About Our Bloggers
Tom Grosh
Tom Grosh. Photo courtesy by Marci Weidler, Circle of Life Photography.
In July of 2006, after 10 years of ministering in a variety a ways with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Pittsburgh, PA, Tom and his family moved from Pittsburgh to central Pennsylvania to pioneer InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Faculty Ministry. His area of emphasis is to identify, encourage, and equip Christian scholars to be redeeming influences among the people, ideas, and structures of higher education. As efforts among faculty at small liberal arts college and state universities is a new area of ministry for InterVarsity, he is collating his methods and findings to make them available to other staff.
In addition to pioneering new campus ministries, Tom enjoys special projects. Currently he directs a winter retreat for graduate students in the Mid-Atlantic area (which includes Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.), develops material for students considering higher education as a vocation, serves on an InterVarsity Staff Advisory team to InterVarsity Press, participates in the Central Pennsylvania Forum for Religion and Science, teaches adult electives for Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ, and has become connected to Brethren in Christ World Mission.
Tom and his wife Theresa grew up in Lancaster County, where their families still reside, and met while attending high school. In his spare time Tom enjoys book discussions, hanging out with the family, playing basketball, and reading. Theresa stays at home to care for their children, including twins Hayley and Ellen, Eden, and Lily. Theresa volunteers with InterVarsity as possible, but currently focuses most of her time and energy in the home and family. She enjoys scrapbooking, sewing, gardening, and giving leadership to ministries involving mothers with young children.
Tom also blogs at his personal website, GroshLink.net.
Micheal Hickerson
Micheal Hickerson
Micheal joined InterVarsity in 2006 as the Associate Director for the Emerging Scholars Network. He previously served as Foundation Director for the Cincinnati Better Business Bureau, where he supervised the BBB’s local charity ethics program. Micheal graduated summa cum laude from the University of Louisville with a BA in English, and completed a Masters of Christian Studies, concentrating in Christianity and the Arts, at Regent College. His masters thesis, “Familiar with Suffering,” was a cycle of original hymn lyrics (set to traditional tunes) and poetry based on Good Friday and Christ’s Seven Last Words. His poetry has been published in The New Pantagruel and Uprooted.
Micheal lives in Northern Kentucky with his wife Elizabeth and their three children. Having become convinced of the importance of local community, Micheal and Elizabeth returned to Kentucky after their time in Vancouver in order to build community among her family and local church. When they have time, they enjoy watching movies (before the children arrived, they managed to watch all of the Oscar-winning Best Pictures, in order). Elizabeth teaches Musikgarten classes for children ages 8 months to 4 years old. Micheal also enjoys learning unusual skills, usually paper-based. Currently, he is teaching himself italic handwriting.
The Emerging Scholars Network is especially important to Micheal, because he wishes something like ESN had existed when he was graduating from Louisville. With the idea of getting a PhD in literature, he contacted a number of Christian English professors to ask them where he could earn a PhD that integrated his love for Christ with his love for literature. After several discouraging responses, the last professor suggested that he do a theology degree first, to provide a foundation for later integration. While his degree at Regent turned out to be perfect fit for Micheal, he hopes that ESN will provide a more encouraging path for students who want to serve God in the university.
Micheal also keeps a personal blog, though updated not nearly as often as Tom’s, at MikeHickerson.com.
