Alumni Profile

Dallas Willard’s ��ñ�� Ministry Roots

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 13:45:24 +0000

Gordon Govier

Dallas Willard’s ��ñ�� Ministry Roots

��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries marked its 30-year anniversary at the GFM annual staff conference this year but the story of Dallas Willard shows that ministry to graduate students and faculty is buried much more deeply in the DNA of ��ñ��. This was celebrated earlier in the year during a meeting of the faculty fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). As the faculty members and administrators gathered at the University Club, they were regaled with memories of the days when Dallas was a UW graduate student.

Dallas received his Ph.D. in philosophy at the UW, living and studying in Madison from 1959 to 1965. He was hired at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1965 and taught philosophy there for the next 47 years, until just before his death in 2013. Along the way, Dallas also became a leading evangelical writer and speaker, influencing many thousands through books like The Divine Conspiracy.

Gary Moon’s biography, Becoming Dallas Willard (��ñ�� Press), describes the five years spent in Madison as a graduate student and lecturer as a critical time for Dallas. Despite having previously attended three Christian colleges, being ordained in a Baptist Church in 1956, and pastoring at two churches, Dallas still looked for a transformational faith. “I was almost terminally ignorant about God and soul,” he said later.

Discovering Spiritual Disciplines

At UW, Dallas discovered a new dimension of faith through the practice of spiritual disciplines. “What I had thought were merely the discarded practices of futile religion were actually things that, if rightly used, would help people change,” he observed.

One of the spiritual disciplines that Dallas practiced was the regular Sunday night fellowship with a handful of other graduate students in the home of UW Geography professor John Alexander, who was the ��ñ�� undergraduate chapter faculty sponsor, and soon to become ��ñ�� president.

"He (Alexander) felt that there was a need for something for the grads; he opened his home on Prospect Drive for us,” recalled Mary Daniel, emeritus professor in the UW Department of Spanish and Portuguese. “At Dr. A’s house nothing was off limits. You could ask anything.”

In the foreword to the study guide for The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas attributed many of the basic teachings from the book to this formative period. “Part of the first chapter comes from graduate school days when I was active in ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship,” he wrote.

What Dallas appreciated about ��ñ��, he said at another time, “was that capacity to be biblically serious, to hold to the central teachings of what Lewis called ‘Mere Christianity,’ and yet to be open enough to be willing to discuss anything.”

The Dilemma

Dallas faced a hard choice as his time at UW came to a close. He received his Ph.D. in 1965, and during the previous year he had not only been a UW lecturer, but he also pastored the Arena Congregational Church in a small town outside of Madison. Would he return to the pulpit as a full-time pastor or follow philosophy into the academy? What would it be, the pulpit or the classroom?

Finally, the answer came. “The Lord said to me, ‘If you stay in the churches the university will be closed to you. But, if you stay in the university, the churches will be open to you.’ I knew the Lord said it to me because I sure didn't have enough sense to understand what it meant at the time,” he concluded.

So Dallas accepted the invitation from USC to move to California. He became a fixture in the philosophy department, chairman from 1982-1985, and recipient of the USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1977.

Joe Thackwell, ��ñ��’s Director of University Partnerships, got to know Dallas and his wife Jane as he planted a graduate student and faculty chapter at USC. He learned that Dallas would write his phone number on the board and tell students they could call anytime, “although if it was dinner time he may not answer.” Joe noted, “The call to pastor through his professorship was a family call that implicated his whole life in the way that missionary and pastor’s families often experience.”

Dallas spent hours and hours listening to students in his office and made a habit of long lunches with students and faculty, engaging them deeply. “He also made himself available to the whole Christian community at USC,” Joe said. “When he taught at the Trojan Christian Faculty and Staff Fellowship the numbers swelled.”

Working with former students and current USC staff, Joe established a memorial plaque that now hangs in Mudd Hall, the home of the USC Philosophy Department. The plaque lists four worldview questions that Dallas used in his lectures and listed in his book, Knowing Christ Today. Joe believes that it is the only such memorial to a professor on the USC campus.

Dallas almost never said no to an invitation to speak. Through his counseling, books, and lectures about Christian living he was able to disciple as many people as a professor as he could have as a pastor, maybe more. And the formative fellowship he attended during his UW days illustrates the importance of graduate student ministry.

Donate to Support Graduate and Faculty Ministry

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University of Wisconsin

USC

University of Southern California

The Presence of Christ in a Hurting World

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 19:36:41 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Lisa Rieck

The Presence of Christ in a Hurting World

��ñ�� alumna Ann Dominguez has one driving passion. As she puts it, it’s to “bring the transformative power of the gospel into every situation in my life.”

It’s a passion that springs from her years in ��ñ��, when she watched her staff workers live out their faith in very practical, authentic, consistent ways. Now she seeks to model that faithfulness in her own life through a deep commitment to be exactly who God has made her to be and allow God to use her at every moment in whatever situation and place he’s called her to.

Serving People

After working at an afterschool program in inner-city Chicago during college, Ann thought she’d become a teacher. But she noticed a particular detail about the families she was meeting through the school. “I worked with mostly single moms with lots of kids,” she said. “And I saw in their lives the difficulty of getting their kids to the doctor.” She also loved science, and began to ask God how she could combine that with her love of individual teaching and her heart for the inner city.

Ann sensed God leading her to medicine, a profession that has taken her to countries like Haiti, Thailand, and Guatemala, as well as to inner-city Denver (where she serves a largely immigrant population, particularly moms and kids). And while she loves her work, she’s clear that the most important piece of her calling is people, particularly those who don’t have easy access to doctors.

Praying for Patients

Serving and being fully present to her patients often means praying continually throughout the day. “As I’m listening to someone, as someone is pouring out their suffering, I am praying for them,” Ann said.

Those prayers change what can easily become a detached doctor-patient relationship. “Praying for patients has the effect of softening my heart toward them,” Ann said. “They cease to be the diabetic in room four, or the person with emphysema in room six. They become a person with a story, and they’re on a journey.

Passing on Values to the Next Generation

Ann’s commitment to allow Christ to use her in each moment extends to five other very important people: her husband and four kids. And it’s a job she takes no less seriously than her role as a doctor. “I think there are people for whom being a doctor is their persona,” she said. “For me, it feels like one of many hats I wear. . . . Being a doctor isn’t my existence. It’s one part of who I am and I serve, but it’s not all of it.”

“Mom” and “homeschool teacher” are two other important hats Ann loves wearing every day. “I have an opportunity to help my kids see the world, or their piece of it here, through eyes of ministry,” she said.

��ñ�� shaped Ann’s own view of the world in important ways when she was a student. “The emphasis that ��ñ�� has on personal Bible study as well as fellowship of the believers—I hope that’s a gift I pass on,” she said. “Right now it’s mostly being passed on to my children. But as my husband and I work with students and residents, . . . we hope that we are pointing them to the Bible and to church and to listening for the Spirit as they look for where they’re supposed to be going with their lives.”

As Ann and her family continue to listen for the Spirit and look for where they’re supposed to be, they’re sensing a call to Guatemala, where they’ll continue to allow God to use their unique gifts and skills to bring Christ’s presence to patients and medical students. “I think in medicine, specifically, there is a temptation to think that lowering someone’s blood pressure is the point,” Ann said. “What I really want to do is to allow them to encounter the living Christ through me and allow that to transform them, beyond what the medicine can do.”

Ann Dominguez - Staff Conference 2014 from ��ñ�� twentyonehundred on Vimeo.

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��ñ�� alumni

University of Chicago

Creating College Opportunities

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:35:45 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Gordon Govier

Creating College Opportunities

Not every graduate of Sacramento High School (Sac High) chooses to attend California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento State). But because of people like Sacramento State alumnus Ed Manansala, Sac High students now have a much better chance of getting a college education.

A dozen years ago Sac High was a failing public school. In 2003 it was actually closed by the school board but it reopened later that year as a charter school, operated by a new organization, St. Hope Public Schools. Over the last ten years the rate of Sac High students attending college has grown from 20 percent to 93 percent. Ed was one of the key educators responsible for the turnaround.

��ñ�� Shaped His Career

Ed was introduced to the Oak Park neighborhood that surrounds Sac High as a college student, during an ��ñ�� Urban Plunge. ��ñ�� Bible studies also shaped his concern for the underprivileged, so after he graduated he moved to Oak Park. A friend told him that the best way to help the children of Oak Park was to get involved in either the juvenile justice system or education. He chose education.

When Sac High reopened as a charter high school Ed was in the right place at the right time. Kevin Johnson, the founder of St. Hope Public Schools, knew he needed leaders with vision, tenacious dedication, and tireless energy to turn around the school. Ed became one of the school’s co-principals and later superintendent of St. Hope Public Schools.

"We believe that being a leader is putting others before self and service before others; that's the motto of Sac High and Ed lived that," said Kevin, the former NBA star who has since become mayor of Sacramento. “That consistency and authenticity gave kids a sense of possibility, a belief that anything was possible."

Students Who Benefitted

Antoinette Bailey-Weathington was confused and felt lost as a Sac High student. College seemed out of reach. Even graduating from Sac High looked unlikely after she was the victim of a shooting at a party and later became pregnant.

Ed began mentoring her, not only in school but after school. "This was a person who not only loved me as a student, he loved me as a family member," she said. Now, after graduation from Sac High, Antoinette is working two jobs, taking classes, and caring for her family. She is focused on earning a degree in early childhood education from Sacramento State.

“He expects a lot from you but you know that's good,” said Ashley Leach, another student who benefitted from Ed’s leadership at Sac High. “He's someone you know you can go to for help.” Ashley is now active in the ��ñ�� chapter at UCLA.

Relying on Prayer

As an ��ñ�� student at Sacramento State, Ed participated in the daily noon prayer meeting on campus. It helped him become more sensitive to what God was doing around him. It was good preparation for his future role at Sac High. "Prayer was central for me personally, to be able to be effective professionally,” he said. "I depended on God not by the hour but by the minute."

Today Ed serves as deputy superintendent in the Education Services department in the El Dorado County Office of Education. His commitment to serve children in urban setting continues. "A quality education creates an opportunity to break cycles of poverty,” he said. “I sensed a clear call and commission to this community and to my educational role." Students past and present – who have achieved more than they ever dreamed – are glad he obeyed that call.

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Sacramento

��ñ�� alumni

California State University

Fighting Cynicism in Hollywood

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 15:48:14 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Katie Ziegler

Fighting Cynicism in Hollywood

Los Angeles is not for the faint of heart. Anyone who has lived there, even briefly, senses the cynicism that fuels the culture. But for some, like ��ñ�� alumnus Nathan Scoggins, pursuing a career as a filmmaker in the City of Angels is not only a choice but a calling. Nate and his wife, Kate, are intentionally creating a life that is not defined by chasing an often-elusive success but rather by serving and loving people well.

Living a Full Life

After just a few minutes of conversation with Nate, you get the sense that his life is fully integrated. No one part of his life is excluded from any other part. His faith, his family, his career—they all commingle in a beautiful tangle. His faith informs his filmmaking. As does his family.

Often, his family is involved in his productions in very tangible ways. Last year, Nate and a team of friends won the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” contest with their commercial called “Fashionista Daddy.” The commercial winks at Nate’s own reality, not only because he is the father of three girls who like to dress him up, but also because the child in the commercial is actually his daughter.

Seeking True Success

Although his daughters will happily participate in any project their dad works on, they would much rather be something other than actresses when they grow up—surely a relief to their father who knows all too well the realities of the movie industry. In the midst of success, he’s dealt with a lot of rejection in his work of writing, directing, and producing projects. “Hollywood is a town that loves to say no,” he quipped.

The constant rejection was challenging when Nate arrived in LA in 2002, after graduating from Wesleyan University and spending a year as a volunteer staff worker for ��ñ��. What kept him and his family going was their belief that God was not looking for him to succeed in the film industry, but instead to be faithful. They know that God loves him regardless of what he achieves and that God has more for him than getting films made.

That is a message that needs to be embraced by a wider audience. Hollywood is full of people trying to make it, many of whom are running from hurtful pasts fraught with rejection. Nate and his wife have made a habit of creating safe spaces for people to be themselves and loving them amidst and despite the past and present rejection they live with.

Nate’s first big break came in 2007 with a movie that he wrote and directed, The Least of These. The movie follows a priest who returns to his former high school and uncovers a mystery related to the Catholic sex abuse scandal. The film mattered to him not only because it has led to more “yeses” and less “nos,” but also because it entwines issues of faith, justice, and truth with complex characters who are dealing with controversy.

The Art of Deep Truth

At a friend’s wedding some time ago Nate mentioned to someone that he was a filmmaker. “Oh, you lie for a living,” they said. It’s a judgment Nate faces often, but he bristles at that characterization. Filmmaking is an art form. And like other art forms, filmmaking communicates deep truths, whether or not the events really took place. “Jesus was a storyteller,” Nate said. “He painted pictures of what could be. I want to tell stories about what is possible.”

In all of the projects Nate has been a part of, faith has had a role to play—whether large or small, perceptible or not. He remembers Erwin McManus, pastor of MOSAIC church in LA, saying that every human has three needs: to believe in something, to belong to something, and to become something. The best part of being a storyteller, Nate reasons, is finding stories that reach those core human needs.

He often ponders those needs through the lens of Romans 4:17, in which Paul states that “God . . . gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” Reflecting on that favorite passage, Nate said, “The idea that God makes the invisible, visible—that’s what storytelling is. That’s what creating is. And every day I get to be a part of that.”

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Wesleyan University

��ñ�� alumni

Faith That Changes Lives

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 19:56:44 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Lisa Rieck

Faith That Changes Lives

The distance from Myanmar to Missoula, Montana, is over 7,000 miles. ��ñ�� alumna Wai Wai Tun traveled the distance in 2007, hoping to gain a great undergraduate and post-grad education in pharmacy at the University of Montana.

She got that and so much more.

The warmth and friendliness of Montana’s second largest city immediately drew her in, as did its beauty. People in Myanmar don’t generally talk to strangers, so having others—even those she didn’t know—smile at her and say hi was a welcome change. The colors of fall delighted her as well. “Fall in my country is not like here, compared to Missoula,” she said. “I always wanted to see the real fall. Here it’s real. And it’s beautiful.”

A Faith of Her Own

Even more, Wai Wai discovered a faith of her own, turning from the Buddhism she’d been raised in to faith in Jesus. “[In Myanmar,] once you’re born into a family you’re automatically a Buddhist,” she explained, “even though you don’t know what it really means to you. But being a follower [of Jesus,] I think the main difference is that you have to believe from your heart. You have to have faith. That will change your life.”

Wai Wai was not the only one who changed as a result of her faith, however. God used her to bring about change in the lives of many other international students on campus as she became involved in ��ñ��, led Bible studies, discipled friends, and influenced classmates.

Being Used by God

Now a licensed pharmacist in Washington State, Wai Wai longs to see her coworkers make the same decision she did regarding Jesus. “You can be in ministry anywhere,” she said. “God can use you in so many ways.”

In Missoula, in Washington, and in Myanmar—where she plans to return at some point to work in healthcare and education—God is clearly doing just that with Wai Wai.

Watch the video above to hear more of Wai Wai’s story.

God can use you in the lives of international students too! Find an International Student Ministries ��ñ�� chapter near you!

Or read about other ��ñ�� alumni who are integrating their work and faith, like this Detroit environmentalist and this businessman whom the Lord is using to change lives in Honduras through his toy company.

News Keywords

University of Montana

International Student Ministry

��ñ�� alumni

Environmental Justice in Detroit

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 09 May 2014 20:23:34 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Kathryn Brill

Environmental Justice in Detroit

Our Christian life is never just about us as individuals—it takes place in a specific context, among specific people. When Jesus calls us to follow him, he means for us to live out our faith within these specific environments. Rather than ignoring what’s going on around us, we need to intentionally bring God’s love to the neighborhoods, workplaces, and cities we inhabit.

Sandra Yu, an ��ñ�� alumna from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is committed to helping bring God’s renewal to the city of Detroit. She works for Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, whose mission is to make Detroit a healthier and more environmentally friendly place to live. She is also a Detroit Revitalization Fellow, joining others to complete projects such as cleaning and restoring city parks.

But Sandra isn’t just dedicated to renewing Detroit in her work life. She also intentionally participates in the life of her neighborhood by hanging out on her front porch and building community with those around her. Sandra is a member of Mack Avenue Community Church as well, which is focused on being a good neighbor in its location.

By joining herself to the community in these ways, Sandra is able to connect the work she does for the whole of Detroit to the individuals she knows personally. And she’s able to live out God’s call to love those around her in specific and tangible ways. Watch the video to learn more about how Sandra is making a difference in Detroit.

For more reading:

-“Making Neighborhoods Whole” by Wayne Gordon and John Perkins

-From the blog: “Wisdom for Graduates: Take Heart, World Changers”

News Keywords

Urban Ministry

MIT

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

��ñ�� alumni

In Business and About God's Purposes

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 15:56:05 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Kathryn Brill

In Business and About God's Purposes

Jesus is Lord over every industry and field of study. What does it look like when we commit ourselves to making choices that honor him in the work that we do?

For Will Haughey, an alumnus of Greek ��ñ�� at Indiana University, it meant using his business skills to be part of the solution to social problems in Honduras. Will left the investment banking world in 2008 to join his brother Chris in founding a toy company called Tegu. Learn how Will is following Christ in the business world in this video from ��ñ�� Staff Conference 2014:

The idea for Tegu sprung from the brothers’ experiences in Honduras, a place with abundant natural resources but a great deal of poverty. Will and Chris saw an opportunity here when he wondered: how could they utilize these resources, such as the beautiful wood of Honduran trees, and create a business that might provide job opportunities in Honduras?

Tegu produces wooden blocks with strong magnets inside. Kids can play with the blocks by sticking them together to form their own creations. While Tegu is a for-profit business, it’s also committed to making choices that reflect God’s values, such as sustainably sourcing their wood and helping support a local school for children whose families scavenge in the nearby trash dump. For Will and Chris, “business as usual” means business for the glory of God—and it’s making a difference in the life of the community around them.

For further reflection:

“Are You a Disciple For Life?”

-From the blog: “Glorifying God in Every Vocation”

-“From Oreos to Justice”

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��ñ�� alumni

Indiana University

Greek ��ñ��

From Oreos to Justice

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 15:34:40 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Lisa Rieck

From Oreos to Justice

“I never thought that marketing could free the oppressed,” said Sheeba Philip, Vice President of Global Marketing and Public Relations at International Justice Mission (IJM) and an ��ñ�� alumna.

What she knew from experience was that good marketing could help the world fall in love all over again with Oreos and Chips Ahoy! brand cookies. For ten years Sheeba worked in the corporate world, serving as the Senior Director of the Global Treats Brand Platform for Mondelēz International and Kraft Foods, and as Global Marketing Director for Oreo, a $2 billion brand known in over 100 countries.

She had essentially reached the pinnacle of her career and was thriving in her work. Why would she choose to leave a great boss, exciting growth opportunities in the corporate world, and the chance to market the darling of the cookie world?

God’s Priming and Timing

“Many times God gives us very over-the-top different opportunities,” Sheeba said. “But he has to prime us for it.” In other words, he has to prepare us and open us to the possibilities so that, when they come, we’re willing to take them.

For Sheeba, the priming happened about six years ago when she went on a faith and work retreat to seek God about where he might want her to go next in her life. While on the retreat, she bumped into a woman who wanted to pray with her. “She shared a vision of me working with young women, freeing them from sex trafficking and oppression,” Sheeba explained. “I thought that was crazy. I couldn’t imagine what she was even talking about!”

Over the next several years, however, God began to open her heart to using her skills more directly for his work. On a ministry trip to India—where her parents are from and where her grandfathers had done pioneering missionary work—she saw a glimpse of the reality of trafficking and poverty. “My goal was to stay in my role at Mondelēz but use my skills to help organizations,” she said.

By January of 2013, Sheeba sensed that it was time to make a change, so she spent two weeks in focused prayer about her work. “I was really open to whatever God had,” she recalled, “but in my mind God’s next natural step would be in the corporate world.”

She was wrong. A friend sent her what seemed like a random email about the VP job at IJM. “I had not thought at all about working in the non-profit world,” Sheeba said. “But when I read the job posting, my heart jumped a bit. It was totally radical and not what I would have guessed, but I felt like there was something there.”

Six months later, she found herself in Virginia, ready to start her work of helping bring freedom to people who’d been trafficked and oppressed. “God’s word will not return void,” she said, looking back at the retreat. “The woman’s prayer and my friend’s email—those kinds of things really helped me know that this was God’s door. Without that I would have been too scared to make the move.”

Corporate Skills for Kingdom Work

“Working with IJM has been a tremendous experience in so many ways,” said Sheeba. “You don’t get many opportunities to take corporate skills and apply them to what God is doing in the world.”

And yet from the beginning of her career, faith has always been an important part of her leadership. “I was the co-leader of the ��ñ�� fellowship while I was at Harvard Business School,” she said, “and it was a profound, pivotal point in my walk with the Lord.”

Her time in ��ñ�� shaped her constant desire to integrate faith in her work and life. “We talked a lot about that integration and how it all becomes seamless,” she said. “��ñ�� at Harvard really cultivated that for me, and then when I came out of grad school the idea became more fleshed out.”

Harvard Business School was pivotal in other ways spiritually too. Though Sheeba has been a Christian all her life, until grad school she’d never had an opportunity to publicly pronounce her faith in Christ. Harvard Business School wasn’t the easiest place to start. “Jesus and God are not the topic of conversation there,” she said. “It’s power and success. Servant-leadership was not a big part of the culture at the time. I hesitated to lead because it was going to force me to stand among peers and tell them I’m a follower of Jesus. I had to live the talk. That transformed my walk, and forced me to articulate what I really believed in.”

She also learned the importance of community. “I hadn’t met like-minded Christians who were passionate about using gifts in their career, and who loved Jesus,” she said. “You have to be in community to grow in your relationship with Christ. I didn’t learn that until I was in ��ñ��.”

The Dependence Leaders Need

Leadership in both the corporate world and the non-profit world can be stressful and, at times, all-consuming. Several practices have sustained and strengthened Sheeba in her roles.

Prayer is one. “There has not been a season when I have asked the Lord for wisdom and clarity and he has not given it to me,” she said. “If there’s a decision you need to make, spend the time in dedicated prayer. God honors that and those who seek his wisdom.”

Mentors and friends have also been integral. “I’ve always surrounded myself with really strong believers—Christian professionals who can give me spiritual and professional guidance,” she said. “I also have a mentor—a senior leader at MasterCard who is a strong believer. I’d encourage others to find people like that.”

Reading God’s Word and really understanding his principles remains crucial to her as well. John 15 has been a particular source of help in her professional career. “When God takes you through new experiences, it’s him pruning what’s meant to be pruned and allowing the fruit that is growing to expand or grow even more,” she said. “That’s what I’ve seen God do in every trial. Being completely aware that apart from him you can do nothing—that absolute dependence—reiterates that for me. He has to give me the wisdom and guidance.”

Absolute dependence has become even more important in her role at IJM. “It’s very easy to be completely overwhelmed,” she explained, “because when you see what suffering is, you wonder how you can make a difference. But it’s God’s fight.” That reminder has been very humbling for her. “He’s called IJM to do this work, but it’s ultimately in his hands. He has to solve it. When I put it in that context, I can take a deep breath and make it.”

She’s also had to trust God in the adjustment to non-profit work. “I went from marketing cookies to helping people understand the world of justice,” she said. “To transfer my skill set there was a big leap of faith. I had to gain an understanding of the issues of poverty and violence.” The resources at her disposal are different too. “In a non-profit, you really are trusting that God can multiply the fishes and the bread and do the impossible,” she explained. “I have to live that concept out every day at IJM.”

But, as she looks back, she’s grateful and amazed at the opportunities God’s given her and the ways he’s led her. “What God can do with just our faithfulness and our talents is amazing,” she said. “He has done so much more than all I can possibly imagine.”

No doubt, as she continues to draw her strength from God, the vine who gives life, there will be much more fruit to come—both in her life and in the lives of men and women whom her work will help set free.

News Keywords

International Justice Mission

Harvard Business School

��ñ�� alumni

Listening on the Margins

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 17:04:29 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Kathryn Brill

Listening on the Margins

God commands us to care for the most vulnerable, but this can often seem like an impossible task in our daily lives. Anthropology PhD student and ��ñ�� alumna Almita Miranda of Northwestern University discovered that her life experiences, research skills, and faith could help her advocate for a group on the margins: undocumented immigrants and their families.

Finding a Place

Almita’s parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the 1970s. Because of their experiences and others in Almita’s community, “immigration was always part of my life,” she said. But it wasn’t until her undergraduate years at Northwestern University that Almita first came to terms with her ethnic identity and learned about the historic and ongoing forms of systemic discrimination against racial minorities. It was these things that helped her recognize her calling to work with undocumented Mexican immigrants.

As a first-generation college student, undergraduate life was overwhelming for Almita at first. “I felt alienated at times, both for being Latina and for coming from a working-class background,” she said. Almita found a safe community that helped her through this time of transition when she joined ��ñ��’s LaFe (Latino Fellowship).

Northwestern’s LaFe Bible study provided a place for her to explore the ways her ethnicity and her faith intersected. “Attending the first LaFe national conference in 2004, where we read the book of Esther, helped me realize that being a Christian did not mean having to deny my ethnic identity,” Almita said. “Rather, I could embrace it as it informs my unique experiences, which can be used for God’s purpose.”

As Almita explored her ethnic identity, she also discovered her academic passions. Taking courses on Latino ethnography transformed her career path—she found herself drawn to anthropology.

One summer, she received a fellowship to do research about “mixed-status families,” or families where some members are undocumented while others are U.S. citizens. Her interviews with these families struck a chord, leading her to pursue a PhD in cultural anthropology at Northwestern. “God gave me a calling,” Almita said.

Stories for Justice

That calling involves using her research skills for more than just discovering new information. Almita spends a lot of time doing ethnographic fieldwork, interviewing individuals who have been affected in some way by the current U.S. immigration system, as well as local pro-immigration rights activists.

Almita has heard from members of mixed-status families, undocumented workers, and migrants who have been deported. She sees her interviews as a way to bear witness to their struggles and listen to stories that might otherwise go untold.

Many of these stories will be part of Almita’s dissertation as well, which will give them an even wider audience. It’s a kind of advocacy that doesn’t immediately spring to most people’s minds, but Almita sees it as one of the most important ways she can help these families.

“God can work through us in whatever field or profession we’ve chosen to work,” Almita said. “I can contribute to the fight for social justice through my writing on immigration.”

Trusting in God

Because immigration reform requires systemic change, it can be a discouraging thing to advocate for, and Almita has often felt as though “it’s so close and yet so far.” But the people she interviews are an inspiration to her as she works.

“Mixed-status families are often faced with incredible challenges, but they remain hopeful. Many of them turn to God for that hope. They’ve taught me that prayer is the fuel that helps us keep going,” she said. When she feels stuck, prayer restores her motivation and reminds her of God’s faithfulness and mercy. “Even when I feel like no one else is listening to the cry for change, I know that God is listening,” Almita said.

Almita’s advocacy on behalf of immigrant families goes beyond her PhD research. She helps members of her community study for the naturalization exam and has participated in many marches and rallies for reform, both in Chicago and in Washington, D.C. She has also traveled to D.C. along with the community group Centro Sin Fronteras (Center Without Borders) to speak to representatives and senators about changing immigration policies.

“The families I work with teach me more about faith and la lucha (the fight) for social justice than what I could ever give them back. But I try to use my position as an academic to write about their experiences and struggles, and contextualize them within the larger political and economic processes that can contribute to undocumented migration and family separation,” Almita said.

And in all these circumstances, she’s been reminded of an important truth: “God loves all people. And he is a God of justice, for he promises to defend and protect the most vulnerable.”

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Music That Brings Freedom

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 15:08:02 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Lisa Rieck

Music That Brings Freedom

Sex trafficking has been fought in many ways and on many levels: through national and local laws, through training and by raising awareness, through job-skills development and education for females, through documentaries and books.

��ñ�� alumna and indie rock singer-songwriter Janie Chu is engaging in the battle on another level—a soul level—through music.

Early Roots

As a Chinese American, Janie was trained in classical piano from age six to age eighteen. “I loved practicing all the major pieces I was given,” she said, “but I would still try to play all the pop songs on the radio by ear.” Her summers were spent at the piano, practicing songs and writing new ones to perform at church summer camp.

In those growing-up years she also found faith, attending a Chinese Christian church with her mom and eventually committing her life to Jesus as a young adolescent. But, she said, “I really didn’t understand the full weight of his death and resurrection until I was in high school. That’s really when living out that faith became real for me.”

The College Years

Janie’s dream was to study modern music in college, but being a dutiful daughter, she went to Emory University in Atlanta to double major in sociology and classical music. And though those fields of study weren’t her first choice, God used her time at Emory to grow seeds he’d placed in her.

One of those seeds was her Christian faith. “I started college in the mid-nineties at an inwardly turbulent time in my life,” Janie said, “but I was determined to stay active in my faith.” She quickly became involved in two ��ñ�� chapters at Emory: Emory Christian Fellowship and Asian Christian Fellowship.

“��ñ�� had a tremendous impact on the way I processed my faith,” she said. “I made some of my closest friends in college there. And I still think about the impact on my faith through inductive Bible studies, tracks at Chapter Camps, and even some basic fundamentals of Christianity that inform my current church involvement.”

Janie wasn’t just growing in her Christian faith, however; Emory also stirred in her a heart for social justice. She took a number of classes on gender inequality and began to wrestle with the unjust ways different people groups in society were treated. These topics would eventually find their way into her music.

With her desire to study modern music growing stronger, Janie made the decision to transfer to Belmont University in Nashville, a school well known for its commercial music major that combines classes in songwriting, music business, music technology, and performance in contemporary styles of music.

She found support for her new major at ��ñ��’s 1996 Urbana Student Missions Conference, which she attended before starting winter classes at Belmont. One seminar offered there, “Christian Artists in the Secular Marketplace,” was particularly helpful to her in processing not just her faith but also her art and the modern music industry she was moving toward. The coleaders of the seminar, Bruce Kuhn (an actor) and his wife (a visual artist), provided a picture of what it looks like to live out Christian faith as an artist. “It was a great comfort and encouragement to me,” Janie said.

Once at Belmont, she enjoyed opportunities to develop her songwriting skills through classes and gain professional experience through internships. Her Christian faith continued to grow as well through the ��ñ�� chapter at nearby Vanderbilt University. “But something still didn’t feel quite right,” she said. “I wrestled with this strange dichotomy of wanting to write and make great music as a recording and performing artist but at the same time feeling like my desire to be involved in social justice work was getting neglected.” The struggle to see how her passions fit together continued throughout her twenties, and even while she was writing and recording her first album, Roots (2006).

Finding the Sweet Spot in Painful Places

In 2008, her music and her heart for social justice came rushing together to address an issue that was rampant right in her own city: sex trafficking. “My church did a presentation about the problem of sex trafficking in my hometown of Atlanta,” she recalled. “I was awakened to the fact that it was a domestic issue. It deeply disturbed me.” She started learning more and getting involved with organizations in Atlanta who were effectively combatting sexual abuse.

But she was already doing more than she realized to help victims of sex trafficking. Both Roots and her latest album, The Human Condition (2012), contain songs born out of places of deep personal pain for Janie—pain that, as it turns out, is not so different from what those who’ve been sexually abused are experiencing. “I never imagined that the very real pain I experienced and displayed on my albums would resonate so strongly with victims and be a help in their healing process,” she said. “I get letters from women in aftercare programs, people I’ve spoken to and performed for at anti-trafficking concerts and programs. It really just blows me away to see God at work through my music.”

Price of Life: New York City and Exposing Darkness

In this past year Janie was given the opportunity to combine music and social justice on an even broader scale as she took on the roles of project coordinator, producer, and contributor to Exposing Darkness, a compilation of music that is being produced for ��ñ��’s Price of Life: New York City campaign for anti-trafficking. “As an artist and abolitionist, it’s been a rewarding process connecting with other like-minded abolitionist musicians to collectively form an album of our interpretations on the issue,” she said.

Her hope is that music—with its “universal connection to every soul,” as Janie put it—can help people see the problem, the solutions, and the church in a new light, and experience the truth of who Jesus is. “The church is so often judged for appearing divisive on so many controversial issues,” she said. “Here we have an opportunity and responsibility to show just how much Jesus cares about sex trafficking, and that fighting it is directly aligned with the compassion, truth, justice, and love that epitomize his kingdom.”

What’s her ultimate dream for Price of Life and Exposing Darkness? “My hope is that the students and individuals that attend Price of Life will see the gospel of Jesus Christ and our mutual desire to see modern slavery addressed and abolished in our lifetime,” she said.

That’s a big dream, but it’s one that Janie knows God—the God who has led her into places of freedom and used her music for his glory in ways she couldn’t have imagined—can bring to fruition.