THE BILLY GRAHAM CENTER FOR EVANGELISM (BGCE)
Interim Executive Director: Paul Ericksen
The Billy Graham Center for Evangelism (BGCE) welcomed Ed Stetzer as a senior fellow this July. In partnership with Rick Richardson, director of the Graduate School’s M.A. in evangelism and leadership program and professor of evangelism, Ed will present the results of a research project this spring examining how churches are reaching the nonchurched and attitudes of the nonchurched toward Christianity. The BGCE also launched “ReKindle,” a YouTube channel focused on helping Christian leaders develop an ethos of evangelism both in themselves and in those they lead, and re-branded their Evangelvision blog as “Gospel Life." Their journal, Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ), which goes out to leaders and missionaries around the globe both in print and online, is now free as a podcast on iTunes. The BGCE will also partner with Ed Stetzer and LifeWay to cohost a national evangelism leaders gathering in summer 2016.
Learn more on the BGCE's website.
The Center for Urban Engagement (CUE)
Director: Dr. Noah Toly ’99, M.A. ’12, associate professor of urban studies and politics & international relations; director of Urban Studies program
Wheaton's Center for Urban Engagement (CUE) will launch its first community engagement council this year. The council will consist of people whose work engages significantly with urban public life, and the council will advise CUE on programming. Starting with 6 or 7 members, the council will serve as an external advisory panel and will eventually grow to 12 members within the next 3 years. On October 1, CUE addressed the issue of urban poverty in a panel discussion with Dr. Winnie Fung M.A. ’14, Dr. Larycia Hawkins, Dr. Paul Lee, and Dr. Theon Hill. On October 27, alumnus John Rush ’05, a current candidate for Columbus City Council, Ohio, discussed the role of social enterprise in addressing the needs of distressed urban communities.
Learn more on CUE's website.
The Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics and 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) recently hosted several speakers on national security, including former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and retired military personnel. FPE also welcomed Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt, former Haitian Ambassador Raymond Joseph ’60, and U.S. Representative Paul Ryan for lectures. This summer, 11 students participated in the Iron Sharpens Iron program and traveled to Colombia, Panama, and Peru. Highlights included visiting a quinoa field in the Peruvian highlands and meeting with the former Colombian attorney general, former insurgents, and Kuna tribal leaders. The FPE also supported eight student internships and one student research project this summer with organizations including the U.S. Department of State in Berlin, Brooklyn’s Mercado Global, the U.S. Department of Navy Surface Warfare Center, and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Learn more on FPE's website.
The Marion E. Wade Center
Interim Director: Marjorie Lamp Mead ’74, executive editor of SEVEN: An Anglo- American Literary Review
The Marion E. Wade Center celebrated both its 50th anniversary and the Bakke Auditorium Dedication on October 29. The Ken and Jean Hansen Lectureship began November 12 with an inaugural lecture by President Philip G. Ryken ’88 titled: “The Messiah Comes to Middle-earth: Images of Christ in The Lord of the Rings.” This lectureship will feature three lectures per year by faculty speaking about Wade Center authors. Abigail Santamaria, author of Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis, visited for a talk and book signing in October. Carol and Philip Zaleski, 2014 Kilby Research Grant recipients, recently published The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Their Circle (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), and the 2015 Kilby Research Grant recipient, Paul Fiddes, will be writing a book exploring co-inherence in the writings of Charles Williams and C. S. Lewis.
Learn more on the Wade Center's website.
The Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies (WCECS)
Director: Dr. George Kalantzis, professor of theology
Each fall, The Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies (WCECS) sponsors the Papatheofanis Lectures on Early Christianity. The Center invites internationally-known scholars to give public presentations and engage the community in discussion. This year’s event was held on November 5, featuring Dr. Susan Holman, a Harvard University historian and global health specialist, who gave a lecture titled “And Yet the Books: Patristics in the Footnotes” on the delight of academic research and discovery in the humanities. Also in November, a group of WCECS students and faculty fellows traveled to Atlanta for the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), American Academy of Religion (AAR), and Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). On March 17 and 18, WCECS will cohost a conference on death, resurrection, and the Christian life. A collection of scholars from the greater Chicago area, including the University of Notre Dame and Marquette University, will gather at Harbor House to discuss the topic and present a public lecture. A founding member of Chicago Theological Initiative (CTI), The Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies continues to cosponsor events this academic year.
Learn more on WCECS' website.
Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE)
Director: Dr. Vincent Bacote, associate professor of theology
The Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE) will host a series of lectures during this academic year on the theme of moral formation that will explore various dimensions of Christian faith and moral discernment. Dr. Vigen Guroan, Professor of Religious Studies in Orthodox Christianity at the University of Virginia, presented “Fairy Tales and the Moral Imagination” as part of the Christian Moral Formation Lectureship on October 22, David Moore discussed “Suffering, Discipleship and Christian Moral Formation” on December 3, Ken Wytsma will talk about “Pursuing Justice” on January 20, and Michael Wear will address “Faith, Politics, and American Life” on March 15. This year’s CACE faculty collection of short essays will also focus on the intersection of reading and moral formation.
Learn more on CACE's website.
Humanitarian Disaster Institute (HDI)
Co-directors: Dr. Jamie Aten, Dr. Arthur P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech Associate Professor of Psychology, and Dr. David Boan, associate professor of psychology
Dr. Jamie Aten, Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Ward Davis, and Dr. David Boan recently received a $1.9 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, one of the College's largest competitive research grants to date. HDI will carry out this grant in collaboration with Hope College, Georgia State University, and University of North Texas as part of a $2.4 million research project titled “Earth as a School: Finding Meaning, Relating to God, and Experiencing Growth After a Natural Disaster.” It will focus on how survivors make meaning, relate to God, and grow spiritually and psychologically after a natural disaster. HDI also collaborated with the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) to co-author a paper for the United Nations focusing on the role of the evangelical community in global development. In summer 2015, HDI hosted their third annual Disaster Ministry Conference that featured a number of alumni presenters and attendees including Wheaton alumnus Philip Yancey M.A. ’72.
Learn more on HDI's website.
Opus: The Art of Work
Director: Dr. Chris Armstrong
Assistant Director: Ben Norquist
Opus has selected 11 student fellows and co-hosted Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn for a lecture titled “A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunities” in September. They also co-sponsored “Canvas: Framing Your Vocation and Career,” a five-event series for sophomores, with Wheaton’s Center for Vocation and Career, and presented an art show called “Work: Curse or Calling,” on display in the Lower Beamer center. Opus has partnered with Student Alumni Board to put on Wheaton Shark Tank for the second year in a row, and continued collaboration with professors has led Opus to publish curricular modules for professors to implement in class. Opus also recently received a $50,000 grant from NetVUE, a Lilly sponsored organization, to sustain their work with vocation and calling with students, faculty, and staff. This June, Opus co-sponsored The Justice Conference, a conference dedicated to biblical and social justice in Chicago, and helped develop conference-based curriculum.
Learn more 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
2015 by the Numbers:
Years of Operation: 65
Number of Wheaton students who served this past year: 1,131 (261 for Passage, 260 for Student Development, 44 for Student Leadership School (SLS), 130 for Wheaton in the Northwoods (WIN), 86 on staff, 350 attended Wheaton retreats)
Number of students on Wheaton Passage: 261
Number of college students on staff this past year: 141
Number of colleges represented by summer staff: 67
Number of countries represented by summer staff/students: 25
Number of full-time graduate students studying outdoor and adventure leadership: 17
Percent of campers receiving scholarships: 35 percent
Percent of students receiving scholarships: 45 percent
Number of campers this summer: 857
Number of camper families served: 637
Percent of camper families who are Wheaton alumni or staff families: 13 percent
Permanent staff: 24
Learn more on HoneyRock's website.