by Jamin Craig | Mar 5, 2015 | News Slider
Student Life dove into sexual purity from a Biblical viewpoint at Wednesday night’s “Unfiltered” series – a study that allows students to discuss difficult topics. Sam Smith, Dean of Student Life, came up with this series from a conversation he had with Josh Roberts, Dean of Student Development. “Josh Roberts and I went to a conference with some of our sister-school deans, and we were talking about what our campuses should look like, what our students are struggling with and how we can address those issues,” Smith said. “We realized there was this void on our campus when it came to these types of discussions, and instead of trying to avoid it, we’re going to do our best to address it.” “Unfiltered” is a four-part series, and each meeting covers a different topic. The topics include: online identity in social media, pornography and faith, sexual purity and substance abuse. Smith and Roberts decided to purposely not make the series available for chapel credit or a requirement for any Bible classes. They didn’t want students to feel forced in any way to attend the meetings because they knew they were difficult topics to confront. This week, the topic was sexual purity. Dr. Earl Lavender, a bible professor, led the discussion for the evening. He focused on maintaining a Christ-centered identity in a world focused on self-interest and sexual pleasure. “[Students need to] believe that God wills for you to flourish,” Lavender said. “He’s not giving you laws to frustrate you and tell you what you can’t do. He’s created you for His glory, and His teachings on appropriate sexual behavior are...
by Kyrsten Turner | Apr 4, 2014 | News Slider
The Lipscomb community gathered on Thursday to hear Terry Waite, a globally known humanitarian and peace worker, speak in The Gathering at Allen Arena. Waite was introduced by university president Randy Lowry, who called Waite a “hostage negotiator,” paving the way for Waite to share his story of captivity and survival with students. In 1987, Waite was taken hostage while negotiating the release of several hostages in Beirut. Before his abduction, Waite had been recognized for championing the release of hostages in Iran and Libya, all in the 1980s. Waite said his approach to negotiating the release of hostages meant that he had to meet the abductors face-to-face. It is a “risky approach,” Waite said, but worth the effort. “The first thing was to seek a face-to face meeting,” said Waite, who is the scholar-in-residence in Lipscomb’s Institute of Conflict Management this year. “Now, that is risky, because you are dealing with people who are often in a precarious situation, who are highly suspicious and who may well easily take you captive.” This approach, Waite said, requires a level of trust, especially when working with people from different backgrounds and different beliefs. “Somehow, you have to be able to stretch out a hand and form a bridge, and grasp the hand of the other in order to build a relationship of trust,” Waite said. Waite went through his entire negotiating process, building trust and relationship, and seeking a face-to-face meeting with those in Beirut. He was on his way to meet them, or so he thought, when he was abducted. It was not until he had already been held captive for...
by Aaron Schmelzer | Jan 22, 2014 | News Slider
A member of one of Ebony magazine’s Coolest Black Families in America stopped by Tuesday’s Gathering to share words of wisdom concerning the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. T.B. Boyd, III, president and CEO of R.H. Boyd Publishing and a leader in church supplies production, expressed his thoughts about faith and the impact of King’s dream that shaped his conviction to stand against mistreatment. Boyd is a member of Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church. He began by speaking about his faith and the role he believes it should play in our lives. “We as Americans must bear witness and live plain to the fact that the Lord must still be in the blessing business, passionately in the blessing business,” Boyd said. “We have a God who blessed us with the ability to dream, and dream we must do.” Boyd then transitioned into the dream of King. “I know that all of us have something in common with the dream of Martin Luther King,” Boyd said. “[He] dreamt of freedom and equality.” He spoke about the scrutiny that African-Americans faced before and during the civil rights movement. The opposition burned buildings and harassed those who stood for the movement. Boyd said that in the face of opposition, King encouraged the protesters to remain non-violent, which was a powerful philosophy to King. “Unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality,” Boyd said. Boyd said that people still must adapt to the change that King presented and to continue to be generous in our everyday living. “Dr. King’s legacy should tell us that we as a nation are going...
by Ariel Jones | Nov 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
Brittany Barker is not your average student here at Lipscomb University. She has many talents and aspirations and has put those talents into good use during her time here. A graphic design major, Barker has used her graphing design skills outside of the classroom through her involvement with Lipscomb’s Theatre Department. Barker has been associated with productions like Hairspray, Les Misérables and other shows on campus. She is currently set to graduate this fall and seeks to embark on the next chapter of her life after college. Soon after graduation, Barker plans to get her master’s degree in graphic design and have a teaching internship as well. One thing to know about Barker is that she’s a devoted Disney World fan. As a matter of fact, one of her posts on Facebook reads, “NOTHING like Disney,” when she shared a link on her wall about a “fake Disney World” that she had seen online. Barker isn’t only a fan of the Disney franchise. She hopes to join the company, putting her major graphic design to work. “I see myself owning my own business and working at Disney, designing cool logos for them,” Barker said when asked to peek into her future five years from now. Friendships are important to Barker, but the most important relationship she worked on while at Lipscomb was her faith with Jesus Christ. She says her walk with Jesus hasn’t changed much since coming to Lipscomb, but something did change. “My walk with Jesus hasn’t much changed since first coming to Lipscomb University, but my faith has grown stronger since being here,” Barker said. “Lipscomb has helped me...
by Brianne Welch | Mar 7, 2013 | News Slider, Sports
Two days after a slew of famous country music singers performed at Lipscomb, the three quarterbacks for the Tennessee Titans spoke in the Gathering on Thursday morning to a crowd consisting of Lipscomb students from both the college and Lipscomb Academy. Quarterbacks Rusty Smith, Jake Locker and Matt Hasselbeck sat down in a Q-&-A with Scott Sager, the university’s vice president of Church Services, to talk about their faiths and, of course, some football as well. The very first topic addressed was how football and faith work together in the lives of these professional athletes. “I grew up around football in Colorado, but my parent’s weren’t really strong in their faith until I was in third grade,” Hasselbeck said. The veteran quarterback went on to say how involved he and his family were in the church even through his high school career. Locker took the mic next, but according to the newest Titans quarterback, faith did not really come into play until his sophomore year in high school. “I had a coach who challenged me to become a stronger believe, and he started a Bible study with us, and it kind of grew from there,” Locker said. When Smith took the mic, he said that faith definitely came first in his life because he did not even start playing football until his eighth grade year. “I was very fortunate to have a mom and a dad who grew up in a church themselves,” Smith said. The interview went on for around 30 minutes, but the guys were able to leave the student body and everyone in attendance with some...
