Washington University

Faculty: The Key to Revival on Campus?

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 18:20:32 +0000

Nathan Peterson

Faculty: The Key to Revival on Campus?

“God has assembled quite a few Christians here. I don’t know what he wants to do, but I would love to discover it with you.”

George Stulac found himself saying that a lot after joining ��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries (GFM) as a Campus Staff Minister. It felt like each new Christian faculty he met in the St. Louis area would recommend another faculty contact he hadn’t known about before. Since starting back in 2015—after investing 38 years as a pastor—George has been able to connect with over 50 Christian faculty at his alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis.

The odd thing was that many of them didn’t seem to know each other.

George came to recognize this phenomenon as the silo effect. Simply put, many professors find it difficult to build relationships with other faculty outside of their department.

Dr. Jill Pasteris, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, speculated about the reason for this, saying, “We just get too focused and don’t reach out enough to other faculty, in part, because we are not sure of what common interests might bring us together.”

Several professors shared with George some of the challenges that come along with the silo effect, with the first, most obvious one being isolation. It’s also easy to compartmentalize, to see faith and academics as separate. Even when professors seek to integrate their Christian faith into their work, navigating university structures can be quite demanding. Others admitted to George that the influence and authority they held on campus set them up for temptations they were sometimes not prepared for.

Discovering Community

In all this, George recognized an opportunity to serve and help. “When I began to introduce [faculty] to each other, they began to meet together and build relationships,” he said. “I saw opportunities for collaboration and mutual help to blossom naturally among some faculty whose paths otherwise wouldn’t cross.”

George invited a group of faculty to Urbana 15, where they met together to hear from Bobby Gross, the Vice President of GFM, and Dr. John Inazu, a Washington University professor and ��ñ�� Board Member. “When they attended Urbana sessions, they heard about being missional people,” George said. “That seemed to stir a desire to do that together on campus and not be content with the silo-ing and isolation. [They believed] that there was more that could be done to have a redeeming influence on the university.”

Some faculty at Washington University in St. Louis returned from Urbana inspired to form an ��ñ�� Faculty Fellowship and begin meeting twice a month. “I enjoyed watching these faculty form friendships and initiate cooperative ventures together for a Christian presence and witness on campus,” George said.

After that initial fellowship was planted, he has continued connecting faculty and has helped to establish three more fellowships in the St. Louis area. George now meets with a number of professors individually for spiritual formation and also leads faculty Bible studies. “I learned so much,” one professor described their time spent in the Word. “I felt better equipped to understand the passages and got insights on how to approach Scripture.”

“George has supported my desire to be an example and share Christ in my academic work life,” said another.

Discovering Opportunities

More and more faculty have sensed the call to be more active in their faith. “Because they’re in positions of influence, [their openness about their faith] affects the thinking, the ideas of the university,” George said. “The gospel becomes more a part of the campus-wide discussion of what is true and real and good.”

At Lindenwood University, several professors have designated their offices as prayer stations, public places where anyone can come to pray or receive prayer. And when one philosophy professor finished his PhD, the fellowship decided to throw a party, inviting all faculty, both Christian and non-Christian. Around 30 professors gathered to hear about and discuss his dissertation on the existence of God. “They had a great time,” George said. “They loved engaging with each other.”

In many ways, the ministry taking place within these four ��ñ�� Faculty Fellowships parallels the greater work God is doing among St. Louis faculty.

“There are a lot of Christian faculty members who want to engage more deeply with ministry,” said Washington School of Medicine’s Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass. “When we [as faculty] can actually integrate what we’re thinking and doing, we can actually change how a whole field thinks about things.”

For much of his childhood, Dr. Swamidass admits he focused on “building [his] faith on the sinking ground of scientific arguments,” as he writes in his article “Finding Confident Faith in Science.” But over time, he began to realize there was someone bigger than science: Jesus, whose presence and power was greater than what he found in science.

Alongside his scientific work, Dr. Swamidass launched Peaceful Science to find common ground around questions of origin and science. He has spoken at many venues, like Urbana 18 and Veritas Forums, founded the nonprofit, and wrote the ��ñ�� Press title The Genealogical Adam and Eve.

Dr. Swamidass also is one of the faculty fellows at another nonprofit, The Carver Project (TCP), founded by faculty to “empower Christian faculty and students to serve and connect university, church, and society.”

TCP continues to gain momentum with faculty dinners and discussions across departments, professors coteaching and developing new classes together, and reading groups being hosted for students as well as mentoring opportunities being offered. The past two years, they have hosted Carver Conversations for the larger community, inviting guests like Tim Keller, Lecrae, Sara Groves, and Makoto Fujimura to discuss topics like “Christian Witness in an Age of Fracture” and “Baptizing Our Imaginations: Art and the Divided Church.” The next Carver Conversation is scheduled for April 3, 2020.

George has been thrilled to witness TCP’s development and serve them through leading Bible studies, providing pastoral care, and helping plan their annual faculty retreat. “George has been an indispensable partner to The Carver Project: his words and actions demonstrate again and again that he knows faculty, he knows Washington University, and he knows Jesus,” said Dr. Inazu, who is also one of TCP’s founders.

Reflecting on the future of his own ministry and God’s greater work in St. Louis, George has begun to gain a clearer sense of what the Lord may be doing by gathering so many faculty together.

“I’ve come to believe that faculty are perhaps the key to all the things ��ñ�� does on campus,” he said. “With their longevity on campus, compared to students who graduate, and by their positions of influence and respect on the campus, faculty have the potential to be the greatest influence for revival on our campuses.”

News Keywords

Faculty Ministry

Graduate and Faculty Ministries

St. Louis

Washington University

The Carver Project

Not Ready to Retire, and Back on Staff

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 16:21:16 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Not Ready to Retire, and Back on Staff

George Stulac’s career plan was to get a PhD in history and become a professor. Instead God called him into student ministry with ��ñ�� and then pastoral ministry. He pastored Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis for 33 years. Now, after stepping down from the pulpit and still eager to be involved in the work of the gospel, God has called George to a new ministry in which he’ll be working closely with history professors and other faculty.

Last summer, as George reached retirement age and ended his time at Memorial Church, he gave prayerful consideration of what he wanted to do next. He was not ready to retire from ministry.

“I wanted these last years to count for the most fruitful ministry that I could do,” he said. “So I spent that time asking questions about what my gifts are, what I do best in ministry, what motivates me, what satisfies me, what would I be most fruitful in doing?”

His ��ñ�� experience as a student and then a staff member gave him a great love for studying and teaching the Bible. He also wanted to be able to provide pastoral care. And he especially wanted to get involved in something that was effectively reaching non-Christians with the gospel message.

He checked with a variety of ministries and finally talked with the director of ��ñ��’s Central Region, Jon Hietbrink. Jon proposed a job description that would allow George to be a pastor to ��ñ��’s Central region staff, working with them in spiritual formation and teaching the Bible at staff gatherings.

“What really motivated me was that I was being told that ��ñ�� was seeing more students become Christians than ever before in its history,” George said. “That just captured me, that I could have a ministry to staff, so that they could have a deeper ministry to these students.”

But that wasn’t all. Jon also invited George to get involved with faculty ministry. That was equally attractive to George.

“When I became pastor at Memorial Church 33 years ago, I began praying that God would bring more Christians into faculty positions at Washington University, because I could see that Christian faculty can have a big influence in the life of students,” he said.

Finally, in the last few years of his ministry at Memorial, George had started to see more faculty members getting involved at his church, and colleagues were telling him the same thing was happening at other St. Louis churches. Don Paul Gross, ��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries (GFM) Regional Director for the South Central Region, told him that GFM staff were noticing a wave of Christians moving into faculty positions across the country.

“It appeals to me to have a ministry that’s part of what God is doing to answer what I’ve been praying about for 30 years,” George said. “If more students are becoming Christians than ever before, and if more Christians are becoming faculty than ever before, between those two things it appears to me that God is changing the university in a remarkable way, and that’s what I want to be part of.”

Hearing George talk about his years of pastoral ministry and his ambitious plans for his “retirement years,” it’s hard to imagine him as the shy, withdrawn, lonely introvert who first met ��ñ�� as a student at Washington University a half-century ago. A catchy program title piqued his curiosity and drew him to an ��ñ�� discussion where he met another student, Ron Hendrix, who befriended him and unsuccessfully invited him to more ��ñ�� meetings for the next three months.

Ron never gave up and eventually George relented. “Ron was so faithful, and I finally went with him just because he had won my trust,” George recalled. George was clueless about Christianity but became curious. Ron and other chapter members encouraged him to become an honest seeker of the truth, and two years later he became a follower of Christ. As a senior he became chapter president.

He then enrolled at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, not with the intent of becoming a pastor but rather because he wanted to learn more about God. “I went to seminary just for the fun of learning more about the Bible and theology,” he said. But then God called him to ministry.

But even with decades of ministry experience behind him, George is looking ahead to what God has next. “This may be the most fruitful ministry of my life,” he said. “Not because of what I’m doing but because of what God is doing.”

News Keywords

Washington University

Living the “Yes” Lifestyle

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:44:42 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Living the “Yes” Lifestyle

Bible study was a personal discipline Howie Meloch started before he enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis. But he was surprised that his spiritual growth accelerated as he got involved in ��ñ��. “I look at those four years of college as being pretty foundational for the course and the direction that was set for my life,” he said. “��ñ�� was also the place where I found community and dealt with the challenges of school.”

During his sophomore year, Howie was invited to become one of the leaders of the ��ñ�� chapter. As he considered that decision, he read Isaiah 6, where God made an invitation to the prophet. Howie realized that saying yes to God was not a one-time decision but a lifestyle. Like Isaiah, he responded, “Here I am, send me.”

Howie also said yes to rooming with the leader of the independent Black Campus Fellowship and working together in ministry. “I saw the power in being reconciled with one another and loving one another,” he said.

Lessons in Arkansas

After graduation, Howie joined ��ñ�� staff and was assigned to two campuses, The College of the Ozarks and the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. When the University of Arkansas chapter dwindled to three students, he felt like a failure.

But at the same time he was looking for opportunities for cross-cultural friendships, so he decided to join the campus Gospel Choir. The professor who led the choir was a music minister in a local church. Howie was impressed by how the professor thanked God continuously, through both good and bad experiences. Howie’s prayer life and Bible study experiences also grew during that time.

“I think that God did a number of transformative things in my life through being involved in the choir,” he said. “God opened my eyes and began to teach me what it looks like to minister to Black students on campus. That became my focus as a minister there in Arkansas. Then when I left Arkansas, God opened up more doors for me to minister to Black students.”

Returning to St. Louis

Howie returned to St. Louis at the same time that the Black Campus Fellowship at Washington University requested an ��ñ�� staff member be assigned to them. As Howie worked with them, the chapter grew to 90 students. He also helped set the groundwork to plant another chapter at Harris-Stowe University, a Historically Black College in St. Louis.

When a member of the Washington University fellowship joined staff and was assigned to the chapter, Howie was given broader responsibilities. Today his duties include overseeing Black student ministry in four states as he serves as Associate Regional Director for the Central region, based in St. Louis.

“I’ve been amazed at where God has taken me as I’ve said yes to him, but I decided to continue to say yes and not argue with God about my qualifications,” he said. “I’m going to trust God. It is clear to me that God continues to call me to reach Black students on campus.”

“Howie has lived a life of saying yes to Jesus,” said Regional Director Jon Hietbrink, Howie’s supervisor. “Howie’s leadership has had a catalytic effect in a variety of spheres across our region. He’s consistently taken steps to combat different ‘Goliaths,’ whether it be schools where we felt like we could never plant (like Harris-Stowe State University), or problems we could never solve (finding new sources of funding for minority staff). God has blessed his courageous faith.”

___________

News Keywords

University of Arkansas-Fayetteville

Washington University

Harris-Stowe State University

Willing to Take Risks on Campus

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:06:19 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Willing to Take Risks on Campus

Ashley Smith attended two Urbana Student Missions Conferences as a student, Urbana 03 and Urbana 06, and they were completely different experiences.

As a freshman at Urbana 03, the last one on the University of Illinois campus, Ashley attended all of the seminars she could find and totally enjoyed worshiping together with 19,000 fellow believers. “Urbana 03 opened my eyes to what God’s Kingdom actually looks like,” she said.

Ashley returned to Washington University in St. Louis and became a leader in the the Harambee chapter of ��ñ��. In 2005 several people encouraged her to join ��ñ�� staff but she was hesitant.

Honest Dialogues

Urbana 06 was located in St. Louis, her home town, and Ashley gave a spoken word testimony in one of the sessions. But she spent much of the rest of the Urbana week in the prayer room at one of the hotels, wrestling with God’s call to campus ministry. “I didn’t want to be called to staff,” she recalled. “God and I had some honest dialogues during that week.”

Ashley had a long list of reasons that staff work was out of the question. “I told Him, ‘There’s no way I can raise the money needed to be on staff,’ and He responded by bringing unexpected donors across my path. I told Him, ‘My heart is geared more toward elementary and middle school aged kids, not college students,’ and He responded by re-shaping my heart and giving me a burden to see the lives of college students transformed.’”

Ashley concluded, “After I laid aside all the excuses, and wholeheartedly accepted the call of God on my life, He began to open my eyes to dream bigger than I ever had for what He could accomplish in the ministry He has assigned me to.”

Influence on Campus

Ashley started as an intern, working with the Harambee chapter at Washington University, and then became a full-time staff member a year later. In the last year or so the chapter has been struggling and Ashley has challenged the students in their faith walk and in their outreach to the campus. She also restructured the chapter leadership, to give it a new sense of purpose and direction.

On September 6, 2011, when an emergency meeting was called to announce the death of one of Washington University’s top officials, Vice chancellor James McLeod, Ashley was invited to the meeting and asked to pray. She was invited to help organize a candle light vigil that evening, and asked to pray again at the close of the vigil. “Having personally been close to Dean McLeod, I am definitely feeling the grief that comes with the reality of his death, but I am grateful to Jesus for providing platform and opportunity to be a minister of hope to a hurting community,” she said.

God keeps calling Ashley out of her comfort zone and Ashley keeps responding. Last year she expanded her work by planting ��ñ�� on another St. Louis campus, Harris-Stowe State University. HSSU is one of two historically Black colleges in Missouri, and was founded before the Civil War.

“Ashley is building a strong culture of servant leadership and Kingdom witness for this new ��ñ�� community at Harris-Stowe,” said Ashley’s supervisor, Missouri Area Director Elizabeth English. “In the midst of many demands from her primary chapter, instead of being an additional burden, the trips to Harris-Stowe have often been the most life-giving moments of ministry for Ashley.”

Building Relationships

Howie Meloch, ��ñ��’s Associate Regional Director for the Central Region, has known Ashley since she was a sophomore at Washington University. “Ashley is highly respected on campus by students and faculty,” he said. “She has great relationships with everyone from security workers to residence hall leaders to college deans. I am impressed by her love of campus and her engagement in the community.”

Howie also admires Ashley for being a risk taker. “At Harris-Stowe she was invited to lead a faculty-staff-student prayer gathering she was attending. They enjoyed what she did so much they asked her to do this regularly. She has worked hard to develop a broad base of relationships with faculty and staff on both campuses where she works.”

After four years on one campus and two years on the second campus, Ashley is just getting started. “I know that God has more for us,” she said.

(Ashley also did a spoken word presentation on John 1 at Urbana 09, which you can view on YouTube.)

News Keywords

Washington University

Harris-Stowe State University

Ashley Smith