Covenant College - Church Annual Report 2021-22

THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH

Rev. Ralph Kelley ’89

Director of Constituent Relations

Covenant College

I am thrilled to share with you the kingdom work that is happening at Covenant College. Just over a year ago, I returned to the college as the director of constituent relations. I hoped to experience what I suspected hadn’t changed since I graduated over 30 years ago, and indeed, these facts remain true:

1. Covenant’s outstanding faculty members love the Lord, have a high view of the authority of Scripture, and are committed to the Westminster Standards.

2. Covenant’s eager students are shaped by esteemed experts in their fields of study who remain committed to the Reformed doctrines of Scripture.

3. The daily teaching and conversations occurring on our campus address the issues of our time with a strong foundation in a biblical frame of reference.

ralph.kelley@covenant.edu

706.419.1643

What a gift to our students, the local church, and the kingdom! In a day when the world is vying for young people’s hearts and minds, we continue to see positive outcomes from Covenant alumni who report a fervent commitment to the local church. In a recent survey of alumni who graduated in the last five years, 93% reported active involvement in a local church, a strong contrast to the Barna Group’s findings that 64% of young adults who grew up in church have withdrawn from church involvement.

As a teaching elder in the PCA, it thrills my heart that Covenant alumni in a wide variety of callings (medicine, law, the fine arts, education, engineering, and more) remain committed to the Church. Our hope is that the alumni we send out each year will fortify the future of the Church universal and the PCA in particular through their pursuit of God-honoring vocations and active engagement in their local church communities.

Would you promote our denominational college at your church? We believe that your PCA students may be interested in the opportunity to receive the excellent, Reformed, liberal arts education we offer. This brochure - featuring information, highlights, and stats from the 2021-22 academic year - offers deeper insight into who we are and what we’re all about up here on Lookout Mountain, so feel free to share it with your church body. Please never hesitate to reach out to me to learn more about our denomination’s college.

In Christ,

We appreciate many things about being the college of the PCA. One of those is the theological anchor that the denomination provides. The oversight provided by the PCA plays an important role in ensuring that Covenant doesn’t become one of the many formerly Christian colleges. It ensures that we remain faithful to Scripture and to the theological distinctives of the Reformed tradition. Institutions that are uncompromising in both faith and academic excellence are exceedingly hard to find but exceptionally valuable.

“The church and the world need men and women who love Jesus, who have developed a biblical frame of reference for all of life, and who have given themselves to lives of Christlike service. It is our great privilege to prepare such graduates, and the PCA plays an important role in helping us to do just that.

Derek Halvorson ’93 President Covenant College

Academics

New Faculty

Deborah Forteza, Assistant Professor of Spanish

PhD in Literature

University of Notre Dame

MA in Biblical Counseling

MDiv

Central Baptist

Theological Seminary MA in English University of Saint Thomas

At Covenant College, students’ faith is an integral part of their learning, never an insignificant addition to it. Academic study both inside and outside of the classroom are directly impacted by the gospel and biblical truth.

59

full time teaching faculty

90%

of faculty have Doctorate or Terminal degrees in their field

11:1

Student TO Faculty Ratio

16

average class size

I love Covenant’s emphasis on the whole human being and the study of all of God’s revelation, wherever it is found. At Covenant, you don’t have to choose between being an academic or a Christian, or whether to do research or to teach and mentor. You are encouraged to do all as one for God’s glory and the good of others.”

Faculty Publications

In 2021-22, seven faculty have published or will soon release books.

In order of release date:

• The Recovered Life of Isaac Anderson by Dr. Alicia Jackson

• You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News by Dr. Kelly Kapic

• The English Reformation in the Spanish Imagination: Rewriting Nero, Jezebel, and the Dragon by Dr. Deborah Forteza

91 % 100 %

of our alumni pursuing graduate school got into one or both of their top two choices.

of our faculty subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith.

• Clement and Scriptural Exegesis: The Making of a Commentarial Theologian by Dr. Clifton Ward

• Fictional Labor: Ethics and Cultural Production in the Digital Economy by Dr. Jiewon Baek

• Strangers and Scapegoats: Extending God’s Welcome to Those on the Margins by Dr. Matt Vos ’90

• Xenophobia as Symbolic Politics: A Cross-Regional Explanation of Anti-Refugee Activism from Brussels to Beirut by Dr. Anna Rannou

Faculty Quotes

Our desire at Covenant is to help students grow in their understanding and love of God, His word, and His world. One of these goals—understanding and loving God’s word—is particularly impactful for the Church. With God’s help, Covenant students, staff, and alumni participate in growing the kingdom, in both its breadth and depth, as they rely on and proclaim the love of God and truth of Scripture in a fallen world where believers and unbelievers alike often struggle to know and believe what is true.”

Dr. Sarah Donaldson ’98 Associate Professor of Mathematics

Covenant College alumni do not typically experiment with life without a church. If work takes them to a city that already has a biblically grounded church, they get involved soon after graduation and look for ways to serve. If work takes them to a city without a strong church, they are unusually quick to look for a church planting effort, and they invest heavily in its success.

“Because our core curriculum requires every student to take one semester of Old Testament, one semester of New Testament, and two semesters of Christian Doctrine, alumni are ready to serve as teachers. The training in these classes makes it likely that every Covenant student is better trained in Bible and doctrine than most church members.

“Additionally, Covenant alumni are prepared to take their faith 'to work' in the world. Their major classes augment and specify core curriculum discussions about serving Jesus faithfully in society, on the job, as citizens, and as parents. Instead of having to figure out by trial and error, they have heard accounts from professors, staff members, and alumni about what it means in practice to live (as well as sing) ‘All for Jesus.’”

Dr. Bill Davis ’82 Professor of Philosophy

David Tahere, Assistant Professor of Music

Spiritual Formation

In the 2021-22 academic year, the Chapel Office was excited to reintroduce a full chapel schedule with students attending in person every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each year, we bring speakers from all over the world to edify and encourage the student body. Last year, we hosted our first Kingdom Life Conference with keynote speaker Russ Ramsey, pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, speaking on the role of imagination in the Christian life.

Ministries of the chapel office last year:

day of prayer men's and women's small groups

One-on-one discipleship

Women's study through James Chapel luncheons with guest speakers

Tuesday Talks: women and the church through a Biblical and Theological lens

Men's Groups seeking sexual faithfulness

93%

of our alumni are members of or active participants in the local church.

Because of Covenant’s confessional tradition and our denomination, we have an anchor that sets a foundation for understanding who we are and how we approach Scripture. This creates a freedom for our students to ask real questions and be honest about real struggles in a place where they are going to be pointed to Christ. And I just don’t know if that happens anywhere else.” Grant Lowe Chaplain

Covenant has made me believe that God’s heart is bent towards us. His love for us is not just an aspect of His personality; it is Him.”

Kendall Barrie ’23 Business Major

“As a student ministry coordinator last year, being mentored by Chaplain Lowe weekly, diving into Scripture as a team, and praying regularly for each other and the campus was really impactful. Rather than having an intellectual, heady, isolated faith, I’ve realized that I need Jesus personally and that I need these other believers in my life.”

Evan Hokrein ’23 Economics Major

“The chapel office really cares about students loving Jesus in a way that is all encompassing and deeper than spiritual platitudes. We welcome honest conversations, which is why we meet with so many students. We want students to know that they don’t walk alone in their pursuit of Jesus. We do this in community, and that community is intergenerational.”

Stephanie (Granberry) Formenti ’04 Chapel Associate for Discipleship

Chapel 2021-22 Highlights

Faculty Lecture Series: “Every Square Inch: How My Discipline Belongs to and Glorifies Jesus Christ,” featuring Covenant professors Dr. Jay Green, Steve Corbett '81, and Dr. Elaine Tinholt '02. Schaeffer Conference, featuring Mindy Belz, author and former senior editor at WORLD Magazine .

Reformation Day Lectures, featuring Rev. Collin Hansen, vice president for content and editor-in-chief at The Gospel Coalition Missions Conference, featuring Camille Hallstrom, theatre professor at Covenant College, and Keisuke Idota, missionary with Presbyterian Mission International.

Res Publica Lectures, featuring Dr. Read Mercer Schuchardt, associate professor of communication at Wheaton College. Kingdom Life Conference, featuring Rev. Russ Ramsey, author and pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville.

Student Life

Life at Covenant is energetic, multifaceted, and full of unforgettable experiences. While a diverse group, Covenant students are bound together by a common pursuit: the integration of life, academics, and unshakable faith.

One of my favorite things about living on my hall is that though we are all very different, we are bound together by our love of God, our desire to learn more about Him, and our desire to love each other and others just as Jesus did.”

Jon

33

clubs

SSTOP:

Highlights

The men’s and women’s soccer programs both won conference championships and advanced to NCAA tournaments in 2021.

studentathletes were named to the USA South All-Academic team.

Covenant athletic programs that achieved a GPA higher than 3.0:

programs (fall 2021)

programs (spring 2022)

of student-athletes reported growing in their faith as a result of their participation in Covenant’s intercollegiate athletics.

Performing Arts

theatre and music departments collaborated on our first opera production, The Magic Flute The show featured students Mary Brook Diamond ‘22 and Ian DeGraaf ‘22 in lead roles, along with a variety of other students and alumni.

New Students

States

Admissions Church Giving

Countries

the 2021-22 academic year,

churches

in the Church Scholarship

a total of $493,306

Covenant College

14049 Scenic Highway

Lookout Mountain, GA 30750

Covenant College is training the next generation of Christian leaders, the majority of whom will not work for the church, to view their labors as an amazing gift that allows them to partner with God and His work of renewal in the world.”

Jonathan Ingraham ’07

Chattanooga Faith + Work + Culture Executive Director