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THE S T U DY C E NT E R
IN THIS ISSUE: A Rehearsal of Faithfulness, pg. 3 Bill Wilder Habits for Wisdom, pgs. 4–5 Fitz Green
STUDY CENTER STAFF
Introducing Study Center “To-Go” + “Staff Summer Picks” Reading List, pgs. 6–7 Trish Owen, Various Staff Members Embraced by Community, pg. 8 Callie Gaskins
BILL WILDER
Executive Director bill@studycenter.net
FITZ GREEN
Senior Director for Education & Programs fitz@studycenter.net
Ministry is People, pg. 9 Ethan Hightower
RICK CAMPANELLI
Director of Graduate Ministries rick@studycenter.net
More than Conquerors, pg. 10 Rick Campanelli
KATIE CARR
Communications Manager katiecarr@studycenter.net
Year-End Giving Information, pg. 11
NIKKI FLANNERY
Development Manager nikki@studycenter.net
ETHAN HIGHTOWER
Director of Undergraduate Ministries for Men ethan@studycenter.net
THIS ISSUE IN PHOTOS: On the cover: A stack of books in the library at the Study Center (photo by Katie Carr). Page 3: a view of the Study Center from Chancellor Street (photo by Brittany Fan). Page 4: description on page (photo by Fitz Green). Page 5: Justin Earley during his talk (provided by Katie Carr). Page 8: (top to bottom) Callie Gaskins (Col ‘20) greets Linda Newsome at Fall Exam Snacks 2018; Callie prepares desserts for Graduation Day Lunch 2019 (photos by Brittany Fan). Page 9: (top to bottom) a screenshot from a time of fellowship on Zoom for the Elzinga Residential Scholars Program; a glimpse of ministry in the time of coronavirus as Ethan Hightower gives the first virtual Lunch Club talk at his kitchen table (photos by Katie Hightower). Page 10: (top to bottom) description on page; Kelly and Mick Denner (Darden ‘18) leading First Coffee (photos by Rick Campanelli). Page 11: staff photo from November 2019 Board Meeting (photo by Brittany Fan).
WWW.STUDYCENTER.NET The Study Center newsletter is published for our friends and supporters. University Christian Ministries, Inc. (d/b/a Center for Christian Study) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation EIN 51-0192618.
KATIE HIGHTOWER
Director of Undergraduate Ministries for Women katie@studycenter.net
STUART HORNSBY Campaign Manager stuart@studycenter.net
JAN MATHEWS
Administrative Assistant jan@studycenter.net
TRISH OWEN
Librarian trish@studycenter.net
BILL PORTER
Facilities Coordinator billporter@studycenter.net
DEBBIE RODRIGUEZ
A NOTE ABOUT THIS NEWSLET TER: This issue of The Study Center is an honest glimpse of ministry in the time of coronavirus. You might notice that the cover photo and other photos throughout the letter are not the typical snapshots of life in the building. And like me, you might find yourself feeling “Zoom fatigue” and weary of seeing yet another grid of faces from the infinite screenshots that have materialized during this time. There are a few of those in this newsletter, but you will also see moments of what it is like for the Study Center staff to be working from home yet with the same character and heart that you would find in the building at 128 Chancellor Street. Lastly, you might notice that the books, and moreso the titles of the books, on the cover of this newsletter were not picked by accident. This stack is my attempt at “spine poetry.” The first few titles capture typical life at the Study Center. The poem shifts with the introduction of Creative Ministry, since we certainly have had to be creative during this pandemic. And finally, the conclusion is that though there is real grief and loss in this time, we have hope knowing that the Lord hears our prayers as we cry out to him to heal this world. –Katie Carr, Commmunications Manager PAG E 2 S T H E ST U DY C E N T E R N E W S L E T T E R S U M M E R 20 20
Director of Finance debbie@studycenter.net
CARLY VANNESS Programs Manager carly@studycenter.net
WHO WE ARE We are a non-profit education and outreach ministry serving the University of Virginia and Charlottesville since 1976. 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 Phone: (434) 817-1050 Email: info@studycenter.net Website: www.studycenter.net Find us on social media: @studycenterUVA
A Rehearsal of Faithfulness by Bill Wilder Executive Director, bill@studycenter.net
There’s nothing like a good story. A few days ago I sat down with Charles Cotherman (on a Zoom webinar) to talk about his new book, To Think Christianly: A History of L’Abri, Regent College, and the Christian Study Center Movement. It’s a grand tale and one that Charlie brings to life with consummate skill and insight. Though the book provides a broader perspective of the movement (including chapters on The C.S. Lewis Institute, The Ligonier Valley Study Center, and New College Berkeley), we focused on the Center for Christian Study in particular, together with its roots in L’Abri and Regent College. Our conversation thus became a rehearsal of God’s faithfulness through Francis and Edith Shaeffer (L’Abri), Jim Houston (Regent), Daryl Richman and Ken Elzinga (the Study Center), not to mention Beat and Barb and David and Drew. I hope you’ll read the book and, by way of appetizer, watch the webinar, which is available for viewing on the Study Center website. On reflection it strikes me that the kind of remembering and storytelling that happened in that discussion is a fitting response to this pandemic time in which we now live. As we know from the psalmists and the prophets, reciting God’s faithfulness in the past is often the best way to stir up faith in the present. Rehearsing the faithfulness of those in days gone by is often the best way to stir up courage for the days to come. Whatever happens, of course, God has been faithful to keep his promises in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. That means that he will be faithful to “work all things together for good” in the most ultimate way possible: in the redemption of our world and of our bodies in the age to come. Still, looking back over a life or a ministry, we can see the Lord’s work in ways that lead us to look to him with continued expectancy. These Study Center stories can be like that for us, I think. I’m glad to say that the Lord’s goodness to and through his people may also be seen in more recent Study Center stories. You’ll find some of those in this newsletter. Fourth-year and
now graduate Callie Gaskins relates her experience of being “embraced by community” (and “through it, Jesus himself”) from the very moment of her decision to attend UVA and beyond. Director of Undergraduate Ministries for Men, Ethan Hightower, compares “the innovative but not ideal” ways we have had to pursue ministry to students with the persistence of the paralytic’s companions, who did what they had to do to get their friend to Jesus. Director of Graduate Ministries, Rick Campanelli, describes what it has looked like for the Darden Christian Fellowship to be “more than conquerors,” thanks to the Lord’s faithfulness in building a community of faithful followers. Senior Director for Education and Programs, Fitz Green, conveys some of the practical (and age-old) wisdom that author and UVA alumnus Justin Earley shared with students right before finals. And speaking of wisdom, our Librarian, Trish Owen, recommends some resources to take advantage of during this pandemic time. We at the Study Center have also seen exhibitions of God’s goodness through you, our friends and supporters, over the past month. Your generous response in April, together with some assistance from the Paycheck Protection Program, enabled us to continue ministry and make payroll through April and May. We do not take that for granted and thank you for your continued help, particularly in these trying times. At the Study Center we often remind ourselves of the Lord’s provision in the past, now close on to fifty years, as an encouragement for his provision in the future. Once again, remembering his past faithfulness makes all the difference. Once again, generosity on your part has led to gratitude to God on our part. With that gratitude to him for his everlasting faithfulness—and to you for your part in that over the past months and years, I hope you’ll enjoy the following accounts of his good work in and through the Study Center.
Visit studycenter.net/lectures/thinking-christianly to view the recording of our conversation with Charles Cotherman.
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Habits for Wisdom by Fitz Green Senior Director for Education & Programs, fitz@studycenter.net
Cultivating space for work in the house can be challenging but is important because we are embodied people. Here is a glimpse into Fitz Green’s home office, complete with a gallery of art by his kids and of course, a couple of icons.
“If you are like me, this crisis is probably showing you that we are not actually the happy, joyful, always encouraging and hardworking self-starters we wrote about in our UVA applications.” UVA alumnus Justin Earley shared these words with students over Zoom in the midst of the pandemic and right before finals. He knew his audience well because he went to UVA and faced all of the pressures our students face. He also achieved what many of our students hope to achieve: graduating from a top law school, and then a job in a top law firm doing mergers & acquisitions. It is because of Justin’s own story that his advice about how habits form us carries so much weight. Justin’s own story, in short, is that all his success did not bring him happiness. Instead, his busyness brought him anxiety that became crippling. “I was totally overwhelmed by my busyness. I was swimming in the water where everybody did this—that’s how you graduated at the top of your class. I was always staying up later, and waking up earlier, and packing resume activities. That’s just ‘what you did.’ That was working for me until it totally fell apart.” What Justin discovered, once it fell apart, was that his busyness was actually worldliness. He had unknowingly and all too commonly conformed himself to habits and routines that made him desire success above family, above friendships, and most of all
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above God. What brought him health? New habits, ones oriented toward love of God and neighbor. Earley gave just a few examples of habits he has found life-giving, ones that might be particularly helpful to take up in this time of quarantine. He divides them into inward and outward habits. He commends the inward habits of opening scripture before looking at your phone in the morning, kneeling in prayer three times per day, and turning off your phone for an hour every evening. If this sounds like the stuff of basic discipleship, that is because it is! Yet it is so easy to say, “There’s so much going on right now, I’m too busy to _____.” Justin knows. He’s been there. And he can say from experience that these simple disciplines have been life-giving. As outward habits worth cultivating right now Earley points to daily meals with others and weekly times of vulnerable conversation. We need to press against the isolation of the moment by giving ourselves to relationships with those with whom we can be physically present. For some, it’s family. For others, it’s a roommate. I asked a student in our residential program what she learned from Earley’s talk, and she remembered this line: “The difference between roommates and friends, between housemates and family, is whether you eat together.” She liked it so much because it fit her own experience: “I thought back on the people I’ve lived with and was immediately able to recognize this as true. During quarantine I ate dinner every night with whichever of my housemates was living in town, and I really
Justin’s book, The Common Rule, centers around the importance of cultivating healthy habits and establishing a rule of life. The book can be found in the Study Center library.
did get a lot closer to them than we had over the whole last year of living in the same house.” I see many students who long for deep relationships with others, but are in so many clubs and activities and internships—how can they commit to people who could become lifelong friends? Earley’s advice is not some radical new thing—it’s the wisdom of ages, and it’s wisdom our students deeply need. Sometimes these conversations can sound instrumental instead of relational, and inward-focused instead of missional. That’s another thing I loved about Justin’s talk. Summing up his advice on habits Justin warned, “These are not quick fixes for your best life now. These are not emotional life hacks.” These sorts of habits are ordinary means the Holy Spirit uses in our lives to grow us into the love of God. And they aren’t for us only, they’re also the means of equipping us to follow Jesus into the difficult places of the world. Further, practices that build community are perhaps the most effective witness to the gospel. Those whom I’ve seen become Christian have most often been drawn into a community where they’ve seen the gospel lived out. “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” New? Definitely not. Needed in our time? Yes. One last thing I’m grateful for from this event are the friendships with other Grounds ministers that made it happen. Ever since I came to Charlottesville, the Study Center has rented office space to two Grounds ministries, InterVarsity and RUF. (We recently
In his talk, “Habits for Purpose,” Justin Earley discussed the importance of habits and how they can form us to better love the Lord and our neighbors.
added a third, Cru.) I love the impromptu conversations with Grounds ministers that happen in the kitchen as I grab coffee (which happens often!) or by the front door as we shuffle parked cars. IV staff member, Jed Metge and I had talked about Justin’s book a year ago, when it first came out, and we almost planned an event together then. Robert Cunningham (RUF) and I thought about co-sponsoring a talk with Justin before this past spring semester started. Ironically it was the shutdown of Grounds and the quarantine of our students that finally brought this event about! Amidst the unprecedented global crisis of this novel virus, as we all started to ask one another, “What is it our students most need to hear right now?” we realized together that it was not something new but something old—the simple wisdom of the ages. Read scripture. Pray. Give yourself to relationships with those around you. In normal times, these conversations happen every day in our building. We can’t wait until they can happen again. In the meantime, we’re thankful to still have them, over Zoom, with wise Christians who speak from life experience, because of friendships with other Grounds ministers, and alongside our students asking great questions and learning old things in a new time.
Visit studycenter.net/lectures/habits-purpose to view the recording of Justin Earley’s talk.
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Introducing Study Center “To-Go” Study Center “To-Go” is a curated selection of some of our favorite lectures, articles, and books from our Librarian, Trish Owen. Our lives have changed radically over the past few months. In the midst of upheaval, there is a feast of rich content cooked up weekly, as thoughtful and engaged Christians respond to the crisis at hand, teaching, lecturing, conducting interviews, and writing articles and books. With the sometimes dizzying amount of information available, we want to be discerning about finding the best sources of input to enjoy, watch, read, and digest. Here at the Center for Christian Study, we have curated some of these excellent resources from our own events, our fellow study centers, and other like-minded institutions. We hope you will take full advantage of this “good food.” Our prayer is that these resources will lead to learning and real growth as we examine our lives anew and continue to pose the most vital and eternal questions about life in Christ, both in this present crisis and in times to come.
Six Selections from Trish: “Wendell Berry and Zoom” by Jeffrey Bilbro
Exiles on Mission: How Christians Can Thrive in a Post-Christian World
Front Porch Republic | Article
by Paul S. Williams | Book
Tim Keller on How to Bring the Gospel to Post-Christian America
“Overcoming the Panes of Loneliness” by Ashley Hales
with Carey Nieuwhof | Interview
Christianity Today | Article
Where is God in a Coronavirus World?
Living Faithfully in a World of Difference with John Inazu and Tim Keller
by John C. Lennox | Book
Christianity Today | Interview
Visit resources.studycenter.net for more.
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“Staff Summer Picks” Reading List This summer at the Study Center, various staff members will be leading virtual discussions on several different books over the course of six weeks. If you are interested in the books that we are reading for this summer series, check them out below. If you would like to join for any of the discussions, contact Katie Hightower at katie@studycenter.net or visit studycenter.net/ staff-summer-picks for more information.
Laurus Eugene Vodolazkin Set in fifteenth-century Russia, this novel follows a young healer on his journey to the Holy Land, raising questions about time, love, and faith.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling The final book in the Harry Potter series is a journey filled with perilous battles, questions of right and wrong, and death and sacrifice.
Discussion led by Fitz Green
Discussion led by Katie Hightower & Katie Carr
The Color of Compromise Jemar Tisby
Heavenly Participation Hans Boersma
This book details the role of the American church in creating and maintaining racist ideas and practices. Tisby also challenges all Christians to take a stand and create a more equitable and inclusive environment.
This book is an invitation to cultivate a sacramental worldview, considering the Colossians 1 truth that “all things hold together” in Christ. Discussion led by Fitz Green
Discussion led by Ethan Hightower
Walking from East to West Ravi Zacharias
The Great Divorce C.S. Lewis
This heartfelt memoir follows Ravi Zacharias through his formative years, his journey to faith, and the growth of his worldwide ministry.
This classic tale centers around a bus ride from hell to heaven, and gives the reader an imaginative foretaste of eternity. Discussion led by Bill Wilder
Discussion led by Ethan Hightower
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Embraced by Community by Callie Gaskins, Col ‘20 Fourth Year Reflection
From a young age, I knew that I wanted to come to UVA. But somewhere in the midst of the application process, I began to doubt myself. As I am wont to do, I tried to protect my heart from the anticipated pain of not being accepted by telling myself that I actually didn’t want to go there. Even after I had been accepted, this self-protective lie haunted me. As decision day grew closer and closer, I still wasn’t ready to put down my deposit. I was sharing these fears and doubts with a friend over text one afternoon when, instead of responding to my message, she called me. A chorus of voices greeted me when I picked up the phone. My friend Sarah explained that she was standing in the kitchen at the Study Center with some friends and that they were calling to convince me to come to UVA.
that, which allowed me to embrace community with all I had. In doing so, it changed my life. Through relationships with staff, interns, and other Study Center “regulars” I discovered that I had a much bigger personality than I had ever let show through the quiet, bookish veil I had worn for most of my life. I learned to be grateful for this part of me that I saw God calling me to let others into. As this happened, I became unabashedly myself. Silliness, sass, and quite a few quirks seamlessly combined with a reignited desire to be known by these people and an eagerness to learn more about God’s plan for his children.
I listened closely and by the end of the call I was sold. None of the arguments they made were new or particularly convincing; I had heard them all before. What did it, then? Easy. It was the simple fact that Sarah and the others reached out. I felt wanted and cared for, even from a distance. I open with this story because it exemplifies the Study Center community at its very best. Over the past four years—even in the midst of this pandemic—I have been relentlessly sought out by countless members of this special community and have learned from their example what it means to practice radical hospitality.
Through it all, the Lord met my needs and answered my questions in deep and beautiful ways through more moments and people than I can name here. The Lord met me through cooking intern dinner with Carly and my fellow interns, chatting for hours about questions both big and small after Friday small groups with Lane and Sarah (the same friend who had convinced me to come to UVA), and celebrating Christmas on the twenty-fifth of each month. I experienced the Lord’s kindness through notes left for me at the library desk, meeting with Rachel for ERSP mentorship, and Thursday night cuddles on the couch with my housemates after ERSP dinner and class. Some other special memories include skipping class (highly uncharacteristic!) to get a free latte with a new intern friend, claiming a chair in Rachel’s and Carly’s office as my go-to spot, and spending hours on end in the kitchen the weekend that the Study Center’s Board meeting and Parents’ Weekend coincided (wherein we found ourselves dissolving into both laughter and sleepy delirium by the end).
Because of the warm welcome to UVA that I had received at MoveIn Day Lunch, I knew to seek refuge at the Study Center when I found myself unable to feel at home in my dorm room. The Study Center became the place from which I went out to experience the rest of the University. From my preferred spot in my favorite room (the left side of the nook), I began to notice the rhythms of daily life in the building: I knew which friends I would see throughout the day, when the staff had various meetings, and which intern had each walkthrough shift. But most importantly, twice a week, just as I was getting hungry for dinner, I knew that delicious smells from the kitchen would waft up the stairs to greet me. Come second year, my observation became active participation: I found myself cooking and enjoying intern dinner on Tuesdays and resident dinner on Thursdays. I couldn’t have expected it then, but second year was about to become my favorite year at UVA. As a first year, I had been around the Study Center quite a lot, but I had felt a distinct lack of ownership. Being a part of the Elzinga Residential Scholars Program and Intern Program gave me just PAG E 8 S T H E ST U DY C E N T E R N E W S L E T T E R S U M M E R 20 20
That year was by no means perfect, of course, but embedding myself deeply into community gave me a place to turn when things didn’t go as I had planned. At times living in such deep community was itself the source of the pain, anger, and uncertainty, but I wouldn’t change even that.
These moments and countless others in the years since have marked me in ways that I am unable to fully articulate. I hope that as I leave this place I can show others the joy and freedom of being welcomed with open arms and a tight squeeze, as the Study Center community—and through it, Jesus himself—has done for me.
Ministry is People by Ethan Hightower Director of Undergraduate Ministries for Men, ethan@studycenter.net
One of the last classes I ever took at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary was MC 701 - Pastoral Ministry. After walking inside the academic building on that cold January morning, my professor opened the class with this instruction: “If you remember anything from this class, remember this: ‘Ministry is people. Without people, there is no ministry.’” His point was that we should not hide in our offices only to write sermons and read books. Those are great things for ministers to do, but that is not all that ministry is. God’s ministry is his work among his people, and he has called us to that task, not simply to read books and write talks. So what has the Center for Christian Study been up to in the age of coronavirus and social distancing? Well, the answer is... people! Here at the Center for Christian Study we have been busy continuing our lectures, weekly Lunch Club meetings, small groups, and one-on-one pastoral conversations despite the necessary social distancing. We have moved to online webinars and video calls to stay engaged with one another. By being online, we have had certain opportunities that we would not normally have. Despite the distance, alumni have been able to join some of our small groups and Lunch Club events. We have hosted webinar lectures with special guests who are usually unavailable for an in-person visit to the Study Center. We have been able to partner with other universities and ministries in ways that we could not have before. Most importantly, by continuing to meet online we are providing a community of sorts for students who are disappointed by the abrupt end to the semester. One student texted me after a Lunch Club, “I’m really glad to be a part of the community and talk about faith even in the midst of all this.” Many of us on staff have heard this same sentiment echoed from other students.
not mean that God is not at work, and our efforts to continue in his ministry honor him. God has repeatedly brought Mark 2:1–5 to my mind during this season. Here we find Jesus teaching a large group of people in a house in Capernaum when a group of people bring their paralyzed friend to the house. But they cannot get in. The crowd is obstructing their way to Jesus. In an ideal situation, they would have a clear path to Jesus, and he would be obliged to heal their friend. The normal thing to do here would be to wait possibly for hours until the crowd eventually dispersed, though a very unlikely possibility based on how crowds swarm around Jesus wherever he goes. Another option would be to go home and try again another day. But these friends, based on their faith in who Jesus is, know that if they can get to Jesus, he would be compassionate and full of mercy. He would certainly heal their friend. Climbing onto someone else’s house, digging through their roof, and lowering your friend down on a mat is not the ideal way of getting to Jesus, although it is certainly innovative. And yet, Jesus is not dishonored by this act. Instead, he is moved by the friends’ faith and forgives the sins of the paralytic man. Thus, the faithbased actions of these friends lead to the salvation of the paralytic man. Here at the Center for Christian Study, that is our hope: that though ministry online in the age of coronavirus is not the same as “in-person” ministry, our efforts to reach people in any way we can— video call, phone call, text message, or letter—honor God. And that through these efforts students will encounter Christ, and their sins will be forgiven.
However, lingering in the background of everything that we have been doing this semester is the painful truth that these online video calls do not replace the joy of being physically present with one another. After all, “ministry is people.” We simply cannot replace the embodied conversation between two people over a cup of coffee or the group conversations that form around the kitchen island after a stimulating lecture. Despite this challenge, the difficulties of our current situation do PAG E 9 S T H E ST U DY C E N T E R N E W S L E T T E R S U M M E R 2020
More than Conquerors by Rick Campanelli Director of Graduate Ministries, rick@studycenter.net This screenshot is from an exercise in reflecting on the Lord’s faithfulness in the past as a way to anticipate his future faithfulness with the Zoom whiteboard feature.
The Darden School of Business knows it must prepare its Masters candidates for the unexpected. Famous for its case-study method, Darden courses address market fluctuations, trade imbalances, and how sophisticated algorithms can mitigate unexpected risks. But no algorithm anticipated a case study like COVID-19. Members of the Darden Christian Fellowship were just as surprised as everyone else at UVA when COVID-19 hit. It escalated challenges DCF students face every spring, when Darden First Years are praying and thinking through summer positions, and Second Years—now completing their MBAs—are planning and praying about everything from the vocations they will enter to establishing new homes, lives, and communities. Every spring at DCF weekly “First Coffee” devotionals, Bible studies, and informal gatherings, conversations focus on seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven in the small and big decisions of life. In mid-March, however, when COVID-19 suddenly washed over the country and ended classes on Grounds at UVA, these challenges and opportunities for faith and prayer took on new urgency. Spring global engagement trips all over the world were canceled and students already en route scrambled to get back before international travel lockdowns took hold. Trips to locate new homes in new cities were canceled; job offers became uncertain as business hiring forecasts became cloudy. In only about two weeks’ time, while many students were away from the University on spring break, life had changed for all of us. For DCF and the entire Darden family, it would be a case-study in resilience and leadership, and a test of character and faith. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose…We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:28, 37). It will come as no surprise that Saint Paul’s famous words have seen much use in the last few weeks among DCF, as they have among all believers. And we might be forgiven if our first reaction is to think that in these verses Paul is reminding us only that we will get through difficulties we face. After all, Paul mentions some real doozies of difficulties, like tribulation, distress, famine, persecution, nakedness, danger, and sword. “Just” getting through any of these difficulties would, by any account, be pretty great. But DCF has been discovering what Paul emphasizes: we are not PAG E 10 S T H E ST U DY C E N T E R N E W S L E T T E R S U M M E R 20 20
“just” conquerors or overcomers, we are “more than conquerors.” What has that looked like for DCF? Amazingly, as you will see elsewhere in this newsletter, our fellowships continued almost without interruption through the wonder of Zoom. There were trade-offs for sure. We could not be physically together. We had to make our weekly First Coffee meetings BYOB (Bring Your Own Bagels), rather than relying on the actual bagels the Study Center has provided for years. But we were already grasping new and important lessons. At our very first Zoom First Coffee, Darden First-Year student and DCF board member Stephen Mann talked about playing Jenga with our lives—building towers that we tend to overly rely on, with blocks comprised of even good things like jobs, income, and education— and then seeing COVID-19 pull a block out of what seems to be our foundation. It makes us ask: what is our real foundation? “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” Paul tells us (2 Cor. 12:9). Now we have a chance to test that out. Sure enough, more new vistas opened to us. On Zoom our weekly 7:00 a.m. Bible studies suddenly got easier to show up for—even if toddlers eating breakfast also joined our discussion of the Gospel of John. For the first time, DCF alumni across the country were able to join us to lead our devotionals. Kelly and Mick Denner (Darden ‘18) led a First Coffee from Southern California at 6:30 a.m. their time—while their new baby Charlotte was still sleeping (see photo to left); and Derek Debruhl (Darden ‘19) joined us from Charlotte, leading us in an exercise recalling prayers God has answered, and having us all affirm where we could expect to see him move now (see photo at top). It is a joy for the Study Center to help maintain the link among these generations of Darden alumni and current students. In these and other ways—ways more appreciated now that we cannot be together in person—DCF is blessed because the Lord has been blessing and building a legacy of faithful followers over many years. We all recognize that these relationships are cherished gifts from the Lord, and evidence of his faithful love that enables us to “more than overcome.”
YOU’RE INVITED to make a gift by June 30 It is a joy to partner with you as we serve the Lord here in Charlottesville (and beyond!) during this unprecedented pandemic season. Our staff continues to care for students pastorally, plan programming for the summer months, and prepare to welcome students back to Grounds for another school year, however that looks. As we approach the end of our fiscal year, will you consider making a donation to the Study Center by June 30? Nearly five hundred families make the Study Center’s ministry to students, parents, alumni, and the greater University community possible each year. In this challenging ministry climate we need your support and partnership now more than ever.
How to give to the Study Center 1
Use the attached remittance envelope to send a check to the Study Center, or mail a check to: 128 Chancellor St; Charlottesville, VA 22903.
2
Make a gift online through the UVA Fund at studycenter.net/giveUVA.
3
Visit studycenter.net/give to learn about other giving opportunities (stock gifts, estate giving, and donor-advised funds).
QUESTIONS? Contact Nikki Flannery at nikki@studycenter.net or (434) 817-1050. PAG E 11 S T H E ST U DY C E N T E R N E W S L E T T E R S U M M E R 2020
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Welcome,Class of 2024! In an effort to welcome new students to Grounds, we offer four unique opportunities to get connected to UVA’s Christian community before classes start. Visit studycenter.net/welcome for more information.