How to Make a Difference in Someone’s Life
ALTHOUGH THE HIV/AIDS crisis appears out of control,
Christians can make a difference, emphasized speakers at the Seattle
Pacific University symposium in November. Here are some ways to get started:
Learn. SPU junior Melody Rivera, who’s active in ministering
to those with HIV/AIDS, points people toward a Web site featuring U2
lead singer, Bono, at www.datadata.org. It links to an array of organizations
such as World Vision, the World Health Organization and the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), all of which can help to educate
about AIDS.
Build a relationship. Several SPU students, professors and staff
members volunteer through Multifaith Works, an organization that assembles
teams in the greater Seattle area to assist individuals living with AIDS.
Team members help with such tasks as shopping and housecleaning while
building a relationship with a CarePartner. Other Seattle Pacific families
sponsor and correspond with AIDS orphans through a program sponsored
by World Vision. Call 206/324-1520 for additional information about Multifaith
Works. Visit World Vision on the Web at www.worldvision.org for
details about sponsor-a-child opportunities, or call toll-free 1-888-511-6598.
Volunteer. Numerous organizations in Seattle and elsewhere
offer ways to address the AIDS crisis and serve those who have the disease.
Seattle Pacific has hosted SPRINT teams — which are open to alumni — that
volunteer in African hospitals, clinics and villages. Free Methodist
World Missions sponsors AIDS hospitals in Rwanda and an AIDS hospital
and children’s home in Burundi, and the organization welcomes volunteers.
REACH Ministries needs mentors for Northwest children with HIV/AIDS,
as well as counselors for its summer camp. Call 206/281-2966 to learn
about SPRINT teams. Visit the Free Methodist World Missions Web site
at fmwm.freemethodistchurch.orgfor
information about volunteer opportunities. For the details about REACH,
call 253/383-7616 or visit www.REACHministries.org.
Pray. On your own or with others, join or start a network
devoted to praying for victims of HIV/AIDS. REACH has a new worldwide
prayer network that you are invited to join.
Use your professional skills. With the AIDS epidemic
touching all parts of the world, consider ways your career skills can
make a difference. “It’s going to take every single kind of occupational
response that we can muster — in engineering, health care, education,
business, music, art, drama and more,” says SPU Dean of the Chapel Tim
Dearborn. The Seattle Pacific Career Development Center has a list of
King County, Washington, vocational opportunities in response to AIDS.
Call the Center at 206/281-2485 for more information.
“The response of Christians to the AIDS crisis is very important,” said Tony
Campolo, challenging listeners at Seattle Pacific about their responsibilities
as children of God and as citizens of his created world. “To whom much is given,
much is expected.”
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From the President
SPU aims to take its vision to new spheres of influence and effectiveness. "I
love finding those strategic, economic levers that allow us to allocate,
align, realign and increase our resources — so that our vision might
bear fruit,” says President Philip Eaton.
Homecoming 2003!
On Homecoming weekend, SPU’s campus lights up with music, theatre,
high-flying hoops, the Talent Show and much-anticipated class reunions.
[Campus]
An SPU Icon
Danna Wilder Davis completed what few others ever did at Seattle Pacific:
Between 1924 and 1939, she went from first grade to college graduation
in consecutive years on campus. [Alumni]
Vocation, Vocation, Vocation
Three faculty-led initiatives received SPU’s 2002-2003 Faculty Grants
for Theology and Vocation. The grants support projects that weave
vocational themes into the curriculum. [Faculty]
My Response
“I’m the father of an AIDS orphan,” says Tim Dearborn, dean of the chapel at
SPU, as he recounts his teenage daughter’s trip to Uganda. There she visited
an AIDS orphan sponsored by the Dearborn family.
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