Around Town: Women / Regent, housing fraud, CLAC at TWU, Casse-Tête . . .

Beth Allison Barr is the author of ‘The Making of Biblical Womanhood.’

Next week offers an opportunity to hear from several unique women at Regent College.

Most are teaching courses, but if you can’t make those, do take in some of their talks, which cover Christian women depicted in church art, women in Christian history, a discussion of biblical patriarchy, holiness and pursuit of the good, true and beautiful.

All are available in person or online, except for ‘Women in Christian History,’ which is only in person:

• May 27: Lynn Cohick: Visual Record: Christian Women Depicted in Church Art

Journey back into church history through its art. From the catacombs of Rome to the mosaics of Ravenna; from frescos in cathedrals to illuminated manuscripts, we see the legacy of women’s influence and piety shaping the church. Some of these women gave their lives as martyrs, others wrote poetry and devotional books; some challenged impious rulers, others fed the poor and cared for the sick. Their faithfulness enriches our own discipleship and reminds us that we are part of a great cloud of witnesses.

Lynn H. Cohick is Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Director of Houston Theological Seminary at Houston Christian University. She is President of the Institute for Biblical Research, and her works include Women in the World of the Earliest Christians (2009).

• May 29: Women in Christian History: Ancient and Modern

This week, you’re invited to a roundtable conversation with historian Beth Allison Barr, New Testament scholar Lynn Cohick, and Old Testament scholar Lissa Wray Beal. The three of them will discuss the vital but oft-forgotten contributions of women through the history of Christianity. Meet at noon in Room 100, and feel free to bring your lunch.

• May 29: Beth Allison Barr: The Hope of Jesus: A Historical Reception of Biblical Patriarchy

Beth Allison Barr, James Vardaman Professor of History at Baylor University, teaches on European women, medieval history and world history. A Baptist pastor’s wife and a mom, Beth is the author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood.

Dr. Barr is teaching The Cost of Forgetting Church History for Women from May 27 – 31 as part of Regent’s 2024 Summer Programs.

• May 30: Book Launch: Holiness Here by Karen Stiller

Karen Stiller

Do you recognize holiness in your own life and in the here and now?

These days, brokenness feels more comfortable to discuss than holiness. It’s easier to say that we are messy than holy; it’s easier to say that healing is a long way off. To say that we are holy seems one step away from holier-than-thou, and no one ever wants to be that.

In this talk, Karen Stiller will introduce her latest book, Holiness Here: Searching for God in the Ordinary Events of Everyday Life (NavPress, 2024), and help us consider how we can see the holiness all around us and within us.

Karen Stiller is also the author of The Minister’s Wife (Tyndale House, 2020), and co-author (with Patricia Paddey) of Craft, Cost & Call: How to Build a Life as a Christian Writer.

Stiller serves as a senior editor of Faith Today magazine and co-host of the Faith Today Podcast. Her writing has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Ekstasis, Christianity Today and many other publications across North America.

Before she was a writer, Stiller was a reader. She loved to wander through the Regent College bookstore when she worked at the College as Admissions Officer. Today she is a writing coach, and loves to help writers flourish. She serves on the Regent College Board of Directors and lives in Ottawa.

• June 3: Karen Swallow Prior: Pursuit of the Good, True and Beautiful: The Calling of Every Christian

Karen Swallow Prior

Contemporary culture encourages us to ‘pursue our passion.’ But what if our passion doesn’t fill a need in the world? What if other duties and roles don’t allow us to pursue our passion? How do we rightly order our passions with God’s calling on our lives?

Every Christian ought to desire – and can cultivate a deeper desire – to pursue the good, true and beautiful, and do so passionately, no matter what our role in life. And we can do so in everyday life. This is the calling of every believer.

Karen Swallow Prior is a writer, speaker and columnist for Religion News Service. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others. Her latest book is The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis (2023).

Dr. Swallow Prior is teaching Christian Poetics from June 3 – 7 as part of Regent’s 2024 Summer Programs.

Housing fraud

A woman who describes herself as “a Social Justice Developer, passionate about eradicating poverty through revitalizing impoverished neighborhoods” was recently fined more than $600,000 for defrauding members of the Christian community – and is now facing new allegations.

An April 15 news release from the BC Securities Commission stated:

The BC Securities Commission (BCSC) has ordered $626,000 in financial sanctions and issued market bans after finding that a BC resident committed fraud, illegally sold shares of her purported real estate company and obstructed justice.

Cherie Evangeline White and her company, KingdomInvestments2015 Inc., must pay a combined $275,771 to the BCSC, representing the amount they obtained as a result of their wrongdoing. Any money collected by the BCSC toward that amount can be made available to the victims. White, who was the CEO and owner of Kingdom, must also pay an administrative penalty of $350,000 for her misconduct. . . .

In total, investors suffered losses of approximately $776,000 as a result of the fraud and illegal distribution. “The damage done to the investors in this case cannot be overstated,” the panel said. “Investors shared their anger, remorse for trust lost and shed tears while speaking of feelings of violation, disappointment, self-doubt, shame, regret, guilt and failure.”

The panel noted that White and Kingdom “did not cooperate fully in the enforcement process, have shown little to no remorse for their actions or the damages caused by them and have failed to demonstrate any understanding of their misconduct or its impact.”

Go here for the full release.

Bethany Lindsay, in a May 16 post on the Investigative Journalism Foundation site, wrote:

Now, White is the subject of a new complaint about another affordable housing proposal.

It concerns a second company she directed while she was under investigation by the BCSC, according to emails shared with the IJF. Emails from February show that a BCSC investigator has been assigned to the file.

Pastor Stanley Ng said he filed the complaint earlier this year after winning a default court judgment against White and her company, Steadfast Developments, over a 2021 loan of $260,000.

Under the terms of their agreement, White would use Ng’s money to buy property in the Downtown Eastside and repay him in six months, with interest, according to the claim Ng filed in BC Supreme Court.

Go here for the full write-up.

CBC’s Early Edition host Stephen Quinn interviewed Lindsay May 16; she played clips from Ng and another investor, Mary-Lee Bouma. Lindsay said White would not speak with her.

CLAC at TWU

CLAC (Christian Labour Association of Canada) posted a release May 14, stating that faculty represented by CLAC teaching at Trinity Western University (TWU) voted in favour of ratifying their first collective agreement after months of negotiations:

CLAC Local 62 was certified by the British Columbia Labour Relations Board on March 21, 2023, to represent all tenured and tenure-track faculty members and all sessional faculty members with a minimum 60 workload points, employed by TWU in undergraduate and graduate programs, including faculty librarians, assistant deans, department chairs, coordinators and graduate program directors.

The three-year contract provides the 180 faculty members with annual wage increases, a new dispute resolution process, enhanced representation, and secures many important employment conditions. In addition, as of January 1, 2025, members will be enrolled in both the union’s pension and benefits plans.

“Negotiations for a first agreement with such a diverse group were comprehensive and complex requiring many days of meetings, proposals and bargaining over the past year,” says Nathan Mathews, CLAC representative.

“Over months of bargaining, we achieved resolution on all outstanding issues except wages, which required the assistance of a mediator to reach a settlement acceptable to both parties. However, throughout the entire bargaining process, negotiations were characterised by a spirit of mutual respect and collaboration. We’re very pleased with the end result, and we’re pleased that the settlement was ratified with overwhelming support by the membership.”

Formed in 1952, CLAC represents more than 60,000 workers in almost every sector of the economy across Canada. The union has a regional office in Langley, south of the freeway, just west of TWU’s main campus (the school also has Richmond and Ottawa campuses).

Go here for a joint (and collaborative) statement from TWU and CLAC.

Casse-Tête

This weekend would be a good time to visit South Surrey / White Rock – especially if you like free music.

The seventh Casse-Tête: A Festival of Experimental Music will be held in various locations from Friday evening (May 24) to Sunday midday (May 26).

Here is the background

In 2013, a startlingly original music festival began in Prince George. It ran for five successful years before its founder and Artistic Director, Jeremy Stewart, relocated to BC’s lower mainland. Casse-Tête resumed in 2023 in a new location on the Semiahmoo Peninsula (on the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation).

Casse-Tête 2024 is a production of the Casse-Tête Institute Society, sponsored by The Canadian Music Centre and the City of Surrey, and will feature a presentation stage as part of the White Rock Jazz & Blues Festival (in partnership with the White Rock BIA). ‘Casse-Tête’ is the French word for a puzzle, but it can also refer to a headache or a deafening noise.

Rebecca Bruton will be part of a concert at Saltaire Amphitheatre Sunday morning.

Stewart’s day job is at Regent College, where he is Director of Communications and Public Engagement, and also serves as Scholar-in-Residence. He has also just been appointed as a Veritas Scholar with the Veritas Forum.

These are the shows: