Indecision is the key to flexibility.

Spent four hours today walking the tents and pavilions of the Barrett-Jackson auto auction. What a zoo! Cars are like art, or music. What thrills one person leaves another wondering, "Why?" (cf. country western). I saw way too many modified mid-50's Chevys. Way too many souped-up Mustangs. Ignored hundreds of cars where the first word in the description was "Custom...." IMHO they've taken a piece of art and played the lemming. Throw a stupid-big high performance engine in the front, add billet, chromed everything, drop it to within a few inches of the pavement, set it on chrome dubs with low profile rubber, and give it a gaudy paint job. Yeah, I don't get it.
I can appreciate the well-done custom rod, the ground-up design that's a throw-back to the hot rods of the 60's.

I spotted a '62 Beetle and was looking it over very carefully to compare it with Ilsa. A couple of Kanucks started asking me questions and it turns out they bought it yesterday. I was showing them what was correct and some of the (minor) things that weren't. Next thing I know there's an old guy and his wife joining in. Turns out he owned the VW dealership in Traverse City, MI back in the 50's and 60's. His wife was from Grand Rapids! A real sweet guy, and we had a great conversation.
We went through the car together, pointing out details. I realized I've become something of a nerd when it comes to correctness for a '62 VW. Next thing I knew the seller showed up. He and I walked off together and I peppered him with questions. He bought it like this at B-J two years ago and brought it back to sell. He got $2k less than he expected and isn't thrilled with B-J.
Oh, and that old VW guy? He says mine will be worth every bit of the price Pat (body) and Steve (engine) have said.

I had several other good conversations. You can tell buyers and sellers by the badges hanging from their necks and I chatted up sellers I found standing by their vehicles IF they had a late-40's to late-50's sedan or truck. Learned some good stuff.

I love my job. I specifically love being the pastor to the great people of Pathway. There's just one problem:
They're KIDS.
The average age is somewhere in the mid-30's, and that's the adults. Add in the horde of energetic and adorable children and that average would drop to about 14. (We have close to 30 children, all under the age of nine.)
I think about my sermon all week long. After doing the book work I constantly mull what I want to say and how I want to say it. Very early this morning I realized the perfect song to illustrate the point of Romans 6:12ff is Dylan's "You Gotta Serve Somebody." But I certainly don't have time to play all 5+ minutes of that track. I could play just a minute or two IF they could fill in the rest.
They're too young to know the song. I'll bet many of them don't know who Bob Dylan is.
heavy sigh

Incidentally, after looking on iTunes I was surprised to see how many artists have covered that song, including Willie Nelson and Judy Collins. The only one that, IMO, really worked is Mavis Staples'. But she and Dylan have very similar styles - free, soulful, gutsy.
"Gotta Serve Somebody" does NOT work as bluegrass. Natalie Cole's cover is interesting because of her personal history.

(cont'd from previous posts)
I graduated from a small private non-profit college - Grace Bible College. I got my graduate degree from the seminary attached to a large private non-profit university - Talbot Seminary at BIOLA University. I spent 10 years teaching at my undergrad alma mater. As an aside, I felt absolutely best-suited for that job. I loved the classroom and the cafeteria, i.e. time with the students teaching or just being. Faculty meetings and admin. work? No, not so much. They were the necessary part of that job. I didn't teach, I am a teacher, and was totally in my element, whether it was a freshman class with 70 students or an upper division class with four.

Which is to say that while I have thoughts about public higher education (last night's post) I have a good deal of experience in private non-profit higher ed, from both sides of the lectern. Add up my years as a student and teacher in that environment - it accounts for almost a third of my life.

I think most parents, and certainly almost all entering freshmen, don't understand some of the key dynamics involved in private non-profit higher ed. How could they? I didn't until I sat in those interminable faculty and staff meetings. Some of it was, "Oh, of course" stuff and some was surprising, even disturbing. But it is. And understanding what's behind the curtain serves the consumer - the student and their parent.

Anybody can start up a college. There used to be a "_____ College of the Bible and Horsemanship" in Oregon. There are colleges operating out of church basements with the pastor and his wife as the faculty. My neighbor and I could start a college, "The College of Senior Sunbelt Living," although I don't consider myself qualified to teach.
Which is why any serious college seeks accreditation with an accrediting agency. It's a stamp of approval that says, "We've looked these guys over pretty thoroughly and they're the real [educational] deal. Similar to the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. Of course my neighbor and I can also start up an accrediting agency, so reputable colleges seek accreditation from reputable agencies. In some cases these agencies serve a particular specialty - schools that focus on a particular vocation. The American Association of Bible Colleges accredits Bible colleges that meet their criteria. I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are focused accrediting agencies for schools of cosmetology and diesel mechanics. Any profession that requires very specialized skills and a higher education could well have an accrediting agency dedicated to serving those colleges.

At the top of the accrediting ladder are the "regional accrediting agencies." I don't know the history, but multi-state regions of the country have very large, sophisticated agencies that accredit all sizes and manner of institutions. The North Central Accrediting Agency accredits the state universities in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and... as well as very small colleges like my alma mater and former employer. Those regional agencies are considered the gold standard of accreditation. If you meet their criteria and earn their stamp of approval you runnin' with the big dogs.

This is good for the student (and their bill-paying parents) for several reasons. It means the faculty have all met standards of qualification, the finances of the institution are sound, they have the necessary support services like an adequate library, livable dorms, the food is edible (for resident schools), the administrators know what they're doing, etc. It also means that if a student decides to transfer, the receiving school has some sense of the quality of the course work that was done at the previous school. A reputable accrediting agency is vouching for it. Note: the receiving school can still reject that course work, but it increases likelihood that it will transfer. Same is true if a student goes on for grad work; the grad school knows the baccalaureate degree is legit.

Some schools will seek both kinds of accreditation. When I was teaching, GBC had both AABC accreditation to validate their credibility as a Bible college and regional accreditation to validate their legitimacy as a top drawer secondary institution.

Other colleges will intentionally decline to seek accreditation, not because they're not legit in every respect - they would probably earn it if they sought it - but because there are downsides to accreditation, both for the institution and the students who attend.
(to be cont'd)