I’m going to try to give you the abbreviated version, but it is such a God thing that I’m afraid if I If I don’t tell it, I’ll leave something out. So, in September of 2021, a friend of mine called. I’m very close to this person, and they had heard about a position being available at Anderson University as Vice President for Christian Life. They told me that they were interested in that position and thought it sounded similar to what I did at another institution. And so, they wanted to talk with me about what that kind of position entails. We had a great conversation.

About two weeks later, they called me to let me know that that the timing just wasn’t right for them. And, honestly, I never thought twice about AU again. The Wednesday after Easter in 2022, I was sitting in my office and I just heard God clearly say, “I’ve released you from your work here.” And not that everybody has to have a verse of Scripture through which God calls them to ministry, but the verse of Scripture that God clearly used in calling me to ministry was Hebrews 11:8. “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed, not knowing where he was going.” When God called me to ministry, I said to God, “I will go wherever it is that you want me to go.” But what’s odd is that I stayed in the same place for 30 years. I studied there two, did seminary, and then went back to work on staff there. And never did I dream at the age of 55 that God would say, “OK, here’s the part of not knowing where you’re going. You’re not going to know where you are going at age 55.”

Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby has been very influential in my own spiritual formation, and one of the statements that he makes in there is that when we are looking to join God in his work, that we are to be faithful to the last thing we know God called us to do. Well, the last thing that I knew God had called me to do was ministering faithfully (at Gardner-Webb.)

The following day was a Friday. So, from Wednesday to the following Friday, a colleague at that institution came to me and said, “did you know that Anderson University has a similar position available as the one you have? Would you ever think about leaving this institution?” They had no idea that God had already spoken to me. And I said, “well, if God were to lead, I want to be obedient.” What I left out was telling my colleague about the Wednesday when I went home for lunch, on the day when God had spoken to me and said, “I release you.”

When I walked in the door that day after work, my wife saw it on my face before I said anything. She said, “what’s going on?” And I told her. I said, “God has released me.” She said, “is the position still available at Anderson University?” We had not talked about that. So, from September of 2021 to April of 2022, we had not even had a conversation about it. And that’s the first thing that came out of her mouth, which is a testimony to my wife’s faithfulness. I was dreading telling her because we had built a life there, and her response just gave witness to our wedding vows, when we actually repeated the words of Ruth: “Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge. My people will be your people and my God, your God.”

Even after Teresa had mentioned that to me, I still didn’t go on the website to see if the position was available.

God had always brought opportunities to us. And so that was the first time on that Friday that I knew the position was still available, and I still didn’t do anything about it. On Sunday after church, Teresa and I went to Folly Beach just for a spontaneous overnight trip. And we’re sitting on the beach on Monday. And she said, “since I brought up Anderson University and that colleague brought up Anderson University, do you think God would give you the freedom to reach out to Anderson and just to see?” And I said, “no, God’s never worked that way in our lives before.” And she jokingly said “well, maybe we just need to pray that if it’s God’s will, that someone from Anderson will reach out.”

On that Monday night, we’re driving home from Folly Beach. We’re at the intersection of Interstate 26 and Interstate 77. And, you know, that’s a pretty crazy intersection. Traffic was heavy. The phone rang and it was Clayton King. And I told Teresa, “just let it go to voicemail.” It was just a sort of generic message, you know, give me a call. And so Theresa texted him back on my behalf and said, “if this is not an emergency, can Tracy call you tomorrow?” And he said, “sure, have a safe trip, safe travels.” So, on Tuesday, I called Clayton back. And this is exactly a week from when God had released me. Clayton said, “Tracy, I was talking with Dr. Whitaker and he mentioned a huge stack of resumes that he had for the VP for Christian life position. And he said, ‘I just don’t believe that the person who’s supposed to be in that position is even in that stack of resumes. Clayton, do you know of anybody?’” And Clayton said, “yes, I do, but I don’t know if he would be willing to leave the institution he’s currently serving.” And Clayton said, “so, Tracy, I’m just asking: can I give your information to Dr. Whitaker?” And I’ll be honest with you, I just broke down on the phone. I mean, I just literally broke down on the phone, and I shared with Clayton and, outside of Teresa, Clayton was the first person I shared that God had already been doing a work in me and I was trying to determine the next step God had planned for us.

You know, it’s one thing to be released from something, but the next part of that is being called to something. And so, the next several weeks just followed a discernment process in which I talked to Dr. Whitaker, came to the campus and he and Mrs. Whitaker showed me around. Teresa and I continued to pray about it, met with the team and the team was just incredible and we knew that these were people that I would enjoy serving alongside in ministry. And I loved the campus-wide commitment to the Christian mission and identity of the institution. There was buy-in from everyone at the University. And it was just a beautiful thing and something that I’m not only thankful, but quite honestly proud to be a part of.