Dear Friends and Family,
I am not sure I have ever been so busy! This month our new semester kicked off, and that means I have lots of wonderful and valuable teaching opportunities. (I'm teaching Synoptic Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, helping teach Research Methods, an advanced Greek reading group and a student research group on forced displacement). My students are lovely and are working hard (which is, I suppose, the benefit of being at the seminary long enough to develop a reputation as a demanding professor!).
At the beginning of the month, Campus Crusade for Christ held their big (1,400 person) national conference here in Medellín. I was asked to be a panelist for a plenary session (fielding questions on everything from theology to sexual ethics to aliens...yes...aliens). In addition, I offered four workshops (all filled to capacity) on faith and science, mostly to university students who are themselves studying science and want to know how to square their studies with their Christian faith.
The big, exciting new opportunity, of course, is running the research project on forced internal displacement in Colombia (the humanitarian crisis in which millions of Colombians have become refugees due to the nation's internal violence). The project kicked off on the first of the month, so I have been up to my bushy eyebrows in contracts, budgets, administration, acquisitions, and policy development. It is a stimulating challenge to help five different leaders plan research projects for their teams of 4-6 scholars (on subjects ranging from psychology to sociology to political science), all while running my own team of three PhDs and three leaders of Faith Based Organizations, focusing on economic issues. I've also been learning all about everything from trauma theory to sociological field research methods, all the while trying to figure out what it means to be an effective leader for this sort of project in this cultural context.
Oh, and under the leadership of my buddy Dr. Casey Strine (University of Sheffield), we submitted a research grant application that would allow us to expand and compliment this work with displaced people! I'll share more about that if we get the grant.
I'll mention briefly that my colleague, Guillermo Mejia, is now editing the seminary's semi-annual journal. The new edition came out this month, to which I contributed a
little homily on loving God with one's mind, as well as a
book review (on hell!), if those of you who are Spanish speakers want to take a glance!
So, I'm hopping like a jack-rabbit all day long. But God has blessed me with a fantastic administrator who is keeping me afloat, and I am trying to figure out how to ease my burden in a couple other areas. And on that latter subject, I'd appreciate your prayers!
Peace be with you all,
Christopher, Michelle, Judah, Asher, and Zoe Hays