Summer 2014 Messenger VOL
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Summer 2014 Messenger VOL. 66, NO. 3 Thinking globally... online • on-campus MACUNIVERSITY.EDU • ELIZABETH CITY, NC Thinking Globally... THE BEST TIME TO PLANT A TREE IS TWENTY YEARS AGO. THE SECOND BEST TIME IS NOW. [CHINESE PROVERB] Thinking Globally: MACU’s QEP RECENTLY A FRIEND REMINDED ME of this marketplace and the church. I am very proud of our Dr. Kevin Larsen, VP/Academic Affairs, axiom. This truism speaks to the benefits of inten- professors and staff as they are working hard on our Director of Institutional Effectiveness tionality and that all choices have consequences. At five-year QEP to improve student learning outcomes IN TODAY’S MEDIA WE HEAR terms like “glo- Mid-Atlantic we are focused on our preferred future. with a focus on cultural awareness. We ask for your balization,” “flat world,” and “cultural awareness.” We have a concept of what we would like to be by the prayers as we walk through our reaffirmation with We hear these terms because of developments in Senior Jacob Smith dines with his host missionaries, year 2020. Everything we do is measured against a SACSCOC. technology (e.g., the internet), urbanization, and David and Lynn Poling, and friends in Hong Kong. plan we call Vision 2020. Vision 2020 is keeping us focused today on the immigration, which provide greater opportunities to At the center of Vision 2020 is the reality that future of Mid-Atlantic. Today we are educating interact with people who are “different” from us. Serving, Working at Mid-Atlantic we think globally. It is good that men and women to serve. Today we are educating Not only does our changing society necessitate a your President, faculty, staff, students, trustees, and ordinary people who will be extraordinary Christian cultural awareness, but the imperatives of the Chris- Dr. Kevin Larsen has been thinking and teaching globally for years (pictured with students studying Cross-culturally directors visit our alumni that serve in 25 different leaders. Mid-Atlantic alumni already serve in 46 tian life also require that we be culturally aware. The the New Testament, Austria, 2009). countries. Our alumni are doing a great work in states, one territory, and 25 countries. Our family tree Apostle Paul wrote, “I have become all things to all This Summer both the marketplace and the church. Some were is diverse. We do not all look alike. We do not even men so that I might win some.” Since the founding focus on student learning. “Thinking Globally” fits DR. KEVIN LARSEN WILL BE visiting Christians international students who came to America to study speak the same language. But we are united under of the school we have been global at heart. We have our mission and practice as well as the qualities of around the world in June – friends in Moldova and at Mid-Atlantic; some are Americans who heard the the Tree of Life, firmly rooted in Christ. graduates in 25 countries. Faculty, staff, and students a QEP. alumni in southeastern Europe and Asia. Student call to service and have chosen to live and serve on Thanks for being a part of a global mission. have taken numerous short-term missions trips. We As students learn to Think Globally, they will Life Director Andrea Strawderman and Enrollment foreign soil. Thank you for your prayers and your financial have a major and minor in cross-cultural ministry. • analyze their own and others’ cultures Director Dan Smith will lead a team of MACU We congratulate one of our alumni who support. We are empowered by your prayers. We are Such experiences are not just international. All of in light of a Christian worldview. students, parents and prospective students on a July serves in India. Dr. Ajai Lall has been named enabled by your gifts. us have cross-cultural experiences every day as we • use their knowledge of cultural differences mission trip to Haiti. Numerous other students are President of the World Convention. The Serving those who serve live and work in our various locations in the United to navigate intercultural experiences. involved in short-term trips. next gathering of the World Convention around the globe, States. The desire to better equip MACU students • demonstrate an active interest Dr. Lee Fields will be traveling to South Asia with a will be in New Delhi, India in 2017. Please to navigate the culturally diverse world in which in other cultures. team that includes Dr. Cheryl Luton and her husband, begin making plans now to join me at this we all now live is the reason we chose Thinking • suspend premature value judgments Dr. John Luton. Dr. Fields will be there two weeks; historic gathering of the Stone-Campbell Globally as the topic for the university’s Quality when interacting cross-culturally. the Lutons and other team members, four. They will Movement (http://www.worldconvention.org/ D. Clay Perkins, Ph.D. • President Enhancement Plan (QEP). Over the course of the next two years minor mod- be training six teams of national Bible translators, blog/2014/04/11/on-to-india/.) Mid-Atlantic Christian University is in its reaf- ifications will be made to some of the curriculum, each representing a different language, some with Thinking globally is the focus of our Quali- On May 2 President Perkins was named Alumnus firmation of accreditation stage with the Southern more opportunities will be created for cross-cultural no alphabet. Dr Fields’ job is to teach exegesis, Greek ty Enhancement Plan (QEP) during our reaf- of the Year by the School of Business and Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on experiences, and special speakers will be brought tools, and Hebrew tools/Logos. Dr. Cheryl Luton is firmation process with Southern Association of Leadership of Regent University. This award Colleges. As part of the reaffirmation process we have more frequently to campus. Along with a host of recognizes individuals who have gained “unique working with them on English skills because the Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to create a QEP. QEPs must relate to the mission of other activities, these efforts will increase our sensi- distinction through their accomplishments and translators need to be able to use resources in English. (SACSCOC). Cross-cultural studies are at the have brought positive change to the world the school, involve all constituencies, emerge from tivities to cultural differences as we seek to be better Dr. John Luton is a translation consultant. The goal Dr. Ajai Lall and Dr. Indu Lall Founders, heart of who we are at MACU! Understand- through Christian leadership,” according to Dr. institutional assessment and strategic planning, and Kingdom workers in our multicultural world. Central India Christian Mission. Dr. Ajai Lall is for the four-week trip is that each team will produce a ing different cultures is paramount to our Doris Gomez, Interim Dean of the School of translation of First and Second Thessalonians. President of the World Convention 2017 Business and Leadership. Emotional Intelligence part. It was very interesting influencing the culture for Christ in both the Among students serving overseas this summer to see how much something as little as a non-ver- Educating Globally are Lauren Witherspoon, a student summer team bal gesture can either make or break an employee Dr. Greg Waddell member for Enrollment, or follower in an organization. Often times the Director of Online Education who will travel to Mexico business stigma is the cold [famous name]-like DIRECTOR OF ONLINE in July to participate in THE WORLD IN OUR BACKYARD boss who is only interested in profits. I knew this EDUCATION DR. Greg Waddell a mission outreach and wasn’t the case (definitely not in God’s plan), but has the opportunity to work with service project. Senior Jacob ICOM 2015 Comes to Richmond I didn’t realize just how much my actions affect students who may be living on the other side of the Smith is serving a summer someone’s emotions. I know now that when I am THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ICOM, Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship (VEF), Tune, Executive Director of Impact Canada street or the other side of the world. He considered internship in Hong Kong at work that I need to watch what I say and how I MISSIONS (ICOM) will be in Richmond, VA, in and MACU traveled about 1,200 miles April 22-25 and President of ICOM 2015; Dave Hileman, submitting statistics and other quantitative data to teaching English; Senior Senior Zach Tanner say things to my fellow workers and treat them with 2015: Oct. 29-Nov. 1. Churches in Virginia and to talk with representatives from 86 churches. Executive Director of VEF and a MACU Trustee, report on the university’s online programs. But he Zach Tanner, in Ghana plays basketball with respect. I need to view my work area as the mission youth in Ghana other nearby states are at work now to generate par- Events were held in Chesapeake, Hampton, Rich- as well as Tim Cole and Harry Gill, also of chose instead to share a comment from a student with Attah Osebreh ’13; field and need to know how I can have Christ-like ticipation in this event that has turned the hearts of mond, Mechanicsville, Fredericksburg, Springfield, VEF; President Perkins and VP/Institutional who took the online Organizational Behavior course. Junior Paige Colditz in Costa Rica. social interactions with my co-workers. thousands toward mission service and encourages Winchester, Fishersville, Roanoke, Wytheville, Advancement John Maurice were the members The student wrote: Please pray for these cross-cultural endeavors that This is what it’s all about: knowledge applied to those who labor far from their native land.