University of Miami

Florida International University

Nova Southeastern University

May 2005

Gary and Marlene Cameron

                Our calling is to challenge and equip Christian graduate students to be a redeeming influence among the people, ideas, and structures of the university and professions and to come alongside faculty to encourage them in their vocation with prayer and resources. Thank you for having the vision to join us in such a calling.

 Spring Colloquium ’05

“Just as integrity demands that we think clearly and rigorously about Jesus himself,

so it also demands that we think clearly and rigorously about the world in which we follow him today, the world we are called to shape with the loving, transforming message of the gospel.”

     These words, by N.T. Wright, summarize the thrust of our Spring ’05 Colloquium, led by Dr. Terry Morrison, who helped participants to come to grips with the challenge of fulfilling the Great Commission in the uniquely challenging and often hostile environment of the academy.

     Dr. Morrison brought with him over forty years of practical experience in wrestling with this issue, including eleven years as a Christian Chemistry professor and thirty years on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  Following Dr. Morrison’s plenary address a panel of graduate students and faculty lead conference attendees in response to his remarks.  Interdisciplinary small groups also met for discussion. This is the second year that we included the arts with a poet as part of our program. This year, an award-winning PhD student from FSU’s poetry department read her poetry to the group and entertained questions.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

   The Spring Colloquium is held in Gainesville, FL. This

   regional, one-day conference engages the hearts and minds of 

  Christians in graduate school and the faculty who teach them.

     Terry Morrison (center, blue jacket) engaged in conversation.

      Small-group discussions are a vital part of our time together.

Law Student Ministries

The law students met this semester for Bible study

and fellowship. New officers were elected for next year’s group. Recently, InterVarsity GFM and the Christian Legal Society together developed new training for staff working with law students. This will be extremely helpful for staff (like me) that gets lost with the “legal-ese” common among law students.

News from Our Asian Fellowships

God’s hand is upon Jon

Earlier this year I gave Jon a Bible and he began coming to our meetings in FIU’s engineering school. He asked me if I would proofread his term paper. I gladly helped him and our friendship began to deepen. A couple of weeks ago he said that his visa would be finished in August and that he would be returning to China where he has a wife and a twelve-year old son. Jon has been coming regularly and I sense that he will miss our weekly times together. He is an associate dean in a university in China.

God’s eye is upon Jeanette

Jeanette is working on her PhD at FIU. She comes regularly to our Tuesday discussion in the Gospel of John. Her scientific background has fueled her skepticism, but she continued to return each week all semester. Recently, after Marlene and I shared about our own journeys to Christ, Jeanette spoke with us over tea. Unusually open about her life and family in China, she said she comes to our study because she feels lost and knows she needs God. Afterwards, she received Christ’s invitation to know him intimately. We have received several e-mails from her. This morning she e-mailed, “Although life isn't easy, I hope that I will finally get peace and joy in the way of following Lord.” God’s eye is upon our friend. Remember to pray for both her and Jon.

God is guiding Thomas and Stephanie

Every other Friday evening we schedule Soup at seven; a time for prayer, meditation and intercession after a light meal. A Christian student had planned to read her paper to us on euthanasia after a recent Soup at Seven. We had invited two of our Mainland Chinese friends, who are studying engineering, Thomas and Stephanie, because they said they were interested in this topic. As it turned out, the student who wrote the paper had to reschedule. I notified Thomas and Stephanie, but they said that they would come anyway, if it were okay with us. After we ate, Stephanie surprised us by joining our prayers in a natural way thanking Jesus for being able to meet with people that believed in him! Thomas and Stephanie stayed with us late into the evening, and we all enjoyed their company.

Prayer

We see these stories as having God’s fingerprints all over them. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, and we are grateful to be a part. A deep felt thank you is sent to each of you who also have had apart in this ministry (in any way!). We are excited about the coming year!

“I have three concerns…

    The first is for historical integrity in talking about Jesus. Many Christians have been frankly, sloppy in their thinking and talking about Jesus, and hence, sadly, in their praying and in their practice of discipleship. We cannot assume that by saying the word Jesus, still less the word Christ, we are automatically in touch with the real Jesus who walked and talked in first century Palestine, the Jesus who, according to the letter to the Hebrews, is the same yesterday, today and forever…

    The second concern is for the Christian discipleship that professes to follow the true Jesus. The disciplines of prayer and Bible study need to be rooted again and again in Jesus himself if they are not to become idolatrous or self-serving…

    Third, I have been particularly concerned to put into the minds, hearts and hands of the next generation of thinking Christians the Jesus-shaped model of, and motivation for, a mission that will transform our world in the power of Jesus’ gospel. Those in the universities and professions of our world who desire to be loyal Christians need to thinks afresh through the issues of what allegiance to Jesus means in practice. It is not enough to say one’s prayers in private, maintain high personal morality and then go to work to rebuild the tower of Babel.”

                 - N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus (IVP)