"Matt Ols[o]n would do well to eject, but it may cost him his school"

Regarding conspiratorial thinking, perhaps this is a case for … .

[Joel Shaffer]

“Your next step to an extraordinary life” is just the school’s marketing tag. You can find it on NIU’s front web page. Every college and university has them. I’m guessing that they are assuming that incoming college students are already living an extraordinary life as a believer in Christ and NIU is the next step. I wouldn’t read into it too much.

That clarifies things…typical college marketing stuff, then. I can’t remember ever visiting NIU’s website.

Thanks Joel for the clarification. I did not know that “Your next step….” was NIU’s marketing tag. I had only what was in front of me to make my judgment. Again, thanks for the clarity.

Aaron, you are right: NIU’s direction is much clearer.

I believe that -

NIU is still a fundamental college. They have not repudiated the doctrines of the faith.

NIU has made a change in its music philosophy and how to apply that change.

I would have liked for the leadership at NIU to have been more transparent with their choice; but that is just my opinion.

My philosophy of music ministry is at odds with NIU’s. I will not view them as “liberals, neo’s, etc” NIU is not my enemy nor are the enemy of Jesus Christ.

My view of music ministry is important enough to me that I will no longer promote NIU to our teens (our youth group has gone to NIU on college trips for several years).

At this point, I will not separate from NIU. I hope to enjoy the fellowship of their staff in years to come.

Others have said or implied this, and I will observe that it does seem sneaky the way these things are being handled by NIU. But this is part of the reality of how things work these days. You aren’t going to get a trickle effect of a letter writing, or responses to newsletter mailings, or that kind of thing. Those days are long gone. Hiding videos and pictures is a temporary solution at best if you have a ministry team that you’re actually publicizing and making available for ministry. If you are making changes, be up front and have some confidence in your decisions. It almost seems as if they want to test the waters, but reserve the right to pull back and say, “nah, just kidding. LOL”

[Jim Welch]

At this point, I will not separate from NIU. I hope to enjoy the fellowship of their staff in years to come.

That whole post was well-phrased. Thanks for that.

Fence straddling by NIU …?

How so, my friend?

The main point I have been arguing in this thread is NIU making adjustments in their music does not in itself constitute a departure from Fundamentalism. That’s it. I have also tried to be clear that I am not personally advocating the position they are pursuing. I like how Jim Welch put it. They won’t be someone I will generally promote. There tend to be few that I do these days, actually, though.

At the same time, Riley and Straub have a good point- there is a lack of transparency in how things are being handled. I also think Chris Watson has a point that there are reasons to be concerned with Northland other than music.

Is that clear enough?

Alas … I was going for a joke. It didn’t work. I appreciate Jim’s comments.

It seems to me that the present generation has chosen a new savior for their modern christianity which is a movement towards no Christianity at all. Regardless of musical style issues, this generation is saying that churches and pastors must accept rock genres into their services or they will be marginalized, isolated, and “lose” in this life. The way to survive is the music. The way to worship is through the music. The music has become the non-negotiable standard by which we are experiencing God.

This seems Corinthianized to my understanding of the NT. Have we forgotten that Christ is the Savior? Christ is the mediator between God and man? Have we forgotten that the cross of Christ is God’s methodology of destroying human wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:17-19)?

By this generation’s standards, Christ would not have suffered, been isolated, shamed by the world, and viewed as a criminal for our sins. He certainly looked as if he “lost”. The proof is not whether a person views themselves and their views as approved. The proof is whom God approves.

Northland has moved away from the Northland that I knew years ago. They seem to think that what will save them is the music and embracing a broader constituency. And yes, I have talked with Matt personally.

[Jim Welch] I believe that -

NIU is still a fundamental college. They have not repudiated the doctrines of the faith.

NIU has made a change in its music philosophy and how to apply that change.

I would have liked for the leadership at NIU to have been more transparent with their choice; but that is just my opinion.

My philosophy of music ministry is at odds with NIU’s. I will not view them as “liberals, neo’s, etc” NIU is not my enemy nor are the enemy of Jesus Christ.

My view of music ministry is important enough to me that I will no longer promote NIU to our teens (our youth group has gone to NIU on college trips for several years).

At this point, I will not separate from NIU. I hope to enjoy the fellowship of their staff in years to come.

I agree with almost all of this, especially the bolded sections. I don’t honestly know if I would ‘promote’ NIU for potential students in the future…it depends. I don’t know where exactly their ‘philosophy of music ministry’ is going, so I’ll have to observe more of that.

Nice post, Jim. Very well said.

I do agree with Greg that this is a significant conversation (in regards to music and Fundamentalism and where we draw lines) that needs to happen within Fundamentalism, and I commend him (and Mike Durning and others) for participating in that discussion.

FLJones, I think that you misunderstand the music debate/discussion that is going on at this site. No one that I have seen is arguing that ‘music is the new savior’ or anything like that.

The Redeemed itinerary had this entry:

03/22 Peter Furler Concert Manitowoc WI

Never hear of Peter, so I Wiki’d him…

Peter Andrew Furler (born 8 September 1966) is an Australian musician, songwriter, producer, and record executive but is best known as the former lead singer for the Christian rock band Newsboys.

and visited his website.

I guess I am growing less and less comfortable with this apparent new music direction at NIU.

…that musicians performing a style of music does not preclude the same standards one would use to gauge the qualifications of a speaker or teacher for your congregation. Dan Phillips posted a good reminder of that over at Pyromaniacs in a real-life situation a week or so ago:

http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2013/03/et-tu-chuck-swindoll-hosts-singing…

I have heard of the Newsboys, but that’s about it. It would be interesting to see how much doctrinal affinity there would be between NIU and the performer in question.

How Pastors view schools to recommend (in this order) (yes I am exaggerating!)

• Music … music … music … would it offend a septuagenarian deacon in our church?
• Standards: are movies forbidden and other fundy taboos? (can you imagine kids playing hearts in the student union - oh well .. there probably’s not a student union anyway!)
• Dating? Hand-holding may lead to … you know much worse!
• How dispensational it is …
• Versions

How Parents (with their children) should evaluate schools (it’s to get a real education that will lead to a paying job!) (and having a paying job is a virtue! Ephesians 4:28 )

• How are we going to pay for this? (note to pastors … you probably will not help foot the bill!)
• Is it accredited? And I don’t mean TRACS … I mean real regional accreditation
• What are the academic offerings. Not everyone is going to be a counselor (with a BA in counseling!) or camp worker or women’s ministries worker. It might be good to study some math and sciences so one can be an engineer or doctor! If one desires to be a CDS teacher … one could get just as good an education at a state school at half the cost and be able to teach at a CDS (where the salary is probably 2/3 at a public school)
• What’s the purpose of college anyway? To find a spouse? To be refined and sanctified? To be kept as far from the world as possible (and what better place than a place where the ratio of pine trees to people is 1000 to 1!)
• What are the job prospects post-college?

By the way (and believe it or not this is not an intentional slam on BJU) … in my neck of the woods having Bob Jones (with the associated racist baggage (I know it is a long time ago)) is not a plus on a resume (for a secular job). Pastors (who are probably out of the loop on how things work with HR at companies (where the word “diversity” is important) are probably clueless about this!

Joel Schaffer,

Please read again what I wrote.

I did not say that BGC churches sent their kids to Northland until it turned conservative.

I did not say anything like that. I wouldn’t know if they did or didn’t.

What I said was that Northland would not send its music groups to BGC churches in the past even though my uncle was an elder at a BGC church and sat on the board of Northland.

Friends, if anyone thinks Matt Olson should write an article about his beliefs or his thoughts on the direction of Northland, he would be making a big mistake.

Consider again what I posted and evaluate how it has been interpreted by friend and foe alike.

Matt should just pull a page from the Billy Graham playbook and not respond to his critics in a public forum, ever. His words will just be misinterpreted.