Rich Little (Harding SA president my freshman year) has been posting many thoughts from Harding alumni responding to the recent selection of a new president. The are all well written and kind in their disagreement. If you are interested they are all worth reading but I thought this one was the best so far http://richlittle.org/2012/11/08/mary-beth-picker-a-personal-harding-story/.
To balance the discussion, here is an equally well written piece by friend and classmate Frank McCown
http://frankmccown.blogspot.com/2012/11/hardings-president-mclarty.html.
There are changes in the world to which the Churches of Christ must respond. The are happening and we can fight them and become even more isolated, or we can learn to navigate them and sometimes embrace them and engage in a broader vision in God's world. Many feel that Harding's new choice is a vote for the status quo and a signal of a decline. I pray that this is not the case and that Harding can be a positive force in the kingdom for many years to come.
I am not close enough to the internals of Harding structure or any of the people involved to have much comment of my own. I do share a lot of the concerns about the church in general that were expressed in these writings and I have written about those things at various times. But I remain hopeful and prayerful that Harding will be a force to engage the culture for Christ. I will be visiting Harding next week recruiting for my company and I always enjoy the chance to visit with the professors. I wonder if the students will look older this year. In March, they all seemed like they should be in Jr. High.
