A letter from President Phipps

 The essential elements of a Messiah College education—as expressed in our mission statement—reflect the heart, vision and hope that past President Rodney Sawatsky had for Messiah, a place he led and loved for a decade (1994-2004). Serving as academic dean and then provost under his leadership, I witnessed and was inspired by the way Rod conceived of leadership from a position of love and hope, two of the most salient Christian virtues.

I am not a naturally hopeful person; I always see the merging problems and difficulties. But, as the national dialogue remains so divisive and the challenges facing higher education mount, I am reminded that hope is essential to lead in these turbulent times. I can listen to every podcast on leadership and read every best-seller about Generation Z, but if I don’t embrace decision-making with love, speak with hope and address every challenge with faith, I am nothing more than a clanging cymbal in our already noisy world.

Messiah is an educational institution where Christ is preeminent, a campus value that Rod frequently articulated and prioritized as he made decisions. During his tenure, the College’s beloved mission statement was finalized. He understood that Messiah College was a community where students were transformed. As they mature in their intellect, character and Christian faith, students become agents of change and carriers of hope and love into the broader world.

To facilitate such opportunities, Rod formed the Agapé Center for Service and Learning, a hub for service learning whose very name translates from the Greek as “goodwill, love and benevolence.” The Agapé Center coordinates opportunities for students to connect their hearts, passions and gifts with needs in local, national and global communities. Students learn the importance of hope-filled and love-inspired leadership through the Center’s significant work.

Hope and love also have a place in the classroom. As we educate students, we do so knowing they can only be effective and respected leaders and reconcilers if they exercise their expertise from a foundation of hope and love.

Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, said in “The State of the Evangelical Mind,” “I was reminded of an observation that the late Rod Sawatsky was fond of making about evangelical higher education. We give much attention, he would say, about the relationship between faith and learning, but we hear almost nothing about the relationship of hope and love to learning.”

Just as Rod’s compassionate and gracious leadership style inspired me, my hope for the Messiah College community is that we will embody and demonstrate these Christian virtues as we lead in our professions, communities, homes and churches. As Paul wrote in Romans 15:4, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”