Let there be blog
It took Noah a hundred years to build a wooden ark, so I don’t feel too bad about letting life – schoolwork, work-work, and not-work – take me away from this blog for a few months. But I do want to get back to tending this space regularly after I finish my final exams and officially graduate from college. (Six more weeks!)
Until then, a few noteworthy nuggets:
- Thanks to all who have written, commented, and tweeted about The Unlikely Disciple in the past few months. The book is still moving around in hardcover – garnering the odd news hit from time to time – and has gone into three more printings since the summer. So that’s good! I just got word from Grand Central that the paperback version (and the audiobook!) will be appearing in January 2011 – I’d tell you to mark your 2011 calendar, but I don’t think they’re selling those yet.
- I’ve gotten a few e-mails asking about my Liberty friends, and what they’re up to these days. I can happily report that although 2009 hasn’t been the best year for Liberty’s public image, my friends from LU – or at least the ones I keep in touch with regularly – are doing quite well. I’ll be back in Lynchburg this winter for a couple of my hallmates’ weddings (got to love those ring-by-spring Christians) and I’ll report back with news from campus.
- Speaking of friends, Year of Living Biblically author (and my former boss) A.J. Jacobs has a great new book out. It’s called The Guinea Pig Diaries, and it’s a collection of his funniest, most radical lifestyle experiments – everything from outsourcing his entire life to India to spending a month living like George Washington (complete with tricorner hat). Check it out at A.J.’s site, or read some (less overtly biased) reviews on Amazon.
- The September issue of Christianity Today had a long article about Liberty, its massive growth, and the new directions it’s taking under the leadership of Jerry Falwell Jr. It’s an interesting (if relatively uncritical) look at what’s been going on in Lynchburg since I left LU, and sheds some light on the fascinating, often contradictory forces at work behind the scenes. For example, the article makes a big deal out of the growing ideological diversity on Liberty’s campus – the fact that it’s no longer just an enclave for Baptists and homeschoolers. The writer even quotes a Nepali student, Priti Sitoula, who says (surprisingly, if you ask me) that her Hinduism “has never been a conflict” in her Liberty classes or her social life. But a few paragraphs later, when talking about changes in Liberty’s admissions process, Jerry Falwell Jr. is quoted saying that he wants to be “a little more selective in the type of kids who are compatible with our mission spiritually.” Which makes me wonder: would a new emphasis on spiritual mission mean that non-Christian students like Priti would no longer be welcome at Liberty? Is Chancellor Falwell actually making an attempt to accommodate students of all faiths? Or is Liberty trying to narrow its focus to conservative evangelicals? It seems like an important question, and it’s one I hope somebody will address soon.
- On a lighter note, thanks to the blog reader who forwarded me a link to Liberty Counsel (LU’s legal arm) and their new “Adopt a Liberal” program. (Tagline: “Have you prayed for a liberal today?”)
Also, just as a reminder: if you like your updates from me frequent and short (or just short), feel free to connect on Twitter or Facebook, where I’m (slightly) less negligent.
I am by no means answering for him, but I *think* that when Jerry Jr. speaks about being more selective with admissions, he has his mind on academics.
Obviously, when a college is young like Liberty, there has to be a focus on recruitment just to stay afloat financially. Now that Liberty is thriving economically, we can afford to be more selective with the students we admit.
Over $60 million has been spent in the last two years to enhance academics, which is one easy way to tell that it’s what’s on Jerry Jr.’s mind right now.
And, on a purely personal note, students often come to Liberty and then get saved here — whether they considered themselves “Christians” before or they were forced here by their parents, etc. So, it seems to me that if we have a mission field right here, why would we miss the opportunity to effectively evangelize within our own student body? That’s a very close-by mission field. And after all, our motto does state that we’re in the business of “changing lives.”
(I’m glad you’re blogging again. Drop by and say hello when you’re in town if you have the chance.)
— Amanda
November 2, 2009, 5:17 pm
Kevin –
I’m inclined to agree with Amanda above regarding Jerry Jr’s comments; he’s capped enrollment at Liberty, and frankly is probably looking to find more students with good earning potential.
For the record I was really disappointed in Jerry Jr’s fact creation exercise in response to your book. I suspect he pulled those 5/90/5 numbers out of thin air.
Finally, when reading anything said or written by the Falwell’s it’s important to remember that most of the time their audience consists of fundamentalist pastors and the people who go to their churches; Dirk Smillie puts a point on this in Falwell Inc: when the elder Falwell got John R. Rice’s mailing list he got a constituency for life.
— MDSF
November 3, 2009, 11:40 am
Kevin,
Do you plan on going to grad school in January? If so, would you consider a program back at LU?
— Jessica
November 10, 2009, 1:00 am
Hi, Kevin!
Read your book. I was an unlikely once.
But I did the second semester. And unlike you, I was very clear about the fact that I was not a Christian, upfront.
Like you, I am strongly biased toward cynicism. Unlike you, I have also been blessed or burdened with a number of unexplained experiences, even while at the most cold-hearted agnostic moments of my life.
And I’m an artist, so a bit of a free spirit–by nature, anyway. Not a natural for the Bible College experience.
I encountered the euphoria of meeting a guy I clicked with there at the Bible College, a guy who was gifted with great talents. He was not rigid like many of the students were. He had been raised a Quaker in his earliest years, like you were. The relationship went on and on, without us ever touching and without having “the conversation”–if you can imagine the angst, and the bliss. We talked about everything in the world except what to do about our feelings for one another. On my part, I called the relationship platonic. On his part, he kept getting his friends to approach me and tell me that he felt somethihg more for me. But since he never touched me, never told me face-to-face, as far as I was concerned it was not romantic love. I was a Pharisee even before I ever professed. And I had a deep-seated fear of marrying a preacher, as strange as that may sound. But you know the minute we started officially dating, it would have turned into the “ring by spring” thing, and I couldn’t go there. I kept steering him away from the conversation, then telling myself it wasn’t a romantic relationship because he didn’t come out and say so.
I did tell him that I would always be there for him, that I loved him in my way and would never let him down.
He wrote songs for me, I made paintings and illustrations for him, and time went on. It may seem a contraction to anyone who assumes that Christianty is irrational, but I converted on a campus that was rigidly rationalistic. Then I became uncomfortable my unexplainable experiences and went into a very black-and-white mode. I joined a cult that actually could explain these things. The unexplainable experiences were the work of the Devil. Thank God, everything was clear. So black and white.
There in the cult, I married a man who turned out to be abusive. But marriage vows are sacred, so I stayed with him.
At one point, I re-established contact with my old friend from Bible College.
Now a successful Christian musician, he visited us for a week while he toured.
And when he left, my husband threatened both of our lives if we contacted one another again. He made every effort to emphasize that he was serious. I did not consider a restraining order; I was married to him and not ready to leave him, and I was a submissive Christian wife. In my mind, if the worst had happened, it would have been my fault for contacting my friend again. So I capitulated. In order to keep my friend safe, I stayed with my ex and I told my friend not to contact me again.
And the only way he tried to contact me for the next ten years was through his songs. He never dated anyone during that time. And I kept him safe by staying away.
When I realized that my three children were all suicidal, I knew it was time to leave my husband. I did. My friend approached me, again through a mutual friend. He wanted to work things out between us, but I was just as afraid for his safety as ever. If we were in contact now, my ex would be sure he had been right to be lethally jealous of us. Abusive men are never so violent as when they are being left. And my children needed stability way past all knowing. So, with the intention of keeping him safe, I broke my promises to always be there for my friend. I kept refusing to speak to him, although I knew that hurt him. At last, just to appease him, I did tell the mutual friend that I would come out to visit him someday when my child support came through.
And then my friend died suddenly.
There is more to tell, but I don’t want to make this into a book. . .
I will tell you, the second semester at Bible College is a whole new chapter. I can’t go back now and live my life over so it makes sense. Maybe nothing ever does make sense, and that’s the lesson. Now that I’m older, I’ve started to be open to the unexplained experiences. Maybe that’s the lesson. I never suspected it, but maybe my unexplained experiences will take me by the hand and lead me home.
— Pam
November 18, 2009, 7:42 am
Hey Kevin,
I look forward to reading your book.
I had no idea LU was such a corrupt school. I take it they’re trying to put a lot of effort to better the school’s image; most universities with tainted reputations do. I remember back a few years ago when the media exposed the large number of students from Regent University (Pat Robertson’s school) and Patrick Henry College (a school made for “Christian homeschoolers” which was unaccredited at the time) working and interning in the Bush Administration. Of course, both schools are laughed at today, but it makes you realize how schools like that are clearly made for putting people who will serve their group’s agenda into positions of power. Then there’s the fact that LU, Regent, PHC, etc. have very low academic reputations, especially when it comes to biology. And if that’s the case, and you’re primary focus as a school is being on par with the Ivies or at least having a reputation for creating intellectual individuals and future leaders, it’s pretty obvious that your school will put a lot into PR.
Anyway, good luck in any future projects.
— Julia
November 29, 2009, 5:14 pm
Hey Kevin it’s about time you blogged!!! So what is your next book going to be about? Glad to have you back!
— Lindsay
November 30, 2009, 10:49 am
Hey Kevin,
Yeah I agree with some of the other comments above that interpret Jerry Jr.’s comments as meaning a more academically selective admissions process. At least I hope that is what he meant!
— Maria
December 3, 2009, 2:45 pm
Just got your book and am about two chapters in. I’m quite enjoying it so far.
— Nicole
December 4, 2009, 5:02 pm
Read your book in 2 days after a friend told me about it and that you got “saved”
st Liberty. I loved the book until the end when I was so sad that that you didn’t accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I know seeds were planted and I know that unless the Holy Spirit draws you to believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life in heaven it is not going to happen. I am praying for you and praying that your spiritual journey isn’t over. God isn’t finished with the work He is trying to do in your life. The saddest part is that once you have heard you are held accountable for the knowledge you have.You are a talented young man and Jesus could give you a more fulfilling life than you could ever imagine if you would give Him a real chance to live His life through you. If the Bible is not true you have nothing to lose but if it is true there is so much to lose.
— Lisa Rippy
May 17, 2010, 8:09 pm