The Year in Review (2019)

And so another decade comes to an end.

1. What a decade! Ten years ago, Obama was president. Ten years later, Trump is president.

Ten years ago I was the founding Dean of Wesley Seminary, on one of the most thrilling ventures of my life. Today I am at Houghton College, on the next thrilling adventure of my life. Ten years ago my father was alive and I was a son. Today I am a father and my two youngest are in college. Ten years ago I was in my forties and was young. Today I am in my fifties and feel... mature.

2. This past year brought the most change I've had since I was married. My youngest Sophie went to college at Pepperdine. She always favored it, but I didn't think we could afford it. She visited a number of schools without peace. We tried for the tuition exchange at Seattle Pacific but didn't get it. We visited Seattle in high hopes but were disappointed.

Then she received a postcard from Pepperdine. It quoted her application back to herself, how she thought she might grow spiritually as a student there. Then we knew we needed to visit, and the rest is history.

Thomas is in his second year doing ROTC at Purdue. He has committed the next eight years of his life to the Army. He has decided on a criminal justice major.

Stefanie and Stacy also left Indiana this year. Early in the year, Stefanie headed to Miami and Stacy to California. Everything was perfectly aligned for a transition.

3. I had one academic book published this year. My new role as VP of Planning and Innovation at Houghton College has kept me very busy this fall, so I have not had too much time to work on scholarly things. But I did present at SBL and have a dictionary article in process. I do hope to write at least one academic book this year.

4. I believe my transition from IWU to Houghton was a God thing. Houghton opened a door for me to innovate again on a new level. I was now empty nest. I was at a point where I felt I should either return to teaching or venture deeper into educational leadership. A number of things came together. It is a great opportunity for us, and we love Houghton!

As of January I am giving some leadership to Houghton Online. We have several initiatives in the works. I have been delighted at how open the faculty have been to these sorts of things:

• The Associate of Applied Science in Christian Ministries is going online. You can start with philosophy January 13 if you wish (email me at ken.schenck@houghton.edu), but the official start is in March with Michael Jordan teaching Intro to Ministry.
• These courses will largely involve live sessions once a week on Zoom. You can even audit them and work toward ordination. The degree meets the educational requirements for ordination in the Wesleyan Church.
• We are doing this in conjunction with Watermark Church. If you have a few people at a church who want to be a ministry study cell, we can make an arrangement for your church to have a local church mentor.
• We also have a series of courses that might be of interest to homeschoolers with a bent toward a classical approach. I will be teaching Latin, for example, in March online.
• With the new possibility of auditing online classes, especially the ones with live sessions, we will be highlighting Houghton as a place for lifelong learning.
• If you are interested in Linguistics, you can audit Steve Doty's intro to linguistics class this spring (email me) or even take it for credit.
• Other online options on the way include the AAS in Music Industry, minors that you can take as a package in Art Business, Linguistics, and Business.

5. I've continued my work on Patreon. On YouTube you can find a host of videos I've done this year in Greek and Hebrew Bible. I'm currently doing a verse from Genesis in Hebrew a week. I've also been doing a podcast on Sundays called, "Through the Bible in Ten Years," looking at a chapter of the Bible a week. Right now I'm in Acts.

A group of pastors have expressed interest in learning or refreshing their knowledge of Greek. So I've started a Facebook group and will be posting a chapter of my Greek textbook for them a week while making videos to go along with it. We will meet via Zoom every other week.

6. I've preached a few times this year. I spoke in chapel at Houghton for the first time in October. I was the Bible teacher at Silver Lake Camp in Canada and will be going back again this year. I spoke at Lakeview in Marion on Father's Day. I was at Three Rivers in Fort Wayne in March, in IWU chapel in February. I did another 8 week Bible study with Light and Life Wesleyan Church in the spring.

7. Finally, I've read/skimmed a number of books this year. They include:

• Prisoners of Geography
• Range
• Ask
• The Language of God
• The Lost World of Genesis 1
• The Lost World of Adam and Eve
• When Science Meets Religion
• Higgs: The Invention and Discovery of the God Particle

There are others I have bought, but they'll have to go on my resolutions list.

Goodbye 2019. Goodbye teens of the twenty-first century. May the next decade resume its course toward peace, equity, knowledge, and the empowerment of the marginalized.