President’s Message: A Seminary for the 21st Century
12-01-2021
Greetings from McCormick! We give thanks to God for another year of service and are pleased to share with you our annual report.
Friends, despite the challenges of the pandemic, unspeakable violence in our city, denominational and church decline, and a nation still divided, please know that McCormick remains steadfast and strong, teaching, learning, serving, and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the world. We have much good news to share even as we fend off the forces that are challenging the value and relevancy of not only theological education but the church itself.
Our recent fall board meeting marked my 52nd consecutive board meeting going back to October 2004. Needless to say, I have seen many changes and challenges over those 52 gatherings spanning 17 years. It was not, however, my presence at the meeting that was historic. Our meeting was historic as it was the first time in our storied history that our board no longer had a racial or ethnic majority. It was a board of trustees that for the first time looked like our 21st century community—our beautiful, diverse McCormick Community—as well as the communities where we live and where we serve. This is an important moment for all of us and my prayer is that this transformative change and our ongoing efforts to radically reimagine what it means to be a seminary in the 21st century can serve as an example for others in theological education, in church, and beyond. Change is indeed possible if you are prepared to do the hard work it requires. You must be prepared, as activist Julia Wright says, “to grow old in the work.”
I guess it is now fair to say I am growing old in this work, and I am grateful. And so it is with great joy that I have agreed to extend my term one more year through the academic year 2023. At that time, I will join all of you in welcoming a new president who will, I am certain, build upon McCormick’s good work and, with God’s help and yours, expand our imaginations and impact here and around the world.
Before I share a few good news stories, I want to go back to December 2008. In the closing months of 2008, the economy crashed—a nearly complete meltdown of banking and financial systems. Our endowment, which in May 2007 had reached more than $105 million, was in free fall. In this moment, Board Chair John Anderson and President Cynthia Campbell asked if I would come and spend 90 days helping to find a way forward. It is easily forgotten, but McCormick and many, many other schools and businesses, large and small, were all wondering the same thing: how do we get through this—will we survive?
I agreed to give it three months. Truth be told, those three months were rough. Our endowment dipped below $60 million, a drop of more than $45 million from its high. And compounding our problems, we were $30 million in debt.
Fast forward to today. Despite spending nearly $6 million a year since 2009, our endowment stands at nearly $91 million dollars—an increase of more than $30 million.
In that same period, we:
Reduced debt from $30 million to $16.55 million
Reduced tuition by nearly 40 percent and reduced student borrowing by more than 85 percent
Welcomed extraordinary new faculty including Drs. Reggie Williams, Steed Davidson, Jennifer McBride, Stephanie Crumpton, Lis Valle-Ruiz, and Gina Kang
Witnessed the flourishing of new scholarship from our faculty, including:
Reggie Williams’ Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance (now updated with a foreword by renowned Bonhoeffer scholar, Ferdinand Schlingensiepen); Jenny McBride’s, Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel – a book that inspired us to start our theological certificate program at Cook County Jail that has expanded to be the Solidarity Building Initiative (SBI) at Cook County Jail, providing theological education for detainees, support for returning citizens, and advocacy for abolition of the prison system as we know it. Jenny’s new book, You Shall Not Condemn: A Story of Faith and Advocacy on Death Row, will be equally transformative as it reminds us that capital punishment is still with us despite the clear theological case for its abolition; and Professor Emeritus Ted Hiebert’s The Beginning of Difference: Discovering Identity in God’s Diverse World, to name just a few. This period has also witnessed publication of other books, countless articles, book chapters, and edited volumes, as well as groundbreaking research from Dr. David Daniels on the influence of the African church on the Reformation, and Dr. Anna Case Winters’ global leadership in the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
Since 2017, we have dedicated ourselves to a vision of repair, healing, and community building. In addition to the work of SBI, we launched the Trauma Healing Initiative (“THI”). Led by Drs. Stephanie Crumpton, Itihari Toure, and Stacy Williams, THI will generate a culture of trauma awareness and trauma-informed pedagogy. As Dean Davidson describes it, “Trauma awareness provides us with the tools to embrace a relevant mission. The vision requires cultural shifts at all levels of the institution and embeds the school in communities in various ways. The opportunities to partner with community organizations, equip pastors with needed skills, expand the classroom, and be involved in global conversations around trauma have exciting possibilities.”
We also joined with the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference and Dr. Iva Carruthers in establishing the Center for Reparatory Justice, Transformation, and Remediation. We are honored to be part of this important work with Dr. Carruthers whose efforts have already contributed to a first-of-its-kind reparations ordinance in Evanston, Illinois. She also recently addressed Virginia’s state commission on slavery and its legal and economic impact on African Americans. Dr. Carruthers noted that the commission has the power “to lead a transformation and healing, not just of Virginia, but of this nation.”
As our friend Claudio Carvalhaes would say: We are blessed.
With gratitude for your prayers and support,
David H. Crawford
President
David H. Crawford McCormick President
View McCormick’s 2021 Annual Report here.