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By WCS Headmaster, Dr. Roger Erdvig
(This article is an edited transcript from Dr. Erdvig's commencement speech, given to the WCS class of 2021 on Saturday, June 5.) As I looked through the program this week, I was struck by all the decisions you have made to get here today: What to do after high school. What scholarships to apply for. What to wear in your senior photo. Where to take the picture. City? Country? Nature? Inside? Outside? Whether to sport the cool, disinterested look or the "I’m all in with this smile" look. (I’ll not name names.) But, you have many decisions still ahead of you. This morning I’d like to talk about one word that may very well help to make some of those decisions easier by providing a key to open doors. That word is SKILLED. By WCS Headmaster, Dr. Roger Erdvig
It’s June--the time of year when high school seniors leave childhood behind as they prepare to attend college or start working. It is also the time when juniors seriously begin thinking about what they will be doing in a year. What college should I attend? Should I take a year off or do a gap-year program? Maybe I should head straight to work? I am frequently asked by parents about my thoughts on Christian colleges, and I readily tell them why I believe Christian students should go to a Christian college. The concern behind their question is often for their child’s faith. But being in an environment that promotes a robust faith in Christ is not the ONLY reason I am a strong advocate for attending an authentic Christian university. Let's explore the challenges to Christian faith first. By WCS Headmaster, Dr. Roger Erdvig
In 1453, Constantinople—the hub of eastern Christianity—fell to the Ottoman Empire. After decades of spiritual and cultural decay, Constantinople did not have the internal resources to resist the enemy, and invaders overran the city. Thankfully, hundreds of scholars with keen foresight escaped to Europe with copies of ancient Greek manuscripts in tow. These brave academics knew that with the fall of the Christian culture around them, someone had to preserve the New Testament. Out of wreckage from the collapse of their earthly city, a remnant saw the importance of Scripture, and they committed their lives to preserving God’s Word, even at high personal cost. Their battle cry in the new war to be faithful to Scripture was “Back to the sources!” At the same time the Bible was being preserved and protected by scholars from Constantinople, it was also on the verge of explosive worldwide influence. In the very same year, something else happened which would spark widespread commitment to Scripture. While the gates of Constantinople burned, a little-known craftsman in Germany perfected a new invention—the printing press. And his first work? The Gutenberg Bible—the first fully printed book in the West. Before this time, Bibles were copied by hand, and only the wealthiest cathedrals of Christendom had copies. With the printing press, the Bible began a rapid journey around the globe, making God’s Word accessible to millions. By WCS Headmaster, Dr. Roger Erdvig
In last month’s issue of Influence, we looked at the first of Rod Dreher’s suggestions for equipping our children to flourish while living in an antagonistic culture. Since then, we’ve seen some developments in our culture that suggest things will get even more contentious, very quickly. One of those developments arose in an unexpected place – college basketball. March Madness is an American pastime, where the 64 top college basketball teams are whittled down throughout the tournament until the two top teams meet in the championship game. This year, a true underdog has made it into the Sweet Sixteen—a relatively small Christian college in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oral Roberts University. Ranked 15, ORU took out 2nd seed Ohio State in the first round. Then, in round two, they beat 7th ranked Florida State. By the time you read this article, the ORU Golden Eagles will have played 3rd ranked Arkansas. It’s the stuff of great sports movies. A small college takes on the big guys, and in true David v. Goliath fashion, they just keep winning. You’d think everyone would be watching the ORU Golden Eagles with a sense of awe and wonder. By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
In his important new book Live Not By Lies, conservative writer Rod Dreher outlines a strategy for how Christians can flourish in a culture that has become overtly antagonistic to Biblical truth. His strategy is notable for what it doesn’t include as much as what it does. Dreher does not urge big programs in big churches or massive campaigns to “reclaim culture.” Instead of going big, he counsels us to go small: Small groups. Spiritual friendships. Book clubs. Family resistance cells. Central to Dreher’s strategy is the Christian family, and he offers six specific commitments that families can make as they stand against lies.
 By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
Every so often, a book comes along that is so important, timely, and insightful that it demands a wide reading right away. Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents is just such a book. We all agree that 2020 and the first weeks of 2021 have been most unsettling and disturbing. We’ve seen cultural change accelerate like an avalanche, and it is hard to make sense of what’s happening and to discern what to do. In Live Not By Lies, author Rod Dreher provides the analysis we need to orient ourselves to our new realities, and he begins by issuing a clear warning: America has, over the last few decades, been primed for a new form of totalitarianism.  By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
Parents have the hard job of deciding what kind of school is best for their children. Of the many options available, which will have a more positive impact on their child’s life long into the future? All parents want their children to become well educated, responsible, and productive adults. Part of this vision for the future is the hope that they will have a healthy marriage and family of their own. So how does parents’ choice of school relate to this important goal for the future?  By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
In our Thanksgiving chapel, I shared a message from Psalm 9:1-2. In this short text, David helps us to grasp the power of gratitude to transform difficult situations into something good. King David’s message to us is consistent with a core truth of the Christian worldview—through our humble acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty (gratitude), hard times are redeemed for Kingdom purposes. What is perhaps not as familiar to us is the subtitle to Psalm 9. In the intro to the Psalm, we learn that it was addressed to the Director of Music, which means that David intended for this Psalm to be used in worship settings as a song. It’s as if your pastor wrote a brand-new worship song and emailed it to your worship director for use in next Sunday’s service. So far so good… But in addition to the lyrics, the songster David also included the tune for the new song. In the text notes, we discover that David intended Psalm 9 to be sung to a tune that the Music Director would already know: “The Death of the Son.” Really??? If I was the Music Director, I’d be shooting off a quick return email to David to make sure he knew what he was doing. Why pair a joyful, victorious song with a gloomy tune that we only use at funerals? While we do not have preserved for us what “The Death of the Son” sounds like, I’m pretty sure it’s not a happy tune.  By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
We hear a lot about biblical worldview as it relates to a Christian school education. But what exactly is a biblical worldview and how can a school help to shape that kind of worldview in students? Our approach to perceiving, interpreting, and living in the world around us includes our desires, our behaviors, and the propositions we hold to be true. Ideally, all three of these (also described as inclinations, actions, and truth claims) are consistent and cohesive. They make up our worldview and combine to form a pattern of ideas, beliefs, convictions, and habits. We use these to make sense of God, the world, and our relationship to God and the world. So a person with a biblical worldview is one who thinks, desires, and acts in ways that are consistent with God’s thoughts, desires, and actions as revealed through Scripture. Though truth claims are not the sum total of a person’s worldview, they do form its foundation. And for a well-formed biblical worldview, these truth claims are not random, unrelated ideas. Together, they make up an integrated narrative framework that accurately describes the way things are. A narrative framework is essentially a story of the world that provides a context for understanding why things happen the way they do and how we should respond to what happens. The narrative framework for a biblical worldview can be summarized in four key words. They are chronological in nature and provide meaning for all our experiences: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. Just a few weeks ago, a Canadian journalist gave me the perfect excuse to get out of mowing. In her article entitled, “Is it Time to De-Colonize Your Lawn?” she makes the case that backyard lawns are vestiges of European colonialism and we should stop cutting the grass.
While this may seem an innocuous article that reflects fringe thinking, it actually serves as a good reminder of how important it is to understand the worldview of others and to evaluate that worldview in light of a Biblical worldview. (It’s also not as fringe as you might think.)  By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
In the 1940s, C. S. Lewis wrote his famous "Screwtape Letters" as a clever means to equip Christians to guard against the wiles of the evil one. In the spirit and style of Lewis' imagined correspondence between a senior demon (Screwtape), and his young tempter-protege (Wormwood), I wrote a new entry on how high school graduates can spot and defend against attacks from the evil one. In this "newly discovered" Screwtape Letter, I imagine how an experienced demon would advise an apprentice on how to trip up a recent Christian school graduate. Note: I have no intention of telling you how I came upon this secret correspondence between what seems to be a more senior demon and his junior apprentice. The text of the letter leads me to believe that the senior demon is responsible for instructing the younger on the art of temptation and how to win an individual over to the evil one. You must keep in mind that when the writer is referring to “our enemy,” he is referring to God, and when referring to “our father below,” he is talking about Satan himself. My Dear Wormwood, Congratulations on your assignment to your new patient. I trust you will be much more vigilant in following my directives on this one than you were with the last, who I must remind you again, escaped your grasp and is now firmly in the hands of the enemy. Frankly, I am amazed that your punishment was not more significant than it was… but that’s a subject for another day. On to the business at hand. Your new patient is ideal for a young, inexperienced tempter as yourself. Actually, I can’t think of a better one on whom you can practice, and perhaps renew your standing with me. She is what the filthy two-legged animals call a “high school graduate,” and they are pathetically easy to confound and confuse. Yes, I am aware that she attended a Christian school, but that can actually play to our advantage. I have often seen where humans who attended Christian schools develop a very desirable habit, at least for our purposes: they tend to skip along blindly, relying on their parents' or their teachers’ connection to the enemy, instead of knowing him for themselves, all the while not even realizing they are living in our clutches. In this way, they practically do all of the work for us. But, don’t get too lazy. You still must exert much effort to win her over to our father’s side.  By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
Practically overnight, everything changed. On Thursday, March 12, the WCS leadership team made the hard decision to postpone our Spring Gala (scheduled for the next evening) due to Governor Carney's declaration of a State of Emergency, which included guidance to avoid crowds of 100 or more people. Within 24 hours, we made the announcement to parents that due to COVID-19, we would need to pivot to all distance-based teaching and learning. A lot can happen in 24 hours! Teachers jumped on an aggressive learning curve to transition to video-based instruction, with only two weeks to do so. Students were suddenly home with all their school supplies and their families, and away from the their friends. WCS leadership meetings moved to video, and sports seasons came to a screeching halt.  By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
Spiritual formation and worldview development are two concepts that are really important for Christian schools. Indeed, it would be difficult to find a Christian school that is not concerned with both spiritual formation and worldview development, with one or both concepts mentioned in their mission or vision statements. (And if you DID happen to find a Christian school that didn’t keep these two concepts at the forefront of everything they do, you’d have to question whether it is a Christian school at all!) It is important to understand that all schools play a role in the process of spiritual formation and worldview development of their students. These are not exclusive domains of Christian schools. Public, private, parochial, homeschools--they ALL shape the spirit and the worldview of their students. That’s right, even non-Christian schools shape the spirits and the worldviews of their students. However, Christian schools ought to lead in intentional, specific spiritual formation and worldview development. By intentional, I mean that we must be able to point to observable activities that actually facilitate proper spiritual formation and worldview development in our students. We can’t just say that these are priorities; we must show that they are. And by specific, I’m saying that we are committed to Christian spiritual formation and Biblical worldview development.  By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
One of the aims that WCS has for our students and graduates is that they will be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. This is a core element of why we exist as a school. However, shaping the heart of a young disciple is becoming harder and harder. From the intense pressure to conform to the spirit of the age, to the pervasive impact of the digital universe, we are in an uphill battle. Recent research suggests that the number of young adults in the U.S. who identify as followers of Christ is rapidly shrinking year after year. 64% of young adults who grew up in church have dropped out of (and sometimes back into) church. The number of teens who identify as atheists has doubled in the last year. And this impacts their core beliefs. Consider this—most teens in the US believe that not recycling is more evil than viewing pornography. Only 10% of young adults who consider themselves Christian actually have a robust, life-shaping faith in Christ. Have I convinced you yet of the uphill battle that WCS, our families, and our churches are facing? (Read about these stats and more at https://www.barna.com/category/millennials-generations/) But, there is good news. Researchers David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock have extensively studied today’s Christian landscape, and they have discovered ways that we can cultivate robust faith in our students and young adults. They’ve written about what they’ve learned in a new book, Faith for Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon.  By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
In the latter half of the 1700’s, England was in a cultural death spiral. British slave-trading vessels shipped human cargo across the Atlantic, one in four women in London was involved in sex occupations, and bear-baiting was an accepted form of entertainment. It was in the midst of this culture that William Wilberforce became a giant of a Godly influencer, helping to stem the tide of depravity that marked late Georgian England. But how did he come to have such profound influence?  By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
Theodore Roosevelt didn’t always wear his famous round spectacles. In fact, we find in his autobiography that it wasn’t until late in his childhood that he even realized that he was terribly nearsighted. Though he loved to study nature as a boy, he recalled that he was “always at a hopeless disadvantage” and befuddled because he couldn’t see—and yet was “wholly ignorant that [he] was not seeing.” When he finally got his first pair of glasses, “an entirely new world was opened” to him. This is a common story… an elementary student struggles with paying attention in class but then gets glasses and everything changes. An aspiring tennis player can’t improve beyond basic proficiency until he gets glasses and suddenly he can see the ball just as it hits his opponent’s racquet and his game instantly improves. These are great analogies for another kind of seeing—how we see, understand, and navigate the world around us. Philosophers call this a worldview, and as its name implies, it functions as the lens through which a person views the world. But beyond merely seeing, our worldview dictates how we live in the world. By WCS Headmaster Dr. Roger Erdvig
Most Christian schools include some version of "impacting the culture for Christ" in their mission statements. But very few define what that means, and even fewer seem to specifically plan for how they will actually equip their students to do so. WCS has adopted a set of four key questions that help guide our efforts at helping our students apply a Biblical worldview-- questions that flesh out what it means to impact the culture. These questions are adapted from Restoring All Things: God's Audacious Plan to Change the World Through Everyday People, by John Stonestreet and Warren Cole Smith. (Buy it here on Amazon.) 1) What is good in our community that we can cultivate? In this question, we're looking for what's already good in our community and considering how we can improve it. Whether it's perfecting a piece of music for a concert or re-writing several drafts of a persuasive paper to make it "pop," students are encouraged to take what's good, and make it better. |
Wilmington Christian School provides a distinctively Christian, innovative education that effectively develops Godly influencers who are well prepared for life after high school and who impact the culture for Christ.
Wilmington Christian School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. |
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