Award winning, Best selling Author, and one of my Heroes

Meeting a Legend Before He Leaves Us:

Author David McCullough has written on Presidents and history for 45 years; winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. He received the Pulitzer Price twice and also the National Book Award. It was an honor this week to finally meet him and shake his hand. His wife of 60 years, Rosalee was delightful; she exhorted us to never stop reading out loud to our children.

His new book about the Wright Brothers comes out on May 5, 2015; a result of digging deeper into the story of these remarkable men and finding much that he did not expect: www.davidmccullough.com

In his book about Paris in the 1800s he chronicles the vast influence of the returning Americans who grew, learned, and flourished in Paris. It's unique to consider the massive early French influence on the initial formation of the USA.

He imports the cause/effect, action/reaction, give/take of human nature that is studied in the field of History. He believes Truman, John Adams, Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Theodore Roosevelt are the greatest presidents, but that all the "great" presidents were readers of history.

One of the best interviews I have ever watched was conducted on the Charlie Rose Show where David McCullough spent 52 min. recounting his great life in the study of history. McCullough told us in person, he loves Charlie Rose and was delighted at how well that interview turned out!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/249382

He stresses how important reading, writing, and the liberal arts are to education, which [at 42:20] he claims it is the basis of who we are as a nation [centering the discussion on Education at 43:30].

He states [at 12:34] the essential nature of the study of history to any position of leadership, and that a liberal arts education is the under-pinning of any further profession because of the depth it adds to the student in later years [11:48]. (Oh, how I agree!)

Mr. McCullough reminds listeners that the "Arab Spring" and other democratic uprisings show that the peoples of the world want what we take for granted here: the opportunity to live under a Bill of Rights, individual freedoms guaranteed by laws, and not men, and the ability to learn and develop our own strengths. "This is the country's great strength," he says. He adds that much of this civic development is provided by teachers, especially teachers of history (his son is a teacher).

 

He carried himself with dignity, grace, charm, and a sense of purpose. His work stands by itself but as a person, I found him sharp, engaging, and funny; although it doesn't appear this way in the picture above snapped of us at the meeting. In every way he was a humble human being who you'd love to have as a professor.

(Quote) "I think it's important to remember that these men are not perfect. If they were marble gods, what they did wouldn't be so admirable. The more we see the founders as humans the more we can understand them." by David McCullough

Blog post ©Mark H. Pillsbury

 

Praying for young people and Revival

Every year at HC, the faculty and staff pray that God would revive us again; that the teachers would be facilitators of joy among the students, so that they might rejoice in God, draw near to God, seek his kingdom, and his righteousness. 

With all this prayed over, there is then a peace that all the things of the coming school year would be added to them as it progresses. Everything will work out fine. In August every year the train leaves the station and picks up speed as it roars to the graduation ceremony in May. There are nice “rest” stops along the way but so much is accomplished that a fatigue builds up due to the “labor” of the school year. We started out this year well, breaking in the new principal, hosting numerous events, football and volleyball games, a capital campaign moving "Forward in Faith," new athletic conference announced [“SPC”], recruiting next year’s freshman, and many other tasks. It is a busy place, but a hopeful place!

Pray for Revival

I recently heard a Yale professor David H. Gelernter speak about the possibility of religious revivial starting with our young people:

"The next great American religious revival will start, my guess is, on (high school or) college campuses —and it will start fairly soon. The need is great, for they are the driest timber I have ever come across. In a spiritually dried-out land where “careers” alone are holy, the thirst is acute. Mostly they know little or nothing about religion; little or nothing about Americanism. Mostly no one ever speaks to them about truth and beauty, or nobility or honor or greatness. They are empty--spiritually bone dry--because no one has ever bothered to give them anything spiritual that is worth having. Platitudes about diversity and tolerance and multiculturalism are thin gruel for intellectually growing young people."

Gelernter thinks that "someone will start preaching." 

Maybe it is an ordained pastor from RUF? (www.ruf.org) or a high school chaplain like Drew Zeiler?

Audiences will be small at first, but young people want to hear this message:

‘Forget your career and think about your family.

Forget your rights and think about your duties.

Forget your bank account and think about your country.

Forget yourself and think about your God.’...

"(S)omeday soon some sympathetic disciple of the founding fathers will compose the indispensable companion to our Bill of Rights...a Bill of Duties that conveys the exact same truths in terms of responsibility, instead of entitlement." (Gelernter continues...)

"Let the right person speak to them, and they will turn back to the Bible with an excitement and exhilaration that will shake the country. In reading the Bible they will feel as if they are going home--which is just what they will be doing. Nothing would do America more good than a biblical homecoming."  (David Gelernter)

At Houston Christian ["HC"] students are exposed to a biblical world and life view. Many are "un-churched" or merely "seekers" of the ways of Jesus. But at least they get to hear from this important book, see how other Christians live out their daily walks with Him. In addition to great Bible teachers at HC, they have access to peer-to-peer discipleship groups after school, if they want to talk about their questions and walk with fellow students as they grow in spiritual maturity. It is my hope that God will send out leaders from HC who will help other college students (even the ones at Yale, prof. Gelernter) to see there is a higher calling in life than just materialism, consumption, power, money and lust. I hope that they feel responsible for the next generation of American exceptionalism, and that God will be important in their lives. If this happens then all these things will be added unto us.

Charlie Rose - An hour with David McCullough

Charlie Rose - An hour with David McCullough

Author David McCullough spent a career writing on Presidents and history for 45 years, winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom (see image above), the nation's highest civilian honor.

In his new book about Paris in the 1830-1900 he chronicles the vast influence of the returning Americans who grew, learned, and flourished in Paris. The unique, massive, early French influence on the young USA, such as support during our revolutionary war, cities, monuments (SOL), land (LA purchase), nomenclature, as well as society, arts, sciences, writing, etc. all have great French influence, he notes.

McCullough and CR discuss the cause/effect, action/reaction, give/take of human nature that is studied in the field of History. He stated Truman, John Adams, Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Theodore Roosevelt are the greatest presidents, but that all the "great" presidents were readers of history.

He states at 12:34 the essential nature of the study of history to any position of leadership, and that a liberal arts education is the under-pinning of any further profession because of the depth it adds to the student in later years (11:48)

Later in the program he again stresses how important reading, writing, and the liberal arts are to education, which at 42:20 he claims is the basis of who we are as a nation (centering the discussion on Education at 43:30). This is an inspiration for any educator!

Mr. McCullough reminds listeners that the "Arab Spring" and other democratic uprisings in recent months show that the peoples of the world want what we take for granted here: the opportunity to live under a Bill of Rights, individual freedoms guaranteed by laws, and not men, and the ability to learn and develop our own strengths. This is the country's great exceptional trait. He adds that much of this is provided by Teachers' noble work (his son is a teacher 49:28).

Remarkable is the story of one of his life's inspirations: John Hubbard, a California history teacher who taught David to remember what happened, to whom and why, not so much dates and facts as was taught traditionally in high school. This was a breath of educational fresh air to McCullough's young mind. (see 48:17)

One of the best interviews I have ever watched; conducted by Charlie Rose Show on June 9, 2011. David McCullough spent 52 min. recounting his great life in the study of history, he is a dear jewel of our country worthy of great respect.

tiny url for interview:
http://tiny.cc/oqeyw