Archive for September, 2010

Summer was canned and replaced by someone named Autumn!

Staphon Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Welcome back APU!

I’m so very excited to have you all back, and for you newcomers, I’m glad that you are here period! For you perspective students, hurry up and graduate high school or get off the fence on your decision to join our ranks or not because we are waiting impatiently for you all to get here.

Well, it was quite a summer here without you all. Summer is always a bitter sweet time, everything is so quiet, and only staff and some faculty and student workers scattered around everywhere. Its definitely different than the rest of the year, hands down! An upside is that there are parking spots as far as the eye can see! Haha. It can get lonely at times, but the relationships that you build with the people you are still here with become tighter than you could every imagine.

For those of you who don’t know, I am the Media and Design Manager for IMT Student Services, So this summer I was here working on a bunch of different projects and getting ready for you all to come back!

But the beginning two weeks of summer were spent studying abroad in London!

To give you a taste of what it was like, here is an excerpt from my Summer Blog about it.

“Day 2 in England
Day Two in England physically hurt getting up for.
Man, this Jet lag is killin’ my vibe, but it was definitely worth it!
So I got up and stumbled into the bathroom and fumbled with the knobs and dials in the shower… there were a lot more than I had anticipated.
My 3 minutes shower turned into a 12 minute crash course on British water works.
Finally Rik and I got downstairs and went to breakfast in our hotel. It was actually REALLY good! But as you may or may not know, I enjoy eggs of all kinds so that wasn’t too hard.
We took the tube down to the train station and then took the train to Salisbury (yes, like the steak… EXACTLY like the steak)
Once we got to Salisbury, we got on a double decker bus and took the far too narrow streets down through beautiful green and amazingly yellow (due to flowers) fields until we hit the top of the hill and low and behold arrived at Stone Henge!
This place was like nothing I had ever seen before, It was a bunch of rocks, yet it was so curious and in such an order that one could not help but drop a jaw and oooh and aww (Props to Dr. Seuss for my rhyming skills) I have a theory that someone from the future went back in time and used advanced technology to lay the stones the way they were just to play a prank on us… I’d do it!”

Here are some pictures I took while I was there.


Since I was there taking a photo class and an art history class, I HAD to take a lot of pictures and I HAD to go to a lot of museums. Was it worth it, YES, it definitely was. Especially since part of the trip included us going to Paris, France!

It was such a blessing that I got to study abroad at all, seeing as how I am on the track team, doing something like that would have seemed near impossible! But APU has so many different programs that not only was I able to go to London this summer, but 3 summers ago I was also able to go to Japan, though not with APU but more a program that I heard about in my Japanese Class my freshman year here.

But now, summer is over, and its time to start off a new year, my Super Senior Year! It should be quite an interesting year and I am looking forward to every bit of it.

A New Beginning…

Matt Visser Friday, September 24th, 2010

Next week marks a new beginning of students serving locally in the city of Azusa and the greater Los Angeles area. MAS student leaders have been preparing since mid-August to get students mobilized toward loving their neighbor right across the street. Next week, 12 student local ministry and service programs will launch for the academic year!

Right across the street in Azusa, several of our tutoring programs will be kicked off including: La C.A.S.A., an academic mentoring program serving middle school and high school students; A-Town and Cerritos Kidz, tutoring programs serving children in local apartment complexes; Homework House, a wholistic ministry serving the academic and spiritual needs of children and families in Azusa; Azusa Food Bank, providing quality food and meals for local families; VIVA Azusa Soccer, a soccer ministry coordinated through Church of the Open Door; S.E.E.D., a educational ministry teaching local elementary children about creation care; and, Habitat for Humanity, a ministry committed to providing affordable housing.

A little further away, several great opportunities to serve include: Central City Community Outreach, a tutoring and mentoring program for kids living in downtown Los Angeles near “skid row”; Door of Hope, a transitional housing program serving families experiencing homeless; San Dimas Retirement Center, a community connecting APU students with the elderly residents;

If you are looking for educational opportunities, take advantage of LA 101 and Azusa 101, two experiential learning weekends focused on gaining a deeper understanding of these unique and diverse cities in new ways. There is still time to get involved! Visit the office today or learn more on our office website: www.apu.edu/mas.

Our theme this year, All Things Created | All Things Reconciled, centers around the reality of God’s already/not yet Kingdom and the university passage(s), John 1 and Colossians 1. As we begin this year, we pray for the new relationships that will be built in the local communities of Azusa and greater Los Angeles centered on the reality that God created all things. Furthermore, we pray that God will continue to reconcile all things back to Himself.

Keeping the Balance

Kevin Mannoia Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Hi,
I hope you had a really great weekend…and that you were able to be in church worshipping God.  It’s important for your priorities and keeping balance in your life.  Maintaining a focus on Jesus Christ results in a calming peace that cannot be explained and it also results in priorities that take their proper place in your life.  When they seem to get out of balance, take some time to think about God’s love for you, and how much Jesus loves you!  Suddenly what once seemed to overwhelm you falls into perspective.  It’s like a bicycle wheel with a hub – take away the hub and it falls apart.  God’s love for you shown in Jesus can be your hub and will put all things in balance.

Every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00pm – 5:00pm a chaplain is in the Green Room on the first level of the Event Center.  If you are in Azusa and would like to talk or pray drop in.

If you have any prayer requests, send them to me and our Prayer Partners will pray for you.

God loves you,
Kevin

bfast and worship during class?

Nick Karim Monday, September 20th, 2010

What an awesome group of people I am blessed to go through the Young Executive MBA program with! Last Thursday, we accepted the exclusive invitation to join Anaheim’s mayor, Curt Pringle, for a morning of prayer and worship with Chris Tomlin. Because the prayer breakfast was during class time. Professor Ogunji postponed class for a couple hours so that we could make it.

MBA students with Chris Tomlin after worship!

MBA students with Chris Tomlin after worship!

3D Leadership

Kevin Mannoia Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

When you watch a movie in 3D it seems to come alive.  There is a fullness about it and a depth that fulfills the experience way beyond a normal 2D film.  What’s the added feature?  Why does it make such a difference?  The 3rd component seems to complete the picture and give it texture and meaning.  You may be on a journey of trying to become a leader.  But it may be of the 2D sort.  Two variables – self and success.  I’d like to invite you to consider 3D leadership.  Add a third component that will give fullness, texture, meaning and completeness to your call as a leader – self, success, and Christ.  You see, adding Christ to the equation keeps you from treating others as just a means to your own success.  It helps you to see both others and yourself as He does – people created with His image and loved by God.  It doesn’t mean you won’t be successful.  Actually it means you will probably have a new understanding of success.  But it takes your leadership beyond simply using others to make you successful.  It puts you in a 3-way relationship where Christ is more important than either success or self.  And that gives completeness because that’s how God made you to function.

I hope you will take advantage of  two special ministry opportunities we’ve begun for you if you are near Azusa:

1.      Exodus: Interactive Dialogue – Sunday nights at 7pm in the LAPC Room.

2.      Drop In Chaplain Visits – Mon and Wed – 3-5pm, Event Center Green Room.

And if you have any prayer requests, just let me know by replying to this message and I’ll have our Prayer Partners pray for you this week.  70 faculty have committed to pray for you.

Blessings on you,
Kevin

Are we crazy?

Nick Karim Monday, September 13th, 2010

With the start of a new graduate term comes new classes, new professors, tons of work, and sleepless nights.  Starting an MBA program right after graduating.  Am I crazy?  Why would I want more of the same?  Why wouldn’t I go get some work experience first?  Am I ready for this?  My name is Nick Karim and i’m in the Young Executive MBA program.  The program started in June, right after May graduation and seems to have flown by so far.  As we start this new term I couldn’t be more excited.  Thats right, EXCITED!  I’m excited to go through this life changing program with some amazing people that have become my closest friends.  This summer, I got to meet the 25 people that i’ll spend the next year with.  We did a retreat together, traveled to Atlanta, Georgia together, and some us got to study in Brazil together.  Excited is an understatement, with my new family around me I’m ready for the next step!

Our cohort in Atlanta, GA in June visiting the World of Coke…..after a week of lectures on the economy!

MBAs in Atlanta