Celebrate Easter Presbyterian Seminary Style!

New life abounds in our Presbyterian Seminaries, and especially this Eastertide! The Spring semester is kicking into high gear at all of our schools as many begin the dash to graduation. Ordination exam results are in and now presbyteries are working to certify candidates ready to receive a call.

For me, Easter is about the new life now. Christ is alive, alive indeed! We allow the past to be the past and the new life to rise anew among us. This will be surely true on the campuses of all our Presbyterian Seminaries next week (April 12-15, 2010) and especially at three. I hope I will see you there!

On Tuesday, April 13th at 10AM Columbia Seminary in Decatur, Georgia will Inaugurate Stephen A. Hayner as their Ninth President. Steve formerly joined the faculty at CTS in 2003 after serving as President of InterVarsity , a professor, and a Presbyterian pastor. Events begin Monday with a banquet and worship service and conclude Tuesday with a symposium on the future of the church and the seminary. The Rev. Dr. Hayner has a PhD in the Old Testament and works and writes in the area of global Christianity.

On Wednesday, April 14th at 7PM Louisville Seminary (Kentucky) will award and host Eboo Patel, winner of the 2010 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. A lecture by Patel take place in in the Seminary's Frank H. and Fannie W. Caldwell Chapel is free and open to the public. Patel is being recognized for his book, Acts of Faith: Interfaith Leadership in a Time of Global Crisis. In his book, Patel, age 34, tells his own life story as an Indian-born Muslim raised in America. His dream is to build a world where interfaith cooperation is the norm. In 1998, he founded Interfaith Youth Core. Based in Chicago, the organization encourages young people of different religions to perform community service, explore common values and build bridges among diverse faiths. Today, his organization is active on about 75 college campuses.

On Thursday, April 15th at 6PM Katharine Rhodes Henderson will be inaugurated as the Sixth President of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. Public programsaround the city will take place all day Thursday and Friday morning including "How Women will Change the World in the 21st Century," "Is Good Business Really Good Business?," "Intellectual Heavyweights in a Sound Bite World," and "The Seminary from Scratch." Formerly the VP for Advancement at Auburn and author of "God’s Troublemakers", the Rev. Dr. Henderson writes and speaks widely in the church and the public forum.

Wow! It’s going to be a whirlwind week, don’t you think!? Welcome to the new life Christ brings THIS Easter!

Lee from Louisville (for a few more days!)