Participants: Jim Gilley (Host), C.A. Murray (Host), Dr. Leslie Pollard, Pr. James Doggette, Jason Ferdinand
Series Code: NLLA
Program Code: NLLA012704
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00:26 Overcoming to you tonight
00:27 from the beautiful campus of Oakwood University 00:32 and we've been doing a special "Anchors of Truth" series here. 00:36 And we just are really privileged 00:40 to have this opportunity to visit 00:42 with some of the leaders here 00:44 at the university including the president, 00:45 we're gonna speak to in just a movement. 00:47 And we're just really having a good time. Aren't we, C.A.? 00:50 It has been really grand. 00:52 We had a wonderful meeting on last night Dr. Carlton Byrd, 00:55 pastor of this church and the speaker 00:57 for Breath of Life, just a marvelous message, 01:00 a great choir. 01:01 We've got good choirs every night and on Sabbath. 01:03 We're gonna talk a little bit about that. 01:05 But it's good to be home. 01:06 This is the school from which I graduated 01:08 some years ago, yeah. 01:10 And we're always excited to come back to Oakwood. 01:13 Yes, we are. 01:15 And by the way we've had such a tremendous 01:18 response to the free offer 01:20 that we gave last weekend--last week, 01:23 last Thursday night that we are going 01:26 to repeat it again by popular demand. 01:30 Greg Marconi at the call center tells us that this has been 01:34 the most requested document in a long time. 01:37 And--so it's called Keep About Your Work. 01:41 And we're gonna read some of it to you. 01:44 It says "The Lord has given to every man His work. 01:47 It is His business to do it. 01:49 And it's the devil's business to hinder him if he can. 01:52 So surely as God has given you a work to do, 01:55 Satan will try to hinder you. 01:57 He may present other things more promising. 02:00 He may allure you by worldly prospects. 02:03 He may assault you with slander, 02:05 torment you with false accusations, 02:08 set you to work defending your character, 02:12 employ pious persons to lie about you, 02:17 and excellent men to slander you. 02:20 You may have Pilate and Herod, 02:22 Ananias and Caiaphas all combined against you, 02:26 and Judas standing by to sell you for 30 pieces of silver. 02:32 And you may wonder why all those things have come upon you. 02:37 Can you not see that the whole thing 02:39 is brought about through the craft of the devil, 02:43 to draw you off from your work 02:46 and hinder your obedience to God?" 02:50 Now this is a tremendous thing. 02:53 You may want to frame it 02:55 and this is suitable for framing. 02:56 By the way, some people who got them already this week, 03:00 their friends would see them and say, 03:02 "Wow, I had no idea that that was gonna be so nice. 03:04 I want one myself." 03:06 And so they've called and you can still call 03:08 and we'll still send them to you. 03:10 It's absolutely free. 03:11 It's our gift to you and we do want 03:13 to send it as one-- what is our phone number? 03:16 618-627-4651. 618-627-4651. 03:21 Or you can email us freeoffer one word, freeoffer@3abn.org. 03:27 And we'll get this right in the mail to you. 03:29 And if this takes a day or too longer than usual, 03:32 forgive us because this has been just an incredibly popular item. 03:37 We've talked to the people at our call center 03:38 and they are saying that this has been one of the best items 03:43 that has been requested in many, many, many even years. 03:46 So if it takes a little bit longer, 03:47 hold on, it's coming. 03:49 But this has been very, very popular. 03:51 All right, well, listen, 03:52 why don't you introduce our guest tonight? 03:56 Our guest is the president of this fine school 03:58 and I don't know how long 04:00 or when I even first met Dr. Leslie Pollard. 04:03 Sometimes you meet people you think 04:04 to always have known them. 04:05 But just 2 years, 3 years? 04:09 May be. May be so. 04:10 Yeah, yeah, that he has come to this institution 04:13 and has done a marvelous job with a breath of fresh air, 04:17 came in with ideas with vision. 04:18 A consecrated person, a powerful preacher. 04:21 We've had him at 3ABN and he's been well received. 04:23 And just a nice guy. We like nice guys. 04:26 We like ability and humility and he's got them both. 04:28 Yes. He is a doctor. 04:30 I was reading something, 04:31 a theological treatise sometime ago. 04:34 And got to the end of the reading 04:36 and I saw by Dr. Leslie Pollard. 04:37 I didn't know he's such a scholar. 04:39 But he wears many hats and God has blessed him. 04:41 He's with us tonight. 04:43 We're gonna talk a little about the school, 04:44 little bit about his history, and some of the burdens 04:46 on his heart for this very fine institution. 04:49 Les, good to have you here, man. 04:50 Thank you. It's my pleasure to be here. Yeah. 04:52 And welcome to Oakwood University. 04:53 Thank you, thank you so very much. 04:54 You're a graduate of Oakwood yourself, aren't you? 04:56 Yes, I did. I did. 04:57 I graduated from Oakwood in the 19...Yeah. 05:02 I graduated in 19-- Back in the 1900s. 05:04 Yeah, in the 1900s, back in the 20th century. 05:06 Yeah. 05:08 But I graduated in 1978 actually. Okay. 05:10 From Oakwood University 05:11 and had some wonderful teachers while I was here. 05:14 E.E. Cleveland, Benjamin Reeves. 05:17 All those people were here. Calvin Rock. 05:19 They were all our teachers. 05:20 Yeah, yeah. I was just a year or 2 ahead of him. Okay. 05:24 But I came, yeah. All right. 05:25 Yes, we'll hold on to that story. 05:28 You came here to graduate in what degrees? 05:30 I did a degree in theology and history. 05:34 And the minor I was working on, 05:36 but I didn't have the-- I ran out of money. 05:37 I didn't have the money to finish 05:39 the internship part with secondary education. 05:41 Because I was always interested 05:42 in how people learn even as a young fellow. 05:45 Now when you left here, did you pastor some? 05:47 Yes, I did. I did. 05:48 As a matter of fact I left here, 05:50 went to the Southern California Conference 05:51 under Dr. William DeShay. 05:54 Dr. William DeShay was our mentor and he hired me there. 05:57 Elder Harold Calkins was the president long time ago 06:01 but those were powerhouses in their day. 06:03 And I went out to Southern California 06:05 worked out there as a pastor, 06:07 then transferred over to Southeastern Conference 06:10 about 3 years later-- after going 06:13 to seminary about 3 years later. 06:14 And then I worked in the college campus. 06:16 That's where the bug bit. 06:18 I became an associate chaplain at La Sierra University. 06:21 And from there went on to do schooling 06:24 and some schooling and finished 06:27 some degrees and that's that. 06:31 Now where did you meet your wife? 06:33 I met my wife here at Oakwood. Is that right? 06:35 Here at Oakwood University. 06:36 Right over and, well, you're new to the campus 06:39 but over in a place called Peterson Hall, 06:41 right on the campus. Oh, yeah. 06:42 I went into worship one night. 06:43 You know, the old preachers used to say 06:45 the best place to meet a wife is in worship. 06:47 Oh, yeah. So and there she was. 06:48 She was standing and she was reciting 06:51 a poem called God's Trombones, 06:53 the creation by James Weldon Johnson. Well. 06:55 And she was doing it from memory, 06:57 so it was so impressive 06:58 and that's when she caught my eye. 06:59 I was a freshman and she was a freshman. 07:02 Okay. You have a family, children? 07:05 Yes, we were married after that. 07:06 We're married for 33 years 07:08 and we have two daughters Kristin and Karin. 07:11 Kristin is an attorney. All right. 07:13 Who is now working with NASA. Okay. 07:15 And doing very well. 07:17 She would get, you know, she's enjoying her work. 07:20 She loves doing that. 07:21 And my older daughter-- my younger daughter Karin 07:23 is a fourth year pharmacy student 07:26 at Loma Linda University, all right. 07:28 So she's wrapping that up and getting ready 07:30 to get out and pay her own bills, yeah. 07:33 And that's always good news for a parent. Oh, yeah. 07:36 Get out and pay your own bills. 07:37 Yeah. Now when you-- what is your doctorate? 07:41 Okay. I actually did two doctorates. 07:45 I did one in Preaching and Worship 07:48 and then I did one in New Testament Language 07:50 and Literature with an emphasis on the Book of Revelation. 07:54 That's what I preached at 3ABN. 07:55 I'd preached by Revelation. Right. 07:56 So that was why because, man, that book is amazing. 07:59 Oh, yes, it is. Yes, it is. The book is amazing. 08:02 When I met you some years ago when I was working 08:04 for the division on the Loma Linda health study video, 08:09 you were at Loma Linda at that time? 08:11 Yes, I was. I worked at Loma Linda for 14 years. 08:13 Yeah, Loma Linda is a fine--is-- was and is a fine institution. 08:17 Yes. And doing a tremendous amount for the church. 08:19 Now what were your responsibilities there? 08:21 Okay, I was vice president 08:22 for Community Partnerships, Diversity. 08:26 So I had the whole Diversity education piece. 08:28 Cultural competency education what they call in healthcare 08:30 and then I was executive leader-- 08:32 director for leadership development. 08:35 So within my leadership development program, 08:38 I had about 60 chairs and training for leadership. 08:46 How to be more effective as a leader. 08:48 That was a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah. A lot of-- 08:50 I love it, oh, my goodness, 08:51 time to work, but lot of fun because all of us are trying 08:54 to get better in what we do 08:56 and I always say to people that leadership is a journey. 08:59 It's not a destination. 09:00 And the goal is to get better as we go along. Yes. Yes. 09:03 And that never stops. So it's a lifetime of learning. 09:06 God bless, I remember when Jim was called to 3ABN, 09:10 he thought he was sort of gonna put his foot up rocking chair 09:13 and kind of take it easy till he got there 09:15 and realized that it ain't necessarily so. No, no. 09:18 You were working hard at Loma Linda 09:20 and then you got the call to come to Oakwood, yes. 09:23 Coming from the west coast to the south--The east coast. 09:26 Yeah, the east coast and the south. 09:27 Was that a major change? 09:29 Was that something you had to really think about, pray about? 09:30 No, because first of all I was born in New Orleans 09:33 and raised in the South. 09:34 Okay. So that's a big advantage. 09:36 Secondly, this would've been my third tour to Oakwood. 09:39 Because I first came as a student in the 70s 09:42 then I came back in the 90s to pastor this church. 09:45 I did that for 3 years and then went back 09:48 to the west coast and worked on Loma Linda. 09:50 So this was actually my third trip 09:52 and it wasn't a difficult learning curve in the sense 09:55 that the culture I was already familiar with. 09:57 I was already familiar with the culture 09:59 and many of the people who were just wonderful 10:01 and warm and accepting and all those things. 10:03 So but--if your question is do the different regions 10:07 of the country operate differently? Yes. 10:10 Absolutely. Yes. 10:11 Yes, that was like hugely, hugely different. Yeah, yeah. 10:14 Last week, we talked with Dr. Beets] 10:15 and he pastored at Southern then became president, yes. 10:19 And of course--two different mantles, two different hats, 10:22 two different areas of responsibility. 10:24 So now you've got a whole different kind of 10:27 a thing you're dealing with, yes, absolutely. 10:29 Yeah. Tell us about some of the challenges. 10:32 Jim and I were talking about some of the challenges 10:34 that attend a major school in the south, 10:38 talk to us a little bit about 10:39 the kinds of kids you're getting, 10:41 what you're seeing on the campus, 10:42 what you're trying to do. 10:44 Okay, we've got a lot of information 10:45 about our students first of all. 10:46 We just conducted a major spiritual life study 10:49 on our students called Life Core in which 852 10:53 of our students completed a 52 item questionnaire 10:56 about their spiritual life 10:58 and what that actually means to them. 11:00 And what we did with our study on Life Core 11:02 was to really reference it against 11:04 Seventh-day Adventist standards. 11:05 It's easy to--I think it's easy to do a study 11:08 that's kind about generic spirituality. 11:10 But we wanted to know how they feel 11:12 about the actual Seventh-day Adventist mission and message. 11:16 So that has given us 11:17 a lot of information, lot of information. 11:20 First of all some of the biggest challenges, 11:22 some of the things we discovered 11:23 that have come out of that study. 11:26 Number one, that many of our students 11:29 are amazingly committed and dedicated to the church. 11:32 Praise God. 11:33 And for that we're grateful. 11:35 If you look at the Barna study, 11:36 I'll just give you a few stats. 11:38 Look at the Barna study. 11:39 When Barna studied in 2003, Americans who were-- 11:44 said that they were born again 11:46 and when he asked them about a biblical world view, 11:48 which means the Bible holds absolute truths, 11:51 is a Guide for life, all of those things 11:53 that we just accept of the adults 11:55 who were born again who said they believe 11:57 that the Bible actually contains absolute truths 11:59 that are non-negotiable, 12:01 only 9% of Americans said yes, well. 12:04 And teenagers who said they were born again, only 2% said yes. 12:09 We took that question and put it on our survey 12:12 and we asked our young people that question, 95% said yes. 12:15 Praise God. 12:16 They believe that the Bible is the word of God. 12:18 Now that's a shocking difference 12:21 from the general population, huge difference. 12:23 Because somehow America has gotten itself 12:26 to a point where they say I believe in God 12:28 I don't believe in His word. That's right. 12:30 Yeah, God is personal to me 12:32 but His word means nothing to me, that's right. 12:34 So there's a dissidence there, 12:35 Jim, it's just there's something wrong. That's right. 12:37 So to have our young people say at the 95 percentile level, 12:42 we believe in God, we also take His word. 12:45 That's powerful and is affirming. 12:46 Amen, and we've got the data to substantiate it, 12:49 a statistically validated study of our young people. 12:52 So when people say boy, 12:54 the church is lost in young people. 12:55 I say have you looked at any of the data lately 12:58 'cause we've got a treasure called young people, all right. 13:02 You know, the creation, evolution question 13:06 has been big on many campuses even Adventist campuses. 13:12 What has been the approach here 13:14 and have you had any challenges in that area 13:17 from your staff from students et cetera. 13:21 No, not at--frankly not at all and it's not 13:24 because people are not thinking about it, right. 13:25 See sometimes when people believe, 13:27 some like to characterize it as not being thoughtful. 13:30 But in fact many of our people have thought 13:33 through these issues and are very fluent on these issues. 13:36 I mean, we've got a board member 13:37 who is very fluent on the issue and is yet a believer. 13:41 So part of what we see here that's consistent when-- 13:45 and it seemed consistent when people say 13:47 they actually believe that the Bible is a word of God, 13:50 then the creation narrative Genesis 1 and 2 13:53 simply becomes an out flowing in expression of their faith. 13:56 And, yes, we do believe and, yes, we recognize. 14:00 Now what I've said to people on campus 14:01 is this in a biology department. 14:04 If you don't educate young people 14:06 and teach them about evolution 14:09 and why people believe that, 14:11 then you're not educating them, yes. 14:13 Because we could've left them at home 14:14 and given them a Bible study, yeah. 14:16 Right, right. They're biology majors. 14:18 They're gonna go into graduate programs. 14:20 They need to be fluent but you also need 14:22 to make sure that they are steeply 14:25 and deeply versed in all the creation science 14:28 that supports Genesis 1 and 2, amen. 14:30 So that when they get to a place like, 14:33 well, a major university, they can defend themselves 14:36 and not get swept away by the reasoning 14:39 of very sophisticated minds who believe 14:42 that what we believe is actually mythology or fable, yes. 14:45 So part of the way we've done it, 14:47 Jim, is we've said do not, 14:49 not educate young people expose them. 14:53 But exposure is not advocacy. No. 14:56 Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And there's a line there. 14:58 And I want them to be exposed. 15:00 They need to be exposed. 15:01 That's what it means to be an educated person. 15:03 But on the other hand make sure 15:05 that they understand that there's this whole body 15:07 of creation science that will support 15:11 what they believe and then they can go out 15:12 and they can have conversations in other institutions 15:16 and represent the church, give--in other words, 15:18 be able to give a reason for the hope and the faith. 15:22 Great. I want to just--because you've really intrigued me 15:25 with this questionnaire that you gave to the young people. 15:27 Who wrote the questions? 15:29 Where were they drawn from? 15:30 Okay. It was a very deliberate process. 15:33 I'm happy, you asked me about my wife 15:34 so I'll tell you a little bit about her. 15:36 I married a wonderful young woman from here 15:39 and she has a Ph.D. in evaluation, 15:41 measurement, and research design. 15:43 So what we did was when we came on campus we said, 15:46 the way we're gonna plan the spiritual life program 15:49 is we're gonna have some evidence, 15:51 some data that we can now begin to target our initiatives 15:55 so that our planning is not simply impressionistic 15:57 but we're looking at some targets here, okay. 16:00 So she did a series of interviews 16:04 to build a questionnaire, asked different people 16:06 in student services, students, faculty staff, 16:10 what is it that you want to know 16:11 about the spiritual life of our students? 16:13 And once you get all of that information 16:15 now you can begin to build the questions. 16:17 So give you good example. 16:19 Marshall Kelly saying, we love Marshall Kelly 16:21 who is one of our chaplains. 16:22 He was talking with me. 16:24 He said prudence, be sure to find out how-- 16:27 what do our young people believe about the Ten Commandments. 16:31 Now, that's an Adventist question. 16:32 Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. 16:34 We put that in the questionnaire. 16:35 I believe that they are, you know, 16:36 Ten Commandments are standards for life. 16:38 I believe that they're, you know, binding, 16:42 that they are not mandatory, whatever range of options. 16:46 And those kinds of questions came out 16:48 of the conversations of the community 16:50 because what we wanted to know 16:53 was how does Seventh-day Adventist 16:55 spirituality look within our student body. 16:57 It's easy to say do you believe in Jesus. 17:00 I believe in Jesus, will always believe in Jesus. 17:03 Adventism has a unique frame 17:07 in which Jesus rests and is presented. 17:10 How do they feel not only about Jesus 17:12 but about that frame and that's what we were doing. 17:15 Wow, powerful. 17:16 There are so many things popping on my mind. 17:18 One, how long was it--how many questions were there? 17:21 Fifty two questions. 17:22 Fifty two questions? Yeah. 17:23 All right, are there any others that pop out 17:25 in your mind that would sort of sell in, 17:27 that sort of really gave you some direction as to how to-- 17:29 Yeah, absolutely. 17:30 For instance, one of the things we asked the students 17:32 what of all the camp-- all the services that take place 17:36 on the university campus, which service is the one 17:39 that means the most to you? 17:41 I'll give you two or three examples. 17:43 And the student said, "A.Y. on Friday night." 17:47 Now you get to see this on Friday night, 17:49 'cause on any Friday night in A.Y., 17:51 you have 1800 students in here. 17:53 At--you know what is dead in some places, 17:56 A.Y., you have 1800 students in here. 17:58 And you to get to meet the A.Y. leader. 18:00 He'll be on the broadcast on Friday evening 18:03 for the Battle is the Lord, Anchors of Truth. 18:05 Now that's what they were asked. 18:07 Then when we asked how meaningful 18:10 is your personal worship? 18:12 Only 39% said it's very meaningful. 18:15 So now here's what we got. 18:17 We've got 73, three quarters of the student body 18:20 says the public worship in A.Y. is most meaningful 18:25 but my personal worship in not. 18:27 So what happens, the office of spiritual life now 18:30 as we start the school year a big emphasis 18:33 on Bible study and personal worship 18:35 that grows out of the data because we want personal worship 18:39 to be as meaningful as public worship, yeah. 18:42 'Cause you and I all of us have lived a little bit. 18:45 You know what's gonna anchor us 18:46 is what we've done with God often, that's right. 18:48 In our quiet place. Yeah. 18:50 So that's a good example. 18:51 Here's another example, another example 18:54 of something that we learned as we were studying. 18:57 When we asked students which classes 19:01 are the most meaningful to you in the curriculum? 19:04 Now the question we're really getting at 19:06 the faith integration question. 19:08 The students said in overwhelming numbers 80, 90%, 19:13 the classes where faculty members integrate 19:16 the content of Seventh-day Adventist faith 19:18 into the teaching of the class. 19:20 That's what the students said. Wow. 19:22 So yes, so now we can go back to the teachers, 19:25 Jim and Glenn, we can go back to the teachers now 19:28 and we can say would you like 19:30 to be highly valued as a faculty member? 19:33 Would you like to get good evals? 19:35 Here is--the students are telling you 19:37 that what they want to hear 19:39 is how this relates to their faith. 19:42 And if you think about it, it is all consistent. Yes. 19:44 The Bible is the word of God. 19:47 Public worship is very meaningful or Ten Commandments. 19:52 So young people come here 19:54 because they're deeply committed to the faith 19:56 and they don't want classes where the teachers 19:59 don't integrate that into the course content. 20:03 The teachers who didn't integrate it, 20:04 they say, those classes were the least 20:06 meaningful to them. Well. 20:07 If they're not really involved with the faith, 20:11 they won't come to Oakwood. They wouldn't come. 20:14 Or any other Adventist university 20:16 because they can go to a public university, 20:19 a whole lot cheaper, whole lot more convenient. 20:22 It'd be at home for most of them 20:24 and they'd find a place there. 20:26 But when they come here, 20:29 they do so, it costs a little more money 20:31 than public education does and they come 20:33 because they are committed in most cases. 20:36 Now there are some who come 20:38 because they were packed up in the car 20:40 and brought here by parents who said, "You will go." 20:43 You do get still some of those. 20:45 But this is to me extremely encouraging 20:50 to hear this kind of response from the students. Yeah. 20:55 I mean... It's amazing. 20:57 The questions weren't loaded so that 20:59 they would come up with this type of a response. 21:02 No, not at all. No. 21:04 We wanted to honestly know 21:06 because if we were missing something, 21:08 we need to know that, yeah. 21:09 So that we can better attune what we were doing 21:12 in terms of the delivery of what education 21:15 should be in the Seventh-day Adventist church. 21:17 What are some of the real difficult challenges 21:20 that you are facing right now? 21:21 Okay. A perennial challenge is for many of our students 21:25 are first generation college students in some cases. 21:28 So the actual funding, as you know, 21:31 Seventh-day Adventist education is private education. 21:34 And many students could go to other institutions for free 21:38 or certainly for a smaller percentage 21:40 of what we, we charge. 21:42 So one of the challenges is always having scholarships 21:45 available to help our students 21:47 matriculate through the institution. 21:49 So scholarship support for students 21:52 and these are not students who are wasting money, 21:54 I mean, I just heard a story of a student 21:56 who was living off campus to keep their cost down 21:59 and that the student mentioned to our student services VP 22:02 that they weren't, they weren't eating 22:03 'cause they just didn't have the money. 22:06 So we have those kinds of things. 22:07 We have these marvelously dedicated young people 22:10 who simply need some assistance 22:12 in matriculating through the institution. 22:14 What I say to them is always, 22:16 "What I'd like you to do though 22:18 is just remember that someone helped you. 22:20 Now when you go forward and you make it, 22:22 reach back and help someone else." 22:25 So student scholarships is always 22:27 an ongoing, ongoing issue. Well. 22:28 So it appears though despite the hand wringing 22:31 that you're getting a pretty high caliber 22:33 committed level of student coming to Oakwood. 22:37 That's what our data tells us. Yeah. 22:38 Our data tells us all the time 22:40 that these are some of the most dedicated students. 22:42 Now part of the reason, the other thing 22:44 I've learned from this now-- 22:46 the other thing I've learnt from this 22:47 and has been a good learning for me 22:49 is that we can't judge them by the style of worship. 22:54 I know that's a kind of sensitive issue 22:57 but if you listen to what they tell us 23:00 about the faith you say wow. 23:04 And then I do something once a week called 23:06 "Walk Up Wednesday" with our students 23:08 since we're focusing on students right now. 23:10 I do something called Walk Up Wednesday. 23:11 I have other things that I do with faculty and staff 23:14 but with students Walk Up Wednesday. 23:15 So any student can come, 23:16 they can talk to me about anything. 23:18 They set the agenda and you get to hear their stories. 23:20 And some of the stories you say, 23:22 "Wow, I don't even know if I could've survived 23:25 if I had experienced what that child experienced 23:28 and yet God is good. 23:29 God's grace has brought them to this point." 23:31 And one of the things that we see is that 23:33 as we listen to them talk about their stories, 23:37 all they want is for the church to be 23:39 what God has called it to be. 23:41 And they're looking for people who love the church 23:44 and who can point them in the right direction 23:47 so that they can walk in it. 23:48 And we are blessed like--as our-- 23:51 many of the other college campuses, 23:53 we are blessed with a wonderful treasure 23:57 called the Seventh-day Adventist young person 23:59 who wants to be educated for God to go out. 24:01 And our motto, as you know, 24:03 enter to learn depart to serve. 24:06 That's what they want to do. 24:07 Powerful, powerful, powerful. 24:09 Talk to us a little bit about Seventh-day--you know, 24:11 we've talked about the spiritual life of those students. 24:14 Obviously you got some economic challenges 24:16 that some of the campuses may not have, yeah. 24:19 Talk to us a little bit about those kind of challenges 24:20 as you're a regular part of, you face it everyday. 24:22 Yeah, everyday, of course. 24:24 You know, working within the African-American community 24:26 --we have some people who've done very, very well. 24:28 We have other people who are financially challenged. 24:31 Historically for those, you know, 24:33 I used to teach a class on church life in America. 24:36 And we look at all the different churches 24:37 and how the churches relate to immigrant groups 24:39 and when they come in to the country 24:41 at turn of the century et cetera. 24:42 So when you look at, when you look at 24:45 what the black church has been, it's always been a place 24:48 where the ground was kind of level, 24:50 where the professional, the Ph.D. 24:52 and the janitor would all gather together 24:54 and worship and be one family. 24:56 One of the tremendous economic challenges 24:58 we have is growing our basic philanthropy. 25:01 There are some buildings that we want to put up. 25:03 We've got an award winning singing group 25:05 called the Aeolians who just this past summer entered 25:09 into the World Olympics for Choirs in July 25:14 and won gold medals in three categories, their first entry. 25:17 One was in popular music, 25:19 one was in the music of religions 25:20 and the other was in the Negro spiritual category. 25:23 That's amazing. It is. 25:24 One of our dreams is to build for them 25:27 a performing art center 'cause music 25:29 is such a ministry here as you will see 25:30 across the Anchors of Truth series, yeah. 25:32 I mean, last night there were what 100 young people 25:34 singing with us? Oh, yes. 25:36 You know, we got about four choirs like that? 25:37 What kind of group is that? 25:38 We got about four or five, you know? 25:40 That's just a... That's a--group. 25:42 That's one of our famous groups. 25:44 It's called Dynamic Praise. Yeah. 25:47 And you had what about 100 of them? Oh, yeah. 25:49 We've got another one called Voices of Triumph 25:50 that you're gonna hear. That's about another 100. 25:53 You're gonna hear the Aeolians on Sabbath. 25:55 And then that's not even all of the smaller groups the 25, 25:58 the 30 member groups, right. 26:00 So--one of the gifts that God has given 26:03 to Oakwood is the gift of music. 26:05 For whatever reason, God has given that gift. 26:07 He gives every institution something. 26:09 One of His gifts to us is the gift of music. Yeah. 26:11 So to build out that building, to build out-- 26:14 And that historically goes back to its beginning. 26:17 Oh, that goes back. 26:18 Because I remember when I was a young man, 26:20 a choir from Oakwood, pardon me, 26:22 a quartet from Oakwood of which there were some fellows 26:26 who I got to know a little later on coming 26:29 through East Texas where I was growing up in Tyler, Texas 26:33 and doing a concert one night in our church. 26:37 And it was at that time I really developed 26:39 a love for spirituals. Yes, yes. 26:42 And I got a hold of their album 26:44 and I learned every song that they sang on that album. Well. 26:49 So that later on when I-- with HMS Richards Junior 26:52 and some others I was able to sing all those songs 26:55 that we get together at camp meetings so forth and so on. 26:57 Do you remember the name of it? Was it the Cathedral Quartet? 26:59 Absolutely. Cathedral. That was Ben Reaves. 27:01 Ben Reaves was in it? 27:03 That was that group. Ben Reaves, William Scale...Yes. 27:05 Uh, probably Wayne, Shepherd. 27:08 Wayne was in it? 27:09 Yeah. I forgot the name. Edcombe, Edgecombe-- 27:12 Yes, Jason Edgecombe, that's right. 27:13 Yeah, yeah. That's right. 27:15 Yeah. And there are many, many groups. 27:16 I mean Marshall Kelly has sung in that group. Oh, yeah. 27:18 Now he used to sing with out of Cleveland. 27:20 But music in--and what you're pointing to Jim 27:23 is the idea that music is one of the tremendous gifts 27:26 through this institution. 27:28 We want to cultivate that 27:29 and to make it more widely known. 27:31 Ellen White talks about music as a ministry 27:33 and right now we got a wonderful group 27:35 the Aeolians are just doing-- they were ranked 27:38 as one of the number one choirs in the world, wow. 27:40 Just last week the rankings were announced. 27:42 Well, we're gonna the director here in just a little bit. 27:44 We'll talk about that a little bit 27:46 to Jason Ferdinand, nice guy. 27:47 I got a chance to meet with him and talk with him. 27:49 a little bit. He's a wonderful person. 27:50 I know he's doing a really fine job with that group. 27:53 So you've got that gift and it's-- 27:56 and when I was in four groups 27:57 and I had my own quartet. 27:59 Mostly male choirs back in the day 28:00 and other forms of pinnacle with the Cleveland Wilson guys. 28:03 So if you have any musical ability, 28:05 it will come out here, yes, absolutely. 28:07 And if you can't sing at Oakwood, don't sing. 28:09 Yeah, right. Yeah, don't try to sing. 28:11 It is not the place to try to sing. 28:13 No, don't try it here. 28:15 You know, you have another group-- 28:16 But buildings. We want to build buildings. Okay. 28:18 There are some buildings that we need. 28:19 We've got an aging infrastructure at some places. 28:22 So we think a health and wellness center 28:25 could be a tremendous gift to this community. 28:28 To have something that state of the art. 28:29 Right now we're still using Ashby. 28:31 Remember, old Ashby Auditorium, the old gym. Oh, yes. 28:33 We used to worship there before we had this beautiful church. 28:37 But those are some of the biggest needs, 28:39 scholarships, some of the infrastructure 28:41 needs of the institution. 28:42 So we're looking for partners. 28:44 We're looking for partners. Yes. 28:45 Now we've become very well acquainted 28:47 with the group called NAPS. Yes. 28:49 And they are students from here... 28:51 Yes, they are, who go out 28:52 and tell us a little bit about the NAPS group 28:54 and their interaction with the university. 28:57 Okay, yeah, the NAPS group is an independent ministry 29:00 that has grown up on the campus 29:01 and they go out and they do many, 29:02 many mission activities. Okay. 29:04 And one of the things that they do 29:07 is they say that their mission is to deliver 29:11 what do you call it to deliver, 29:13 hand deliver care and to prevent starvation 29:16 and those kinds of things. 29:18 Right. First time I saw them was on 9/11, 29:20 right after 9/11, a day or two later. 29:25 And I looked it on television live 29:28 and here're these young people 29:30 going down the street there and they were singing. 29:34 And the minute I saw that they were from Oakwood, 29:39 we were still in Washington DC at that time. 29:42 But my wife and I broke into tears 29:44 because they would immediately head for New York 29:50 and be there to help and to encourage 29:53 and to just hug people. 29:54 They were sometimes just hugging people 29:57 and people needed hugs. 29:59 You know, we forget what happened in 9/11. 30:02 How traumatic it was. It's unbelievable. 30:04 And actually how the nation came together. 30:07 Yes, we came together as a people 30:10 and groups like them encourage that. 30:14 Yeah, and when you think about the Oakwood students 30:16 again is this level of dedication, commitment. 30:19 And again, we have the other group though 30:21 that we're working with, I always say to teachers, 30:23 I say, "You know, Oakwood exists for three purposes. 30:25 Number one, to save the law student. 30:28 Number two, to educate the saved student. 30:31 And number three, to graduate the educated students." 30:34 That's what we're trying to do. 30:36 Praise the Lord, And on any given day, 30:37 we're doing all three of those things. 30:39 All three of those. Saving the law student. 30:40 Yeah, educating the saved student 30:42 and graduating the educated student. 30:44 All right, and on any given day, 30:45 we're doing all three of those things, yeah. 30:47 Les, when I was in school, you were in school, too. 30:49 Oakwood College was some 15, 20 miles 30:51 outside of the limits of Huntsville. 30:53 In the intervening years, Huntsville has come out 30:56 and surrounded you and really gone beyond you. 30:58 Has that presented any particular challenges 31:00 to the school or opportunities? 31:01 We welcome the--opportunities. 31:03 We welcome that. Let me tell you why. 31:04 Not 300 feet from here, we've got a housing project. 31:08 Not 300 feet from here. 31:10 And what we've done is, we've adapted it. 31:12 Oh, praise the Lord. We go into that, 31:14 we give Christmas parties for little children. 31:16 We bring them to the campus. 31:17 As a matter of fact, we're into planning season right now. 31:20 Some of our students went on to the Huntsville community 31:23 when they did their USM Banquet. 31:24 They gave the banquet, USM, United Student Movement Banquet, 31:28 a princess theme and in walk these eight little girls 31:32 from the community, they're not Adventist. 31:35 They bought them dresses, you know, like Cinderella style. 31:38 Their families, the people were so touched. It was amazing. 31:42 So what I'm saying is we cannot afford to run from the city. 31:48 Oh, yes. Yes. The cities are there. 31:50 People are in the cities. God loves the cities. 31:53 He loves the people in the cities. 31:55 And so I'm not one, now this might break a little bit 31:58 with some of the historic Adventist philosophy. 32:01 I understand maybe there will be a time 32:04 where we need to get out of the cities. 32:05 Okay, I get that. But right now the people, 32:09 80% of the world's population is in the cities. 32:12 Right, so we either figure out how to get 32:14 to those persons with the gospel of Jesus Christ 32:17 and how to love these cities. 32:19 And as He said in the Book of Jeremiah, 32:21 "Seek the peace of Babylon." Yes. 32:22 Because in Babylon's peace you'll have peace. 32:25 You know, recently, Danny Shelton and I talked 32:28 to some folks about, they were starting a little college. 32:31 And they were in our neighborhood 32:33 and we had some criticism because we were 32:36 kind of encouraging their sports program from the standpoint, 32:40 Danny knew their coach and so forth and I think 32:44 they only have a dozen students in this college. 32:46 It's just a barely getting started thing. 32:48 But I began to think about this. 32:51 You know, there was a time, I believe 32:54 wholeheartedly in the spirit of prophecy-- 32:57 Amen, I do, too. But we cannot always look at things 33:01 and live with things as they were in the 1800s. 33:04 Nowadays, you know, we talked about 33:07 the dangers of sports and so forth. 33:10 Nowadays, we hope we can get kids into sports 33:14 and get them away from videogames. 33:16 That's right. Get them active-- 33:17 Because--active, they're sitting. 33:19 They are doing nothing or they're playing videogames 33:22 and involved with things that are highly 33:25 detrimental to their minds. 33:28 If we can just get them out and get them playing 33:30 some tennis or get them playing some basketball 33:32 or get them throwing a football around or doing anything. 33:35 And we're not talking about professionally. 33:37 No, no, no. We're talking about as just-- 33:39 Activity. Activity-- That's true. 33:41 And exercise. Then it's a different world. 33:45 It's a world in which at one point we were warned 33:48 not to buy bicycles now if we can get somebody on a bicycle-- 33:51 It's a wonderful thing. It's a great victory. 33:53 It's a wonderful thing, And so things do change 33:57 and if our prophet was still here-- 33:59 She'd say go to the cities. 34:00 Our prophet would say change the things that change. 34:03 Go get these people. Exactly. 34:04 Go get these people. Exactly. You know-- 34:06 And our prophet always encouraged the use of the mind. 34:08 She did. Use your judgment. God has given you judgment. 34:12 He has. And so you're dealing with a whole 34:15 different set of problems as an educator 34:17 than educators did a few years ago even. 34:20 Well, absolutely--well, you think about our school, Jim, 34:22 I mean, 80% of our student body comes from the cities. 34:27 Yeah. Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas-- 34:30 Right. 80% of our students, Miami, you name it. 34:33 I tell, you know, I tell some of my friends. 34:36 I said, "I love everybody." 34:37 You know, I taught diversity for many years. 34:39 I love everybody. I really, really do. 34:41 I want everybody to love me. 34:42 But let me tell you urban ministry 34:45 is something that-- that's all I know. 34:46 Yes, right. But what I don't know 34:48 is probably Iowa Ministry or something. 34:51 And even there're cities even in Iowa. 34:52 I don't want to make the people from Iowa mad. 34:54 No, no. But what I don't know-- 34:57 but all I know, I grew up in New Orleans. 35:00 Yes. All I know is the life of the city. 35:02 Yes, right. One day I was out 35:05 over at Loma Linda, I was talking to a person 35:06 who was working for me. 35:08 She was an older lady just filling in the gap 35:10 because someone had left. 35:11 And I said to her, "I've got to go down to LA." 35:14 And she said, "You're going to Los Angeles?" 35:17 I said, "Yeah." Now she'd lived in Loma Linda probably 40 years. 35:21 Oh, yeah. She said, "I've never been to that city. 35:24 I haven't been there in like 40 years." 35:27 I said, "Why?" She said, "Isn't it dangerous?" 35:31 Yeah. I said, "Well, I guess, it can be. It can be. 35:35 But, you know, you got 8 million people 35:38 who live in Los-- somebody's got to go." 35:41 Right. "And minister to them and along with that 35:44 you've got Christians, Seventh-day Adventists 35:47 who live right in the heart of Los Angeles 35:49 and they're doing God's ministry." Right. 35:51 And we can't forget about them, 35:52 because we need to equip and empower them. 35:54 Yeah, yeah. Professor, I'm gonna give you 35:56 a chance to crow just a little bit. 35:58 Put you on the spot, because two things 36:01 since we've been here this time, we have heard 36:04 that when nursing students come out of here, 36:06 they are accepted anywhere in the country. 36:08 And there are institutions that look for nursing students, 36:13 because you're trying out a good product. 36:15 And I also happen to know, you were at Loma Linda 36:17 that when medical students, premed students, 36:20 finish here, Loma Linda is very ready, willing, 36:23 and able to take them because the training base is so good. 36:26 You talk a little bit about those kinds of things. 36:28 That's another gift that God has planted 36:29 sort of on this campus. Amen, amen. Yes. 36:30 'Cause I mentioned music but the issue 36:32 of academic quality is always a big issue. 36:34 Yes. And I'll say just in summary, 36:36 we just had a visit from our SACS accreditation group. 36:40 We talk about academic quality so you said to share it, 36:43 so here it is, 99 standards-- 36:46 they tested us against 99 standards. 36:49 Now you try to make this real to people so they'll understand 36:54 what it's like when they're looking at your finances, 36:56 your academic program, your credentialing, 36:59 the people who are teaching, 37:00 the qualifications of your faculty. 37:02 They are looking at your processes, 37:04 your academic process and all of that. 37:06 99 standards, Oakwood scored a 98.9. 37:13 We had one recommendation against 99 standards. 37:16 That's a 98.9. Yes. 37:18 We give God the glory. Praise God. Amen. 37:20 We give lot of hard working people and God 37:22 is blessing the institution in terms of academic quality. 37:25 In terms of this specific question you just asked. 37:28 Our medical, our biology and science departments 37:31 continue to be one of the top ranked in the country. 37:33 We've got documents and all that to kind of verify that. 37:36 So that when students graduate from here, 37:38 they have a tremendously solid base in the sciences 37:42 and are ready to use that as a launching pad 37:44 for med schools, dental school. 37:46 I always mention dentistry 'cause sometimes 37:48 we only think about medicine. 37:49 And I've spent many years on the dental school 37:51 admissions committee at Loma Linda. 37:53 So I always promised him I'd say something 37:54 about dentistry, nursing, pharmacy etcetera. 37:58 Our--last year, our nursing students, 38:02 we had a 100% pass rate on the national exams. 38:05 Wow. These young people are working their tongues off. 38:09 They're working hard. And they make you proud. 38:12 You say, "Wow, God has so many young people 38:15 that He's blessing and they're doing such great work." 38:17 So Oakwood is a blessed place 38:20 and we are very grateful for the faculty. 38:22 I just finished meeting with them. 38:24 That's why I was little bit late. 38:25 I have a luncheon that I do with the faculty 38:27 and I go through every department across the year 38:30 and we get a chance to talking. 38:31 They can ask me whatever questions they want to ask 38:33 'cause today a key in leadership is transparency. 38:37 Oh, yes. There's nothing to hide. 38:38 It's public institution, all the records are public 38:41 and let's talk, and I find when we do it that way, 38:46 it's easier to build trust for mission sake 38:49 'cause what we want to do is finish the mission. 38:50 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think--and Jim and I 38:52 were talking about this last week. 38:54 It's important because when our parent works two jobs 38:56 or sacrifices to put their child in a school like Oakwood, 39:00 one, you want to know that you're putting them in a place 39:02 where their spirituality can be nurtured, 39:04 cultured, and grown, yes. 39:06 But two, and most important when they come out of school, 39:09 they got to have a skill that will allow them 39:11 to support themselves, so if they come out praising 39:14 the Lord but can't work, it's not gonna fly. 39:16 That's right. If they come out with a lot of, 39:18 a lot of skills but have left the faith that's not gonna fly. 39:22 So there's got to be the integration of both. 39:24 And they've got to be both very, very important. 39:25 I know that's something you wrestle with 39:27 as part of your lexicon every single day. 39:29 Every single day and that's what we live for, 39:31 the purpose of a Seventh-day Adventist Institution. 39:34 I tell people, the purpose of a Seventh-day 39:37 Adventist Institution is to transform lives. 39:39 That's what we're about, what business are we in. 39:42 Yes, education is our platform, 39:44 but we are into life transformation. 39:46 Amen, amen. That's what I just told the teachers I left. 39:48 "You are ministers. I know you have technical expertise. 39:51 You wouldn't have a Ph.D. in mathematics, if you didn't." 39:54 Right. "Part of my burden for you is also 39:56 that you are using that platform." 39:59 I just told them that, just before coming over here. 40:01 "As a ministry tool to reach young lives 40:04 and to build relationships that are gonna last 40:06 not just 4 years but 40 years 'cause 40:09 guess what, they come back to you. 40:11 When they have life crises, 40:13 they need advise, they need council." 40:15 Yes. "They come back, and they remember 40:17 how you treated them. 40:18 People may forget a lot about what you say 40:20 but they will always remember how you made them feel." 40:23 That's right. Right? Exactly. Always. 40:24 Yes, yeah. Now you've got to run. 40:27 We're coming down to the end of your time with us. 40:29 There's a camera over there, If you can look to that camera 40:31 and tell our viewing audience how they can help you, 40:34 how they can help Oakwood College. 40:35 What they can do to support 40:37 what you're trying to do. Take a shot. 40:39 Okay, thank you. Certainly what you can do to help 40:42 Oakwood University is to go to our website 40:45 www.Oakwood.edu and there you will find a donor button. 40:50 And if you'd like to join us and be a partner 40:52 in this mission of transforming lives, 40:55 we would certainly invite you. 40:56 And believe me no sum is too small. 40:59 We acknowledge every gift as we seek to help 41:02 our young people and your money 41:03 will be used to help educate young people. 41:06 Some of whom face shortfalls when they have-- 41:08 when it's time to register. 41:10 Your dollars will be used to help them 41:12 matriculate through Oakwood University. 41:14 So we're driving and you'll be able to see it. 41:16 There's a tab called the president scholarship fund. 41:20 So if you would help us, www.Oakwood.edu, 41:23 we will certainly welcome it and God will certainly bless you. 41:27 So thank you again for listening. 41:28 And I'm gonna thank you in advance 41:30 for the help that you will give. 41:31 Amen. All right. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Pollard for-- 41:35 My pleasure. Being with us. 41:36 And we are certainly impressed with Oakwood University 41:40 with your students, with this beautiful campus. 41:44 This beautiful campus. 41:46 Very fine place and we are very impressed with it. 41:49 May God bless you. Thank you so much. 41:50 Thanks 3ABN and welcome to Oakwood again. 41:52 All right, thanks again. Thank you so much. 41:54 All the best. Our free offer. Yeah. Yeah. 41:58 And I wanted to read just another part of it here. 42:01 It says, "Keep about your work. 42:04 Do not flinch because the lion roars. 42:08 Do not stop to stone the devil's dogs. 42:12 Do not fool away your time chasing the devil's rabbits." 42:18 And that's a part that, this is by the way often 42:21 quoted by H.M.S. Richards, although my copy 42:24 was given to me by E.E.Cleveland right here on this campus. 42:28 But it says, "Do your work. 42:30 Let liars lie, let sectarians quarrel, 42:33 let corporations resolve, let editors publish, 42:37 let the devil do his worst. 42:40 But see to it that nothing hinders you 42:44 from fulfilling the work that God has given you." 42:48 And we want to send this to you. "Keep about your work." 42:52 All you have to do is call us at 618-627-4651 42:58 or the email address is freeoffer@3abn.org. 43:04 So give us a call, give us a ring on the internet, 43:09 however, and we'll be happy to get this 43:12 in the mail to you just as soon as we possibly can. 43:15 And again as we mentioned in the first half, 43:18 this has been one of our more popular offerings. 43:21 So if takes a little bit longer, won't be very long. 43:23 But it will be in the mail. We'll get it right out to you. 43:26 So if you have to wait a day or two more, just hold on. 43:29 It's on the way, but this has been very, 43:31 very positively responded to you and it may take 43:34 just a little bit longer than usual 43:35 but it's on the way, we guarantee you. 43:37 And by the way most people that asked for them 43:39 last week have already received them. 43:41 So it won't be too long. You just give us a call. 43:44 And we'll get them headed your way just as soon as possible. 43:47 All right. While we were going to our free offer 43:51 and talking about that, we had the director 43:53 of the Aeolian flip in on us. 43:56 Good to have Dr. Ferdinand come on in. Good to be here. 43:59 And we want to talk to you just a little bit. 44:01 Tuck on in here a little bit closer. 44:02 We wanna draw close to you. Good to have you here. 44:06 Nice to be here. 44:07 And how long have you been here with the Aeolians? 44:09 This is my fifth year at Oakwood University. 44:11 All right, very, very good. Let's get a little history. 44:14 Where're you from? Originally, I'm from Trinidad and Tobago. 44:18 I can hear it. Yeah. Isn't that right? 44:20 Adventist home? Adventist home, 44:22 my parents are Adventist educators. 44:24 You know, my dad actually was a president 44:26 of the university there in Trinidad. 44:28 Caribbean Union College as it was known then. 44:30 Oh, yes. University of the Southern Caribbean now. 44:33 My mother was an elementary school teacher. 44:35 So education is in your background. It is. 44:37 Yes, yes indeed. Now your degree is in? 44:41 My undergrad is in piano and then all my 44:44 other grad degrees are in choral conducting. 44:46 Bless your heart. 44:48 Now what did you do prior to coming to Oakwood? 44:50 Prior to Oakwood, I was at Pine Forge Academy, 44:53 for seven glorious years. I had a great time. 44:57 I was young, very young. Well, you're still young. 45:02 I was younger but those were formative years of my career. 45:07 And it's a privilege to come to Oakwood and kind of met 45:10 some of my old students all over again. 45:12 So some kids have literally sang with me for-- 45:15 Yeah. 8 years. 8 years or so. 45:18 How big is the Aeolians number? It varies from about 50 to 55. 45:24 Good size for a choir. Yeah. Yeah. 45:26 Try not to go too much over that. 45:28 Our university choir, which is an integral part 45:30 of the education process here too is about 100 voices. 45:34 And we have a lot of crossing over as the years go on. 45:38 So you heard university choir tonight. 45:40 Aeolians is more or less your traveling group. 45:43 Exactly. So you try to keep it where it'll fit on one bus. 45:45 Exactly. He's old conference president. 45:49 Right. And part of some choral groups in the past. 45:54 Usually that was the cut off spot, just enough for, 45:58 to put the stuff underneath the bus 46:00 for the different things and getting everybody on. 46:04 Yeah, yeah. And some of the great times 46:06 for a student are on choir trips. 46:09 Yeah, yeah. Definitely. No question about that. 46:13 Coming from Pine Forge of course which has 46:14 its own long legacy of great music, 46:17 was it sort of daunting when you got call? 46:19 I mean, the Aeolians has a history going back, 46:22 oh, I don't know how many years. 46:25 About 63 years. 63 years, little over half a century. 46:28 Yeah. Was that kind of a daunting kind of thing 46:30 being asked to take charge of that choir with such, 46:32 Alma Blackmon and other people, you know who? 46:34 You know what, it is if you think about it. 46:39 I think it probably hit me once I got started but, 46:42 you know, you just get the call and you come 46:44 and start working and, you know, things kind of fell in place. 46:47 So now because I didn't really dwell and luckily 46:51 I had the support of Alma Blackmon 46:53 before she died and she wants me to be here. 46:56 Yes. And so that was comforting. 46:58 And, I guess, I should take this time to mention, 47:01 there were 13 directors before me. 47:03 Yes. You know, we just, we praise them everyday. 47:07 They hang in our choir room and we see them everyday 47:10 and you know that we rest squarely on their shoulders 47:13 and all their hard work that they did. 47:16 When you think about the ministry 47:18 as provided by this group, which is world renowned, 47:22 what is your reason for being, you know, 47:27 when you were saying, well this is what we're here to do, 47:29 how would you summarize and answer that question? 47:30 You know, that's an interesting question because 47:33 I believe that answer can change 47:36 and take different forms as we grow. Let me explain. 47:40 I think now we're at the stage where we don't want to just 47:44 get too comfortable and sit back and minister to our own. 47:48 In the last 2 years, we made efforts 47:50 and intentional decisions to minister to people outside 47:54 of our usual demographic, government officials. 47:59 We once went to Russia, which was not 48:02 Seventh-day Adventist related at all. 48:04 The government in Russia invited us. 48:07 So we're gonna try to reach people 48:08 who wouldn't normally hear the Aeolians. 48:10 So that's been our goal of ministry for the last 2 years 48:15 to try and target some different audiences. 48:18 All right. Now you got involved with this, 48:21 I don't call it a contest but this is where you were named-- 48:26 World Choir Games. Right. How does that happen? 48:29 How do you--It's called the World Choir Games? 48:32 World Choir Games, and where does this take place 48:34 and what's the process? 48:36 World Choir Games is hosted by a parent company 48:38 out of Germany, Interkultur. 48:40 They've been doing it for the last 14 years. 48:43 They have it every two years in different countries 48:46 in the world, the last one, it was in China, Austria. 48:50 Okay. The next one will be in Latvia. All right. 48:53 This was a first time they in canceled United States 48:55 to host this competition, and to be quite honest, 48:58 the mail kept coming in and we were so busy 49:01 during the school year to even address it. 49:03 Deadline passed but some kind of in April, they kept calling us. 49:08 The organizers kept calling, sir, we further you guys 49:11 and you have to be here. 49:13 That's how it happened literally. 49:15 Praise the Lord. And, you know, it took some 49:18 massaging 'cause April, May, I'm tired 49:20 and the kids are tired, right? Oh, yeah. 49:22 We don't want to do anything else. Right. 49:23 But our manager kind of convinced us and Dr. Pollard 49:27 got excited and we ended up going. 49:29 So where was the competition? Cincinnati, Ohio. 49:32 Cincinnati. How many days did it takes place? 49:35 The competition itself lasted for 2 weeks. 49:37 We were there for the second week. 49:39 So you don't have to be there for the whole thing. 49:41 So we were involved in the second half. 49:43 So this kind of like the Olympics. 49:44 It literally is a choir Olympics, 49:47 400 choirs from around the world. 49:49 That was strictly college or they're also academy, 49:53 different age groups? It could be-- 49:54 there were 23 different categories. 49:56 For example, children's choir, youth choirs, 49:59 mixed choirs, male choirs, barbershop choirs, 50:01 jazz choirs, 23 categories. 50:03 So people from all across the world. 50:05 A lot of, you know, Asian groups were there, 50:09 I mean, tons of very, very talented 50:12 Chinese children's choir, they were amazing. 50:14 Oh, yeah. So it was literally Olympics of choirs. 50:18 Now who were the judges, who judged the-- 50:20 Judges were from all over the world. 50:22 Some of the most distinguished choral musicians 50:25 we find anywhere in the world. 50:26 So during anyone of our competitions, 50:29 there'll be seven judges. 50:30 And, I mean, you see different colors, 50:32 different types of faces, 50:34 it's just really, really amazing. 50:35 So you just, you sang in these different categories. 50:38 Now did you enter a number of categories and then? 50:40 The maximum you can enter with three categories. 50:42 So we did the Negro spiritual, 50:45 which being from Oakwood you just have to do. 50:47 Yeah. There's a category called music of the religions 50:51 and then another category called Musica Contemporanea, 50:54 which is basically a contemporary music from-- 50:58 I forget the year from, a certain year to this point. 51:00 So we did all of those, all three. 51:03 So the three you entered in, you did how well? 51:06 We got gold medals in all three. Praise God. 51:09 And in the Negro Spiritual category, 51:11 we were declared champions of that category. 51:14 Just in the last week, my students informed me this-- 51:16 they have world rankings just like in each sporting event. 51:20 So right now we're number one. 51:22 They kind of mixed the spiritual, gospel, 51:25 pop all in one, so we're number one in that. 51:27 And overall number, is it 16? Number 16 in the world. 51:31 Wow. That's very good. Yeah. So very humbled-- 51:35 Very, very much. So what impresses you as far as 51:41 the kinds of music that you want to teach, 51:44 that you want to sing? 51:45 How do you select a song what moves you when you find 51:48 a particular piece of music, you know, 51:50 how do you go about that process? 51:51 You know, one thing I've always tried to do 51:52 in my entire career is to find a lot of new things. 51:57 That's what I am. I get bored quickly. 52:01 Yeah. So I look for text settings. 52:04 Text that'll mean-- will mean a lot to me 52:08 and hopefully mean a lot to other people. 52:09 I'm not trying to stray too far away from some 52:12 traditional things as well that people could hang on 52:15 to maybe in a different setting, different arrangement. 52:18 But definitely we want to always challenge our students 52:20 and challenge them over a broad range of genres. 52:23 So any Aeolian concert will take you from some 52:27 renaissance music all the way up to contemporary gospel music 52:31 and everything in between. 52:32 So that's always my goal to have academic portion 52:37 met for students have that ministry component met 52:41 and have that, just wanna have the kids connect to 52:45 some material that they'll come back 52:47 and sing 20 years from now. 52:49 Yes. Right. Praise God. 52:52 You know, we've--at 3ABN, 52:55 we hired a gentleman Dave Huntsinger. 52:59 Yeah, I know Dave. You know, Dave? Okay. 53:02 We hired him to do a series for us and it kind of came about 53:08 from a meeting that he was having with Danny 53:11 when he began to talk about our doctrines and Dave 53:14 wrote this song, "Remember the Sabbath," and then what-- 53:19 "I fix my mind." "I fix my mind," 53:21 which they sang at general conference. 53:23 And we're hearing now from choirs all over the world 53:28 who are wanting to do that material. 53:30 And we've got that in choral arrangements now. 53:32 So I really firmly believe that some of that is going 53:38 to really make an impact in some of the Adventist schools 53:41 particularly but some other schools that are getting 53:46 in touch with us and saying, 53:47 "You know, we've heard this. We really like it." 53:50 Takes a while sometimes for music to catch on. 53:52 Yeah. Yeah. "And with some choir groups." 53:54 So we would love for you guys to take some of that music 53:58 and really do us a great job. 54:00 We'll bring cameras down here or I'll bring you up there. 54:03 Yeah, we'll do it. 54:08 All right. Because it is-- Andrews University 54:12 has done it and they've done the music and it is just really- 54:17 we feel thrilling and exciting music to us. 54:20 And you met Dave, he is out of Natural of course. 54:25 I met Dave, we did a concert in Natural, 54:27 couple of years ago and he came-- 54:29 Right. And sat through the whole concert-- 54:31 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, he's a very remarkable individual 54:36 and we enjoy working with him. We certainly do, very talented. 54:40 Very, very much. So when you--a young person 54:44 comes to sing with a choir that you're directing, 54:46 what kind of technical skills, I mean, they can sing, 54:49 can they--do they have to be able to read music? 54:50 Do you teach that? Do you have the time to incorporate 54:52 that in what you're doing with your-- 54:56 Typically--I mentioned before having two choirs 54:59 housed in our music department. 55:01 Typically, it's more ideal Aeolians could come and excite 55:05 read because of the pace in that group is very, very fast. 55:09 The University choir is where I could take a little more time 55:13 and during the warm-up times introduce sight singing 55:15 and vocal skills and proper breathing. 55:17 So I'll be a little slow in that group to just 55:20 kind of build the skills and then we'll able to 55:22 kind of switch over so-- so we do take time. 55:26 Yeah, yeah. Even though they do Sabbath, 55:28 I've noticed that you don't have your choir with music in hand. 55:34 When I was growing up in Emmanuel Temple Colorado 55:36 Buffalo, New York with Fred Willis, he said, 55:39 "You can't look at that page 55:40 and look at me at the same time." 55:42 No. So even the messiah we had to have it in here. 55:44 So we are always looking at him and said, 55:46 I want you on me not on that page. 55:47 So is that something that you strive towards to have them, 55:50 have the music really in their head and in their heart? 55:53 It's been years since I've had any of my choirs use music. 55:57 Yes. They're just so much free to express. 55:59 Yes. And people looking, you know, 56:01 you don't want to fool this. 56:03 I haven't used music to conduct in years either. 56:06 I think as if they could memorize it, 56:08 I can't understand or memorize-- And you don't, yeah. 56:10 So it just looks better, it sounds better. 56:13 You know, they could really connect with things a lot more 56:18 without having to turn pages and all this 56:20 so that's my reason for it. Yes, yes, yes. 56:23 As a traveling group, give us a little bit of the idea 56:27 of your schedule that you have this coming year. 56:31 I guess you're out on the road kind of a lot. 56:34 During the first semester, the fall semesters, 56:37 we tend to stay kind of local and places 56:39 we could get to within a day. 56:41 Yes. Second semester in the spring is when 56:43 we kind of branch out little more and typically 56:46 we're gone twice a month, so like in this next spring, 56:51 I know we have, we'll be in California 56:52 in March, Atlanta, Charlotte. 56:56 So we kind of get around more so in the second semester. 57:00 It could get gruelsome and you know, 57:03 lot of people think it is easy work. 57:06 That's a miss that people have, 57:09 traveling is fun but there is work. 57:11 Yeah, there is work. Yeah. 57:13 Well, listen we want to thank you for coming by 57:15 and sharing with us and we're gonna be 57:17 anxious to hear you on Sabbath. 57:19 Oh, yeah, and we're encouraging 57:21 everybody to be watching on Sabbath. 57:23 Oh, yeah. For, is it hour and half or two hours, our sermons? 57:27 Hour and half, all right. 57:29 Well, listen, we're coming down here to the end of this hour. 57:32 And we got a lot of things for a few minutes 57:35 that will be coming up. 57:37 So you just plan to be with us and we'll be looking forward 57:42 to the second half of this program. 57:45 Ain't that right, C.A.? 57:47 We'll be back in just a few moments. |
Revised 2014-12-17