A Publication About Covenant College

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------iiiiiiii---- Vol. 2 No. 1 -- A Publication About Covenant College ...... If you look at all the statistics, you will see that the number of I) people who believe 1n absolute truth continues to decline. Shockingly, it Interview declines more rapidly among evangelicals than among the culture at large. Interview Yfrth Chuck Colson We read our Bibles and say Jesus is the truth and yet we're saying at the With same time there's no such thing as truth, it does not surprise me that the cnme rate continues to soar, that families continue to break up, and that we are marginalized as Christians. People do not take us seriously but treat us lllbrs'Noles Chuck Colson rather as bigots. It does not surprise me that we have minimal influence in President Frank Brock recently had the opportunity to talk with Chuck affecting the fate of our culture because we may win a host of battles in the Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, author, speaker and columnist. The culture war, or we may fight them to a standstill on some of the issues, but following is part I of their interview at root we're losing the foundation That's the foundational question and I don't even think we recognize it President Brock: You and I have both been motivated by the question ,

"How can a country where there are so many people who call themselves Brock: I think that there is no place that the relativistic theme emanates evangelical Christians, have all the statistics going the wrong direction? more than from higher education . The crime, the divorce rate, abortion , incarceration , adultery, illiteracy, Colson : I think the force behind relativism in American life today is the drugs, whatever you want to use. secular economy. Precisely where it is coming from is higher education. Chuck Colson: It continues at an accelerating rate , and what that says, of Vartan Gregorian was inaugurated as president at Brown seven or eight course, is that religion is not affecting the moral life of the nation. The years ago, my alma matter, and at his inaugural convocation Arthur reason that we see the signs of moral decay accelerate is the fact that his Schlesinger spoke and gave a talk called "The Perils of Absolutism." It was tory moves on the waves of great ideas, they're below the surface. a denunciation of Christian beliefs, and talked about all the horrors com- Christians are very good at fighting a lot of the battles that we see in the mitted in the name of religious truth and absolutism. That paper eloquently "culture war." I think we're great at picketing the abortion clinics, and sums up the prevailing attitude of the economy. Post-modernism has calendar fighting homosexual rights, we're good at our campaigns to clean up gripped the economy. The Christian could contend with modernism since pornography and now campaigns to stop people from watching the dread- it believes that there is truth and believes that you could apprehend it by fully immoral pollution called daily talk shows. We do all of those things rational means. We as Christians say that's not so, that it comes from reve- really well , without recognizing that there's a much deeper root issue of lation and so the modernist-Christian confrontation is over the means of People ID Nole which these battles are simply manifestations. I don't think the evangelical [arriving at] truth . The post-modernist-Christian confrontation is over the community has identified the core issue-truth. existence of truth because the post-modernist says there is no such thing. The root question of our culture and of our times, which Francis Schaeffer, the late theologian and founder of L'Abri, identified: is Brock: Is it an important distinction to differentiate between truth and there any such thing as objective reality? Is there an objective moral order objective truth? that governs the conflict and behavior of people? It's basically an episte Colson: Absolutely Schaeffer made this point. Truth is that which con mological question, a question out of which all these other skirmishes in forms to reality. It sounds like we're saying that we're talking on the phone lhe culture war go on . We spend our time fighting the battles, never right now and doing this interview and that this is Wednesday and that the News Hash knowing the issue that is causing the war, and that's why I think we con sky is gray and I'm leaning on a desk which is made of wood, all these tinue to lose. things are true. But, they are not the truth in the sense that there is a point of evident reality from which everything else flows, that there is an objective root to knowledge and to what we see and can call truth. Items It may be that there will be a time at which we will discover lhal this table I'm leaning on is really not what it appears to be. It appears to be for Prayer solid wood, but it may be something else. We may discover through quantum physics that it really should be called something else or be Pray that the Spirit will continue to powerfully affect the lives of students and faculty in this new school year Pray that chapel will continue to be meaningful understood another way. But, the epistemological question is answered lhal and that more and more faculty and students will actively participate. Pray for we can be assured that the point of element reality, that of course is God, the board and administration as they seek the best way to encourage spiritual growth and development. who revealed truth, revealed propositional truth through scripture so lhal that is the point from which all truths proceed. The college is in the early stages of a new live-year plan. The first steps are often the most difficult. Pray that the leadership will have wisdom in imple menting the plan. We are praying that the college will grow by 250 full-time traditional students to a total enrollment of 1100 students. This will require up Brock: You just recently wrote a novel, Gideon's Torch, which is by defini to $16,000,000 in capital and endowment gilts Pray for President Frank Brock, tion untruth in the sense that it doesn't portray real life. Can you say why trustees and the capital campaign committee. The college must receive ma1or gifts lrom new donors to meet this goal. Pray that new major gifts will be you decided to write from the point of view of a novel and how that would received play into what you're talking about as far as truth and objective truth. Pray for trustee advisor Bronwyn Leonard, Lorlee Carraher (trustee wife), Sharon Hall (wife of former trustee), and trustee Ken Avis, all of whom are Colson : I think great moral teaching through the centuries has been more struggling with cancer. profoundly accomplished through moral literature than through moral Pray that more churches will participate in the Church Partnership Program telepathy. Some people simply don't have the capacity to understand and enable Covenant to provide badly need financial aid to more families. abstract arguments and even those who have the capacity to understand Pray for faculty, administration, and the board as we consider the long-range abstract arguments can only take them at the cognitive level. Jesus often educational implications of technology such as distance learning, the Internet, and interactive learning. Some say that there has not been such a fundamental used a good story to convey ultimate truth. Great stories engage the listener change in communication since the discovery of the printing press. or the reader. The reader becomes a participant and discovers for himself or The unofficial word is that an agreement has been reached among New Era herself the truth that is conveyed by that literature. participants that will return more that 60% of the funds to the net loss charities. In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostyovsky conveys profound truth More will come depending on the law suit with Prudential. Continue to pray for an amicable resolution with 100% restoration without exorbitant legal rooted in objective reality. The deepest truths in life, the truths of the moral expense.• order, the truths of God, the truths of individuals seeking God and the truths of what happens when you turn away from all of this reality in God. In Brothers Karamazov he makes a more compelling apologetic for ultimate truth through literature than he could possibly do through objective argu well as students. Placement services are available lo ment. So I went to a novel because through that approach I felt I could assist in localing employment or gaining entry into grad uate programs. Alumni involved in a variety ol profes better convey an understanding of the deepest questions of the culture, the sional career l1elds also represent a valuable information and networking resource in assisting each other and current students in the career research and employment deeper questions of the Christian response of overcoming evil with good, processes. Alumni interested in receiving assistance or becoming a resource-joining and the deeper questions of life. I felt those points could be made more the Alumni Advisory network-may contact the CDC by mail, or call the college and speak with the CDC staff at ext. 1156 or 1141 . profoundly in a novel which engaged people to participate and to live Covenant's office of Experiential Studies recently received compliments on the Covenant through the story, rather than by appealing to their rational selves. students who have studied at Oxford University in England over the past several years. These students have impressed lhe faculty as being "cultured, mature, good-humored, Be sure to watch for the second part of this interview in the next issue of very serious about their studies and seem lo have an inner strength ... (and) have con Covenant On Line. tributed incalculably to the atmosphere of the Centre and are a considerable credil to your College" Abler John (A.J.) Vidal '81 and his wife, Karen, are both active al church, in men's and women's Bible slud1es, and interdenominational evangelical outreach in Ocala, Fla. A.J practices general business law and commercial litigation. Karen works for a general Alumni surgical group and splits her time between the office and surgery. Kenneth '69 and Wanda (Jones '79) Fowler own lhe Silk Planlal1on in Leesville, SC, a relail business Geoff and Sally (Barker '82) Gold '82 live in Huntsville, Ala, where Geoff works at eslablished in 1988. II specializes in ready-made silk the Missile and Space Intelligence Center on Redstone Arsenal. Sally has been home planls and lrees, as well as floral design for lhe home full time with Andrew and Graham lhe past three years and office. Susan Finch Murphy '82 is busy at home as housewife and mom with Brooke and Linda Tedford '69 Is lhe founder and Artistic Director of lhe Susquehanna Chorale, Joshua She is very aclIve al Shannon Fores! Presbyterian Church in Greenville, S.C. Pennsylvania's premier chamber choir. She has sludied under Robert Shaw, Greg Sm_ith wilh lhe ladies' Bible Sludy. She also leads a group called "Moms In Touch" at the and Dale Warland, and holds a Master of Music degree from Temple Univers1ly She Is a school. member of the faculty al Messiah College, and is lhe Chairperson of lhe Repertoire and Standards Committee Chairperson for Community Choruses for lhe Northeaslern Stales Velvet Norman Hopwood '83 was the first "Recreation Education" graduale and for lhe American Choral Direclors Association. lhoroughly enJoys working in lhe field of recrealion. She is currenlly providing recre alion for lhe geriatric populalion of a large corporation, National Heallh Corporation. Catherine Flowers Ritchie '74 is busy home-schooling her four children and leaching workshops on writing Las! summer !hey look a 9,000-mile cross country Nate Pifer '84 is the Men's Soccer coach al Midweslern Slate University in Wichila journey, which included a v1sil lo Covenanl before returning home lo Lake Forest, Calif. Falls, Tx., which went to the national tournament again this pas! year. He is also an assistant professor His wife Angie (Graziano '86) is busy at home with Nathan and William and Prudence (Vagl 75) Barker 75 are living in St. Louis, Mo., and have a Christopher. one-year-old daughler, Healher. Two of !heir daughlers, Elizabelh and Sarah attend Covenanl, and !hey are home-schooling lhe rest. In Augusl !hey celebraled !heir 21sl Todd and Sarah (Hutchens '86) Bramblett '85 live in Roanoke, Virg., Todd's home wedding anniversary town. They went from a very fast paced lifestyle in northern Virginia to 20 acres on Lost Mountain overlooking Apple Valley-visitors welcome! Keeta Hudson Settle '75 is a full lime molher and housewife; suslaIning member of lhe Junior League of Chattanooga; 1996 Direclor of Kaleidoscope Children's Festival; Chris Harrell ('85) and his wife, Susan are living in Cary, NC Chris is an art director member of Advisory Council of lhe Crealive Discovery Museum: and board member of Friends of lhe Fesl1val for a graphic design firm. Susan is a quality assurance engineer for Encompass, a soft ware producer. They have a son, Austin Blake (3/18/95). Michael Cromartie 76 is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Policy Center, Washington, Constantine Sotery Diamondidus (Gus Diamond) '86 works with Todd Erickson D.C. He discussed Dinesh D'Souzza's book, The End of Racism, on the nalionally syndi '87 and Sheri Monroe '87 on Youlh Minislry learn in Augusla, GA He recenlly changed cated show, 'Think Tank wilh Ben Wattenberg" lasl year His interview with William F his last name lo lhe original Greek name (from Diamond lo Diamondidus) Gus will be Buckly, entitled "Lislening lo Mr. Righi." appeared in the October 2, 1995, issue of Christianity Today getting married in December. Elizabeth Graham Faulkner '86 and her family live in Ml. Pleasant, SC She fin Tracy and Joy (Ransom '78) Dager 76 are currenlly with MTW/Caribbean Christian ished her BSN al Medical University of SC College of Nursing. She works in a commu Center for the Deaf as coordinator of expansion and development of three campuses in nity hospilal several days a week, but spends mosl of her time laking care of her family. Jamaica and are also overseeing construction and development of an entire village lor 1,500 deaf Christian adults in which to work, worship, and live. Noelle Martell '87 is leaching junior high at a Chrislian school in Michigan and is also coaching lhe JV baskelball leam. Lyn Graybill Aliperti '78 received her Ph.D. lrom University of Virginia in 1991 and is teaching African politics and International Relations at UVA. Her book, Religion and Steve and Susan (Rapp '88) Half '89 - Sieve completed his Masler's degree in Resistance: Politics in South Africa, will be published by Praeger lhis fall. Adminislralion and Supervision from Covenanl in May '94. Lasl year he began lhe new responsibility of middle school principal al Weslminsler Christian Academy in SI. Louis. Richard P. Belcher, Jr. '77 is an Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Susan enjoys being a slay-al-home mom and continues leaching piano lessons. They Theological Seminary, Charlotte campus. His address is 121 River Wood Dr., Fort Mill, SC 29715. recently purchased a new home lo accommodate lhe needs of !heir growing family. Karen Miller '88 has been a police officer in Madison, AL for 5 years. She is also a Lewis and Elsbeth (Schatters 78) Codington 78 are missionaries with Christian DARE (Drug Abuse Resislance Education) inslructor, teaching 2nd and 5th grade stu Literature Crusade working in the International Office and in Eastern Europe. They are living in England. dents. Jill Vandegriff '88 has been leaching at Lewis and Clark Community College in Edward and Denise (Calvin 78) Gray '78 - Ed has pastored PCA churches lor 13 Godfrey, Ill. for five years. In !hose five years she has started the Lewis and Clark years, earned his doctorate ( D. Min.) lrom Covenanl Seminary in '90 and now is pas College Choir and two small selecl ensembles, one for women and one for men. toring an Independent Bible Church. Denise has recenlly gone back to teaching. David Vila '88 holds an M. Div. and an MA in Theology from Covenanl Seminary in Mae Shelley Howe '81 is applying lor Bermudan citizenship. She home-schools St. Louis. He has spent the last three summers at an archeological dig at the ancient city !heir oldesl child, Matlhew, and helps her husband, Doug, wilh !heir business. She is ol Albila in Jordan. He is now completing a Ph.D. in Hislorical Theology at SI. Louis also active in leadership at church and with Bible Study Fellowship. University. He is married to Susan (Brock '89) and they have a baby boy, Samuel.

Mike Sharp '89 lelt the Army and married Deborah Barrientes. He is now working security and applying for a job wilh Inter Christo. Gordon '90 and Marie (Dye '90) Bobbett '90- Busy, no sleep, no children. Gordon graduated in May ·95 from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He is planning to pursue Board certification in both Family and Emergency Medicine by the , year 2000. They have moved to Spartanburg where he has started his three-year resi • Mills Science dency in Family Medicine.

Jennifer (Lewandowski '90) de Ru is a computer programmer for Kuch and ~ Building Associates outside of Chicago. AmyJo Gluth De Vries '92 is in a two-year graduate program at The Institute for Dedication Children's Literature. She is also a cheer-leading coach at Central High School, a teacher at Sonshine Christian Center and writes children's books. She looks forward to The C.G. and Nancy Mills Science Building will be dedicated at 11 :00 am, being published in the next two years She has been married for three years, lives in Gilberts, Ill., and she and her husband are active in starting a new church. Friday, October 25 The $6.2 million, two-year proJect better positions the college to attract more students who are not only committed to Christ, but Elizabeth Miner '94 is teaching missionary kids in Prague, Czeck. She is enjoying the challenge of teaching and living in a foreign country. to the study of science as well

Shelby Wells '94 received her master's degree in Classical Archaeology in September '95, and in October she began working on her doctorate in the same field. • The state-of-the-art facility will house classrooms and laboratories for computer science, biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and psy chology. There will also be faculty offices, study and commons areas and Homecoming a large central lobby overlooking the west brow of Lookout Mountain. Homecoming is a great event for everyone. Plan to attend The C.G. and Nancy Mills The dedication will be the focal point of an eventtul weekend. Thursday Science Building Dedication on Friday October evening at 7:30 an address will be given by Professor Phillip Johnson. 25th at 11 :00 am and Homecoming on Saturday, October 26th. Special Friday morning at 11 :00 will be the dedication ceremony, which will be reunion years are'96, '91, '86, '81, 76, 71, '66, '61 and '56 but everyone is followed by an afternoon symposium from 1:30 to 5:00. The weekend will welcome 1 Last October, Covenant hosted its biggest and best be capped off by homecoming festivities featuring reunions for the class Homecoming celebration ever with 435 people in attendance. years of'96, '91, '86, '81, 76, 71, '66, '61, and '56.

Alumni Director Marshall Rowe '87 feels that the success was due to one Professor Johnson is a graduate of Harvard University and the University key tactic. "We really focused on the reunion years and getting the word of Chicago Law School. He served as a law clerk for Chief Justice Earl out, trying to get alumni together with their classmates. I would guess that Warren of the United States Supreme Court and has served as professor most of the alumni could not tell you the final score of the soccer game as of law at the University of California at Berkeley for the last 20 years. they were engrossed in conversation with their classmates. The free food He is the author of Darwin on Trial, and his most recent book is titled didn't hurt the attendance either." Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law and Education. • The minimal program lent itself to a casual atmosphere which seemed to be appealing to everyone. The highlight of the day was the dessert gather ings for the reunion years, held in the homes of faculty or area alumni. Input Alumni-watch your mail for more information. • In future issues we would like to be able to share @ your opinions, questions and concerns. Feel free to write us at Covenant on Line, Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, Georgia 30750. Our internet address is [email protected]. • reason , words become more a matter of self-expression rather than the frank~ expression of a concrete idea. The result is that the student learns in col lege that the best ideas are ones that will work; pragmatism becomes the Speakmg basis for evaluating all ideas. lbe Effect of Higher Education of the Church The pastor will also encounter well-educated, successful college graduates If a topless bar or an adult book store moved into the neighborhood of a who will talk about a personal relationship with Christ and who will say that local church, there would probably be an immediate reaction. The leaders they believe the Bible, but who will live their lives in front of the TV. They would do everything they could to fight the location of such a place in the will be oblivious to foreign or local missions, they will not feel responsi vicinity of their church. By the same token, if a group of theological lib bility to the poor or oppressed. They will not be committed to the church as erals-those holding a low view of Scripture-were to begin to infiltrate a an institution. Many will be active in organizations that have fundamentally reformed, evangelical church , the pastor and elders would recognize the humanistic goals. They will be this way, in part, because they went to col danger and would take appropriate steps to confront the situation. leges where there was no significant effort to have a core curriculum that was designed to help the students tie together life. They may have taken a

Yet, just as the ancient Trojans received the attractive horse as a gift from course in social science, a course in mathematics, in physical science, or the Greeks only to find they had let the enemy inside their walls, so the English literature, but most will not have attended a college where there evangelical church finds within its doors a strange and powerful enemy. was an effort on the part of the faculty to put together a core of knowledge The enemy is not cloaked in liberalism and it is not cloaked in blatant that all of the students graduating would know. immorality. Rather, it is cloaked in a mindset that we hardly recognize-a secular mindset. Consequently, they will not understand or appreciate the role of language in helping to communicate ideas. They will not understand the importance of

My proposition is that this mindset comes from higher education. the history of ideas. They will not understand how those ideas have influ Approximately ninety-seven percent of college-educated church members enced the culture through forms of art, music, architecture, and other sym are educated in secular colleges. Nationwide, less than one percent of all bols of culture. They will not understand that the foundation of culture is students in the country are going to Christ-centered colleges, and I esti the ideas that form and shape our morals and ethics, or that from our mate that no more than two percent of the members of the Presbyterian morals and ethics develop institutions such as business, law, health care, Church in America are going to Christ-centered colleges. Therefore, the and government. They will not understand that all of the technological pastor and session will face a congregation that has developed its mindset advancements come out of these ideas of right and wrong, of good and from the secular college. bad . And they will have little appreciation for the concept that the ultimate purpose and goal of life itself is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. To

I think the pastor will find , by and large, well-educated , successful gradu many of them, church will just be another compartment in a highly com ates who will accept a concept like truth , only to find out later that the partmentalized life. Most college graduates fail to see the relationship member's concept of truth and the pastor's concept of truth are different. I between the Bible, their personal faith , cultural norms, and the role of would submit to you that will be because they went to a college where there Christ in culture. Their tendency will be to separate what they learn in was no concept of truth . If there is no ultimate truth, no right or wrong , church from what they do in business. reason falls prey to posturing , to positioning for power. Without truth or They have learned that all religions have similar values, that tolerance is a virtue, that it is wrong to impose our religious views on others, that reli ALUMNI CALENDAR gion is primarily personal, that America is a country built on pluralism These well-educated college graduates are no more likely to work hard, Alumni, mark these Dates sacrifice for others (save for delayed gratification), honor their commit October 5, 1996 ments, or to be known for their integrity than their secular counterparts. Annapolis gathering Almost every survey I have ever read says that this 1s the situation. I think October 12, 1996 a major reason for this is that they went to colleges and schools where no Colorado gathering such values were taught. Let's face it: the institutions where most church October 14-23, 1996 members went resembled giant playgrounds more than a Marine boot Fall Break camp where they would learn about honor, truth, duty, love of country, and October 25 , 1996 discipline. Mills Science Building Dedication October 26 , 1996 College education in general is the single most liberalizing force in Homecoming America. I think we must realize that one of the gods of our age, one of the December 5-7, 1996 chief instruments of the principalities and powers, is the god of secular Madrigal Dinners education-godless, purposeless education where the highest goal being articulated is something like excellence, personal responsibility, or toler ance of others. People to Note Alumnus of the Year Bob DeMoss '80. was honored for his outstanding impact on our culture and for boldly The church must have laymen-not ministers but laymen-who can taking the tools which were honed at Covenant and using them to help reshape the media industry. teach Sunday school or shepherd the congregation, laymen who posses For those who don't know Bob, he is a conservative media critic who recently served as knowledge of the Bible, of theology, of doctrine, of church history, and of Focus on the Family's youth culture specialist. He is now the president of Entertainment culture that will enable them to go head-to-head and toe-to-toe with secu Today an organization committed to helping families make sound entertainment choices. larly trained people. They must not only be more godly and better prayer One of Bob's major accomplishments while with Focus on the Family was the "Learn to Discern" video. "Learn to Discern" is a tool designed to help parents and teenagers make warriors, they must be more articulate, better informed, more capable of Christ-centered choices in entertainment. Bob feels that there were two major forces at work when the Learn to Discern video was created-his upbringing in a home where principled reason, more culturally aware, and more knowledgeable of his faith was integrated into every area of life, and his years at Covenant which furthered his tory than their secular counterparts. • whole biblical world and life view Bob has also recently completed a book called Sex and the Single Person.

Amidst all the activity, Bob's lecture itinerary on today's culture hasn't slowed . He con tinues to address audiences of parents and teens alike regarding the role of entertainment in the home, providing them with the tools to think critically about the "voices" of pop entertainment-music, movies, advertising, television and computer software.

Bob specifically solicits your prayers for his ministry and for himself in a few specific areas. For years Bob has been addressing the church people. However, he's feeling a real need to start reaching out to the unchurched people. His hope is to integrate those who share the conservative perspective that we do, but lack the Biblical framework. Fox has Just approved a program where one minute out of the day they will discuss art and do a cultural commentary. They're also looking at a 30 minute show on Sunday nights on the Covenant On Line is a publication of the local Fox network that would be hosted by Bob. Office of Admissions and Development. Be sure to send your nominations for the 1996 Alumnus al the Year to Marshal I Rowe, Alumni Director, along with your Homecoming Registration • ..,,, __ ..._ _ D JI

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