BillY Graham Center for Evangelism (BGCE)
Executive Director: Dr. Ed Stetzer, the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism
THE BILLY GRAHAM CENTER FOR EVANGELISM (BGCE) welcomed Dr. Ed Stetzer as executive director on July 1. Dr. Stetzer will also serve on faculty as the newly created Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism. Focused on leading the conversation on evangelism, the BGCE has launched two initiatives: the Billy Graham Center Fellows, which will bring together academics to collaborate and create resources on best practices in evangelism; and the Evangelism Leaders Coalition, intended to bring denominational and network evangelism leaders together to network and learn from each other. In June 2016, the BGCE completed the largest-ever research project on the unchurched and how churches are reaching them. Also in June, the BGCE hosted Amplify, its first national conference on evangelism, bringing together hundreds of church leaders to learn and strategically plan how to mobilize their congregations to show and share the love of Jesus with their communities.
Learn more on BGCE's website.
Center for Urban Engagement (CUE)
Director: Dr. Noah Toly '99, M.A. '12, professor of urban studies and politics & international relations; director of Urban Studies program
THE CENTER FOR URBAN ENGAGEMENT (CUE) experienced record enrollment in the Wheaton in Chicago program last fall, placing students in internships with Young Life Chicago, Lawndale Christian Health Center, and more. This fall, Wheaton in Chicago will host 19 students. Students attended the annual meeting of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) Conference in Memphis, Tenn., last August, and will attend this fall’s conference in Los Angeles. Last spring, Mark Sawyer ’17 won the annual Samuel A. Shellhamer Award in Urban Studies for his essay that addressed economic inequality: “Equal to or Greater Than: Inequality, Education, and a Christian Calling to Something More.” During this academic year, Blair Kamin, architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, Kristen Johnson, co-author of The Justice Calling: Where Passion Meets Perseverance (Brazos Press, 2016), and Katie Day ’73, author of Faith on the Avenue: Religion on a City Street (Oxford University Press, 2014), will be speaking at CUE events on campus.
Learn more on CUE's website.
Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics & Economics (FPE)
Director: Capt. David Iglesias '80, Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Navy (Ret.), the Jean and E. Floyd Kvamme Associate Professor of Politics and Law
THE WHEATON CENTER FOR FAITH, POLITICS AND ECONOMICS (FPE) hosted the following speakers on campus last year: Belgian Minister of Finance Johan Van Overtveldt; the 38th Director of the United States Mint and former Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel at the White House Ed Moy; Consul General of Israel to the Midwest Roey Gilad; former Congressman Frank Wolf; former Congressman Tony Hall; CNN & ABC News Contributor and GOP Strategist Ana Navarro; and syndicated journalist for CNN, The Washington Post, and NPR Ruben Navarrette, Jr. This summer, FPE offered scholarships to nine students in internships across the globe with a variety of government and nongovernmental organizations including the U.S. Embassy and World Relief, among others. This fall, the Center plans to engage students and the wider community in discourse regarding the political and economic challenges facing the U.S. through the lens of a Christian worldview, and will also focus on income inequality and religious liberty.
Learn more on FPE's website.
Humanitarian Disaster Institute (HDI)
Co-directors: Dr. Jamie Aten, the Dr. Arther P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech Associate Professor of Psychology; and Dr. David Boan, associate professor of psychology
THE HUMANITARIAN DISASTER INSTITUTE (HDI) conducted a national survey about the Syrian refugee crisis as part of a $1.9 million John Templeton Foundation grant. HDI is also studying the connection between faith and resilience after the 2015 South Carolina flood and the Umpqua Community College mass shooting. Prominent leaders in disaster relief and humanitarian aid gathered with participants from 13 countries in June for HDI’s fourth annual Disaster Ministry Conference at Wheaton College to discuss effective care for the vulnerable. A special focus on the refugee crisis included a workshop on refugee care and a panel discussion on the church and the refugee crisis led by Dr. Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism. Current global projects include chaplain training in Ukraine, a faith-based program to help trauma survivors in Rwanda, and a church disaster risk-reduction initiative in the Philippines.
Learn more on HDI's website.
Opus: The Art of Work
Director: Dr. Chris Armstrong
Assistant Director: Ben Norquist
In January 2016, Opus hosted faith and entrepreneurship training for 100 Wheaton Shark Tank participants and other interested student and alumni. They also selected 11 students for in-depth new venture training with Praxis Academy in Los Angeles in August 2016. Last April, Opus supported a series of three dinner panels for more than 150 Wheaton College Graduate School faculty and students to engage with alumni about their vocational stories and advice. On campus this year, Opus completed two components of a multi-year research initiative on internships as a component of the Wheaton experience. The research will ultimately compose a set of best practices that will be made available to internship program directors and academic departments at the College. Also this year, 23 Opus Faculty Fellows have infused their own courses with material designed to help students prepare for their future vocations. This has directly impacted over 900 students this year.
Learn more and access additional resources on Opus’ website.
HoneyRock—Outdoor Center for Leadership Development of Wheaton College
Director: Rob Ribbe ’87, M.A. ’90, assistant professor of Christian formation and ministry
Last spring, HoneyRock Director Rob Ribbe ’87, M.A. ’90 and Honeyrock Graduate Program Director Muhia Karianjahi M.A. ’03 attended the Global Summit of Christian Camping international in Johannesburg, South Africa. They joined 80 delegates from all continents and 28 countries to strategize about the movement of Christian camping worldwide. Eight of the eighty delegates were trained and/or received degrees at Wheaton or at HoneyRock. This past summer, 150 college students participated in HoneyRock’s Summer Leadership School, leading nearly 900 campers in multi-week camp and adventure-based learning experiences. HoneyRock also had nearly 300 of this year’s incoming student body join Wheaton Passage programs on camp, urban, wilderness, and a new equestrian track. HoneyRock welcomed its second Vanguard Gap Year group in August, and 50 percent of last year’s students entered Wheaton as first-year students this fall. HoneyRock's Outdoor and Adventure Leadership graduate program will have 20 full-time students during the 2016-17 academic year, and will continue developing a research project with seven other camps on the impact of summer camp employment on the development of five dimensions of human flourishing. This is the first in many research initiatives as a result of the Outdoor and Adventure Leadership program’s partnership with the Christian Camp and Conference Association (CCCA).
Learn more on HoneyRock's website.
The Marion E. Wade Center
Interim Director: Marjorie Lamp Mead ’74, executive editor of SEVEN: An Anglo- American Literary Review
The inaugural Ken and Jean Hansen Lectureship concluded in last spring with two presentations from President Philip Ryken ’88: “Frodo, Sam, and the Priesthood of All Believers” in February, and “The Coronation of Aragorn Son of Arathorn” in March. Also last March, the Wade Center hosted an Adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis that was dramatized and performed by the Wheaton College Tolkien Society during Staycation for local area families. More than 400 people attended the performances. In April, the Wade Center hosted a lecture and video showing titled “Discussing C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity” with Devin Brown and Greg Bandy. In June, the Wade Center co-sponsored The Spiritual Formation of C.S. Lewis with the Chicago chapter of the C.S. Lewis Institute based in Washington D.C. Wade Center Director Emeritus Dr. Lyle. W. Dorsett was the keynote speaker. The next Hansen lecture series will begin on December 1 in Bakke Auditorium with a lecture titled “The Rose Fire: George MacDonald in the Age of Miracles” by Carolyn and Fred McManis Professor of Christian Thought Dr. Timothy Larsen '89, M.A. '90.
Learn more on the Wade Center website.