Random Wordiac

Same routine as Monday, rose up early and took a shower, breakfast at 7:15, then in class at 8:15. Something I forgot to add on Day 1: Every morning the Class Director would lead us in the pledge to the American and Christian flag, as well as singing the first stanza of Amazing Grace.

Today started out with Dr. Noebel (the President and Founder of Summit Ministries) doing the Bible Hour. This consisted of a Verse of the Day and Thought for the Day, as well as a list of Why You Should Study the Bible.

Verse of the Day: "Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge." Proverbs 23:12.
Thought: Christian Leadership involves servanthood (Mark 10:24) and a non-quitting attitude (2nd Corinthians 4).

Why You Should Study the Bible:
1. It's a part of World Literature
2.Had a great influence on our nation
3.Had a great influence on Western Civilization
4.It's a mark of an Educated Man
To be contintued...

Lecture 1: Dr. Michael Bauman, The Meaning of Meaning
Dr. Bauman is permanet staff with Summit, and also teaches at the Summit Semester program.
Notes: This was basically on the purpose and absoluteness of meaning.

• Ideas have consequences, bad ideas have bad consequences (this is the theme of Summit, it's even on the t-shirts...I think on the tshirts it sounds like you went to a Reform Camp for bad kids :D).
• Sloppy language makes sloppy thought possible
• Meaning = Interpretation FALSE
• Meaning=Meaning TRUE
• Epiphenomenon-a secondary or derivative existence, owing it's life to something else (cool word, eh?)
• Conclusion: Meaning has meaning. We should not base meaning on our interpretation.

Lecture 2: Bauman, The Problem of Pain
Basic question: If God is good, why is there pain/evil/bad stuff in the world?

1.If God were good, He would want to make people happy.
2.If God were all powerful, He could do what He wanted and could make people happy.
3. But People suffer. Therefore, God lacks goodness, or power, or both.
-CS Lewis

But-

• Inexorable love- love that does the best for the loved one
• Megaphone- pain is "God's Megaphone to the world" (Lewis)

"Love is not Beanie Babies for your soul"
"Life has rumble strips"
Basically, we don't know what God knows is good for us.

Lecture 3: Bauman, Dangerous Samaritans
This lecture was on basic economics and welfare reform.

Notes:
False Charity-Poverty is not a money problem
Reforming Welfare-
1. Put welfare inthe hands of contributors, not recipients or bureaucrats
2.Re-define poverty
3.Re-educate the politicians and poor
4. NO PERFECT SOLUTIONS
5.Provide tax credits for companies that hire and train people on welfare
6. Welfare is not a one-size-fits-all problem

Lunch! Then back to class...

Lecture 4: Darrell Furgason, Islam II
This lecture was a continuation of yesterday's lecture and dealt with dealing with Islam in international relations.
Notes:
Islam is an ideology.

• A political ideology and vision
• Divine social order
• Goal: The perfect "State"
• Blueprints for social reality

"We are not Socialist, we are not Capitalist, we are Islamic." Anwar Ibrahim, VP of Malaysia, 1998
Biblical Foundations for International Relations:

1. We are at war with Ideas (2nd Corinthians 10:4)
2. Collosians 2:8
3. Wrong Ways to develop Nations

• Marxist- 170 Million dead
• Islamic-Jihad and Totalitarianism
• Humanist-Liberalism, Moral Decline
• Christian-Jeremiah 9:23,24
  

4.Focus is on Truth
5. Renew the Mind-develop Biblical perspectives on each discipline
6. God works on Earth through His people to bring about Justice-in politics, in law, in society
7.God has goals and a strategy in human history
8.Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done....(Matt. 6:9)
9. Disciple the Nation
10. Redemption from Sin applies to everything
Biblical Goal of IR- Psalm 67:1,2

That ended morning lectures and we had about 20 minutes before we headed off to Sports Time at the local (and huge) park. We all ran to get water and whatever else should be necessary at the park, and then hopped on the buses. The park was about 10 minutes down the road, and had 4 large fields, hiking trails, a jungle gym, and a pavillion. I and a few others decided to go hike through the small trails. It was pretty fun, I had never seen wild cactus everywhere before, it was like being in the desert! We attempted to talk while walking up the hills, but found (all of us being from the East and unaccostomed to the air) that it was not very easy. Conversation went something like:
Me: So.....*panting* where are you from?
Florida: I'm *huffs* from Florida *panting* how about you?
Me: ......*breathes* Delaware....
Etc.
After we had hiked about a mile, we looked up and saw rather ghastly clouds coming from over the mountains in the distance and heading right for us. Not wanting to be caught in a thunderstorm on the highest elevation around, we beat it back to the park. Once there, we parted ways and went off to play some sports. I played some soccer, partly in the rain, and then the horn sounded and it was back for dinner.

Lecture 5: Noebel, Worldviews in Collision III
Dr. Noebel focused on the Tribe of Issachar first in this lecture (1st Chronicles 12:32)
Notes:
200 willing to go to battle (tribe of leaders and scholars)
a. They understood the times in which they lived
b. Knew what Israel ought to do
We also read Steve Turner's poem Creed (found here) and added Nietzche, Lukacs, Gramsci, Sanger, Dewey, Derrida, and Foucalt to the first line. ("DERRIDA IS EVIL!" :D that is a note I have written, mostly because I hated much of my Critical Approach to Literature class because of him).

After his lecture ended, we went to Small groups and discusses any questions we had, the lectures, etc, and one of our small group leaders read Max Lucado's "You are Special". Then bedtime!

I woke up at 6am to run and get a shower before the Rush, and then came back to my room (Room 425). My roomies were still asleep at this point, being, for the most part, nighttime shower-takers. At 7am on the dot, female staff went through the girl's halls knocking on doors and shouting, "Good Morning girls, time to get up!" This roused everyone fairly quickly, and breakfast started at 7:15, so we headed down after a few minutes.
The kitchen is located on the third floor, one floor down from mine. Girls and guys have separate lines, as this has been shown to move the lines through in a more timely fashion (reasons as for why this might be are welcome :D). After breakfast, the first session started at 8:15, so there were a few minutes to clean up the room in an effort to win the room check. We left candy out as a bribe (a legal thing to do in this case, don't worry).

1st Lecture: Chuck Edwards, Why We Are Here
This, as I look back and read my notes, was an introductory lecture of, "Why Summit?"
Notes I took:
"Why are you here?

• Better filter things you hear
• Better defend your faith
• Glorify God, advance His Kingdom
• To Learn
• Get closer to God
• Better equipped to have a ready answer

Hebrews 11:1, What is faith? Faith is: assurance, conviction=substance, i.e., not a blind belief.

2nd Lecture, Chuck Edwards, Worldview Thinking
This lecture was more details on what, EXACTLY, a worldview is.
Notes:
#1- A worldview is CRUCIAL
(Colossians 2:8, "deceptive philosiphies")
#2-A Worldview is COMPREHENSIVE
Theology, philosophy, biology, psychology, ethics, sociology, law, politics, economics, history (worldviews will have all these parts)
#3-A worldview is CONNECTED
Every idea realtes to other ideas. Ideas have consequences. Bad ideas have BAD consequences.
Quote:
"...the great missing element in Western thinking is the Christian viewpoint. Western man thinks about economics, politics, government, education, and a thousand other things without ever once asking, What has God said about these things?" -David Breese, Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave

After those two lectures there was a five minute stretch break and then the lectures continuted.

3rd Lecture, Dr. Bob Linden, Leadership
Dr. Linden was FULL of information. He went through so many sheets of notes I thought my brain would explode from the information! This first leadership lecture was primarily about Attitude, the compinents (thoughts, feelings, and actions), as well as the impact of good and bad attitudes.

4th Lecture, Dr. Bob Linden, Leadership
The second part of his leadership lecture series, this was called The Empowered Christian Leader, Taking Responsibility.
Definition of "empower"-
To give faculties to, to enable. Being empowered requires self-discipline, responsibility, flooding your mind with Scripture, and goal setting. Associate with people who believe God is in control.
Empowered Christians:

• Decisive
• Clear purpose
• Clear beliefs/values
• Write goals down
• Make sucsess a habit
• Optimistic

Important question to ask: "What would our (school, office, home) be like if everyone in it were just like me?"


After that lecture was announcements before lunch (our room won for Cleanest Room and got to go to lunch first) and break until 1:15.

5th Lecture, Darrell Furgason, Islam I
Darrell Furgason is an expert in all things Islam, and also studied languages (linguistics?) at a university in Australia. His first lecture focused primarily on the key words of Islam, such as Mohammed, Mecca, Medina, Sufis, Wahabis, The Holy Books, and the primary beliefs and religious obligations of Muslims. He also compared (in a table) Christianity and Islam. What probably struck me most in the table is how awful "Allah" is! Our God is forgiving, look across the table, Allah is...unforgiving. Our God is "knowable" (to an extent), Allah is "unknowable. Believers LOVE God for who He is under Christianity, Believers BOW before Allah's power under Islam. No relationship with Allah, personal relationship with God.

After the lecture was a about an hour and a half of free time and then everyone hopped on the buses and we went to see the Garden of the Gods. Which turned out to be not a Garden, but a bunch of really pretty and HUGE rock/cliff things. We climbed around for a while after visiting the tiny museum that went with it (I almost died via a squirrel that jumped out of a tiny crevice). Then back to Summit!

We had dinner and then a short amount of free time before we were back in the classroom. At 7:30 we had praise and worship before Dr. Noeble came and gave two lectures on Worldviews In Collision.


6th and 7th Lectures, Doc Noebel, Worldviews in Collision I and II

For these lectures we read this poem Gods of the Copybook Headings and discussed the 6 main worldviews of today: Christianity, Islam, Secular Humanism, Marxism, Cosmic Humanism, and Post-Modernism. However, Dr. Noebel is such an amazing lecturer that I didn't realize I was learning. If ever there were a man born to work with teens and young adults, it is him.

After the last two lectures we had a small amount of free time and then went to bed, lights out at 11.

Well, I woke up bright and early to catch the 7 something flight to Denver, Colorado. My dad drove me to the airport and we went over to check my baggage in and get my ticket. Unfortunately, we were not aware of the 45 minute Rule, in which no baggage is accepted 45 minutes or less before the flight. This caused a slight mayhem, which was resolved by my taking my rather large and unwieldy bag, which contained two weeks of clothing and other essentials, on the plane with me. I made it to the plane on time, and with much help from a guy much stronger (and *coughs* taller) than I, the bag was made to fit in the overhead compartment.


Soon, the plane landed in Denver, CO, and I hopped/dragged off the plane, large suitcase, backpack, purse, and jacket in hand. Denver is a Very Large Airport. I realized this when I stepped off and attempted to find where my gate was. I sought assistance, and was told that my gate was "over there somewhere". Well, it was not. So, I waited in line (and grew rather nervous as my flight was soon to leave) and was finally given more assistance by a lady who looked up my gate number and where it resided. GATE 87. I was in gate 12 A. I needed to go to 87 B!! Well, I ran. Very swiftly in fact. And dragged my suitcase up the escalator very speedily. And finally made it just as boarding was about midway through.

After a short flight, I made it to Colorado Springs. I called Summit and asked how to find where I was supposed to get on the bus, and was told there would be a bunch of staff waiting in the lobby. So, I and my bag traveled to the front lobby and saw a mass of people. I soon met quite a few Summit students, one of which later turned out to be one of my roommates. A few minutes after I arrived and joined the group, we hopped on the school bus and headed toward Manitou Springs!

When we arrived in Manitou, all male able-bodied individuals were enlisted to carry all the girl's belongings upstairs. While that was happening, I went to find my nametag and check-in. Well, I could not find my nametag at first. It was nowhere! Then, with growing horror, I realized...it was on the BOY'S side! One of my newfound friend's eyes bugged out and she said, "What if...they roomed you...with the GUYS!?" So, I quickly went to make sure that my room was, indeed, a female lodging place, and that I had not been roomed with any male-types. Thankfully, I was not. Jordan just seems to confuse people. Maybe I should add an A at the end? :D

I soon met my 3 roommates, as well as dozens of other people who I could not possibly remember the next day. It was a flurry of: How old are you? Where are you from? What grade are you in? Where do you go to college? How'd you hear about Summit? After a few hours of that, at around 7, we all went into the classroom part of the building. The classroom was organized so that the older kids sat in the front, the younger in the back. It was also arranged boy-girl-boy-girl (except for my row, I sat next to a girl on one side, a guy on the other...I really SHOULD add an A to my name...). We were given our notebooks (very large ones), as well as introduced to the rules and given a short lecture introducing Worldview by Dr. David A. Noebel, president of Summit Ministries.

After the lecture ended, we all had small groups. Each group was headed by one or two staff memebers, and was either all girl or all boy. Everyone in the group was also of very similiar ages. That night in small group we all introduced ourselves and told a bit about who we were, why we came, etc.

Finally, the night ended with a short hall meeting that basically said, don't be crazy. :D Lights went out at 11pm and the day ended.