First impression: I like it!

Upon closer inspection, I have some quibbles.

(1) Authenticity--how is that a virtue? If I feel like cussing you out, should I do it to be 'authentic'. I would suggest "Authentic love toward God, self, and others" as an alternative.

(2) Point eight seems like a progressivist catch-all that will be easy for traditionalists to jump on since that's the only sense in which (as far as I can tell) those three virtues are related. Compassion and peacemaking definitely go together in the sense of how we relate to others, and I think humility would make a good addition to this list (because an academic degree can lead to a sense of superiority over other human beings). I would put creation care in another point under the broader heading of stewardship including things such as money (which the graduates will hopefully be making), body, and time.

I would like to see an item emphasizing mission service. Servant leadership in community and congregation comes close to this, but mission service is a specialized form of servant leadership that deserves to be mentioned specifically.

My big problem with this statement, though, is that it has no room for expressing a commitment to reaching out to minorities. I was a pastor for ten years in Spanish speaking congregations. I can give testimony of an abundance of bright kids that go the way of public schools and colleges because they cannot afford our academies and colleges, and because they are mostly ignored by our institutions. To our institutions it seems, from my vantage point, like the Hispanic youth don't exist. In those ten years as pastor I did not witness a serious effort by our academies and our college to identify and recruit youth from my congregations.

I have not looked at the statistics lately but I wonder if it's still true that the Spanish congregations are growing. Do our academies and colleges reflect our growing Hispanic membership? Do we really have a burden for serving our Hispanic youth or are we content with a small quota that would give us a degree of respectability? We cannot afford to continue to ignore the Hispanic youth in our churches.

I have to agree with Brother Cañizales. One of the points does promote "Compassion, peacemaking, and the stewardship of God’s creation" which would seemingly include the human family. I don't see a downside to further specifying the human element.

An example could be "Celebrating diversity and fostering understanding across sexual, racial, ethnic, national, language, class and age boundaries."

A very thoughtful list. Following up on Rafael and Johnny's comments, I think the human element is hinted at with some of the words, but there needs to be more indication of how the graduate will relate even to immediate family and acquaintances. Thus a new bullet point--With honesty, compassion, and kindness for all.

Other than fundamentalist diploma mills “ denominational colleges/universities are dying: the fiscal evidence and enrollment evidence is clear. As a retired educator with 42 years of experience in both private and public institutions and with accreditation and crisis management experience with 33 universities and 13 years as a member of Boards of Trustees, I respectfully submit the following recommendations.

1. Close Atlantic Union College. Create a Kettering Model in Portland, Maine.
2. Create a Kettering model out of Columbia Union College. (Nursing/Allied Health)
3. Maintain and enhance Kettering.
4. Create a Kettering model at Orlando (Nursing/Allied Health)
5. Maintain and strengthen Southern Adventist University. (Who would have the courage to mess with it?)
6. Maintain and strengthen Andrews University. (Theology/Pre-Med/Pre-Dental/and Pre-doctoral level health professionals.
7. Maintain and strengthen Union College.
8. Close Southwestern College if it can’t be viable as a Kettering look a like and/or a pre-engineering/construction trades pathway.
9. Create a Kettering model at Pacific Union College with a pre-engineering/construction trades congruent pathway.
10. Maintain and strengthen La Sierra University.
11. Maintain and strengthen Loma Linda University. (Strengthen the School of Public Health and the Doctoral Programs in the bio-medical sciences.) Tom

Thank you Dr Scriven for sharing this preliminary Mission Statement. I will just make a few brief comments and then ask a couple of questions.

I come from a background of 16 years of being a student in Adventist schools, including 4 at WWC during your time there. I enjoyed my time and especially many of the teachers.

The points you have stated in your Mission Statement seem to be worthwhile goals and objectives.

My initial question would be, how do you determine whether or not these goals and objectives are met, or are being met?

Is the goal of Adventist Higher education, to keep its students Adventist? Does it fail if the students coming out at some point leave Adventism? Many would say that it does.

In my situation,

I have experienced God's transforming grace,

I have carefully and logically thought about ideas and faith,

I attempt to practice being whole as a physical, intellectual, and spiritual being.

I pursue truth and enjoy learning, the hope of the future stirs my witness and is the basis of my actions.

I have the assurance of salvation and enjoy my Sabbath rest in Christ everyday.

And yet because of authenticity to myself, and those around me, I am no longer Adventist.

Would I be considered a failure in the eyes of Adventist education?

Many I know have said yes to that question.

If the role of Adventist education is to propagate more Adventists, then it seems like the system does need a major overhaul.

Most of the goals and objectives stated above, are precisely what allowed me to look closely at my beliefs, and then allowed me to finally after 45 years to act on them in the only honorable way I could.

Randy

P.S.

I neglected Walla Walla. I think Walla Walla is sitting strong on its own bottom.

The Schools that I suggested be closed could be considered sites for forward thinking retirement communities and out-reach centers. Unless gasoline remains out of reach. The distance beteen our remaining schools should be no great disadvantage.

I think the Church leaders should consult with the Roman Catholics on their retrenchments. In numbers of schools, locations, missions, and funding sources. I don't know what the cost benefit ratio is today but years ago, an evangelist was considered "successful" if he produced one baptism for each $800.00 spent on a campaign. We need to think in some sort of cost/benefit accounting. RJG offered some good suggestions as to why SDA institutions are tools of growth and salvation. Tom

Wonderful that you are weighing so helpfully. Let me assure everyone that all these comments will be forwarded to the president's task force that guided the conversation last weekend at Southern.
Randy: How would we determine whether or not these goals and objectives were being met?
Well, we think clarifying what we hope for a good beginning point. But your question (which reflects some of the discussion last weekend) does need our attention. I presume that survey instruments could deliver helpful insights. That said, I recognize, too, that no human being or human effort could give us the God's-eye view, ever.

I can also see that the point about servant leadership needs some revision. Not everyone is called to be a "leader", some are better are following or serving. Other than that, seems pretty standard really.

Wait- on the point about "The pursuit of truth and the pleasure of learning", shouldn't there be some contribution to intellectual society as part of that pursuit and pleasure? (I.E. SPECTRUM).

FHCHS in Orlando is making significant progress with distance education. I would not suggest the Kettering model there, but explore and develop distance education further for the non-traditional learner who can't afford to go other adventist insitutions (at 270 per credit, it's still cheaper).

For years I have appreciated Chuck's incisiveness and willingness to think broadly. I think that if he, himself, were to work up a "mission statement" for Adventist colleges and universities, it would be somewhat different and more explicit. I have sat with academically oriented committees for many years and watched elephants produce mice.

What fascinates me is that I can list a hundred non-Adventist schools who would etch these targets into stone and place them witdhin their hallowed chapels. Where would they differ? I have sat down with accrediting committees as we reviewed those up for inspection. Catholics or Protestant schools--they all would stumble over themselves in insisting these same goals were their reasons for existence (I am not referring to secular schools without church affiliations).

I think Chuck wondered all through the process what difference an Adventist college or university would really make, what might be particular goals that would flow out of the distinctive Adventist philosophy of education that once was the foundation soil of each of our schools.

If the classic Adventist understanding of its reason for existence was still to prepare a people for translation, in what way would that hone and make more explicit what we can promise our students, if they pay heavy tuition to spend years under our tutelage.

I hear Randy's honesty with sadness. Adventist education fulfilled the goals as written by Chuck's committee but it seems not to have entrhalled him with God's Big Picture of what is really going on in this lousy world. And what is just ahead! We owe it to Randy to give him his tuition back and to give him a fair rerun.

I think Chuck is asking his colleagues if they could not do something even better, more distinctively Adventist. If not, why all the heavy subsudies by church institutions and heavy annual expenses by hopeful students. They can get equally acceptable learning skills, at far less cost, much nearer home. Or am I dreaming about all this? Herb Douglass

Herb,

I am sorry that my honesty brought you sadness. That was not my intent.

It seems that you have missed my point. My 45 years as an Adventist were part of God's plan for my life.

If I had not been an Adventist all these years, I would not have been able to appreciate the joys of Christianity as I now do.

I am now more entralled with the big picture, I know where I am going and trust that the Lord continues to lead. It was not because of disallusionment that I left Adventism, but rather by the leading of the Holy Spirit. I recognize that to you, this seems improbable and unlikely, but such is the case.

Your last paragraph struck me and seems to be the concern of the committee, and is really the key question.

Does making the institutions,"more distinctly Adventist". make for students who will be better Christians? or just better Adventists?

Some still hold the opinion that being Adventist, is in some way more important than being Christian. I recognize that there is a heritage and traditions to be concerned with, but lets first decide ultimately which is more important.

To feel that in some way Adventist Education owes me back tuition, because I chose to follow the Lord's leading into the Greater Body of Christ and out of Adventism seems rather peculiar to me. Somehow I don't see a rerun serving any useful purpose.

Happy Easter to you all,

Randy

My earlier comments were based upon two factors: My assessment of present enrollment/fiscal soundness/mission accomplishment. Second, SDA/E.G.White vision of making man whole. Obesity and debt are killing America. The coming generation will need hands on care as well as spiritual assurance. That is why I suggested a health and construction hands on model of Christian Education---Remember Jesus was a Carpenter as well as a healer and Savior. Why doesn't the Curch try it big time. Certainly Kettering and Loma Linda are great examples. Tom

P.S. P.S.

Careers in health and building offer incomes to students sufficient to pay off their school debt.

Can one imagine a campus with a chapel, a library, a gymn, a caffeteria, and a quadrangle as the setting for either townhouse or condo living for retirees? Why not sell off the Conference Offices that are in good commercial areas and use the Administration building as the Conference Headquarters?

Show the President how to use e-mail. He doesn't stay at one place longer than it takes to read an e-mail anyway! Tom

I note with interest Tom Zwemer's suggestion that Southwestern Adventist University should be closed.

Perhaps he knows something I don't know. But it is a bit surprising to learn that a college with no debt, stable enrollment, and millions of dollars in mineral resources, ought simply to disappear.

Eric

My Mistake. The last time I was there it was sinking into the red clay. I thought by now it was quite gone. Glad I was wrong. Tom

For all those of you who don't know, Southwestern Adventist University, my alma mater, is looking better and better. They are supported by a constituency that believes in it and invests in it. They have great plans for their development. I'm proud of the work they are doing. Having said that, I would like to see an endowment fund established to help students who cannot afford to pay tuition, etc. There are people that don't like to give to build more buildings but that would welcome the opportunity to give to this type of fund.

Rafael

You are correct. The cost/benefit ratio is killing private colleges of all types for middle class America. Few high income folk would rather pay for brick and mortar that brains. Tom

The mission statement for all institutions of higher learning, whether they're secular or religious, I believe, should have some things in common, By the same token, what's true for one Adventist college/university should be the same for all the rest. Where each differ is in their vision.

IMO, La Sierra’s statement of mission is a good summary of what it means to be an institution of higher learning:

A diverse community of inquiry, learning, and service, rooted in the Christian gospel, La Sierra is committed to Seventh-day Adventist values and ideals. Its mission is:

TO SEEK truth enlarging human understanding through scholarship;
TO KNOW ourselves broadly educating the whole student;
TO SERVE others contributing to the good of the global community.

La Sierra pursues this mission for God and society with recognized excellence, integrity, compassion and mutual respect.

It seems this conversation is at a standstill. Let's lay the opening statement above, comparing it with LSU's.

"Based on our commitment to Scripture, the Adventist Church, and present truth, Adventist colleges and universities inspire our graduates to practice the Way of Christ through..."

"A diverse community of inquiry, learning, and service, rooted in the Christian gospel, La Sierra is committed to Seventh-day Adventist values and ideals. Its mission is..."

What is the "Way of Christ"? On the one hand, a good case may be advanced in favor of the Christian gospel as Christians through the centuries have understood and applied what it meant to them in various settings; on the other hand, we may have more difficulty defining and defending what exactly do we mean by "the Way of Christ" historically.

This committee’s meeting somehow reminds me of my senior year in high school. A few weeks before graduation our class had a meeting to come up with our Aim and Motto for the year. I’m not really sure what it accomplished, other than to fill the appropriate space on our graduation announcements and to fly on banners above us over the weekend. Do I believe that hours spent by administrators coming up with a list will somehow revive our colleges and universities? Absolutely not. If there’s a space somewhere on each campus where a mission statement MUST be posted, then this would be my suggestion:

OUR MISSION IS: To help each and every student develop a deep and trusting relationship with their Lord.

To add anything more is to negate God’s ability to take His relationship with that student and direct them to whatever plan He has for their lives. We are just so afraid it may not include the rest of the list, though, aren’t we? I love and believe in our church, but we are so afraid to let go of the controls. Are we really afraid that God will lead a sincere person to a place where He isn’t supposed to go? Or, is the list in lieu of our inability to pass on what a real relationship with God is. Do we ourselves actually have what we want to pass on to these students? Show them a relationship with God and then hand the reigns of that student’s life over to the God who is able to control the universe. We won’t go wrong. We really won’t, you know!!

Gaylene

Your view prompted an old old story. This young man from the hollar's of Tenn. entered a near-by Bible College. He took a few entry tests and had an interivew with the Dean. The Dean asked: "Why the young man had a burden to enter the ministry."
The boy replied: "I was plowing one day and saw this vision in the sky. "G" "P" "C"--Go Preach Christ!. The Dean laid a kindly hand on the boy's shoulder and said: "Son, I am sure you had the vision and saw the letters blazing in the sky--"G" "P" "C" but you misnuderstood. They meant: "Go Plow Corn!".

God even gave Jesus, parents, teachers, and Rabbis! I firmly believe in structure of substance for a purpose. That is what this question is all about. What and where is the best structure to prepare our young people to do God's work--with a titheable income. Tom

Gaylene

The question was: What kind of graduates?

Your answer: Graduates with a deep and lasting relationship with their Lord.

My question to you: Will Christian friends and families not be sufficient to accomplish the same objective? In any case, why would we still need Christian schools?

To Tom:

Well, I guess I’m just one who has watched our church leadership spend an inordinate amount of time in committees producing much about nothing. I may be too simple for their tastes, but I am one who likes to see the rubber meet the road. If these administrators would instead take the time they are spending in this committee and set up an office on each campus where they would be available to spend one-on-one time with students who need to find a God to help them grapple with their relationally messed-up lives, I believe you would undoubtedly end up changing the outcome of some of the students who leave there. If this list truly is compiled and published and given to whomever it is that is supposed to see it, I’d be interested in a survey taken of these students and staff at the end of each school year. I’d like them to take a look at this list and honestly say whether it changed their teaching/learning experience. You can sit there and wrap and re-wrap these goals in tighter and tighter, more concise sentences, using just the right words to encapsulate your thoughts, but really…..who is going to sit and read them and say, “OH….that is why I’m here!” or “Oh, this is what I’m supposed to be teaching.”

I’ve lived long enough to find out the hard way, a very, very, very, hard way that it is only a deep relationship with God that will help me interpret anything I learn anywhere into something that is God’s real TRUTH for my life. Life’s answers don’t come in black and white. I’ve also lived long enough to see that there are very few, a precious few, who really know what it means to have a deep relationship with our Lord. We have a church full of people trying to follow the rules and they are giving up. I still believe that those who find Christ WILL willingly and longingly want to follow His Word…ALL of it. But, it starts with the relationship and far too many of our students come out with everything but that. Let your Week-of-Prayer speakers, your Evangelism classes, your Witnessing Groups come up with the lists and let the students then grapple with how God can really be real in their lives.

To Joselito Coo: My answer is a resounding NO. A huge majority of the students who come to our colleges have come from backgrounds where they have either lived with, experienced or had many friends who have lives (and sometimes churches) full of: abuse, divorce, anger and bitterness, adultery, incest, drug use, pre-marital sex and the list goes on and on. It’s a dirty little secret we don’t want to face but, if we are honest, it is true. I absolutely believe that our schools just may be the only salvation available to many of its students (this includes our grade schools and high schools.) It is therefore imperative that we show them a relationship with God that will take them through all the sorting out they will inevitably have to do in their lives beyond college!

Joselito also said, "The question was: What kind of graduates?"

C'mon now. After over a hundred years of running SDA schools, are we really trying to figure this out? How did we get this far? The only part we are still really short on (and it isn't new) is somehow enticing all these students into a real-life relationship with our Christ before they leave.

I would like to know how that little document is actually going to change anything at all? What do those statements mean in terms of action at individual campuses? Does anyone know what results they're actually looking for? For example, this as opposed to that, kind of scenario...

Gaylene

Your primary point is correct. In most situations, one would expect that an applicant to a Christian College would be a person with a close relationship with God. Furthermore, such a one would naturally expect that attending such a college that the relationship with God would grow and become more focused.

If that Christian college were also a Seventh-day Adventist college, one would expect that the student would become increasingly informed and comfortable with the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

One would also expect that within that environment there would be trained administrators, faculty, and career counselors who also have a close relationship with God and who are not only familiar with but totally endorse the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

One would expect that such an institution would offer career courses congruent with the will of God and the talents and interests of its students.

Finally one would expect that given such an environment, a student would be guided by the Holy Spirit and the opportunities offered, find a life career or at least find the initial preparation for a career ordained by God for him or her.

What seemed lacking in your presentation was that all this could and would happen because the student had a close enough relationship with God.

God does provide choices, opportunities, means, and guidance. But He does so through human instruments.

The question asked was simply: “How can Seventh-day Adventist College best offer its prospective students the choices, opportunities, means, and guidance that God would have for His beloved children. The context of that question was: How best to be that kind of God inspired institution and remain fiscally viable.

Nobody is trying to put you down or deny that God can and does direct a converted person’s life. Even Christ suggests that if one is going to build a tower they first sit down and count the cost.

The question was a cost/benefit question not an either/or question.

Tom

Gaylene

Does "being rooted in the Christian gospel" not include "developing a deep and lasting relationship with their Lord"?

I was just thinking that youth who have had a less than ideal background, consequent to abuse at home, may need to first attend a specialized kind of Bible boot camp, between high school and college, like the following:

http://www.texasbibleinstitute.org/

It was a privilege for me to have witnessed the change in outlook of someone whose experience might have been like the one you described. What do you think?

Responding to: "We've been doing this for a hundred years and we're still trying to figure it
out?":

Part of the dynamic is: At the beginning, the SDA church needed trained staffing for its functions. A high percentage of SDA college graduates would be hired in to the SDA organization as church, hospital and school main and support staff. That has totally changed.

Another dynamic: Providing education at that point in US history was providing a community service that wasn't available as readily as it is now, thus less competition in getting a quality, Christian education.

Another dynamic: taking a rural/agrarian student into a book-learning environment--lots for him/her to learn. Now...the students know more about how society works (technology) than their book-learned teachers!

Another dynamic: Student X might be from a place/culture far removed from the location of the school, bringing 'enrichment' to the school environment, but also 'needs' that the school environment might not know how to meet.

Another dynamic: the infrastructure of our schools does not lend itself to a student who used to be able to 'work their way through school on campus'. That, plus the escalated pricing/cost of a privately funded educational delivery system--well state-funded, too, for that matter, makes it very necessary to make sure that a system has a VERY BIG BANG for the buck. Otherwise, it can be gotten for a lot less just down the road. At least the education (book-learning) part of it.

A LOT has changed since SDA education first started, and has presented us with a host of challenges to meet: different job market expectations, non-SDA employment requirements, how to prepare a student for a world that has changed so dramatically from when the system started.

I've been teaching in the SDA education system for over 30 years (K-16), both in the States and overseas, day schools and boarding schools. And, within the last two years, was phased out of a formerly large, flagship school whose enrollment no longer supported the large program it was offering. Am am part-time involved at a school where the same thing is happening right now, going in to next school year.

It is VERY necessary for this discussion to be taking place at all levels of our educational system.

To answer your last question, Joselito:

I went to the TBI website and was very impressed. I think 9 months at this type of camp would be beneficial for all students just out of high school, no matter where they turned next: directly entering the workforce, on to trade school, to college, to marriage, to whatever. It would help promote a good, sound spiritual life before entering a time in their lives when many decisions are going to be made that will shape their lives forever. I was especially impressed with President Rachel Burchfield’s comment:

“Three major life decisions are usually made before the age of 25

1. Whom will you serve?
2. What occupation will you choose?
3. What kind of spouse will you marry?

The consequences of these three choices will affect the rest of your life.”

I believe I’ve read that the average person doesn’t really know what they want to do until around the age of 24-25, just about the time that most students graduate. Another year under their belt before they leave for college would do them good for more reasons than one.

If there are going to be committee meetings held, I would humbly suggest they do something similar to what I saw one of our academies do several years ago. Through much prayer and agony, this school made the decision to make the spiritual lives of their students their primary goal, even if at the risk of financial failure. Since I was only a bystander, I do not know the ins and outs but will tell you what I saw and heard. Three major changes were made that I know of:

1. This school lined up at least one Prayer Partner for every single student. They would sign a card agreeing to pray daily for this student. Many students expressed the difference they felt these prayers were making in their lives. These Prayer Partners, found through the churches, often also reached out to “their” student in more tangible ways such as calls, cards and care packages.

2. This particular academy also made the decision that they would accept only students who wanted to be there and who were interested in developing a relationship with God. This was not taken lightly and there were students who were turned away because of this decision.

3. The school took the entire student body out into the community to do a full day of volunteer work (every 6 weeks, I believe it was.) They went to help at food banks, to paint the homes of the elderly, to clean up parks, to homeless shelters, etc. The school built a strong relationship with many community outreach services and the students learned the principle of unselfishly helping others.

During a time when many of our academies were begging for students, to keep from closing their doors, this school ended up with a waiting list. It was considered (probably still is) to be one the top schools in our denomination. I’m not saying that this committee needs to adopt these changes. The point is that they turned their focus to figuring out how to make the spiritual goal work and, I believe, the Lord rewarded them with everything else.

To Tom and Harlen: My comments are only in response to the original article. I have no way of knowing if the additional issues you have brought up are being discussed by this committee or not.

The list provided by Dr. Scriven looks fine to me.
I am concerned, though, that many of the preceding comments focus on preparation for specific occupations as the prime goal for Adventist higher education.
It is the experience of studying something--nearly anything--to its essence, and being held accountable for that study, that makes college and university education valuable.
Higher education, at any age, is an opportunity to ask, "what, if any, position does God fill in my life?" Seventh-day Adventist college and university education provides a setting that can offer a fair return for time, effort, tuition and fees. This setting includes professors who require of their students and themselves the best use of words in speech and writing, because The Word came to live among us and show us who God is. This setting requires accuracy in computation and honesty regarding use of the time, money, and creative acts of others, because The Truth came to live among us and show us who God is. And this setting requires each member of its community to learn of the natural sciences, the arts, and the cultures of the world, then find his or her place of peaceful influence in it, because The Life lived, died, rose again, and is coming soon to make all things new.

I was educated entirely in Adventist schools from first grade into my freshman year of college. Along with the "three R's" -- reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic -- I was taught a lot of stuff that confused and frightened me. I mean, a GREAT DEAL of stuff. I was taught that Jesus and the angel Michael were the same being. I was taught that I was a pathetic worm in the sight of God. I was taught that once I was married, I should have sex with my wife only on Wednesday nights, "family night", and then only for the purpose of procreation, thus avoiding "marital excesses". I was taught that in order to achieve salvation, I would have to EARN it by maintaining a sort of perfection in my life. I was taught that masturbation would not only irreparably damage my brain but would destroy my chances for salvation (in fact, that one was EMPHASIZED throughout my education). I was taught that Adventism was the one and only true religion and that all other religions were deceptions, and those other religions were openly and coldly mocked. I was taught that I could not be saved if my diet included cheese. By my high school graduation, I had no idea which of the many things I'd been taught had come from the bible and which had come from the writings of Ellen G. White, because the two were, without hesitation, blurred together. I was not taught these things in a subtle way -- I did not read them into my studies, I did not infer them. They were taught to me directly and bluntly and openly by my teachers with the same authority and gravity with which I was taught reading, adding, subtracting, and history. And my education did not end all that long ago -- I am not an old man who was educated in a darker, more ignorant time.

Now, in the list above, I read things like, "Careful, logical thought about ideas and faith," and, "The pursuit of truth," and, "Authenticity toward self and others." These are things that, when I look back on my own Adventist education with "authenticity," seem foreign and quite radical. I have to ask myself how the Adventist church is going to teach people "Authenticity toward self and others" when they fire people in their employ for being those very things. How can a church that refuses to be honest about the complete falsehoods in its own foundation and the truth about its co-founder and "prophet" teach anything approaching real honesty to anyone?

Don't worry, I don't expect any direct answers. I expect only to be attacked and dismissed.

Oh, Joseph Locke! What a horror you describe. The only overlap I experienced with your list were those of one teacher each dismissing other religions as deceptions and relying on the writings of Ellen G. White to the exclusion of the Bible. Those ideas were immediately shot down by my parents; I was reminded that "you know better: your teacher is wrong." I attended Seventh-day Adventist schools in Massachusetts exclusively through a two-year college degree, and then completed a baccalaureate degree in Michigan. From what region was your education, Joseph Locke?

Most of you have read Ellen White's description of the Second Coming of Christ. Her narrative begins with a small black cloud the size of a man's hand. Well in 1937 at the age of twelve, I saw in on a farm 4 miles for EMC. It was a clear night, no moon, lots of stars and this one tiny cloud in the sky near the constellation Orion.

I was unbaptized and certainly unprepared. I told no one.
But I couldn't sleep, so I went into my parent bedroom sobbing and asking forgiveness for all the bad things I had done and if I died before morning, I wanted them to know that I loved them very much. My dad, a burly farmer, carpenter, and mature Christian took me in his arms and said. Tom you have been forgiven long ago. You look mighty healthy to mother and me. Now go back to bed and let us all get a good night's sleep.

Fortunately, I was wrong. The next year I had a new Church School teacher and I learned about the Love of God at home and school. Thanks be to God. No Church has a lock on the truth. It was my good fortune to sit at the feet of some great scholars and devoted loving Christians.

For all of the narrow minded self absorbed teachers I have hand there have been twice as many who were gracious and generous in their living and in their teaching.

I don't care how they write their mission statement, the bottom-line is recruiting and rewarding teachers who love their subject and their students. Tom

Gordon Short

I am intrigued by people like Randy and Aage (in another discussion) and others like them who say that they are no longer Adventists and yet join in discussions on an Adventist website. In a certain sense: Once an Adventist, always an Adventist. Look, I was born, raised, educated, and worked in the good old US of A. If my wife and I moved to Japan, renounced our American citizenship and became naturalized Japanese, we would still always be considered American by the Japanese. And not just because our eyes wouldn't slant right. We ourselves would still find it impossible not to think mostly like Americans. So if you grew up in the Adventist church, going to Adventist schools (ingesting theological bovine ordure as detailed by others above), and attending Adventist churches, you have become an Adventist to your core. And there ain't much you can do about it short of literally being born again and being raised as a Mormon or Muslim or Macedonian or whatever you choose.

The question is: What do you do about being Adventist when you reach Maturity? Hey, being an Adventist isn't the worst thing that could happen to you. If the Church is a lemon, add some sugar and make some lemonade that may be easier to swallow. I went mostly to public schools but did spend 4 years at La Sierra and 4 at Loma Linda. And was thereby inducted into a community of mostly very neat people. Maybe I encountered a few inconsiderate, napoleonic types who felt duty-bound to try to tell us what we could and could not believe—teachers, preachers, administrators, et al. They were mostly very amusing, but on the whole harmless. So now that I am in the postmature generation, I consider myself to be an agnostic believer. But the community is still there. And I like being a part of it. Forget the controllers with their wearisome warts and Pinocchio noses. Let's build the community. But how?

A few suggestions:

1. A college course on The Practice of Christian Community. Contents? Let the students develop Creative Worship Kits for use in local churches. Everything you wanted to see in a worship service but hadn't the faith to think was possible. Teach the students how to move into a local church community and do something useful. Not just worship but Sabbath School, community service (ask Ryan Bell), etc.

2. Start a Forum chapter. Discuss films: Babette's Feast, Jesus of Montreal, Big Fish, etc., etc. (ask Zack Plantak, Kendra Haloviak, Rich Hannon, Daneen Akers, et al).

3. Encourage our colleges to redefine alumni as lifetime clients not just lifetime donors. Buying what? The wisdom resident in our best college professors—wisdom that you were too young to appreciate when you were a teenager (see my post on an "Adventist" Teaching Company).

4. Share your thoughts on this Spectrum website. (You're brighter than you think you are.)

5. Pray for Chuck and Bonnie and Alex and the Adventist Today crew.

6. Add to this list.

Keep smiling!

Gordon