Building a Foundation at Brown

Christian Union Commissions Leadership Team 

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

Early this summer, Christian Union introduced the faculty for its new leadership development ministry at Brown University.

Christian Union's strategic focus on high-achieving students at universities like Brown requires a curriculum and faculty suitable for men and women of exceptional intellectual caliber. And Matt Woodard (pictured, left) and Justin Doyle—with seminary degrees and real-world work experience—exemplify this high standard for ministry faculty.

With the addition of Brown, Christian Union now ministers at all eight Ivy League schools, including Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale. Christian Union also has a ministry director and ministry fellow at Harvard Law School, where future attorneys and legislators are attending Bible courses and receiving one-on-one mentoring.

Woodard, Christian Union's ministry director at Brown, earned a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Master of Arts in Religion from Yale Divinity School. Previously, he attended the University of North Carolina, where he received his undergraduate degree in Exercise and Sports Science. Woodard has held positions both in ministry and in athletics, most recently as the College and Young Adults Leader at First Baptist Church in Temple, Texas, and formerly as an Athletic Performance Specialist for collegiate athletes.

Doyle, a Christian Union ministry fellow, recently graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. After earning a bachelor's degree in education from Miami University of Ohio, he served as the Experience Team Director at New Life Community Church in Chicago and worked as a therapeutic mentor with at-risk youth.

"Maybe the best thing about working with Christian Union is the pleasure of working with our amazing faculty. Our new team at Brown is a great example of this," said Tim Henderson, vice president of University Christian Union. "Matt Woodard is a wonderful, humble, godly man whose degrees from UNC, Yale, and Princeton give him terrific insight into the ministry. Our new ministry fellow, Justin Doyle, is likewise a treasure and we are blessed to have him. We are so happy that the students at Brown will receive his instruction and mentorship."

Woodard, a native a native of North Carolina, is eager to disciple and mentor students on one of the nation's most influential, but overwhelmingly secular, universities. At the start of the fall semester, the Christian Union faculty directs a freshman outreach campaign with various events and offers students the opportunity to sign up for weekly Bible courses on the Book of Hebrews.

"What drew me to Christian Union is the ministry's emphasis on engaging the hearts and minds of students through Bible courses and mentoring," said Woodard. "I am very passionate about that level of discipleship."

"Having spent time on an Ivy League campus, I was able to see firsthand the unique challenges these curious and very gifted students face on a daily basis. We know there are lost students at Brown, students desperate and hungry for the hope of Christ. Our goal is to foster a group of disciples who are equipped to use their intellectual and creative gifts to engage the campus around them."

Doyle, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, is equally excited to make an impact on campus.

"What a great honor and privilege it is to join Christ in bringing sweeping Gospel transformation on the campus of Brown," he said.