Sattler College Turmoil

[jahertz]

I am not saying you are wrong, but he did have the board resign already. And the why is the primary disagreement.

I assume Finny knows better than any of us the risk to the institution represented by a second major wave of resignations, so we can probably count on him to keep his overweening ecclesiastical recruitment ambitions for Sattler, if any, in check for the present.

[jahertz]

This is all very interesting, and I mostly agree, but it's way off-topic from the problems of Sattler, which to my knowledge has never positioned or understood itself as a recruitment program to woo Christian students into a particular church group.

It’s actually very on point, but I’m not at liberty to explain.
I just re-looked at my messages, apparently it’s not entirely accurate… I can share it. I don’t think the permission was to post it on public forums though.
There is a Google Drive that contains great deal of information on this… most of it isn’t proof so to speak, there is recordings of a meeting between Finny, David and other board members.
I believe Dean’s resignation letter is in there which also somewhat explains.
Feel free to ask someone for it I’m not going to pass it on.

Sounds very juicy! I assume if anything on this fabled Drive turns out to be my business someone will care enough about me to forward me one of the surprisingly many copies that seem to be floating about, given the confidential nature of the alleged contents.

Until then, I will content myself with relying on the fragments in the public domain and the judgment of friends who knew and churched with the various players in this little drama and whose discernment proved reliable in the past. Which, no doubt, is what all of us are doing as we strive to understand these events from a remove.

[Ken]

Its an interesting concept...Christians trying to convert/ indoctrinate other Christians. I once heard from a missionary in Vietnam who asked a Vietnamese Christian what they would do if churches swapped believers. His reply was "Unheard of, we don't steal each others sheep..."

That would be just about every single evangelical and protestant mission in Latin America then, including the Anabaptist ones. Since virtually all of them are recruiting Catholics.

I don’t think they are ALL intentionally recruiting Catholics. But, yes, I suppose its possible some are...I don't know how all the protestants mission statements of faith read. But I'm not going to place all of them in the same box. I would say we don't have to borrow the tactics of those specific evangelicals and protestants you are referring to then.

I lived for 3 years in Guatemala.

A weekly occurrence was seeing evangelical and Pentecostal ministers standing in the town plaza with megaphones haranguing people walking into the Catholic church for mass. Telling them they were going to Hell, Catholics were evil, etc. etc.

I mean one can certainly argue that the explosive growth of evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Latin America is due in part to the failures of the Catholic church. The biggest one in my mind is that the church is not local. Priests are shipped in from elsewhere, often from other countries whereas most evangelical and Pentecostal ministers are local folks with families and roots in the town. So they know absolutely everyone whereas a priest from India or Spain or somewhere else is going to know absolutely no one and have no sense of the local social fabric.

It is probably the same exact reason why conservative Mennonite church planting projects in cities are largely doomed to fail. The people doing it have no sense of the local social fabric.

Also understand that most of the growth of evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Latin America is home grown and not the result of North American missions. Missionary churches of all denominations are a very tiny drop in the bucket. And the biggest North American mission group is probably the Mormons.

But the idea that evangelicals in Latin America are not recruiting and converting Catholics is simply wrong.

[Nomad]

That would be just about every single evangelical and protestant mission in Latin America then, including the Anabaptist ones. Since virtually all of them are recruiting Catholics.

I don’t think they are ALL intentionally recruiting Catholics. But, yes, I suppose its possible some are...I don't know how all the protestants mission statements of faith read. But I'm not going to place all of them in the same box. I would say we don't have to borrow the tactics of those specific evangelicals and protestants you are referring to then.

I lived for 3 years in Guatemala.

A weekly occurrence was seeing evangelical and Pentecostal ministers standing in the town plaza with megaphones haranguing people walking into the Catholic church for mass. Telling them they were going to Hell, Catholics were evil, etc. etc.

I mean one can certainly argue that the explosive growth of evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Latin America is due in part to the failures of the Catholic church. The biggest one in my mind is that the church is not local. Priests are shipped in from elsewhere, often from other countries whereas most evangelical and Pentecostal ministers are local folks with families and roots in the town. So they know absolutely everyone whereas a priest from India or Spain or somewhere else is going to know absolutely no one and have no sense of the local social fabric.

It is probably the same exact reason why conservative Mennonite church planting projects in cities are largely doomed to fail. The people doing it have no sense of the local social fabric.

But the idea that evangelicals in Latin America are not recruiting and converting Catholics is simply wrong.

Yes, some evangelicals perhaps are. But the idea that all of them are is simply wrong.

[Josh]

At KFW I sat and participated in a conversation with Milioni about how best to “convert” Mennonites to the one true faith (basically it revolved around baptism and stricter beliefs on remarriage). This was a completely serious discussion.

Later on, I heard the exact vision of Sattler which would be it paired alongside the idea there should only be one “church of Christ” in a city, and there weren’t any Mennonite churches in Boston so that was a good place to start. And Sattler would have a focus on recruiting evangelicals etc to convert them to the true faith.

For the rest of Mennonites the idea was to start churches in places like Richmond etc and recruit Mennonites to move fo the city.

One of the goals of Sattler was to provide theological training (much like a seminary) so that future church leaders would be trained in the “right” doctrine.

I simply wish the people involve would be a lot more upfront about exactly what they’re doing. Claiming they’re trying to be a premier academic institution that exceeds Harvard in academic quality is… well let’s just say I don’t think it’s a remotely realistic goal.

[jahertz]

Trying to be a premier academic institution that exceeds Harvard in academic quality is… well let’s just say I don’t think it’s a remotely realistic goal.

Certain recent Sattler graduates' MCAT scores might beg to differ, but that's none of my business.

[Soloist]

Trying to be a premier academic institution that exceeds Harvard in academic quality is… well let’s just say I don’t think it’s a remotely realistic goal.

Certain recent Sattler graduates' MCAT scores might beg to differ, but that's none of my business.

Their population pool is too small for any analysis.
60% graduation rate if I recall don’t quote me on it though, ironically that’s better than my Nursing School.

Edit: I was off a little 68.2%
They also don’t give us the degree programs. I don’t know how many graduated with an MRS degree.

[Judas Maccabeus]

I have a better idea.
Why don't you come to Boston and visit Sattler for yourself?
We'd be glad to show you around our facilities, and even cover your plane fare. If you're interested, you could even give a pearl at Tea Time.
Our experience has been that when people come and see for themselves, they discover that they have had some misconceptions about us. I'd love to make it work.

Or, you could come to our Open House. Here's the link. Hope to see you.
https://events.sattler.edu/event/sattler.events.350134

So that's a no then?

Invitation is still open.

Sattler College does not own laboratory facilities, nor does it pretend to.

Our students are able to use lab facilities at several colleges in Boston.
The fact that we don't own the facilities doesn't keep our students from getting an education that prepares them for amazing careers that have included grad school, med school, PA school, and jobs at laboratories within Boston. We've had students who participated in research studies and even been named in peer-reviewed journal articles.

The fact remains that Sattler is making it possible for students to receive a world-class education for a fraction of the cost of many other colleges.

Once again, I invite you to come to Sattler and see for yourself.

Have been there. Sattler has no lab facilities, farms out its labs to other schools.

All that has been proven by the fact that students have been admitted to med school is that somehow, you managed to teach them to score high enough on the MCAT to attract attention of admissions officers. Let’s come back in a year and see how well they do in their first year of preclinical.

Personally I would not send anyone there, to get an expensive education they could easily get in your state universities, and remain under the spiritual care of those who care for them, rather than those who seek to build a movement through separating youth from parents and church, and filling them with nonsense like baptismal regeneration.

Don’t even try to deny it. Sattler and FOW are essentially one and the same. He who pays the piper calls the tune.

[Judas Maccabeus]

I've been hearing the same concerns coming out of the Amish, GBs, certain SDA splinter groups, a branch or two of the Eastern Orthodox, and some very credible Holiness friends. Word on the street is Finny simply refuses to give his blessing to anyone's church plants and it's starting to create a real spiritual gridlock in the city. Extremely disappointing if true.

Nice job missing the point. Finny doesn't need to give his blessing to anyone's church plant. Mennonites should be free to start a church in Boston if they like and students should be free to attend without repercussions and conflict. Unless Sattler has church attendance requirements that they are transparent to prospective students about.

Sattler has no church attendance requirements besides encouraging students to find church fellowship during their time in Boston. There's no approved church list, and no one is tracking which churches students are attending.

Do you actually expect anyone to believe that?

There is more than subtle pressure to attend FOW. BTW, I have been to Boston at least 4X.

The college is simply to recruit people for FOW. Nothing more, nothing less.

[jahertz]

Sattler has no church attendance requirements besides encouraging students to find church fellowship during their time in Boston. There's no approved church list, and no one is tracking which churches students are attending.

Do you actually expect anyone to believe that?

There is more than subtle pressure to attend FOW. BTW, I have been to Boston at least 4X.

Relax my man, I'm sure even brothereicher knows his transparent attempts to misrepresent the institution he works for are useless against anyone who has been to Boston 4X.