by Rachel Watson

Sometimes it’s almost as if a chapel speaker holds his listeners by the throat, commanding their attention.

Last week, CU students and faculty members fixed their eyes and ears on guest speaker Dan Kimball, founding member and pastor at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, Calif.

Kimball’s published works include “The Emerging Church,” “They Like Jesus but not the Church” and “Emerging Worship.”

He is known as one of the leaders of the Emerging Church movement and has popularized the idea of “vintage faith,” returning to the historical message of the Gospel.

He came to speak in chapel at Cornerstone April 14 and 15.

“I grew up outside the Christian world,” Kimball said as he began his message the first day. “I knew nothing about the church except George Washington supposedly went there, because that’s what I heard every time I went.”

Despite his unfamiliarity with the Christian message in his youth, Kimball eventually became a Christian, and said he now has a passion for communicating the truth about Jesus.

To illustrate that everyone has biases, he asked students to pick one of two options on a series of three PowerPoint slides: country music vs. hip-hop, Windows vs. Mac and poodles vs. Chihuahuas.

Students engaged with Kimball, laughing at his delivery of the questions, and participating by answering with a show of hands.

After chapel, senior Amy Van Houten shared which elements of Kimball’s delivery stood out to her.

“I liked his untraditional approach to speaking — and his pictures,” she said.

During the message, Kimball said he used the three PowerPoint questions to show that when people come to Jesus, it should be about him, “not about my biases or my prejudices.”

He cited the example of Christ to direct how we should respond in compassion to unbelievers.

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” Kimball quoted from Matthew 9:36.

“The word compassion means ‘to have the bowels yearn’ … ‘Angst from the gut’,” Kimball said. “Jesus felt that feeling because he knew they weren’t following the one true Shepherd.”

Kimball said one thing he has noticed in ministry is that “the harvest is plentiful,” meaning people are ready to hear the Gospel. He also said he notices most Christians tend to think of missions in terms of going overseas and reaching out to people in Third World countries, which is only part of its meaning.

“Mission fields are overseas AND here in the USA,” Kimball said. “If we were to scan suburban America for a minute, what would we see?”

Christians, he said, need to use a different missions approach for each culture we enter.

The second half of Kimball’s message focused on the dichotomy between the way non-Christians view Jesus and the way they view his followers.

He conducted “Man on the Street” type interviews on the topic in Santa Cruz and showed the video in chapel. He pointed out that when people were asked about Jesus, their eyes lit up and their tones softened. When they were asked about Christians, the light went out and the door closed down.

Senior Katie Vanderwal was particularly struck by the video.

“I thought the contrast between the two views was really eye opening,” she said. “I know there’s a stereotype of the contrast between the way Christians talk and they way they act, but I didn’t realize it was that real and prevalent.”

In the last few minutes of his message, Kimball said the problem is that as our culture has changed, Christians have not learned how to exist within the change and still be effective messengers of the Gospel.

“Instead of engaging the new culture, we make our own subculture,” he said.

Kimble said if we ever want to share Jesus to the 22-year-old unbeliever at the gym, we will have to break out of that bubble.

But more than a year ago, Cornerstone’s vice president for Spiritual Formation was inspired to take his walk deeper after hearing an NPR broadcast featuring A.J. Jacobs, author of “A Year of Living Biblically.”

Dobson shared this in a university-wide chapel on March 24. He also said he could not have imagined the public reaction his choices would spark. The reaction Dobson referred to came after his decisions to drink alcohol, witness in bars and vote for Obama — decisions which led to an article in The Grand Rapids Press and national coverage on Good Morning America and in USA Today.

Dobson was not required to sign the lifestyle statement the students, staff and faculty sign because he came to CU on a volunteer basis, but he said if he had known what was going to happen, he would have signed it.

Still, Dobson did not dwell on his choices or their outcomes on March 24.

He chose instead to share with the hundreds of intently listening students the truths he learned from his past year— things he never thought he would experience.

As part of his yearlong commitment, Dobson said he made three main choices: To live more “Jewishly,” to read through all four Gospels every week and to obey the commands of Jesus.

In regards to his first decision, Dobson discovered the kosher lifestyle is a far more holistic choice than it often appears to be.

“One of the most compelling lessons I learned was that it’s not about what you eat,” he said. “It’s about your heart.”

Case in point: During his first week of eating kosher, Dobson caught himself scrutinizing his options at Wendy’s so closely, trying not to mix milk and meat in the same meal, that he ordered a bowl of meat chili without cheese, but then proceeded to smear his baked potato with sour cream and butter.

Dobson—and his audience— laughed at the memory, and he indicated he has since learned kosher living is not about legalism.

His second decision, to read the four Gospels every week, was an experience Dobson said changed him deeply.

“It was almost like I entered into the story of Jesus Himself,” he said.

Through his readings, he came to understand the centrality of the Bible to his daily living.

“Everything I did was driven by my commitment to the Gospels,” he said. Holding up his Bible, Dobson said, “I believe this book is the inspired, inerrant Word of God.”

He recalled when he was a college freshman, his father dropped him off at Bob Jones University and offered words of wisdom he has never forgotten: “Son, don’t you believe a word they tell you here unless you can prove it from the Bible.”

From that moment, Dobson said he has carried those words in his heart.

The last thing he shared with students from his year of living like Jesus was perhaps the most difficult for him to do. He made a commitment to obey Jesus.

“Most of us who claim to follow Jesus pay very little attention to what he tells us to do,” he said.

The command “Give to him who asks of you” was a test Dobson experienced almost right away. He said he was sitting at home one night when a disheveled African-American veteran came to his door and asked for bus fare to get to his doctor appointment.

“He had asked me,” Dobson said. “My obligation was to give.” And so he gave, despite his doubts the man was telling the truth.

The man came back the next month and asked for money again.

“Again Jesus’s words came to me,” he said. “Give to him who asks of you. Whatever you have, give.”

And this was only one of the uncomfortable things Dobson was called to do during his yearlong commitment.

After Dobson spoke, freshman Jordan Skinner, said he was encouraged by what he heard, especially when “thinking in terms of Christianity as a following of Jesus, and not of constraints.”

“I’d like to hear more of this idea of living in the ways of Jesus,” Skinner said.

When Skinner heard about the controversy Dobson’s choices stirred up during Christmas break, he said he mostly just admired Dobson’s commitment.

“I’m not saying everything Ed Dobson did was just like Jesus, but Jesus got in trouble, and to truly live like Jesus, you will too.”

But people, listen. We have to start caring. What is going on with AIG right now? Buckle up, because it’s a discouraging tale.

It’s safe to say most of us were at least mildly uncomfortable when our new president and overwhelmingly Democratic Congress passed the most massive spending bill in the history of the nation, hurtling us in a matter of weeks into quadruple the deficit Bush managed in his eight-year tenure.

We were edgy when the banks and benefitting agencies resisted openness with the public about where the money was going and how it was being spent. That, however, pales in comparison to the mess blowing up in the news media the past few weeks.

American International Group, a major New York insurance company, awarded $165 million in bonuses to their top executives — an attractive chunk of the multi-billion bailout the feds gave AIG.

Aside from that gross misuse of federal dollars to pad the pockets of the already-wealthy, here comes the kicker: Democrats, the Fed, and Obama all steadily denied involvement, acting horrified AIG would do such a thing, when they are, in fact, the reason it happened.

According to a recent Time magazine article, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s staff discovered the bonus scandal on March 10 and alerted an outraged Washington. The next night, Geithner phoned AIG’s CEO to tell him the bonuses must be canceled.

Ironically, Geithner is the former chairman of the New York Federal Reserve, the agency responsible for negotiating AIG bailout dollars. Before his appointment, Geithner was already embroiled in scandal for unpaid income taxes amounting to $35,000.

Second on the list: Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd. Like Geithner, his initial reaction to the bonus scandal was shock and outrage. He suggested adding a 98 percent tax to the bonuses to redirect most of the money back into federal pockets (a move adopted in part by the House, days later).

Can we rewind to when Dodd eliminated the clause in the bailout package prohibiting bonuses and added his own to ensure AIG would receive them? And when Obama, himself recipient of more than $100K in AIG campaign dollars, knowingly signed the package into law, yet claimed ignorance of the clause?

What it comes down to is dishonesty, a dishearteningly consistent fact about the current administration… and Washington in general.

Discouragement may be putting it mildly, according to Cornerstone University senior media student Kemp Lyons.

“Who can we look up to when our leaders are shown to have so little character?” he said. “I’m not just talking the politicians; I’m talking the corporate leaders… everyone.”

Lauren Hines, a CU junior majoring in journalism, said the most frustrating aspect of the scandal is “the lack of willingness in Washington for anyone to take responsibility for this.

“Everyone just seems to be pointing the finger,” she said.

And with so much blame to go around and so few willing to share it, is it any wonder college students avoid the headlines?

If we don’t start paying attention now, though, we’ll be totally blindsided when stepping into the

world after graduation — a world where the messes made by others will fall into our laps.

Now is the time to open our eyes.

Stowell, CU’s president, also said the provost search committee has selected a new provost, Rick Ostrander, of John Brown University in Arkansas.

He said he decided to “do chapel differently” than he had initially planned for that morning because he felt it was an appropriate time for a “state of the university” address to mark the end of his first year as president, and to update the school on what has happened and what could be happening.

Some of the changes already introduced include the dorm upgrades begun in Keithley, and the changes to the Corum and the chapel format. Possible changes to come include the demolition of Pickitt Hall to make way for a new dorm in its place, the building of a chapel and a media/fine arts center, upgrading classrooms and a new soccer and track stadium. [NEED TO CONFIRM PICKITT DEMOLITION]

Stowell said some of those goals are closer to realization than others.

One thing is for sure, according to Stowell. Tuition couldn’t stay the same next year.

He said with the rising price of health and liability insurance, utilities and other costs, the budget had to be adjusted to keep the school running.

In an e-mail interview, he explained why 3.8 percent was chosen.

“We wanted to keep it under 4 percent to stay competitive with other schools, and combined with other budget cuts we were able to make the budget work at 3.8,” he said.

Nancy Schoonmaker, senior vice president and chief financial officer, agreed. She also noted that donor contributions don’t account for as significant a portion of the budget as some might suppose.

As Stowell mentioned, CU is trying to balance its budget while competing with other local colleges.

Davenport University and Aquinas College raised tuition by 5.5 percent this year. Calvin, like CU, raised by 3.8, and Hope raised by 2.9.

Even with a 3.8 percent higher cost, Cornerstone still offers the lowest tuition rate of any of Grand Rapids’ major private colleges, rounding off at $20,520. Including the $6,510 for room & board, total cost for residential students for 2009-10 is $27,030.

In addition to its financial competitiveness with area schools, Stowell said Cornerstone offers something unique to its students.

“The value of a CU experience is hard to beat,” he said. “Transferring to a community college or state school will give you an incomplete exposure to the world, academics and life in general. Having God at the center of all learning is pivotal to building our intellect and career preparation.

“We’re not about us,” he reminded students during his address. “We’re about something much bigger.”

Since taking her job at CU, Schoonmaker said she has come to appreciate Christian higher education more than before.

“As a mom of a high school junior, I can’t tell you how critical a time the college years are for not only getting a quality education, but for the spiritual formation that takes place in a student,” she said. “To have the opportunity to learn and grow in this environment where Christ is central is an amazing opportunity that you could not get at a public institution.”

All that remains to be seen next year is whether students can continue to afford that blessing.

Yet Cornerstone’s search came to an end this month when it found someone to match the school’s mission: Rick Ostrander.

Ostrander, currently dean of undergraduate studies at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Ark., will start his new role after a previous commitment to lead a language and culture study program in Germany for the month of June.

CU President Joe Stowell said Ostrander was chosen above 20 other candidates for his outstanding credentials.

“I have known Rick’s family for years and have heard of his great reputation in higher ed, so I asked for his resume and submitted it to the search committee,” Stowell said.

Larry Bos, associate professor of business, was chairperson of the search committee. Bos said the provost selection was based on two primary considerations: the candidate’s ability to fit with the current administration, and his ability to mesh with the school’s overall mission.

“Probably fitting with the mission is most important … and he was outstanding in that respect,” Bos said.

Ostrander said he and his wife, Lonnie, who is an adjunct music professor at JBU, were thrilled when Stowell called to offer him the job.

“There seems to be a lot of energy and momentum on campus right now with Dr. Stowell’s new presidency, and I’m excited to be part of that,” he said. “I’m also looking forward getting to know the students at Cornerstone.”

Ostrander said he plans to spend a lot of time in his first few months doing just that: listening, and mingling with students, both individually and in groups.

“Spending time with students is still the part of my job as an academic administrator that I enjoy the most,” he said. “I look forward to hanging out in the Student Center in my spare moments—drinking coffee, doing e-mail, and chatting with students.”

Stowell, Bos and Ostrander all emphasize that his biggest challenge and primary goal will be to strengthen the school’s academic excellence, a concept underscored in CU’s vision statement.

Ostrander, who earned his doctorate in American history from the University of Notre Dame, and has written numerous books and articles on the history and direction of Christian higher education, plans to continue his involvement with the Fulbright Association, a higher education scholarship organization.

“I think it’s important for academic leaders to stay engaged as Christian scholars, even if it’s on a smaller scale,” he said.

Bos agrees, and sees Ostrander’s leadership potential for not just the administration, but also for the faculty.

“He won’t be a professor here,” Bos said, “but he is going to continue his scholarship in the field of history, so he will be an excellent model for faculty in the area of academic scholarship.”

Stowell said besides Ostrander being “a real loveable guy,” some of his most striking qualities include his love for Jesus, education, family, and for “integrating our spiritual life into our academic life.”

But if you want to walk the narrow road that leads to Intern Paradise, don’t get your stint the way I got mine.

I learned a hard lesson that can be summed up in two words: don’t wait.

Mistake No. 1: Turning down the unpaid internship.

Before transferring to Cornerstone, I was offered a summer web internship at The Daily News in Greenville, Mich. I didn’t take it because it was unpaid.

Not a great idea. Looking back now, the choice seems obvious. Even though it probably wouldn’t have completely satisfied my CU internship credits, it could have prepared me to write for Internet publications, and to post and manage online content. Let’s face it, folks, we live in an online age, and every shred of experience helps.

John Warren, Career Services director, said many CU students have similar judgment problems when it comes to planning for the future.

“A lot of our students don’t think about marketing themselves, or doing things that would prepare them for the workplace,” he said. “If you want to work with kids, go work with kids. If you want to work with the elderly, go be with the elderly. Whatever you decide, now is the time to start working on it.”

Mistake No. 2: Waiting too long to apply for internships.

This hearkens back to a question asked in the Sept. 30 Word on the Street: “Should sophomores be allowed to do internships?”

I believe they should. I am glad that even though junior status is technically required, our school is willing to allow sophomores do internships on a case-by-case basis, based on the student’s maturity and circumstances.

Alan Blanchard, associate professor of journalism and the Herald adviser, said he recommends freshmen and sophomores to work part-time, paid jobs related to their fields, even if it can’t satisfy internship requirements.

“You won’t get college credit,” he said, “but you’ll get that ‘green light’ or ‘red light’ communication in your heart, mind and spirit as to whether God has gifted you for a career in this area.”

So the more experience the better, right?

My problem: I waited until junior year. That might not have been so bad, but I waited until second semester of my junior year to start applying.

It was only by God’s provision that a spot was open on The Press copy desk. Because if it had been left to me, I quite possibly could have spent last summer twiddling my thumbs, finding myself six credits shy of a degree by May ’09.

And now I face the reality that I want to be a reporter, but have not had a reporting internship. That gap is hard to overcome.

So please, don’t wait. Don’t expect others to do the leg work for you. Get online and search for internships in your field, and start applying. Get an idea of what you want to do, and then shoot for internships that will hone that interest.

Take it from someone who learned the hard way.

Was it a good change? It depends on what you mean by good.

If your goal each semester is to go to the fewest chapels possible without getting fined, you probably don’t think it’s a good change. Now all of a sudden you can’t just go to small group and Evensong and call it a semester.

But is that really your goal? What if everyone’s goal was to meet with God in chapel together as a community? What if most people also were looking for intimate, meaningful, SMALL, small groups? Then wouldn’t this change encourage those two goals? Wouldn’t you count it a good thing?

Christine Mutch, dean of discipleship, was a major part of the discussion leading to the structure change. She said the intent behind it was twofold. The first reason centered on increasing attendance at morning chapels.

“Dr. Stowell’s vision is very much, as you’ve been aware, for the community to come together around the Word and worship of God,” Mutch said. “It’s been pretty feasible in the past if a person has been a part of a small group to go to that small group and Evensong and never go to a morning chapel at all.”

So in the group discussion between Mutch, Ed Dobson, senior vice president for Spiritual Formation, Chuck Swanson, dean of community life, and President Joe Stowell, the thought was that the students who only go to small group for chapel credit would have to start going to large community chapels instead.

The second objective, Mutch said, was to encourage the right kind of goals to be met in small group settings, instead of having them become a place to rack up points.

“You can imagine that [attitude] doesn’t really benefit the group dynamics and the goals and intent of even being in a small group together, which generally center around community building, and learning more about oneself and God,” said Mutch. “So if a person is just there as a warm body … or even just there a part of the time, they’re not really walking through life together.”

But what do the discipleship coordinators think about the change?

“The initial reactions have been very positive,” Mutch said. “No one went through the whole interview process to say, ‘I really want to lead a group so they can get chapel credit.’ That’s not really a high vision.”

Lauren Bronkema, a CU senior and third time discipleship coordinator, said she sees strengths in the new policy similar to the ones Mutch mentioned, but sees another side, too.

“It weeds out those people who aren’t as serious, but some of those people who aren’t as serious need small group the most,” Bronkema said. “They might need small group accountability or one-on-one time and might not go if it isn’t as readily available.”

Emma Rosauer, also a senior and returning DC, said she hopes the change will encourage people to join small groups because they want to grow together in the Lord, without thinking about chapel credit.

She also said a weakness might be that fewer people will join the groups.

“I would encourage all students to participate in a small group of some sort because it’s beneficial, not only to their spiritual walk but also to their involvement with a tight-knit fellowship community,” Rosauer said.

If you agree with that, you probably won’t mind the changes this year. If you don’t like it, maybe it’s time to reevaluate what you’re looking for out of small groups.

Thirteen other awards The Herald won were 2^nd place Investigative Reporting for Laurie Hekman’s “Campus Safety uses e-bay to solve theft”; 1^st place Overall Newspaper Design; 1^st place News Page Design; 1^st place Feature Page Design; 3^rd place Sports News for Tim Devaney’s “Athletes express remorse for infractions”; Sports News honorable mention for Katherine Wisen’s “Athletes’ drinking policy will be stricter”; 2^nd place Sports Feature for Amena Anderson’s “The faithful team manager”; 1^st and 2^nd place Sports Column for Tim Devaney’s “Impending summer makes for difficult decisions” and Lisa Heasley’s “Facebook photos”; 2^nd and 3^rd place Sports Photos for Helen Andrews’ “The woman behind the team” and Tim Devaney’s “Men’s soccer”; 2^nd place Feature Photo for Tamara Jackson’s “Home away from Kenya”; and 1^st place Column for Steven Lister’s “A ‘Christian’ article.”

Alan Blanchard, associate professor of journalism and The Herald adviser, said he was “blown away” when he heard the news.

“God has been very good to The Herald by providing it with intelligent, hard-working student journalists who continue to improve the quality and credibility of this student newspaper,” he said. “Honestly, when I first learned about the awards I was very excited for last year’s top Herald editors Laurie Hekman and Sarah Heth, who worked tirelessly to make last year’s student newspaper best in appearance and content.”

Blanchard added that Hekman and Heth could not have pulled it off without help from other Herald writers, photographers and editors, including Amena Anderson, Rachel Watson, Melissa Kersjes, Tim Devaney, Lisa Heasley, Katherine Wisen, Lauren Hines and others.

Above all, though, Blanchard said he was humbled to realize The Herald had been named 1^st place winner for General Excellence amid a sea of competitors such as Calvin College, Albion College, Hillsdale College, Ferris State University and Saginaw Valley State University, also Division II weekly newspapers.

When CU Provost By Baylis heard about the awards, he offered his congratulations to The Herald staff.

“Putting a paper together, week after week, and doing a consistently good job takes a high level of dedication, a commitment to excellence, and a devotion to duty,” he said. “Judge after judge commented on the professionalism of writing and appearance. It is nice to have others recognize what we on campus see week after week.”

Michael Cuffman, chair of the Communication and Media Studies Division, also shared his delight about the awards.

“The Herald has won awards in the past several years, but winning the [1^st place General Excellence award] was especially exciting. To see that our students are excelling at that level is just very exciting.”

Cuffman attributed a lot of the success to Blanchard, but also said credit belongs to the students who work so hard. He said he appreciates the role they play in Cornerstone’s culture.

“I think in terms of layout, in terms of quality, The Herald is top notch. It is visually attractive, but it is also timely and relevant,” he said.

“It used to be that The Herald was irrelevant, but in the last 10 years it has become a relevant part of our campus culture, to the point where I would have a hard time thinking about our campus without it,” Cuffman said. “People are enjoying it.”

It’s never easy to lose a loved one, whether it happens suddenly or gradually. It is always a loss, and always felt deeply.

On Oct. 1, Michelle Foupht, 33, unexpectedly passed away. Foupht was a second semester student in the master of arts counseling program at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.

Peter Osborn, assistant professor and dean of student services at GRTS, expressed his deep sympathy to grieving members of the GRTS community, and to Foupht’s family.

“Death and this type of grieving is not the way it is supposed to be,” he said. “We have to remember that this isn’t normal, it’s not God’s intended design. We sometimes try to appease people or write it off as if, you know, she’s in a better place, but I think we have to remember that this is one of the most graphic reminders of the fact that we live in a fallen world, and that [death] was not God’s intent for us.”

Robert Lehman, professor of counseling and Foupht’s academic adviser, said that what he remembers most about her was her passion for her field, her smile, her sense of humor, and how quickly she made friends in her program.

“She was seemingly very popular, a key part of the seminary family and I think she will be greatly missed,” he said.

Rachael Kool and Hannah Wagner were two of Foupht’s closest friends in the counseling program. Kool, a first year student like Foupht, met her through classes they took together, as did Wagner, who is a second year counseling student.

“She was smart… always eager to ask questions in class,” Kool said of Foupht.

“Some of the questions she would ask I would think, ‘How did you come up with that? Dangit!’” Wagner said.

In the following months, as they got to know her better, Kool and Wagner saw other, deeper things about Foupht.

“You could tell she wanted to help people,” Kool said. “That’s why she was here. She was a good listener. She could usually tell if something was off. At least she would always be like, ‘You seem off today.’”

“I think she had a really sweet disposition and a soft heart,” Wagner said.

During the summer, Kool frequently spent time with Foupht outside of the classroom setting.

The friendship continued into the fall 2008 semester.

“This semester a bunch of us would always go out on Tuesdays after class to Applebees. She loved Applebees… and the blue cheese dip,” Kool said, laughing as she remembered.

Kool and Wagner both appreciated Foupht’s friendliness and heart for people.

“I like how she always wanted to hang out,” Kool said. “She was always trying to get the dinner together, or plan going to the orchard. She was always trying to plan little get-togethers.”

Wagner appreciated sharing things in common with Foupht, such as having nieces and nephews close to the same age. But what she remembers most is the counseling major’s devotion to better understanding those around her.

“I think that she had a passion to know people and for people to know her,” Wagner said. “Those who didn’t know her I think honestly will have missed out on knowing someone who was unique as an individual.

“I know for us [referring to herself and Kool], there are definite elements that we miss about her presence that you don’t get to have back,” Wagner said.

This remark prompted a memory for Kool.

“I’ll never forget the Cheetos,” she said. “We have chapel break during our long classes. I was telling her that I really liked Cheetos because they get stuck in your teeth, and she agreed! After that, it would always enter conversation at some point.”

Wagner and Kool both agreed that despite life’s struggles, Foupht was a fighter. They said she was good at putting a smile on her face even when things were tough, and was good at helping her friends smile as well. Osborn again emphasized his sympathy for the Foupht family of Coldwater, Mich., who could not be reached for comment by press time Thursday.

“As a faculty, seminary and administration, we are continuing to grieve with them and to uphold them in prayer during this time of loss,” Osborn said.

Approximately 2,000 guests from all over the state attended the Sept. 12 “West Michigan Welcomes Joe & Martie Stowell” gala dinner, making it an event drawing bigger crowds than both Bono and Bill Clinton when they came to DeVos.

When Stowell, Cornerstone University’s new president, took the stage and greeted the audience, he addressed that immediately.

“I guess what we’re experiencing tonight is what happens when you offer a free dinner in West Michigan,” he said, laughing.

Throughout the night, video messages played from several well-known Christian evangelists, including Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; Howard Hendricks, professor at Dallas Theological Seminaary; Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association; Christian author and speaker Max Lucado; Joni Earackson Tada, founder of Joni and Friends International Disability Center; Ravi Zacharias, founder of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, and Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and the author of “The Purpose Driven Life.”

They all emphasized not only their respect and love for Stowell, but also shared how highly they value his friendships.

For more than an hour before the dining room doors opened, the halls gradually filled with community members, friends, and Cornerstone University students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Guests mingled in the corridors and out on the balconies overlooking the Grand River, sipping from goblets of chilled white grape juice and chatting pleasantly.

Dignitaries who attended included Grand Rapids’ Mayor George Heartwell, Wyoming’s Mayor Carol Sheets, Rep. Tom Pearce of District 73 and Sen. Mark Jansen of District 28.

Allison Bradshaw, director of advancement database services at CU, was in charge of guests and seating.

“I had to pull the mailing list together,” she said. “We started working on it the first part of June. We mailed invitations the first week of August. Within two days we started hearing back from people, and within three weeks we hit 1,800 RSVPs. After that, within a week we easily went to 2,200.”

At 7 p.m., the tall double doors opened, revealing hundreds of dinner tables. At each place setting was a complimentary copy of the book, “I Would Follow Jesus” by Joe Stowell.

Matt Stowell, Joe Stowell’s son, played background music with his band before the program started, and then also performed a song during the program. The evening’s emcee was Candace Matthews, chief marketing officer of Amway.

Heather Headley, Tony-award winning singer and Broadway actress, performed a stunning arrangement of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” to open the evening. Toward the end of the program before she sang “In Christ Alone,” Stowell expressed his delight that she was able to be there, since she is one of his favorite musicians.

The CU eight-member a capella group, Credo, sang an invocation, and Clifton Rhodes, a CU alumnus and pastor of Messiah Missionary Baptist Church, prayed before dinner began.

The menu consisted of Boston bibb salad with pistachios, gorgonzola and grapes; grilled beef tenderloin with gravy; cider-marinated chicken; potato tarts; asparagus and fresh baked rolls. There were two desserts: malted chocolate pie and strawberry Italian almond crème torte with peach sauce. There was also a vegetarian menu that included tofu instead of meat.

Despite the evening’s delightful food, guests and music, the gala dinner was about something more.

There were three main speakers for the evening: Anne Graham Lotz, Billy Graham’s daughter and founder of AnGel Ministries, Duane Litfin, president of Wheaton College, and Stowell. Each of them said they wanted Jesus Christ to be the real focus of the evening.

During her message, Lotz gave a gospel presentation using an analogy about being on the outside of a relationship, from Francis Hodgson Burnett’s “A Little Princess.”

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the inauguration of Dr. Joe Stowell than to make this night the night you enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” she said.

After Lotz and Litfin spoke, Ed Dobson, senior vice president of Spiritual Formation, introduced Stowell with a story about the first time he heard Stowell preach.

Dobson said Stowell used the analogy you can tell the level of businessperson someone is by the type of pen they use. Some use BiC’s, some use ball points, and some Mont Blancs. After the message, Dobson said he asked Stowell what kind of pen he used, and Stowell pulled out a Mont Blanc.

As Stowell walked up on stage after that introduction, Dobson said he had a gift for him, though it probably wouldn’t be as elaborate as some of the other congratulatory gifts he had received.

Dobson handed him a BiC pen.

Stowell laughed and said, “And here, you can have my Mont Blanc.”

He then began his message “Christ in Cornerstone,” about his vision for CU: that it would be a place of academic excellence and spiritual authenticity.

Stowell emphasized that CU is “at the core, a Christian University,” and that his prayer is that it would be a place where Jesus Christ truly is the “chief cornerstone,” not only in name, but in reality.

Cindy Robinson, CU alumna of ’82, sat at table 215 during the dinner. Neither she nor her husband Brad had ever heard of Joe Stowell before they got the invitation, but after listening to him speak, she was convinced CU hired the right person.

“You guys are blessed,” she said. “Truly blessed.”

Hemingway and Van Gogh led troubled lives. Emily Dickinson would have scored 100 percent on the “sad hermit test,” if there was such a thing. Author J.K. Rowling recently told CNN of her past struggles with suicidal thoughts. Britney Spears, an artist in her own right, is enduring constant paparazzi pressure, and none of it positive.

It seems that history and pop culture are full of creative souls who have experienced deep tragedy and infused it into their art.

But does it have to be that way? Does the creation of art require intimacy with personal pain? No, not necessarily.

It’s often good for an artist to mentally understand tragedy in order to channel ideas, said writer and filmmaker David Lynch in an online excerpt of his book, “Catching the Big Fish.” But it is not healthy to seek suffering on purpose, or to willingly submit to pain inflicted by others. “You can understand conflict,” Lynch wrote, “but you don’t have to live in it.”

Unfortunately, though, to carry a gift is to carry a heavy responsibility. Once that gift is discovered, people tend to demand consistency and productivity. This extends to all types of artists, whether to singers, painters, dancers, actors, musicians or writers, and yes folks—even to journalists.

We may not be allowed to insert our opinions into the stories we write, but we invest our hearts in them nonetheless. We may not have our faces plastered on the cover of every Herald issue (or even one for that matter), and we may not seem to care about anything but the news, but we do.

Underneath the surface there is a nagging dread of criticism. We’re not out to get the community; we love it here and want to represent it in all of its facets, both good and bad. We seek truth above all. And every time, when it’s not good enough, when the facts don’t line up, when the e-mails come flooding in, we hurt inside.

Because, when it’s all said and done, we’re really here for you. We’re here for you as a community, to find out your stories, to love you, and to discover what we have in common through our mutual brokenness.

Laurie Hekman, Herald managing editor, fully supports these thoughts.

“I think each of us has probably woken up one morning and been like, ‘How the heck did I end up here?’” she said. “How did I end up with the Herald as my No. 1 priority, and hating it so much and yet loving it terribly, and laughing at ourselves at this ambiguity and this love-hateness? We can’t help but laugh, and cry.”

Hekman echoed that the reason we do what we do is out of a heart for people.

“I think that each of us are probably in it for our own individual reasons,” she said, “but mostly out of a love for people, and for story, and for the beauty that can come out of telling the tale of the unknown soldier and the quiet genius in the corner—that 16-year-old literal genius on campus and the misunderstood professor and the dedicated nurse.”

Because our hearts are so invested in this, it aches terribly to receive constant “suggestions for improvement,” with not much of a “thumbs-up” to let us know we’re on track.

We pour our lives into this work. It hurts that we have to explain our heart’s true motives, and it hurts worse to know that the most vocal readers are the ones who misunderstand and criticize.

“What hurts the worst is not only do they not receive [our work], but they assume that our intentions are the opposite of what they are,” Hekman said. “They assume that our intentions are to slander and to dig up crap about our sisters and our brothers on Cornerstone’s campus. We seek truth ferociously, but we do it out of love. What hurts the worst is to be misunderstood, to have them say that your love is malice.”

The author Lynch, whose experience of more than 40 years as an artist lends him the right to be wise, summarized the heart and soul of this idea.

“The more the artist is suffering, the less creative he is going to be,” he said. “It’s less likely that he is going to enjoy doing his work and less likely that he will be able to do really good work.”

So please, know that it’s OK to criticize sometimes, but artists also seek to know that they are resonating with their audience—that someone appreciates the unsung work being done.

Look at your fellow artists, at Cornerstone and elsewhere, struggling to communicate their visions to the world, and remember that suffering does not produce great art. Art is born when people are set free to be who they are.

According to Micah Shepard, housing coordinator and administrative assistant, current choices for seniors living on campus are the 18-, 15- and 10-meal plans, with an optional plan of 45 meals per semester for commuters, which breaks down to about five meals a week.

The change will not affect seniors who plan to live off campus next year, but it may be a reason for them to re-think their fall housing plans, said Patrick Miller, dean of students.

“Our goal would be to encourage some seniors to reconsider living on campus and being a part of the campus community,” he said.

Miller said the idea for a new plan was part of an initial conversation back in February with Scott Stewart, controller in accounts payable, Marc Fowler, senior vice president for operations and chief financial officer, and Cindy Wiltheiss, director of Food Services.

The problem was that a few seniors living on campus couldn’t fit cafeteria meal times in with their student teaching or internships, and therefore were wasting their 10 meals per week.

The four agreed on a temporary solution for this semester, which included occasionally working the “Grab & Go” hours around those seniors’ schedules, and then later giving out a few Meijer gift cards as a reimbursement, since they had so many unused meals on their plans.

However, Miller said that they wanted to take this “one-time fix” to a new level.

“We were thinking, ‘What can we do to fix this long-term?’” he said.

Stewart, who ran the cost analysis for the new plan, said that his main goal was to find out what would be the best fit for the university and the students.

 “Having been a former student myself, I know how tempting it can be to want to move off campus and cook on your own,” he said. “Hopefully it will give [seniors] an opportunity to feel better about staying on campus.”

“I would hope that the students would appreciate us trying to do something within the limitations that we have, trying to meet a need,” Stewart said.

Nate Aubin, a commuter student who will be returning as a senior next year, said that he wouldn’t reconsider his decision to live off campus because of a change in meal plan options.

“The reason I moved off campus in the first place is because I lived here, but then I realized I was paying $800 a month to live on campus,” he said. “I can live on my own for less off campus.”

From a Food Services perspective, however, Wiltheiss said the new five-meal plan will suffice for now.

“At this point I think this is the best we can do,” she said. “We have to slowly make changes … to see how it all comes together. If you make too many changes too quickly, then you don’t really get to see the effect that has. When I make a change, it’s there to stay, or be improved on. I never want to take a step backward.”

 The musical opened last night, presenting a wide range of gifted singers and actors, from crotchety and commanding Aunt March (Rachel Schaefer, sophomore) to wizened old Mr. Laurence (Mike Coon, CU ’07), to beaming Beth (Amy Groen, junior), to a stunning Jo (Reagan Boomershine, freshman), whose heart shone through every ounce of her performance as the show’s lead character.

At the Wednesday dress rehearsal, Jo’s songs and lines were at first difficult to hear above the orchestra music, but her microphone problems were soon resolved and she belted out the songs in her powerful and moving way.

This stage adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic, “Little Women,” a novel about four sisters growing up during the Civil War, will give play-goers a little twist to look forward to.

It does not follow the story’s usual chronology, but instead, it opens with a flash-forward to Jo and Professor Bhaer discussing Jo’s stories, which have been rejected by multiple publishers at that point.

As she described to Professor Bhaer the “blood and guts” storylines she writes to satisfy the world, a chorus of actors recreated scenes from her stories for the audience. The chorus acts to live music directed by Randy Burghart, assistant professor of music.

Whatever acting blunders (and at times, cheesy dialogue) the show sported were far made up for by the singing talent overall. One standout was a musical lecture from Aunt March to Jo, about accepting one’s place in society instead of pursuing dreams of success.

With a swinging, too-short hoop skirt and a prim, gray bun, Aunt March commandingly strutted across the stage to extract Jo’s response.

“Surely with your guidance I could use feminine wiles with delight!” Jo sang, eliciting laughter from the crowd.  “I could be beguiling!”

Other great songs were “Astonishing,” Jo’s solo about her hopes for the future, “Delighted,” about the March sisters going to a dance, and “Some Things Are Meant to Be,” a duet between Jo and Beth.

In fact, there were several duets, and the singers’ voices blended exceptionally well together, especially the voices of Meg and John Brooke (Megan Tibbits, sophomore, and Kyle Juresich, freshman) and Jo and Professor Bhaer (Boomershine, freshman, and Nate Reynolds, sophomore).

The final duet topped them all off—“Small Umbrella in the Rain” sung by Jo and Professor Bhaer as the story draws to a close.

Tammy Looman, director of the writing center, brought her 9-year-old daughter Kelly to the Wednesday dress rehearsal, and shared her thoughts about the performance afterward.

“I cried through most of the second act,” she said. “I liked the last song before the break, ‘Astonishing,’ by Jo—that was really good. The song that Marmee and Jo sang up in the attic, that was really good, too.”

“I liked it. It was wonderful,” said Kelly.

Besides providing a night of entertainment for CU audiences, the theater department is also extending 32 free Sunday matinee tickets to the girls of St. John’s Home on Knapp Street.

“Marty Arnold contacted me and explained that they like to try to give these underprivileged girls from St. John’s home quality, memorable experiences to treasure as they are growing up,” said Jennifer Hunter, CU director of theater. “I thought this sounded great and we donated tickets for them.”

If you did not make it to opening night, you still have six more chances: April 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26 at 8 p.m., and April 27 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for students and seniors, and $5 for students at the door. To order ahead, call the Cornerstone University Bookstore at (616) 254-1663.

“I believe that our sports culture is deteriorating and that we have to change that,” he said. “We talk to our athletes, about them as athletes with respect to the five core values. If they truly call themselves an athlete, then what should that look like?”

His job as the Champions of Character director is to work with Cornerstone’s coaches and athletes, but also with parents and schools in the community, teaching them those values and how to help athletes to learn them.

In a small, but neatly organized cubicle in the front part of the athletics office, Riemersma sits among stacked boxes of pamphlets with the Golden Eagles logo and “Champions of Character” stamped across the front.

The basketball-splattered pamphlets title themselves as the “game plan for character development.”

Riemersma said that plan is built around five core values: respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship.

Since its arrival at CU in 2004, the Champions of Character program has been incorporated into all sports the university offers. Riemersma explained how its teachings are put into practice for the students.

“One of the components is community service,” he said. “All of our teams are involved with community service of some type. Within the course of the year, they all will serve at some point at Mel Trotter Ministries.”

Last year, CU athletes went to The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Academy, a K-8 school on Logan Street SW, to spend time with the kids and serve them dinner.

One of the athletes, Nicole Daniels, told Riemersma that she thought she would be the one giving of herself to the students, but later realized she learned more from the students than she could have imagined.

“We had more fun than we could have anticipated,” said Daniels, a senior and captain of the women’s track team. “After we served dinner it was Play time! We got a chance to experience recess all over again. A group of girls taught me how to double-dutch, and later, we simulated a track meet with different events to score in.”

Daniels attended the event with the mindset that she would leave exhausted from serving, but was pleasantly surprised.

“I walked away from the experience not drained of energy but filled with joy and laughter,” she said.

“When it’s all said and done, you’re the one who feels blessed by the kids and how it impacts you,” Riemersma said. “It was fun to watch our athletes hang out with these young kids and really enjoy doing it.”

He said the whole idea of letting them serve others is to get “student athletes to think outside themselves about the type of impact that they can have with young people.”

Riemersma, who played basketball and soccer growing up, said his school did not have a formal character program.

“I was fortunate enough to have good coaches,” he said. “They were coaches of character. Whether they did that intentionally or not was one thing, but it came through. These days, our coaches are getting younger and younger, and they need help with teaching character to the athletes.”

He wants the program to help people learn to mentor kids through formal programs and tutoring, “and through that, our culture would change in a way that is very servant-oriented.”

After a long pause, Riemersma shared the No. 1 reason he believes in the character program.

“I think it really forces us to look at why we do what we do as individuals and as teams, and it helps us to think of other people and that it’s not ‘all about me,’” he said. “It’s about all of us contributing our part for something greater than ourselves.”

The songs were selected. The steps rehearsed. Weeks of practice, tears and sweat led up to this night.

The second annual “Dancing with the Sections” competition finally arrived last week. Every section from VanOsdel and Cook Halls participated in the competition held in the Corum on Friday, March 28, at 8 p.m.

The winning team was Lisa Gregornik’s section in Cook, who danced to a medley of “Lion King” songs and other selections, including a number from “High School Musical” and “Saddle Up Your Horses.”

Before the competition began, energetic music played to set the mood. Performers with painted faces, brightly colored costumes, and three-piece suits paced back and forth on the sidelines in anticipation of the coming moments.

The crowd was hopping—some of them literally— while the drone of voices defeated any possibility of dead air. Scores of current and prospective students filled the room wall to wall. The lights dimmed; the music faded. The heat began.

Petra VandeZande’s section, the second place winners, wore masks, face paint and ties, and they danced to a mix that unexpectedly flowed straight from one song into the next.

It jumped from “Ice, Ice, Baby,” to “I’m Blue,” to “Every Time We Touch,” and then seamlessly transitioned into “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas, a startling redirection that caught the audience off guard and set them laughing.

Laughter, in fact, defined the evening.

From Leah Bailey’s section who performed a dance patterned after a Richard Simmons exercise video, to Stephanie Dreyer’s section who danced to a 90s mix, to Chris Thompson’s suit-clad team performing Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal,” to Adam Knoll’s group who achieved a near-flawless rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” there was never a dull moment.

About a week before the event, Erin Jewell, junior and co-host of the competition, shared her hopes for the show.

“I for sure expect some very original, unique choreography, maybe some acrobatics and hopefully many laughable moments from the contestants,” she said. “I really hope that each group puts thought into the dance, but what’s most important to me is that they look like they’re having fun.”

After the show, her smiling face showed forth her satisfaction with the competition’s level of success. “I liked all the acts,” Jewell said, “but I think Lisa’s section went the extra mile.”

Katie Winne, resident director of Cook and co-host and planner of the event, agreed. “I thought it was fun and light-hearted,” she said. “I am so happy so many people came.”

Jewell emphasized another point in her pre-interview. “This is the type of thing that makes college life what it is,” she said. “I really hope someone just totally surprises us with some sweet pop-and-lock routine or a back flip.”

No “popping and locking” went on; instead something just as unforgettable happened.

After the judges announced the winners (Gregornik’s section took first place, VandeZande’s second and Andy Kolkman’s third), they called the first place title holders up for an encore.

That encore was supposed to close out the show, but the crowd unexpectedly demanded a second performance from Kolkman’s group, too, who had originally danced to “What is Love?”

Kolkman protested that the fifth member of their group had left, but the crowd still shouted for an encore even without him.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, junior Buddy Carr, who does not live in VO and was not planning to participate, appeared on stage and danced in the fifth member’s place.

The crowd roared as he slid forward on his knees at the song’s pinnacle, and again toward the end when the four men lifted him on their shoulders as part of the original routine.

After the show, Carr explained what was going through his head at that moment. “I thought the guys did a good job so … they should have a second chance. They were down a guy, and my housemates told me I should go up, so I went,” he said, grinning.

What a night!

Yet as he opened his mouth on Feb. 8, German-born piano tuner Franz Mohr proved he deserved every word of that description.

Mohr, formerly Steinway’s chief concert technician before his retirement, came to Cornerstone to share his testimony and promote his book, “My Life with the Great Pianists,” which has been published in 8 languages.

“I am not a concert pianist,” he said, to discourage any false hopes that he would play, “but I am a piano tuner … a tuner who loves Jesus.”

Born in Germany in 1927, Mohr was a teenager during the peak of World War II.

He said that when the American bombers flew over his hometown in Rheinland County on Nov. 16, 1944, about 90 percent of the population was killed in 20 minutes.

Mohr was separated from his parents for more than a month, until their reunion on Christmas Day, 1944. Later his two brothers were killed in the war.

Through the horror of what he witnessed, Mohr said his heart burned with hatred against the Americans, whom he thought had no reason to decimate his hometown, and against the Nazis, who deceived so many people.

“Can you imagine what went on in those gas ovens?” Mohr asked, his voice trembling. “The children … when they couldn’t breathe anymore?”

“My dad always said, ‘If we touch the Jewish people, we touch the apple of God’s eye,’” Mohr said.

For a while, Mohr did not want anything to do with religion— although his parents remained devout Catholics.

One day, Mohr stumbled across a meeting being held in a private home.

“I saw a bunch of people sitting at the kitchen table with Bibles open,” he said. “‘What a weird gathering of people!’ I thought. Dr. Arthur McFarlane was leading it.”

McFarlane soon took an interest in Mohr’s spiritual well-being.

“To this day I see his loving face in front of me,” said Mohr. “‘No matter what you think,’ he said, ‘I love you and Jesus loves you. I am going back to England and I am going to pray for you.’”

According to Mohr, McFarlane was certain that his young friend would write to him one day and tell him he had become a Christian.

Although still not convinced, Mohr accepted the doctor’s gift of a Bible, and began to read it.

He went for a restless walk one late night, with the image of McFarlane’s face still stamped on his mind, and watched daylight appear in the eastern sky.

“I got excited,” Mohr said, “and [later] fell on the side of my bed and didn’t know how to pray. All the prayers I had learned in church and school didn’t work for me.

“All of a sudden I was drawn to the cry of Calvary,” he said. “‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

That night he became a Christian. Within days his whole outlook had changed, and the Word of God became his only food. He set aside everything—books and newspapers alike—to read the Bible.

Before his conversion, Mohr had fallen in love with a woman named Elisabeth whom he had met on a dance floor.

After reading 2 Corinthians 6, he realized that he could not carry out his plan to marry her unless she, too, knew Christ.

He had given her a Bible and asked her to read certain parts every weekend. When he went to approach her to tell her about 2 Corinthians, she had something to tell him first.

“I have been reading the sixth chapter of John over and over again this week,” she said. “I gave my heart to the Lord.”

The two married eventually. Mohr’s dream was to continue as a violinist, but the career damaged his wrist and he soon had to seek work in other places.

He took his first job as a piano tuner in Dusseldorf in 1954. Eventually he traveled on a ship to America, where he reconnected with his mentor, Arthur McFarlane, who rejoiced to hear of his new faith in Christ.

Mohr became Steinway’s chief concert piano tuner in 1968, and immediately gained exposure to some of the greatest musicians in the business.

One of the musicians he met was Artur Rubinstein.

“As a German I was extremely nervous to tune for Rubinstein,” Mohr said. “He had lost over 50 people in his immediate family to the Holocaust.”

Despite his inner tension, Mohr said their first meeting went well, and they grew to be close friends.

Another pianist Mohr tuned for was Vladimir Horowitz. Mohr eventually became the only tuner Horowitz would allow to touch his Steinways.

Mohr shared that one night he was with Horowitz at a performance in Rochester, NY.

“Just before we were on stage,” Mohr said, “Horowitz opened the door and pointed out to the stage, [saying], ‘Franz … the loneliest place in the world.’”

All Mohr could think was that he wished Horowitz would realize that there is a place lonelier still.

Although he never had the chance with Horowitz, Mohr was able to lead Horowitz’s wife Wanda to the Lord as she was dying.

After Mohr’s speech, Donna Bohn, fine arts division chair, shared her appreciation for his boldness in witnessing to everyone he met.

“God has blessed him with opportunities to share Christ,” said Bohn. “At the same time we need to pay attention to when we have opportunities to do the same.”

The four-part plan included concentration on jobs, healthcare, safety for every family and education.

For the Michigan Press Association convention on Feb. 1, Granholm chose specifically to focus on two of the four points: jobs and education.

“What I want to talk about here today is non-partisan,” she said. “This is pro-Michigan.”

The first part of the plan Granholm revealed was her strategy for creating new jobs. She shared that her goal is to refinance our state’s debt so that the money can be used for “economic stimulus.”

One way she plans to do this is through marketing Michigan to make it more attractive to businesses and tourists.

She said she will motivate businesses to come to Michigan by offering “tax cuts for the 50 fastest-growing types of businesses in the U.S.” and by providing “businesses [with] the incentive that for every job they create in Michigan, they will get a triple tax cut.”

State Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, was not convinced after hearing Granholm’s speech.

“Advertising alone will not solve problems,” he said. “Businesses will locate wherever it’s cheapest.”

“She talked about refinancing the state debt,” he said. “She is talking about turning around and spending that money. She is just increasing expenditures.”

“What needs to be done is to look at every budget and figure out where we can cut back. In short, it’s very easy to spend, but we have to be efficient,” he said.

“Every day you hear about global warming,” Granholm said. “We have two things that make us prime to capitalize on the need to create alternative energy. We are the second best state in the U.S. with available ways to harness wind power and manufacture [and transport] turbines.”

“We have so many tool-and-die companies that could easily be converted into alternative energy plants,” she said.

Besides her plan for creating jobs, Granholm keyed in on the importance of educating Michigan’s citizens. “We want to create a new set of 3 R’s,” she said. “Rigor, relevance, and relationships.”

She shared the story of a Chicago school that helps students by creating relationships between the staff and students, showing the students that someone cares.

Another example is the Henry Ford Hospital, which has created a program for high school students to learn at the school and earn a degree in five years: four years in high school and one year in college.

This cooperative between schools and hospitals is an example of what Granholm calls a “middle school,” bridging the gap between high school and college and providing students with training that will be relevant to their chosen careers.

Granholm’s goal is to create 100 of these “middle schools” across the state, but would like to see more bi-partisan agreement.

Before the governor’s speech, State Rep. Michael Sak, D-Grand Rapids, shared his enthusiasm about the initiation of the plan to create these middle schools.

Sak, house speaker pro tem, also said a bill was passed in Dec. 2006 to provide eligible high school seniors, beginning with the class of 2007, with a $4,000 scholarship if they attend a university, community college, or trade school for at least two years.

Combined with the creation of middle schools, he indicated that this will benefit Michigan’s education system.

However confident Sak is about changes to the education system, Granholm just hopes that all of her four-part plan will bridge party lines.

As she said in her Jan. 29 State of the State address, “I’m ready, and I believe in my heart that you’re ready too.”

We speak of the Dells, of course.

The question that we Herald editors are asking is whether those laptops are a help or hindrance to students in the classroom setting. Can we really multi-task in class?

John Duff, assistant professor of Bible, said that it depends on what is meant by the phrase “multi-tasking.”

“I can enter grades and watch a news program at the same time,” he said, “but I can’t read a book and watch a news program at the same time.”

Jeanette Banashak, professor of youth ministry, agrees with Duff about the multi-tasking question.

“College students are very prodigious when it comes to doing many things at once,” she said. “I just don’t want them to hone that skill during class.”

Duff said that in his experience, the laptops provide temptation for students to escape from class. Even if students are able to do several things at once on the laptop and still focus on the lecture, he observed that they often distract others by toggling between windows.

For this reason, Duff generally does not allow his Christian Foundations classes to use their laptops for note-taking in class.

“How did students take notes before laptops?” he asked, smiling. He asks students to take notes by hand, just like they did before laptops.

Lauren Bronkema, a junior who took Christian Foundations I and II with Duff, said that his laptop policy at the time was to allow them only when necessary.

“I didn’t mind it,” she said. “Sometimes I still broke the rule, but at the same time I knew that it was better if I didn’t use them for anything besides notes—not for ‘multi-tasking.’”

Bronkema also added that she believes the professors who ban laptops do so because they care about their subject matter and want students to learn it thoroughly.

We’re sorry if you are a student who thinks the “no laptop” rule that some professors enforce is harsh, but we have to side with the professors on this one—at least in theory, if not in actual practice.

It’s time to spill.

As Herald staffers we are just as guilty of playing “instant messenger” over e-mail while in class. (If you read this semester’s first issue of The Herald, you’ll remember that Laurie Hekman is getting a degree in e-mail—or should be).

Sometimes class time seems like a perfect opportunity to plan out the day, or to banter back and forth with friends about this morning’s latest inside joke. (Just now I heard someone’s conscience cry, “Guilty!”)

Maybe what we really need is to change our attitudes. The question isn’t whether we can use our laptops, but instead, why are we fighting so hard for this issue?

Can’t we take notes by hand and then type them up after class, if it is really about the convenience of saving notes in folders?

Maybe what is really at stake here is the attitude in which we come to class. Do we really want to be there? Here is a phrase to consider that most of us have often heard Doc Carroll repeat: “Study is worship.”

Think about it.

The play focuses on a blind woman named Susy Hendrix, played by Amy Groen, who stumbles upon a tangled situation when her husband Sam, (Derek Niemchick) is away one night.

Three thugs have crept into her apartment looking for a doll filled with heroin, which they intend to sell in order to fend off loan sharks.

In a slowly unfolding plan, Susy allows the con men, Mike, Carlino and Roat, played by Paul Hoppa, Tim Adams, and Adam Miller, to believe that she trusts them.

A dangerous game ensues, leaving the audience guessing throughout as Susy attempts to control the darkness to keep the upper hand.

With this stage adaption, an element even more chilling than in the original Hitchcock film is the absence of music, except between scenes. The audience is left wondering what will happen to fill the silence.

As far as the acting goes, the relationship between Mike (Hoppa) and Susy (Groen) is played to perfection. She subtly, gradually changes her demeanor toward him, causing the audience to wonder if she is learning how better to trust or to deceive him.

The costumes and setting are done superbly, with the rounded “icebox” refrigerator, the splashy pistachio walls, and Susy’s bobbed hair all exuding a 1960s air.

“They did a good job of making it pretty creepy,” said Kevin Looman, a sophomore who attended the Wednesday dress rehearsal. “The set was amazing.”

Sherry Lee Allen guest directed this show in lieu of Jennifer Hunter, CU’s director of theater, who is on maternity leave.

“I would recommend [‘Wait until Dark’] because it has that suspense and true drama throughout the play,” Allen said. “It is not done very often as a play, so that is one of the reasons I would really suggest people see it on stage.”

If you haven’t seen it yet, you still have a chance, Feb. 22 and 23 at 8 p.m., and Feb. 24 at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door or by calling (616) 254-1663. They are $8 for students and seniors and $10 for the general public.

She is the first Cornerstone student ever to receive this scholarship.

Hekman, The Herald’s new managing editor, applied for the award, The MPA Foundation Community Journalism Scholarship, on Nov. 20 of last year. She recalls the day distinctly because of its stressfulness.

“I remember that was when I had… my huge final senior seminar paper due,” she said. “I was turning into a crazy person trying to get everything done.”

Alan Blanchard, assistant professor of journalism and The Herald adviser, was one of several of Hekman’s professors (including Judith Fabisch, professor of English, and Cynthia Beach, assistant professor of English) who recommended her for the scholarship.

“Laurie has several things going for her that made her an outstanding candidate,” Blanchard said. He listed “strong news writing story samples, leadership and editor roles on campus newspaper,” as well as a versatility of writing abilities, great interviewing and listening skills, and a solid work ethic.

Janet Mendler, the MPA Foundation representative, indicated that the scholarships are given only to students attending colleges with MPA memberships. “The private college students compete for only one scholarship; this year, four candidates were nominated by private colleges,” she said in an e-mailed response. “Laurie was the only one from a private college [to win].”

There were eight other winners from public universities. Coincidentally enough, Hekman shared that the Michigan State University scholarship recipient was a friend of hers from high school. “It was good to see her name on the list,” Hekman said.

When Hekman sent in her application, she said Mendler expressed enthusiasm to see a Cornerstone student going for it, because that had not happened in a while.

The application, said Hekman, consisted of a 500-word essay that explained (among other things) the applicant’s views on “community journalism, and previous and current experience in community journalism and campus publications.”

“It came at such a good time because I was … really praying about it,” said Hekman. “My dad is a pastor, not exactly made of money.”

Although Hekman said the award will help her finance her remaining semester at CU and will look great on her resume, she is mostly grateful for the recognition. “It’s just going to encourage me as a writer and as a journalist to know that someone outside Cornerstone University thinks that I have something of value in the journalism world,” said Hekman. “It just helped inspire me.”

Bonzo, associate professor of philosophy at Cornerstone, spent 10 days in Brazil in October 2006, attending the conference and interacting with the people.

According to Bonzo, the Kuyper Center is interested in developing Christian worldview thinking in a Brazilian context. His essay was about globalization and justice; he hopes it will eventually be published in Portuguese.

Bonzo says that the Kuyper Center’s goal is to establish a Christian university in Brazil, but other steps must be taken first. “Within the next year they are going to be starting a L’Abri [Fellowship],” he says. “It would be the first one in South America.”

There are eight L’Abri Fellowships worldwide. Their purpose is to provide a place for people seeking answers about life and God. The first was established in Switzerland by theologian and philosopher Francis Schaeffer in 1955.

Michael Stevens, associate professor of English, has discussed the Kuyper Center’s goals with Bonzo and shares his impressions.

“I think evangelicalism has sprung up and begun to flourish in Latin America without a lot of philosophical roots,” he says. “One of the lessons that evangelicalism could learn is, ‘What are your intellectual moorings?’ We know how wide it is, but how deep? They are asking those kind of questions at that center.”

He also adds that a connection to this center could change the way Cornerstone looks at cross cultural missions. “Beyond service projects,” Stevens says, “what would it mean to go [to Brazil] as a ‘philosophical missions trip,’ maybe help them with [establishing] their L’Abri?”

That is Stevens’ thought, but Bonzo did not indicate that such plans are being made. “I do look forward to going back and staying in contact with this group,” Bonzo says. “There are probably 10 core members and they have reached out to 100 graduate students or so with a vision of what they want to do.”

While in Brazil, Bonzo also visited the country’s second largest city, Rio de Janeira. “Clearly the language is different [from ours] but the culture was different too,” he says. “I have been to Europe several times, but I truly felt like a foreigner [in Brazil].”

On his way from the airport to the conference, he also says he experienced the fright of praying for his life in the backseat of a taxi. “The driving habits of Brazilians are to go as fast as possible,” Bonzo chuckles, “right until you get to the car bumper in front of you and slam on your brakes.”

Despite his mild case of culture shock, Bonzo plans to return to Brazil as God allows.

Attention Cornerstone! Does something look different about The Herald? With a bigger size, all renamed sections, bright, revitalized colors and various additional fonts and features, this is your new student newspaper.

The Herald’s adviser, Alan Blanchard, assistant professor of journalism, explained that he arranged for Krista Babbitt of the Holland Sentinel to redesign the paper for the students.

“Because the student newspaper is a newspaper that primarily serves the students,” Blanchard said, “we want it to reflect the interests of the students themselves.” He said the only initial change he and Babbitt had in mind was to change the paper’s size from its original tabloid size to a size called broadsheet, which most public newspapers use.

“It really jumps out,” Blanchard said, referring to the new look. “People are going to be really surprised.”

Babbitt described how students got involved in the redesign process. “I sat down with a group of students who were in the graphic design class and asked them what they wanted to see in their student newspaper,” she said. “I sent them to their roommates, friends, students and co-workers, and had them report back to me.”

That was last September. Since then, Babbitt, with the help of the graphic design class and The Herald staff, has recreated The Herald section by section. Now there are features such as student and staff spotlights, fact boxes, recipes, more news briefs and a community calendar.

“I hope they find it easier to use… [and] are more encouraged to read their student newspaper,” Babbitt said. “It’s such an important part of any community. Hopefully the design draws them in and makes them want to [read it].”

Laurie Hekman, The Herald managing editor, said one aspect of the paper especially pops out. “I think [students will love] seeing the faces of their fellow students and peers and classmates,” she said. “I think [they will enjoy] seeing … more stories that relate to them as students.”

Along the same lines, Sarah Heth, assistant managing editor, said that the community calendar on the back page will be helpful for students. “It was something that was lacking in the newspaper before,” she said. “I really like how you can just at-a-glance see what’s going on around campus.”

Blanchard said the paper will serve students overall, especially the students majoring in journalism. “I thought that with the recent introduction of the journalism major,” he said, “it would be helpful to have students working on a paper that would more closely mirror what they would be working on when they graduate.”

Heth summed it all up. “It’s something that the students will have,” she said, “for years and years to come.”