Emory University

Music That Brings Freedom

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

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.

You can get involved in Price of Life too! Find out how.

Release date for Exposing Darkness is October 5, 2013.

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Bold Faith as a University Administrator

webteam@intervarsity.org — Mon, 17 May 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Gordon Govier

Bold Faith as a University Administrator

Santa Ono now serves as president of the University of British Columbia. When this article was written, he was working at Emory University as Senior Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

“Senior Vice Provost Santa Ono won the Brit Katz Senior Appreciation Award for his involvement in the Emory community and his ability to serve as a role model and friend to the senior class.” – The Emory Wheel newspaper, May 6, 2010

While working with Emory University students as Senior Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Santa Ono also continues the medical research for which he trained at McGill University and Harvard. An article in Emory Magazine reports that his team at the Emory Eye Center’s Dobbs Laboratory is investigating the role of the immune system as the team looks for treatments for macular degeneration and other forms of eye inflammation.

Santa serves as faculty adviser for ��ñ��’s three chapters at Emory: Emory Christian Fellowship, Asian Christian Fellowship, and B.A.S.I.C. (Brothers and Sisters in Christ, for African-American students). He also enjoys being faculty advisor to Emory’s Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, a chapter with strong ties to Greek ��ñ��.

Santa admits that holding two full-time jobs at the same institution can be challenging. “Especially, if on top of that you’re trying to connect with students and faculty. But I love every aspect of what I do with my life. I feel very blessed to be at an institution like Emory, to be able to interact with students of the caliber that we have. It enriches my life to interact with them, not only through ��ñ�� but through other organizations.”

The Path to Faith

Santa Ono’s path to faith began in his dorm room as a freshman at the University of Chicago. His roommate, Steve Barry, was involved in the ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship chapter. Steve invited Santa to Bible studies and large group meetings, and they talked a lot about faith. As a child of Japanese immigrants Santa was not without faith in God but he described himself as uninformed.

His journey to faith in Christ started slowly, anchored in the witness of his roommate. Their visits to Bond chapel on the University of Chicago campus encouraged him to investigate further. “Steve would take me there. I felt immediately touched by being in that space. I felt like I had never felt before in any other place growing up,” Santa said. “That was the beginning of my search for and eventual finding of Christ.”

During his graduate studies at McGill University in Montreal, his faith in Christ continued to grow through the witness of a friend named Wendy, who became his wife, and their local fellowship, Westmont Baptist Church. After receiving his PhD in Experimental Medicine, he received a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard, focusing on gene regulation in the immune. He held faculty and administrative positions at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard, and University College London before arriving at Emory in 2006.

Known for his Faith

The “transformative” witness of his ��ñ�� friends at the University of Chicago has allowed Santa to fully embrace ��ñ��’s vision for renewing the campus. He not only accepted the invitation from campus staff member Glenn Goldsmith to become ��ñ��’s faculty adviser, he has also become one of the most high-profile Christians at Emory.

“I actually think it’s very healthy for the university community to know of the religious beliefs of faculty and administrators,” he said. “I see no reason why I as a Christian should hide Christ in my life, as long as I show respect for those with different faiths.” He recalled a phrase used by a faculty friend who was a priest, “stealth Christians,” which applies to many Christian faculty members. “Students learn from diverse perspectives across the university community and they can only learn from the richness of a multi-faith community if they can actually see people thinking about, struggling with and practicing their faiths.”

He thinks students are willing to accept the fact that some faculty are followers of Christ, and that others are Jews or Muslims. “Students know that faculty members and administrators have religious beliefs but they rarely see that side of these individuals. I know that many students look to faculty and staff as role models, and seek conversations with them about their faith.”

Santa is energized by his interaction with students, especially those who are in the campus fellowships. “It’s really beautiful to watch them worship and see the fellowship they have with each other and with Christ,” he said. “They’re not shy in talking about the role of Christ in their lives. The students have it figured it out.”

Santa Ono realizes that at some point he may have to make a decision between advancing his administrative career and continuing his medical research. But for now he is thankful that God has blessed him by allowing him to continue both paths and to interact with some of America’s brightest students. He has also served on ��ñ��’s Board of Trustees.

UPDATES:

In June 2010 Santa Ono was named Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Cincinnati.
In 2011 Santa Ono addressed ��ñ�� Graduate and Faculty Ministries Staff Conference on the topic, The Future of the University.
On October 23, 2012, Santa Ono was named President of the University of Cincinnati
On June 15, 2016, Santa Ono was named President of the University of British Columbia, where he is also involved with a local congregation.

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