Dr. Keith Plummer, Dean of the School of Divinity, opened chapel by sharing from John’s account of the feeding of the five thousand. He highlighted John 6:23, where the apostle notes that the people returned to the place where they had eaten after the Lord had given thanks. Rather than first drawing attention to the miracle itself, John points to Christ’s thanksgiving. As Dr. Plummer reminded us, Jesus shows us what it looks like to live a life marked by gratitude and thankfulness.

Dr. Plummer then shared what he is thankful for, followed by seven other School of Divinity faculty. 

We are thankful for opportunities like this to reflect on how God continually keeps His promises. In the smallest moments, and the biggest milestones, we can always rejoice and give thanks to God! Happy Thanksgiving!

Penn Community Bank Foundation is an initiative that seeks and funds local efforts to better the surrounding community. Their core value categories include community enrichment, local business growth, economic self-sufficiency and opportunity, and disaster recovery and emergency services. Penn Community Bank identified CELP as an undertaking that fosters the kinds of values they aim to support.

Organized by School of Education professor Marika Ravin, CELP faithfully educates adults seeking to learn or improve their English. Students and volunteers gather every Wednesday evening during the academic year for a few hours to learn in a community-oriented environment. The CELP initiative is maintained by a majority of Cairn students, faculty, and staff who joyfully give their time to teach English.

With the grant, CELP can expand the teaching team and obtain new curriculum for prospective students. This impact goes beyond tangible resources. CELP, which has been running for nearly seven years, estimates that this generous gift can impact over 800 individuals. CELP projects it can help re-engage previous students in order to better prepare them for education and a career, and fund other program activities. The benefited individuals make up immigrants, refugees, and international students from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, China, Turkey, and many more.

The Community English Language Program is incredibly grateful for this grant and is excited to support the local community. To learn more about the initiative or volunteering opportunities, visit cairn.edu/CELP. To learn more about the Penn Community Bank Foundation, .

This past semester, the reached out to Cairnā€™s visual arts department requesting a project. The project parameters consisted of six individual murals that were to represent one of the FLDCā€™s six core values: Faith, Liberty, Justice, Unity, Hope, and Love. Six artists were then commissioned to take on the project, each selecting a value they were most passionate about. Throughout the semester, they worked diligently to blend their personal artistic creativity with a passage of Scripture chosen to inspire and inform their piece.

In November, the artists traveled to the FLDC to unveil their work. Situated within the bustling city of Philadelphia, just across the street from the prominent Liberty Bell, the Center is difficult to missā€”especially with the brightly painted murals hanging outside the Center. 

Not only are the murals a representation of the Centerā€™s values, they are also infused with gospel themes as they relate to the core values. So as crowds passed by every day for the two months the murals were on display, our artistsā€™ work clearly proclaimed the gospel through the universal language of art.

To learn more about our visual arts programs, visit cairn.edu/sciences.

Since 2018, Cairn has served the outside community through its Community English Learning Program (CELP). Organized by School of Education Professor Marika Ravin, CELP has joyfully taught adults seeking to learn or improve on their English every Wednesday evening during the academic year. Students are divided into groups, each group representing a level of English the student knowsā€”one being very little and five being more advanced. Many of the volunteers that assist with teaching lessons and creating engaging activities are Cairn students.

This year, the CELP community has seen tremendous growth in attendance due to the war in Ukraine. As refugees come in, CELP has opened its arms wide to accommodate. Within the five different levels, class sizes can vary from six students to 40, primarily consisting of Ukrainians. With two or three volunteers in each classroom, they spend time opening the class with a fun question or prompt. Not only does this help them practice speaking English, it also builds a strong community. Students have the opportunity to know their fellow classmates as well as their teachers. After the prompts, each classroom has a unique activity that engages with the student in a way they best understand. The level five class is currently reading through Malcom Gladwellā€™s Outliers in order to practice reading, comprehension, and discussion. The level two classroom practices grammar from workbooks as volunteers walk around to offer help. CELP also offers a room for the youngest children to stay and play while the parents learn. Currently, over 50 children are enrolled.

Marika, in awe of the support and help CELP has received this year, says ā€œI just remember that this is Godā€™s program.ā€ With the sudden flow of Ukrainians desiring to learn English, the CELP program was in desperate need of more help. The need was quickly met, and each class has at least two volunteers.

Joshua Maier, a level four volunteer and history major, says that during one of his classes, they asked a prompt discussion question: ā€œWhat is something that made you happy this week?ā€ A student responded ā€œI’m happy for everything in my life. Anything that happens to me here is so much better than my loved ones in Ukraine.” Despite the hardships many of the students face, Joshua says ā€œI am encouraged by their dedication to making a better life for themselves and their children in this new country.ā€

Level five volunteer Jeff Endres has been working with CELP for three years now. Throughout the experience, he says ā€œAs a TESOL major, getting to know the students has been a highlight for me in my time volunteering, as well as being a great opportunity for gaining experience teaching English.ā€

The CELP program has consistently demonstrated a care and passion for serving that is evident not just in the program as a whole, but also in the individual volunteers who set aside their time to plan lessons and get to know their classes deeply.

Those who are interested in CELP courses can learn more and register at cairn.edu/CELP.

On Thursday, March 3, 140 people gathered for Cairnā€™s annual Church Leaders Conference. The Church Leaders Conference takes place over the course of one day, inviting Church leaders across denominations to enjoy an edifying and educational event. This yearā€™s conference was centered around the theme of being the Church in the digital age. 

Jay Y. Kim, a lead pastor at WestGate Church in the Silicon Valley of CA, led the conference as the keynote speaker. In addition to pastoring a church, he works at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA as a teacher-in-residence. Heā€™s also authored a book, Analog Church, and has had his writing published by Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, Relevant, Mission Alliance, and more.  

The conferenceā€™s main session started in the morning from 9:15 to 10:30 am. Breakout sessions, including ā€œDigital Discipleship in the Homeā€ with Mrs. Renee Beamer, ā€œThe Bibleā€™s Use of the Bible and Preachingā€ with Dr. Gary Schnittjer, and ā€œAddressing Issues of Forgiveness in Ministryā€ with Dr. Bryan Maier occurred after a brief break. After lunch, a second main session took place, which was followed by a Q&A session ending at 2:15 pm. 

During his seminar sessions, Jay Y. Kim challenged church leaders to think critically about how to best lead congregations in the digital age, giving advice on how to wisely steward the gift of technology and raising awareness of its potential pitfalls. Jay Y. Kim shared, 

ā€œAs convenience, accessibility, and automation increases, what happens right alongside it? There is a decrease in strength, skill, participation, and practiceā€¦To follow Jesus faithfully and deeply we have to recognize and embrace the reality that there is no technological substitute that can do that work for you. Discipleship to Jesus demands effort and participation. The more we leverage technology . . . we simply have to reckon with reality and ask ourselves the question: how is our leveraging of this technology potentially decreasing strength, skill, participation, and practice in the lives of our people?ā€ 

If youā€™re interested in hearing more about Jay Y. Kimā€™s message, watch  and  on 91³Ō¹Ļā€™s .

The newly formed (NJCO), composed of accomplished musicians in the Mid-Atlantic region, includes several distinguished members of the 91³Ō¹Ļ School of Music: maestro Thomas Hong, pianist Benjamin Harding, violinist Natalia Rudoi DaSilva, and violist Rachel Ku. Alumni Hannah Pak and Emilie Park as well as current students Caleb Thompson and Brinson Moore are also taking part in the orchestra.Ģż

Alongside other exceptional musicians from the greater Philadelphia area and beyond,

Music faculty Natalie Rudoi DaSilva will also perform with the group. DaSilva has served at the University with her expertise in applied violin and symphony orchestra since 2009. Her musical pedigree includes instruction under distinguished music educators and her enrollment in Temple University Music Prepā€™s Center for Gifted Young Musicians. She has also appeared as soloist with the Kennett Symphony Orchestra, the Manalapan Battleground Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony Orchestraā€”the institute where she earned her BMus and MMus.

The orchestra also includes Cairn music professor and member of the Philadelphia Orchestra Rachel Ku. Ku began instructing at Cairn in 2013, though she made her musical debut much earlier in Taipei in 1995. In 2004, Ku became the youngest member of the Philadelphia Orchestra at only 19. This renowned and several-award-winning violist holds a BMus from the Curtis Institute of Music and a MMus from the New England Conservatory.
The orchestra also welcomed Cairn alumni Hannah Pak and Emilie Park alongside current music students Caleb Thompson and Brinson Moore.

NJCO held their first performance at The Music Barn, an outdoor venue in Mullica Hill, NJ, on July 9, 2021. Robin Leigh Massie, vocal faculty in the School of Music, participated as a guest performer in this inaugural concert. Drawing on the current cultural ethos of reopenings and fresh starts, the inaugural concert was titled ā€œAn American Dream: Music of Aaron Copland.ā€ The ensemble sought to make their performance of Coplandā€™s works ā€œencapsulate the hope, optimism and earnestness of the American spirit present in Coplandā€™s Appalachian Spring and Tender Land Suite.ā€

Dear Students,Ģż
It has been a little more than a week since my last letter to you and the faculty and staff. Today, I am writing to you again and doing so in an attempt to communicate my thoughts and concerns, some institutional perspective, and some initiatives being undertaken. I also want to prepare us as a community for the next steps in our life together. There is much to say and I ask that you take the time to read this in its entirety. I know it is lengthy, but I want you to know my thoughts and my heart. In fact, let me encourage you to read it more than once because these are weighty issues. I trust you have read the statements made in last weekā€™s eNews and my previous letter despite the technical mishap that delayed its delivery to many of you. I apologize for that and pray that you will find this letter to be helpful and encouraging.Ģż
I am pleased to repeat the announcement made earlier this week. We will reopen shortly, and I look forward to our regularly scheduled start to the fall semester at both graduate and undergraduate levels. You have been sorely missed on campus; the place is never the same without you. It was difficult and sad for all of us having the spring semester altered so dramatically and the spring commencement postponed. But we will soon make an announcement about celebrating with our 2020 graduates. We will soon be together again. It is my hope and prayer that we will have a wonderful reunion, that we will have a good year, and that you will enjoy reengaging your life and calling as students at Cairn.ĢżĢż
It is also my hope and prayer that we will turn a new corner in our life as a community of believers, that some things will not be the same, that we will be strengthened in our bonds and appreciation for one another, and that our community will learn and grow together. My earnest desire is that Cairn be a place where what we believe and teach will be manifest in our relationships with one another in all areas of life and workā€”particularly in the area of race. Our attitudes and actions toward one another, and interactions with one another across racial lines, must be guided and governed by the love of God, His Holy Word, our shared faith and oneness in Christ, as well as our submission to the work of the Holy Spirit who indwells us as believers.Ģż
I have thought and prayed and sought counsel from many voices about what to share with you. I have been troubled deeply in a very powerful and spiritually renewing way. Over the course of the past two weeks, I have heard from students, alumni, community and church leaders, as well as members of our faculty and staff and our Board of Trustees. I have heard the pain and grief and fatigue as well as the outrage at injustice and violence. I have heard support and affirmation as well as criticism and exhortation. All of this is important and worth hearing and will hopefully make us stronger and more understanding, but it also underscores some of the challenges we face.Ģż
It would be naive to think the tensions we see in the broader community and world around us do not exist within the church and our own University. It would be wrong to assume that simply because we are Christians who study the Bible, attend chapels, and carry out Christian service, we do not have deeply entrenched attitudes and resulting behaviors that have been, and still are, hurtful to African-Americans and other students of color and have caused pain for those who are living and studying in a predominately white institution. For this I ask forgiveness and pray Godā€™s grace will enable us to right these things.ĢżĢż
It would be foolish to pretend that life is perfect, that all of us feel the same sense of belonging, that all of us feel loved, cared for, and listened to equally. It would also be foolish and arrogant to believe that any of us is free from a personal struggle with race and racism. We fight every day with the world, the flesh, and the devil. To think that spiritual conflict does not impact us on matters of race does not reflect Godly humility. As Christians, we are to be humbly desirous of truth, and this begins with honesty before God about the nature of humanity in a fallen and sinful world, and consequently, with our own sinful attitudes and actions. Yet within Christian communities, not only do we fail too often to love and respect one another as we should, we often fail to see our failures. Sometimes when we do see them, we fail to make them right. This ought not be so. And we must commit ourselves to doing better by Godā€™s grace. I am personally committed to that, and I will lead us accordingly.ĢżĢż
We have before us an opportunity to be a fellowship of Jesusā€™ followers whose love for one another is a sweet aroma in our midst and a testimony to the world around us of Godā€™s goodness. But this will require work, humility, repentance, and action on each of our parts as well as the institutionā€™s. Hard conversations, too long avoided, must take place respectfully and in keeping with our Christian convictions in a way that builds up and unites rather than divides and tears down. We are committed to this work, and there are specific things already underway and others being discussed and planned that will be undertaken soon. Please be assured we will communicate with you as these are developed and implemented.Ģż
You may be aware that during the January faculty workshop, discussions were started on the important matters of race and racism and the implications of these as we carry out our work at Cairn. Dr. VanBilliard and the academic leadership at the University support further training and discussion, and Dr. VanBilliard has decided to dedicate the upcoming August faculty workshop to this. There will be training for faculty and staff members from both internal and external individuals. I believe there will be some open and helpful dialogue that will benefit our faculty and staff as colleagues and you as their students.Ģż
There are also ongoing conversations about the curriculum. These will build upon the development of the new core and new courses that took place last year, as well as our discussions about these important matters regarding race and racism. As you know, we have also been discussing our discipleship efforts and how those can be strengthened not just outside the classroom but in and through the classroom. I look forward to those conversations continuing as well as the strengthening of our teaching in a way that addresses serious cultural issues from a biblical perspective and challenges students to seek and submit to the Lord in every area of life and relationships.Ģż
We will have the opportunity in chapel to pray, worship, and fellowship as well as learn together what the Lord and His Word have to teach us about Christian unity and community. There will be speakers and worship services specifically addressing issues of race and racism. We will also be hosting a student forum or town meeting with me personally to hear directly from students and answer questions pertaining to these issues and our approach to them, including what we have done and said and what we have not done and said. Dean Porcella had been meeting in the spring term with a group of students expressing concerns about the disparate experiences of students of color. He also met with them in the past week. Those meetings are important and will be helpful to the staff and their work in caring for the entire student body.ĢżĢż
I also want you to know the Board has had good and serious discussions regarding race, racial tension, and racism at the University and beyond. These will continue. This group, which is charged to guard our mission and support the fulfillment of it. Members give of their time and resources sacrificially as Godā€™s servants called to their important roles. They are genuinely concerned about you as students, your education, your well-being, and your experience at Cairn. We will be arranging some opportunities for members of the Board of Trustees to meet with and hear the concerns of African-American and other ethnic minority faculty members. The same opportunity will be planned for student representatives. Likewise, I will be meeting with African-American faculty members soon, and the student event my wife and I agreed to host in our home before the COVID-19 interruption, concerning racial issues and the experiences of minority students, will take place when we return to campus. These opportunities and meetings are hopefully the beginning of an ongoing dialogue which will improve awareness and understanding that will lead to strengthening our community and improving the experience of all students.ĢżĢż
In my previous letter, I referenced our own imperfect institutional history. The events of recent days have rightly led many institutions like Cairn to do some serious soul-searching and listening. In the spirit of Christian love, humility, and unity, we must examine ourselves before God and seek to make right what we can by Godā€™s grace. It is altogether fitting and morally right that the University speak to the hurt and pain caused to the African-American and black communities by the false and damaging teaching regarding the Curse of Ham, as referenced in the original Scofield Notes that are so closely associated with our institution. These were used in this institutionā€™s curriculum for many years, and while they have not been in use for some time now, our institution served historically as an architect and proliferator of those notes and the study Bible of which they are part. We lament this and the generational, collective, and personal damage experienced and incurred. This abhorrent teaching that black men and women are the ā€œinferior and servile posterityā€ of Ham is a shameful part of our past. Its harmful impact on both black and white students is grievous. In our own institutionā€™s history and the history of others like ours, this sinful doctrine has been used to justify, foment, cause, and perpetuate racist attitudes and actions which have hurt generations of African-Americans and African-American members of the University community. This grieves God and violates biblical standards of morality as well as the biblical teaching and truth that all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God and therefore are equal in worth, dignity, and value. For the place this teaching had in our own history and the harm it has caused, the Board and I together apologize and ask for forgiveness. We repent of this before the Lord. It is a sinful and shameful thingā€”the damage of which we cannot totally reverse. But we are committed to ensuring that all our students understand its abhorrence and are taught to love and respect people according to the teaching and example of Jesus, as our institutional objectives state. It must also be clear that we are committed to demonstrating to the University community and the church we serve that we will not allow this error and sin of our past to be repeated.
Finally, a word regarding your roles. Much of what we experience in the life of the University is not only enlivened and enriched by you as students but is dependent upon you. I have been so encouraged by the way you rallied around one another and the school in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis and interruption. I have every confidence that you will care for one another and our University in an edifying manner now. The way in which you commit yourselves to the studentā€™s life and calling, as men and women committed to receiving an education centered on Christ and His Word, matters a great deal. It matters a great deal how you think about one another, talk to one another, and treat one another. It matters a great deal that you are motivated by and sustained by the goodness, grace, love, and mercy of God. Ours is not a secular institution. Our purpose is different. So too should our motivations and approaches be different. I am gravely concerned about potential increased divisiveness, mistreatment, and misunderstanding in our community. I am also concerned that the tensions and conflict you see around you will lead you either to apathy and indifference or vitriol and rage. I am concerned that the secular values and sensibilities vying for your hearts and minds will harm your faith and erode your biblical worldview, leading you to follow the pattern of this world rather than the transformation God is working in us through the renewing of our minds, as Romans 12 teaches. We must remember that we are the sheep of the Good Shepherd Jesusā€˜ fold; all of us, each of us. We must remember who we are as Christiansā€”those bought with the precious blood of Jesus who have been reconciled to God, enabling us and requiring us to be reconciled to one another.ĢżĢż
We pray for you every day. I trust you know that we love and care for all of you and that our desire is for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord as individuals and as a community. Let me challenge you and ask you to do what I am doing personally and what I am asking the faculty and staff to do as well. Take some time in the weeks that remain before we reconvene, whether you are a graduate student or an undergraduate student, whether you study here on campus or online, whether you are a resident student or a commuter, to go before the Lord and examine yourself as we are encouraged to do in Scripture, and to commit yourself anew to what we are taught in Ephesians 4:1ā€“3: to walk according to our calling and with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. When we come together again, we will corporately and collectively commit ourselves to this before the Lord.Ģż
May our faithful God be gracious and merciful to us and give us what we need to be instruments fit for His service.

The day kicked off with the Alumni Pastors Breakfast in Manor Hall. This breakfast brought pastors and Cairn representatives together to discuss how the University can best support their churches. Later in Chatlos Chapel, the conference officially began with a time of singing and Dr. Witmerā€™s first main session.

• ā€œPaulā€™s Shepherding in Thessalonicaā€ with Dr. Jonathan Master
• ā€œShepherding and Discipleship Shaped by Doctrineā€ with John Biegel
• ā€œShepherding Teens in a Digital Ageā€ with Dr. Matt McAlack
• ā€œShepherding through Visitationā€ with Henry Jansma

Moving from the breakout sessions to lunch, attendees finally came back together for the second main session and an open Q&A with Dr. Witmer.

In addition to the information from these sessions, conference attendees left with a copy of Dr. Witmerā€™s The Shepherd Leader. The conference was once again an encouraging time for ministry leaders as they continue to strive to shepherd their congregations well.Ģż
Special thanks to this yearā€™s sponsor, . Their support is part of what made this event possible.
Listen to or watch recordings of Dr. Witmer’s sessions:
Session 1 ( | )
Session 2 ( | )