Dr. Luther Smith, head of Calvary’s Biblical Counseling department, recently participated in a panel on mental health. The event, titled “The Elephant in the Sanctuary,” discussed how to address mental health within the church and from a biblical perspective. The panel was comprised of biblical counselors, pastors, and persons with advanced psychology degrees.

Addressing predetermined questions as well as fielding questions from the audience, Dr. Smith said the panel covered “the science behind mental illness and how the body of Christ can especially serve those who have particular mental illnesses… We also discussed the challenges of mental healthcare in society, the lack of resources.” Smith noted that, especially in more rural areas, “Some people can’t receive care.”

Esther McRae, a Calvary student who attended the panel, noted this as well. “One thing that came up was that insurance companies will pay for counseling sometimes, but almost never pay for Christian counselling.” Both Smith and McRae said one of the main topics of discussion was resources for mental health, and panelists covered several of the resources available to persons dealing with or who are close to someone struggling with mental health.

Smith was pleased by the turnout and the level of audience engagement. There were over 50 attendees, and “It was highly welcomed and highly received. I must have been there at least a full hour after we had ended with people asking questions.” Despite the good reception, McRae noted that some attendees were emotional, frustrated by the difficulties they faced in getting help for friends and family members. Smith said, overall, “I left thinking we have work to do.”

Videos of the conference can be watched here.

Pastor and Calvary alum, Chuck Teagle, is serving at Church of the Cross in Pine Grove, California, while pursuing a Master of Bible and Theology degree using Calvary’s blended course model.

Calvary alum is using technology to reach his community and further his education.

Pastor Chuck Teagle found his way to Calvary in 1969 when he transferred in to complete his degree. He had finished a three-year program at a different institute associated with Moody and wanted a full 4-year degree as he pursued a career in ministry. Calvary transferred his credits, and he graduated in 1970 with his bachelor’s degree in Bible and Theology.

Teagle commented, “The 70s to 2019 are big changes, just in our culture.” He pointed out that, while Calvary still has the same welcoming and close-knit campus atmosphere and biblical focus, “[Calvary] has expanded with her campus. Calvary is very innovative in their courses and their teaching methods. They’ve expanded in the degree programs and in the seminary… I think technology has allowed the innovation for Calvary to expand.”

Pastor Teagle has served in a variety of churches since his graduation in 1970. Currently, he pastors at Church of the Cross in Pine Grove, California, where he has been for 25 years. When asked how God is working there, Teagle said, “It’s California, meaning it is exceptionally liberal, politically as well as spiritually. Liberalism has penetrated our churches. It’s now more for entertainment than it is for exposition.”

Teagle responds to these challenges by “trying not to be a relic of the past. We are trying to integrate technology in the social networking of Northern California, as well as in our own community.” As his church strives to stay involved and contributing to its community, it’s ultimate goal is, “To bring the clarity of the gospel of Jesus Christ to our neighborhood.”

Looking back on his time at Calvary, Teagle said, “It prepared me with the foundation of biblical truth. It’s assisted us [as a church] over the years, as we’ve had to change in our methods and technology. But it gave us a foundation.”

Advancing technology affects Teagle’s personal life as well, as he pursues his Master of Bible and Theology degree using Calvary’s blended course model. He reflected, “I think I would have liked to have finished the master’s degree program immediately after college.” In the 70s, Calvary didn’t have options for remote learning, “and the innovation wasn’t available where I was located. But today, I wanted an academic challenge. I’m freed up to do that.” And Calvary’s robust online program options are enabling Pastor Teagle to achieve this goal.

As he continues his theological education, Pastor Teagle commented, “I have a lot of great memories from my experience at Calvary. And [God’s] not done with me, so I’m still at it.”

     Massa. “A burning in the bones.” This is what the Old Testament prophets experienced, a Hebrew word defined as a burden, a load, a lifting, an uplifting, the lifting of the soul itself, something carried or brought or borne, an utterance, or an oracle. Massa has the connotation of something that is being pulled up and out—almost something extracted or excised. It was given by God, and the prophets to whom it was given had very little choice as to whether to bear it. Think Jonah and his reticence to go to Nineveh; he didn’t get very far in the other direction, right? And he had a very tough time of it for three days.

We know the language of the prophets was the language of visions, symbols, parables, and metaphors. More than foretelling, it was forthtelling: a call to repentance and a mission to speak in ways that recaptured the imagination. If we believe the arts are often prophetic in the culture, then this production is CU Theatre’s call to Nineveh.

Doubt, intriguingly subtitled “a Parable” by John Patrick Shanley, is Calvary’s fall production and our massa. This award-winning play easily contains the most challenging content Calvary Theatre has ever presented. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the script, it touches on the following: sexual and physical abuse, same sex attraction, racism, and doubt. Not certainty. Not faith. Doubt. We’re heading into groundbreaking territory by addressing some of the subjects that are rarely openly or evenly spoken of on our campus. We anticipate there might be some waves. So why produce this play? Why take this kind of risk?

There has been a burden for years in our Theatre Department to produce this show. I first saw Shanley’s script come to life in 2005 on Broadway with the original cast. That’s fourteen years of burning.

The play is one of the tightest little pieces of dramatic literature I’ve come across in over forty years of my life in theatre. A shorter play performed without intermission, it reverberates across the stage like echoes in a cathedral. Structurally, conceptually, and in the crafting of its words and images, it’s nearly perfect. It became my go-to choice to use every other year in acting class for an assignment in text analysis and it never failed to engage my students in dynamic ways.

So, what will you find when you join us on this journey to Nineveh? The burden we bear is not just for the 700 evangelicals in the Southern Baptist denomination who were sexually abused by clerics or laity over the past twenty years, not just for the 11,000 children referenced in the John Jay Report who were sexually abused by Catholic priests, not just for all the women represented by the #MeToo Movement, but for the loss of innocence of victims by predators formed and twisted by abuse, first perpetrated on them by individuals equally as damaged. This is a hardened cycle.

These crimes are heinous, and their consequences far-reaching. Their ripple effects rock all those within their circumference, and it often takes a lifetime to recover. The suicide rate for those who have experienced sexual abuse is beyond comprehension. Yet victims and perpetrators in these most intimate, most violating of crimes are not beyond the reach of the God we serve. There is a great, existential sadness at the foundation of this play which is not beyond the realm of the Christian experience. Many of us know exactly what this is, and we are privileged to also know and extend the hope and redemption that pulls us back from the edge of the abyss. It is with that promise and its light that we approach the themes of this play.

This play is not about sexual abuse. The abuse is part of the context of our story, but the play itself is, as the title suggests, about doubt—a different consequence. This play is not about right or wrong, not about the certainty of the black and white of a nun’s habit or a priest’s collar and cassock; it’s about doubt.

When you come with us on our journey to Nineveh, we ask you to remember how Jesus used parables. His parables were stories illustrating a moral or spiritual lesson. We ask you to listen carefully to the words of the play and think deeply about its title. In his forward, our playwright says the beginning of change is the moment of doubt. What lesson does this modern parable hold for us?

The play asks many questions. Christians don’t shy away from the hard questions. We can ask them, too. We have all experienced crises of faith. Is it wrong to doubt? How do we handle uncertainty? Is there a difference between doubt and unbelief? Does doubt have a purpose in our faith journey? Where do we go when assaulted by doubt? How do we learn to hope again?

We invite you to bear our massa with us as we return to Nineveh, where hope and forgiveness were given in a damnable place and compassion was born under a worm-eaten tree.

Due to the sensitive subject matter, we recommend this production to an audience of those twelve and up.

Pre-show talks focusing on the context of the play and its potentially triggering subject of sexual abuse will be held at the times listed below during all performances. Licensed practical therapists, biblical counselors, and literature will be available along with dramaturgical context as we discuss these important issues. The focus during the talkbacks following each performance will touch on the themes of the play. These talks will involve director, cast, crew, dramaturgs, theologians, faculty, and counselors during what we hope will be an animated discussion. We would welcome you to join us for a sensitive examination of the themes of this production.

Thursday, 10/24
–  10:20 a.m.-10:50 a.m. Pre-show talk
–  12:30 p.m.-1:00 p.m. Talkback
Friday 10/25 and Saturday 10/26
–  6: 50 p.m.-7:20 p.m. Pre-show talk
–  9:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Talkback
Sunday 10/27
–  1:20 p.m.-1:50 p.m. Pre-show talk
–  3:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m. Talkback

Matinee performances on October 24 at 11:00 a.m. and October 27 at 2:00 p.m.
Evening performances on October 25 and 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets now on sale!  Please click here to visit our Box Office.