Vol. 35, No. 7 August 2013 www.christianexaminer.com Community Jin Kim Nation Mentor Corps helps Principles for intentional Baseball’s Darryl FREE men desiring closer Christian community Strawberry buries past relationship with Christ in new career as pastor page 3 page 7 page 10 ‘Value proposition’ tops agenda for new Crown College president By Scott Noble SAINT BONIFACIUS — When Dr. Joel Wiggins took the helm of Crown College on July 1, he im- mediately took on a myriad of chal- lenges facing higher education. The rising cost of tuition and the burden of student debt; the com- petition from Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC); demographic An arsonist used accelerant to light a piano on fi re at Community Covenant realities that point to a stagnant or Church in July. From there, the fi re spread throughout the entire structure. even declining number of young people in the current college-age generation; and a host of other re- alities make running a college or Arsonist sets fi re to university more diffi cult now than perhaps in several past generations. Despite all of those challenges, Minneapolis church however, Wiggins believes Crown By Scott Noble across town to the church and College’s “value proposition” is looked for—and found—the miss- what ultimately will determine MINNEAPOLIS — Community ing keys in the adjacent park. After whether students fl ock to the cam- Covenant Church had just com- fi nding the keys, the parishioner pus west of the Twin Cities. pleted a night of its weeklong Vaca- noticed smoke billowing from the The question becomes this: “Are tion Bible School (VBS) on Thurs- church’s sanctuary. we creating a product with enough day, July 11. Everyone, including When Swanson arrived at the value that students—both alterna- the 100 kids that had been present, church before fi re crews—he only tive students online and traditional had left the church grounds by 9:00 lives a few blocks away—“We ob- students on campus—are fi nding p.m. served in the parking lot … graf- enough value so that when they At 11:00 p.m., Lead Pastor Luke fi ti written all over the side of the graduate, they’ve had a great expe- Swanson received a call from one of garage adjacent to the church,” rience on campus and they are set his parishioners wondering if some- he said. “About 20, 30 feet from to move into a life of service or go- one had found a set of keys lost by there, someone had broken into a ing on to graduate school and con- the caller’s son. Swanson hadn’t but window, and later we learned from tinuing their preparation,” he said. said he would be happy to check in the arson investigator that they Crown College, which is affi liat- the morning. had used an accelerant to start the ed with the Christian and Mission- However, not wanting to wait un- Dr. Joel Wiggins, the new president of Crown College, believes the ‘value til morning, the parishioner drove See FIRE, page 14 See WIGGINS, page 2 proposition’ will draw students to the 100-year-old CMA school. Stillwater teen’s ode to heaven tops charts By Joe Winter one point reached No. 1 on the to hang on to how Christ showed us to Religion News Service iTunes music charts. suffer and just meditate on that and Zach Sobiech, who died in continually pray for God’s grace. And STILLWATER — A song about late May, wrote the farewell song I know that’s what it is. It’s all of these ascending to heaven written by a “Clouds” as an ode, in part, to his prayers of people out there holding dying 18-year-old, has gotten nearly unwavering faith in God. us up,” Sobiech’s mother told radio eight million YouTube hits and at He is remembered for providing station KTIS. hope to people around the world, The Rev. Mike Miller, who helped INDEX many of them facing similar situa- conduct the funeral, said Sobiech’s tions. music touched “people who were in Editor’s Note ......................6 His fi ght with osteosarcoma, a a very dark place.” rare bone cancer, led to the release This is Sobiech’s journey, told of an entire album of his songs, “Fix through the words of “Clouds”: Commentary .................... 6-7 Me Up,” not long before his death, and prompted other musicians “Well I fell down, down, down to perform their own versions of Into this dark and lonely hole Crossroads Chapel “Clouds.” There was no one there to care about Schedule at the Fair ..........12 Near the end, Sobiech found the me anymore strength to fl y to New York to fi nal- And I needed a way to climb and grab ize a record deal through Broadcast ahold of the edge Calendar ..........................15 Zach Sobiech, who died in late May, wrote the farewell song ‘Clouds’ as an ode, Music Inc. in part, to his unwavering faith in God. The song reached No. 1 on the iTunes You were sitting there holding a rope A version of “Clouds” featuring music chart and the YouTube video attained more than 7.7 million views. And we’ll go up, up, up Community Briefs......... 16-18 Jason Mraz, The Lumineers and But I’ll fl y a little higher American Idol winner Phillip Phil- veteran with post-traumatic stress at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in We’ll go up in the clouds because the lips drew high praise from People disorder, a concert pianist from Stillwater, Minn., where he and his view is a little nicer Classifieds .......................18 magazine, which called that remake South Korea, and Japanese school- family have been members for 20 Up here my dear perhaps “the most moving celebrity children. years. It won’t be long now, it won’t be long shout-out of all time.” One man happened to hear the “Our faith kept us from despair Professional Service now.” Sobiech’s story helped raise song on the radio while stopped and kept our eyes focused on what Directory ..........................19 more than $100,000 for cancer re- at a red light. His car window was is truly important — eternity,” So- Most of the more than a thou- search into osteosarcoma. open and more than a dozen kids biech’s mother, Laura, said. sand people at his funeral sang the Review .............................19 Scores of people wrote the teen, began spontaneously singing the “It’s been a gut-wrenching and words “up, up, up” at his funeral. saying how much his words meant song with him. heart-breaking walk, but you know, so to them. They include a Gulf War The funeral for Sobiech was held was Christ’s life. I have just really tried © 2013 Religion News Service 2 • MINNESOTA CHRISTIAN EXAMINER • August 2013 www.christianexaminer.com down the road. that has happened. As we move WIGGINS… Wiggins wants to make sure every down the road, I can see that our Continued from page 1 student has an internship. on campus program, which has “It’s so important that they have been growing year [after] year, ary Alliance denomination, holds practical experience as well as just will continue to do so but probably a special place in Wiggins’ heart. classroom experience,” he said. do so at rates that won’t be able to He’s an alumnus, who graduated “That’s something from my busi- keep up with the online programs.” in 1976. It’s also where he met his ness background I want to stress to Wiggins believes Crown’s online wife, who is also a graduate. all of our students that that’s just programs now offer the broadest After graduating from Crown, critical. Not just as a nurse or as a curricula for Christian colleges in Wiggins pursued careers in a vari- teacher, but you need to have that the upper Midwest. ety of fi elds. He has a Ph.D. from if you’re in psychology classes or so- “That’s one reason why people are the University of Texas and has ciology or business classes.” fl ocking to it,” he said. “They want a years of experience as an entrepre- In relation to internships, Wig- Christian perspective online, and the neur and as a pastor. gins hopes students will complete delivery systems today are so rich in Before coming to Crown, Wig- Christian service applications, content and media and convenient gins was the president and CEO meaning students will satisfactorily that people are doing it.” of Enterprise Center of Johnson fulfi ll a certain number of credit The growth in the online pro- County near Kansas City and was hours before they can graduate. gram will also allow the school to the founding organizer and execu- A third commitment is serving expand its reach to a more diverse tive director of Mid-America Angel internationally. The school already group of students. Investments. has some 50 percent of its students “Down the road, our online pro- This business component, how- spending time overseas before they gram will grow even faster than our ever, is perhaps the most compel- graduate. on campus program will grow,” ling piece Wiggins brings to the ta- “A lot of our students end up Wiggins said. “That will help us to ble as a college president in today’s serving internationally, but we want reach an increasingly diverse set of Crown College, located in St. Bonifacius, has a 215-acre campus of oak trees, people because they can already be culture.