This year we are looking forward to hosting another Ministering to Children for God's Sake conference in February.

This will be held at the College with a variety of guest speakers and our keynote speaker this year will be Mark Griffiths.

Mark is a Church Strategist, Christian Author, Trainer & Lecturer and above all a passionate follower of Jesus Christ. Over the last two decades of Christian leadership Mark has worked at numerous churches around the UK (both CofE and free church denominations), as well as engaging with nationally training youth and children's ministers and overseeing the 0-14s ministry for New Wine. He has spoken in a wide range of church contexts both nationally and internationally and is the author of five books.

Over the last two years Moorlands has hosted a day event for children's' & family workers (salaried or volunteer). Last year we had Lucy Moore,and the year before we had Paul Butler.

If you are interested in finding out more about the day please email: nes.dufeu@moorlands.ac.uk

At the end of July we were very excited to take delivery and install eight new 20’’ iMacs for our student IT room. A much awaited upgrade to help our students make the most of the ever-changing technical world. Due to the academic environment we work in we are always in a state of assessment for how we can provide the best tools to our students, and this generally means the commitment of financial provision. Also, with the increase of online journals, the need to offer our students computers that not only technically perform better, but are also comfortable and more space efficient, was more than just an option, it became a necessity. Having our student IT room up-to date also helps us to provide for those students who do not have their own laptop or computer to be able to complete their essays to guideline requirements.

The eight old eMacs had been in the student IT room for well over five years and were showing many signs of their age and use. So, we praise God for the provision of these new iMacs and trust that they will benefit the student’s studying environment for the better and will now be able to make full use of what is available to them.

Professor Gary Habermas is an American evangelical Christian apologist, historian and philosopher of religion. He is a prolific author, lecturer and debater on the topic of the Resurrection of Jesus.

It was a pleasure to share a few days with Gary Habermas and many enjoyed his talks. Gary shared not only from his work but also from his own life and gave our Graduates lots to think about on their Gradation Day. We have audio CD’s available to anyone who is interested in hearing his lectures. If you are interested in ordering a CD please contact Nes at nes.dufeu@moorlands.ac.uk

Faster Than Light: Well, so what?

I wonder if you have been as intrigued as I about the recent neutrino results that have been flagged up in the media?  A neutrino is one of the fundamental particles of which the universe is formed.  The latest research suggests that they may have travelled faster than light.  Apparently, when they were fired from CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, near Geneva, to the Grand Sasso Laboratory in Central Italy, they arrived before they should have done.  Results are being checked and rechecked by scientists around the world.  So what?

Well, if they have exceeded the speed of light, then the discovery effectively undermines Albert Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity, propounded in 1905, and which asserts that light is a ‘cosmic constant’.  So what?

Well, if the results of the experiment prove correct some of the implications begin to make the science fiction sound like science fact - time travel, for instance.  In 1923, Professor Arthur Buller penned an oft-quoted limerick about such:

There was a young woman named Bright,

Whose speed was far faster than light;

She set out one day

In a relative way,

And returned the previous night.

Hmm!  To explain the neutrino phenomenon, some theoretical physicists are already suggesting that an explanation lies along the lines that we are not part of a uni-verse but multi-verse.  Perhaps the neutrinos went into another dimension (according to some physicists there are 11 dimensions compared to our four (!)), and so arrived in record time.  So what?

Well, if nothing else here is a potential reminder that science does not have all the answers and is always a developing branch of knowledge.  Today’s discovery may overturn centuries of accepted wisdom.  Think of the hassle that Copernicus and others received by daring to suggest that the earth goes round the sun and not vice versa.  So what?

Well, firstly, we need to be clearly cautious when someone asserts that ‘science has proved!’ something or other that seems to undermine fundamental Christian truths, such as, dead men do not rise from the dead.  Secondly, there are dimensions of existence that we know nothing about: there are ‘things invisible’ according to the Bible, whole spiritual realities that are not perceptible to the naked eye or science as we know it.  As the Bard put it in Hamlet, ‘there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.’  So what?

Well, the God who comes to us in Jesus is Creator, Provider, Redeemer and Consummator of everything, things visible and invisible.  There is nothing in our universe, or whatever multiverse there may be, that is outside of the control of him.  As Abraham Kuyper, a one time Dutch Prime Minister and theologian, put it: ‘There is not one square inch of the cosmos over which Jesus Christ does not say, “That is mine! I made it!”’  You do not need to know or travel at the speed of light, or faster than it, to believe that.  So what?  All is well.

Steve Brady