The Azusa Pacific Blog » God First

An Overwhelming Blessing

Mallory — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:02:31 +0000

Hey everyone! This is my first blog post of this school year and it’s about time if I do say so myself!

Well I’m not a freshman anymore! (Not that there is anything wrong with being one..) It’s just that reflecting on “last year” (or 5 months ago), it was about time to be called a Sophomore! :)

Looking back at my Freshman experience, I am amazed. My last blog post included some of the events that we did throughout the year! To be honest, I do not know how I did it all! Freshman year is just like the one in high school, yet you are 5 years older and 5 years more experienced! You come trying to figure out where you best fit, trying to gain every single person as your best friend, and of course trying to find that “man” so you could get a ring by spring! Oh and of course, trying to balance that all with academics! But somehow I did it all… Except the ring! Still trying to work on that.. :P Looking back even know, I realized a lot of things I took for grantide. If I could give you advice, I would definitely recommend this. Engage in your classes. Make your fifty five minute to an hour and a half classes worth something to you. The pain of waking up for a 7:15AM or 8:05AM class will only last the semester.. but there could be worse! I engaged in some yet I regret not in others. So please take this advice to heart! Be eager to go to each and every one of your classes! Want to learn! Your brain is a powerful tool, utilize it!

Read more on An Overwhelming Blessing…

bfast and worship during class?

Nick Karim — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 22:20:30 +0000

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!

2010-11 University Passages Selected

Jon Wallace — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:12:33 +0000

Aligning our Christ-centered university community toward God’s purposes sets the right tone as we seek to reflect Him in all we do. Choosing a University Passage each year provides shared focus and unity as we begin to dream and cast vision for the next academic year.

Putting God First again

Staphon — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:58:42 +0000

I never really realized how addicted to pleasing everyone I actually was. I love being involved, I love doing awesome work, I love compliments, and I love name drops like when people say “Oh, Staphon did that.” (in a positive way of course.) And so, I try to do things like this as much as I can.

But of course, when you agree to do all of these things, agree to be Super, yet, you don’t have any actual Super Powers, it is easy to burn yourself out.

I hate using that word ever since Jonny Liu informed us that to be burned out is taboo, if you are doing the will of God, he will give you energy and you will never be burned out. So when I was on the verge of throwing a fit and crying in an alley in the rain, very movie frustration scene like, I realized that I must be out of alignment with what God wanted me to do. I thought through all of my priorities and I knew that there was nothing in my list that wasn’t supposed to be there, I was doing the Will of God, but it was just not working out as well as it should have.

God’s got this…

Ellie Kipps — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:01:40 +0000

Many of the other bloggers have been talking about just how busy they are, and I 100% agree. As someone who love being academically challenged, I thrive in the demanding pace of my honors classes and my upper divisions. However… there is definitely a point reached (that probably has something to do with learning an extremely difficult language, not sleeping, and drowning in theology along with other life stuff) that you just want to say: I give up, Enough is enough.

I reached this point earlier this week but a blessed blessed thing occured: Study Day, which is a essentially a day off from classes to… well.. study. A lot of students used their ‘Study’ day to pontificate upon and studiously participate in the magical world of Disney (haha…) and some use it for… SHOCKER: Studying. I however used my study day as a much needed sabbath, a time to breathe and reflect and realize that I’m not surrendering the stress of school over to the God who holds All things in His hand. Right now, I’ve been personally going through Foster’s Celebration of Discipline and the coupled book of Spiritual Classics as well as daily devos with Buechner (my favorite theologian), so I spent time in those as well on Study Day. I say all this not in a spirit of flaunting or anything, but more as a reminder that despite the business of life there is first and foremost the priority to God and the priority of honoring Him with rejoicing in the day He has given. And sometimes that means taking a day off (weekends or study day), or if you really can’t manage a whole day, then at least a few hours of intentionally relishing in His goodness and His Word and surrendering over stress.

Key Points of the Year

Staphon — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:14:31 +0000

Well, it has been quite a while since I blogged about anything, and like JP said in his post, College is a BUSY BUSY Place.

First, there is RA, which I feel is mostly a recharge for me, I love spending time with my residents, if I could simply be an RA without everything else, I would be set for life! Just building relationships and planning events and just being creative and there for my residents is the most amazing feeling.

Then there is Class, which is… well work. However, its nice to go somewhere and actually know what it is you are learning enough to give input whenever you learn anything new, to actually be a part of the dialogue and be able to practice the skills right after learning them… is that what it is like for all students? I feel like I am one of the worst students ever, I have never really felt like I was a part of a class, just simply taking in information that was forced at me, but here, I actually feel like I’m taking in things, actually learning. And after 2 years of Gen Ed Classes, its nice to find a major that I actually enjoy learning about, and that is why I am in my second year of Graphic Design.

Update to the APU Community

Jon Wallace — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:36:57 +0000

In addition to our many accomplishments, we started a new tradition this year at orientation: a candle lighting ceremony.

Dear APU Community,

It was wonderful to join you a few weeks ago to kick off Azusa Pacific University’s 110th year! One of the most important things we do at APU is occasionally stop and take stock of the distance covered, the accomplishments achieved, and our significant victories.

Here are just a few of the amazing blessings we celebrate together this year.

• Total students served by the university last year: 10,500
• Total degrees granted: 2,500
• Current full-time university employees: nearly 400 faculty and 600 staff
• The university operated in Azusa, online, at seven Southern California regional campuses; in Los Angeles, High Sierra, and Colorado Springs; and internationally in China, South Africa, Germany, Ukraine, Singapore, Encinitas, Haiti, and Ghana.
• Our current undergraduate enrollment is the largest in university history with a total headcount of 4,300 and a full-time enrollment (FTE) of 4,215.
• We currently have 3,000 students living in on-campus residences. This, too, is our largest in history.
• We now have 15 recent graduates serving two years in a developing country, financially supported by the H.I.S.years program.

encouragement.

Ellie Kipps — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:16:22 +0000

If you’ve been looking at APU for much time, you’ll probably have heard/seen the phrase: God First, and perhaps have also heard about the four cornerstones that this university finds it’s strength and mission within. I hope that throughout this year I’ll explore these four cornerstones in depth and let you see how APU truly embraces them and demonstrates their importance in the everyday workings of this amazing place I call home.

The four cornerstones are: CHRIST, SCHOLARSHIP, COMMUNITY, SERVICE. To see more detail check out this page.

Today I experienced two of these cornerstones through a conversation with a professor today that really encouraged me. I know it might sound like one of those “get-ya-in-the-door, but not really true” admission statements that a lot of schools use (which actually I’ve never found to be true with APU… they are pretty great at being honest with you)…. but nevertheless: Professors REALLY REALLY REALLY care and love and pray for and are there for their students. Whether it be encouraging one in the their faith, their homework, their future planning, their life struggles, or whatever, honestly, professors are the core of this university.