What a day… I woke up at 7am this morning ready to conquer the Oregon Trail. I started the day off in Salem, Oregon (where I woke up) and visited Corban College (formerly known as Western Baptist College). I literally did a “pop in” visit to campus, and met one of the Career/Academic Advisors on campus and introduced him to all of ISI’s programs.
He said Corban College is a “conservative Christian” schoool… so he was very receptive and thought our missions ran very parallel to one another. Good visit overall.
Next, I drove about an hour south down to Eugene, Oregon to set up a table at Northwest Christian College. I had contacted a guy that works for them, he heads up the Student Activities at NWCC and he told me I could come put a table in front of the entrance to the cafeteria, where all the students would come to eat around 11:45am just after chapel. So, I did. I only signed up about 10 members, but I handed out about 50 ISI Brochures and talked with some key people. One was the Student Body president, who was very happy I was there and was happy to learn about ISI. He wants to host ISI lectures on his campus. Also, the guy who I had originally contacted didn’t know too much about ISI. When he figured out we were conservative and focused on traditional values, he was very happy to have me there, saying that even though NWCC is a “Christian” school, there were many instructors who “challenged students’ faith.” Unreal, I thought. He also said they have a very “inclusivist, relativist” attitude, not really a strong established faith. He thinks ISI can help combat this moral relativism on this Christian campus.
Next up… I went right over to the University of Oregon, home of the “Ducks!” It is literally right next to the NWCC campus. And, it’s full of hippies. WOW. There were things I saw on campus that I didn’t expect (despite the warnings ahead of time). I felt like this could have been Berkeley in the 1960s. I even saw one demonstrator on campus with a table, and he had signs advertising that he was against the war, for socialism and was happy to provide “free abortions on demand” (or at least tell the “liberated women” where to get some). I’m sure the University health office probably provides them. Disgusting. I almost wanted to punch the guy, but then realized his blunt “honesty” was probably going to help the pro-life side, so let him keep at it.
While on campus, I popped into the Oregon “Commentator’s” office – they are the Collegiate Network publication on campus. Two of them were actually there and we had a nice chat for about a half-hour about all things ISI. They were happy to see me, saying it was a “pleasant suprise.” Colin from CN had just paid them a visit a few days before.
After leaving Eugene, I drove up to Corvallis, about a 45-minute drive, to the home of the “Beavers” at Oregon State. In 45 minutes, I had driven from one side of the “Civil War” to the other (that’s the name of the U of O and OSU football rivalry).
I met with some long-established ISI and CN’ers – including Luke and Nathanael, who head up the OSU Students Alliance and the OSU Liberty, the ISI Group and CN publication on campus. Good guys, and they brought out a few other good people on the staff of this very successful CN publication. I’ve gotten to know Luke and Nathanael pretty well over the last 6 months – both have made visits to ISI this summer and Nathanael attended our camping trip in the Shenandoah. I think I even took Luke to his first MLB baseball game with the Phillies-Marlins this summer. They are awesome people and I’m glad that ISI has provided me the opportunity to get to know them that much more. And, they are also faith-filled students. Four of the students there tonight all attended the same Christian high school in their hometown, which is about 30 minutes from the OSU campus. It’s great to see them remain good friends over the years and have the opportunity to attend college together and make a nice dent on the OSU campus with their group and publication.
Good things are surely in store for these guys… they’re smart, energetic, friendly, and people like them. Whatever they want to do, they’ll get to do. It’s hard to find more well-rounded people. On that note, I’ll end my long, yet fun-filled day (we spent about 2 hours at dinner and another 3 at the bar). No complaints here. I got to see a nice chunk of Oregon, reach students at 4 schools today (9 total for the 3 days here), and have a good time doing it. Life is good.