Harries.

Hope and Restoration: Counseling Resourcesby Lane Cowin page 5

So What Is the Study Center?by Bill Wilder, page 3

PAGE 2 S STUDY CENTER NEWSLETTER FALL 2013

FAMILY WEEKEND RECEPTION

Join us for a casual evening of hors d'oeuvres, live music and refreshments before you head out to dinner. This is a wonderful

opportunity for parents to connect with Study Center staff as well as other families.

The Problem of Evil: John Stackhouse Previewby Fitz Green, page 6

Fall 2013 Educational ProgramsLectures, small groups and course listings, page 8

Keeping Faith in Collegeby Jay McCabe, page 10

You’re invited to the Study Center’s

Saturday, September 28, 5 - 7 pm

RSVP: WWW.STUDYCENTER.NET/ FAMILYWEEKEND

When folks visit the Center for Christian Study for the first time, we can often feel the question forming in their minds: what exactly is this place called the Center for Christian Study?

We are not surprised by the confu-sion. Most people haven’t run across a “study center” before and even if they have visited one of the

few dozen study centers now across the country, each one has its own mission, history and personality.

So what’s the best way to describe the Center for Chris-tian Study? To begin with, we sometimes refer to our-selves as “a non-profit education and outreach ministry serving the University of Virginia and Charlottesville since 1968.” That’s meant to suggest our commitment to encourage students—Christian and non-Christian alike—to consider the claims of the gospel on their lives, all the way from the informal conversations that happen around our building every day to the top-notch classes, reading groups, lectures and residential programs we provide each year.

Sometimes we describe ourselves as “A Place for Faith and Learning,” which gets at our commitment to pro-vide a welcoming and safe place for students to connect with each other even as they connect their learning in a University environment with the call of Christ on their lives. Two watchwords of our ministry have become “hospitality” and “Christian study.” We love to find ways

to bring head and heart, learning and community, truth and love together.

We might also explain this ministry in terms of its history, a great story going back to God’s good work through many godly men and women in the 1960s and 70s, especially a Baptist minister named Daryl Richman and a then-newly-minted faculty member named Ken Elzinga (still on faculty here at U.Va. and involved at the Center). From the beginning this ministry has been non-denominational, broadly evangelical, committed to God’s work at U.Va. through the various Grounds ministries, independent of U.Va. and dependent upon the Lord’s good provision through alumni, parents, and other friends.

As you might expect, this ministry has grown and changed over the years, as has its University (and larger cultural) context. With this in mind the staff and I have worked this past year to clarify exactly “who we are” as the Study Center in light of our past and in anticipa-tion of much ministry to come. This strategic planning process resulted in a clear sense of our ongoing ministry goal:

The Center for Christian Study seeks to promote Christian formation

Through the communication of Biblical truth For the good of the University community With hospitality and care In unity with other Grounds ministries.

Our goal, then, is Christian formation, qualified with four ministry distinctives (having to do with the Bible,

SO WHAT IS THE STUDY CENTER?by Bill Wilder, Executive [email protected]

STUDY CENTER NEWSLETTER FALL 2013 S PAGE 3

the University, hospitality, and Christian unity). Let me say a word about each of those elements.

Christian Formation: The Bible often speaks of our being formed (or of Christ being formed in us) or conformed (to the likeness of Christ) or transformed (in the renewing of our minds, for example). More than anything, we want to be a place where students are “shaped” by the truth of the gospel—in their minds, in their hearts, in their daily lives. This is a process that requires the Holy Spirit. It also requires a proclamation of the truth in our words and lives.

1. Through the communication of Biblical Truth: The Study Cen-ter has been devoted to the “consideration of a Biblical worldview” and to the “wise discussion of the Truth.” That essential commitment hasn’t changed. Every year we host lectures on the Bible, lead small group Bible studies, and teach seminary-level classes on the Old or New Testaments. Teaching student to love scripture is embedded in all our activities, whether it be a lecture, a counseling opportunity, a small group or a hospitality event.

2. For the good of the University community: John Stott once spoke of ministering with a Bible in one hand and a newspa-per in the other. Perhaps we should amend that to “the Bible and The Cavalier Daily!” Certainly we try to incorpo-rate topics in our teaching that are relevant to students’ lives and concerns at U.Va. At the same time we know that the “good of the Univer-sity” extends beyond the classroom to the rest of our students’ lives: their working through grief in the sudden death of a fel-low student and close friend, their grap-pling with the Greek system at U.Va., or their acclimation to college life after Move-In Day.

3. With hospitality and care: Since 1976 the Study Center has been located in this house on Chancellor Street, a space that doubled in size twenty years later with the three-story addition in the back, complete with a large meet-

ing room, library, and more residential space. Put that together with a staff dedi-cated to communicating the truth in love and you have the Study Center. In many respects the openness and availability of our staff and house are defining marks of our ministry. They enable a degree of Christian com-munity and support that goes well beyond our planned ministry events.

4. In Unity with other Grounds ministries: One of the things we love about ministry at U.Va. is our strong partnership and close collaboration with the other Grounds minis-tries here. We see ourselves as a part of the larger body of Christ at U.Va. with our own role to play. This role involves making our house and programs available to the other ministries even as we encourage students to be involved in a fellowship group and a church. Most of our lectures are done in conjunction with one or more of the other ministries while we make a point to draw students in our programs from these groups. The result: we have a real sense of the larger Christian community among students at U.Va. and have delighted in the variety and richness of this community.

There’s so much more to say about the Center for Christian Study. I’m afraid I’ve barely mentioned our Elzinga Residential Program, our profes-sional counseling re-sources, or our three graduate Christian fellowships. That just means that you’ll have to come see for your-self whenever you’re in town, volunteer at one of our hospitality

events, download some of our lectures, and get to know the students and the staff around here. In the meantime, the expression on your face may be just a bit less puzzled when we show you around!


My time throughout college was teeming with discovery. I was learning so much about the world, and about myself, and I was facing my first test of independence. College truly felt like the gateway to limitless possibilities. This time was both exhilarating and ter-rifying, because I was terrified of mak-ing mistakes. I came in with so many questions about who I was and how the

world worked, and as a brand new Christian, I was considering many questions about what God wanted for my life.

Through a series of divinely-inspired events, I was introduced to the Center for Christian Study, and specifically the then Directors of Undergraduate Ministry, Wes and Amy Zell, who began to love me well by providing pastoral and professional counseling. I was soaking up the teaching I was receiving at my church and in my Grounds ministry and learning in leaps and bounds. But there were times when I didn’t trust myself to know how to move forward to embrace my new life in Christ. I needed help seeing my own sin and that the Lord was in fact remaking me into something more beautiful. Counseling at the Study Center helped me to see those things and to know that I could safely hope in what the Lord could do for my future. In Amy’s words, “counseling that is rooted in Scripture and understood in the historic Christian faith can provide comfort, hope and restoration to those that are struggling in a broken world” and “deep brokenness can be brought into the restorative work of Christ, bringing transformation of hearts and minds and providing healing and beauty.”

Now, as one of the staff at the Study Center, I have the privi-lege of joining the rest of our directors in counseling students as they navigate the exhilarating and confusing whirlwind of college life. Our hope is to provide them a sure anchor in the person and work of Christ and in the study of God’s Word, so that all their learning brings them to a fuller knowledge and love of God that conforms them more and more to Christ’s own likeness. We do this in a number of ways, including our lectures, seminars, small groups, and hospitality events.

We also have the opportunity to counsel students one-on-one. We have spent hundreds of hours sitting with students talking and praying about what the gospel story has to say about their choices of classes, whom they date and marry, how they treat their roommates, and how they decide what careers to pursue. Sometimes those conversations happen once with a student when he or she comes wandering into our building with a crisis, knowing that there are staff members willing to help. Other conversations happen over months and years.

Sometimes we see students that need professional clinical counseling as they navigate this whirlwind. For some years now the Study Center has offered this sort of counseling to students through the presence of our trained and licensed professional counselor, Amy Zell. This past year we extended the number of available counseling hours by partnering with New City Counseling (NCC), a counseling practice based out of Trinity Presbyterian Church. Currently, Amy and two NCC counselors, Jen Paterno and Jason Brown, share an office in our building dedicated to professional counseling services.

Amy points out that the Study Center “provides a unique counseling opportunity because the location is accessible and non-threatening to students and because the counseling services are theologically sound, clinically rigorous, and rel-evant.” These counseling services have already been a boon to many students who have felt serious mental and emotional distress, due to issues like depression, anxiety, perfectionism, grief, suicide, sexual assault and abuse, body-image, divorce, or behavioral disorders. As we’ve counseled these students, we’re often able to work with U.Va. professionals to arrange for any needed academic extensions and long-term treatment plans so that students can reach a place of safety and stability as they work through the issues at hand. We get to help these students see that they are not alone in their confusion and pain, and that there is a God who loves them and is working to bring wholeness and holiness to their lives through the work of his son Jesus Christ. What a privilege indeed.

HOPE AND RESTORATIONThe value of pastoral and professional counseling for studentsby Lane Cowin, Director of Undergraduate Ministries for [email protected]

If you know of a student who might benefit from counseling at the Study Center, please contact any of our directors by phone or email, 434.817.1050. Visit www.studycenter.net/counseling for details.


S STUDY CENTER NEWSLETTER FALL 2013

THE PROBLEM OF EVILMoving Beyond Asking “Why”by Fitz Green, Director of Educational [email protected]

One of my favorite parts of college was the late-night conversation in which you solved all the world’s problems. I still love those conversa-tions. The problems you’re “solving” aren’t really your own—they are usually so big, so removed from your own

circumstances, as to feel hypothetical. Sooner or later, though, suffering will hit closer to home. There’s no fixing this sort of suffering, and we are instead left to ask, “Why?” “How can this happen?” “How can God allow it?” When we’re in the midst of grief, we don’t need technical or philosophical answers, we need comfort and love.

At some point, the pain of our own experi-ences of suffering may fade, but our ques-tions will remain. At that time we might need counseling for grief; we might not need an academic philosophical treatise. But we do need to consider the realities of life, and whether there is meaning in a world in which so much suffering takes place.

John Stackhouse will come speak this fall on the problem of suffering, based on his book Can God Be Trusted? Faith and the Challenge of Evil. In anticipation of his visit, I’d like to tell you a little bit about the book. Answers to the problem of suffering are usually seen as an ”apologetic” pursuit, a way of answering the questions of nonbelievers in order to prepare the way for their belief. To see it that way is to give it short shrift, too limiting, I think. The problem of evil is a human question and not just an apologetic one. I hear our students asking such questions, from all different

backgrounds and levels of maturity in their faith, alongside those without any faith in Christ. Stackhouse is an excellent companion as we ask these questions because he is both well-versed in the highest levels of theological and philosophical discourse in the academy, and also holds the special ability to cull what is good and useful from them for the rest of us. He knows just how to give definition to our biggest questions: if God is all-good, and all-powerful, how can there be such terrible suffering in the world?

Stackhouse is fully aware of the traditional answers given and helps us to understand, even if we find them ultimately insufficient. For example, to answer the question, “Why did God create evil?” many Christians have responded that evil doesn’t actually exist, so God didn’t (strictly speaking) create it. This is correct, theologically. Evil doesn’t have substance, and there is no created thing that you could point to and say without qualifi-cation: that is evil. Now, this is important and useful in coming to understand the full goodness of a creation that God intends to restore and glorify with his presence when he comes again. It has profound implications for how we live our lives as Christians, but it only shifts the terms of our original questions about suffering. Instead, we ask, “how can God allow evil to happen?”

The most adequate answer, Stackhouse ar-gues, has to do with our free will. Drawing on the work of Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga, he suggests that it might be impos-sible to create a free being who did not have the capacity to mistreat others. “Perhaps God preferred,” he writes, “to create, and work with, and care for, and enjoy the company of human beings who would have the power to

“The question

of God and evil is one

we all ask, but maybe

we don’t find answers

because we ask

the wrong questions.”

On November 18 John Stackhouse will be speaking

on the problem of evil in his talk “The Best Reason to

Reject God: An Honest Look at the Problem of Evil.”

Stackhouse is Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of

Theology and Culture at Regent College (Vancouver,

BC). He has published more than 500 articles, book

chapters, and reviews in the history, sociology, and

philosophy of religion, in ethics, and in theology. He

has authored seven books and co-authored, edited, or

co-edited seven more, including his recent book, Can

God Be Trusted? Faith and the Challenge of Evil.

This lecture is open to all who would like to attend.

We appreciate your registration at www.studycenter.

net/registration.


return love to God and love their fellow creatures, or to turn against God and mistreat others. God preferred the good that would come from a relationship with these free beings—even taking into consideration the evils that would also result—over creating automatons that never did wrong but were, by defini-tion, incapable of love.”

Satisfied yet? Perhaps not, but stick with me. This is where Stackhouse becomes the most helpful to us. He looks to Scripture, to the psalms and especially to God’s response to Job out of the whirlwind, and he acknowledges that God does not attempt to explain evil to us. The question of God and evil is one we all ask, but maybe we don’t find answers because we ask the wrong questions. “Perhaps the whole project of trying to nicely correlate our ideas and experiences of both God and evil is wrongheaded. Perhaps it is impossible, or just unhelpful. Perhaps we can put another question to the heart of the mat-ter.” The question we can answer, according to Stackhouse, is this: do we have sufficient grounds to trust God in spite of evil, and in spite of our lack of understanding?

What makes this question any more answerable than the oth-ers? How can we know that we can trust God? We have suf-ficient reason to trust God in spite of evil because we see Jesus, God revealed to us. The answer we receive in Jesus may not be the answer we want, but it’s the answer we need. “If Jesus is the human face of God, Christians affirm, then human beings have a God who cares, a God who acts on their behalf (even to the point of self-sacrifice), and a God who is now engaged in the complete conquest of evil and the reestablishment of universal shalom for all time. If Jesus is truly God revealed, then we can trust God in spite of the evil around us and in us.”

Here’s why I think Stackhouse’s work is so important for our students and indeed for all of us. We all wonder about God and evil, but Stackhouse helps us to see that in the end our ques-tions are not philosophical or abstract. “Can we trust God?” is a question we answer every day whether we realize it or not. Are we going to trust God today, at work, with our families, or when we come across someone else who is suffering or in need? How do we answer that question with our lives? At this intersection of theological reflection and life application, that’s exactly where we want to meet students.

NOVEMBERThe Best Reason to Reject God: An Honest Look at the Problem of EvilMonday, November 18, 8 - 9:30 pm

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STUDYCENTER.NET/PROBLEMOFEVIL

SEPTEMBER

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FALL 2013EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMSPlease join us in any of our lectures this fall, free of charge. Register on our website by visiting www.studycenter.net/registration. We encourage you to check our website for updated dates, times and locations of all events at www.studycenter.net.

REGIS

TER ONLIN

E:

www.studyc

enter.net

KEEPING FAITH IN COLLEGEWednesday, September 4, 5:45 -7 pm with Jay McCabe*for undergrad students

OUR WORK, GOD’S VOCATION: HOW FAITH AFFECTS ALL WE DO IN THE WORLDSaturday, September 14, 9 am - 12 pm with Bill Wilder

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS AND G.K. CHESTERTON:NEW ATHEIST VS OLD CONVERTMonday, September 23, 5:45 - 7 pm with Ralph Wood

SPIRITUAL FRIENDSHIP: A VISION FOR GAY AND LESBIAN CHRISTIANS IN THE CHURCH TODAYThursday, October 3, 6 - 7:30 pm with Wesley Hill*for students only

TWO VIEWS ON SABBATH: WHEN AND HOW DO CHRISTIANS REST?Tuesday, October 22, 6 - 7 pm with Bill Wilder and Tony Monaghan

THINKING GREEK: DISCUSSING THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR CHRISTIANS IN GREEK LIFEWednesday, November 6, 6 - 7:15 pm with Lane Cowin, Jay McCabe + student panels*for undergrad students

THE BEST REASON TO REJECT GOD:AN HONEST LOOK AT THE PROBLEM OF EVILMonday, November 18, 8 - 9:30 pm with John Stackhouse

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studycenter.net/lectures

FALL 2013 SMALL GROUPSstudycenter.net/smallgroupsPlease check our website for the meeting times and locations of our fall small groups.

FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Undergraduate Men’s Bible Study with Jay McCabe

Undergraduate Women’s Bible Study with Lane Cowin

Praying Together: The Purpose & Practice of Prayer with Lane Cowin

Washed and Waiting (by Wesley Hill) Reading Group with TBD

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Graduate Christian Fellowhip Bible Studies with Fitz Green

Darden Christian Fellowship Bible Studies with Bill Wilder

Law Christian Fellowship Bible Studies with Fitz Green

FOR STUDENTS & COMMUNITY

Ephesians Bible Study with Bill Wilder

The Historical Jesus Reading Group with Fitz Green

Faith, Reason and Science Reading Group with Bill Wilder

New Testament Greek Reading Group with Fitz Green

Christianity & Economics Reading Group with Jay McCabe

Theology of the Body Reading Group with Fitz Green + Nate Smith

The Movie Club with Drew Trotter + Wyatt Patterson

Christianity & Music Reading Group with Ken Myers

FALL 2013 COURSESstudycenter.net/coursesPlease visit our website to for costs, descriptions and registration.

FROM CRISIS TO CHRIST: INTERPRETING THE NEW TESTAMENT AS GOOD NEWS TO THE REAL WORLDThursdays, Sept 12 - Dec 12, 2013, 6:30 - 9 pmwith Bill Wilder

CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW: LIVING THE STORYThursdays, Sept 12 - Dec 12, 2013, 9:30 am - 12:30 pmwith John Cunningham

STUDY CENTER NEWSLETTER FALL 2013 S PAGE 9Phot

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KEEPING FAITH IN COLLEGEWhat my first-year experience taught me about living for Christ at U.Va.

I still vividly remember my first week as a first-year at U.Va. So much to do, so many people to meet, and the anxious yet excited anticipation about this new place and college life. I came, like most incoming students, wanting to have fun, learn some things, and just see what would happen. I also wanted to live out my faith

in Jesus and grow closer to Him. So I accepted an invitation from an old high school friend to go to a lunch at the Center for Christian Study for incom-ing students. I don’t remember much from that Move-In Day Lunch, but everyone seemed nice and very welcoming. I met a number of older students who were involved in Christian fellowship groups and got invited to attend their large group meetings once school started. My economics professor, Ken Elzinga, spoke about the great opportunities to grow in Christ and develop deep friendships at U.Va., and I left encouraged about my decision to come to U.Va.

That night my hallmates were going to Rugby Road to check out some frat parties and continue the longstanding tradition of getting drunk on Night 1 at U.Va. I wasn’t really interested in drinking, but I went along just to see what it was like and maybe build a closer connection with these guys. I also don’t remember much from that night, not because of alcohol consumption, but because it wasn’t anything

special. I hung around with the guys at a couple of house parties, but wound up coming home long be-fore they did and going to bed. I remember turning off my light and lying there, wondering if I was miss-ing out by being in bed and not staying out.

The next morning my old high school friend picked me up and took me to church and I met a few cool guys who could relate to my first night experience. Over lunch they assured me it was worth it not to go the typical party route. When I got back to my dorm, some of my hallmates were waking up—bleary-eyed and hung-over—and all excited to tell me about their crazy fun first night at U.Va. I listened intently and told them I was glad they enjoyed themselves and said I’d met some cool people at church that morn-ing. They were happy for me and we found other things to talk about.

The next week we all started classes and struggled to complete assignments, meet deadlines, and make “good grades.” The rigor of the coursework was daunting and we all took issue with parts of it. The engineering students were especially vocal about the amount of work and how competitive it was to do well. I was struck by the anti-religious, and especially anti-Christian, tone of some of my professors and assigned readings. Most of us began to find our way by joining groups and bonding with new friends. I visited a number of Christian fellowship groups, small group Bible studies and churches those first few weeks and eventually got involved with Young Life leader training and First Year Fellowship. All the while, I continued getting to know my hallmates as well as some fellow believers in my dorm.

Then, a couple weeks into classes, things changed. I went to my Tuesday morning French class at 9:00 am and came back to my dorm before my econom-ics class at 11:00. I turned on the television and was horrified to see two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center buildings in New York City.


by Jay McCabe, Director of Undergraduate Ministries for [email protected]

SEPTEMBERKeeping Faith in College:The Challenges and Opportunities for Christians at U.Va.Wednesday, September 4, 5:45 - 7 pm

4

It was September 11th, 2001. The scene was utter chaos, and I was in complete shock. I started thinking of people I knew in New York. My cousin had started at Columbia the week before. The towers were far from her school, but what if she was traveling around the city that day? Then one of the towers col-lapsed. I stood there in disbelief. I felt like I should do something, but what could I do? I left my room to see if anyone else was seeing this. Some guys on my hall were getting ready and hadn’t heard yet. I told them and we went back into my room to watch the coverage. We sat there for a while, unable to even talk. The next couple weeks were a blur as so many people had lost loved ones and there was so much grieving. Then came questions of how to respond. What action should our govern-ment take? Could I support military action so soon, and what about loving my enemies? As a friend, how could I support and love those suffering all around me? Their pain and loss were beyond anything I’d ever experienced. And personally, could I really believe in a good, sovereign God who would allow this to happen? Why did so many people have to die and why is evil allowed to continue like this?

Fast forward twelve years. I am now working at the Center for Christian Study as the Director of Undergraduate Ministries for Men. I am welcoming first-years to U.Va. at the Move-In Day Lunches and trying to help them live out their faith in Jesus. What has my experience and story taught me about being a Christian at U.Va.? First of all, there are both challenges and opportunities for Christians at U.Va. The social pressures to conform to the patterns and rituals of the party culture are as strong as ever, but the Christian community is vibrant and offers healthy, fun alternatives to Rugby Road. The academic pressures that tell you to base your identity on class performance and grades continue to dominate many students’ psyches, but there are plenty of students root-ing their identity firmly and solely in Christ. And the struggle to maintain faith in Jesus

in the midst of personal suffering and evil in the world persists and often peaks in college, yet students continue to cling to Christ and find that He is truly their rock. All of these challenges are real, and they must be faced, but they are not insurmountable. Like the disciples, first-years need to hear Jesus’ words: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

In fact, all of these trials can serve as oppor-tunities for deepening faith in Jesus. I am grateful that I had to make hard decisions and ask difficult questions during my first-year, because I experienced God’s faithfulness and got clarity on what I believed. My questions also pushed me to study and search the Bible for meaningful answers, and when I couldn’t find them to ask campus ministers and Chris-tian professors. The University of Virginia has been uniquely blessed with a network of wise believers, good churches, and wonder-ful places like the Study Center to take your doubts and get help integrating your faith and life.

Finally, you may assume that my college ex-perience was unusual because of 9/11, but I don’t really think so. Every student will face those similar types of struggles at some point at U.Va. and often just as early as I did. The key for keeping my faith was the compel-ling nature of God’s love expressed in Jesus’ death on the cross for me, and the whole world. This story and its implications were continually driven home as I studied Scrip-ture, worshipped in church, and sought the Lord in prayer. Life only made sense in light of the gospel. For that reason, when I stand up to talk with first-years on September 4 about “Keeping Faith in College” I will share the good news of Jesus crucified and risen for them and encourage them to trust God through all the trials they will surely face in the coming years.


“The key for keeping my faith was the compelling nature of God’s love expressed in Jesus’ death on the cross for me.”

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Study Center Newsletter Fall 2013

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