Dear E-Cornerstone Folk,

Greetings from the autumnal hills of the Hudson Valley.

God has blessed us greatly these last couple of weeks with a bright new class of 27 and a solid group of returning students. Our total enrollment is 128 at Barrytown (140 FTE) and 27 at the EC (28 FTE, and counting), putting us at 155 head count and 168 FTE. This is our sixth straight term of expanded enrollment, and the third highest FTE ever at UTS. Again, we are grateful to God.

Also we are grateful because there are alumni out there who are talking up UTS and encouraging others to attend. We thank you. For example, Rev. Hiroshi Matsuzaki and Rev. Chuck Frumin have sent a Christian minister here to study Unificationism. Rev. Sam Masilimoney, who worked with Mother Teresa for seven years, is a real asset to our school, although his time here will be brief. He is talking with us about developing an intensive program to educate minister in Unificationism. And he plays a mean round of golf.

We are concerned, however, for even though our overall enrollment is high, the number of new students fell short of the goal. We are giving serious thought to the future enrollment picture and ask for your prayers.

Connected with our future enrollment, and your future church and movement, we conducted a survey of 142 STF kids and found some interesting results:

Interest in UTS: 26% indicated a good probability of attending UTS, 5 ­ 7 years hence; 48% were unlikely to attend UTS, and 26% are on the fence.

What our kids are interested in: There is a high interest in the performing arts. By far the career goal of choice is "the arts" (39), "music and art ministry" was the second most popular subject at UTS (33), just four votes short of first place, and the third most popular ministry area is music ministry (15).

There is a high interest as well in youth ministry and education: Education is the third career field of choice (17), Family and youth ministry is the third most popular subject for UTS (24), and the overwhelming favorite area of church life participation is youth ministry (43), with "teaching/writing" having also a strong showing (14).

Of additional interest is the leading subject matter envisioned for UTS study: world religions (37), in light of the total disinterest in the Bible (2) and mediocre showing of Christian history (10) and theology/philosophy (10).

The strong showings in science and technology (19) as a vocational choice should be noted, along with a reasonable distribution of interest in media and information technology (13), health and human services (12) and politics and government (10).

What our kids are not interested in: The lowest career of choice is academic / research (0) and business / management (1). Connect this with lack of interest in learning about management (5) at UTS and getting involved in management / finances in church life (4). This undoubtedly reflects the typical interest pattern of young, unmarried adults who have not confronted much reality.

Another low-interest area of interest is the traditional church-leadership roles: religion / ministry got only 8 votes as a career choice, preaching got only 1 vote as an attractive part of church life, church public relations (4) and outreach / witnessing (5) also scored very low. Church leadership received a mediocre score in terms of interest in studying at UTS (11). Finally, although there was a high level of interest in family and youth ministry, only one individual indicated vocational interest in parenting (Œbe a mom").

Our G/O team has been pushing forward. Here is the current DRAFT of the results of our deliberations:

Goals and Objectives‹Meeting #4 / September 23, 2002

DRAFT STATEMENT OF GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

1. To offer professional ministerial programs of high quality

2. To foster the spiritual formation of students within the context of a community of character and faith

3. To contribute to the ongoing development of the Unification tradition and its relationship to diverse religious and secular communities.

4. To provide opportunities for productive employment and professional advancement

5. To operate in a fiscally sound manner

1. To offer a professional ministerial program of high quality for individuals seeking careers in, or in dialog with, the Unification Church and affiliated organizations

2. To foster the spiritual formation of students within the context of a community of character and faith

3. To contribute to the ongoing development of the Unification tradition and its relationship to diverse religious and secular communities.

4. To provide opportunities for productive employment and professional advancement

5. To operate in a fiscally sound manner

We have also made progress on our "Facilities Master Plan" deliberations, but I will not push my luck with regard to your capacity for this type of thing.

Changing the subject, we had a beaver that gnawed down one willow tree at the pond and did considerable damage to two others. We had a neighbor kill it, in return for the right to stuff it and make it, with the stump of the tree, into a lamp. I almost enclosed a photo for everyone to see, but my prudence stopped me. If you'd like to see the photo, let me know.

The celebration of the 27th Anniversary of UTS, Sept 22, featured a light show that filled the 40' square front wall of the chapel and was pretty stunning to everyone and difficult to describe. You have to see it.

Last but not least, yours truly is generating an intergenerational band that's focusing on Christian rock to get ourselves started. We hope you'll be able to make it to UTS for worship sometime later this fall. The purpose of life is joy, isn't it?

All the best, Tyler Hendricks

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