Inspire, Summer 2003

8 Summer 2003 “Mission Mississippi” Director Speaks for Martin Luther King Day D r. Dolphus Weary, executive director of Mission Mississippi, was the guest speaker at Cedarville University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Chapel on January 20. He encouraged the University family to “Erase the Tape of Racism.” Born and raised in Mississippi, Weary struggled to break free from the poverty and racism that surrounded him. A basketball scholarship at an all-white Christian college on the West Coast helped him escape the Magnolia State, but he soon learned that racism is not confined to Mississippi or the South. He returned to his home state in 1971 to work for reconciliation and change through Mendenhall Ministries, an organization which President George H.W. Bush named as his 541st Daily Point of Light. In 1990, Weary authored I Ain’t Comin’ Back (with William Hendricks, contributor), which chronicled both his struggle to escape poverty and racism and his return to Mississippi. For the past seven years, Weary has been a featured writer for Daily Guideposts, a devotional publication. Weary was named executive director of Mission Mississippi in 1998. Since its founding 10 years ago, Mission Mississippi has worked to “build relationships and to call persons of all races and denominational backgrounds to reconciliation.” Under Weary’s leadership, the organization sponsors and coordinates opportunities for people of different denominations and races to interact and serve together. Weary holds a B.A. from Los Angeles Baptist College (now The Master’s College), an M.R.E. from Los Angeles Baptist Theological Seminary (now The Master’s Seminary), an M.Ed. from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a D.Min. from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson. He is an ordained minister. For a tape or CD of Dr. Weary’s message, call CDR Radio at 1-800-333-0601. A Reunion in Malaysia A ssociate Professor of Education Dr. Tim Heaton never guessed he’d see so many Cedarville alumni faces so far from home. But that’s exactly what he found when he spoke at the International Children’s Educators’ Conference in Penang, Malaysia in November 2002. Tim had been invited to teach several sessions at the annual conference, including sessions on classroom discipline, grading, and cooperative learning. Over the course of the conference, he ran into more and more Cedarville alums who are teaching at schools throughout Asia until the event became a reunion of sorts. Alums at the conference included Kris Crum ’96 (China), Roger ’95 and Christine Fischbacher Hayden ’93 (Thailand), Julie Henderson ’01 (China), Michael Holden ’01 (Malaysia), Derek ’96 and Yoshi Ikeda Johnson ’96 (South Korea), Melissa Knaus ’02 (China), Esther Loh ’01 (Hong Kong), Diana Lyons ’00 (Thailand), Jonathan Montgomery ’92 (Thailand), Kimberly Rideout ’99 (China), Dan Rudd ’97 (Japan), Tami See ’98 (Thailand), Rebecca Shellenbarger ’01 (Thailand), Bev Check Stevens ’94 (Hong Kong), Esther Twigg ’00 (China), Melissa Wabeke ’99 (China), Ruth Wagner ’02 (China), and Laura Wilcox ’01 (Bangladesh). Tim said he is thrilled to see so many of his former students on the mission field. He remarked, “A quote that comes to mind is III John 4, which says, ‘I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.’”