Interim Iterations

A new school year has been launched and you are back at it! Administration, faculty, staff, and students, you are back at the business of learning, growing, and exploration. If you do not find yourself on campus or in a classroom, September still ushers in a new rhythm with its whispers of fall, and an overflowing school supplies section at Target. Church programming and fall sports kick-off, and our routines refuel and ramp up.

While you settle into fall’s new rhythms, may you be rooted in a pioneering spirit that pushes forward the boundaries of progress. Follow the adventurous route, not the safe and predictable one. If you are a student, mix up your education: learn a new language, study the stars, take a creative writing class. Attend to course work and projects that will challenge you to explore new ideas, test new thoughts and perspectives different from your own, and pursue different routes to discover your truest passion.

If you are a pastor, leader, or layperson, the newness of the season invites you to see and think differently, and allows you to be refreshed by new opportunities, changed schedules, and a different pace. Stay on your toes, peek around the corner, look out for God on the move, and then follow willingly. I find myself in this new season, eager and grateful, to be grounding myself in the work of interim President of Higher Education and Leadership Ministries. I am glad to be on the team, and intent on guiding HELM through this period of transition until a new President is identified and extended the call of the church.

In partnership with each of you, let us together find ways to strengthen the relationship between church and academy that will provide light and truth to the darkness and ignorance so prevalent in the world today. And if you are wondering how you can support the work of our colleges, universities, seminaries and graduate schools of theology, I would like to have a conversation with you. Your investment in higher education will pay dividends in perpetuity.

Lux et Veritas-ly yours,

Ron Degges