Searching for the Next Director of Faculty Ministry

Update (6/13/2012): InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is  pleased to announce  Craig  Gartland  has agreed to serve as InterVarsity’s new  Director of Faculty Ministry  beginning July 1, 2012. Congrats Craig! Thank-you to all who contributed their input in the process and prayed for our work through this discernment process.

A glimpse of Craig’s background:  Craig  joined InterVarsity staff 23 years ago after completing his MDiv at Fuller Theological Seminary. His primary campus experience came at the University of Chicago where he served students (both undergrad and grad), extended ministry to faculty, and helped plant or “adopt” four professional school fellowships. He moved from CSM to Team Leader and briefly to GFM Area Director within Great Lakes West. For the past nine years,  Craig  has provided leadership as the inaugural Regional Director for GFM Midwest. Within GFM nationally  Craig  has provided outstanding leadership in the area of evangelism and prayer.

To help you get-to-know Craig better, in particular his faculty ministry experience and his excellence match to guide ESN in its next steps, we’ll interview him later in the summer. Congrats Craig! ~ Thomas B. Grosh IV, Associate Director (designate), Emerging Scholars Network

As you may know, the Emerging Scholars Network and Faculty Ministry are currently in the midst of an important transition. Back in November, the Director of Faculty Ministry left InterVarsity to accept a position with the International Institute for Christian Studies. He had served since 2004 and overseen a period of tremendous growth for the ministry, including the formation of ESN and, well, hiring me. It’s a bittersweet moment —we will miss him greatly, yet IICS is a great organization that will benefit from his presence. A special thank you to him for his service and leadership.

We are now searching for the next Director of Faculty Ministry. The legacy of this position is impressive: prior to the most recent director, this position was held by Terry Morrison, who was involved in higher education as both an academic and campus minister for 50 years, and Charles Hummel, who might be best known today as the author of Freedom from Tyranny of the Urgent, but was a key figure in InterVarsity’s early growth and had also served as a college president.

The full position description and a position narrative written by Bobby Gross, Director of Graduate and Faculty Ministries, can be found online at this address:
http://bit.ly/pulhWh.

Let me quote briefly from Bobby’s description of who we are looking for:

We are looking for someone who is captivated by the mission of InterVarsity’s Faculty Ministry and brings personal vision to this cause; someone who loves the world of higher education and implicitly understands the academic vocation; someone who relates well with faculty and administrators; someone with ministry gifts and organizational leadership skills; someone who can lead by influence and collaborate well with others to move the work forward; someone able to operate effectively within a complex national organization; someone who relates to colleagues diverse in age, gender, ethnicity, and culture; someone who exhibits spiritual vitality and brings an unabashed love for Christ and his kingdom.

Here are some simple ways that you can help us with this search:

• Pray for God’s direction during this process.
• Please share the link with anyone you know who would be a good candidate.
• Further, share the link with those you know in leadership, ministry, and academic positions.

It’s often those secondary or tertiary connections —a friend of a friend —who make the difference in networking and communications. We ask you to help us “sow the seed widely” in our search for this important role.

If you would like to apply for the position, please email Nancy Vuolo, and include a cover letter and your resume/CV. You can also email Nancy if you would like to recommend someone for the position.

Last modified on: Apr 13, 2012.