by Philip Bustrum

Since Cornerstone initiated this slogan for the coming school year, I’ve wondered what a “best year ever” would look like for me. I’ve dreamed about perfect classes where all my students got A’s, someone paying off all my debts (read school loans), winning the million dollar lottery, traveling the world, championships for Cornerstone’s soccer and basketball teams, and finally, no arguments with my wife (read getting my way all the time). This certainly would be my best year ever. Or would it?

As I reflected, my cognitive processes kicked in and I thought, in order to be the best year yet, this coming year has to exceed my best year so far. So I journeyed back in time (I have a few years to consider) to find my best year so far. I was astounded at what I discovered.

I was 32 years old, married with three very young children. We were on a plane flying to far off Africa to live in Kenya as missionaries. I was overwhelmed with how God had met our large prayer and financial needs in a very short time. The thrill and excitement of the ministry that lay ahead was intoxicating. But living in Africa didn’t make it the best year ever (we ended up living there for 14 years). What did make it the best year ever was what happened after we got there—trials, tribulations, and struggles that I had never envisioned.

My wife Bonnie and I had taken just enough money with us (in fact, it was all we had) to see us through the first month. The expenses of food and setting up housekeeping in Kenya quickly depleted all our funds. So we anxiously awaited a statement from our mission telling us how much money had been deposited into our account. The statement arrived and we happily tore open the envelope. Our hopes were dashed as we read, “You have $0.00 in your account.” No money had been deposited. Questions flooded our minds. How are we going to live? How were we going to feed our children? Then, why would God do this to us? After all, we left our family, church, and country for Him.

Whether we were too scared to tell anyone or just plain stupid, I don’t know, but Bonnie and I decided to just pray asking God to meet our needs. We didn’t tell anyone about our crisis. As we prayed, God did amazing things in that month. People invited us for lunch and after the meal gave us the “left-overs” to take home. The leftovers soon became our dinner.

A milk truck broke down near our home and the driver could not get the truck repaired so he gave us milk to last a week. Money appeared in envelopes in our mailbox and on our doorstep. We made it through the month and never went hungry or without. When the next statement arrived, God surprised us again with a $ 0.00 statement. Maybe God thought we hadn’t learned the lesson that He “will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.” In hindsight it was worth another month of unexpected miracles and anonymous gifts. I can’t relate how many times during those two months that we simply said, “Thank you, Jesus!”

Struggles and trials characterized our first year in Africa as we attempted to adjust to a strange place, a different culture, and perplexing languages. At every bump in the road, however, God reminded us that He had been with us when we had nothing. The trials strengthened our faith and trust in God and in God alone to sustain us in the tough times of life.

So I asked myself the most important question, “What made this the best year ever?” It was the trials. It was the unparalleled joy in seeing God work when we lived on the absolute edge of faith. Trials allowed us to see God work in our lives in new and exciting ways. Through it all His sustaining presence and grace demonstrated that He is sufficient to meet all our needs.

I’ve asked many people to describe their best year ever. Most pointed to a time when life stretched them to impossible lengths or when major life changing decisions had to be made. These circumstances created unusual opportunities for personal growth and trust in God. They allowed God to show Himself strong in the midst of our desperation, suffering, and trials.

As a school and as individuals, the best year ever might be one filled with immense and overwhelming trials—trials that have no answer or reason, and trials that will cause us to cry out to the true and living God for strength. But as God did for me and my family in Africa, I believe that He will show Himself as the wonderful, always present, all loving, all sufficient Savior that He is. And it will be the best year ever.

by Russ Pullium

Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking “Origin of Species” is 150 years old this year.

As part of the celebration, Indiana University is offering its first “themester” on “Evolution, Diversity and Change.’’ It’s a cross-disciplinary approach, including lectures and the play “Inherit the Wind” about the 1925 Scopes trial in Tennessee.

Scientists have taken the occasion to lament the scientific ignorance of Americans. Surveys suggest that more than half the country believes in special creation by God, as opposed to Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

There certainly is ignorance about science. Some of us did better in math, English and history than in chemistry or biology. It’s easy then to miss the distinction between observable data and speculation and opinion.

Yet in the debate between evolution and creation, those on the Darwinian side of the discussion often make the same error that they see in their opponents. They observe nature and evolution within species, or adaptation. From there came Darwin’s evolutionary hypothesis that humans evolved from the amoebas.

Many scientists contend that the theory has been proven, or rendered undeniable, by so much research. Yet there’s a leap of faith involved in Darwinian theory.

Part of the problem is defining science, which is traditionally limited to observation and experimentation.

Bloomington Reformed Presbyterian Pastor Richard Holdeman also has a doctorate in cell biology and is a lecturer at Indiana University. He sometimes finds himself in the middle of this debate.

“Charles Darwin made careful observations and laid out an elegant theory explaining how biological organisms change over time,” Holdeman said.

What troubles Holdeman is how some followers of Darwin have taken his work and turned it into a theological treatise about the origins and purpose of the universe. “Science by nature does not answer questions related to meaning and purpose in the universe,” he said. “It is wrong to use science to justify what are essentially religious beliefs. The result is that many religious people are offended by and reject evolution because of its supposed religious implications rather than its scientific merits or lack thereof.

“In addition, some scientists have underplayed the significance of the unanswered questions relating to evolutionary theory. For example, where did the first cell come from? Thus there is a general mistrust of the scientific community among many people of faith.”

The debate has become as much about philosophy and politics than science. Followers of Darwin have won many of the arguments at a political level, cloaking their philosophy under the banner of science.

The other side, however, isn’t walking off the field.

Or, as Holdeman puts it, “As long as evolutionary theory is advocated in semi-religious terms, this debate is not going to go away.”

by Christina Woolard

As I sit here thinking about what to write, I’m realizing that God truly has, and is, doing a marvelous work in me. He is changing, molding, shaping and forming me into a young woman that knows beyond all doubt that all she needs is her Savior. It’s stretching, exciting, painful, uncomfortable and amazing.

This summer was huge for the whole God-teaching-me-new-stuff thing.

I had the privilege of counseling at a summer camp for two months of my summer, which proved to be one of the toughest experiences I’ve had to face. But as the summer ended, not only was I physically exhausted, but my relationship with Christ was restored.

Perhaps the biggest thing that I walked away with is the enormity of God’s perfect love for the shameful, measly little me. It’s so big that, well, I can’t even describe it. His love is pouring out, bubbling over, and immensely overflowing for me. He is absolutely insanely in love with His people! And for me personally.

Now, before I continue, I do realize that perhaps this may seem like something that is discussed too often in the modern church or sounds cliché, but I truly believe that it is foundational to who we are in Christ and should not be just brushed over. Finding my identity in Christ begins with understanding His love for me. Everything else about me as a Christian revolves around this basic principle. The life-changing experience of Christianity begins with grasping the love of my God.

I was hit so hard with this reality this summer. Multiple times, in several different ways, I could just hear God whispering in my ear about His love. I had to allow myself to accept it.

In the past year, a long series of events caused me to reject God. I had no hope, no belief in His love. If He loved me, He definitely wouldn’t have put me through all that heartache and pain.

Wow, was I wrong!

It took several months for God to peel off those layers of lies that had so quickly covered over my heart. But I began to realize that He had never left me, I was just looking in the wrong places to try to find Him. All summer long, He consistently not only taught me, but proved to me that His love is real, and it’s all I need to get through life.

I don’t want to say that I’m more in love with God than I’ve ever been, but my love for God is more grounded than it ever has been. It’s based on hard fact, not wavering emotions. The ways that God works is mysteriously beautiful, and I praise God for who He is, and thank Him for loving me all the time.

I’d like to close with these lyrics from Tenth Avenue North’s Times:

“My love is over, it’s underneath.

It’s inside, it’s in between.

These times you’re healing, and when your heart breaks.

The times that you feel like you’re falling from grace.

The times you’re hurting. The times that you heal.

The times you go hungry, and are tempted to steal.

The times of confusion, in chaos and pain.

I’m there in your sorrow, under the weight of your shame.

I’m there through your heartache. I’m there in the storm.

My love I will keep you, by My power alone.

I don’t care where you fall, where you have been.

I’ll never forsake you, My love never ends.

It never ends.

E-mail: christina_m_woolard@cornerstone.edu

By Rachel Higginbotham

 Five years ago, I slept in a dorm, ate in a cafeteria, worked in a college office, spent as much time on the free and plentiful, wifi points as I did studying and thought life was a wee bit stressful. The Lord must have a bright and beautiful sense of humor within His boundless love and mercy to see a future for college kids like I once was. Most will say it is a certain amount of drama laced with a spirit of invincibility that gives college freshmen their well deserved reputation.

I was such an unstoppable force in college that it took three years of questionable performance and the wisdom of two parents who refused to co-sign anymore loans before I realized that, with my current methods, I was not going to make it through in a manner that honored my Lord and Savior.

It is so irritating to have to stop something right before its completion. With debt, 85 or so college credits and no degree, I entered the workforce in 2005 with a bunch of high schoolers trying to compete for at least 30 hours at minimum wage so I could pay the loans from the last 3 years. I had no car and no way to live on my own — talk about one step forward and 67 steps back. I felt like crawling under a rock in shame unitl the world forgot I was a college dropout.

Sometimes, there are lessons in life that God intends for us to learn before we go any further, and no amount of running against the wall, trying to push through, is going to budge the Creator of the Universe. I was against a wall—blind to what I had to do, learn or realize to go forward—and nothing to go back to that would have made me a light in the darkness for Christ. Rather, I felt as if, in my failure, the darkness was coming from me. There was nothing to show for my efforts, plenty of disappointment from those I loved and an enormous amount of self-disappointment and loathing.

We all sin and fall short of the Glory of God. Somehow I figured, in my youth and zeal, that I was going to give that part of life a pass. How much greater must the shame of Adam and Eve have been? Or the dispair of Judas? Or the grief of King David upon being confronted with his sins? And my greatest failre was not making the grade in accounting, twice.

The impact of sin in our lives may be little or great, but the magnitude does not change the nature of the beast. Our fallen nature gives us only once choice, and that is to crawl under that rock and die. Christ gives us another choice. His Grace is an outstretched hand, ready to pull us through our lessons in life.

What I learned is that it is in His time that life flows, and no amount of stubborn will stop the passage, and no amount of zeal will speed it up. For me, the degree will come later, but what wisdom have I been given from having to work myself out of a hole of debt! I have the blessing of taking my degree in hand next year knowing the industry I want to work within, and what it means to pay bills every month. God knew that, in order for me to become what He intended for me, I needed to walk that path, and learn that lesson before graduation. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

by Katherine Wisen

I came home Monday afternoon to a picture of repentance.

Kona, my family’s perpetually mischievous 1-year-old puppy, stood at the opening of my bedroom door with guilt written across her face. Her eyes were glossy and lowered, her nose slightly tilted to the ground, her giant ears tucked neatly against her head and, I’m sure if I had looked closer, I would have seen her four-inch legs quivering.

This was not the first time I had seen Kona like this, and I knew it was just a matter of time until I found out what she had destroyed.

But, oh, that face! There was no way I could look at that face — that raw demonstration of remorse — and not melt into a giant mushball.

But what if she hadn’t come to me when I got home? What if I had caught her with garbage between her teeth? Or she had run when she saw me? Would I be eager to forgive then? Or would chasing her throughout the house cause my anger to exponentially increase?

Forgiveness is easy when it’s asked for.

It seems that one of the hardest consequences of sin to accept is the fact that people disappoint. No matter how close the relationship is or how long the friendship has been, any time we put our trust in a fallen creation we are let down.

But this is something we should expect. As Dwayne Adams, associate professor of Bible, recently said to one of his classes, “It shouldn’t surprise us when sinners sin.” Sin is part of our nature, and it affects everything — including our relationships.

So, when a friend commits a sin against you, they repent, you forgive and the relationship is restored. Easy as pie. End of column.

Oh, wait — not everyone asks for forgiveness, and not everyone admits that what they did was wrong.

Then what?

You still have to have the spirit of forgiveness. And this time, the pie ain’t so easy.

This is an area where I’ve really struggled in the past. I get angry, and bitterness sets in. I wonder how the person who sinned against me could continue to act like nothing happened. Doesn’t she know that I know what she did? Doesn’t he realize what he’s done to our friendship? How can she not see that what she did was wrong?

Sin hurts, breaks, ruins and destroys — but sin doesn’t change the fact that we are obligated to forgive. We are not given the choice to show mercy or not. God expects us to show true forgiveness regardless of how the other person responds.

And what is true forgiveness? It’s when you don’t bring up the sin to anyone else, you don’t bring it up to the person who sinned against you — and you don’t bring it up to yourself.

Every time you walk past that person and you dwell on what they’ve done, you haven’t forgiven them. Every time you remind them of how much hurt they caused you, you’ve missed the mark. And every time you let bitterness eat away at you, you’ve allowed their sin to become your sin.

So, how can we successfully forgive those who appear unforgiveable?

First off, pray. This type of forgiveness goes against human nature; therefore, we need to call on the only one we know who inherently has the capacity for this type of forgiveness. God knows we are limited, and He has promised to give us what we need to get the job done if we call on Him (James 1:5).

Second, look to scripture. Research how Christ forgave, and what we have been forgiven of. My good friend, and forgiveness hero, Donna Kamps said, “When you think about what Christ went through on the cross — by choice! — for you, what you’re holding on to seems pretty petty.”

When you look at volume of your own sin and realize the love that Christ showed to you when you weren’t seeking forgiveness, you’ll find a desire to live out Colossians 3:13 and forgive like Christ forgave you.

Want something a little more direct and to the point? Look up Matthew 6:14-15. If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will.

Third, realize that forgiveness does not always equal trust. Forgiveness does not mean that the relationship is immediately restored to what it once was. There has to be repentance for there to be trust.

But sometimes, the reason they aren’t repentant is because they want to sever the relationship — and that’s something you can’t control. This is where you need to have faith that God does things for a purpose, and that He’s working through the situation in a way you wouldn’t understand even if He explained it to you (Habakkuk 1:5).

Either way, we have to live with a spirit of forgiveness so that, if repentance does happen, we are prepared to work toward restoring the relationship.

Fourth, know that a negative reaction doesn’t do any good. While you dwell on their sin, they’re probably not even thinking about it. Why wait around for an apology may never come? Become angry and bitter, and you’re only hurting yourself. Realize that God will deal with them in His time, and a forgiving heart will cause you to find healing faster.

Today, Kona may wreak havoc on the household again and, this time, those big glossy eyes may be stubborn and cold. But it’s my choice to either become angry and bitter, or to quietly clean up the mess and get on with life.

Cornerstone University is beginning to really emphasize study abroad trips.

There are professors who lead study abroad trips every year and some majors, such as Spanish and humanities, require students to study abroad in order to complete their degree. Spanish majors have to complete a semester in Spain and humanities majors have to go to Oxford, England, for a few weeks in the summer.

But why should students go abroad if they don’t want to?

Provost Rick Ostrander said he would like to see students go on “a three or more week study abroad experience,” during their years at CU “to expose students to the world outside the United States.” He said the trip would also “prepare students for global influence.”

Being a global influencer can be important, but many times traveling abroad is a global budget buster. In addition, not everyone wants to be a global influencer, leave the country or even leave their state.

The humanities requirement to go to Oxford, England to complete an Oxford tutorial during the summer will hinder a student’s ability to work throughout the summer in order to save up and pay for enrollment at CU.

In addition, some students are married or wait until the summer to get married and could find it difficult to be apart from their loved one for such a long time.

To address the elephant in the room, college students are known to be financially broke. Some students are unable to get additional loans to cover study abroad expenses or are reluctant to take on more college debt.

There are major benefits to studying abroad. Humanities Division Chair Michael Pasquale said the summer Oxford trip will “challenge students academically,” and help students to understand another culture. He also said students go to Spain because CU does not have the extra classes and faculty to complete the major. Plus, he said being immersed in a language would “really hone their skills” in a language.

However, not everyone can afford such a trip.

Pasquale said that if a student couldn’t afford the trip, other arrangements can be made.

“If they can’t go, we are not going to force them to go,” Pasquale said.

Ostrander said that if CU requires students to go on a study abroad trip, they would not be able to opt out.

“If the university decides that a student needs to have an international study experience to be truly prepared for global influence, then such an experience would be required for students,” he said.

Ostrander said he realizes that funding is the main reason why students do not go on study abroad trips and that “we will need to find ways to keep the costs as low as possible, [and] hopefully, find some external funding sources to help students out,” if study-abroad trips become more of a requirement. He also said that CU “will need to find ways to subsidize student travel.”

The provost said that CU is not currently working on a study abroad requirement, but “at this moment, we’re just trying to provide more opportunities for students to do so. Also, we’re looking at building some sophomore year programming that will begin preparing students for cross-cultural engagement.”

But does that mean that an education at CU is not good enough and we need to have global influence? What about all the CU alumni who never studied abroad during their years are CU - were they not equipped to influence globally?

America is so culturally diverse that all a student has to do now in days is go to a different neighborhood or another state to learn about another culture.

In addition, when a student enrolls at CU, he or she gets the most important tool needed to have global influence sitting right on the coach: a computer. If someone wants to change the world, he or she gets on the World Wide Web.

Yes, a global experience would be ideal. And yes, if someone has the means and drive to go, they will learn a lot from the experience. However, whether a student goes abroad or not, staying within U.S. borders does not make he or she any less equipped to globally influence the world.

When does the Cornerstone University volleyball team play, anyway?

Now, without taking the time to look up the schedule online, Head Coach Ryan Campbell and his team are attempting to increase campus awareness of when the games are.

This year, on game days, the CU volleyball players can be seen wearing bright green T-shirts. On the front, the shirts say “CU Volleyball” while on the back they read “Game Night 7 p.m.”

The coach and his players wanted to bring more attention to this year’s team in order to encourage fans to come out and increase support on game days.

“Coach Campbell really wants to promote our team. He has come up with some good ideas that will help us do that,” freshman player Marissa Bliss said.

Campbell is the one who came up with the idea to wear the shirts on game days. He felt that the team should help promote their games. He wanted something that would easily draw attention to his players on game days so that other students on campus would be aware that the volleyball team would be playing that evening.

“The green shirts are for standing out and promoting our game days,” Campbell said.

The idea for the bright green color was thought of by Marci Blacquiere, a senior for the Golden Eagles volleyball team.

Blacquiere thought that the bright green color would be good for the T-shirts because the color would more easily draw attention to what the T-shirts say.

In addition to the green T-shirts, Campbell thought of theme nights for the team’s home games this year.

Each home game will have a different theme, in which the fans that come to the game are encouraged to wear a certain color or type of clothing to help support the team and have some fun.

These theme nights are supposed to create a fun and energetic time for the fans attending the game.

The nights will vary from Hawaiian night to camouflage night.

Campbell thought the theme nights would be a good way to encourage students and other fans to attend the games, as well as serve as a good way to get the fans at the game to become actively involved.

“The theme nights are just to create a fun atmosphere,” Campbell said.

There are flyers placed around various places on campus so that students are able to check when the home games are taking place and also to tell what the theme for the upcoming games will be.

Also, the team has been giving away different things on these theme nights, such as free Hawaiian leis to the first 144 fans that came to the game on Sept. 29, or a pair of sunglasses for the first 36 fans that came out to support the team on Homecoming for 80’s night on Oct. 7.

Campbell hopes that these theme nights along with the green T-shirts will help to promote the volleyball team and draw more people to more of the team’s games this year.

Staff Writer

Each week the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference chooses one student from each competing sport who has helped his or her team in a significant way. WHAC honored two of Cornerstone’s star female athletes as Player of the Week, September 14, 2009.

Marcie Blacquiere has been playing volleyball with Cornerstone for four years and has previously played since the seventh grade. “It was a huge honor,” said Blacquiere, who is a record-breaking setter for the team.

 The previous weekend the girls played in the McKendree Tournament where they were proven undefeated. “It was a good weekend,” said Blacquiere. The players, excited about the new season, were on top of their game and Blacquiere was able to get plenty of assists. 

 Although honored for the award, Blacquiere said she could not have done it on her own. Under the new coach, Ryan Campbell, the team works in perfect unison and everyone gets along great. “We all bonded in California, it was a really cool experience,” said Blacquiere.

 When asked what she thought about the team being red-shirted, she said she feels they could have done without it, but she is excited for what the season has in store. Blacquiere, throughout her many years of playing, has managed to never sustain a serious injury. Upon graduation Blacquiere plans to major in Business Marketing where she hopes to get a job in the medical field. 

 Blacquiere does not stand alone in receiving this honorary title. Ashleigh Lund, who plays defense on the soccer team, also received the award.

Lund has played soccer with Cornerstone since her freshman year and has been playing ever since the age of 6. “When I was little my sister played,” said Lund, “I always knew I was going to play.”

Lund can’t wait for the chance to defeat Aquinas this season. Like Blacquiere, she is extremely honored for having won the award, but could not have done it without her teammates. “We are a young team with lots of potential,” said Lund.

Recently, the team took a trip to New York where they had plenty of time to get to know one another.  “Some of my favorite moments are from the trip,” said Lund.

One moment in particular was the night all the players gathered in a Subway and sang worship songs with a man from Brazil. “It was awesome. He just sat down at the piano and started playing and we all joined him,” said Lund.

Lund plans to major in Exercise Science and pursue a job in physical therapy. She loves music and can always be seen with fun, flashy fingernails. 

 When asked what they are most looking forward to this season the girls answered “nationals,” with a matter-of-fact grin. Both girls are off to great starts this season, and hope to continue growing with their teammates.

Staff Writer

Ben Vanbiesbrouck, a sophomore at Cornerstone University, scored his first hole-in-one on hole 17 in the season’s first WHAC Jamboree at the Stonewater Country Club.  

 The golf team practices about two hours each day, seven days a week. They play games even more than that.

Vanbiesbrouck had high expectations for himself in the competition. He was 175 feet away from the hole when he made his hole-in-one.  “[The ball] didn’t even hit the ground, it just went right in,” he says, “I just didn’t expect to do that, I was so surprised, I was all smiles two hours after.” His final score was a 71, which is a good score for that competition. 

 Although the competition went well, our team did not win. The Golden Eagles finished third with a 292, one stroke behind Davenport and Madonna finished first with a 284.

On September 15, at the first chapel this school year, Dr. Joe Stowell, president of Cornerstone University, honored Vanbiesbrouck for his accomplishment and gave Titleist Pro V1 golf balls with the Cornerstone logo as a gift. However, Vanbiesbrouck was at an away meet at Wesleyan University and did not get to attend chapel.  His roommate, Steve Gentzler, accepted the gift on his behalf.
Vanbiesbrouck has been golfing competitively for about eight years, and non-competitively for about ten. 

He started golfing when his father retired from hockey and took up golf to pass the time.

Your LIfe Editor

 Enthusiasm and anticipation drew around campus for Thursday, Oct. 8.

At 11:00 p.m. in the Hansen Athletic Center, the men’s and women’s basketball teams celebrated the kick off of their upcoming season with Midnight Madness.

Every year the event follows Mudbowl and lasts about two hours. It includes free games, prizes, and events throughout the night. The first 500 students in the door receive free T-shirts. 

Junior Grace Knott said, “Last year it showcased the Cornerstone community very well.”

Midnight Madness showcased both 2009 basketball teams for the first time in action this season. At midnight, a five on five inner squad scrimmage was included as one of the events during Midnight Madness.

“Playing [at] midnight [during Midnight Madness] is a huge adrenaline rush,” said senior point guard Corbin Donaldson. “It has really gotten [the team] excited for the season. It gets the whole Cornerstone community excited for the season.”

Dave Grube, athletic director, and his sports management class started preparing for the event weeks in advance. “Each person in the class is part in charge of different responsibilities,” said Midnight Madness staff member Nick Tolsma.

The school budgets the money spent at Midnight Madness every year but sponsors such as Applebees and Krispy Kreme also make the event possible.

A few changes are in store from last year’s Midnight Madness. Last year the basketball team made their entrance with music playing in the background that each player chose themselves. This year however, the introductions are being changed up.  Freshman point guard Kathy DeYoung said, “We get to have a ten second video when we run out.”

“I am ready to get going,” Donaldson said.

 The girls on the basketball team have the same feeling.

 DeYoung said, “I am pretty much just ready to tear it up.”

Oct. 9 marks the day practice begins for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams and an official start to the season.

The weekend of Sept. 25, both of the basketball teams went on a retreat. During that time, they discussed their overall goals for this upcoming season.

The men’s basketball team has set high goals for this season. “Our overall goal is to make it to the national championship in Missouri. We want to be the best in Grand Rapids and the best in conference.  We want to be champions every day in practice,” Donaldson said.

 Freshman point guard Alexa Hensler said, “Our goals are pretty much the same.”

The first men’s game takes place on Nov. 6 at the Goshen Tournament against Grandview at 7pm and the women’s team opposes Hungington College Nov. 3 for their first game of the season at 7pm.

guest columnist

Former Detroit Tigers’ manager Sparky Anderson might not have been an expert in grammar and syntax, but the guy was always able to get his point across.

We were sitting in the third base dugout at Old Tiger’s stadium a couple of years ago, contemplating the closing days of the regular season. The Tigers were not going to make the playoffs. In fact, they had hit their “magic number” sometime in late July that year, and just played out their string for the final nine weeks.

“Hey Skip, glad to put this one behind you?” I asked. He looked at me as if I had two heads.

“No man,” he said. “Nobody wins nuthin’ all the time. This was just one season and it was our turn. We’ll be back.

“That don’t change things. I love baseball, but I love football and basketball and golf and all them other sports. And it just don’t get no better than this time of year.”

My man Sparky was right on both counts. The Tigers have come back, and it really “don’t get no better than this time of year”.

Pro football is in full swing, and the Lions have more wins that they’ve had in the past 13 months.  The

Pistons will be in Grand Rapids next week, and the Red Wings are set for another Stanley Cup race. Tiger just banked $10 million for having pro golf’s best season…big surprise…while gear-heads aren’t finished talking about NASCAR.

And once again Michigan State’s football fans are wondering where their season went. Thank God for Tom Izzo!

You can make an argument for any sport being your favorite.

It is hard to compare anything with the color or pageantry of big-time college football,  and pro football features the best of the best.

I’m not a big fan of pro basketball because it seems as if the more money a guy makes, the less he is required to play by the rules. Next time you watch an NBA game, see how many steps a guard takes driving the lane.  And when the coach barks from the bench “D up!”, everybody grabs everybody else’s jersey.

Hockey would be better if they’d score every once in awhile, and if I had a buck for every time a guy missing his front teeth said “Good game, eh?” to me in an NHL locker room I’d be a rich man.

I love Tiger because he’s the only guy in pro sports who can show up at an event and drive the rest of the field to see if they can get into that week’s Hooter’s Tour event somewhere else.  Anywhere else.

But I have this evil streak buried deep inside me that breaks out every October when Major League Baseball begins its annual rite of picking teams for the World Series.

Used to be two leagues, no playoffs and afternoon World Series games that forced us to try to smuggle radios into our classrooms decades before anybody thought of inventing ear buds. If you told the teacher you didn’t feel good he’d tell you to put your head down on your desk and rest. Those little hand-held’s fit right into the crook of your arm, and you could get away with it if you kept the volume down.
And the girl in the next row didn’t rat you out.

I’m not particularly concerned about who actually makes it into the World Series, though it would be nice if the Tigers were there. Most people root for favorite teams. Assistant track coach Paul Kouts, for example, is a St. Louis Cardinal fan who tends to whine when the Red Birds lose…which is fairly often.

 Personally, I don’t want the Cardinals in the Series, even if it would take till next April for Paul to get over it. I don’t want the Dodgers in the series either. Or Tampa Bay, Oakland, Toronto, Florida, Houston, San Diego or Arizona.

If you play in a warm-weather locale, or inside a domed stadium, then I want you to have the bats and balls packed away by mid-October.

My “perfect” Series would involve Detroit, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, Colorado or Milwaukee.
Any combination.

Why? Because we are now into October, the playoffs stretch almost into November. It gives me a perverse pleasure to watch guys making a bazillion dollars trying to play baseball in a blizzard.

Forget batting gloves, I want to see those big, thick mittens. Plus ear muffs under the batting helmets and turtle neck Under Armor so think they can hardly move.

I want to see smoke coming from their mouths every time they take a breath, I want to see guys in the dugout wrapped up like mummies and jumping up and down to keep warm, and I want to see hitters feel that tingle in their hands when they apply a frozen bat to a frozen ball.

And best of all, I like to watch it while sitting in my easy chair with the fire place going, knowing that for at least two hours, those over-paid so-and-so’s  were wishing they could change places with me, rather than the other way around.

That’s when Sparky Anderson’s lyrical pronunciation really hits home: Things truly don’t get no better than that!

For all you freshmen out there, here’s your first lesson.  It’s only two words, so you should be able to remember it.  Get involved.  The end.  Seriously though, it’s a must.  College is nothing but a bunch of Thursdays strung together if you don’t.  Meet people.  Get out of your bubble.  Go to campus events.  Get involved.  They say that the friends you meet in college are the ones you have for the rest of your life- no pressure.

“Especially for your first couple of years on campus, it’s really important to get involved to establish your group of friends,” said Reagan Boomershine, junior.  “Shared experiences are vital to relationship.”

Speaking of being on campus, if at all possible, you need to live on campus for at least a year.  Yes, need.  There’s something about living in the dorms that you can’t get by just going to your classes.  Maybe it’s just that community aspect that people are always talking about. 

“Living in the dorms gives you a community to fall back on, a place to belong and a group of people to support you through thick and thin,” said Charis Cooper, senior.

by Lauren Hines

Last, but not least, don’t take a minute of any of this for granted.  Not because you’re spending money out your ears to be here, but because these really are the best days of your life.  Yeah, yeah, I’m cheesy; put me on a cracker.  But most of us will probably never be fortunate to live in a community like this again.  Take advantage of that.  Join a small group.  Find a mentor.  Do your part in the growing process.  I promise you won’t regret it.

        The popular conception of homecoming seems to be that of a bunch of superficial teenagers getting together to show off their gowns, limos and slow dancing skills. However, CU does this event a bit differently, and it is our belief that every student should become fully engaged in homecoming activities.

            The homecoming scene at Cornerstone has always been unique. Events like Mudbowl have helped set our school apart from others. This year though, a whole slew of changes have taken place to make traditional CU homecoming even more memorable.

“There are many added activities [this year]—multiple outdoor concerts by both current and past groups, a symphonic winds concert, food, activities etc,” Peter VanDessel said. “It will be a festive celebration.”

VanDessel is a professor of music at CU and also a member of the homecoming leadership team.

A theme of this year’s homecoming week is “dress the decade.” This requires students to dress in the style of a different decade every day, beginning with the 40’s/50’s and concluding with the 90’s.

“I think that it’ll actually be really fun. I’m really looking forward to dressing up for 70’s day,” CU sophomore, Hillary Poynor said.

There are plenty of other activities scheduled as well, including a movie night, alumni volleyball game, midnight madness and Mudbowl, of course. There is also a special student viewing of the upcoming play “Something’s Afoot” on Friday.

All of these events are designed with idea of bringing three different communities in mind, that of students, faculty, and alumni. This is an extremely important and valued concept here at Cornerstone. However, this unity will not be achieved without our active participation as students.

“[Homecoming] is supposed to build community with alumni, so it’s important to have a bit homecoming so that we can get more alumni to come,” junior Katherine Wisen said.

Some of the CU faculty have shown their support for participation in homecoming as well.

“Students who participate in homecoming this year will nurture a sense of connection with past generations of CU students,” VanDessel said.  “An exciting thing the music department is doing is having 20-30 alumni join in the Symphonic Winds’ concert on Saturday, nearly doubling the size of that group.  I can’t wait to hear the sound.”

So whether it’s dressing for your favorite decade, cheering for the girls’ volleyball team, or just attending one of the many events planned for the coming week, it’s important to participate in homecoming activities so that we can build community and connect with one another, no matter what stage of the game we’re at.

Crowded out by many other anniversaries this year, “Ben Hur” is looking for applause on the other side of the Atlantic. This classic story of a Jewish prince’s encounter with Jesus Christ is on stage in London this week, including 46 horses for the chariot race.

But in Indiana, where Lew Wallace wrote much of the original story, the 50th anniversary of the 1959 film of “Ben Hur” is passing without much notice.

The movie swept the Academy Awards for 1959, with 11 Oscars — a feat matched only by “Titanic” and “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.” The book, released in 1880, has never been out of print.

Lew Wallace, a Civil War general, wrote much of the book, which became the best-selling novel of the 19th century, in Crawfordsville.

The book tells the story of Christ, from the perspective of Judah Ben Hur. Ben Hur is unjustly accused of an assassination attempt against a Roman governor and wants revenge for the injustice. The story follows his stint as a galley slave and his daring feats in the famous chariot race.

With the Heartland Film Festival next month in Indianapolis, President Jeff Sparks wonders how to honor this classic.

“Ben Hur is a tough one because it already has proliferated in the market,” he said. “Everybody’s seen it, and it’s on TV all the time.”

Far from Indiana, though, Ben Hur has recaptured the dramatic imagination. In London this week, “Ben Hur Live” makes its world premiere, with real horses on stage, in a 360-degree arena. Then the production tours Europe. The promoter, Franz Abraham, is hoping to at least break even after spending $14 million on the operation.

A past Formula One race car driver, Abraham understands the risk of bringing the great story to the stage. He calls the production an “opera for God,” and tickets in London go for $190.

English choreographer Liam Steel put it a little differently in an interview with the London Times: “Franz is a mad genius attempting the equivalent of climbing Everest naked.”

Wallace has not been completely forgotten back in Indiana. In Crawfordsville his old study is a historical site. Indiana Historical Society editor Ray Boomhower wrote a solid, if brief, Lew Wallace biography in 2005.

Wallace reflected on his life as a Civil War general, governor of the New Mexico territory and diplomat in Turkey when he had returned to Crawfordsville in retirement. “I shall look back on ‘Ben Hur’ as my best performance,” he concluded.

Russell B. Pulliam, journalist, book author, associate editor and columnist at The Indianapolis Star, is a syndicated columnist, whose columns focus on topics ranging from politics to social issues to family life. He may be contacted at: russell.pulliam@indystar.com

      Time and time again throughout my childhood I sat astonished and open-mouthed as I listened to the missionary speakers give their testimonies at church.  They’d lived a sinful life, done drugs, were addicted to alcohol, and had done time in prison.  Their mothers abandoned them and their fathers beat them.  They were avowed atheists, set in their ways, and it was only through an incredible miracle that they realized their need for a savior.  Now, they’re living in deepest darkest Africa witnessing to the cannibal natives.

 I was always amazed and inspired at their testimonies and secretly wished for a similar or even a better one.  But no, I was destined to have a boring testimony.  I was born to two Christian parents, grew up in a loving home, and was saved at the age of five.  How dull can a testimony get?  I longed for an amazing testimony like the missionaries’.

I was born with a cancerous brain tumor in my cerebellum.  The doctors discovered it when I was five years old.  They were able to remove the tumor with minimal damage to my body, and no chemotherapy or radiation treatments were needed.  I recovered quite quickly and completely.  Undoubtedly, though, if I had been born even 40 years earlier, either my brain would have been severely damaged or I wouldn’t have survived.  It is only by the grace of God that I am alive.

When I was thirteen years old, I struggled with severe doubts about my faith.  I couldn’t understand such concepts as how time could have been created, how God was never created, and eternity.  That summer, I went to a Bible camp for a week and learned that it wasn’t for me to understand, I just had to believe.  I rededicated my life to Christ that summer.  It was only by the grace of God that that particular speaker was there that week and that my counselor had the right words to say to me.

The summer after my freshman year at Cornerstone, I felt God calling me to work at that same summer camp as a counselor.  Well, as we all know, college is expensive and Bible camps don’t pay much.  God graciously provided for my all my needs and allowed me to work at Lake Ellen not only that summer, but last summer as well.  By his grace I was able to witness many lives changed for Christ and see him at work in my life as well.

God’s grace makes everything possible.  It is by the grace of God that I am alive.  It is by the grace of God that I had loving parents and an amazing childhood.  It is by the grace of God that the missionary speaker survived his abusive childhood.  It is by the grace of God that he is now called to minister to others.  It is by the grace of God that we all draw our next breath, and it’s by the grace of God that I have a testimony just as amazing as the missionary’s, because it is the grace that makes it amazing.

e-mail: sarah_k_schaefer@cornerstone.edu

I took a test to evaluate my style of learning and teaching.  The results were extremely unusual.  For those who know me; that’s no surprise. For those who don’t; let me explain.

There’s an expression, “Those who can, do.  Those who can’t, teach.”  For me teaching is not a lazy cop-out.  I love what I do and you couldn’t pay me more to do anything different.  I hope you might be blessed to find a career-path as rewarding as this has been for me.  I have taught at a various universities for over 25 years; ten at Cornerstone.  I especially like teaching undergraduates and I feel called to work with select students to prepare them to teach. I presently have 25 students who’ve earned Ph.D.s and have positions teaching on the darkest mission field in the world—academia.  Many more have earned advanced degrees only to find other rewarding careers. I believe mentoring young scholars for academic careers has the capability of impacting a generation of students.

I’m supposed to teach history but in actuality, I’m a storyteller, embroidering into my tale personal experiences from my fieldwork, from teaching overseas and from my ongoing research.  I always bring priceless artifacts to class to give students opportunity to touch the past.  It’s not uncommon for me to pass around tablets from Ur from the days of Abraham, or manuscripts and scrolls over a millennium old.  I’m energized by my work and I think my class is too.  Each day is like learning a new secret!  I feel comfortable navigating terra incognita.  I comfortable with the vulnerability of not knowing and I love the thrill of discovery. I invite students to join my Odyssey and to work with items that no one in the world knows exists!  This entails teaching students the languages necessary to study these documents.   Older students mentor younger ones.  Many of these students present their research at scholarly conferences and go on to graduate school.

I’m most comfortable teaching outside the confines of the classroom.  I’ve taken students to Greece over the past 25 years on an adventure!  I love hands-on learning.  This semester I’ll have students following monastic rules and copying a 1000-year old manuscript, eyeglasses off, by candlelight!  Many more will attend my Reel-to-Real-Meal where they will be exposed to a wide variety of rarely scene classics and will be asked soul-searching questions about the films.  You’ll see others standing on the rock defending ideas they DON’T BELIEVE!  If you see them waxing eloquently, stop and challenge them to defend their new-found faith!  Aristotle said a sign of an educated person is the ability to argue the viewpoints of their opponent.  I            agree!

I see the tremendous benefits of technology.  Years back, I created a program that transported students, live, to the world of my excavation in the Sahara.  The program received international acclaim and is on permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian as an innovative use of technology in education.  I want to transform the learning process.  My students get over 35 GB of materials that I have painstakingly created and constantly update to enhance their experience and to give them tools for lifetime learning.

I take a saying from the ancient synagogue and make it my mantra, “Study is worship.”  Worship with me one day in class, on an excavation, toiling over an unknown manuscript or on a cliffside in Greece!

I’m engaged. And it stinks.

Don’t get me wrong. There was a time when being engaged was amazing.

Once upon a time, I went camping with my boyfriend and his family in Ludington. We spent a nice family day at the beach, and when evening came, Colin Hunter(that’s his name) took me out on a romantic date.

We went to Ludington’s cute downtown and ate dinner in a cute restaurant.

Then we got ice cream at a cute little ice cream shop.

Then we went to the beach again where Colin proceeded to serenade me with his guitar as we watched the sunset.

After that, Colin said he had something for me. He went to the car and brought back a photo album that he put together, with cute pictures of our adventures together. The photo album ended with a love letter, and when I looked up…

A ring! Colin switched from boyfriend to fiancé. It was magical.

Fast forward a year and a month. Not so magical.

When Colin proposed to me a year ago and I accepted, the original plan was not to have a long engagement. We were thinking the next summer.

But alas, my brother decided to get engaged first, and get married in June. We didn’t want to steal his thunder, and I didn’t want my parents to crack under the pressure of getting two kids’ weddings together.

So we decided: December 18, 2009. What’s six more months anyway? Everyone says that time goes super fast when you’re engaged because it takes soooooo much time and planning to get everything perfect.

Wrong.

I know that I have no one to blame but myself for this long engagement, and I take full responsibility for it. But, I won’t say it doesn’t stink.

Being engaged was fun for the first few months. I got to look at the sparkly thing on my finger and think about all the things I wanted for my wedding.

But, I couldn’t really plan anything yet, because it was too soon. It’s not really necessary to book a caterer a year in advance. Or flowers. And, when I went to look at dresses, and I told the consultant the date was December of the next year, I could tell she was judging me.

The worst part? We just want to be married. Yeah, now that we’re actually close to the big day, planning is getting more fun. But it’s been a year.

I asked Colin his thoughts and he said, “The excitement sort of wore off. We couldn’t plan when we wanted to and now that we can, it’s not as exciting. I just want to be married now and I’m tired of waiting.”

According to TheKnot.com (the ultimate wedding planning Web site, if you ask me), the average engagement in America is 12-18 months. I think that’s crazy.

Women, haven’t you been thinking about your wedding since you were a little girl? Don’t you basically know already exactly what you want your wedding to look like?

I know I did. I had everything planned out in my head before I was even engaged. It shouldn’t take 18 months to get it all together.

There is a lesson to be learned from here. We all know Cornerstone’s reputation of engagements, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t want to crush your dreams of the perfect engagement.

But, consider yourself warned. Men: don’t pop the question unless you know the timing is going to be right.

Because being engaged for a year- It stinks.

Most economists, or for that matter, most academicians, errantly think they are doing their analyses in a theologically amoral vacuum. However, each one—either explicitly or implicitly—is enrolled in a teleological school of thought that sits on a continuum somewhere between love of self and love of God. The same could be said for journalists who think their reporting is objective. And while that might even be the case for a particular article, the decision regarding what to report on, how to report it, the headline itself, and the story’s placement, all reflect the values of those responsible. Some have gone so far to say that all ‘facts’ are value-laden in that when, how, and where we speak a ‘truth’ imply that there is also a ‘why.’

 Christian economists must certainly incorporate an integration of their faith with their economics, but also must have the conviction that telos, that is, our purpose, our goals, and our ends, are everything. Our chief end in life directly affects the means by which we approach the economics discipline. Thus, a Christian life that is correctly ordered will produce results and embrace economics that are glorifying to God.

An economist whose heart is set on pleasing the Lord and whose mind is under spiritual reconstruction will be enlightened regarding certain unjust economic means of distribution such as the marketplace of adoption and the market for bodily organs. Cost/benefit analysis and even present value become irrelevant in light of a teleological ordering with God as the ultimate end.

Christian economists need to consider adding a theology grounded in biblical truth concerning Christ and the Trinity to their abilities in sophisticated economic analysis, all within an ecclesiology centered on pleasing God the Father. If they cannot gain that knowledge, they must consider working in tandem with those who have it already. The potential benefit to the economist will be a new or revised orientation away from the secular and temporal economic emphases on consumerism, profit maximization, market solutions, and scarcity, toward a telos that glorifies the Lord and works itself out in love through acts of goodness and policies that promote goodness in remembrance of God’s gift to us through Christ Jesus.

Thus, the more we learn to think like Him within the boundaries of what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, while simultaneously avoiding the vain philosophies from the world around us, the better conduits we become for his Kingdom principles to be made manifest where we live and His divine will to be accomplished on earth (Colossians 3:2; Philippians 4:8; Matthew 6:10). And as we gain the mind of Christ, what prior seemed to be an amoral vacuum, now becomes separated into darkness and light.

This summer I was a part of the GO Sichuan team that went to China to teach English to victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. When I first arrived I fell in love with everything and everyone around me. I had always wanted to go to China, and I couldn’t wait to start getting to know the people there. My team and I’s teaching experience got off to an interesting start, when after spending days training on how to teach teenagers we were asked to teach kindergarteners and very low level English speaking children. After that first day with my kindergarteners I returned to my room feeling useless and confused. I asked God why I was there. Why he would bring me to China when I wasn’t doing any good. I felt so alone and I was pained that I wanted to leave the country I fell so in love with. As days went on God began to show me the joy He was bringing into the community we were teaching. Each day as I watched the children’s faces light up as we arrived, I could see the light that God was shining. I felt so thankful that our plans had changed.

                For our last two weeks we were moved to a different city to teach teenagers. After the previous week I felt ready and excited to meet older kids and really form bonds with students, yet somehow after my first day I left with a heavy heart. I felt like a failure. I didn’t feel like a good teacher, I didn’t feel like my students connected with me,  and I didn’t feel like I was ever going to do any good. As I sat and listened to each of my teammates talk about how much they loved their students, again I felt useless. The first few days were rough but God placed me with an amazing team that loved me. Even when I felt like a failure they reminded me that I wasn’t and that I was here for a reason. They gave me hope and reminded me to trust what God was doing. By the end of the first week everything had changed. I didn’t feel cut out to be a teacher, yet God was so faithful. He gave me the words to speak and the courage to do so. He showed me how to connect with the students even though there was a language barrier. He opened my eyes to a new kind of love and helped me form solid relationships with students.

Each person that I met in China has impacted me forever. The love that the students have for each other and the love they had for my team and I was inspiring. They were so concerned with helping us, though they barely knew us, and were willing to do whatever it took to make us happy. I want to love like that. I want to take that love from China and apply it to my life in America. I can see how God used my team and I to touch lives and shine His light into China, but I can also see how much God used His people there to touch my life and the lives of each one of my teammates. I never thought I would be able to do some of the things God brought me to, but He knew I could. And after this I feel ready for anything and excited for whatever He has next for me.  

email: amanda_j_ciofu@cornerstone.edu

By Nicole Parry
Staff writer

Students can now pay their tuition bills online anytime: day or night.

This new application on Eagles Nest was put into effect on July 31. With this process in effect, students will no longer need to stand in line at the financial office to pay a simple bill — they can open their laptops and easily get online. It saves the students time and it helps out the financial aid office.

To get to this application is simple and easy; students will need to log in on Web Advisor (http://solomon.cornerstone.edu) and click on “Students.” There will be three options in the lower right corner: “Make a Payment,” “Account Statement” and “Bank Information (U.S.).”

The balance on “Make a Payment” may not be accurate as they are still working out the minor bugs in the system, students should rely on the “Account Statement” for their current balance. MasterCard credit/debit, Discover Card, American Express card, and electronics checks are all acceptable ways of payment. A 2.5% service charge will be applied to any and all credit card payments made online. If a student wishes to use the electronic check option, they will need to enter their bank information, but no fee is applied to the charge.

“Currently this program is outsourced to another company, FACTS,” said Scott Stewart, controller and director of student financial services. “I have the desire to bring the program in house which might be possible in the next year or two.”

Bringing the program in house would mean students, when getting online to pay their bills, wouldn’t have fees from the company FACTS to use their system. All the students’ money would go directly to the student’s tuition bill.

“I want to make the process as easy as possible for students,” Stewart said. This process was Stewart’s idea. “I wanted to do it for a few years” Stewart got the idea from going to seminars and conferences and seeing other schools using the online tuition paying program.

The resources to put this program into action came to Cornerstone University in fall 2008. The school has been working on the program since then.

“This program makes it easier for students to see what they owe,” says Sally VanHorn, “[and] students are getting more technologically savvy.”

This generation of Students relies on computer for a lot of things. They use it for communication, turn in assignments, do school work, play games, and apply for jobs, among other things. Now, they can rely on a computer to pay their tuition.

By Tamara Jackson
Staff photographer

Grand Rapids celebrated its first film festival this summer.

During that weekend of Aug. 26-29, Grand Rapids not only experienced one, but two film festivals back-to-back that were well received and attended by the public one being the Grand Rapids Film Festival.

“It was great to see that we are finally not only getting one, but two film festivals in the Grand Rapids area,” said Dave Anderson, Communication and Media Studies division chair at Cornerstone University, who attended the film festival. “They had a good combination of short films and had very heavy competition for them. They had film makers coming in as far as Atlanta Georgia and California.”

Sponsored by Storytelling Pictures, Celebration Cinema and WCSG, The Grand Rapids Film Festival was held in Celebration Cinema North movie theater from Aug. 26-28.

Attending the Grand Rapids Film Festival was Assistant Media Professor Pete Muir from Cornerstone. Muir also participated in a panel discussion during the festival with other people from Calvin, Ferris State, Grand Valley, Compass Arts and a few institutions.

“I think that perhaps one of the weaknesses here in Grand Rapids was that the film community seems a little fractured,” Muir said. “No one is really talking to anybody else about what the students are doing, and there are really no common venues to show films that are either created at an educational level or traditional festival mental films.”

Serving on a panel with six people from six different institutions, Muir described as a great chance to talk about film, the future of education, how other institutions run their programs and whether Cornerstone’s media department is on the right track.

During the festivals award ceremony on Friday night, the film receiving the award for best feature was “Like Dandelion Dust,” a movie based on a Karen Kingsbury novel produced by Kevin and Bobby Downes.

“It was a very powerful abdication of a Christian novel and it is winning festivals right and left,” said Anderson, who has known the Downes brothers from doing work in California.

Other films in the festival include “American Sailors,” directed by John Grooter and winner for best documentary. “White-Eyed Winter” and “Checkers” were directed by Cornerstone graduate, Brad Porter.

“I was looking for something to submit my short film, ‘Practical Truth’ to,” said Cornerstone film student Esmeraldo Baptista, who is an international transfer student from Portugal.

With the principles of the film festival being focused of family friendly, Baptista worked at the festival as a volunteer.

“One of the things I really enjoyed is that you did not have that wall separation between the filmmakers and the audience,” Baptista said. “I mean you could go up there and speak with them and they were willing to talk to us and explain more about their work, share their ideas and visions. You never know who is going to watch your movie.”

With being the first year of the festival, many of the categories for judging the films were left very broad in not forming separate categories based in length, budget and other filmmaking specifications.

“Festivals are a great chance to experience generally non-mainstream films,” Muir said. “I am a big encourager of getting away from the Hollywood block buster and seeing something that is a little more out of house. It is also great to hang out with other film people who generally go to festivals because they love films.”

Muir continued to explain that festivals also help to encourage students to strive in making a film that will have a life outside of the classroom and can have the chance to reach a wider audience other than their classmates and professors.

“There is a lot of potential for the Grand Rapids Film Festival to become larger, more diverse in its number of entrees, maybe more refined for its criteria for judging, but it is a great thing to continue conglomeration of the Grand Rapids film community,” Muir said. “It is just getting together and to celebrate, honor and be a part of the ambiance of film and storytelling.”

By Robbie Scudder
Staff photographer

For five years now the Grand Rapids Theological Seminary enrollment has been on a steady climb. This year, it has reached its record high attendance in GRTS history.

According to the GRTS Summary of Enrollment, the fall enrollment is at 329 students, compared to 289 students in fall of 2008. The enrollment at GRTS has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. In the fall of 1953 GRTS started with just 34 students and hit 277 in fall of 1981.

In the fall of 1994, the number of students reached 203 again and it has stayed above 200 students ever since. After being at 203 students in 2003, GRTS has steadily increased its numbers every year.

This semester is the first year attendance has ever reached over 300 students in the Grand Rapids Theological Seminary according to the GRTS Summary of Enrollment.

This rise in attendance at GRTS has happened because the help of the entire GRTS faculty. They have made efforts to expand recruiting, offered additional financial aid and two urban cohort programs have become very popular, according to Peter Osborn, the assistant professor of education ministries and associate dean of student services.

The new financial aid offered is called the Master in Divinity Scholarship. This scholarship offers an extra $1,000 for a student in the Master of Divinity program.

“It gives them the ability to maybe not have to work while in school,” said Tara Kram, director of admissions at GRTS.

Some people are shocked to see numbers raising with the economy the way it is but the “economy goes down and education across the board goes up,” Osborn said.

This year’s enrollment is 13 percent increase over last year’s enrollment. Attendance isn’t the only thing that is on the rise. Osborn said, “The diversity of students has gone up at GRTS.”

Osborn has estimated that out of all the GRTS students, 10 percent were women last year and now 37 percent of the student body are women this year. This rise is the same for minorities. Minorities were once at 10 percent and are now estimated to be up to 25 percent of the student body.

By Elizabeth Wolbrink
Staff writer

This fall, prospective students will receive more than just an ordinary booklet about Cornerstone University; they will receive a 3-D viewbook.

By Karissa Ryan
Staff writer

The Grand Rapids Theological Seminary is taking the Biblical mandate of “Go ye….” to heart and extending their “Urban Initiatives” program to Kalamazoo.

The program will offer both a certificate to non-degree seekers, as well as a Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership degree.

GRTS first saw the need to extend its services to those in Grand Rapids, and after four years of discussing with urban leaders, the “Urban Initiative” began in the fall of 2008. Soon after beginning the program, GRTS began receiving calls from all over Michigan, including Benton Harbor, Muskegon, Lansing and Kalamazoo.

“We realized that we needed to explore bringing theological education to these city leaders,” said Douglas Fagerstrom, president of the GRTS. “The most aggressive requests we received came from Kalamazoo, so we believed that was our first venue off site.” 

Students include pastors, church ministry leaders and any others who are currently involved in urban ministry.

The goal of the “Urban Initiative” program is to bring extended studies to those who are capable but who have also been limited in the past, whether that is due to financial problems, time restraints, or a location problem. This first class will consist of about 30 students, all from unique backgrounds and areas of ministry. Students will meet every Monday night for three hours at the Galilee Baptist church in Kalamazoo.

Unlike Cornerstone’s Professional and Graduate Studies Program (PGS), these classes are not condensed and will take a full semester to complete. The Master’s program will thus take six years, with each course lasting the full 14 weeks. For those not seeking a degree, the program is not quite as long.

Non-degree seekers and degree-seeking leaders alike will begin “Systematic Theology 1″ this fall. In the next few years, they will have completed “Systematic Theology 2 and 3,” “Biblical Theology,” “Biblical Hermeneutics” and “Social Ethics.” After these courses, only those wishing to obtain their master’s degree will continue.

While the program has only officially been around for one year, Fagerstrom has been involved with urban ministry leaders for the last five years while serving as president of the GRTS. He said he is “personally grateful to God that he has called us to serve those who serve the under-served in our urban population.”

He continued to share how successful the Grand Rapids initiative has been, measuring it by the colossal amount of positive feedback he receives from these leaders. Many have shared how it has already impacted their preaching.

Tara Kram, director of the Grand Rapids Theological Seminary admissions, has helped to facilitate the recruitment and the admissions of these students. She shares that in the year with the Grand Rapids cohort, it has been wonderful to see how God brings leaders from very “unique communities in and of themselves [who] normally might not have interaction with one another,” and that a benefit of the program already is the bringing together of leaders despite social or denominational class differences.

But they aren’t the only ones being impacted. “It’s important to see how urban leaders are influencing the Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and this is sometimes overlooked,” Kram said. “An even more important thing is what they are bringing to our community here.”

While the hopes are to extend the training into more communities, right now, according to Kram, it looks as though the program will simply be adding more cohorts in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Muskegon is a possibility for January, and although Lansing and Benton Harbor have been looked into, they are on hold at the moment. But with interest expressed as far away as Detroit, this will continue to be one way that the GRTS fulfills the biblical mandate of “Go ye…”

By Erica Stone
Staff writer

Traditions have always been a big part of Cornerstone but this year, the Alumni Relations Office is reinventing one of them. They’re calling it Spirit Week.

Spirit Week kicks off Monday and ends Saturday with a campus wide festival. A weeklong competition among students, staff and faculty gives everyone a chance to show off their CU pride. Each day, a different decade from Cornerstone’s history is honored beginning with the ’40s and ’50s. CU trivia from each era will be posted. Every night a free activity or event offers students a chance to get involved.

Students, staff and faculty will compete in teams determined by residence hall and department. Commuters will compete all together as one group. Points are earned by dressing up each day based on the decade being celebrated and participating in the activities and events. Corbin Donaldson, project manager for Alumni Relations, said, “There’s an activity or event for everyone, it’s not just athletics.”

Creating traditions: Darci Irwin hopes CU will continue to have Spirit Weeks in years to come. (Photo by Aleka Thrash)

Darci Irwin, the director of alumni relations, said that the Alumni Office came up with the idea while they were thinking about Homecoming. She says, “We wanted to see all of us – students, alumni, faculty and staff – come together in new ways.”

She feels that Homecoming shouldn’t be just for alumni and that it’s important to make connections with students before they graduate. Irwin says, “You’re a student for a few years, but alumni forever.”

The Alumni Office is partnering with Spiritual Formation, CUSG, Food Services and the Athletic Department to put on a full week of events and activities that everyone can participate in. Mark Muha, the on-campus connections intern for Alumni Relations, said they hope to provide ways to get students excited about Cornerstone, and to encourage alumni to come back. He said, “We want to create a common identity, and give everyone something to remember and be proud of.”

Matt Haller, a communications and marketing intern for Alumni Relations, said Spirit Week is about bringing the Cornerstone family together. According to Haller, it’s a simple way of connecting Cornerstone’s past and present. He said, “Each person is essential to what CU is and we wanted to start a tradition that celebrates lives that matter.”

Some of the offered events include an outdoor movie shown on the Bernice Hansen Center wall, an ’80s flavor women’s volleyball game and a free showing of the student production “Something’s Afoot.” Muha said he’s especially excited about the 15th Annual Mudbowl and Midnight Madness on Thursday night

The Festival on Saturday offers even more opportunities for the CU family to connect. Donaldson said, “We’re taking over campus!” He said there are so many options, everyone will find something to do. Student, faculty and alumni volunteers will run most of the activities, which include a coloring contest for children, mock classes with faculty and game booths. A prayer walk around the pond and an alumni symphonic winds concert are planned as well. Events begin at 10 a.m. and end with a student dance at 10 p.m. During the dance, the homecoming king and queen will be announced.

For Irwin, the prize is just the icing on the cake. The winning team gets to have dinner and hang out with President Joe Stowell and his wife at their house. She said, “We’re calling it Java with Joe- Home Edition.”

Irwin said, “A healthy community knows how to celebrate.” She’s hoping that Spirit Week will become a new Cornerstone tradition. A complete schedule of events is available at www.cornerstone.edu/alumni_friends/homecoming2009.

By Abbey Young

There are some noticeable new additions all around CU’s campus this year. But the additions that are the least noticeable may be the most important ones.

Campus safety has installed new surveillance cameras and a new emergency telephone. While these additions aren’t always the most eye-catching or crowd pleasing, they are the ones that keep our campus safe.

For several years, there have been emergency phones on CU’s campus. These blue colored emergency phones are located in various indoor and outdoor locations around CU.

 Outdoor emergency phone locations include the commuter parking lot, the parking lot outside the Bernice Hansen Center, and the back of the Bernice Hansen Center near the pond.

Other indoor emergency phones are located throughout campus buildings.

The newest emergency phone is located near Leonard St. just off the path surrounding the pond.

“The Leonard Street side location was elected due to the new pond walkway and because of the distance away from the center of our campus”, said Richard Honholt, Director of the Department of Campus Safety.

Each phone can be identified by blue paint or blue reflective tape.  Also, each phone is equipped with instructions for use and emergency contact numbers.

“We are trying to reasonably dot the campus with interior or exterior phones for use in emergencies,” Honholt said.

CU’s campus safety department is taking a proactive approach to prevent incidents before they happen by adding new systems of surveillance cameras.  Honholt has played a very active role in obtaining surveillance cameras for the CU community’s safety.

“When God placed me here about 7 years ago I felt we needed to install surveillance cameras,” Honholt said. “The technology is readily available and inexpensive, so we put it on the list,” Honholt said.

Since then, CU has purchased and installed cameras as donors or individual department budgets have allowed.

”We’ve been really creative with the budget,” Honholt said. There are currently 6 buildings and 2 special areas on campus equipped with cameras. CU is hoping for more funding for more surveillance cameras in order to ensure that the entire campus has camera coverage.

Bryan Johnston, the Director of Information Systems Operations Services and Support and his team assisted Honholt in selecting the camera units.

Information Systems also provided the labor for wiring and installing the surveillance equipment in the various buildings.

”We trained Richard Honholt in how to operate the systems and now he runs them,” Johnston said.

Each camera system has its own monitor that displays what the cameras are capturing. The footage caught by each system of cameras is fitted with DV+R recording equipment so footage can be monitored and reviewed if necessary.

“The camera system locations were determined by the security needs of the staff departments and students,” Johnston said, “Places that are secluded or have minimal foot traffic are monitored by cameras.”

Students interviewed were unaware of the security cameras and new telephone on campus. “I didn’t know,” said CU sophomore Melissa Vanleeuen, “but I feel safer now!” 

Another CU student, Jon-Michael Jones had not heard of the new safety additions on campus. “I feel safer being on CU’s campus knowing they have installed the new security system,” Jones said.

“It is important for our community members to understand that surveillance cameras are not big brother or sister interfering or spying on our community or our community citizens,” Richard Honholt said.  Rather, these surveillance cameras are for practical use to prevent those with ill intent and for use in post incident investigation.

Breathe Conference Returns

The annual Breathe conference is returning to Western Michigan.

“Breathe is a Christian writer’s workshop intended to equip and encourage,” said Cornerstone professor, Cynthia Beach, who is part of the planning committee.

The Breathe conference is for beginners as well as advanced writers, and all levels are invited to come. To encourage young writers in college to attend, Breathe is offering three scholarships to students at Cornerstone, as well as other Christian colleges such as Calvin, Aquinas, Kuyper, Hope and Cedarville. Students who receive these scholarships can attend the conference for $25, instead of the normal price of $125. 

 The conference started three years ago by the Writers’ Guild, a group of West Michigan writers serious about spirituality, including Beach and Ann Byle, another Cornerstone professor. Beach said it began as an “outgrowth of love for writing.”

 Beach said Breathe offers a “warm and tender atmosphere” where writers can improve their skills, but -just as important- connect with other writers. Unlike most writing conferences, Breathe is quite small, with around 50 attendees, on average. This gives it the added benefit of being much more personable.

 People attending this conference will have the chance to meet with the planning committee, workshop instructors and even the keynote speaker, Cecil Murphey, a bestselling author. The leaders at this conference have “no delusions of grandeur,” Byle said, and they “aren’t any different from other writers -just farther along the path.”

The goal of the conference is for writers to find renewal and encouragement. Beach said that it is hard for many beginning writers to believe that they have talent and skill. She hopes this conference will “add value to their writing” and allow them “to say yes.”

The Breathe conference offers 20 different workshops to choose from. These workshops include “Jump Start Your Writing Career,” taught by Byle, “Book Proposals: The Long and Short of It”, “Agenting 101”, “Clean Up Time: Taking a Second Look at Your Manuscript”, “Marketing Your Book: What Publishers and Booksellers Want to See”, and “The New World of Making Books: The Benefits of Self-Publishing.”

Breathe also offers very specialized workshops such as, “Devotionals and Bible Studies: Mining the Bible for Nuggets of Truth” and “I Think I Can, I Think I Can: Writing for Children, Ages 0-8.”

 The planning committee for Breathe has made sure to keep up with new trends in writing and has included workshops like “Taking Your Book One Step Further with Discussion Questions” and “Lights, Cameras, Action! Preparing Yourself for Media Interviews.” Each conference attendee can select up to five workshops to attend.

In addition to the workshops offered, there will also be two keynote addresses from Murphey. Murphey has published more than 100 books and is best known as the author of “90 Minutes in Heaven.” Murphey will be speaking about spirituality and writing.

His first address will take place Friday, Oct. 16 at 6:30 p.m. and is open to the public for $10. His second lecture is only for registered conference attendees and will be given at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17.  

The Breathe conference will take place Oct. 16-17 at Harvest Bible Chapel of West Olive. The church is located at 15020 Stanton, West Olive, Mich. The cost to attend both days is $125, but students with an ID can attend for only $75. To attend only one day, it is $75.  For more information and to register, visit their website at www.breatheconference.com.