About Cross Reference

The world is not a friendly place for Christians. The Bible assures that those who stand up for their belief in Christ will be persecuted (II Timothy 3:12, Matthew 5:10-12). Rather than being deterred, Christians should be motivated to reach the world with the Gospel (Matthew 28:16-20) because the earth is only a temporary home - heaven is a promised reward for those who have put their faith in Him by admitting their sin (Romans 3:23), believing in Jesus and the eternal life offered through Him (John 3:16-17, Acts 16:31), and confessing and turning from their sins (Romans 10:9).

It is with these fundamental beliefs that the Cross Reference staff publishes this Christian newspaper. While we fully expect brothers and sisters in Christ to read this, we hope that those who are openly or secretly searching for the truth of God's word will find what they are looking for through this paper and/or the resources presented in it. After all, we worship a loving God who desires to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us, including skeptics, who this paper is also reaching out to.

While we want to provide a channel for Christians to communicate with one another, we would like to be a forum for religious discussions, even debate that could not appropriately be handled by other campus media. Our mission statement is as follows: "To glorify God by serving as a communication channel to and among Christians in the Michigan Tech community by publishing Christian news, Christian opinion, Christian entertainment and Christian features."

Perfection is our goal, but we understand and fundamentally believe that only God and His Word are ultimately perfect. We are not attempting to replace the Bible or make additions/subtractions to it, and we understand that versions of the Scripture itself fall under scrutiny and textual criticism. We would expect no less for our paper, which we would never go so far as to call perfect, inspired or inerrant.

We understand that there are as many different beliefs as people who hold them. While we will try our best to represent as many viewpoints as possible, we will take stances that are different than yours at times - that is unavoidable. As mentioned above, we want to provide a forum for lively discussion to take place on topics that matter to Christians and non-Christians alike, and that is one reason that we have created a website to accompany our bi-weekly print edition: www.mtucrossreference.com. I trust that each article will be a forum in and of itself and that through that medium, you will challenge and/or strengthen your faith.

Again, to hammer home our idea of a public discourse, we highly encourage feedback that can help us better cater to readership and better represent our readers' various viewpoints (we will publish appropriately presented counter-arguments in letter-to-the-editor format, for example). Each of our editors can be reached by e-mail and all editors can be reached through our common e-mail address:
crossref@mtu.edu.

We feel that the Lord has placed it on our hearts to create this unique ministry and it is only under His guidance that we present this paper to you. We are merely the servants that God has chosen. If you feel led to help in any way, please contact one of our editors.

We hope you enjoy what you read, but more importantly, we hope that you challenge your faith to grow closer to God.