by Stephanie Schiraldi | Mar 29, 2015 | News Slider
Collins Alumni Auditorium was full of life Saturday night — life that will help bring water to those in need. The 13th annual Anteater’s Ball brought incredible vocals, comical dance routines and a lip sync battle. The variety show is hosted by Alpha Phi Chi and Pi Kappa Sigma. Director of Anteater’s Ball Chris Netterville, a junior English major from Nashville, said putting the show together is a big task, but the end result is worth it. “What separates Anteater’s Ball from Singarama or anything that the performance art departments put on is that Anteater’s Ball is solely aimed towards serving,” Netterville said. “We aim to use our performance talents to directly impact the world around us by raising money for local nonprofits.” This year, all proceeds went toward the Well Coffeehouse’s Groundswell Project .95. The Well is a non-profit missional coffeehouse providing quality coffee in exchange for funds to provide clean water for people around the world. The Groundswell Project .95 is raising $38,000 to support the Well’s next well drilling project in Nairobi, Kenya. The project plans include building three wells around that area. “Project .95 is designed to be able to help an area of Kenya that has not had rain in over seven years,” said Steve Morrow, secretary of the board for the Well Coffeehouse. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to be raised in a nation that might not potentially see rain for that long.” The Well has built six wells in Africa, three wells in Haiti and five water filtration systems around the world since opening two years ago. “It’s been a thrilling ride to watch God,...
by Carter Sanderson | Aug 21, 2013 | Sports
“He wears so many hats,” Linda Price said in kind reference to Dr. Lynn Griffith. Price, in her 10th year as the Kinesiology Department’s Administrative Assistant, has the privilege of working with Dr. Griffith on a daily basis, and says he’s what some may call “a man of many talents.” Dr. Lynn Griffith has had success in his years at Lipscomb University as the previous chair, former head tennis coach, current director of the tennis center, and a full-time professor; however, Griffith would tell you his greatest success is his son, Samuel. “I think Samuel is an example of what can happen when you have an opportunity,” Griffith said. Samuel, 11 years of age and a rising 6th grader at Lipscomb Academy, was adopted from Haiti by Dr. Griffith and his wife in 2009. “I’ve been to Haiti 25 times now, and Samuel and I actually went back to Haiti together and you could really see the wheels turning for him,” Griffith said. Samuel seemed to understand where he came from and where he is now. As Samuel grew older, he developed a love for sports. Baseball, which Griffith says, “stops at the border,” is something Samuel picked up on in his time in America. He has played organized baseball since 4th grade and is one of the better pitchers on his team. “Being the parent of a pitcher makes me nervous,” Griffith said. “Everything that happens out there on the field starts with him.” Besides baseball, Samuel also enjoys bowling. Griffith’s wife is the bowling coach for Lipscomb Academy, so bowling seems to run in the family. “Samuel...
by Kelly Dean | May 9, 2013 | News Slider
Most of us will be lucky enough to go on one or two mission trips throughout the span of our lives. Nineteen trips and counting over the span of 11 years is the number for Lipscomb Bible professor Phil Kinzer, who finds importance in going on mission trips through the strong relationships he has built over the years of leading trips at Lipscomb. Even after a conversation with Phil Kinzer, you will ask yourself how this man has the time of day to serve in the capacity he does. The stories he tells about his life are amazing enough to write his very own book. But where does he find his time? You’d think his daily job as an adjunct Bible professor, pulpit minister at the West End Church of Christ, and grandfather of three would be enough to fill a day’s work. For this man, it’s not enough. In his early twenties, Kinzer started going on mission trips to the Philippines. He described his passion for these trips, saying it that it runs through his blood. Kinzer has traveled all around the world, teaching the Word of God to countries such as Australia, Haiti, Mexico, Egypt and Israel. The Lipscomb professor leads two annual trips with students to Mexico and Haiti. “Going on a mission trip changes your perspective about your country. It opens your mind to people who live in other cultures and other countries,” Kinzer said.“I think there’s a deepening of spirituality because you are so focused for the week. “Anytime you get outside of your comfort zone and focus intently for a week or two on...
by Leah Raich | May 29, 2012 | News Slider
With final exams now nearly one month in the rearview mirror, Lipscomb students have turned their focus to their next objective – serving Christ across the globe this summer. Over the course of 106 days, from May 4 through Aug. 17, Lipscomb Missions will have 24 teams on the ground in 18 different countries. The timeframe is broad in scope – all summer long – and so are the locations and types of services being offered. From discipline-specific trips in Engineering that will be serving communities in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic to a first year trip to Moldova where a team of graduate psychology students will be providing therapeutic counseling to girls once caught in human trafficking, some students have the opportunity to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it in a mission field. Students will experience a variety of cultures, from the two trips to Australia (Brisbane and Perth) where students will engage growing churches and encourage youth, to two trips in India where Lipscomb teams will spend five weeks in Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta ministering in a country where Christians are the minority. In each of these missions, students will have the unique chance to literally “go into all the world,” as Jesus directs his followers in Mark 16:15. This year’s 24 summer trips are a record for Lipscomb Missions, up from 20 trips in 2011 and just eight trips three years ago in 2009. There has been a significant shift in the landscape of the Missions Program as the number of trips offered has flipped from being heavily weighted on spring break efforts to the current majority of summer trips leading...
by Allison Woods | Apr 23, 2010 | News Slider
Clinton Global Initiative University brings college students together to discuss the problems plaguing the modern world. This year’s conference was April 16-18 at the University of Miami. The closing panel of the conference addressed the continuing problems in Haiti. Michele Norris, of NPR’s All Things Considered, presided over discussion of the sensitive situation in Haiti after the earthquake. Three panelists were Haitian, including an author, a football player, and a student. Former President Bill Clinton joined them. He has played a major role in efforts to provide aid since the earthquake. Clinton was named special envoy to Haiti last year, and he and fellow former President George W. Bush are spearheading humanitarian relief efforts through the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Norris adopted the adage “grace in the rubble” as a theme for the panelists to discuss in relation to the ongoing efforts in Haiti. She focused on the positives coming out of such a crippling situation. Clinton said his ideas about revitalizing Third World countries now differ from those he had when he was president. He acknowledged he was wrong in his earlier assumptions that helping the Third World meant industrializing the countries. Now, he says, developing agriculture and helping a country become self-sufficient fixes the root of the problem. For example, Haiti imports one million eggs a day, a product that could easily be produced in-country. Clinton’s goal is to help Haiti focus on such self-support methods. Stanley Clermont, a Haitian student who experienced the earthquake, reluctantly shared his story from the day of the earthquake with the crowd of about 1,500. “It was the most terrifying day, but also the best day,” Clermont said. “This is that day that...
