I’ve written a few times before about the wonderful things happening at Rochester College in Michigan. We’ve followed it closely since our good friends John and Sara Barton moved there, after returning from Uganda. (I had spoken there several times before they arrived and was already impressed with the vision.)
Then Rubel and Myra Shelly moved there. So many of us on this blog have been guided and blessed by Rubel for a long time. And now he’s the interim president of the school.
I wrote and asked if he’d write a few things for this blog about his opportunity and challenges. Here’s his response:
If any of your readers are shocked or surprised to learn I am the president of a small (950 students) Christian college in Michigan, they aren’t nearly as shocked and surprised as I am! This has never, never been on the radar for my life. (Man plans. God laughs.)
Myra and I moved here two years ago so we could have a bit less stress in our lives, contribute something to a school whose mission we believed in, and mind our own business. The thing Myra loved most was that nobody knew who we were. We went to campus, shopped at Kroger, and had friends over. We had a normal life — for a change. I left for work on a predictable schedule and got home for dinner. We had most evenings together. Those days are over! And I feel more stress than perhaps ever in my life.
The former president and his wife (Mike and Sharon Westerfield) are friends of ours. They had been talking about divesting administration and choosing for Mike to go back to the classroom as an English prof. We even encouraged it! Now the Board has convinced me to take this role for a time. It was a reluctant decision. But I’ll try to be sure nobody senses my reluctance as I perform my duties.
Michigan’s economy is in the tank. This has caused enrollment at the school to dip a bit, though not dramatically. The real issue is the ability of locals to provide the additional funds necessary to keep this place going. So I have had to put out a major appeal through a much larger network than the school has ever tried to reach. (That is one reason I appreciate some of your blog space.)
We simply have to raise $2.5 million this summer to catch up, do campus prep, and be ready for students who are coming here this fall. As of today, we are at $1.5 million! That is incredible to most of our people — since we only raised $600,000 in unrestricted funds all of last year.
But people need to see this as “investment” — not as a desperate attempt to keep the doors open for another year. If we can get through the next year or two, things can turn around dramatically. We have a hospital partner with whom to begin a School of Nursing. We have approval for ramping up from the state’s Higher Learning Commission and the state Nursing Board. We are moving rapidly and will be admitting the first pre-nursing students this fall. Lipscomb has guaranteed us five slots for RC graduates in their new School of Pharmacy. So we are making a huge push for “partnership in health care” among locals and alumni. Health care is the ONE growth industry in the State of Michigan! So the timing is right. But we have to get through these couple of years to get there.
Man plans. God laughs. How true.
Rochester is truly blessed.
Thanks for thinking of asking him to write. I have been thankful for the good reports of things that God is doing there, and I love the idea of helping a Christian university that is outside of the “Bible Belt.”
I just got back home after visiting my sister in Rochester. I heard alot about the school since most of the people I met attend or work there. This is a great school with an intimate campus and wonderful folks there. The Rochester Church of Christ is right next door to campus and both work very well together in mission and evangelism efforts locally, nationally, and internationally.
I wrote more about my visit there on my blog is you are interested.
http://www.bikegirl2.wordpress.com
Thanks for the note from Rubel, Mike. I was one that was blessed to have been at Freed while he was there. He mentored so many us during some turbulent years of our lives.
Rubel, if you read this, God bless you, my brother. May he give you wisdom and discernment in your role at Rochester.
Peace.
Thank you Mike, for all you do. I start my days with this blog. Thanks for your support of RC.
Rubel, thank you for being at RC.