itself in issues of legislation and government action. It also relates to perceived relevance to the big issues of the day and the coarsening of American culture. I think we also have to recognize that there is real intellectual and spiritual rot in our society, and Christian colleges have played a role over the last hundred years in helping to address those issues. But the problems are getting worse, not easier. So those will require a lot more of our time and attention. When you retire (long into your future), what do you hope people will remember most about your presidency? I really hope that over the course of my service at Gordon I can help the institution to honor Christ in a largely unchristian context in such a way that we are even more faithful to biblical orthodoxy twenty years from now than we are today—and yet also even more compelling witnesses to our unbelieving neighbors than we are today. That’s the big objective: to be open and yet still faithful. On the micro level, I hope every year to be able to invest in two to five students who are really exceptional. Henry Hagen is a Gordon sophomore. I’m investing in him because I think that he will probably lead something significant in his lifetime, and I want to be one of his encouragers. I’ve benefited greatly from mentors who invested in me, and I feel like I could do that for others. It’s incredibly gratifying to play a very small role in helping somebody both discover and then move further down the path of their Godgiven calling. My own professional path had a number of different detours; in the moment it felt as if I had never gotten far enough down one path before I was going in another direction. I was an English major in college. I worked in the corporate world in IT. I went to Princeton Seminary, then worked for the world’s preeminent polling firm, then went to Oxford and studied theology with Alister McGrath. But then I changed tracks yet again and pursued a PhD in sociology, having taken one undergraduate course in sociology, and wound up in a tenure-track position at Rice, where I started a leadership center. All those different paths have perfectly prepared me for this particular experience, and in each of them I felt real confidence that God had led me in that moment. My hunch is that there are readers of Books &
Culture who are asking, God, what are you doing at this moment? They have an opportunity that they feel led to, but they don’t understand how it fits in, or they thought they would be going down one path their entire life and it doesn’t work out that way. I want to encourage people to earnestly seek God in those opportunities that come along the way. And frankly to have the courage and the confidence to pursue them. I am so grateful that I have had the chance to be here at Gordon for this past year. It’s changed my life in all good ways. I pray more fervently and more deeply now than I ever have in my entire life, and I find the work to be as fulfilling as anything I’ve ever done. I truly cannot imagine getting to do more intellectually engaging work than I undertake in this role. And I’ve had a chance to become part of a community that I absolutely love. My hope is that I could simply be a signpost: be open to opportunities that God can use for great good in your own life. Todd C. Ream serves on the honors faculty at Indiana Wesleyan University. Copyright © 2013 by the author or Christianity Today/Books & Culture magazine.