Here am I, Send Me

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

 - Joshua 1:9 NIV 

Hello again, 

I hope all is well and life is good. 

I wanted to add to my monthly blog in regards to my journey of joining the Peace Corps. I wanted to share with you where I am now, what I have been experiencing, and how I have been preparing for the Peace Corps. As of today, I have 23 days left. I am getting excited and nervous about my experience. Although I am not there yet, I have been reading a plethora of books, blogs, journals, and documents. I already feel that I am changing. What I mean by this is that I am open to the new culture, language, and opportunities that will be presented to me. I am eager to jump in and learn of the people and share my experiences so that they can learn of me. I am getting in the mindset of a volunteer. I am preparing my heart, mind and spirit to go on a journey that is sure to change my world perspective and viewpoint. It is my hope that my blogs, videos, facebook and twitter posts, and, letters will serve to demonstrate the tremendous growth that I will experience.

In addition, I plan to use this experience for professional development and growth. Using the blogs will serve as my blackboard (if you will). It is my hope that you will serve as fellow colleagues that are critiquing my work and using constructive criticism to further my development. Please examine my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to my growth as an educator and student affairs professional. It is my goal to use this opportunity to work on my writing skills, to expand my vocabulary, to dig deeper in my critical thinking skills, and to think differently about the way I see the world through writing. I will have these blogs to look back on in the event that one day I will share my experience in a classroom or in a book. So I am laying out my course objectives, expectations, and syllabus for this amazing class. My office hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 1pm - 3pm. The require text is an open mind. Discussion board posts are worth 10 points. Grades will be posted at the end of the semester. NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED! LOL.

Moreover, I plan to use this journey to grow spiritually and intellectually. Some would think to separate the two spheres of the person, however, I do not. On one hand, the spiritual side of a person is ones connection to a higher being or realm (if one chooses to believe in such). On the other, the intellectual being is used to critically examine the arts, literature, culture, music, education, and other avenues of mental activity. I combine these two because I believe that the two are essential to the framework that makes up a person. The spirit connects to the Creator for guidance and direction. The intellect connects to the spirit to understand the directions of the Creator and develop strategies to engage in activities that foster safe spaces to critically analyze the world. Using both spiritual and intellectual guidance, I plan to engage the world anew. In fact, bell hooks stated that, "many spiritual teachers - in Buddhism, in Islam - have talked about first-hand experience of the world as an important part of the path to wisdom, to enlightenment" (See Agent of Change, 1992). This is how I see my own spiritual and intellectual development.

As a result, I am starting my journey of this first-hand experience of the world to gain new wisdom and enlightenment. I think it is necessary to inform you, the reader, that I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. But my development as a follower of Christ has been one that is always critical of myself, my religion, and other Christians. By no means in a negative way, but in a way that will make it better. As an educator, I am always critical of everything. I do not and will not take things as face value. I critically examine the world in which I live. For without examination we are all drones following commands without conscious thought or processes. In Plato's Apology, Socrates stated that, "the unexamined life is not worth living." You cannot and should not live this life without examining all of its factors. On the same coin, Malcolm X stated that, "the examined life is painful." If one were to examine life and all of its painful truths, one would have to face it or be ignorant of the wealth that wisdom has to offer. Therefore, I examine Christianity with a critical eye to understand my God and His ways a little better. I examine questions like, what does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to be an intellectual or academic? Can the two even coexist? At the same time, I examine it in hopes to become a better educator. I believe that education is key to a successful life. "Education is the passport to the future," as Malcolm X stated. Therefore, I do my best to fulfill the Great Commission by educating "the least of these." (Matt. 25:31-46). It is my hope that souls are saved and given the tools through education to live a better life. I believe that if you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day. But if you teach him HOW to fish you will feed him for a lifetime. 

On a more personal level of my faith in Christ, I believe God is taking me on this journey to prepare me for ministry. I will only share briefly on this topic but I believe God is moving me closer to my destiny and calling in Christ, to "do the work of an evangelist." (2 Tim. 4:5). To say the least, I am a scholar, a black intellectual, a Christian, a budding college president, and a politician at times! But without Christ in my life, there is no other way! I owe God so much. So from this moment on, I dedicate myself to live my life for the Lord, to serve Him, to give Him glory through my educational pursuits, and to acknowledge Him in all my ways. This past month (June 2013) has been a trying one. I have been tested and tried. But I believe God is able to do exceeding and abundantly above all that I ask or think according to the power that works in me. Most importantly, this trying month is the testing of the genuineness of my faith, to show my heart, and to prepare me to serve in the Peace Corps. If I were to tell you my testimony, you would not believe what I have gone through. But God has made ways and open doors. He is amazing! Therefore, I pledged to Him to serve Him for the rest of my life! Now, I must say this to cover myself. I understand that the Peace Corps is a non-religious organization that represents the United States of America. This blog does not represent the views of the Peace Corps or of the United States of America. This is a personal blog to share my thoughts and growth. It is my hope that you will join me in this journey to the glory of God. Here am I Lord, send me! 

In service to Him, 

Eugene Smith, M. A. 

The importance of education in the 21st century church

Note: I wrote this blog as a guest blogger. The original blog will be posted in pentecostalperspective.blogspot.com.

As a student affairs professional, I believe it is necessary that Christian church find that education is important. A student affairs professional is an administrator in a college setting that works with students develop their social, academic, and professional skills. I meet all types of students who are on their own path to attaining educational pursuits. For Christians, it is necessary for us to be equipped with as much education as possible to live in this world and compete in the job market. A lot of times I see that Christians are not keen on the importance of education. I do not know everyone’s reasoning behind why pursuing education (or the lack thereof) is important to them. I also do not want to give any assumptions. However, from what I see, the issue is not just the church but generational issues with attaining education. The reasons may be due to financial burdens, family issues, or the desirability to gain wealth out of high school. Yet, it is my belief that the Christian church should push the importance of education early on the young people in their congregation.

It is my hope that through this blog, I will be able to identify areas that the 21st Century church can improve upon. This is an opportune time to have real dialogue about education from the “pulpit to the door!” It is my hope that over time with intentional collaborative efforts, shared leadership, shared values, and a better understanding of education and student development these anxieties about education will begin to wane. Literature suggests that education is not only a good idea but absolutely necessary in this day and age. A college education provides more than just book smarts. There are other areas that need to be improved on in each student’s life. Social skills, professional development, racial development, identity development, and emotional development are other areas that a good education can help with. Several theoretically based questions should be considered: (a) What are the implications of cognitive development, (b) what does the psychosocial development look like, (c) How do we address racial and identity development? And (d) what are the spiritual and moral development opportunities? Questions like these are important when we look at encouraging education for our young people.

To hone this topic in a little more, I took the liberty to look at scripture to provide us with more content around the context of the importance of education in the 21st century church. When we look at the life of Paul who wrote majority of the New Testament there is no doubt that Paul is educated. In fact he stated in Acts 22:3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.” Paul points out several times in scripture his accolades in attaining an education in the law. I think that Paul’s education assisted his work in ministry when he came to Christ. Now, there may be other opinion regarding this matter. One would say that they do not need education to achieve the will of God in their life. I believe this to be absolutely true. Sometimes all it takes is the anointing, prayer, and fasting before the Lord to accomplish the will of God in one’s life. However, because of Paul’s education he was able to reach more people because he was educated.

He was rejected by the 1st century Christians because of his previous transgressions of being their persecutor. Yet, Paul plainly stated that his ministry was for the Gentiles, in particular, the Romans. The Lord made Paul a missionary to the Gentiles that he should "be of good cheer, for you must bear witness of Jesus at Rome” (Acts 23:11). I bring up this point because Paul was specifically placed to reach out to the Romans to bring them to Christ. When we look at the Romans of that day, they were educated, cultured, loved music, the arts, and theatre. Paul was specifically assigned to Rome because he was educated. I believe a certain level of education allows you to reach certain people. At the same time, more education will allow you to humble yourself to reach those who may not be as educated. My entire premise and point is that to the educated, we must show ourselves educated that we may by chance save some. We must become all things to all people so that by all possible means we may be able to save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Another point about the life of Paul and his level of education that I would like to make is that after he came to Christ everything became dung. That’s how we should be as we pursue higher education and attain our degrees as young people in the church. Paul said, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:7-11). At the end of the day, no matter how much education we may attain, they do not matter to knowing Jesus Christ and growing in relationship with him.

Finally, here are some of my suggestions for how the church should encourage our young people to attain more education. Conversations should take place that enables young people to think critically about what they are doing in their lives, where possible avenues of collaboration exist, and what prior knowledge and experiences they may have that they can bring to college. Congregations should validate their youth with the ability to know, they should make going to college comfortable by having more college-like experiences before they leave, and they should have conversations so that there is a common understanding about what college is like. A congregation should create a division within their youth departments that specifically focus on educational pursuits. We should do more than just acknowledging report cards and promotions. We should be intentional about pursuing education by having college fair days, taking college tours, and talking about financial aid and other assistance that is available for them.

I hope that this sheds some light on the importance of education in the 21st century church. This was just an attempt to begin the dialogue and think about education differently in the church. It is my hope that through my education God will get the ultimate glory and by chance “save some.” Thank you.