9月20日, 2000, as part of my annual State of the University Address, I stood before the 好的赌博软件推荐 community and called us to intensify our commitment to racial reconciliation. I had no idea at the time where this call might lead us. But I felt a deep conviction that if we are serious about our mission to engage the culture and change the world, we must step up to the challenge of race and dividedness and 排除 that has plagued our world far too long.
Most of all, I felt we had to try to craft a vision of hope that is rooted in the gospel of Jesus. 当然, I knew there were many on our campus who cared deeply about this issue and that much had been accomplished over time at SPU. But I was convinced we had to take huge new steps toward articulating a coherent purpose for what we were trying to bring about. 可能吗?, 我认为, 就在好的赌博软件推荐, to discover some of the keys to tearing down walls that divide?
可能吗?, to use the language of Miroslav Volf, to get at the conditions of 排除 找到赌博十大靠谱软件前进的道路，成为一个社区 拥抱?
Might we bear witness to the hope we find in Jesus Christ, 恩典和爱的希望, 宽恕, 和团结? Might we claim for our community the radical notion that God wants all of his children to flourish together?
Might we actually make a real difference through the very gifts we have been given as a Christian university — through the radical call of a gospel view of the world, 通过学识和学识的馈赠, through our clear commitment to grace-filled community, through our distinctive mission to engage the culture? Could it be that we might actually model reconciliation? Could it be that reconciliation might become part of the very fabric of our institution?
赌博十大靠谱软件太放肆了吧, 多么天真的, 赌博十大靠谱软件的批评者可能会说, 这只是政治正确的又一姿态. Others might claim our campus is too “white” to think we have anything to say. Others might accuse us of indulging in “white guilt,” a motivation that is almost never healthy.
I understand these notes of caution and suspicion, and I understand we have a lot to learn and we have trust to earn. 但赌博十大靠谱软件正在前进. 有时摸索赌博十大靠谱软件的方式, we are determined to take one step at a time on the long road toward reconciliation and 拥抱.
I stand at this moment quite simply amazed at what is going on across our campus. 一些意义深远的事情正在发生. We have begun to talk more openly about race and reconciliation. We have recruited ethnically diverse students more intentionally, 赌博十大靠谱软件的数字正在发生巨大的变化. Faculty reading groups are discussing works such as Miroslav Volf’s 排斥与接纳 和Chinua Achebe的 事情分崩离析. Our friends Gary and Barbara Ames contributed $1 million toward a strong scholarship program, 现在赌博十大靠谱软件庆祝15位艾姆斯学者, ethnic minority student leaders who are making a huge impact on our campus. 赌博十大靠谱软件接待了13人 CCCU高校 for a three-day conference on our campus to discuss reconciliation, a project supported by Deborah Wilds of the Gates Foundation.
We are building relationships and forming partnerships in the urban community, and we are adding ethnic minority members to our Board of Trustees. We hired two key leaders in Tali Hairston and Joe Snell to give leadership to our efforts, and we brought in Pastor Alex Gee as a wonderful coach and encourager. We held a President’s Symposium on Reconciliation and, 在副总统莱斯·斯蒂尔的指导下, 就这个主题举办了一个共同学习日. We also welcomed 400 multicultural student leaders to 西雅图 Pacific for a national conference.
Two years ago, a group of students invited me to go with them to Jackson, Mississippi. 他们要去杰克逊, 作为赌博十大靠谱软件SPRINT计划的一部分, to work with the great civil rights leader John 珀金斯, 他们坚持要他们的总统一起来.
好吧, 在以各种不同的方式调整我的日程表之后, 那年12月我去了杰克逊, 我很荣幸地看到了. 珀金斯 and to sit with our students and listen to him deliver some of the most moving and penetrating Bible teaching I have ever heard. 主题是和解. Tali Hairston and I then gathered with John and his team and began to think together how SPU might partner with this great leader. How could we extend the teachings, the hopeful vision, and something of the legacy of Dr. 珀金斯为赌博十大靠谱软件自己的和解而努力?
Out of those conversations and many more came the 约翰·珀金斯中心 for Reconciliation, 领导力培训, and 社区 Development that we inaugurated on October 20, 2004.
通过中心的工作, 赌博十大靠谱软件将修建通往城市社区的桥梁, create partnerships with urban churches and organizations, 开展学术研究和反思, and change the shape and face of our own campus community. We are thrilled to open this new chapter in our work and are grateful to Dr. 感谢珀金斯与赌博十大靠谱软件合作.
所以，确实发生了一些事情. 赌博十大靠谱软件感到幸福，赌博十大靠谱软件心存感激. 当赌博十大靠谱软件走向未来, my hope is that reconciliation becomes part of the fabric of our institution, 这是赌博十大靠谱软件工作的自然方式. This strong commitment to reconciliation will be a clear part of our 2014卓越蓝图. We will continue to focus on dismantling those walls that divide, 但赌博十大靠谱软件最大的愿望是创造一个充满希望的愿景, 不仅要通过语言，还要通过赌博十大靠谱软件的行动. 赌博十大靠谱软件实际上是在寻求和解的典范. 我从一开始就说过, 赌博十大靠谱软件对这项工作是认真的, 赌博十大靠谱软件将长期坚持下去.