GFM

Both Feet in Faculty Ministry

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 20:06:31 +0000

Gordon Govier

Both Feet in Faculty Ministry

Deciding to join Graduate and Faculty Ministries (GFM) staff was not without its painful moments for Charles Barker. Specifically, it was the sunburn he endured from long hours of conversation on the dock at ��ñ��'s Campus by the Sea during the West Coast Faculty Conference.

Charles had been invited to the conference by Lynn Gill, at that time the GFM Regional Director, when he had contacted her expressing an interest in faculty ministry.

During almost three decades on the pastoral staff at Pasadena Covenant Church, including 17 years as senior pastor, Charles was wary of getting caught up in the institutional life of the church. “I always felt like I was a pastor of a local church with one foot in the church and one foot in the local community,” he said. But after 27 years he prayed, “God, could I have both feet in the next season in my life in the secular world? Could I be a pastor to the non-Christian world with both feet?”

He wasn’t sure what that would look like. And when a friend suggested campus ministry with ��ñ��, he was dismissive. Working with undergrad college students seemed to him like a job for a younger person. But out of curiosity he went to ��ñ��’s website, and for some reason the initials GFM caught his eye.

And then he read the GFM ministry vision: “We are planting and building communities of deeply thoughtful, grace-filled graduate students and faculty to join together to bring Christ’s redeeming influence among the people, the ideas, and the structures of the university and professions.”

Charles thought, That’s exactly what vocational discipleship should be about. When he discovered all of the campuses in California without GFM ministry, he knew he had to respond. And that was how he ended up in long conversations with professors attending the 2009 West Coast Faculty Conference, sponsored by ��ñ�� GFM.

One conversation represented the challenge of faculty ministry particularly well. The professor told him, “I experience a profound double loneliness. I am a leader in my church and I love my church, but none of the things that I spend 55-60 hours a week dealing with on campus are in conversation at my church. Similarly, I have wonderful colleague friends on campus. But what informs my thinking about my research and my field—my Christian values, my Christian worldview—all of that feels like it’s off limits. And I really want to talk about that.”

Charles quickly realized he wanted to work in that academic environment, to help faculty members have the opportunity to connect their faith with their discipline and their campus. He wrote in his prayer journal, “This would be a privilege, a high and holy calling.”

Charles was initially assigned to The Claremont Colleges, a consortium of seven independent, adjacent campuses in Southern California. “We have a lively, active, large fellowship there,” he said. “It’s been kind of the hub of regional ministries in Southern California.”

The faculty fellowship at Claremont includes Francis Su, a highly regarded mathematician; ��ñ�� Press authors Mary Poplin and Stephen Davis; Dave Vosburg, chemistry professor and spouse of ��ñ�� Campus Staff Minister Kate Vosburg; and many more who often speak at ��ñ�� events in the region.

The weekly faculty fellowship meetings typically draw 25-30 faculty and administrators from a group of about 75 and a total mailing list of about 200. “That’s remarkable growth in the last 10-12 years,” Charles said. “It’s been a time of God raising up and bringing to us wonderful, brilliant scholars who are Christians.”

Students are also being influenced. One Harvey Mudd College student shared her story at a faculty fellowship several years ago. She took Dave Vosburg’s organic chemistry class and appreciated his focus on green chemistry, addressing environmental challenges, and other aspects of his teaching. Curious about some of the things he said, she went online and found his blog, where he talked about how science and Christian faith are not at odds and how he holds the two together.

The student wanted to know more about Christianity and met with Dave during his office hours. For five or six weeks he answered her questions, and then connected her to an undergrad Bible study in her dorm. From there she joined the ��ñ�� student chapter, where she met other Christian students, and was eventually baptized into the faith.

“I want to continue my education and return to campus,” she told the faculty gathering. “But I don’t want to be just a professor or researcher. I want to care holistically for people, as Dave does.”

Several years after he began working with Claremont faculty, Charles also began to plant a faculty chapter at California State University, Los Angeles. In addition he codirects ��ñ��'s West Coast Faculty Conference, which is now held every summer on the campus of Westmont College.

In 2009, when Charles first visited the faculty conference, there were about 30 attendees. Now attendance runs around 165-170. About half are from schools with chapters of Christian faculty, and half from schools without.

“I think of this as an intensive experience of being a community of Christian scholars who are practicing vocational discipleship,” he said. “There’s a profound thing that we do in ��ñ�� that requires that faculty leave behind functional dualism that says I have my family life, and my friendships, and my church volunteerism, and my spiritual growth, and that’s in this corner, and then I go to work and do my work there, and those two things never meet.”

In the academic world with both feet, Charles’s prayer is being answered as more and more faculty see their faith and academic worlds come together.

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Summer Conferences: Refreshed Faculty

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 20:09:15 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Summer Conferences: Refreshed Faculty

A gift that ��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries offers to faculty members across the country each summer is the opportunity to meet together with other Christian faculty in an informal setting, to explore connections between their faith and their work. This past summer, professors and their families gathered in Brevard, North Carolina; Kingston, Rhode Island; Santa Barbara, California; and at ��ñ��’s Cedar Campus in Cedarville, Michigan.

Discussion topics were different at each location. In North Carolina, ��ñ�� alumnus Carl Ellis and ��ñ�� Board member John Inazu talked about the unique challenges and opportunities for Christian faculty working in pluralistic environments, and the need to acknowledge differences and model tolerance, humility, and patience.

In California, ��ñ��’s Scripture Engagement Director, Lindsay Olesberg, led a daily, in-depth Bible study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Presentations by professors Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro, Talithia Williams, and Francis Su stimulated discussions on cultural issues affecting life, ministry, and work in academia. Artist Molly Zakrajsek guided the faculty in the creation of a colorful mural (seen in background of West Coast conference attendees photo below).

At Cedar Campus, retired ��ñ�� Press Publisher Bob Fryling and his wife, Alice, led sessions aimed at improving the listening process: listening to God, listening to others, and listening to the heart.

In New England the speakers were Alice Brown-Collins, Associate GFM Regional Director, and Robert Chao Romero, a UCLA professor whose grandfather was a leader in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students movement in China.

Faculty who attended the conferences enjoyed a nourishing and enriching time of fellowship and recreation. “It was great to meet other faculty following Jesus, and I treasured conversations regarding faith and work,” one said. Another thankful attendee responded, “I knew I needed to go to a conference that didn’t give me more work to do, but one that gave me the rest and spiritual care that I needed. And I had heard that this was that kind of place. That’s why I signed up to come, and it did not disappoint.”

Deb Clark, Associate Director of Faculty Ministry, said, “These faculty conferences offer a rare and safe space for faculty and their families to engage with a supportive community, and receive significant interaction with Scripture and discipleship topics. This setting is a contrast to the loneliness and isolation often felt both in the university and the church. What a joy to observe how God uses these conferences for healing, encouragement, and restoration.”

A total of 115 faculty, administrators, and scholars attended this summer’s four conferences, expanded for the first time to four regions of the country. Total attendance (including ��ñ�� staff and families of faculty) was around 300.

More than 2,000 faculty were involved with ��ñ�� one way or another on U.S. college campuses this past year. Thousands more are served through ��ñ��’s online publications: The Well and the Emerging Scholars Blog.

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NYU's Socratic Happy Hour

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:53:34 +0000

News

David Williams

NYU's Socratic Happy Hour

Questions define some of our deepest concerns, questions such as: Does the separation of church and state mean the separation of religion from politics? Do my sexual desires define me? Is education really the solution (and is ignorance really our biggest problem)?

At New York University (NYU), where I am an ��ñ�� Campus Minister working with graduate students, I host what I call Socratic Happy Hours: civil and convivial conversations about the Big Questions. At these gatherings, Christian and non-Christian graduate students engage in generous debate and serious dialogue about both perennial questions and present concerns. Our motto is, “Friends don't let friends live unexamined lives.”

A few months ago, I hosted a Socratic Happy Hour on the question, Given the amount of gratuitous evil and innocent suffering in the world, how could there be a God? A young grad student from Pakistan—I’ll call her Sara—was joining us for the very first time, as was another grad student I’ll call Ramiro, who is a devotee of Albert Camus’s existentialist philosophy.

Our conversation centered on a heart-wrenching scene from Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust memoir, Night, in which the SS guards at Auschwitz hang a young boy in front of their horrified prisoners. Wiesel wrote, “Behind me, I heard [a] man asking: ‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer; ‘Where is He? This is where—hanging here from this gallows.’”

As we read the passage Sara’s eyes grew wide. “How did you know?,” she asked. “How did you know this was my question?” I pressed her for more details, and she sheepishly explained that, though she still considered herself religious, she had not prayed in many years.

In her home country she had witnessed injustices—she could not bring herself to elaborate—which she could not square with the existence of a good God. Not having a safe space to discuss her doubts in her own community, Sara had been silently undergoing a crisis of faith. But here at the Socratic Happy Hour, she had found a space to ask her questions.

Ramiro, on the other hand, resonated with a passage from the book River Out of Eden by the famous atheist and Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins: “In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”

From Ramiro’s point of view, because there is no God, life, the universe, and everything are objectively meaningless. The only meanings and, therefore, the only morals, are the ones we make for ourselves.

I pressed Ramiro on this point: If what he and Dawkins were saying were true, then they could not say that what happened to that little boy in Auschwitz was actually, objectively, wrong; at most, they could say that they did not happen to like it. Ramiro, shifting uncomfortably in his chair, conceded that that was an implication of his view, but insisted he still believes that that’s just the way it is.

As the evening drew to a close we asked everyone to share one thing that they would be chewing on after our conversation. My friend Erick, a Lutheran church planter and newly minted ��ñ�� volunteer, said, “I am going to be thinking about that little boy from Night. It kills me that we live in a world where that could happen, where an innocent kid could suffer like that.

“But I am also struck by Wiesel’s answer to the question ‘Where is God?’ There hanging from the gallows. Wiesel meant, of course, that God is dead. But the Christian gospel says something similar but infinitely more powerful: God is not distant and aloof, but he has chosen to suffer with us and die for us.

“When we look at Jesus on the cross we see God on the gallows, letting evil do its worst, and then overcoming evil and death in the resurrection. I know that that doesn’t quite answer the question of how God could let horrible things happen. But it does tell us what the answer to that question isn’t: It isn’t because He doesn’t care.”

Sara’s eyes got wide again. “That is beautiful,” she said.

Sara and Ramiro are now regulars at the Socratic Happy Hour. They suggest topics for future conversations, they bring their questions, they’ve started bringing friends, and with each gathering they open up more and more. Please pray that we would be effective witnesses to them and that God would draw them to himself.

Having a safe place to talk about Big Questions is one way God is bringing transformation to students at NYU.

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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.”

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Washington University

Focused on Flourishing

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 20:17:55 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Focused on Flourishing

Flourishing in Grad School is the title of a Bible study curriculum by Scott Filkin, ��ñ��’s area director for Graduate and Faculty Ministries (GFM) in the Rocky Mountains and Northwest. It’s also the hope that Scott has for every graduate student—because he knows just how hard it is to be one.

The Isolation Experience

Grad students are always busy, zeroing in on the specialized field about which they need to become an expert. But they are also often isolated by their intensive studies.

One day Scott asked a bunch of grad students how many people they had talked with that day and was stunned by the response. “For some of the students, I was the first person they had spoken to,” he said. “We can talk all we want about having spiritual conversations, but if we’re not having conversations at all, then we have to take a step back and first start being in community. We need to know the people who we work with before we can start having substantive conversations.”

Scott originally wrote Flourishing in Grad School for ��ñ��’s undergrad staff, to help them understand how grad students think and the other ways the graduate student experience is so different from the undergraduate experience. But it’s also helpful for grad students. It’s formatted to be used by small groups and contains information on growing as a disciple of Jesus Christ, understanding vocation, and being a redemptive presence in the field to which God has called them.

Called to Ministry in an Academic Environment

As Scott graduated from Wheaton College and worked with Young Life’s ministry to high school students, he felt God calling him to ministry in an academic environment. That call was strengthened while he worked as a pastoral intern at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, California. There he met a fellow intern, Jane, who became his wife. And he also met Carrie Bare, who was at that time ��ñ��’s GFM regional director.

After Scott and Jane graduated from seminary, Jane took a pastoral position with First Presbyterian Church in Boulder, Colorado. As Scott considered his options, Carrie suggested he plant a GFM chapter at the University of Colorado. And that’s just what he did.

While joining ��ñ�� staff was a good fit, and a complement to his wife’s position, the process of learning his new role was an extremely trying time in Scott’s life. He particularly remembers 16 days in June of 2006 during which he came to Madison for Orientation of New Staff (ONS), and then received additional training for a cohort of staff who were planting new chapters. Brand new to ��ñ��, Scott felt slightly overwhelmed by all the information he was taking in. Still learning the “original language” of ��ñ��, it took Scott some time to understand the various “dialects” of the undergrad world, GFM, and the planting community.

The GFM director at the time, Cam Anderson, told Scott that planting was hard work and that the chapter plant probably would not look like a chapter for about three years. “He was almost exactly right,” Scott recalled. “It didn't look like anything for quite a while and then all of a sudden we had a thriving ministry.”

Helping More Students Flourish

Just recently promoted to area director, Scott now has responsibilities covering a number of campuses in the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. But he’s hoping that he can stay connected to students because he enjoys helping students take ownership of their faith in Jesus Christ.

“E. V. Hill, a pastor from Los Angeles, once said, ‘A kid doesn’t go to college and lose his faith, he loses his mama’s faith,’” Scott said. “I love being a part of the process of building it back up.” He not only helps students build up their faith, he helps them flourish. And he wants to help more students flourish by planting more chapters on more campuses.

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University of Colorado

GFM

Integrating Faith and Science

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 16:57:03 +0000

News

Amy Hauptman

Integrating Faith and Science

When two TEDxUCDavis talk organizers approached Bryan Enderle (a part-time ��ñ�� staff and UC Davis Chemistry professor) and asked if he would be interested in presenting at this independently organized TED event, Bryan told the organizers that he wasn’t sure what he would speak on. He didn’t think that the general public wanted to hear a talk about chemistry.

But the two organizers (one of whom is an atheist), suggested the idea of presenting on “Science and God.” Bryan thought, “If anything, I could do that!”

Bryan is a professor on campus and is known for making chemistry fun. And since 2009, he has had his own Youtube channel, EnderlePhD (“Chemistry and Stuff by Dr. E”), which has 2,840 subscribers and 1,516,544 video views. “I think the TED talk organizers figured that students on campus knew who I was,” said Bryan.

Bryan is also known on campus as a Christian and as part-time staff with ��ñ��—someone who welcomes spiritual discussions. Bryan’s been invited to speak at various campus events. For example the freshmen dorms invited him to do his “Science and Faith” seminar and one of UC Davis’ fraternities invited him to come to their fraternity and speak on “Studying, Grad School, and why God is important.”

Being Known as a Fun Professor and ��ñ�� Staff

“I’ve always assumed that if students like you, they will be more interested in your philosophies and over the years, I’ve been invited to speak at different events,” said Enderle. “I do things in class that are not related to ��ñ�� or faith whatsoever, like my Youtube Channel. But I hope as students watch these things, they will see me and know that I’m connected to ��ñ��—that’s the kind of connection I’m going for.”

The Professor that starts Spiritual Discussions with Students

Not only do students approach Bryan because they heard that he is involved with ��ñ�� on campus, and they’re interested in getting involved, but many students feel safe approaching Bryan with their spiritual questions because they know that he is a professor of faith on campus.

“I think other faculty could do stuff like what I’m doing on campus too,” said Bryan. “Of course it depends on your department and your school, but I think faculty could be more open about their faith and it would be fine.”

In the past, Bryan has sent sign-up sheets around his classes for anyone that would be interested in joining a Group that Investigates God (GIGs), which Bryan would lead. Sometimes more than 20 students show up at these GIGs. This year, Bryan has sent sign-up sheets around his review sessions for anyone interested in investigating God through an ��ñ�� small group.

“What I tell students is that you don’t have to be a Christian to sign up for these small groups,” said Bryan. “But if you have questions about faith, college is the time to investigate and ask your questions. Also, our ��ñ�� small groups have been trying to be more welcoming to non-Christians.”

The TEDxUCDavis Talk

As the TEDxUCDavis approached, more and more students and coworkers in the Chemistry department began asking Bryan about it. “I didn’t advertise that I was doing a TED talk on campus that much because I didn’t know how it was going to go down,” said Bryan. “It’s a controversial topic.”

Even though Bryan had been on staff with ��ñ�� for 12 years and chemistry professor at UC Davis for 11 years, this was a level of exposure that he had never had before, regarding his love for science and faith. It was both exciting and nerve-wracking.

As Bryan was waiting in the TEDxUCDavis ‘green room’ before stepping on stage, a campus employee came up and told Bryan, “I don’t know about this God thing because it just doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know how anybody can believe it. There’s no proof.”

Although caught off guard, Bryan responded, “You know, different areas have different kinds of proof. Your science proof is going to look different than a legal proof. How are you going prove to me that you’re going to marry your girlfriend? Or that your family is going to be okay. Everything has different lines of logic.”

The man responded, “Oh, okay. I could buy that—looking forward to your talk.”

Bryan then stepped up on stage and gave his presentation to a packed audience (400-500 people). Afterwards, that same employee came up to Bryan and said that he loved the talk. “It was so funny,” said Bryan. “It was the fastest transition from atheist to ‘curious’ I’ve ever seen.”

As Bryan seeks to be known on campus, he sees that everything he does as an opportunity to glorify God on campus—whether that is helping students understand Chemistry, being a safe person for students to come to and talk about spiritual things, or speaking about “faith and science” in the freshmen dorms or at a TEDxUCDavis event.

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UC-Davis

GFM

Apologetics

Focused on Faculty

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:40:50 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Focused on Faculty

Craig Gartland, ��ñ��’s newly appointed Director of Faculty Ministry, has been working with faculty ever since he joined ��ñ�� staff in 1989. His first assignment was the University of Chicago, where Christian undergrads, graduate students, and faculty were all involved with ��ñ��.

Later he became Midwest Regional Director for Graduate and Faculty Ministries (GFM) and his focus narrowed to just grad students and faculty but expanded geographically. And now his focus is narrower still, but the whole country is his purview.

The role of faculty

More than 1,600 faculty are involved with ��ñ�� on campuses across the country. Faculty have been a part of ��ñ��’s campus ministry from the very beginning, as they provided spiritual leadership on campus. In many cases, faculty have been the backbone of a campus ministry, since the student body changes every year and ��ñ�� staff can also change on a frequent basis. But faculty have not been in the mainstream of our ministry, at least not yet.

"This job has captured my imagination because of the potential of the faculty, some of which has been tapped but much of which I still think is out there untapped,” Craig said. Faculty involvement has largely been left up to the faculty. He plans to explore new ways to invite more faculty involvement.

Engaging the campus

One of the most dynamic interactions with faculty occurs on campuses when ��ñ�� and partner ministry Veritas Forum team up to sponsor a night of debate on academic and social issues.

“The best Veritas Forums are the ones where there is a partnership with Christian believing faculty and non-believing faculty, owning the event together, having dialogue that is civil and yet doesn't pull punches,” Craig said. “It's modeling the kind of discourse that we can have. It shows that Christians can hold their place at the table and not have to take a defensive posture, or be combative."

At some schools, non-believers among the faculty who have been involved in Veritas Forum events seek out ��ñ�� staff to find out when the next forum will be held, because they enjoy the intellectual stimulus in the pursuit of truth. The forums embrace what college is supposed to be about—the adventure of learning—but which is largely missing for many faculty who get entangled in the bureaucracy of higher education.

Craig reflects on the many graduate students he mentored during his days at the University of Chicago who are now faculty members on campuses from the University of Colorado to Gordon College. He plans to seek their input for ideas on how faculty ministry can expand and improve. But already he has a vision for involving more faculty in ministry as mentors for Christian students through GFM’s Emerging Scholars Network.

Allies on campus

While at some campuses there are communities of Christian faculty who meet regularly, facilitated by GFM staff, Craig believes that undergrad staff can also benefit from a relationship with just one faculty member.

“I want undergrad staff to see faculty on their campus as allies,” he said. “The faculty are there for a long time. At community and city colleges, faculty and administrators are key in planting new chapters. Some of these people have been praying for years for some kind of Christian witness on campus. The potential for all of us in ��ñ�� to see the benefits and own faculty ministry as something we'll benefit from is part of the potential that I see."

Craig’s wife Sharon teaches in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Through her he has another perspective on the world of college and university faculty.

Craig is also a competitive bicycle racer and he gains additional insights through a bicycle club that he joined and became elected president. Some of the members are professors. “It's a wonderful coming together of my two worlds,” he said. “These are faculty I don't know how I would've met otherwise. For them to put their heads around what I do—most of them are fascinated by it.”

The professors often find Craig’s job mystifying at first; but as he talks with them about the religious and ethical dimensions of their work they become intrigued. That often leads to deeper conversations. And that’s what faculty ministry is all about – introducing faculty to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

___

For more of Craig’s thoughts on Faculty Ministry see his article Why ��ñ�� Needs Faculty Ministry, written for a staff publication.

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GFM

God's Grace in Higher Education

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 19:27:07 +0000

News

Amy Hauptman

God's Grace in Higher Education

During his first year at Grove City College, Tom Grosh was mentored and taught by some amazing faculty, a number of whom were ��ñ�� alumni. They, along with some dedicated Christian peers, challenged Tom to embrace the call of Christ on his life. He did at the end of his first year.

The following year, Tom got involved in the Grove City ��ñ�� chapter and attended Urbana 93. Urbana inspired and challenged Tom to become president of Grove City’s ��ñ�� chapter.

After graduating from college, Tom decided to intern with ��ñ�� and 16 years later, he is still on staff. Today, he is the new Associate Director of the Emerging Scholars Network.

Live Life Together

Over the years as Tom has served with ��ñ�� at a number of schools in Pennsylvania, God has taught Tom many lessons. The most important are about community. The importance of community became especially real when Tom and his wife lost their first child, Elise Faith, when she was born prematurely.

“Our undergrad and grad students at Carnegie Mellon University were some of our closest encouragers through that time of grief and mourning,” Tom shared. “This continued to be true a year later when we rejoiced in the delivery of healthy twin girls.”

The Carnegie Mellon community supported Tom and his wife when Tom faced cancer and their next daughter experienced a life threatening condition soon after her birth. “The care of students, faculty, and colleagues gives me a glimpse of how the people of God were created for life together in Christ,” Tom said.

Alone, Disappointed in Higher Education

Today, Tom sees his greatest joy in ministry as providing encouragement and resources for those who have been disappointed and feel isolated in the graduate and professional level of higher education. “Over the past several years, I have slowly moved from attempting to fix those with whom I work, and instead have moved towards more prayer, listening, and encouragement,” Tom said.

“As Christians, we are part of God’s work that began at Creation. In the end, we will be re-created to be as God intended,” Tom continued. “But in the meantime, we are called to work towards that redemptive end. This, of course is true of all areas of our lives: family, friends, vocation, ministry, leisure, etc. I am passionate about sharing that vision with others and inviting others to lives with such a perspective.”

Influence Higher Education, Influence the University

At the university, Tom sees how those in higher education can be redeeming influences by investing in the lives of colleagues, students, and the administration.

“Although we may focus on ministering to a particular campus subset, let’s look at how God longs for every square inch of the university to come under his Lordship, including the people and structure we’re intimidated by, tend to ignore, even consider our enemies,” Tom shared.

Tom looks forward to each day that he has the opportunity to follow Christ one more day and let God’s spirit guide him in all his interactions. As a result of cancer and its resulting physical limitations, Tom has learned that he doesn’t labor in his own strength, but God’s grace alone gives Tom one more day to serve Him.

“Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, & everything we have is invested with a special devotion & dynamism lived out as a response to his summons & service.” — Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life

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Grove City College

GFM

Carnegie Mellon

From Law to Grace

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:28:08 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

From Law to Grace

Elisabeth Kincaid found her dream job while looking for something else on ��ñ��’s website. Four years out of law school, with her job at a private equity firm coming to an end, she was checking to see if ��ñ�� might be looking for someone to do legal work. Instead, she ended up on the webpage for ��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries.

“I had told my friends that my dream job would be to get involved in campus ministry and study theology,” she said. As Elisabeth scanned the page, she realized that she had an opportunity to work with graduate students at Southern Methodist University (SMU), in her home town of Dallas.

Elisabeth had been involved in an ��ñ�� Small Group Bible study during her undergraduate studies at Rice University and enjoyed it. “It was the intellectual engagement that I had experienced in that small group, the fact that people were willing to seriously engage in Scripture and allow that Scripture to change their lives,” she said.

Later, in Law School at the University of Texas, she took courses that focused on the First Amendment, and she began thinking about the role of Christians in society. She saw ��ñ�� staff work with graduate students at SMU as an opportunity to continue to engage that topic with new generations of students.

Starting New at SMU

Elisabeth started her dream job at SMU in 2009, at the same time that Stephen Rankin arrived as the new Chaplain at SMU. Rankin brought a new evangelical vigor to the position, a change that meant her dream job became even better than she had expected.

“The faculty are saying that they feel much more free expressing their beliefs,” she observed. “He’s created so much space for dialogue with faith and work luncheons, which include a testimony from staff on how they integrate their faith and their life.”

Elisabeth works with three groups: Law students, Business students, and Graduate Christian Fellowship, which is made up of students from other disciplines. She has found that the Christian students often feel isolated in their departments.

“I’ve had some students who were hesitant to let it out that they were Christians when they first started coming to the group,” she said. “Interestingly enough, as they’ve become more open they’ve connected with other Christians in their department. It turns out that there were lots of Christians, and no one ever talked about it.”

It Keeps Getting Better

When Elisabeth started working with the graduate students, she was told that ��ñ�� had not had a ministry on the SMU campus for 20 years or more. This past year she was joined by Erin Waller, who is planting an ��ñ�� undergraduate chapter. The two share an office and try to meet regularly to pray for their campus.

The other part of Elisabeth’s dream was to study theology. When she signed up to take a few theology courses at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, she was asked to apply for a scholarship.

“I had to write an essay about how I contribute to diversity at SMU,” she said. “I wrote about being a campus minister and working for ��ñ��.” She won the scholarship and has been attending classes while doing her ��ñ�� staff work. She will receive her MA in Theology at the end of this current school year.

Even a dream job is not perfect. Elisabeth says the most challenging part of her work is that she has ambitious plans, but there’s not enough time to do everything. Yet it’s clear that God is at work at SMU, and Elisabeth is thankful that God has a job for her to do there.

Photo: Elisabeth (left) and Erin on the SMU campus

News Keywords

Southern Methodist University

GFM

Emerging Scholars Network Launches

webteam@intervarsity.org — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 06:00:00 +0000

News

Emerging Scholars Network Launches

After a careful planning process of nearly two years, on March 1, 2004, ��ñ�� launched the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) — an endeavor of interest to all Christian scholars from undergraduates to senior faculty. Building upon the insight and guidance of a diverse advisory council of university and college faculty and ��ñ�� staff, the ESN Director, and a work group of faculty and staff eagerly open the doors on this thirty-year vision. In the words of the ESN Mission Statement:

“The Emerging Scholars Network is called to identify, encourage, and support the next generation of Christian scholars, at all stages of their academic careers, who will be a redeeming influence within higher education.”

Included in the launch events are:

the opening of free, online registration for new members
an opening slate of online resources at EmergingScholars.org for members and non-members alike
brochures and brainstorming flyers that will be distributed to all ��ñ�� staff, among others
presentations about ESN to ministry leaders inside and outside of ��ñ��
an upcoming panel presentation at the conference, “Christianity and the Soul of the University”

Stan Wallace, Director of ��ñ��’s Faculty Ministry and of the Emerging Scholars Network, welcomes scholars at every career stage to join, and hopes that the Network will be a rich opportunity for collaboration among campus ministers as well, within all of ��ñ�� and beyond.

For more information, please contact the Emerging Scholars Network.

News Keywords

Emerging Scholars Network

GFM

Faculty

Grad Students

GFM

Both Feet in Faculty Ministry

Both Feet in Faculty Ministry

Summer Conferences: Refreshed Faculty

Summer Conferences: Refreshed Faculty

NYU's Socratic Happy Hour

NYU's Socratic Happy Hour

Not Ready to Retire, and Back on Staff

Not Ready to Retire, and Back on Staff

Focused on Flourishing

Focused on Flourishing

The Isolation Experience

Called to Ministry in an Academic Environment

Helping More Students Flourish

Integrating Faith and Science

Integrating Faith and Science

Being Known as a Fun Professor and ��ñ���� Staff

The Professor that starts Spiritual Discussions with Students

The TEDxUCDavis Talk

Focused on Faculty

Focused on Faculty

The role of faculty

Engaging the campus

Allies on campus

God's Grace in Higher Education

God's Grace in Higher Education

Live Life Together

Alone, Disappointed in Higher Education

Influence Higher Education, Influence the University

From Law to Grace

From Law to Grace

Starting New at SMU

It Keeps Getting Better

Emerging Scholars Network Launches

Emerging Scholars Network Launches

Being Known as a Fun Professor and ��ñ�� Staff