events & news

Events & News

EVENTS

Hungry For Change (Oct. 28th 9am—9pm)

Wednesday, October 28th Fusion is hosting Hungry For Change. This is a 12 hour interactive fast that will unify the prayers of college students at campuses we are connected to.

To unify our prayers, we will be sending out text messages or twitter updates to every person participating. This will bring a fresh new prayer focus every hour and allow all of us across the Midwest to be praying about the same topic at the same time! The possible outcomes of this day are enormous!

To sign up for prayer updates text FUSION to 95495 or follow on Twitter at FusionUS. 

Post tweets related to Hungry For Change with the hashtag #HFC09 somewhere in your post. We would love to have everyone post prayers and thoughts to further unify our efforts and connect us all. Please contact Cameron for more details.

The National Alpha Conference (Oct. 20—21)

The National Alpha Conference is for churches and individuals who share the vision to reach their communities with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Speakers include Nicky Gumbel, Senior Pastor of Holy Trinity Brompton, Bear Grylls, host of “Man vs.Wild” series on the Discovery Channel™ and Pete Greig, international director 24-7 Prayer.

Special tracks focusing on campus ministry and the vision of Campus America

LoveYourCampus Conference (Feb. 5-6)

Hosted by Fusion US.  This conference is all about getting together the students and leaders of the midwest to share stories, learn, and laugh.  The focus will be how we can love our campus to give an accurate picture of Jesus.  There will be time spent on learning, community, and reaching pre-Christians.

 Speakers: Dave Short, Terry Austria, Cameron Graper.

Location: Stonecreek Church, Urbana IL

More info coming soon.

NEWS/TRENDS

Here is some news of what has been going on in the college and university scene.

Beloit Mindset List:   It is that time of year again where our friends at Beloit College publish their annual freshman mindset list.   You can read the entire list on our website at http://www.ivyjungle.org/2-9-beloit-mindset-list .  This year’s freshmen represent the class of 2013 (14, 15 . . .) and were mostly born in 1991.

Among the highlights: 
Mike Tyson has always been a felon
They have never used a card catalog
Women have always outnumbered men in college
The European Union has always existed
Official race classifications have always been illegal in South Africa
Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, Lithuania, and Estonia have always been countries
Most communities have always had a mega church
Earvin “Magic” Johnson has always been HIV positive
Tattoos have always been “in”
Salsa has always outsold ketchup
They have never been Saved by the Bell
There has always been a Cartoon Network
Bobby Cox has always been manager of the Atlanta Braves
Someone has always been building something taller than the Willis (Sears) Tower
Agent Starling has always feared The Silence of the Lambs
(www.beloit.edu/mindset/2013.php)
 
Top Party School and More:  This year’s Princeton Review rankings have Penn State supplanting Florida as the top party school in the nation.   Pomona took the top spot for best classroom experience and Swarthmore for most satisfaction with financial aid.  Davidson College gets the nod for best teachers and Virginia Tech for best food.  Students may party at Penn State, but they are not celebrating their financial aid.  The school ranked behind only New York University for dissatisfaction with financial aid.  (Bloomberg.com July 27 2009)

Waiting for Sex and Marriage:  Both the AP and Christianity Today  have highlighted the dilemma faced by many Christian young people – wait until marriage for sex as God intends it; wait to get married until you finish school, land a job, explore the world, etc.  In light of this, some Christian groups are promoting marriage for younger adults (i.e. 22 instead of the average 26 for women and 28 for men).   For most young people, waiting until marriage for sex is not happening.   The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health reports that 93% of adults 18-23 in a romantic relationship have some kind of sex.  For Christians that number appears to be around 80%.   In his article in Christianity Today, Mark Regnerus believes that while Christians have put much effort into abstinence campaigns, the church has not done a great job preparing young people for marriage.  He is one calling for a more active role in the church advocating for Christian young people to get married prior to all the pursuits so commonly lumped under one’s “20’s”.  (Stltoday.com August 9, 2009  Christianity Today August 2009 cover story)

Faith and Majors:  Conventional wisdom says that Christians have good reason to fear what happens to students’ faith when they embark on higher education.  A study by scholars at the University of Michigan found some interesting connections between faith and studies.  First, the odds of going to college increase for those who attend religious services.    Business and education majors tend to increase their religious involvement.  However, the social sciences and humanities have a negative effect on both student religious attendance and their view of the importance of their faith.  Majoring in biological and physical sciences did not affect religious attendance, although the physical sciences did negatively affect the reported importance of religion among students.   Among students who switch majors, those with strong religious involvement are more likely to switch into fields of education, humanities and biology. The researchers posit the postmodern thinking prevalent in the humanities has a more negative effect than science on faith.  (Inside Higher Ed July 28, 2009)