Mission in Actionby President Greg Christy

DAN ROSS

One of the things that has impressed me most since coming to Northwestern is the compassion of our students, faculty, staff and alumni for people in need. In this issue of the Classic you can read stories about members of the Northwestern family who have put that compassion into action.

The ravages of the earthquake in Haiti last January brought horrific pain and devastation to that country. Many of our alumni, students and RCA churches have been loving and serving the Haitian people in the moments, days and months since that disaster.

Dr. Bryan Den Hartog ’81, a member of our Board of Trustees, was on a medical mission trip to Haiti at the time of the earthquake and was literally on the front lines trying to save lives. He has since made a return trip and is helping enable other surgeons to volunteer in Haiti.

Kristie (De Boer ’95) Mompremier and her husband have been missionaries in Haiti for many years. Robin (Van Oosterhout ’92) Lewis has counseled earthquake victims as a Public Health Service psychologist, and Sarah Earleywine ’10 has made half a dozen mission trips to the country, including one as a member of Northwestern’s Summer of Service (SOS) team.

Haiti is just one place where Northwestern students and alumni are making a difference. Each spring break, our Spring Service Projects program enables more than 200 students, faculty and staff to travel in teams to communities around the U.S. and abroad, where they volunteer in a variety of ministry settings. During the past 30 years, SOS has sent more than 500 Northwestern students to spend the summer as short-term missionaries. They have served on nearly every continent in almost 100 countries. I, for one, find it inspiring and humbling to witness these servants’ participation in God’s work in the world.

In February Northwestern was listed on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which is the highest federal recognition a college can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement. Northwestern was honored for the fourth consecutive year and is among only 115 U.S. colleges and universities cited with distinction.

I am so proud of how Northwestern community members serve locally and globally. Their commitment to helping others is an expression of their commitment to responding when God calls them, and it is supported by the education they receive here—an education that engages them in courageous and faithful learning and living so they’re empowered to follow Christ and pursue God’s redeeming work in the world.

That’s Northwestern College’s mission. These servants are living it.