by Hunter Patterson | Apr 20, 2012 | News Slider
Brett Flener, a Law, Justice and Society major who is the co-founder of Open Table Nashville, was announced as the 2012 recipient of the Mary Morris Award for Exemplary Service to Society, an annual award given to a member of the Lipscomb family. The family of Dr. Mary Morris, faculty member in the Department of Education and founder and director of the Center for Character Development at Lipscomb, established award in her memory. Open Table Nashville, which Flener helped establish as a 501(c)3 non-profit in 2011, is an interfaith community that disrupts cycles of poverty, journeys with the marginalized and provides education about issues of homelessness. Earlier this year, Lumination talked with Flener about Open Table. ”We’re not really here to ‘fix’ people,” he said. “We don’t see these people as problems. We see them as brothers and sisters to be journeyed with.” “What we are looking to do, especially through our community houses, is to plug in and say ‘We want to be that family now. We want to be that support system now. We want to grow with you. We want to walk with you even through the hard times.” The Mary Morris Award for Exemplary Service to Society is conferred on a member of the Lipscomb “family” who has demonstrated a high level of service to the community and the church. Nominees may include faculty, staff, alumni, current students and others who are advocates for Lipscomb University. The selected recipient should exhibit a spirit of volunteerism, engage in meaningful civic activities in the community that help spread God’s light, demonstrate a commitment to Christian missions wherever they...
by Clay Smith | Apr 18, 2012 | News Slider
Lipscomb’s “now that you ask…” series ended with dialogue from a member of the same family that the series started with earlier this semester – the Haslam family. Gov. Bill Haslam opened up the series, and on Tuesday, April 17, the series ended for the semester with his wife and Tennessee’s First Lady, Crissy Haslam. The dialogue was moderated by Tom Ingram, leader-in-residence for the Andrews Institue for Civic Leadership at Lipcomb. First Lady Haslam recounted her experiences growing up in Tennessee, being the wife of a mayor and then governor and working to affect change in the communities that she has been a part of. Mrs.Haslam, who is one of the state’s leading advocates for better education, attended an all girls school growing up. She said benefitted from the school’s format. “Yes, I enjoyed my time there because you had the opportunity to pursue whatever offices you wanted,” Haslam said. “You didn’t have that distraction of having guys there.” After high school, Haslam attended Emory University where she majored in finance and marketing. Ingram asked Haslam how her ambitions in college shifted to bring her to her current position as First Lady of Tennessee. “I had hoped to get a job in busines,s and I pictured myself working my way up in the corporate ladder,” she said. “But none of that really happened; I married Bill at 22 and couldn’t find the job I wanted after college.” After graduating from Emory and marrying Bill Haslam, the couple moved to Knoxville in 1981. The state’s First Lady says life with a politician caused her to change her ambitions. “At...
by Emily Snell | Apr 17, 2012 | News Slider
Veggie Tales creator Phil Vischer shared his insight on business struggles, relationship with God and how to deal with failed dreams when he spoke Tuesday morning at the 2012 Tennessee Prayer Breakfast in Allen Arena. Phil Vischer, creator of Big Idea Productions and Veggie Tales, was the featured speaker at the event, which annually serves as an opportunity for citizens and officials to pray for Tennessee’s leaders and residents. This was the second consecutive year that Lipscomb has hosted the event. Vischer spoke about the downfall of Big Idea Productions, which filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and what it taught him about life and his relationship with God. Vischer said he thinks the company went down due, in part, to his emphasis on huge goals and ideas that weren’t in line with God’s plans. Vischer said God told Him that he needed to learn to be content resting in God instead of being busy working for God. “He didn’t call me to change the world; He called me to obedience,” Vischer said of what God taught him. Vischer said he realized he was so focused on saving the world that he was making himself miserable and damaging his Christian testimony. “God didn’t let it all fall apart because he didn’t love me,” Vischer continued. “He let it all fall apart because he loved me so much and he wanted to save me from myself.” Vischer said he realized that doing good things isn’t good if it causes you to sacrifice walking with God. “The impact God has planned for us doesn’t occur when we’re pursuing impact; it occurs when...
by Emily Snell | Apr 17, 2012 | News Slider
The Financial Aid Office will host a “Meet the Staff” event Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the courtyard between Crisman and Fanning. The staff will be available to meet students and answer questions and will also have snow cones, food and other items to give away, including a $250 scholarship for textbooks from the Lipscomb bookstore. Tiffany Summers, director of Lipscomb Financial Aid, and Maggie Kersten, assistant director, said the event is designed to give students an opportunity to meet financial aid counselors and to understand the office’s mission and the resources they offer. “We really want students to feel welcome and to know our staff,” Kersten said. Summers and Kersten both said they understand the difficulties of paying for school, and they want to help students. “We want to partner with the family and the students,” Kersten said. “Even if we can’t give them money, we want to give them options.” “We realize and appreciate that it’s a big sacrifice for families, so we take very seriously caring for our students,” she said. “Our doors are open,” Summers said, “and we’re willing to talk and see what we can do to help them.” The Financial Aid Office is located in the basement of Crisman and can be reached via phone at 615.966.1791 or email at financialaid@lipscomb.edu. The Financial Aid Office staff includes: Tiffany Summers, director Jimmy Morris, associate director Maggie Kersten, assistant director Deidra Cummings, financial aid counselor Tamera Spivey, financial aid counselor Donna Taylor, financial aid counselor Julie Lillicrap, receptionist Denise Forgette, technical...
by Clay Smith | Apr 16, 2012 | News Slider
The Lipscomb Guitar Ensemble put on its spring concert April 10. About 50 students and faculty members attended the concert. This semester, the ensemble was made up of sophomore Mack Hoskins, senior Marco Perez and their professor Mark Godwin. They performed pieces ranging from traditional folk songs to compositions by Mozart and Bach. Check out this video to hear “Barquero” by Felix DeSilva, one of the songs featured in the concert. ...
by Hunter Patterson | Apr 16, 2012 | News Slider
Earlier this semester, Tennessee’s governor, Bill Haslam, jump-started the “now that you ask…” series with Tom Ingram. The governor’s wife, Crissy Haslam, will join Ingram in the next edition of the series, Tuesday, April 17. Tennessee’s First Lady, Crissy Haslam, introduced a three-part initiative that focuses on the interplay between family engagement and literacy improvement in Tennessee. She has been traveling the state to stress the importance of parents as first teachers, parents as education partners, and also to raise awareness for the exponential value of reading at grade level by the third grade. Born in Houston, Texas, Haslam moved with her family to Memphis, Tennessee, when she was 8-years-old. She graduated from Emory University in 1980 with a double major in finance and marketing in the College of Business. Crissy married Bill Haslam and moved to Knoxville in 1981. While working as the assistant director of admissions for UT-Knoxville, she received a Master of Science degree in Education in the program of College Student Personnel. She has served on numerous civic and community boards, and currently serves as chair of the Tennessee Executive Residence Foundation and Commission. The “now that you ask…” conversation series is hosted by Tom Ingram, the man called the “most influential person in Tennessee politics who does not hold elected office.” The series brings Ingram’s bipartisan, common sense approach to government and politics straight to the table with discussions and debates featuring guests from across the business and political worlds. Ingram, founder of The FIRST Group in Washington, D.C. and The Ingram Group in Nashville, was appointed a leader-in-residence at the Andrews Institute for...
