Beginning in January 2005, Ron Whitehead, Center for Youth Evangelism (CYE) director and Christian Ministry assistant professor at the Adventist Theological Seminary, will function in his newly-appointed role as assistant to the president for spiritual life at Andrews University.
Whitehead has served as the North American Division associate youth director and has been the director of three international Pathfinder camporees, including the most recent Faith on Fire Camporee in Oshkosh, Wis., which had over 30,000 attendees. While still keeping his CYE position and office, Whitehead will work together with student services, campus ministries, and the office of the president to coordinate the various spiritual life activities and programs on campus. In this role, Whitehead will focus on reorganizing the spiritual life structure on campus in several different areas.
Whitehead hopes to create better communication, keeping students, faculty, and staff informed internally, as well as sharing what is happening on campus with the community, prospective students, and alumni. He aims to create a strong, talented pool of both staff and student leaders. The current campus ministries office will be remodeled to better equip student leaders with the office space needed to help them work in their individual ministries.
A key aspect of support will come from the spiritual life committee. Whitehead's goal is for this committee to be a “one stop shop” where ministry leaders can come to get the required help or permission necessary to perform their ministry. Whitehead plans to increase student representation on the committee to an equal level with that of faculty/staff representation.
As a member of the president’s cabinet, Whitehead will work directly with the president, bringing the spiritual life of the campus to a higher level of attention, identifying its importance. In short, Whitehead’s vision is to “make it easy for every student to be a part of, or lead out in, a ministry.”
Beverly Stout, University Relations Lake Union Herald correspondent
