RNA Religion Stories-Joe Terrell
Men With A Purpose (Published 10/17/2010)
If you have strolled around campus within the previous months, chances are that you've stumbled across — or at least seen — Elder Batt and Elder Simons. This might have been a result of them sticking out from the crowd like a sore thumb: no matter the weather, Batt and Simons can always be found wearing black slacks, button-up white shirts and ties. But truth be told, you are seeing only the tip of the iceberg. Their presence in Aggieland is a story of commitment to a message they reverently believe.
Batt and Simons are both members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS Church was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith and has its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"The [LDS] church is much more centralized than most religions," said Tom McMullin, director of the LDS Institute of Religion in College Station and campus minister.
Branching out from headquarters in Utah, the LDS church is organized geographically. The church records a worldwide membership of 13 million, with 6.7 million members currently residing in the U.S. The congregations are led by bishops who, with no paid ministry structure, support themselves.
"As a campus minister, it is my goal to support the students on campus and do the best to benefit the students of all faiths," McMullin said. "It is not my motive to proselytize."
As for the LDS Institute of Religion, McMullin said he wants to stress that it is not just a home away from home for Mormon missionaries.
"We are also here to answer questions. Students come in here all the time asking questions about things they were told and want clarification," he said.
As for Elders Batt and Simons, both natives of Utah, the journey to Texas began quite some time ago. Beginning in the ninth grade, Mormon students are expected to attend religious classes every weekday before school. By the time many Mormon students graduate from high school, they will also have completed a four-year curriculum in LDS scripture studies. These classes continue into college, if the student decides to attend a university. So how did Batt and Simons choose Texas A&M as a mission field? Actually, they didn't.
The LDS church has more than 55,000 college-age missionaries on the field at any given time. As part of their doctrine, they are expected, but not required, to be on mission for two full years. They pay their way out of pocket for the extent of the mission. Most decide to interrupt their studies, so many of them — like Batt and Simons — are not actually college students.
If a Mormon decides to go on mission, he must first be deemed worthy by the LDS bishop of the area, who holds him accountable to the tenets of the LDS faith. If they are approved, they will receive a personal letter from the president of the church in Salt Lake City, and be assigned to any of the 350 LDS mission fields around the globe. They are then given the title of "Elder," which isn't an indication of age, but title of position within the Church. The missionaries themselves do not choose where they are to serve, however.
"It was very exciting for me," Batt, 21, said about receiving his letter. "We had the whole family there and a camera rolling when I opened it."
Simons, 19, said he expressed relief when he learned of his Texas assignment.
"They could have sent me anywhere. I could have been sleeping on a dirt floor in some foreign country. I'm glad I was sent somewhere not far from home."
During their mission, LDS missionaries maintain a strict dress and moral code. They aren't allowed to date, and they can only call home on Christmas and Mother's Day.
Concerning the conservative religious atmosphere of College Station, Batt — who has been here for six months — said, "It makes it a lot easier to bring up the topic and discuss the issues. But I love College Station. The people are nice and the area is beautiful."
Ultimately, if you see them on campus, Batt and Simons said they encourage students to approach them if they have questions and engage in conversation.
"We aren't trying to bash anyone's faith," Batt said. "We are just trying to spread the news and then letting the people make their own decisions about what to believe."
Discussing the Divine (Published 1/28/2011)
In what has become a familiar sight on campus, a man stands in the middle of Academic Plaza, screaming condemnation down on those who walk past. One hand forms an accusing finger, viciously jabbing in the direction of the onlookers clutched in his other hand is a Bible.
"I don't know the hearts of those doing it, but Christianity is about love," said Steve Hanson, senior computer engineering major. "And I don't think [that type of evangelizing] sends that message well."
Marcel LeJeune, class of 1995, thinks he has found the proper approach to on-campus evangelizing.
LeJeune graduated from Texas A&M in 1995 with a degree in history before earning a master's degree in pastoral theology at Ave Maria University and serving as director of campus Catholic ministries at Texas Tech from 2002-2006. While at Tech, LeJeune taught a class on evangelizing, which formed the genesis of the Ask a Catholic ministry.
"During the class I would challenge [students] with weekly assignments. The first week their assignment was to tell someone they didn't know they were Catholic. As the semester progressed, the challenges got more difficult," he said. "One week we decided to write the words ‘Ask a Catholic' on a board and we stood in the busiest part of campus. And that's how the ministry was born."
LeJeune is the assistant director of campus ministries at St. Mary's Catholic Center, which is the largest campus ministry in the country. More than 5,000 students attend St. Mary's Sunday services and 40 people work on staff. There are more than 80 student organizations that operate outward from St. Mary's.
When LeJeune took his position in 2006, he brought his unique ministry idea, even going so far to write a manual, which can be viewed online.
"Beginning every semester, we have a training course here at St. Mary's, which emphasizes basic do's and don'ts, interpersonal communication, basic argument formation and, most importantly, we teach them how to teach," he said.
The training sessions clock in at just under an hour and a half, which might seem short to some, but to LeJeune, the scant time frame is a necessity.
"You're only going to learn so much in a class setting, especially when you're learning about communication," he said. "The only way to know how to do it is to just go out there on campus and start talking to people."
Newer members are paired with veteran students in groups of three and four who then, donning bright lime green shirts and signs, head out to the most heavily trafficked areas on campus, including Academic Plaza, Sbisa, Blocker and Koldus.
"It's really born out of respect for people's free will," LeJeune said. "We don't think yelling is an effective ministry. We want to expose our faith, not impose."
Each three to four person group has a designated leader, whose job is to coordinate the schedules and find times for everyone to meet. The groups are typically deployed for an hour at a time, but it is not uncommon for a group to be out on campus for a longer period of time. The members of the Ask a Catholic ministry encounter a wide spectrum of questions from curious students.
"There's a lot of misconceptions about the Catholic Church and we want to clear that up," LeJeune said. "We get basic questions like ‘How can you prove God exists?' and then we get a lot on Catholic particulars about Mary, purgatory and the pope."
But LeJuene said he emphasizes that one of the goals of Ask a Catholic is never to argue.
"We get some people who just want to pick a religious debate," LeJeune said. "We want to build relationships and have respectful relationships. The person is more important than the question."
Students involved are told to be aware of their own limitations. At times, students might encounter a question that they do not know how to answer.
"I think an important part of the conversation dynamics is to know when it's OK to say, ‘I don't know,'" LeJeune said. "This way it's a learning experience for both parties involved."
Since Ask a Catholic's appearance on A&M's campus, three other campuses have adopted the ministry, using the guide that LeJeune wrote himself. The three other branches are at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Charlottesville and the University of Kansas.
"I really think we've changed the dynamic of evangelism on campus," LeJeune said, "Universities are a place of ideas and Christianity is a religion of ideas. We are bringing it back to its roots with relevant discussion."
Soul Music (Published 11/19/2011)
A throbbing bass line. Screeching guitar solos. A dazzling use of synthesizers. Club-worthy auto tuned choruses. These are phrases that have rarely been used to described contemporary Christian music. In a culture where the music scene is enraptured by a self-proclaimed "lovesick crackhead" and a former Disney Channel star strutting around in an S&M outfit, it seems the hedonistic party-hard lifestyle has marred our generation's contribution to be popular culture.
While many of the songs on the Top 40 — at any given time — feature danceable beats and catchy hooks, they are now more often than not personified by vapid lyrics that promote a meaningless existence that thrives on a "if it feels good, do it" outlook on life. However, all hope is not lost. Last night at 7:15 marked the launch of NGEN Radio, a subsidiary of 89.3 KSBJ, whose focus is to play clean and inspirational music with sounds similar to Top 40 hits.
"Ten years ago you could instantly tell the difference between the secular and contemporary Christian music," said Carlos Aguiar, program director for NGEN radio. "Not anymore though. The [contemporary Christian] genre has definitely evolved."
Aguiar is responsible for the day-to-day decision-making of programming for the new Christian music station. He holds an associate's degree in recording arts from Full Sail University in Orlando, Fla. Aguiar was brought in to help usher in this expanding genre of music to the Houston and College Station areas.
"[The station] was created, because KSBJ wanted to reach a new demographic of listeners," Aguiar said of the genesis of the project. "They had a program that ran every Saturday night from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. called Lightforce that was getting a lot of attention. So they expanded that three-hour block into an entire station."
While NGEN radio can be accessed on the FM by twirling your dial to 93.3, it has been heavily pushing the HD aspect of the station. With the use of a HD Radio receiver, one can acquire the HD channel of the station (92.5 KWUP HD-2), which richly enhances the experience. Not only will listeners be treated to superior digital sound quality on par with CDs and MP3s, it also opens the door to a new level of interactivity rarely seen over the airwaves. Deemed a "listener-oriented" station, listeners will have an active role in the set list for each day.
"Using a like/unlike system very similar to the one found on Facebook, our listeners can choose what songs they would like to be hear more of," Aguiar said. "You can interact with the station in real time, and the playlists will adapt to the feedback we receive online."
The technological aspect is not the only thing that Carlos is excited about though. For him, he said that it is mostly about the music.
"A lot of Christian stations don't play hip-hop, rock or pop, which is a shame because there is a lot of good stuff out there that was made for this Christian generation," Aguiar said. "With bands like The Almost, Anberlin and The Fray getting airtime on secular radio stations, it is proof that the traditional Christian music stigma is falling away. The cross-over appeal is there."
Other artists that NGEN will predominantly feature include TobyMac, Skillet, Fireflight, Group 1 Crew, Lecrae, Relient K and Switchfoot. Specifically, artists TobyMac and Skillet have a special connection to NGEN radio.
TobyMac, a former member of the band dc Talk, is one of the most successful Christian artists in history. With a unique blend of hip-hop, rock and soul, his past three albums have sold more than two million copies. Likewise, Skillet, which was formed in 1996, has seen a recent resurgence in popularity with the release of their past two albums, "Comatose" and "Alive." Mixing hard-edged metal with symphonic rock, Skillet is known for their epic pyrotechnic-filled concert events.
Thursday night in Reed Arena, members of each band flipped a switch that was linked to the NGEN's transmitter in Houston, "turning on" the station. Subsequently, TobyMac and Skillet then performed as part of the Awake Tonight Tour presented by Winter Wonder Slam. Aguiar himself emceed the event.
"Ultimately, I don't want NGEN to just be a station that plays cool music," he said. "I do want people to enjoy, but I want them to take some time to really look at the lyrics. I hope it will change their lives."