Kuyper Celebrates Opening Convocation
Professor Jen Colin loves 1980s pop culture.
She smiled as she told Kuyper students, staff, and faculty gathered in Vos Chapel on September 2 for the College’s annual opening Convocation, “Those of you who have taken my classes know that you can’t escape without at least a few 80s references.”
Colin is Kuyper’s Associate Professor of Social Work as well as the program’s director. Before coming to Kuyper in 2021, she served as the director of a maternity home for single mothers and as a therapist for a group of pregnancy care centers before transitioning into school social work as a counselor and administrator.
Her passion for 80s pop culture was evident in her message, which she opened with a clip from the 1989 film Say Anything, in which one character rebuffs a date invitation with an ever-growing list of excuses.
“That’s what people’s lives today have become: monumentally busy,” she said. “And we’re slowly starting to acknowledge that this isn’t necessarily a good thing.”
A life overfilled with activity breeds anxiety and stress because we often take on more than we can handle, she added.
Citing Matthew 6:33, part of the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus urges His listeners to seek first the kingdom of God, Colin reminded the audience that, though many things in our world clamor for attention, there is only one that truly matters.
“When we make God the priority, He provides all the other things we need, like food and clothes,” she emphasized.
Colin’s message was an appropriate centerpiece to a Convocation service that celebrated the start of an academic year focused on the theme “Seek First.”
This theme will guide chapel services throughout the year as Kuyper students, faculty, and staff explore and practice what it means to pursue God’s kingdom above all else.
President Patricia Harris was excited to unveil the new theme as she opened Convocation and welcomed attendees.
Dr. Harris also offered a prayer for the proceedings, thanking God for the ability to gather together, for the beginning of a new academic year, and for the students, staff, and faculty in the pews.
“We thank You for Kuyper College, for the commitment we share to be lights that shine Your grace and truth into every square inch of this world and to seek You first. And we thank You for this special service,” she said.
After Dr. Harris’ welcome and prayer, Dr. Tim Detwiler, Academic Dean, acknowledged new members of the staff and faculty and introduced them to the community.
Colin’s keynote address followed, after which admissions counselor Sophie Hogan led a confession of faith, where all present pledged to cling to the truth of Jesus Christ and His redeeming work in the coming months.
Interdisciplinary Studies student Trina Nelson and Chief Advancement Officer Jim Steenbergen echoed this vow when they led members of the audience in prayer. Each offered their own — Steenbergen for the faculty and staff, and Nelson for the students — asking God for the strength to follow Him in the new academic year.
Dr. Harris then returned to the podium to deliver a charge for the year.
“May the light of Christ, His grace and truth, goodness, wisdom, and strength fill all of us in everything we do and say and are in this coming year, and may God richly bless all of us this year as we seek Him first,” she said.
The service concluded with the singing of Be Thou My Vision.
