EXETER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA, June 6, 2004: As a 14-year-old freshman at Phillips Exeter Academy, Vivek Asija came to his campus minister, the Rev. Robert Thompson, asking how to become a Christian. “Rev,” as students call him, told the young man to go back to his daddy and learn what it meant to be a Hindu. Both men now agree this exchange was pivotal in each of their lives and spiritual journeys. For Asija, an Indian-American born in Detroit, it has meant spending time in India, learning to speak Hindi and being proud of his Hindu faith. For Thompson, it symbolizes his awesome and sometimes awkward responsibility as a Christian pastor serving students representing religions and cultures from around the world. “These students should be given an opportunity to understand who they are more firmly,” Thompson said. “You have to help them to feel powerful and know that they are validated in their specificity.”
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