On a sunny afternoon in mid-September, a group of Christian higher education leaders gathered on Seattle Pacific University’s campus. The campus grounds were quiet as faculty and staff were busy at work preparing for students to arrive for the start of the school year in just two weeks.
These leaders had come from far and wide, flying to Seattle from Texas, Indiana, Washington D.C., and Florida. The group included the presidents of other Christian universities, some SPU Trustees, as well as the presidents of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and the Christian College Consortium, along with their spouses.
All gathered with SPU’s 12th president, Deana L. Porterfield, and her husband, Doug, to pray for the upcoming academic year. They walked campus together, praying for the joys and challenges ahead, for the faculty and staff hard at work, and for the students arriving on campus to start or continue their SPU journeys.
This is a pivotal year for SPU as the University repositions and stabilizes its financial position while exploring new programs and innovative opportunities to expand the personal and prestigious programs that define Seattle Pacific.
The presidents who arrived on campus also meet together every year. It was at their last meeting in May that they felt led to plan a trip to collectively pray for the SPU campus before Autumn Quarter began.
“SPU has been at the vanguard of navigating a number of challenges that we all see on all of our campuses,” said Michael Lindsay, president of Taylor University in Indiana, who spearheaded the prayer gathering. “We are all rooting for SPU to be successful and we want SPU to thrive. We also believe that the Lord is honored when his people come together and pray for a specific place at a specific time, so we’re here to ask for the Lord’s anointing and blessing of SPU.”
Lindsay said being president of a Christian university today is a tough job, but it’s more than a job. “It’s a much larger calling to embody the grace and truth of Christ. Throughout Scripture, the faithful managed to encourage and build up one another. So we view this is as a chance to mutually support one another.”
He pointed to 1 Thessalonians 2:8 as an example of this: “So we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well.”
Porterfield expressed her thanks to the leadership group. “As Christians, we bear one another’s joys and challenges,” she said. “Doug and I were so encouraged that these fellow leaders took time during their busy Septembers to come and pray for SPU. We are all anticipating with hope what God has in store for SPU during this next season.”
