From rshadian@hawaii.edu Tue Apr 29 23:12:12 1997 Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 23:10:38 -1000 From: Ritchard Shadian To: Chi Alpha Subject: The Brotherly, Volume SP97, issue 5 @@@ @ @ @@@ @ @@@ @@ @ @ @ @@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@ @@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@ @@@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@@ @@@@@@@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@@ _ THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I AT MANOA CHI ALPHA CHAPTER ______________________________________________________________________________ APRIL 29, 1997 VOLUME SP97 ISSUE 5 ______________________________________________________________________________ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. --- Ecclesiastes 3:1 ******************************************************************************* Ever heard the song that goes "So long, farewell, aufidezen, adieu" (or something like that). Well, that's what this newsletter is all about. Farewells and fine times. Yes folks, this the LAST issue of the Brotherly for this semester. I'm getting out a little early so we don't all have to be bothered by miscellaneous email during finals. It is also the LAST issue that will bear my signature, since this is my last semester on this campus. I'll put off the gushy parting words until the end. _______________________________________________________________________________ ----------------- | ANNOUNCEMENTS | ----------------- The only part that most people read some of the time. CHI ALPHA IN SUMMER ------------------- The most frequently asked question is: "Will XA be running during the summer sessions?" The answer is yes, with a twist. While the small group meetings will be suspended, the large group meetings will be held at the same time, Fridays 7:00 pm, but at a different place. During the summer, meetings will be held in the Hope Chapel Honolulu office at University Square Suite #212. That's the small business complex located at 2617 S. King St, directly across from Puck's alley, just down the hill from the front of the UH campus. The Hope Chapel Honolulu office is on the second floor above the Uyeda shoe store. FROLICKING IN MAY ----------------- The second most frequently asked question is: "When was Frolic Like a Heifer playing again?" They will be the guest performers at New Hope College Fellowship on Thursday, May 1, at 7:30 pm in Crawford 103. DISCO IS DEAD.....FOR SURE -------------------------- This time it's for real. The disco party which was tentatively scheduled for May 2nd has been cancelled due to some unforeseen difficulties. BANQUET TBA ----------- There still hasn't been an agreement as to where the bye-bye banquet will be held. It will be decided this Friday during the general meeting at Kanewai Park. I will send out an email with the information. SUMMER BABIES ------------- Justin Berg 6/11 Me 6/25 David Smith 7/22 Marvin Lum 8/27 _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------ | FEATURES | ------------ MAY DEVO "REJOICE always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do NOT quench the Spirit. Do NOT despise prophecies. Test ALL things, hold fast what is GOOD. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of PEACE Himself sancitfy you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is FAITHFUL, who also will DO IT." We need to be Godly believers who live unto God and FOR GOD. We need to seek to honor and reflect God in everything we think, say or do. Godliness LIVES quietly, is absorbed in doing good for others and works productively. Godliness has a good reputation with unbelievers. Godliness is knowing the command of Scripture and DOING THEM. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW A Farwell Address Here is where I nostagically reflect upon my Chi Alpha experience and the development of this Internet ministry. If you want to ignore it, that's fine. If you'd like to read it, be prepared for an extremely verbose and rather segmented journey into the past. One-fifth of a score and eight months ago, I first arrived at this campus. During my first year, I did double time between YFC University Fellowship, and an offshoot Hope Chapel Kaneohe college minichurch. That lasted until late Fall 1993 when I first got involved with Chi Alpha. Well, God didn't wait long before throwing me into ministry. I started getting involved in leadership, under Dallas' mentorship, in Spring 1994. At the same time, World Wide Web fever was just beginning to hit UH. An ICS graduate student used my ICS 313 class as guinea pigs for her research project "Bringing people together on the WWW" (or something like that). That's when I got hooked on the net. As I started learning the intricacies of HyperText Markup Language, I thought it would be a great idea to make a web page for Chi Alpha. After a little bit of searching I found that there already was a page run by a guy at Syracuse. So, I decided to restrict it to our Chi Alpha chapter specifically. There were only two others on the web at the time. It started simple and grew in complexity over the years. Other features were gradually added. First the mission statement, then the meeting times and mailing list, then the photoboard, and most recently a page devoted to our sponsor child Tigger. We became more recognized as time went on. I got responses from other Christians on the web waves, including many Chi Alphans around the nation who sometimes used the material in their own web pages. The site got added to several search engines along the way too. The number of other Chi Alpha pages has increased at an alarming rate, to about 60 at last check. Admittedly, some of the others have better looking web pages. Our primary page never got to a stage where I could sit back and say "cool!" but that's what happens when you don't have much spare time. It's still relatively simple, but it loads fast and is more portable across different browsers. In Fall 1994, I started the men's small group. I also began circulating the XA Internet Newsletter, later named the "Brotherly" (taking Flover's idea). The chi_alpha mailing list was also set up at Gaby's suggestion. The newsletter started out as a simple announcement bulletin. At the start of Fall 1995, I looked to expand the newsletter's role by asking, in fact begging, for people to send stuff to include as articles --- things like stories, prayer requests, inspirational verses, etc. Anonymous submissions were welcome. At first it worked, since I was pleading in every single issue, so some people felt sorry for me. But others didn't like that, so I stopped the not-so-subtle hinting. As a result, no one sent any more material. Occasionally I would try to fill the void by including my own column called "Keepin' with the Times" but I gave that up because I got tired of reading my own article each time. Other things have been added and removed, just like there have been many addresses added and removed from the mailing list in the three years of its existance. However, the current state has been a lapse back into the "Internet Newsletter" days, only this time it has a fancy header. There is a running chronicle of the newsletter on the web site. What's in store for the future? Well, God has answered my prayers by raising up people to take over the Internet ministry, which is actually more important than one might think. Justin will be taking over the newsletter and Gaby has graciously accepted the role of website maintenance. After May 31, the current website will no longer be maintained. The URL of the new site is almost the same as the old one, except that the "rshadian" will be replaced with "canaguby". It's written at the end of this newsletter. As for me, I must say that I have felt tremendously blessed to be a part of Chi Alpha. I made so many friends here, and it will be difficult to leave you all behind. I will still be only an email away (I'll send my new address to everyone when I get it), but I will no longer be attending the meetings after the semester ends. Thank you all for so many years of fellowship, prayer, and support. This will be a chapter of my life which I will long remember. It's hard to say goodbye, but there comes a time to move on. I know God has great plans for my future, and every step along the road of life adds to our spiritual development. I hope that God will open opportunites for us to meet again. If not, then I guess I'll see you all in Eternity. It's not so far away. :) The Lord bless thee, and keep thee, the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gratious unto thee, the Lord lift up, His countenance upon thee and give thee peace. In Messiah Christ, Ritchard Shadian ============================================================================== Mailing list address: chi_alpha@Hawaii.Edu World Wide Web page: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~canaguby/chialpha/homepage.html Thanks for the good times.