November Town Halls

by Alex Snider

In November, CTS was privileged to hold two town hall meetings.

The first meeting, hosted by the Student Senate, was a forum on what the CRC would look like in 25 years. The panelists were CTS professors Dr. Lyle Bierma and Dr. John Bolt and Rev. Jerry Dykstra, the executive director of the CRCNA. The panel addressed topics such as the decline in membership, what a global CRC would look like, and the issue of homosexuality. After the formal questions posed by moderator Kyle Brooks, the floor was opened for questions from the audience.

The second meeting was hosted by the Center for Excellence in Preaching to talk about the book of the semester. This semesters book was Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour. Rev. Scott Hoezee, director of the CEP, moderated a panel of three delegates all of whom had experience with the Middle East. The panelists were Dr. Doug Howard, professor of history at Calvin College and a Ph. D in Ottoman history from Indiana University, Albert Hamstra, Special Projects Director for CRCWM and one of the founders of Hope Equals, and Micah Schuurman, 1st year M.Div student who spent a year teaching in Egypt. These panelists addressed prominent issues the the book raised. Among other issues, they discussed the bad reputation Palestinians have in popular culture and how to begin talking about this issue with other Christians.

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