Erskine College


New president looks back: “the paths He takes you on are not so fearful”


During a chapel session in Lesesne Auditorium, Erskine President Dr. Ste- ven C. Adamson introduced himself to students, faculty, and staff by recount- ing some events of his life and how he learned through them to exercise his faith. As Dr. Adamson began talking about


anxiety, he wondered what his Erskine audience was expecting to hear from him, and he experienced “a twinge of anxiety.” He acknowledged some of the worries


     - gling with anxiety about grades or your  might be homesick, and some, especially seniors, might be wondering about what they will do when they graduate. Taking as his scripture text Matthew 6:25-34, a portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Adamson noted that in these verses Jesus enjoins his listeners not to worry. Dr. Adamson cautioned against a “name it and claim it” interpretation of the passage. The president cited a phrase in verse


       these things will be added to you”, and stressed that to seek is to be active. “We don’t get out and seek by sitting still,” he said. “You can’t just sit back and be lazy.” Adamson recalled occasions in his life when he dealt with anxiety and discov-        when he was the age of many of the stu- dents in his audience. About to graduate from college and engaged to be married, he was anxious        applications and had even been inter- viewed, but he had not been hired. Meanwhile, it had slipped his mind


that he had applied to a master’s program in mathematics at his undergraduate school. He got a call informing him that he could be paid for teaching while studying for his master’s degree.


“I was stewing and fretting and anxious and nervous, but God had plans,” Adam-


son said. Later, through multiple changes, including moves back and forth across the country, various jobs, and different programs of graduate study. Dr. Adamson and his wife, Von, learned that when one seeks God and His kingdom, not what one wants to do, “the paths He takes you on are not so fearful.” The president offered some advice to students navigating their college experience. “Start having a real prayer conversation with God,” he said. “Pray, read scripture, seek out believers—friends who follow Christ, who have a heart to follow Christ more fully.” Adamson told students that college is preparing them for a calling. In the 1980s, Dr.  and completed other graduate studies, theology degrees, and jobs in higher education. His decades of experience have led him to say, “Give yourself fully to God for Him to use you when and where He will.”


Dr. Steven C. Adamson was recently named Erskine’s 18th president. Educated at the University of Nebraska, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in mathematics, he did doctoral work in operations research at George Washington University,


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The Associate Reformed Presbyterian


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