The 2018 Christian Emphasis Week on Judson’s campus was held from January 30-February 1. All students, faculty members, and staff attended the event in Ramsay-McCrummen Chapel. Tom Richter, a native of Murray, Ky. who currently serves as the pastor of Cullman First Baptist Church, was the speaker for the week.
The audience of the service in Ramsay-McCrummen Chapel.
The first of the Christian Emphasis chapel services was crowded with not only Judson family, but also members of the Board of Governors and pastors who had attended a pastor conference after the service time. The service opened with Dr. Bullard’s welcoming speech to the students and all the other guests. Dean Susan Jones introduced our speaker and called to mind the history of Christian Emphasis Week. Judson College
started Christian Emphasis Week more than seventy years ago by the request of a student called Mary Essie Stephens in 1943-1944, according to Dean Jones.
Richter focused his three days’ sermon on the theme of discipleship and what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ in everyday life. His spirited preaching made the chapelgoers burst into laughter whilst nailing the key points of each message into the hearts of listeners.
Bethany D. Williams, a senior at Judson, expressed her appreciation for the sermon by saying “From the first day to the very last second of the last day, I was spiritually moved…Mr. Tom provided an insight into his life and how God has used him, which allowed me to understand some of the ways to submit to the Lord. Mr. Tom was hilarious but truthful.”
Likewise, graduating nursing student Ruth Mushall testified, “My hope and prayer is that God will continue to convict the hearts of every girl, professor, staff member, worker, and guest on campus and that we will be receptive to his calling and convictions laid on our relationship with Him.”
The 2018 Christian Emphasis Week closed with many students coming up to the front of the sanctuary to pray.
This semester’s first Weekend Recess was held on Feb 4, 2018. Some faithful Judson sisters sacrificed their Saturday to spread love to kids from local apartments, such as Bellemeade Apartments. Weekend Recess is about playing different kinds of games, having snacks, and, most importantly, teaching kids how to be Christ-like in their character.
Weekend Recess originated from a Vacation Bible School led by a group called “Sent Life.” from a Judson sister’s church back home. They worked alongside a few other Judson sisters last year.
Amy Butler, the director of Faith-Based Service and Learning, said, “The church only came for one time. Students who participated in that wanted to keep doing this, so then we just renamed it to Weekend Recess and kept it going.”
Weekend Recess is normally held twice a semester, with the purpose of helping children to realize the love of Christ during their time together with the Judson students.
“They see Christ in us through the love that we are giving to them and in the lessons that we teach to them. [Learning about God helps them] want to know more about Him,” Butler added.
Hannah Woods, Audriana Thicklin, Kai Bu, Erin Brown, Joyce Lavatai, Katie Daniel, Kayla Oliver, Isabel Vazquez, Aqui Lacy, Cynthia White (Associate VP for Student Development), and Butler were volunteers for this Weekend Recess. They arrived at 10 a.m. in front of the Bellemeade Apartments to set up tables and started playing games. Many kids from nearby apartments played games with the team and learned about the impact of hurtful words. The event lasted for two hours, after which participants and students returned home.
According to Christian tradition, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Castle Church, and sparked the Protestant Reformation. Five hundred years later, on October 31, 2017, Judson College hosted a panel to analyze the deeper meaning behind this act in celebration of Reformation Day.
The panel was moderated by Dr. Scott Bullard, academic dean at Judson. The four panelists included Dr. Coleman Fannin from Berry College, who spoke in chapel earlier that day. Also present was Judson’s own religion professor, Stephanie Peek, and Siloam Baptist’s pastor, the Reverend John Nicholson. Finally, Dr. Thomas Herwig was visiting from University of Alabama and First Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa.
These scholars discussed the complicated history of Luther and how he helped bring the church to where it is today. Early in the panel, Peek brought up how Luther’s theology was built on a new understanding of what the righteousness of God was—a gift reckoned unto the sinner, not a status earned. Nicholson followed up with an anecdote showing Luther’s early emphasis on holiness. When he was a monk, he would arrive at confession with a long list of minuscule sins, to the confusion of the confessor, who expected fewer and more grievous offenses. Upon study of Romans however, Luther began to focus on the righteousness of God imputed to the sinner, upon which the Protestant church bases its understanding of salvation.
Luther’s main conflict with the Church prompting his 95 theses was the sale of indulgences. As Herwig explained the, indulgences were documents that stated how many years the individual’s money had subtracted from time in purgatory on behalf of themselves or a dead relative. From Peek’s perspective, Luther was only partially concerned about the theological implications of this, and was more concerned about the corruption within the church that was leading to the profit of the clergy and poverty of their parishioners.
Panel members Rev. John Nicholson, Ms. Stephanie Peek, Dr. Coleman Fannin and Dr. Thomas Herwig lending their expertise.
According to Christian tradition, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Castle Church, and sparked the Protestant Reformation. Five hundred years later, on October 31, 2017, Judson College hosted a panel to analyze the deeper meaning behind this act in celebration of Reformation Day.
The panel was moderated by Dr. Scott Bullard, academic dean at Judson. The four panelists included Dr. Coleman Fannin from Berry College, who spoke in chapel earlier that day. Also present was Judson’s own religion professor, Stephanie Peek, and Siloam Baptist’s pastor, the Reverend John Nicholson. Finally, Dr. Thomas Herwig was visiting from University of Alabama and First Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa.
These scholars discussed the complicated history of Luther and how he helped bring the church to where it is today. Early in the panel, Peek brought up how Luther’s theology was built on a new understanding of what the righteousness of God was—a gift reckoned unto the sinner, not a status earned. Nicholson followed up with an anecdote showing Luther’s early emphasis on holiness. When he was a monk, he would arrive at confession with a long list of minuscule sins, to the confusion of the confessor, who expected fewer and more grievous offenses. Upon study of Romans however, Luther began to focus on the righteousness of God imputed to the sinner, upon which the Protestant church bases its understanding of salvation.
Luther’s main conflict with the Church prompting his 95 theses was the sale of indulgences. As Herwig explained the, indulgences were documents that stated how many years the individual’s money had subtracted from time in purgatory on behalf of themselves or a dead relative. From Peek’s perspective, Luther was only partially concerned about the theological implications of this, and was more concerned about the corruption within the church that was leading to the profit of the clergy and poverty of their parishioners.
Luther based his controversial decisions on sola scriptura—scripture alone. Nicholson brought up the interesting point that Luther somewhat opposed the inclusion of seven books of the Bible, including James, though he did not ultimately remove any. He still viewed the opinion of church officials as having value, but only as far as they lined up with scripture, not holding their own authority.
This shift away from the authority of man completely reshaped—reformed, if you will—how Protestants view the gospel. Assurance that one would make it into heaven was no longer based on the purchase of indulgences or the testimony of priests. As Herwig discussed, Protestants had to find a new source of assurance when the structure of the Catholic church was removed. He went on to point out a western theology of sorts became prominent at this time in which material blessings were viewed as heavenly favor reflective of one’s salvific status. However, as Nicholson pointed out, the Reformation also gave rise to a more biblical 1 John theology that recognized Jesus’ sacrifice as the assurance of our salvation.
This focus on the grace of God is what allows salvation to remain available to the Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, man and woman. Five hundred years later, that is where the focus remains—on what truly good news the gospel is.
Mission teams and Volunteer Translators at a Buddhist temple
As Judson College’s goal is to achieve purposeful lives through faith and knowledge, some faithful Judson sisters and students from other colleges went on a mission trip to Kachin State, Myanmar in Southeast Asia. The teams worked with leadership from KBC and KTCS. They participated in a one week orientation prior to their departure on June 6 that involved some training regarding language, culture, and spiritual warfare. They returned safely from Myanmar on Aug. 1.
Under the lead of Judson Campus Minister, Laura Lee, and supervisor Sau Nam, a faculty member from Kachin Theological College and Seminary (KTCS), the teams spent two months lending helping hands to the needy and, most importantly, sharing the gospel with nonbelievers and praying for sick people. There were 15 team members in total—four Judson women, one member from Urban University, and students from Mexico, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and West Virginia. Members were divided into two groups. One team called “Hope and Health” included nine young ladies who were either nursing or premed students. They worked in the women and children clinic that is overseen by the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC). They helped treat patients there and also prayed with them and shared the gospel with those who were not believers.
The other team was called “Family Camp” and they worked in three IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps over the summer by telling Bible stories, hosting activities with teenagers and visiting adults in the IDP camps. Some highlights the teams mentioned were opportunities they had to share the gospel.
IDPs kids learning about proper teeth brushing.
“Praying with especially four peoples with problems such as one lady who is not able to walk who is crawling in her home taking care of her mother and grandchildren. Students were able to pray with her and the following day they saw her in the market standing up and walking with the use of a cane and another was praying with a woman who had malaria and was very sick. When they visited a few days later they were getting very well,” recalled Laura Lee. There were some challenges that the team faced such as having to move to a motel from KTCS campus and being forced to leave the country one week earlier before the passport expiration date because of Myanmar government immigration.
Ms. Laura Lee and Sarah Fowler with the garage cleaning group outside the Nicholsons’ home.
This year the SEND mission team—a group of Judson students and some faculty—will go to New York City, as they have done the past few years, during their spring break in the coming semester. Fundraising events started with working in Pastor John Nicholson’s house earn money for the trip expenses.
Garage spiders cannot stop the group’s fundraising spirits
Mission work is one of the opportunities that Judson offers to students who would like to take action on their love for Jesus by service across the nation. SEND is a team that Judson has for student and faculty participation in missionary work annually during spring break. Each year the participants are divided into two or three groups to serve in different places such as Marion, Miami, and New York City. However, this year all participants will go to New York City split into two different teams.
“One team will be working with ‘Let My People Go,’ an organization empowering churches and groups to fight human trafficking by loving those who are vulnerable, and one will be working with ‘Urban Nation Outreach’ by teaching ESL (English as Second Language), citizenship classes, and lead after school programs,” said Ms. Cynthia White, one of the leaders of the SEND team.
Cleaning group hard at work inside the house.
As mission participants’ spirits are burning to serve during the trip, they are ready to raise the money they need for the trip in many ways. The mission participants just started their fundraising events by cleaning Siloam Baptist Church’s pastor John Nicholson’s house on November 11. They met in the J and divided into a seven-person group to clean the garage and five people in another group to clean all the rooms inside the house. After three hours of cleaning, the team left a dust-free house and went back to their dorms.
Judson accomplished the 12th Marion Matters on September 8, 2017, during the second week of the fall semester. All new students, along with some returning students, staff and faculty participated in the event by volunteering at fifteen places in the community. It was a massive success as it achieved the event goal of introducing new students to ways they can plug in and serve the community.
After three and a half hours of volunteering, all 15 groups met up at “The J” in order to regroup and recap their experiences. At the meeting, one student from each group shared what they had learned from their field of service. After each group was spoken for, Dr. David Potts brought the day to a close by sharing with those in attendance the bread for spiritual growth with scripture from Mathew 25:21-30.
This year Marion Matters was conducted similar previous years. All the volunteers, whether new students, returning students, staff or faculty, got involved in high spirits to serve the community. There were fifteen groups, and each one went to their assigned place. For example, a litter cleanup team went to various locations to pick up trash. Other groups went to the Perry County library to read with kids, to the Perry County nursing home (both inside to sing with the residents, and outside to visit with the horses), to the Marion Cemetery to clean up, to Sowing Seeds of Hope to set up offices, to stain a porch at a home on Utah Street and to the Marion Walking Trail. All the groups offered their helping hands to where they were assigned.
Marion Matters service is also a stepping stone to the various service opportunities where students can participate after the event. As the director of Faith-Based Service and Learning, Amy F. Butler thinks, “By students being able to volunteer in the community, they are building relationships with the people they are serving, and so maybe someone would ask about their faith, God, and Jesus, and they could share those to them.” Butler also explained that this service could affect to the students’ faith as well. Recently, as a result of Marion Matters, some students according to Ms. Andrea Abernathy, librarian at Judson’s Bowling Library are joining the Reading Mentorship program at Francis Marion School every Thursday. Butler concluded her thoughts with this: “Students will want to be involved in services in the community and grow to love Marion as a city, and I hope that as they serve the community, they find new talents that they will use in their future.”
Rose Sunday was held on September 10, 2017. All students and many faculties and students’ parents attended the event at Siloam Baptist Church. The fresh-women and Junior Sophomores held the ivy chain for seniors to walk through down the brick walkway in front of Jewett. The 102nd Rose Sunday event ended after worshiping together at Siloam.
Rose Sunday has been celebrated for 102 years. The first Rose Sunday was observed on September 19, 1915. After that, it was held each year on the first Sunday of the fall semester.
Every year on that Sunday, students walk in procession to Siloam Baptist Church to honor Judson’s founders. The reason why Rose Sunday celebrates at Siloam is to honor Judson’s heritage since members of the church founded Judson College. Mrs. Beth Poole said that Rose Sunday exists “To remember Milo Parker Jewett’s tradition of rapping his cane across the staircase rails to signal to the students that it was time to walk with him to Siloam Church.” Judson has strong ties with Siloam through Christ.
Seniors wore their regalia with a rose on their left lapel (pinned there by their little sisters). After that, as a symbol of respect, the fresh-women and second-years held the ivy chain for the seniors as they processed to Siloam. Underclassmen followed the seniors to worship at the church. After hearing the message delivered by College President Dr. David Potts, seniors headed back to Judson, followed by the remaining students, faculty, parents, and church members.
Revive hosted special guest speaker Cathryne Buse on Feb, 20. Buse is the author of Teaching Others to Defend Christianity, a book that details her experiences defending the Christian faith with apologetics. As Buse explained, apologetics is defending and proving the validity of the Christian faith through logical reasoning and scientific evidence. “I wrote my book,” Buse explained, “to create a resource that believers like you can be leaders of small groups, Bible studies, etc.”
Buse grew up in a Christian home in Birmingham. Her church, parents and Sunday school teachers were all people who were critical in helping Buse develop her faith from a young age. However, one life-changing event occurred when Buse was in fifth grade. She was tasked with drawing the big bang and her parents were livid; they insisted that she draw earth and write Genesis 1:1 next to her drawing. Buse explained what a great teachable moment that was. If her parents had reacted differently, Buse perhaps would have learned that it was ok not to stand up for her faith.
Eventually Buse graduated college suma cum laude, with highest honors, from the University of Alabama with a degree in engineering. Buse got a job working at NASA, a place where she was surrounded by critical, analytical coworkers. Her coworkers defended their skepticism by asking her how the Bible could be true if it was just written by men over a period of about a thousand years.
These questions made Buse wonder why she became a Christian in the first place. She realized that, while she was a good Christian, she was a not a good witness – two totally different aspects of the Christian faith. “If Christians can tell unbelievers all these verses and ideas presented in the Bible,” Buse asked, “who will actually care if they don’t believe in God to begin with?”
Why do people become Christians? Why do they believe Christianity is the ultimate truth? Do these beliefs come from the environment they are raised in? Do these beliefs come from the people they are around? These types of questions imply that, if shown enough scientific data, Christians could be convinced to turn their backs on their faith.
According to Buse, “the Gospel isn’t presented in a vacuum.” People already possess worldviews that have been set in stone. Buse explained that a person’s worldview is made up of 4 parts:
1. Where the person came from.
2. How the person determines morality.
3. What the person thinks the meaning of life is.
4. What the person thinks happens to people after they die.
Buse defines witnessing as explaining, as well as showing, to people why the Gospel is different from every single other religion and worldview that exists and why Christianity is the truth. As a result of her encounters, Buse wanted to study Christianity through logic and science. The more she studied science, Christianity and philosophy, the more Busey realized how true Christianity is. “Who made chemistry,” she asked. “Who made the rocks? Who made science? All these questions have the same answer – God.”
She wanted to use the information and facts she discovered through her research and present them in a usable, understandable way for others. Buse broke down the essential information needed to help people logically conclude that God exists into three parts:
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is the study of the relationship between heat and other forms of energy. There is conclusive, hard scientific evidence that there was a time where the universe did not exist and that the universe is decaying in the present. Buse argues that, if the universe hasn’t always existed, then something or someone must have created it.
Intelligent Design
All physical laws – laws like gravity, for example – are so precise that there is no statistical way that all the governing laws of the universe could have formed by chance in the specific way needed to sustain life on earth.
There are systems so complex in cells that they can’t be broken down. Breaking down such components of cells destroys them; they can’t be created by adding one component to the system at a time. DNA, for example, can’t be broken down to its base components and be put back together one piece at a time. If it’s broken down, DNA ceases to be DNA. Another stunning example of this phenomenon is how proteins are made. It takes 100 proteins to make 1 protein. But, where did the original 100 proteins come from? This is similar to the chicken and the egg puzzle and is, perhaps, one of the strongest pieces of evidence that proves that God exists. Someone must have made the first proteins, and someone must have made the first DNA.
Morality is a Universal Concept
No matter where we come from, everyone has a sense of morality, even people we don’t think have morality. Despite how twisted their moral codes were, Stalin and Hitler both seemed to care about honesty; they would execute anyone who lied to them without any questions asked. Even now, ISIS executes people they think have stepped outside the boundaries of morality. But how ae these people moral? Buse explained that people like Hitler, Stalin and ISIS possessed morality, but that it was a twisted morality. These types of people changed the focus of obeying and being loyal to God to obeying and being loyal to them and their desires.
Basically, a code of morality is a set of rules to live but, no matter what the rules are. Perhaps one of the most important things to understand about Buse’s argument is that the arguments regarding religions, atheism, etc., all boil down to codes or morality and patterns of thinking. Buse explains that, if Christianity isn’t true and moral relativism – the belief that all beliefs are equally valid even though every system of belief doesn’t work for every person – is the correct way to look at the world, then no one should be able to judge anyone else based on their beliefs.
She continued to explain that there are two possibilities for where universal morality comes from: man and nature.
Much like people can only judge a straight line because they know what a crooked line looks like, people can only know what morality looks like by watching the actions of someone who is moral. However, if morality comes from man, then every person on earth would have a different code of morality. Essentially, this would mean that someone who would never abuse a child would say that that choice is perfectly fine for another person to make. But this isn’t how the world works, is it? No way! Every person on earth would judge child abuse as morally wrong. This type of social thought experiment proves that morality doesn’t come from man.
The other place morality could come from is nature. There is a theory based on Darwinistic evolution that suggests that humans evolved the concept of morality to make social interactions and expectations to make societies run smoothly. However, this isn’t true. Morality and altruistic behavior goes against the very core of Darwinistic theory – survival of the fittest. If a starving ancient human gave their last piece of meat to a small ancient human child, that starving human would die. To evolve this behavior in an entire population is counterproductive to its evolution, scientifically speaking.
So, then, if morality doesn’t come from man or from nature, where does it come from? Where does that leave us?A being outside man and nature had to create and instill it in mankind. The only answer left for where morality came from is God.
Bethany Williams, a double major in biology and psychology who frequently attends Revive, was extremely moved by Buse’s talk. She stated, “it was extremely important to me to see a whole different way Jesus Christ is proven to be real. Buse’s sermon brought up new questions about how to prove to others that Jesus is real while simultaneously helping me understand, on a whole new level, just how real He is and what He can do for us. This was so important. for me to hear.”
As Buse explained, “If we have morals, then God must be good, just, loving, etc.; because we are made in His image. How do you think He feels about what we, as His children, do?” He cares a lot. He is sad when we don’t follow the moral code He set out for us. Buse stated that witnesses can use this point to transition into how Christianity is different than all the other world religions – the other world religions state that it is what humans do that determines if they get into heaven while Christianity states that humans must be utterly perfect to enter heaven.
Then, the witness can explain that, “humans are broken and we can never, ever fix what we broke by sinning.”
“‘Then what can we do?,’ the person being ministered to will ask. ‘Nothing,’” Buse explained. “We do nothing, because we can’t do anything about it. The only thing that can fix what we broke is by believing in Jesus as the Savior. The only thing we can do is give our sin to Jesus so he can heal our brokenness.”
Buse continued, stating that, “we can only fully understand the human condition by understanding what Jesus did for us. Everything hinges on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everything.”
If we believe Genesis 1:1 – In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth – then, we can believe the rest of the Bible. It is our job as Christians to be the light and salt of the world.
Will you be equipped when God gives you the opportunity to witness?
Amy Butler, Director of Faith Based Service Learning
This semester, there were six weekly opportunities to serve in the Marion community. These weekly opportunities were organized by the Faith Based Service Learning (FBSL) Department.
PERRY COUNTY NURSING HOME
Student Leaders: Kayla Oliver and Kristina Gentry
Days of Service: Fridays at 1:30
Students who gave their time volunteering at the Perry County Nursing Home visited and spent time with the nursing home’s residents. One of the many things Judson volunteers did with the nursing home’s residents was crafting.
SEWING SEEDS OF HOPE
Student Leaders: Hannah Woods and Heather Carlson
Days of Service: Mondays and/or Fridays 2:30-4:30
Students who volunteered at Sewing Seeds of Hope helped clean and organize the offices. Judson volunteers also helped complete administrative work.
VISITING SHUT INS
Student Leaders: Leslie Wheat and Katie Owens
Days of Service: Friday afternoons and/or weekends
Judson students who volunteered visited with shut-ins, people who are usually elderly and can’t leave their homes. Some of the volunteers brought meals while other volunteers did small tasks, like changing light bulbs, to help whoever they were visiting.
BEREAN HEADSTART
Student Leaders: Audri Thicklin and Tiffany Pugh
Day of Service: Monday at 10 a.m.
Volunteers who helped at Berean HeadStart read to pre-K children. Judson volunteers also spent time with the children they read to while they were at Berean HeadStart. Additionally, the volunteers helped build the confidence of every child they met.
FRANCIS MARION SCHOOL
Student Leaders: Kayla Jones
Judson volunteers who spent time volunteering at Francis Marion helped in special education classrooms. These volunteers tutored some of the children they worked with, helping develop the children’s reading and math skills.
FRANCIS MARION PEARL MENTOR PROGRAM
This is an upcoming mentor program that is in the process of being created. The goal of the Pearl Mentor Program will be to mentor girls in 11th and 12th grade through community service while developing their leadership skills.
During the last week of every January, Judson amends Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday class schedules to free up the 11 a.m. class period for three special worship services collectively called Christian Emphasis Week. This important tradition has existed here at Judson for just over seven decades.
As Alexis Whetstone, one of the student leaders for Judson’s weekly Revive service, stated, “Christian emphasis week is a time where we come together as a whole campus to focus on our faith in Christ. It is a week full of learning and spiritual growth that provides for both a grounding and enriching experience. It is also a beautiful reminder of how fortunate we are to go to a school that prioritises faith and allows for such opportunities of intentional fellowship together.”
This year, Judson invited Grace Thornton, a blogger and author, to be Christian Emphasis Week’s guest speaker. Thornton grew up in Mississippi where her mother, a Bible school teacher, brought her up in the church. After graduating from Mississippi College, Thornton moved to Alabama. During this year’s Christian Emphasis Week, Thornton spoke to the Judson community about how to let go of the burning desire to control our own lives and how to, instead, let God guide our lives. This is also the subject of Thornton’s book I Don’t Wait Anymore: Letting Go of Expectations and Grasping God’s Adventure for You.
Thornton explained that she wrote her book because the idea of waiting on God to give her the things she expected in life, including a husband, “was such a huge spiritual issue in my own life [symbolised by her purity ring]. I wrestled with God when the things I wanted didn’t work out, and it was at that place that God really came in and brought peace. I really wanted to write down, for friends and others, what He did for my own heart.” Completely and utterly content in God, Thornton is currently single.
