A publication of the Center for Christian Study
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Winter 2012
Life as an Elzinga Residential Scholar wi t h K at h ry ne Appl e by
This issue: Life as an Elzinga Residential Scholar Q & A with Kathryne Appleby, page 3
How All Things Work Together for Good
Study Center Staff
by Bill Wilder, page 4
Bill Wilder
Executive Director bill@studycenter.net
Giving. With Hope. by Shelly Pellish, page 6
Lane Cowin
Director of Undergraduate Ministries for Women lane@studycenter.net
Sharon Decker
On the cover: Second year undergraduate student, Kathryne Appleby, standing outside the Center for Christian Study. On page 3, Kathryne shares a bit of her experience as an Elzinga Residential Scholar. Cover photo by Elisa Bricker.
Director of Graduate Ministries sharon@studycenter.net
Fitz Green
Director of Educational Ministries fitz@studycenter.net
Jay McCabe
Director of Undergraduate Ministries jay@studycenter.net
Thank you, Parents!
shelly pellish
Photo by Elisa Bricker
Director of Development, Alumni + Parent Relations shelly@studycenter.net
Debbie Rodriguez
Director of Finance + Administration debbie@studycenter.net
Ashley Wooten
Director of Communications ashleyw@studycenter.net
Amy Zell
Director of Counseling Resources amy@studycenter.net
Who We Are We are a non-profit education and outreach ministry serving the University of Virginia and Charlottesville since 1968. We seek to serve Jesus Christ by fostering the serious consideration in the university environment of a Biblical worldview, and by encouraging and facilitating wise discussion of the Truth in light of the challenges of contemporary culture.
Contact Us
Finals have an interesting way of transforming the Study Center into exam central for hundreds of students. We see this as a strategic ministry opportunity to be with them and to listen, pray and encourage. Thanks to the generosity of some 56 families, we were able to provide hearty snacks three times a day for 10 days straight! Along the way we saw many new faces and students often commented that exam snacks were the highlight of their semester. Thank you parents!
Phone: (434) 817-1050 Email: info@studycenter.net Website: www.studycenter.net Twitter: studycenteruva Facebook: studycenteruva The Study Center Newsletter is published for our friends and supporters. University Christian Ministries, Inc. (dba Center
Life as an Elzinga Residential Scholar Each year the Elzinga Residential Scholars Program offers twenty undergraduate students the opportunity to grow in their faith by living in community with other believers, considering questions of faith and life and being on mission as a student at the University of Virginia. Here, second-year student Kathryne Appleby briefly shares about her experience as a Resident.
How has your time as a Resident been complementing what you are studying in school? I am taking two classes this semester that wrestle with a lot of questions about life, morality, suffering and how we should respond to brokenness in the world around us. I have found these same questions coming up in Bill Wilder’s seminary course and in our residential program group discussions. It has been an amazing blessing to be able to think through these hard questions in community—with my housemates, the guys [Residents] next door and the Study Center staff. It has allowed me to more freely interact with the ideas we are studying in my classes, knowing that I have a solid foundation through the Study Center, which offers a Christian perspective to respond to and engage these same questions. I truly can’t imagine facing these questions alone. Just last week, I was doing some reading for a class that was discussing Divine Sadism. After reading the article, I sought out Jay [McCabe] and Lane [Cowin] and talked through the article with them for about an hour. They helped me to look at the same concepts from a
Christian perspective, faithfully pointing me back to the Bible and encouraging me to engage these ideas with Scripture and other helpful resources. This opportunity to really experience community in new, intentional ways has made the things we are studying as Residents that much more tangible and applicable! You live in a house with 12 other girls in the program. How has this been and what have you learned about living in Christian community? I have been learning a lot about what it means to live in intentional Christian community and how vital it is to my own relationship with God. Two significant ideas I have learned this year is that community takes time and that it must be a priority. There are so many preoccupations, especially in college, that will try to crowd out true community in my life. With classes, time studying, extracurricular activities and a job, it is all too easy to be swept up into the stress and busyness of each day and never really make time for people or relationships. Living in the Yellow House has allowed me the opportunity to build these crucial priorities into my daily life—spending time with my housemates, weekly
dinners together as Resi- Kathryne Appleby, U.Va. ‘14, is one of this year’s Elzinga Residential Scholars. dents Learn more about the program at and www.studycenter.net/ersp. weekly house prayer allows us time to invest in each other’s lives. I have met so many great girls that I might not have crossed paths with apart from this opportunity. They have provided encouragement, love, correction, input and lasting friendship in my life in incredible ways! Christian community has been a very different experience, providing a level of depth and care that I didn’t experience last year living in dorms. The common foundation of Christ unites us in unbelievable ways. The girls in my house are the first people I turn to when I need prayer or insight, and the base of Christian faith in our friendships allows for a community of trust and love unlike any other. Would you recommend the Elzinga Residential Scholars Program to others and why? I would whole heartedly recommend the Elzinga Residential Scholars Program (ERSP) to others because of the unique opportunity to live in intentional Christian community and partner
for Christian Study) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation EIN 51-0192618. pag e 2 s S t u dy C e n t e r New sletter Wi nter 2 0 1 2
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How all things work together for Good by Bill Wilder, bill@studycenter.net Executive Director
It’s no secret around here that Romans 8 holds a special place in my heart. Paul pulls so many of the strands and storylines of Scripture together here that I find myself returning to this astounding chapter again and again. Just ask those who take my class at the Study Center! A year ago some students gave me a parting gift: a memorized rendition of Romans 8 with each student taking a verse. I loved it! Not many have memorized all of Romans 8 (even as part of a group), but it’s a safe bet that most Christians have learned some version of Rom 8:28 by heart: “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” I expect that we’re also all familiar with the generalized cultural form of that verse: “Don’t worry. Everything will work out for the best.” One could of course be a pag e 4 s S t u dy Ce n t e r New sletter Wi nter 2 0 1 2
little snarky and ask how one could know things “work out for the best” when it seems pretty obvious that in many cases they don’t. We don’t need to check CNN. com to know that. To Paul’s credit, though, he offers a reason for his claim. “All things work together for good,” he says, because those who love God have been “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he [Jesus] might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom 8:29). Okay. So what does that mean? There’s a lot going on here: predestination, image, son, firstborn, brothers. In my view, the quickest way to the heart of Paul’s point here is focus on the “sons and brothers” language. How exactly are we “brothers” to Jesus? For that matter, what does it mean for us to be “sons” of God (v. 19) and for Jesus to be the
Photo by Elisa Bricker
with the Study Center to serve and love U.Va. as a whole. I have truly loved each aspect of my time here. The weekly dinners with all of the Residents have often been the highlight of my week. They are such refreshing times to relax and enjoy a good meal with all my friends in the program. Through the scholar portion of the program—Bill’s class, other readings and discussion—I have experienced significant growth in my understanding of The 2011-2012 Elzinga Residential Scholars. the gospel and what it means to live that out in a community setting. The Yellow of all the opportunities the Study Center has to offer. House girls are now some of my closest friends, and I am excited to see how God continues to forge strong Being a part of the ERSP has definitely been the highrelationships with girls in other Christian fellowships, light of my time at U.Va. thus far. It has stretched and majors and years. Finally, I just love being a more challenged me to truly live out my relationship with prominent part of the work of the Study Center and God in community and to seek to radiate the love of the community it serves. I have loved getting to know Christ to everyone I interact with here at U.Va. The all of the amazing staff, learning how to better love practical lessons I have learned here will forever guide the U.Va. community, connecting with like-minded the way I think about what intentional Christian comstudents across every fellowship and taking advantage munity should look like.
“firstborn” son here? Most of us think of the divinity of Jesus when we refer to him as the “son of God,” so what does Paul mean when he calls Christians “sons of God” and “brothers” of Jesus? Does this mean we’re divine too (or on our way there)? And what’s up with all the “sons and brothers” language anyway? How about some mention of “sisters and daughters”? Here’s the crucial point: we need to take all the “son” language in Romans 8 in the light of its primary connotation here (and many other places in Scripture): as a reference to the one who gets the inheritance. In Scripture, as in the ancient world generally, the “son” is the “heir.” The “son” is the one to whom the Father leaves the inheritance—and this is especially true of the “firstborn” son. In the first place, then, the “son” language throughout the passage is inheritance language, not gender language. We can be sure of this because Paul himself uses the more gender-neutral word “children” when the notion of inheritance is otherwise clear: if [we are] children, then [we are] heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (8:17; cf. v. 21). In other places he is careful to use “sons and daughters” where he might have just used “sons” (2 Cor 6:18). In the second place, the “sons and brothers” language here is not a reference to divinity, not for Jesus and not for believers. Now it’s very true that Jesus is divine (as the second person of the Trinity) and we are not! The point in this passage, though, is that Jesus is the firstborn son who (unlike the prodigal son’s older brother) is willing to share his human inheritance with us. Paul is making exactly the same point here that he made a few paragraphs earlier: “if [we are] children, then [we are] heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” To be an heir of God is to be his son! To be a fellow heir with Christ is to be his brother—or sister! This is good news. We all like the idea of being an heir, particularly if we’re coming into a substantial inheritance. So what’s the inheritance here? It’s a big one. In verse 23 Paul links our becoming “sons” (and thus “heirs”) with the “redemption of our bodies.” That’s his way of referring to the Christian hope of being raised from the dead, like Jesus. In Romans 8 that hope of resurrection is part of a larger hope: that
“creation itself will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (verse 21). This is an amazing picture of God’s people coming into their inheritance (and creation coming into its own as well) when they receive resurrection bodies in a new heaven and earth. And how do Christians know that they will get that inheritance? Because as the firstborn son of God, Jesus has already Bill Wilder teaches his graduate level received his resurrection body seminary course to a weekly class of about 60 students, including the Elzinga and it is not a gift he intends Residential Scholars, members of Fellows to keep to himself. (In fact, programs and a variety of community the Spirit that raised him members. Photo by Lucy Taylor. from the dead has already been given to us as a down payment!) To be conformed to the image of the Son is ultimately to be like him in his resurrection glory. Once we get the “brother and sons” language in this passage, other things begin to fall into place. The “image” language connects our inheritance in Jesus with God’s original “image of God” purposes for us in creation (see 2 Cor 4:4). The predestination language reminds believers that our inheritance is absolutely certain. God has great plans for us and nothing— nothing in all creation—can separate us from the exhibition of his great love for us in Christ Jesus. Paul actually intends this language to be comforting! So, how do we know that all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose? We know because God has already made his intentions for us clear in Christ. Just as he raised Jesus from the dead, so he will redeem our bodies and fulfill his good creation purposes in us and for us. The inheritance that the firstborn son has already received will be ours as well. That means that no matter what happens in the meantime—whatever the weight of our suffering—nothing can compare with the glory to be revealed in us (verse 18) and the inheritance to be given to us. That’s worth taking to heart. Don’t you just love Romans 8?
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Giving. With hope. by Shelly Pellish, shelly@studycenter.net Director of Development, Parent and Alumni Relations
Last night we were hanging out with students for Exam Snack, Round 7, and I received a phone call from Bill Wilder. He had news of an amazing gift. It was a check that included the final $33,000 needed for our new Move-In Day Lunch endowment. I was speechless. Here’s why. Tommy Gilliam, IV
gifts are still needed for endowments. Three endowment funds have been established by Study Center donors. Gifts can be made to all three endowments: Undergraduate Endowment Provides funding for undergraduate programs at the Center. Move-In Day Endowment Provides funding for the annual Move-In Day lunch and continued first year outreach. Building Endowment Provides funding for building, equipment and equipment repairs as well as continued maintenance.
Annual Fund goal: $712,000 Gifts to endowments are separate from gifts to the Annual Fund. The majority of this year’s operating support comes from individuals who make gifts to the Annual Fund. studycenter.net/give
In our spring newsletter Bill wrote “Grieving. With Hope” after the death of Tommy Gilliam, one of our first-year students. Tommy was a missionary kid from Ireland who came with his family to the 2010 Move-In Day Lunch. His singular focus that day was to meet new U.Va. friends who shared his faith. Little did we know then that his time with us would be all too brief. He died the next March in an accidental fall at the University of Virginia. In the weeks following Tommy’s death, a few friends stepped forward with the desire to honor Tommy’s memory in some way. It seemed fitting to establish a fund to support the Move-In Day Lunch event in which he and his family had been involved. One by one, quietly and anonymously, friends have given to meet the $100,000 minimum required to finalize this endowment. The goal is for interest income from this fund to cover 100% of the annual costs for the Move-In Day Lunches and first-year follow-up care. Over and over, Bill and I have the privilege of working with donors who give simply out of their love for Jesus. They certainly don’t do it for the public recognition (we don’t publish donor names, keep donor walls or send press releases headlined with donor’s names). They do
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it because they are expectant of what God will accomplish through this ministry. Many gifts come each day accompanied with a handwritten note or email reflective of the Lord’s work in this place: the third-year who was blessed by a small group; a 30-year alumnus who remembers being encouraged by a staff member; a parent who hopes his student will find our front door; a community member with a desire to invest in students’ lives. All these gifts, anchored with stories, have added up to something pretty special. As you know, these are difficult times for nonprofits. The Study Center too has struggled at times to raise its operating expenses. Even so, thanks to these generous endowment gifts, the Study Center had its best fundraising year yet in 2010-11. Total giving to our annual fund and endowments increased 9.6% over the 2009-10 year despite a beleaguered economy. Five hundred four individuals and families contributed to our annual fund, a 15% increase in donor participation over the year before. These gifts are an encouragement and much more. They provide crucial operating support for the daily work here. Nearly three years ago, we decided to ride out the economy by not re-filling three ministry positions vacated by transitioning staff. We didn’t want to go into debt to fund these positions. We knew that God would provide the funding for them in His timing. And He has. Thanks to the generosity of several donors, we have hired new full-time staff members Jay McCabe and Fitz Green. In the last week, we’ve received a special gift that will fund
most of Lane Cowin’s transition from part-time to full-time beginning July 2012. Endowment seed gifts were a significant part of last year’s hopeful story. In addition to support for the Gilliam endowment fund, we received major gifts to increase our other two endowment funds: our building and equipment maintenance fund and our fund for undergraduate engagement. This means 4% of our income this year will come from our endowment funds. Our building fund goes back six years to a donor who simply stated that he didn’t want the need for a roof or furnace replacement to keep us from making monthly payroll. As I stare at a 1920s building in sore need of a paint job, drainage repair, and two new HVAC units, I see the wisdom in his words still today. Our fund for undergraduate engagement is much more recent. In April 2010 we received a gift from a U.Va. alumnus and his wife to create a fund to support undergraduate ministry programs. They wanted their gift to serve as a catalyst for ministry, enabling current ministry to grow and reach many more students. They also intended for their gift to serve as a seed gift for a fund that other U.Va. alumni and parents could contribute into collectively. Their goal is to provide funding for ministry projects that we otherwise could not afford. As we approach the mid-way mark toward our fundraising year, we have a lot to be thankful for and a lot still to do. This year our annual fund goal stands at $712,000; this funding provides 77% of our yearly operating budget. Despite such generous giving to our three endowment funds in recent years, fundraising for our day-to-day expenses continues to be a challenge. We continue to encourage endowment giving, because we know that over time that will take some pressure off our annual fundraising. On the other hand, we still raise (and plan to raise) the vast majority of our annual ministry expenses. In any case, the Lord’s provision for this ministry over the past thirty-five years makes us look forward to what he will do in the years to come! If you’d like to make an annual gift or want more information about endowment giving, please contact me at 434.817.1050 or shelly@studycenter.net.
Save the date
Reunions Darden Christian Fellowship Reunion
Saturday, April 28, time TBA During Darden Reunion Weekend, April 27-29
Law Christian Fellowship Reunion
Saturday, May 5, 2-3 pm During Law Reunion Weekend, April 27-29
Christian Fellowships Reception
June 2, 4-6 pm, Pavilion VI Lower Garden During the U.Va. Reunions Weekend, June 1-3
www.studycenter.net/reunions
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Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Charlottesville, Virginia Permit No. 144
128 Ch a ncello r S t re e t , Ch ar l o t t e s v il l e , VA 2 2 9 0 3 (434) 8 1 7- 1 05 0 w w w. s t u d y c e n t e r. n e t address service requested
Upcoming Lectures and Seminars studycenter.net/lectures
The Meaning of Sex
February 3, 5:30 pm with Frederica Matthewes-Green
Beauty and the Body
February 11, 1 - 4 pm with Dr. Dena Cabrera
God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? February 20, 8 pm with John Lennox
The Born-Again Bonhoeffer: How the Theologian Became a Christian with Charles Marsh, date TBA
Understanding Theology
March 24, 1-4:30 pm with Fitz Green
The Empty Tomb and the Christian Body: Jesus’ Resurrection Means That Bodies Matter April 4, 8 pm, with Russell Moore