Tom Lin named InterVarsity campus ministry president

Tom Lin, a Chi­cago native and former missionary to Mongolia, was named president of Inter­Varsity Chris­tian Fel­­low­ship, the national ministry to 40,200 university students, based in Madison, Wisconsin. He is the first person of color in the role.

Most recently, he served as head of Urbana 15, InterVarsity’s missions conference, where leaders pledged support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Who I am reflects the leadership characteristic that seems crucial in today’s world—the ability to cross cultures,” Lin said. “I’ve lived cross-culturally practically every moment of my life, from my Taiwanese household to my very white school. I feel a particular aspiration to reach out to the whole church, people of every ethnicity and culture.”

InterVarsity’s main purpose is still to establish communities on campuses—it recently achieved a milestone of 1,000 chapters—yet it has always been innovative, Lin said.

“If you stay doing what you are doing, eventually you will go into decline,” he said. “But we need to be mindful of commitments that will not change.” —Religion News Service

This article was edited on June 6, 2016.