In the breakout sessions, small groups of students are encouraged to engage in thoughtful discussion about many different issues of faith and academics. Breakout session leaders introduce topics and provide the background necessary to inform the discussion. Participants will have the option of attending two of these breakout sessions during the conference.
Culture Is Not Optional: Ways of Being Faithful as We Engage God's World - Byron Borger
Most of us know that God wants us to honor Christ's Lordship in all of life; we really want to allow His Kingdom to grow through us in all we do. But how, really, do we think about this basic relationship of faith and culture? What does it really mean to be "in but not of" the world? How do we describe (and live!) this vocation of being agents of God's transformation of society? From using technology to watching movies, from doing art to doing politics, how can we celebrate the good and resist the bad? Join us as we learn some vocabulary and ways of thinking about cultural engagement that may serve as helpful tools on this complex topics.
Byron Borger owns, along with his wife, the Hearts & Minds bookstore in Dallastown, PA which they've run for 27 years. Before opening their independent book and music store they worked in campus ministry for the CCO, and lived for a bit in inner city Pittsburgh. They are active in a Presbyterian church in York, PA and have three children, ages 27, 22, and 16. Byron enjoys being involved in conversations about how the Christian faith influences public life, hearing how people relate their faith to their work, citizenship and leisure. He blogs regularly about books at Hearts and Minds Booknotes
Beyond Making the Grade - Christian Brady
What do you take away from a college course – what gives it lasting significance or value? In a culture that claims to offer innumerable shortcuts to the easy A, what habits will help you maintain your integrity as you focus on lasting goals?
Christian Brady is an associate professor in Jewish Studies and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, specializing in ancient Hebrew and Jewish literature (Bible, rabbinic literature, Dead Sea Scrolls, and historical Jesus). He is also dean of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State. He moved to State College in 2006 from New Orleans with his wife and their two children. He is also an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America and worships with his family at St. Andrews, State College.
Faith, Hope, and Medicine - Nicole Hahnlen
The essential elements of palliative medicine involve caring for the “whole” person- body, mind, and spirit. Nurses, physicians, and other professional caregivers must strike a balance between caring for the whole patient while also remaining whole themselves. What role does our faith play in the care we provide others? How does our faith sustain us? Session participants will discuss the tension between serving a God who will one day wipe away death, mourning, crying, and pain while practicing in the midst of it on a daily basis.
Nicole is the nurse clinical coordinator of the Hummingbird Program at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital in Hershey, PA. The Hummingbird Program provides support to children facing life-threatening, complex illnesses and their families. Nicole received her B.S. in nursing from Penn State University and a B.A. in Family Studies from Messiah College. When she is not at work Nicole enjoys biking, kayaking, creating artwork, and reading.
How to Love Your Job For the Rest of Your Life - Heather Holleman
In this breakout we will discuss enthusiasm and energy for your work and life. Heather will talk about her daily practices as an instructor at Penn State including:
Choosing to live with flair
Adhering to a personal mission statement
Ministering in natural pathways
Praying for the "presence and power of God"--his anointing--in every teaching opportunity.
(Yes--it's an acronym for CAMP as in: camping out where God wants you to be.)
Heather Holleman is a wife, mother of two daughters, and a writer. She currently teaches Advanced Writing at Penn State and helps develop course material for the English department. Along with her husband Ashley, she also ministers to graduate students with of Campus Crusade for Christ. In addition to working on novels and creative non-fiction, she maintains a daily blog, "Live with Flair" (http://www.livewithflair.blogspot.com).
Ideas to Action: Making Your Vision a Reality - Steve Lutz and David Adewumi
The challenge isn't in coming up with great ideas. The challenge is in bringing those ideas to fruition. Most ideas die in the minds of their creator, but one great idea, properly executed, can change the world. This session will offer practical insight and hands-on instruction in how to take your great idea and turn it in to something real, tangible, and sustainable. The session will be led by facilitators who have experience in bringing their own ideas to fruition.
Rev. Stephen Lutz is a campus minister with CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) at Penn State in University Park, PA. Steve works with Calvary College Connection, a movement of student groups reaching out along their relational networks. He is also the Director of Life Groups for Calvary. Before returning to Penn State for ministry, he helped plant Liberti Church in Philadelphia, PA. He is also the director of Commontary.com, a ministry which provides free biblical resources to Christians around the world. He has a B.A. in American Studies from PSU, and an M.Div from Westminster Theological Seminary. Steve's interests include reaching out to college students, starting churches, innovation and entrepreneurship, and Penn State and Philly sports. He lives with his wife Jessica and their three children (Samuel, Micah, and Abigail) in Boalsburg, PA. He blogs at http://stevelutz.wordpress.com and tweets @stephenlutz.
David Adewumi is a student at Penn State, studying languages and entrepreneurship. He graduated from the State College Area High School and has spent time serving in missions, in the military, and working in entrepreneurial ventures. He's most passionate about serving the marginalized and the oppressed, connecting others to God, and telling stories that call people into action. He is a founder of Innoblue, which helps start and support new ventures that positively impact Penn State and beyond.
Being Fit in an Unfit World - Kirk Ream
The bible instructs us to "make our bodies a living sacrifice". Although this message is important, it is often lost in a world filled with obesity, sickness and disease. Adding fuel to the fire is a fitness industry that continues to focus on outward appearances, sex appeal and short term solutions. There has to be a better way! Join Kirk for for an interactive discussion as we answer the questions, What does it mean to be truly fit and how do we achieve that? What does the bible have to say about fitness? Can God's Kingdom redeem an industry based on awesome abs and sexy arms?
NOTE: This breakout session will also include an opportunity for participants to engage in an exercise routine. Please dress appropriately.
Kirk Ream M.Ed, CSCS, is the owner and founder of Transformation Training and Fitness in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He is a highly respected fitness professional known throughout the central Pennsylvania region. A successful college basketball coach, businessman and committed community leader, Kirk is also the founder of fit4service.
The comprehensive message of fit4servce is that God is glorified best when we strive to keep ourselves physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually fit so that we can access all our God-given talents and commit them to serve Him and others.
Kirk and his wife, Trinette have three little ones at home…all under the age of three!
More No More - John Roe
The call for “more” lies at the foundation of modern, Western society. Whatever our feelings about individual avarice, there is near universal agreement that society benefits from “growth” – that is from producing more, consuming more, extracting more, wasting more. But unending growth in this sense is not an option on this finite planet, and the time will come when “more” is no more. What will then become of the economic “gods” in which we have put our trust? And how can Western Christians learn to take seriously Paul’s confession that “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.”?
John Roe is a professor and head of Penn State's mathematics department. Born in England in 1959, he taught for many years at Oxford University before moving with his wife Liane to State College in 1998. His passions include mathematics, cooking, rock-climbing, and playing the guitar. He and Liane worship at Calvary's Gray's Woods gathering.
Why (Good) Blogging Matters - Sam Van Eman
At the time this session description was written, there were 145,520,447 blogs, with 54,231 new blogs created in the last 24 hours. Too late to jump on the blogwagon if you aren’t already on it? Hardly. In fact, for the academically mindful and culturally engaged follower of Christ, now is a perfect time to blog.
Yet none of us needs more blather or digital noise in our already full lives. And we aren’t looking to duplicate what Facebook, Flickr and YouTube already do so well for us (though you may gain a few more followers if you do).
This double session will address why (good) blogging matters for you and for your community of readers. We’ll look at successful blog practices; discuss the role of integrity and authenticity as writers, readers and commenters; and then we’ll spend time, well, blogging.
Don’t have one? You can draft your first post. Already going strong? We’ll kick it up a content notch.
NOTE: This is a double session, which means that if you select this session, both of your breakout sessions will be occupied with blogging, and you cannot chose to go to another breakout
Sam Van Eman was a public school teacher before joining the Coalition for Christian Outreach in 1998. As a staff specialist with the CCO, he develops wilderness leaders, writes about the intersection of faith and work, and speaks on pop culture advertising as both a critic and fan. In 2005, he wrote a book called On Earth as It is in Advertising? Moving From Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope.
Sam is the Culture Editor for High Calling Blogs, a top-100 Christian website, and you can find him blogging on his own at New Breed of Advertisers. He lives with his wife and two daughters in central Pennsylvania.
Getting CENTER’ed - Darrel Velegol
Have you ever felt limited by your field of study? Do you feel like you cannot express to others all of what God has put in you? Maybe you’re not CENTER’ed. CENTER is a mnemonic for Character, Excellence, owNership, Tenacity, Entrepreneurship, and Relationship. Using these six tools, we’ll aim to identify concrete steps toward glorying God with your passion and your purpose.
Darrell Velegol is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Penn State. His “day job” includes teaching Chemical Engineering courses, conducting research into colloidal particle devices, and serving as Undergrad Program Coordinator for Chemical Engineering. Some of his “ventures” include developing models of human decision making and designing “Wild Scholars” educational processes. Darrell and his wife Stephanie have two girls, Lauren and Sabrina, and they worship at Calvary Gray’s Woods.
Theology in Practice - Alex Watlington
Everyone has a theology, some don't know it and others don't know what to do with the theology they have got. There are millions of pages written by great theologians on topics like "the Trinity", "God's Sovereignty", "God's Holiness", and "Justification". Most of them are great reads, but what do these have to do with my annoying roommate? Or my endless anxiety over my future career? Or the obsession I have with my body? We often dangerously divorce theology from every day life or apply the wrong theology to every day life. Come join us and see how to connect deep theological topics to our daily mundane lives.
Rev. Alex Watlington, originally from Lookout Mountain, TN, is the campus minister for RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) at Penn State in University Park, PA. He has a degree in finance with a minor in philosophy from Georgia Southern University, and an M.Div from Westminster Theological Seminary. Alex's interests include reading dead theologians, playing lots of golf, watching lots of college football, and is an unashamed Starbucks regular. His pet peave is when people invite him to a 'bbq' and it is only hamburgers and hot dogs. A true bbq involves a dead pig. Alex is also technologically challenged, he just purchased a Mac and has only just recently joined facebook, but amazingly led a tutorial session for his intern on the pros/cons of "twitter". He lives with his wife Becki and their two children (Whit and Miles) in Lemont, PA.
How to Tell Faithful Horror Stories (Is that even possible?) - Jonathan Weyer
Is it possible for a Christian to be a faithful horror story writer? If so, how can we tell stories that scare people so that we make them think about the seen and the unseen world? Novelist and scary story writer, Jonathan Weyer, will lead a discussion on what it means to be faithful in the art of scary story telling, how to do it, what needs to be in the stories themselves and how they should reflect the Seen and Unseen reality in which we live. For those up for the challenge, we'll also experiment with some "flash fiction," trying our hand at some scary stories of our own!
Jonathan is the founder of The Thomas Society, a ministry dedicated to answering questions from doubters, agnostics and atheists. Along with the atheists at Ohio State, he won a Multicultural Award from the university. Because of his work with atheists, the Secular Student Alliance added him to their speaker's bureau. He is also the author of The Faithful, a novel about an assistant pastor's crisis of faith told through a ghost story. Jonathan lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife, three kids and a crazy cat. Check out his website at www.jonathanweyer.com.
Learning to Live Together, Living to Learn Together - Travis York
We've all heard the expression "Walk the talk" but the reality is this process of connecting our actions and our faith is just plain hard! As a result many of us end up compartmentalizing our lives and, ironically enough, God usually gets shut out of our living space first. In this session we'll explore ways that we can connect our faith to our actions in our residence. Whether you live on or off campus you are a part of one or more communities that give you the unique opportunity to live life along side others in ways that powerfully and transparently show your relationship with Christ. Let's learn how to capitalize on these opportunities while resting in God's grace.
Travis is currently a full-time PhD student in Higher Education at Penn State where he is also works for two research projects (Assessing Green Initiatives, and Prototyping the Engineer of 2020) and is a graduate teaching assistant in Educational Theory and Policy. Previously Travis worked in Residence life for two years at Penn State and three years at Geneva College. It was at Geneva College where Travis earned his bachelors in Student Ministry and his Masters in Higher Education. Travis also serves as faculty advisor to Penn State's chapter of the International Justice Mission. Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, when he gets free time he likes to enjoy all things southern... sweet tea anyone?!
A Faith that Works in the Workplace: It’s All Business - Marie Young
In the private sector, where business success is measured in bucks, is there opportunity to live out a faith that values the person? When profits are compromised by competition, who gets to keep his/her job? Who loses it? What happens when an organization changes its core values to include the word “integrity”? Do they mean it? How can I choose when career and family commitments compete? How can I live out a faith that works in the workplace?
Please join Marie as she shares her experience and observations about how corporate America operates and the challenges and opportunities to not only live out your faith, but to do so in way that invites others to ‘taste and see’ God’s kingdom. Participate in a personal exercise to explore your own values and learn how to evaluate your current job or future positions for potential success and your ability to be all God has called you to be.
Marie Young has worked in the corporate business setting for over 30 years. During the last 10 years she has practiced as a consultant to numerous companies, in a wide variety of industry segments, to address “people performance” issues in the workplace. Marie works with organization leadership to identify issues, set expectations, and develop strategies to achieve desired business results. She works with departments, teams and individuals to assess current performance, uncover barriers to success, and implement change. Marie holds an MBA in Human Resources Development and a post-graduate degree in Organization Development. She is certified and master-certified on numerous assessment tools and training programs to increase both personal and organization effectiveness. Marie lives in Stormville, NY with her awesome husband of 36 years. Marie Young is old. Her favorite place to be is with her daughters and her new sons-in-law.
Experiencing God in the Midst of Unfinished Tasks - Cheryl Bonner
In our 24/7 world, Christians struggle with balance, priorities, how to discern between the urgent and the important, and simply finding time for true rest before God. We collapse into Sabbath rest after a frenzy of activity then leap out as though we had never stopped.
Perhaps you have made one or more of the following statements: My to-do-list needs a to-do-list! My life is a list of things that need to be handled. I need to be responsible to the tasks before me. Just had my quiet time– wait while I check that off my to-do-list. I’d rather burn out than rust out! How can God use me if I am tired? God will give me the energy to do all that is on my plate. Just because there is a need doesn’t mean there is a calling. I have no margins. Get me to the end of the semester so I can breathe.
This session will address the pace of our lives and the thinking that is behind the decisions we make regarding our use of time. Guided activities will be provided to use during the session and afterwards!
Cheryl is the director of Penn State Alumni Career Services where she helps alumni figure out what they want to be when they grow up and get jobs doing it. At Calvary, she leads a Life Group for women and helps out with programs that serve college students. She would describe her life as being demanding. But, rather than creating better margins, she just wishes for a bigger piece of paper. While she learns how to deal with her limits and set God honoring priorities, she enjoys living in State College with her equally busy husband Bill.