Christian Faculty and Staff Network gathering on 1/8 - A new book!

Come to the Christian Faculty and Staff Fellowship on Wednesday, January 8, at 11:45 AM (done by 12:45 PM). We meet at the Baptist Campus Ministries building (University Boulevard and 4th Avenue), and lunch will be served. 

More:

• It's the best meal deal in town: You can get lunch there for $1 thanks to the generosity of local churches. Don't forget to thank the church workers for what they do for the students. The first meal of the term is special, so you won't want to miss it.
• We'll read The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World by Rosaria Butterfield. Here's the summary from Amazon:
• What did God use to draw a radical, committed unbeliever to himself? Did God take her to an evangelistic rally? Or, since she had her doctorate in literature, did he use something in print? No, God used an invitation to dinner in a modest home, from a humble couple who lived out the gospel daily, simply, and authentically.
• With this story of her conversion as a backdrop, Rosaria Butterfield invites us into her home to show us how God can use this same “radical, ordinary hospitality” to bring the gospel to our lost friends and neighbors. Such hospitality sees our homes as not our own, but as God’s tools for the furtherance of his kingdom as we welcome those who look, think, believe, and act differently from us into our everyday, sometimes messy lives—helping them see what true Christian faith really looks like.
• You're welcome to facilitate one of our meetings as well. I pass around a sign-up sheet and invite all to participate. Some things you might want to do:
• Facilitate the discussion of the current chapter of the book we're going through. That involves asking questions and inviting responses.
• Giving a discipline talk about what you're doing in your area. It's a chance to get to know you and what you're doing at UA.
• Bring in a guest speaker (we can also dial up someone on speakerphone).
• Invite your pastor or college minister to chat about college students in your church.
• Etc. That's a catch-all in case you have a great idea about something else for our lunch gathering. 

I came across an older article that suggests the importance of Christian hospitality. The writer interviewed 50 former atheists to understand why they shied away from faith and then came to faith. Here are some interesting statements:

• "Nearly two-thirds (63%) of them [former atheists] reported no amount of evidence would have convinced them of the truth of any other worldview than atheism."
• "Resistance is the normal or typical reaction of individuals and societies to conversion attempts."
• "Expecting the resister’s walls to easily crumble with an apologetic argument may be unrealistic, since it may be bouncing off of years of experiential, emotional, volitional, intellectually rationalized layers solidly and slowly built brick by brick."
• "Our primary focus should be first to listen, to seek toward understanding not only what they believe but also who they are."
• "The front-door 'Christ-living' often precedes openness toward 'Christ-telling.' Unbelievers should not be given reason to malign or dismiss Christ out of hand because of what they are seeing and experiencing of our lives…the best way to open a resistant mind and heart is to 'live an available life,' generously giving of ourselves to others."
• "The vast majority of former atheists in my research, 80 percent, were first drawn to the goodness of Christianity, that it was worth pursuing in the first place before they were willing to seriously consider whether or not it was true. And similarly, 82 percent were introduced to the goodness of God through meeting an authentic Christ follower."
• "…a PhD biologist, noted that her willingness to investigate Christianity was modeled by the Christian with whom she interacted. She stated candidly, 'If he would not have been open toward learning from me in the process of journeying toward truth, I would not have been open toward learning from him.'" 

On January 8:

• 482. Saint Severinus of Austria died. He evangelized both Europeans and barbarian invaders.
• 1956. Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian were killed by the Auca they approached. We know their story through Elizabeth Elliot's book, Through Gates of Splendor.