Stephen Hawking: God didn’t create universe
“The ‘god’ that Stephen Hawking is trying to debunk is not the creator God of the Abrahamic faiths who really is the ultimate explanation for why there is something rather than nothing,” said Denis Alexander.
“Hawking’s god is a god-of-the-gaps used to plug present gaps in our scientific knowledge.
“Science provides us with a wonderful narrative as to how [existence] may happen, but theology addresses the meaning of the narrative,” said Alexander, director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.
Last Friday’s Epic meeting brought many new faces, who enjoyed the meeting’s live band, video features, icebreaker, and introductions by our group’s staff director, John, and student president, Billy. I was leading worship with a praise team consisting of half old members, half new, and while rehearsal last week was a real challenge, we had a great time worshiping on Friday. Everything came together nicely!
Our social committee head, Hui, organized a pizza and speed-friending (like speed dating) social in the North Halls dorm area after Epic. It was a great success with a large turnout (free pizza helps a lot) and new friendships formed.
This week we are beginning to form small group Bible studies, including a four-week introduction to Jesus for people who responded to questionnaires during move-in and said they’d like to hear more about the claims of Jesus Christ. Christians in our group will join discipleship-style small groups, where an older student or staff person leads a group with a focus on mentoring, Bible study, character building and accountability.
It has seemed like an especially dynamic first week this fall, and I am excited for what God may do in students’ hearts and minds.
This evening we will hold our first large-group meeting of fall 2010, now known as “Epic.” When we renamed the meeting from Turning Point to Epic near the end of last semester, the staff and student leaders agreed that it better reflected our affiliation with the Epic Movement; it also gives the meeting a more catchy, inviting name.
Earlier in the week, the students hosted various gathering activities, not to mention tons of flyer-posting, to let new and returning Penn State students know about Asian American Christian Fellowship. Some students volunteered to help freshmen move in at East Halls; they spent most of Friday and Saturday there, being helpful and getting a good workout. Others handed out Freshman Survival Kits–laundry bags filled with useful goodies and some literature about Jesus and AACF. Everyone rallied around Community Group, our Tuesday evening activity at the student union, which was simply a gathering event, kind of a preview of AACF and an opportunity to meet and greet. Returning student leaders hosted “area dinners” at the dining halls, which are opportunities to get together with other Asian Americans in each of the dorm areas for a meal. We also promoted AACF through our web site, Facebook page and Twitter.
Yes, it was a busy and great week! Here are some prayer requests:
- Pray for our Friday night meeting, Epic. The first one is tonight; we hope it will draw many new people as well as our current membership. It’s our chance to welcome people to a warm community and share spiritual truth.
- Pray for new, strong connections to be made. Many people become Christians by observing other Christians living out their faith. Pray for new friendships.
Students are moving in at the end of this week and it’s about time for fall semester to begin again. We held our first AACF/Epic PSU staff meeting last night at the Simon ranch and had a good time discussing our summers, our thoughts for the upcoming semester and reviewing what was already well-planned-out by the staff and student leadership at the end of the spring for the beginning of this semester.
Our staff team is smaller this year: Daphne has moved to Fairfax to work with Campus Crusade at George Mason University, and Diana has moved to Maryland to be with her family and begin her career. We will miss them both! We know that the Holy Spirit will work in AACF and through us whether our team is large or small.
We ended last night by praying that we, personally, would grow more intimate with God, and that through our close relationship with the Lord we would be of service to the students.
Please pray:
- For our staff team to grow closer to God and through that intimacy be able to better serve the students of Penn State
- For our student leaders who are meeting tonight for a welcome BBQ at the Mackins’ and gearing up for the fall semester
- For new students who would be open to the gospel and drawn to our meetings where we preach Jesus Christ as savior
As summer progresses, with its stifling July (and soon, August) heat and vacations beginning and ending, AACF kind of peters out and becomes a bit dormant until the fall.
This is not the ideal, and it’s not the same every summer. This summer, a large outflux of students in the beginning of July as well as busy schedules for those students who remained brought the momentum to a crawl. The July-August summer session, however, is a prime time of evangelism as freshmen and other new students get an early start at PSU. Summer evangelism is key because many of the other Christian groups are inactive during the summer. In fact, most clubs are inactive during the summer, meaning that summer students might have time to hear about AACF, consider the gospel, and join us for meetings.
Most of the AACF staff take the summer to lead missions projects, raise support, or attend training. As August nears, we’ll focus on preparing for the fall. Lack of staff support–myself included, as Alisha and I have traveled about for weddings and several other times I have been unavailable for AACF’s meetings–sometimes leads to a lack of student motivation as well. I want to be there to cheer on the student leaders and help organize activities and sometimes feel guilty that I, as the in-town staff member for the summer, am not more of a help. Seeing the movement peter out at mid-summer makes me feel like I’ve let the students down somehow. Yet, on the other hand, maybe we all just need a break from activity and a chance to enjoy what’s left of the summer. Will the students keep studying the Bible on their own, attending church and seeking God daily? It’s not for me to worry about, but simply to hope for. If we’ve taught them well and they’ve personally discovered the importance of maintaining their personal journey with the Lord, even without the urging and encouragement of the fellowship, then there is nothing to worry about.
I wonder what God has in store for me and Alisha this fall. Alisha, by the way, has an exciting ministry with PSU’s International Christian Fellowship, a joint effort of several campus ministry groups to reach the international student population with the gospel. It’s a fantastic group.
Pray:
- Praise team leadership uncertain. Who will lead this vital ministry?
- Staff and student leader preparation for fall semester.
Summer is an interesting time at Penn State and holds as much variety as any other time of year.
For the last few summers, I have been responsible for organizing AACF during the summer months. Most of the other staff participate in summer missions projects, raise support, or attend training during the summer. I am usually in town most of the summer because of my full-time work at PSU.
It’s different every year. The group is smaller–maybe 15-25 students in the months of May and June and the same number, but this time with new freshmen, in July and August. We plan our activities according to who’s available to coordinate and participate. It’s a relaxed atmosphere where students can step up to lead without the pressure of a large group.
Next week, I’ll put out an e-mail and Facebook notice to the whole AACF population, asking the summer students to come out to a meeting at the HUB one evening. That meeting will basically determine the dynamics of AACF in May and June. Students will volunteer for roles (“social organizer” is usually a popular one; others include Bible study leaders and communications coordinator–the one who sends all the e-mail and makes all the phone calls to let people know what’s going on), decide on days to meet and have different events, brainstorm fun activities and more. We’ll probably end this planning meeting with a visit to the Creamery. Welcome to summer!
Last weekend, we celebrated the end of the semester with the last Epic meeting and the tradition everyone loves to hate, senior pie-in-the-face.
Chris, class of '10, getting pied
On Saturday, we had a more dignified celebration of a great year and a great class of graduating seniors at the senior banquet. Congratulations, graduates!
Seniors, spring 2010
Today, many of AACF’s twenty small group leaders were treated to a nice lunch as a thank-you for a year of hard work and as a celebration. (Several of the staff team, who also lead small groups, were out of town this weekend for a conference.) Small groups–Bible studies generally focused on exploration of Christ’s claims or building-up of believers–are the core of Penn State’s Epic Movement. Small groups are the key context in which Building (of “Win, Build, and Send”) happens as the groups study the Bible together, have fellowship and hold each other accountable, evangelize, serve, and build relationships.
I am grateful for students who step up as small group leaders, fulfilling 2 Timothy 2:2, where the apostle Paul tells Timothy, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” Small group leaders are true leaders and multipliers in the Kingdom of God.
Every spring, we hold a baptism service to give new or old believers the opportunity to publicly declare their faith by being baptized by Pastor John. Today, three men, Billy, Josh, and Wei, declared their faith in Jesus and their desire to follow Him the rest of their lives. Congratulations, guys!
 Billy, about to be immersed |
 Josh sharing a testimony |
 Wei sharing a testimony |
 Congratulations! |
One of my roles in Asian American Christian Fellowship is to keep our online presence up to date. AACF’s web site is the “official” source of news and event information but certainly not the only one, and not the most read.
Weekly, the student VP of AACF, Aimee, gathers all the information she can find and sends it to a large e-mail list.
Updates on the web site activate news items on our Facebook page, which appear in students’ news feeds throughout the week.
Facebook updates activate epicpsu tweets on Twitter.
Last year, the group decided to quit producing paper bulletins for our weekly meeting because all of the information is online.
Since almost every student uses wireless text messaging now, I’m wondering if we’ll have a way to link in to that soon.
