by Janice Ng | Jul 2, 2013 | News Slider
Originally written for lipscomb.edu. People of all ages filled Collins Alumni Auditorium on Monday, July 1, the second day of Summer Celebration, to hear Lipscomb presidential spouse Rhonda Lowry interview legendary singer, guitarist and fiddler Charlie Daniels about his faith in God and how it has impacted his life. Traditionally at Summer Celebration, Lipscomb’s annual festival of faith, fellowship and fun, Lowry interviews celebrities and people of note about their faith walk. Daniels has become a good friend to Lipscomb as he has partnered with the university for four years to hold an annual concert to raise funds for military veterans to attend college. At a very young age, Daniels formed a love and appreciation for the service men and women of America that would last him a lifetime. Today, at 76 years old, Daniels still remembers the events of World War II. “I remember D-Day in 1944,” Daniels said. “I was 8 years old at the time. My mother got me up early and said we were going to church to pray for the men who had been hit at the beach at Normandy. That day, I felt that America really came together under the grace of God.” Throughout his illustrious career, Daniels has not only prayed for the troops, but has reached out to them as well through his musical talent. “We go to these places called Forward Operating Bases and entertain the troops there,” Daniels said. “It’s such a gratifying thing to be able to play for them. When they say thank you, I don’t understand. I want to say thank you to them for what...
by despotmj | Jul 3, 2011 | News Slider
As part of Lipscomb University’s Summer Celebration, many speakers were on Lipscomb’s campus this past week speaking on a variety of spiritual topics. Thursday morning, Hillsboro Church of Christ minister Daniel Hope spoke on the topic of forgiveness. Hope’s lesson began by mentioning a number of highly-publicized tragedies, and how those involved displayed great forgiveness after enduring very traumatizing events. He mentioned the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, and described the Pope’s forgiveness of the shooter just days after leaving the hospital. Hope also mentioned a deadly shooting within an Amish community in 2006, and how the community came together to setup a fund for the gunmen’s children. An act which provided a great deal of healing for the shooter’s devastated family. These acts of forgiveness are often times not displayed on a large-scale by Christians, but Hope reminded the audience that Jesus himself told Paul to forgive a transgressor 77 times before giving up on another. Hope’s lesson was one which dove into a number of questions relating to forgiveness which Christians can often struggle with. He tackled tough questions and provided a response that forgiveness is not about forgetting an act or the absence of hurt, but rather it is about forgiving an unpayable debt. “Forgiveness is a decision and journey,” Hope said. “It is a commitment to the process of ceasing to demand restitution.” Part of this decision and journey is that one must work to get to a point where they can get over bitterness. “One cannot take sin more lightly than God, because sin is a big deal, and we must not...
by Hunter Patterson | Jul 2, 2011 | News Slider
Kicked off with an awakening period of worship, the finale of Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration was capped off by an inspiring message from Jeff Walling. First, though, there were a few areas of business that had to be taken care of. Randy Lowry introduced a familiar face to Nashville residents during the beginning of the evening, Daron Hall, sheriff of Davidson County. It was after that, when Hall introduced another man, Lytle Thomas. Thomas has a history of dealing with inner-city children all around the Nashville area. So, it was more than fitting to have all of those kids present at the event. And were they ever present. The children emerged from one of the Tunnels in Allen Arena in a school bus. Yes, a school bus. Almost overwhelmed, Lionel was then the proud recipient of the Kopio Award for his many years of service to the community. “I don’t want to say a whole lot, because I am afraid to say the wrong thing,” Thomas said. “On behalf of all of the people I’ve worked with and all the children, this is your award. Thank you all so much.” President Lowry then introduced someone that “has lead through his vision and his tremendous love for his church.” A coworker of Lowry’s at Pepperdine, Lynn Anderson was present to give an award that was originally supposed to given away at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures in May. How convenient that the recipients be none other than member’s of the Lipscomb family. A beautiful plaque with the words “Distinguished Christian Service Award” was then presented to Walt and Karen Leaver. Leaver is...
by Hunter Patterson | Jun 30, 2011 | News Slider
The number one reason to plant a church is to ‘seek and save the lost.’ That was Ferrell Haile’s message during the one of the many sessions on church planting at Lipscomb’s annual Summer Celebration. Speaking to an audience of 20-plus people, Haile took time to elaborate on the advantages and disadvantages of church planting. “When planting a church we don’t have to conform to traditional ways,” Haile said. “It’s something that is attractive and exciting to be a part of something new.” Haile also talked about his own experience in church planting. It all started in the year of 2000 when Haile was considering planting a church in the area between Gallatin and Hendersonville, Tenn.. The thought became a reality soon thereafter, though. Without anyone knowing about his plans, Haile received a call from someone interested in the preaching position at the church, which had not even been established at the time. Haile stressed the point that one should not start a church based on a church-split. He believes that God does not bless church splits, and starting a church coming out of a bad experience is the incorrect way to go about things. Haile’s plan was to get one couple from each church to commitment to the new Antioch Church of Christ for at least two years. In order to attract people to the church, Haile stressed that guidelines would have to be made in order to answer the question, “What kind of church are you?” “Our church is probably the most conservative to scripture that you’ll find,” Haile said. “However, we are the most liberal to...
by Danielle Boyd | Jun 29, 2011 | News Slider
A New Day has dawned Tonight many people joined together for Lipscomb’s annual Summer Celebration uniting all in worship, prayer, discussion, fellowship, and rejoicing in the name of Jesus Christ. Randy Harris, a graduate from Harding University and former professor of Lipscomb continued the evening summer celebration leading the discussion on, “A New Day has dawned.” Randy Harris introduced the audience into the discussion with a joke: “Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his 12 year-old son Isaac?” Answer, “If he had waited till he was a teenager it wouldn’t have been a sacrifice.” As one can imagine, Harris won over the audience with his slight humor, knowledge, and belief in Christ Alone. In addition, he challenged everyone in the audience to listen, contemplate, and become involved in the movement of kingdom living. From the start, the audience knew Harris had a unique way of inviting people to live in the life of Jesus Christ. “The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, of all the seeds it is the smallest one but when it finally develops it becomes this great tree,” said Harris. “The challenge is to become a part of God’s great work. “The Kingdom of God is right here…it is not always easy to see or measure, but it is up to us to find it.” Harris went on to challenge the audience with a deeper self-contemplation asking the question, “Would you be willing to let go of your own self-righteousness in order to live in the Kingdom of God?” Harris went on to say that it was not an easy question to...
