director of youth ministries WILL GRISHAM

Will Grisham, a former Theology and Biblical Studies major at the University of Sioux Falls, has taken his skills to work as the Director of Youth Ministries for 1st Christian Reformed Church. Grisham is also acting as a council member for 2 different youth organizations and as a volunteer chaplain at the Minnehaha Juvenile Detention Center.

Grisham recognizes that the hard-working faculty at USF has provided him with the skills he needed for his job field. “I’m sure some of my professors would argue that my grades didn’t reflect it at the time, but everything I learned I retained,” Grisham said. “I’ve learned a lot of great things from the likes of Dr. Hiigel and Dr. Christina Hitchcock.” Grisham commends Hitchcock and Hiigel for showing him, “The ability to look at theology in a new light and the ability to look at how it adapts to the world we live in has prepared me greatly,” stated Grisham. Grisham also praised professors outside of his major for his ability to adapt to his work environment. “The implication and adaptation of theology to work in the Christian world is something I also learned from people like Joe Obermueller, which allowed me to go off and do what I’m doing now.”

Being on a Christian campus also allowed Grisham to strengthen his faith and gave him a confidence to succeed in his job field. “Being able to pray before classes, the ability to invite God into every situation, the friendships that I made, the life experiences through touring Europe, and having the ability to connect with my professors all allowed me to leave USF and feel like I was going to be okay.” Grisham is taking his experience from his time at USF and trying to instill that same confidence through his work. “The best part about it [work] is being able to impact the next generation. Being able to meet with and mentor these kids where they’re at with my own life experiences to show the real-world application of what God’s love actually looks like.” Grisham said. “Also, having my own office is great.”

As a parting word, Grisham gave some advice for any student who is in a similar major or looking to work in

BY: MATTHEW STERUD

a similar field. “Never ever allow the Bible to become a textbook. It was a pitfall that I think I and many other Theology students have fallen into. We study theology so much and we use verses so much for grades and for figuring out lessons that we treat as another textbook, and we start to get burnt out of it.” Grisham emphasized, “Always take time to be in the Word but be in the Word for you. Be with the Word and be with God for you.”

If you are interested in theology work, specifically youth theology, you can contact Will Grisham at Will@firstchristianreformed.org. “We would love to have USF students on our team. We have children, middle school, and high school mentor programs to staff. High school is the best because that’s the one I’m in charge of. That’s the one to be a part of. Just saying.”

“Always take time to be in the Word but be in the Word for you. Be with the Word and be with God for you.”