Appeal Letter

June 30, 2010

VIRTUE

With the changeover in campus ministers that will take place this summer, you will understand that there are questions mixed with anticipation among our Blue Hens students. On July 1, Matt Wilson will be moving to his full time position with Wilmington University and will turn the direction for the campus ministry to Tyler Ellis, formerly campus minister at Northern Arizona University.

We are looking forward to a new and exciting time of change and enrichment for our students.

This ministry has three essential goals. Two you have heard us speak of before. The great commission to bring students to Jesus Christ. To provide a safe place for those students who already know Him to live and own their faith.

Another, not often spoken, but equally important is to advance virtue that shapes our college students to become lifelong disciples and missionaries for Christ.

The virtue as it is used here is not the usual definition as goodness. Let me explain. Have you ever taken a trip on an airplane? Did you really know what to expect from your pilot(s)? Imagine you are on Flight 1549, US Air, leaving LaGuardia Airport in New York City, to Charlotte, NC. Everything is fine on takeoff. Your pilot does all the usual checks. 2 minutes into takeoff the airplane runs into a flock of geese. One goose is serious, a flock is a disaster. Almost at once both engines are damaged and lose power. You are now over the Bronx, the city s most densely populated area and no time to return to the airport. The pilots are your only hope! Several major decisions are being made by the pilots almost instantly. They are trying to save the lives of not only people on board but also on the ground. In two or three minutes the pilots have to do the following vital things (along with others that we wouldn t begin to understand). 1. Shut down engines. 2. Set the right speed so that the plane could glide as long as possible without power. 3. Get the nose of the plane down to maintain speed. 4. Find a place to land. 5. Disconnect the autopilot that overrides the flight management system. 6. Activate the ditch system which seals vents and valves, to make the plane as waterproof as possible once it hit the water. 7. Fly and glide the plane in a fast left-hand turn so that it would come down facing south, going with the flow of the river. 8. Do this with only the battery-operated systems and emergency generator. 9. Straighten the plane up from the tilt of the sharp-left turn so the plane would be level side to side when landing. 10. Get the nose back up again, but not too far up, and land straight and flat on the water.

And they did it!! Everyone got off safely. Captain Chesley Sullenberger III, and Jeffrey Skiles, were the pilots of that plane.

N. T. Wright, in his book After You Believe, calls all of the things those pilots possessed, virtue. In this sense it is not goodness, instead it is a skill set. Consider what happens when some one has made a thousand small choices, requiring effort and concentration, to do something which is good and right but which doesn t come naturally and then, on the thousand and first time, when it really matters, they find that they do what is required automatically. If you or I were flying and we had done what comes naturally, or allowed things to happen, we probably would have crashed in the Bronx.

 Sully was not born with the ability to fly or with the specific skills he exhibited in those vital minutes (Did you know he was a glider pilot instructor?). He had courage, restraint, cool judgment, outstanding skills, and concern for others. He was the last man off the plane and sloshed up and down the aisle several times to be certain all were off.

During our life time not a great deal of it is coping with emergencies. Rather it is how to behave in our ordinary life, as well as the extraordinary moments. Knowing what to do in ordinary or extraordinary situations is not a distinguishing characteristic that we are given at birth.

The How of obtaining our life virtue (skill set) of Christian behavior is set out for us in the New Testament.

We believe that in campus ministry teaching and modeling Christian behavior and character through disciplining, Bible study, service, relationships, and social activities build a college student s skill set (virtue) and adds foundation to those thousand of choices they need to make as they mature. They grow their virtue. Then, when a momentous decision is to be made in their life, they will do the right things automatically. There are the little things such as we don t cheat in school we don t take the money when someone gives us too much change for a purchase we point out mistakes in our favor on a dinner check; and there will be the big things such as - we don t cheat on taxes we don t take advantage because no one is looking - we don t compromise ethics, values, principles, or Godly morals in any part of our life.

Campus ministry guides us to build a personal relationship with Jesus first. From that relationship we see that:

>> Students begin their own Christian families as a result of relationships developed. In our congregations t there are numerous families that resulted from campus ministry relationships. In our own Blue Hens for Christ several of our students met and married their spouses as a result of the ministry. As they begin their life together what virtue would you like them to have?

>> Students soon become our business leaders what virtue would you like them to have?

>> Students soon become our teachers and leaders of our church what virtue would you like them to have?

>> Students soon become our community and government leaders what virtue would you like them to have?

College students are the most receptive to the message of Jesus. We need your help to continue to be the place they can be safe and where they can learn, practice, and own their faith and build virtue that will be with them throughout their lives.

Will you partner with us and provide financial support?

 If yes please fill out the card and return it with your check.

God Bless, Darrell K. Swanson Past President

P.S. Please fill out the card and return it as soon as you can.