Picked up this great book, The Unlikely Disciple, when I was in Boston last week. It is written by a student at Brown named Kevin Roose . He is a student at Brown, an ultra-liberal Ivy League university, who wanted to do a cross-cultural semester so instead of going overseas he went to Liberty University the Baptist College Mecca in Lynchburg, Virginia. This as you can imagine is a cross-cultural experience to a student who goes to Brown. Kevin is not a Christian and has nominal church background with the Quakers and parents who are both pretty much agnostics.
It is a fascinating read. It will stir you in so many ways to consider certain things about how we as Christians often come off to those who aren't believers in both good and bad ways. Kevin makes the point that many of the people he is friends with have never met an evangelical Christian.
So far what I have read in the book is pretty fair and balanced. Kevin encounters many things about Liberty that are strange and pretty extreme but he also encounters some amazing people who really love Jesus and love people. I can't wait to see what his final conclusions are.
Here is an excerpt from the book, some funny stuff in here about fines students get:
Like a West Point drill sergeant, Reverend Falwell prides himself on
discipline. His field manual, a 46-page code of conduct called “The
Liberty Way,” governs every aspect of our lives and dispenses concrete
punishments when we veer off-course. Such as:
- Possession and/or use of tobacco: 6 reprimands + $25 fine
- Improper personal contact (anything beyond hand-holding): 4 reprimands + $10 fine
- Attendance at, possession or viewing of, an R-rated movie: 12 reprimands + $50 fine
- Spending the night with a person of the opposite sex: 30 reprimands + $500 fine + 30 hours community service
Reverend Falwell envisioned Liberty as a Christian safe haven where
young evangelicals could get a college education without being exposed
to binge-drinking, pot-smoking, sexual experimentation, and all the
other trappings of secular co-ed culture. His plan was to make it the
evangelical equivalent of Notre Dame or Brigham Young, a university
where every student would be trained in the liberal arts, fortified in
the evangelical faith, and sent out into the world as a “Champion for
Christ.”
A recent article shows that Roose's time at Liberty had an effect on him.
"Once ambivalent about faith, Roose now prays to God regularly — for his
own well-being and on behalf of others. He said he owns several translations of the Bible and has recently been rereading meditations from the letters of John on using love and compassion to solve cultural conflicts.
He's even considering joining a church"
Love to hear from you if your reading this book.
see ya,
Mark
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