It was announced three weeks ago, so many of you may already know, but I am humbled to be joining Wittenberg University as their 16th President. As with all search processes, it took time and prayer. Witt, as it is known, is a strong university that, like so many liberal arts institutions, has been challenged in recent times. The work ahead will be difficult, but it will be good work and Elizabeth and I are excited about this next chapter.
One of the key moments that persuaded me to accept this position, if offered, was reading about Wittenberg’s history and this journal entry from the founding president, Ezra Keller. Before his appointment as president, he spent time in Ohio, working with churches, and raising funds for the school. As he prepared his first annual report to the board, he wrote this on September 28, 1845.
“September 28.
Much sickness and mortality have prevailed in our community. My time has been consumed, in superintending the building of my church, visiting the sick, and burying the dead. Glad will I be when I shall be released from the secular business which necessity now imposes upon me. Yesterday I prepared my annual report for the Board of Directors, to whose meeting, at Wooster, I expect to start tomorrow. During the year I traveled three thousand two hundred miles, not including short distances; I preached one hundred and seventy-two sermons, and delivered a number of addresses; organized one congregation; put two churches in progress of erection; collected for college six thousand dollars, for churches one thousand dollars; instructed four theological students two hours each day, during the summer. For strength to perform this labor, I render my thanks to God. The more toil, the more grace.”
– A History of Wittenberg College (1845-1945), H. H. Lentz, pp. 37-38.
The more toil, the more grace.
I have found my epitaph. I have found this to be true in my own life, that the more we toil for the good, for what God has called us to do, the more God’s grace abounds. In the mid-1840s, amid sickness and disease that would ultimately take Keller at far too young an age, he followed God’s calling at the request of the Lutheran community to build a school for instruction and training for ministry. The Hamma Divinity School was merged with Capital University in 1978 (although not before my dear friend and mentor Larry Hofer received his MDiv), yet Witt still holds true to its Lutheran roots. I am that oxymoron that we all ought to be on such an occasion, humbled and proud to be their next President.
Below are the remarks I made and a short video announcement.
Thank you all so very much. I am deeply honored to join the Wittenberg University community, especially in such a time as this. It has become banal to say that these are challenging times, but of course they are. In the last month, I have been reading about the founding of this great institution and the challenges that they faced in the mid 19th century. These “sturdy Lutheran pioneers” had a vision of establishing a school for higher learning in an environment, both physical and economic, that was difficult, to say the least. Yet they pursued their dream.
As Harold Lentz observes in his introduction to his history of Wittenberg, “The world owes much to its dreamers. Were it not for them we would ever be mired in the clay of yesterday’s commonplaces. No progress which keeps us up to date is possible except as someone looks ahead into tomorrow’s possibilities and then takes what is at hand to bring them to reality.”
What is at hand is Wittenberg University, 180 years old, with alumni, faculty, students, staff, friends, family who love and are committed to this vision of a liberal arts university that embraces the development of the whole person: intellectually, physically, and spiritually. This vision and mission is as relevant today as it was nearly two hundred years ago. In fact, I would argue more so.
The Wittenberg Way of grounding all our study and career preparation in the best of the liberal arts; the Wittenberg Way of competing in athletics, achieving success with honor; the Wittenberg Way of building upon the foundations of our past while shaping the future is the path we will follow.
I look forward to working with our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners to build upon these strong foundations. Together, we will stoke the flame of Wittenberg so that its light will shine brighter than ever before.
Finally, I was struck by Ezra Keller’s reflections the day he walked this land that would become Wittenberg University. “It requires some faith to believe that in after years it will be an academic grove, to which hundreds will resort to drink at the pure fountains of knowledge, and go forth into the world to do good, to bless [humanity]. And yet I have faith to believe that this will all be realized.”
Like Ezra, I have faith. Thank you for this great honor to serve the Wittenberg community and to lead us in the Wittenberg Way.
