Letters to the Editor

Kudos to Colorado leaders
Thanks for the good story about the Colorado chapter leaders (Spring 2007). I don't think we could exaggerate how important for Calvin was the leadership of Marj and Curt Youngsma, and that of Bruce Jansen and Barry Meyer.

I was twice the speaker at the spring banquet of the chapter, which were a rousing success and a great deal of fun. Both times I flew into Denver the last week of April in a terrible snowstorm. But, true to Denver's strange weather patterns, by the time of the alumni event on Saturday, the sun was shining and the temperatures warm.

But Marj and Curt deserve special thanks for their gracious hospitality.

In 2004, I had done several alumni events in California and was planning a stopover in Denver. Well, the day I left California, I had to stop for medical treatment for an infected toe. I later flew from Los Angeles to Denver, arriving quite late because of the snowstorm. Despite the hour and the weather, the Youngsmas greeted me as though it was the most normal event possible.

Enough to say the obvious, that any college needs good people to support it. But surely there is no college which has had better friends and more gracious workers than Calvin has in the Colorado chapter, and especially in Marj and Curt Youngsma!

Ronald A. Wells HON
Professor emeritus of history
Maryville, Tenn.

Soulforce coverage disappointing
I was disappointed that the article on the Soulforce visit to Calvin's campus (Summer 2007) failed to include anything about Soulforce's message to the Calvin community. The article didn't really say anything about what the Soulforce members had to say.

For that matter the article also failed to say much about Calvin's stance on homosexuality. While saying Calvin disagreed with Soulforce, it didn't say how.

With this omission Spark didn't let Calvin alumni in on the conversation that supposedly occurred. I think that's unfortunate, because, as the article did say, Synod has "challenged agencies within the church to do a better job of creating dialogue and understanding about homosexuality."

Gerard Hammink '91
New York, N.Y.

Equal opportunity
It was with a certain amount of dismay I read about your report on the visit of Soulforce to the campus. It is a curious fact that the true God gives us the ability to choose, and no other god does that. Nevertheless, He also does let us know the consequences of being either for or against Him.

It is my personal opinion that if you are going to give time to the members of Soulforce, you should, in all fairness, give equal time, money and publicity to the opposite point of view. I'm not an expert, but my experience with Sunday school curriculum leads me to believe that far too many people, both younger and not so young, are dangerously ignorant of what God actually says on a number of popular (and unpopular) issues.

Anne Deibler Jackson ex'79
Lancaster, S.C.

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