Currently, I serve as Campus Minister at Graceland University.  Founded in 1895, Graceland shares its history with the Community of Christ, which sponsors it.    I am a graduate of Graceland (1996) and served the Community of Christ in full time for a total of ten years.

Below is an article I wrote for a congregational newsletter (October 2011).  It shares my perspective on the significance of the relationship between Graceland University and Community of Christ.  It also shares how I see my role as Campus Minister.

I’m excited to be back at Graceland because Community of Christ and Graceland share a mission I believe in.

Graceland afforded me opportunities to grow personally and professionally both in and outside the church.   After ten years of fulltime ministry in Community of Christ and eleven years of seminary education, I return to Graceland with a passion for faith and higher education.  I am convinced that they belong together.   Graceland and Community of Christ share a mission that emerges where faith and higher education intersect.   My purpose is to promote that mission and help students, parents, and alumni see how both faith and higher education interconnect at Graceland.

I believe Graceland and Community of Christ share a heritage because they share a divine purpose in the world.  Both share the mission to shape lives and associations for the sake of the world and serving others.  At Graceland, this means fostering a community grounded in the values of Christian faith and the liberal arts.  In this environment, students are given both the freedom and responsibility to learn about themselves, their world, their gifts and sense of vocation in purposeful relationships with peers and mentors.  Campus Ministries plays a key role promoting the role of faith and faith development as a key part of this experience.

Whether a student is following a call to serve the church or find a professional vocation, Community of Christ tradition upholds an inclusive view of ministry.  Most ministers in Community of Christ are bi-vocational.  That means that pastors are also business owners, pharmacists, mothers, accountants, and auto technicians.  It also means that educators, nurses, musicians, and retirees also serve as ministers – ministers of the Gospel, of family, presence, peace & social justice, and as spiritual elders.

Faith and higher education belong together precisely at this point where Graceland and the church join together to develop associations and persons in professional vocations for the sake of the world.  Higher education promotes the kind of critical thinking and communication skills needed to impact the world and those around us, while our faith provides depth to our commitments, life’s direction, and strong sense of character.   As our faith calls us to build community for the sake of others, higher education shapes our capacity to understand the world and solve problems.  Together, they carry our mission out into world and our call to the lives of others.

At Graceland, as in Community of Christ, study and faith go hand-in-hand.   Christ called his disciples from those out in the world.  He walked with them, ministered with them, taught with them, and supped with them.  He gave himself to them, then sent the disciples back out into the world.  This is my vision for the kind of education and experience anyone can find at Graceland.

At Graceland, the world comes to Lamoni – a place both in the middle of nowhere and everywhere.  There, each can find an institution and community shaped by a heritage of faith, convictions, and values.    Each will find at Graceland the freedom and responsibility to ask meaningful questions, explore themselves, the world, their gifts and sense of purpose in relationships with peers and mentors.  As a key part of Graceland, Campus Ministries provides intentional opportunities for students to purposefully bring their journey in faith and higher education together.  Campus Ministries, just like the church and Graceland, is much more than its people and programs.   Our mission and purpose extends to the kind of opportunities and relationships anyone can find at Graceland – opportunities and relationships in which faith and higher education come together for the purpose of shaping lives and associations for the sake of the world and others.

That’s how I see my role at Graceland.