Women in Ministry
Ashley Mejias Continues the Center's Commitment By Drew Trotter President
INSIDE Spring Break Means Missions A Virginia Tech Lament
Praxis V11 N2
Summer 2007
Pr a xi s
A Place For Ministry
W
omen’s ministry is an important part of our work at the Center for Christian Study, and ever since Amy Zell, our current Director of Women’s Ministries, moved to half-time a little over a year ago after becoming a mother, we have been praying and searching for just the right person to oversee and continue to develop this crucial side of the Study Center’s ministry. Women now comprise 54% of University of Virginia students, and the needs are great. God has wonderfully answered our prayers in the person of Ashley Mejias, who recently graduated from UVa with a Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies. Before coming to Charlottesville, Ashley worked for three years in Memphis, Tenn., for Streets, an inner-city ministry for children, and she still prays for, Ashley, our new Director corresponds with, and of Women's Ministries loves to visit “her kids”, as she calls them. She is presently employed by Theological Horizons, a work with students developed by Charles Marsh, a Religious Studies professor at the University, and his wife, Karen. Ashley has actively ministered to undergraduate women for several years, both with Theological Horizons and by leading Bible studies at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, where she is a member. Her bright, friendly demeanor won the hearts of the staff when she interviewed with us, and her heart for ministering with university women was evident at every point during the process. An extra bonus for us will be Ashley’s husband, Alex, who lived at the Study Center during his undergraduate days at UVa and later was also an active member of the Law Christian Fellowship. Under Ashley’s leadership, the Women’s Ministry small groups, counseling services, and programs will continue and expand. Amy Zell will continue in her half-time role as Director of Counseling Services. We also hope to offer for female students by fall 2008 a version of the Residential Program that is currently in place for men. This will allow us to develop a community for young women
who will be discipled in the ways of the King, learning what it means to live as a Christian in a complex and exciting – yet needy – world. We will have more information about Ashley in the next issue of Praxis, and hear something Amy Zell with one of her study groups (photo by Eric Kelley) of her vision for ministry at UVa through the work of the Study Center. Whatever happens in the future, Ashley will be building on the stellar service we have had in Women’s Ministry for many years at the Study Center. From the late 1960s onward, women and men both benefited from the Center’s work, but women often were underserved. The Center sought to improve its care for women in the mid-1990s, when Nancy (then Adams) Briggs became the first Coordinator of Women’s Ministries. With two Master’s degrees from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Miss., and experience as a missionary in South Korea and on two church staffs, Nancy served undergraduate women at UVa admirably for six years. She met individually with countless numbers of university women, taught numerous Bible studies, and led students on annual spring break mission trips to New York City among other duties. Nancy was also an innovator. For instance, she opened her home twice monthly for “Cook and Book” studies, where she led students both in preparing a meal together and in investigating the Scriptures and other books over dinner. She also initiated a Saturday Seminar on Healthy Living, where Christian experts helped students grapple with issues affecting university women. In
Psychologist Dena Cabrera of Remuda Ranch addresses UVa women at the February seminar "Beauty and the Body" (photo by Wes Zell)
Continued on right inside page
Study Center Spaces A Site that Supports Kingdom Work of All Kinds By Wes Zell Director of Undergraduate Ministries
M
y office at the Center for Christian Study is downstairs in the back of the building. To get to my desk from the front door one can take three or four different routes, all of which I travel daily. The most direct path is through our Main Meeting Room, past the piano, and out a side door to the rear stairwell. But often the Meeting Room is occupied by a lecture, book discussion, or other conversation that I don’t want to interrupt. So instead I might detour through the kitchen and The library is a favorite study space for graduate across the and undergraduate students. deck, which means that I am more likely to get rained on and even more likely to run into a lunch meeting or student small group gathered at the picnic table. A third route to my office is the least direct but provides a panoramic view of downtown Charlottesville and the Southwest Mountains from our second-floor library, where ten to twenty students are probably reading books and writing papers. If it’s early enough I often see a student dozing on the library couch, surrounded by evidence of an all-night study session. Finally, I might also get where I need to go through the basement apartment of our undergraduate residents. These men are of course happiest to see me when I have dinner – or my eighteen month-old son – in tow. But they usually have something interesting to discuss even when I pass through without food or special guests. This brief tour Students work at one of the four of 128 Chancellor computers in the Center's library. Street is probably insufficient to form an accurate mental picture of our physical floor plan. Hopefully, however, it gestures towards the variety of conversation, reflection, prayer, hospitality, and other ministry that happens here nearly twenty-four hours a day. Literally hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students walk through
the doors here each year, many to use the library, attend a lecture or to meet with Study Center staff. Many others meet with fellow students and pastors from area churches and campus (Grounds) fellowships. Two UVa campus ministers have offices here, and a third uses the building as his principal meeting place with undergraduates. Several groups of believers at the University gather here regularly for latenight Bible studies, A student practices on the piano in the morning prayers, and Main Meeting Room; below, students meet in the Center's kitchen. weekend retreats. Some come simply to photocopy flyers for an event, bake cookies in the kitchen, or browse the shelves at Splintered Light Bookstore on the first floor. Beginning this Spring they can also use our recently-remodeled prayer room, adjacent to the library with fresh paint, new furniture, and a bookshelf full of prayer books, hymnals and devotional guides. One of our theological convictions here at the Center is that while earthly institutions and spaces are not themselves ultimate, they matter greatly because they help point us towards that which actually is. Institutions and spaces are so important because they shape Bill Wilder, second from right, leads the sort of human life that a small group of graduate students. can happen within them. This is as true of political structures and family habits as it is of a house-turned-Study Center on the edge of a college campus. The gathering rooms, hallways, kitchens, offices, and alcoves here provide a place for meetings, meals, books and friendships to form men and women who are made in the image of God and called to follow Him into the world.
Wes Zell with the men in the Center's Undergraduate Men's Residential Program (photo by Eric Kelley; other
photos with this story by Carl Briggs)
A Far Better Spring Break
Law Students Again Serve in Dominican Republic By Justin Holcomb Director of Graduate Ministries
A
dozen Law Christian Fellowship (LCF) students spent Spring Break March 3 - 11 hefting cinder blocks and pouring cement in the ongoing construction of several houses for an orphanage in the Dominican Republic town of Constanza. Students served the ministry of Kids Alive International, an evangelical faith mission for children at risk. Students also shoveled gravel and laid brick, and, most enjoyably, got to play with the children they were helping. The four homes being built will house ten children each and their house parents; the first home is now in use. (That home was painted on last year’s mission trip of LCF students and supporters. LCF work teams have gone to help for three consecutive years.) At the orphanage, Kids Alive will work in the name of Jesus Christ to raise more than three-dozen orphaned, abandoned, or abused children. Children will attend school during mornings and will be involved in educational activities in the afternoon and during the summer months. Other students associated with the Center served on several Spring Break mission projects. R. J. Carey, one of three undergraduate interns at the Center and a May graduate, led about 70 UVa students on the Nicaraguan Orphan Fund's work with three orphanages and other places of ministry in Nicaragua. Two others on the trip were Stephen Parsley, who was in the Center's Undergraduate Men's Residential Year program, and Keith Cox, a graduate student living in the Center's upstairs apartment who served as the resident manager overseeing the building. Other students in the Center's Undergraduate Men's Residential Year program served on Spring Break mission projects sponsored by churches. Jonathan Yagel worked at an orphanage in Brazil, and David Newsome assisted with the ongoing relief work in New Orleans. A Note About "A Virginia Tech Lament" I wrote the poem found in the President's column space on behalf of the staff, and for all those affected by the horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech this spring. Our desire is that it will help us wrestle with the balance between the evil and the good we find in our world. We also hope it expresses a special note of honor for those who died there, and of sympathy with their families, and all Virginia Tech students, faculty and staff.
S eminary
in the
S ummer
J uly 2007
Apologists, Fathers, Monks, Scholastics: The History of the Church to 1500 July 16 - 21 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., Monday - Thursday; 9:00 - 4:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday
y in > r a -in Sem mmer Su the
Instructor: Scott Amos Reformers, Rationalists, Modernists, Evangelicals: The History of the Church Since 1500 July 23 - 28 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., Monday - Thursday; 9:00 - 4:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday
Instructor: Scott Amos These two one-week courses may be taken for seminary credit; this is optional. Credit is offered through Reformed Theological Seminary - Washington, D.C. Details are available from Carl Briggs, carl@studycenter.net, 434-817-1050, and the website, www.studycenter.net. Dr. Amos is Assistant Professor of History at Lynchburg College (Va.)
Women in Ministry, continued from front addition, she began an intern program for college graduates and helped develop three women – Anne (Spencer) Larsen, Katie (Kennedy) Whitworth, and Jennifer (Melton) Sanders – who contributed much to the life of the Center and to the lives of dozens of students.
Left to right: Law students Mindy Shi, Cary Brege, and Prisca Shrewsbury, with Professor Barbara Armacost, longtime advisor to LCF (second from right). (photo by Carl Briggs)
Nancy’s successor, Amy Zell, has continued the tradition of great Bible studies and caring, one-on-one work in tireless ministry, focusing even more on the counseling needs that so often burden students today. Equipped with a Master of Arts degree in Counseling, Amy is prepared to address issues in students’ lives at a deeper level than most campus ministry workers; she also leads book studies on issues of personal spiritual health that meet a tremendous need in our community. She has further developed our annual Beauty and the Body seminar for healthy living, bringing in experts like Lilian Calles Barger and author and psychologist Dena Cabrera to cover issues relating to a crucial aspect of female college life that touch on so many difficult areas of personal Christian wellbeing. When Amy became a mother in September 2005, and later began working half-time at the Center, the Women’s
THE STAFF & CENTER . . . Wes Zell spoke March 29 to Cavalier Life Christian Fellowship at the University of Virginia on Tough Questions about God's Justice. . . Wes and Amy Zell led about 75 UVa undergraduate students during a weeklong retreat at the North Carolina Outer Banks May 12 - 19, just before UVa's commencement ceremonies. . . Justin Holcomb preached in the Charlottesville area at Christ Episcopal Church Feb. 18, Mar. 11, Apr. 1, May 13, and May 27, and at Mt. Olivet Church Feb. 4, Mar. 18, Mar. 25, and May 20. . . He led a seminar on Islam and Christianity for men’s ministries of Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church, Fishersville, Va., and First Presbyterian Church, Staunton, Va.. . . He will be in Sudan for two weeks in mid-June to teach chaplains in the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army. . . Shelly Pellish spoke at a Charlotte regional event Feb. 8 at the home of Nina and McKay Belk. . . Drew Trotter will attend the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America in Memphis June 10 - 14, and will meet with friends of the Center at the home of Cannon and Jill Allen June 11. . . He will also meet with Atlanta-area friends of the Center in June 14, at the home of Hyland and Hal Justice. Wes and Amy Zell also will speak. . . Drew will preach July 22 as part of the Wintergreen Resort Summer Chapel series, and will lecture Sept. 14 -16 at the Center for Faith and Scholarship in Ann Arbor, Mich., home of the University of Michigan. . . Drew will speak Sept. 22 at the quarterly Bible Reading program of the C. S. Lewis Institute in the Washington, D.C., area, and he will attend the Board of Advisors meeting of the Rivendell Institute in New Haven, Conn., Sept. 29 - 30. Drew will meet Sept. 29 in New York City with friends of the Center.
Move-In Day Lunch 2007 for incoming first-years and their families
Saturday, August 25, 2007, 12 noon at the Center for Christian Study Molly Warrick, left, a student intern at the Center, with her mentor Shelly Pellish. (photo by Eric Kelley)
Ministry received help from volunteers and other staff, who stepped in to help fill the needs that arose. Shelly Pellish, for instance, leads a Darden Christian Fellowship study for female students and wives. However, the needs of university women have again led us to add a full-time staff member, and we look forward to seeing what God will do through Ashley, as she comes on staff this summer. Pray for her and for women at UVa; the opportunities for ministry are boundless.
Unload the U-Haul and then come enjoy lunch and conversation with Grounds ministers, University faculty, and other incoming students. RSVP: Shelly Pellish, shelly@studycenter.net or 434.817.1050
For directions and parking information, visit our website, www.studycenter.net.
F r o m
t h e
P r e s i d e n t
photo by Eric Kelley
A Virginia Tech Lament We cry out to You, O God, lamenting Antithesis of love, the hatred shown By evil loathing, self and other souls. Cho-sin: boiling, raging, blasting, pistol firing, Death by single shot, his Glock nine millimeter spits. Everyone can hear the thump, thump, thump. Flesh-raping lead—a sickening, video sound. The horror. The horror. The horror. We cry out to You, O God, lamenting Guns bought, easy as candy at a sweet shop. How can we–the people–not see the blood? Innocent, hopeful lives: we throw them away. Just thirty dollars gets you clout enough to Kill. No other reason for the purchase, just the Little finger with which you change the world. Everybody’s got the right to be happy. Everybody’s got the right to their dreams. We cry out to You, O God, lamenting Movieland where fame and fortune lie. Nice symmetry, camera angled perfectly, hands turned Over, faultless, John-Woo-shooter style. Performance rules our lives and dulls our world, Quiescent, we amuse ourselves to death. Rewards to you, O peacock! So you win the Sweepstakes of our bloodlust for the worm That does not die, the Utter darkness of our loneliness. It’s television, Dad. It’s just… television. We cry out to You, O God, lamenting Vacuous decisions not to heed West Ambler Johnston warnings that Exceed the day’s events, the bell that tolls Your death and mine, the Cho-sin acts we do, Zakat for man’s rebellion, lodged deep in Adam’s race.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
We cry out to You, O God, lamenting The wormwood and the gall, our bitter food. Remember our afflictions and our fears! Our soul remembers, bows, and is distraught. Then, this we call to mind with certitude: The steadfast love of Yahweh perseveres. He searches for His flock, so dearly bought. New morning brings new mercies, as if cued. The glory of the day again appears. The King provides the victory we sought.
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Visit the Center's Web Site at: www.studycenter.net
The Center for Christian Study is a non-profit education and outreach ministry serving the University of Virginia and Charlottesville-Albemarle region since 1968. Through programs, ministries, and partnerships, we provide opportunities and resources for the corporate and individual investigation of the truths of the historic Christian faith. Some of the ways we do this include courses, lectures, seminars, student-run fellowships, internships, mentoring opportunities, discussion groups, and special events. We proceed believing that men and women will be transformed by the Truth, which will be reflected in their thoughts and actions, both in their private lives before God and in their public lives as members of society, the family, and the Church. Center for Christian Study 128 Chancellor Street Charlottesville, VA 22903 Phone: 434.817.1050 www.studycenter.net Praxis is published quarterly for our friends and supporters. Carl Briggs, Editor carl@studycenter.net University Christian Ministries, Inc. (dba Center for Christian Study) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation EIN 51-0192618.
The Center for Christian Study pledges financial accountability through our membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
Giving Back By Chris Burger
Fourth-Year Student
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s graduating students, we have been the beneficiaries of countless alumni, parents, and friends whose annual fund donations help keep this tremendous Study Center running day in and day out. The Study Center has been such a blessing in my life, from studying in the library, to participating in the men's residents program, going to lectures, copying fellowship group flyers, drinking the free hot chocolate, and having countless conversations with friends in and around the building. We all have our stories about how the Study Center has impacted our time at U.Va. At this year’s Fourth-Year dinner sponsored by the Center, the Class of 2007 dinner committee announced that we are raising money for new library and porch furniture for the Center through the University of Virginia’s Class of 2007 giving cam-
paign. We can increase our class giving totals and support future Center students at the same time through this project. For many of us, the library became our second home over these last four years, but the library tables and chairs have split and cannot be repaired. Over the years, the balcony has also been a great place to study or hang out with friends, but its furniture has fallen apart after years of exposure to the weather. We would like to see these student spaces equipped with new furniture in time for the class of 2011's arrival. If you want to make a gift, just visit www.uva2007.com. Click on "Class Giving", then click "here" at the bottom to fill out your pledge. You can either pay instantly or postpone your payment until June 30. To make a pledge, fill in your gift allocation and then type "Center for Christian Study" next to "Other". The money will go directly to the Center and benefit students for years to come. Thanks!