Linkfest: Commencement, Grad Resources, CLS, Christian Union

It's the end of May, and I've been a bit out of touch lately, so by way of excuse and as an exercise in connecting readers to other good ministries and stories, here's a personal note on my month, with some interesting links to occupy your Memorial Day weekend.

Congratulations to my wonderful daughter on her High School graduation. I gave the commencement address, so I'm sure it was a bit anti-climactic for her, having to listen to a summary of the advice she's been getting from me for 18 years. My address could be described as an amateurish 15-minute summary of Dallas Willard's Divine Conspiracy. To be sure, the book was better. I wish I had seen Neil Postman's commencement address before I wrote mine. Despite its (apparent) historical shortcomings, he makes an interesting point, and I would have liked to have done something similar. By the way, this is the 25th anniversary of the publication of his truly great book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, and it holds up extremely well, despite the fact that email and the Internet were not a part of his cultural landscape. Read it. The introduction is worth the price of the book (especially if you buy it used).

As part of my preparation for delivering the commencement speech, I golfed in the Grad Resources golf marathon to help raise money for this great ministry partner. Nick Repak runs Grad Resources with great energy and vision, and he invited me and our friend Don Paul Gross, a Regional Director for IVCF's Graduate and Faculty Ministries, to have some fun and talk to his donors about ministry partnership.

Much of my time in the office is being spent planning the program for this year's National Law Student Convention at the Christian Legal Society National Conference, to be held in Orlando, Florida, October 21-24. The student program will be excellent this year, with a keynote address by theologian Wayne Grudem, and panels featuring folks like Stanford Law professor Michael McConnell, the International Justice Mission, and practicing lawyers. The breakout sessions will feature topics such as women's issues, career options, missions, and law & theology.

Students who register before June 15 will receive double scholarships. The hotel rate is good through August 1. It would be great to see you there!

Finally, I spent some of last week at Princeton and in Philly on a great leisurely work/business as pleasure trip, and my son was able to accompany me to visit the ballpark in Philly to see the Red Sox play the Phillies. Yes, that is a ballpark cheesesteak in good hands.

My time in Princeton was spent recording the final six of twelve lectures on Christianity & Law for the good folks at Christian Union, who, Lord willing, will be distributing them through Lifelong Discipleship Media. Christian Union is a ministry to the Ivy League, and one of their goals is to network and support other campus ministries at these key schools. It was a pleasure to be part of their work and to enjoy the excellent hospitality of their staff and the team at Wilson House.

It was a busy month, and I am grateful for the many blessings the Lord has poured out on my family through my job, my sweet family, and the fun, interesting, dedicated folks who make me better at what I do, from authors and pastors to ministry partners and friends. The body of Christ is really something.