President's Blog: Anticipating Summer Changes

Like many, I’m looking ahead to the summer with a variety of emotions. Our soon-to-be graduates are finishing the work required for the semester while eagerly anticipating Commencement. They also anxiously await news about jobs or graduate school placement.

Graduation signals a time of exciting new challenges, while realizing that it is also a time of goodbyes to people who have come to mean so much over the years. Our faculty are thinking ahead to writing projects and research activities that they will step more fully into during the summer months, yet they are focused on a strong finish to all of the tasks they need to complete this semester—and particularly making the best use of the remaining classroom time and the grading process that stretches on ahead.

I, too, am anticipating many changes this summer, for the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) has nominated me to be their next Executive Director. This nomination awaits final approval at action at CRCNA’s annual Synod gathering in June. Anticipating approval, this means that I’ll be stepping into a challenging and significant role for a denomination of a quarter of a million members with churches across the U.S. and Canada and with ministries of word and deed around the globe. Stepping into that role means that I’ll conclude my 11 years as Trinity’s president in July. I am fully confident that Trinity’s Board of Trustees, campus leaders, faculty, staff, and students will continue to flourish in the weeks, months, and years ahead, for God has and will continue to bless Trinity!

But it’s not summer yet! It’s not even spring here in Chicago. So please stay tuned; I will continue to offer glimpses of Trinity by means of this blog and, in a few weeks, I will also be able to provide updates about the search the Board will undertake for Trinity’s next president.