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A great first day at The Amish in America: New Identities and Diversities, hosted by The Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College.  To name a few things:

1. connected with GCC alum Loyal Hall (2000).  We had the opportunity to chat about urban ministry (he lives in Lebanon, PA), share pictures of our kids, and set-up a lunch appointment for tomorrow.

2. attended the first screening of the new documentary Amish Backroads to Heaven which had the most direct footage of Amish which I've seen and significant interview time with Don Kraybill, Elizabethtown College, and Steve Nolt, Goshen College.

3. talked with the director of Amish Backroads to Heaven and I'm in the process of securing a copy of Amish Backroads to Heaven to share at the upcoming faculty conference.

On Wednesday morning I participate in a prayer gathering with youth ministry leaders at the Center for Parent & Youth Understanding (CPYU) coordinated by Derek (one of the staff members). This week, he shared some quotes from the first chapter of Philip Yancey's Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? The focus was on the prayer warriors of the past and where are we at w/prayer in our own lives and ministries? I've already been digging into this book, as Theresa and I will be co-leading a Fellowship Group/Adult Elective time of Yancey's book with another couple from our local congregation. Nate, our local congregation's youth minister, shared a quote from Mother Teresa regarding prayer which he heard on a talk show (p.65 in Yancey's book)

My secret is a very simple one:  I pray," wrote Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a modern master of the skill:

Prayer is simply talking to God.
He speaks to us:  we listen.
We speak to him:  he listens.
A two-way process:
speaking and listening."

--Mother Teresa, Everything Starts from Prayer (Ashland, Ore."  White Cloud Press, 1998), 35.

As one participant pointed out, it is hard to picture Mother Teresa on a talk show. Yes, nothing like members of the popular press/media placing the religious on stage and trying to expose their secrets.  It takes a strong relationship with God to humbly testify to the power of God in such an arena.  AND there is something so countercultural about the unvarnished, real Gospel which exposes the charade and brings the true Light in an uncomfortable manner for those seeking to consume a product.

But she was first in the Presence of God
Second on the talk show

But she was first in the Presence of God the Father, by the work of the Son, and the continuing power of the Spirit.
Second on the talk show reproducing the likeness of Jesus in our world, letting the Spirit transform lives as the Light of the Gospel is spoken in word, life, and deed to the glory of God the Father.

Interested in learning about the Amish? Come to Elizabethtown College on June 7-9 for a conference which will explore Amish health, history, gender roles. I'm not going to miss this opportunity to learn more about followers of Christ in my neighborhood (saw a number of buggies on Sunday, Church must be assembling somewhere close by, including a courting buggy)! In a related article, An open invitation to a closed culture, Stephen Scott shares about his conversion to the Old Order River Brethren Church in 1969. Stephen works at Elizabethtown College's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, which will be hosting the The Amish in America: New Identities and Diversities Conference.

Note: Earlier posts regarding the work of the Young Center.

As you've probably noted by the volume of postings regarding the Anabaptist movement (e.g., Power of Forgiveness Preview, Lessons of Love, From the Buggy to the Byte, Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits, Bush Fever: Amish & Old Order Mennos in the 2004 Presidential Election), I've taken advantage of a number of the offerings provided by Elizabethtown College's Young Center

Over the course of the past several weeks, I've had brief conversations with Ron Burwell, Messiah College's Sociology Department chair and coordinator of the Brethren-in-Christ Profile (note:  overall I'm excited about the findings), and Musa Mambla, Provost of Theological College of Northern Nigeria who gave a presentation on the relationship of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria (Praise God for the choice of the path of reconciliation/forgiveness by the followers of Christ!). I blessed to learn that they both have positive connections with IFES/IVCF which extend back a long way. Looking forward to following-up with them.  I'm meeting with Don Kraybill, the Senior Fellow of the Young Center later today. Pray for opportunities for partnership to emerge.  Hoping to arrange a presentation series by him in Pittsburgh on the Amish, Forgiveness, and From the Buggy to the Byte (at CMU).  Maybe I should encourage book discussions of his recently updated The Upside-Down Kingdom on campus and as part of Adult Education. Upon a quick review, the new discussion questions at the back of the book and the on-line study guide appear to be quite helpful.

I'll be in Carisle to get-to-know Bob Ives, the interim teaching pastor of Elizabethtown Brethren-in-Christ and Stephen Hague, the director of the John Newton International Center for Christian Studies right next to Dickinson College. I may also take the opportunity to visit a few bookstores in Carisle: Banner of Truth, Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, Whistle Stop Book Store.

But the girls day will be made by free Rita's Ice after a hair trim. I became familiar with real Pennsylvanian Italian water ice in 'da Burgh. Hope there's one near you. While I'm at it, I'll pick-up a free one to top off a stimulating day of conversation before joining the family for a meal at Elizabethtown Brethren-in-Christ.

Last night I had the opportunity to preview The Power of Forgiveness at Elizabethtown College. Wow! Still processing through my response, particularly as to how I would introduce the concept of evil and critique self-help/positive thinking, when I schedule a discussion of this quite provoking piece after it shows on PBS this fall.

The evening began with some jokes to warm-up the audience, Don Kraybill declared E-town a major city due to it's hosting one of the 25 prescreenings of the film and Martin Doblmeier commented that his mom knew he was successful when Oprah expressed interest in the piece.   Through 7 short stories of personal and collective forgiveness, Doblmeier intends to make the point that forgiveness in itself runs counter to our culture and there is not conformity of thought by those who think about forgiveness. Some highlights of the material presented included:

1. U. of Wisconsin Madison's Bob Enright's educational material which seeks to plant forgiveness beginning in primary education and workings way up through Irish schooling, a long-term approach hard to imagine in the U.S., but after the film we learned there was interest in Milwaukee!

Michael Murray welcomed the attendees to F&M's 11th Annual Philosophy Symposium: Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on Love, briefly sharing his enthusiasm for next year's collaboration of Biology, Philosophy, and Psychology.  We then quickly moved to Eleonore Stump's, Philosophy, St. Louis University, presentation Love By All Accounts.  Below are some notes.  I found the whole conference quite stimulating (more posts en route), but this talk was most helpful for me personally.  In particular, the consideration of Aquinas' understanding of Love.

Eleonore opened by comparing two popular competing accounts of love:

Looking forward to hearing Eleonore Stump, Philosophy, St. Louis University, speak on Love By All Accounts at a faculty conference on Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on Love sponsored by Franklin & Marshall College's (F&M) Philosophy Department. For more on check out Stump, check out Looking into the Mirror of Evil: A Review of the Moral Philosophy of Eleonore Stump. She's posted a few pieces on her faculty page and here's the link to Aristocracy and Obligation: The Medieval Lists of Almsdeeds. This conference looks to be quite stimulating, I've also heard positive reviews of the work of Jeffrey Schloss, Biology, Westmont College, who will be addressing The 'Matter' of Love: Evolution, Religion, and the Internalization of Altruism. Let the conversations flow forth to greater insight, understanding and love directed in a helpful manner!

Beginning on December 3, I'll co-facilitate an Adult Elective based on Randy Newman's Questioning Evangelism. Looking forward to working with Jim and starting afresh at a new location. I had the opportunity to hear Randy at our Baltimore/Washington Graduate & Faculty Ministry Fall Conference. Check out the notes below. They're rough. I'll try to sharpen them up in the future.

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Amish & Old Order Mennos in the 2004 Presidential Election (Donald B. Kraybill, Elizabethtown College; Kyle C. Kopko, The Ohio State University; April 2007 Mennonite Quarterly Review)

What are we going to see on Election Day? A good turnout, but nothing will compare to the 2004 Presidential Election in which some declared The Amish are caught up with Bush fever while others reminded us God never lost an election.

It was chilly as the heating system malfunctioned in the Pietist Center, but Don Kraybill offered to generate a lot of hot air :-) I have a lot of notes and I apologize that they drift into a more listing form toward the end, but its all worth the read. Next presentation in the series: Bush Fever: Amish & Old Order Mennos in the 2004 Presidential. ... incredible material for tomorrow!

Why is it that the world over people have believed in a God, a super God? Why do we believe in anything? Why believe in superhuman agents (gods)? Why is there a naturalness to religious belief? About 160 people packed in Stahr Auditorium at F&M to learn about the relatively new field of the cognitive science of religion from Justin Barrett, author of Why Would Anyone Believe in God? and Senior Research Fellow for the new Centre for Cognition and Culture which will support a multi-disciplinary research project on the Cognitive Science of Religion at the University of Oxford's School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. Here are some notes:

Dear Friends, Thank-you to those which helped me warm-up. As you've gathered from House Arrived we've been swamped, the house will be set tomorrow. Thank-you for helping me prepare, some responses are forthcoming.

How the Amish Tame Technology

Over 80 of us crammed in the Bucher Meetinghouse at Elizabethtown College with the lights of PCNTV.com focused on Don Kraybill as he sought to unravel why and how the Amish, like no other religious group, challenge/tame technology. So how is it done? Not just the forbidding of entertainment technology like a fundamentalist Christian or Islamic group (or family) or the Sabbath prohibitions of a Hasidic group. And not the violent countercultural actions of Luddites, but the daily interaction with the strong and powerful influences of the march of progress?

About 80 people nearly filled F&M's Stahr Auditorium to participate in a thoughtful and sympathetic reflections led by Ted Davis, History and Philosophy Science at Messiah College. Ted lives 15 miles from the federal courthouse in Harrisburg and 15 miles from Dover. And he put aside a number of other responsibilites to provide commentary of the Dover case, because he owed it to himself and his profession (note: he believes that he was the only academic to attend more than 1 day of the trial, to sit among an audience largely comprised of journalists), as "the trial was fundamentally about my own discipline, history and philosophy of science." In addition to attending 4 out of the 12 days of the trial, Ted followed transcripts and reviewed press coverage. So according to Ted, what is Intelligent Design (ID) and what can we learn from the recent trial (fyi: my notes are below, here's an audiofile for the presentation from the F&M Philosophy Department's Event Website)

Intelligent Design on Trial

-Ted Davies (Messiah College), Thursday, Oct. 12, 7:30pm, Stahr Auditorium, Stager Hall, F&M. Ted is a very highly respected historian of science who will talk about various aspects of the ID issue, providing a rare, balanced treatment.

Why Would Anyone Believe in God

-Justin Barrett (Oxford): Monday, Oct. 23, 4:30, Stager 102, Stager Hall, F&M. Justin is a cognitive psychologist who has done groundbreaking work showing how our minds are structured in such a way that we are naturally inclined to form beliefs about the reality of a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and good.

This work has captured the attention of many secular scholars as well. They use it to argue that our brains simply trick us into religious belief (in fact, Richard Dawkins will release a book, The God Delusion, the week before Justin comes that will use some of his work to argue for that very conclusion!). Justin of course thinks that it shows how God has structured the human mind to make belief in God natural for his creatures. A very brilliant fellow and an extremely engaging speaker.

Andy Crouch writes back to Edward O. Wilson. Just had to post this brief, sharp piece by an upcoming speaker for our work at Penn (note: he'll speak on Christians and Cultural Power: Where is America Headed?). This would be good fodder for Faculty/Grad conversation. Hoping to acquire a copy of E.O. Wilson's The Creation: A Meeting of Science and Religion in the near future. Just wrapped up IVP's Is Belief in God: Good, Bad or Irrelevant? Quite a good presentation of an email conversation between a faculty who follows Christ and a punk rocker who follows evolutionary ideas. Maybe a sample approach for on-line witness or even public dialogue :-)

Looking forward to InterVaristy's Oct 22 Baltimore Grad and Faculty Ministry Conference which will feature several faculty alongside Campus Crusade's Randy Newman wrestling w/campus mentoring and witness. Pray for graduate students and faculty to be reminded of this opportunity and set aside this opportunity to encouragement and equipping.

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1. next steps in our conversation and particularly how we might develop a model for pioneering whole campus ministry (transforming students and faculty. renewing the campus. developing world changers).

2. Tim to receive the necessary financial support for this significant pioneering effort,

3. discernment in how to follow-up to those with whom we connected today [Student Affairs office at PSU-Berks, Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) at Berks, Nursing Christian Faculty (NCF) faculty advisor at Alvernia, campus ministry staff at Alvernia, local faculty minister at Kutztown]. Note: check out Alvernia's beautiful Sacred Heart Chapel.

By the grace of God, the story will continue in coming months . . .

I've set-up an appointment to meet w/Sandra Jamison, Director of Nursing Christian Fellowship's (NCF) Faculty and Graduate Student Ministry, who lives near Messiah College. Thank-you for the encouragement Arlene (retired from the Department of Nursing at Messiah College in Grantham, PA and co-author of InterVarsity Press' Called to Serve)! Looking foward to exploring opportunities for partnership w/nursing faculty in the area.

across Justin Barrett, author of Why Would Anyone Believe in God? He's lecturing at Franklin and Marshall College by the invitation of Philosophy Professor Michael Murray. Much of his time will be directed toward countering Daniel Dennett's recent publication Breaking the Spell and Dawkins' soon to be released The God Delusion which misuse his research (along w/others in his field) as a foundation for apologetics against God (note: Pascal Boyer is another important reseracher in this area).

Justin spent the past 5 years away from academia, leading Young Life in Lawrence, Kansas, but he is heading to the University of Oxford’s School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography to be a Senior Research Fellow for the new Centre for Cognition and Culture which will support multi-disciplinary research project on the Cognitive Science of Religion. I've ordered a copy of Why Would Anyone Believe in God? I hope to have a discussion group on F&M campus about this book (and possibly Preston Jones' Is Belief in God Good, Bad, or Irrelevant?). Anyone have interest in taking part of a discussion of either of these pieces right here at www.groshlink.net?

Our family just returned from Camp Hebron at which our girls had a blast playing w/the other staff kids. In my spare time, when I wasn't radio-ing the kids to find out their location, shooting hoops, or caring for Eden (when Theresa caught a nasty virus which ripped through the conference), I had a number of helpful conversations w/undergrad field staff desiring to renew the whole campus. Looking forward to transformative appointments w/faculty and undergrad field staff at Elizabethtown College, Dickinson College, Franklin & Marshall College, Millersville University, and York College over the next several weeks, months, years.

Also met an IVCF staff who grew up attending the church of the pastor who lives next door to my parents dental office in Middletown. Betsy graduated Bucknell and now will be staffing Bloomsburg and 2 other staff w/artistic gifts, one of which had seen some of my sister Amanda's work in Lancaster . . . Praise God for the interconnectedness of the People of God! More to come. By-the-way, if you have faculty, pastors, or friends that we should be in touch with please drop us an email. Thanks.

Just came across In Amish country, a recent piece from the Online edition of India's National Newspaper. Hard not to appreciate the outside perspective on the Amish as we return home to Lancaster County, PA, and consider our relationship to the world, the devil, the flesh AND the Word, the Spirit, the Father, and the People of God.

Although the Amish intersect w/the real world in daily life as they till, craft, weld, sew, sell, birth/raise children, live in community, etc, they come to much different conclusions w/regard to the stewardship of the creation and the common grace which the Father bestows for fulfilling our vocation as beings created in the creative and stewarding image of God to bless, guide, and develop the creation along w/her inhabitants. It is a great witness to see the primacy of community in Christ over radical American individualism in action, but this can be embraced w/o the radical separation and rejection of the good gifts of the creation provided through venues such as higher education.

Actually, Lancaster county and its people could be from another planet altogether. Such is the difference in the lifestyles of the Pennsylvania Dutch (a corruption of Deutch) who inhabit this region and the average American . . .

Click here to enter the site and explore links, pics, and so much more as we walk with Christ as a family in ministry. Check out a report on faculty camp.