Episode Date: 01-15-2026
About This Episode
In this episode, Dr. Mason has a coversation with Shirley Hoogstra where she reflects on a decade of leadership at the CCCU, offering candid insights on the challenges facing Christian higher education—from institutional closures to cultural skepticism. She shares how headwinds can strengthen excellence, the critical importance of financial stability and strategic partnerships, and introduces LeTourneau's new collaboration with the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. Shirley casts a compelling vision for 2035 built on purpose, people, and place, reminding listeners why Christian education's unique combination of intellectual rigor, spiritual formation, and vocational clarity remains more vital than ever.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Headwinds strengthen institutions: Challenges force strategic thinking and clarity about distinctive value
- Financial stability is priority #1: Board fiduciary responsibility requires rigorous attention to revenue streams and enrollment
- Consider mergers early: It's a "different kind of hard" than closing—start conversations while you still have strength
- Christian higher ed offers unique coherence: Intellectual depth + spiritual maturity + moral clarity + vocational purpose
- Institutions must engage nationally: "To whom much is given, much is expected"—don't hide your light
- The impact endures beyond closures: Alumni continue the mission even when institutions don't survive
- Biblical principles anchor leadership: Unchangeable truths guide through constantly shifting circumstances
The list keeps growing. King's College. Alliance University. Concordia University in Portland. Trinity Christian College. For those who love Christian higher education, each closure lands like a gut punch.
Yet Shirley Hoogstra, President Emerita of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, isn't ready to write a eulogy for Christian higher education. After a decade leading the CCCU through some of the most turbulent years in modern academia, she sees something different emerging from the storm.
"Headwinds are for our benefit," Hoogstra told Dr. Steven Mason during a recent conversation for LeTourneau University's Built for This podcast. "As soon as you get headwinds, your game gets better. You have to tack more strategically. You have to dig and say, what are we really good at?"
When Consensus Collapsed
When Hoogstra assumed the CCCU presidency in 2014, she walked into what she calls "the beginning of a tremendous shift." For decades, America had maintained a broad consensus: higher education was valuable, trustworthy, and worth the investment. Christian institutions, in particular, were seen as honorable contributors to the nation's fabric.
Yet, due to the cultural shift, the consensus began to crumble.
The headwinds were real. The pressures were mounting. And for some institutions, the storm would prove too much.
The Heartbreak of Closure
Hoogstra doesn't minimize the pain of institutional closures. As someone who devoted a decade to strengthening the Christian college movement, each loss hits personally.
But she also offers a crucial reframe: "The contributions of institutions that closed remain. All of these institutions have had tens of thousands of alumni, and they are making a great contribution in the memory and in the way that their institution trained them up to be. While it is very sad, it is not a story that ends with the closure of the institution."
The witness continues. The mission endures. The alumni keep serving.
Biblical Principles for Turbulent Times
How did Hoogstra navigate a decade of cultural hostility, financial pressures, and institutional anxiety? She turned to Scripture.
Early in her CCCU tenure, she felt prompted to develop ten guiding principles drawn from the Bible; her principles included foundational commitments like loving God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength while loving her neighbor as herself. Romans calls us ambassador, faithful servants, and says God will complete His work under His divine direction.
The Distinctive Value Proposition
So what makes Christian higher education worth fighting for?
Christian colleges invite students to develop in four essential ways:
- Intellectual depth. Learning to think critically, ask hard questions, and pursue truth with confidence.
- Spiritual maturity. Developing faith that is thoughtful, resilient, and deeply rooted.
- Moral clarity. Learning to discern right from wrong in complex, real-world situations—"such an incredible distinctive for Christian education."
- Vocational purpose. Discovering not just what you can do, but what you are called to do.
What makes this possible is what Dr. Mason refers to as "coherence". A thread binding together everything that happens on a Christian campus, from the classroom to the cafeteria, from the athletic court to late-night dorm conversations.
Students aren't just getting an education; they're being enveloped in a formative community that shapes their loves, loyalties, character, and convictions during some of the most formative years of their lives.
Faculty members become lifelong confidants. Friendships forged in these years buttress a lifetime. The coherence creates something secular institutions simply cannot offer, no matter how excellent their academics.
If Not Us, Then Who?
"To whom much is given, much is expected," Hoogstra says, referencing one of her favorite verses. “LeTourneau has been given much, and therefore it is expected that you will share what you spend your time on—moral, biblical, purposeful, ethical thinking. All of those things are what the world needs today."
LeTourneau is full of people thinking deeply about faith, science, and technology. It has been uniquely positioned to speak into critical cultural moments. LeTourneau’s story is God's story through the institution for the flourishing of the world.
If not Christian colleges, then who will bring biblical wisdom to artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and emerging technologies? This conviction drives LeTourneau's new partnership with the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, bringing 30 years of evangelical bioethics leadership to our campus. If not institutions committed to moral clarity, then who will help society navigate the ethical complexities of the 21st century?
Vision 2035: Purpose, People, Place
The vision for Christian higher education over the next decade can be summarized: purpose, people, and place.
Purpose.
"The purpose of Christian education is this foundation for morally rooted thinking," she said.
Christian institutions exist for acting for the benefit of humankind and for God's glory—a calling the world desperately needs.
People.
"Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are the physical witness to the joy and hope that the gospel brings and are truly ambassadors for the gospel." She noted an upcoming lecture at Calvin University on the epidemic of loneliness, observing that people are profoundly disconnected. "For the next ten years, people need a physical witness to joy and hope. You can do that through the work that your students, faculty, staff, and alumni have been called to do."
Place.
"We are interlocking pieces of a grand vision of creation," Hoogstra said. The world is increasingly interconnected, and Christian institutions must remember they're not isolated pockets but part of God's global purposes. How do our advances impact our brothers and sisters around the world? How can we have our advances overflow to them? Should some people just live in perpetual poverty? Should some people have perpetual climate disasters? Should some people have perpetual violence?
It's a vision that feels deeply kingdom-oriented—recognizing that Christian higher education plays a strategic role in God's purposes for human flourishing across every tribe, tongue, and nation.
The question isn't whether Christian higher education has a future. The question is whether we'll have the courage and wisdom to steward it faithfully into that future.
As Shirley Hoogstra's decade of leadership demonstrated, God equips who He calls. He completes what He begins. And when we face the headwinds with biblical principles and strategic thinking, we discover they make us stronger than we were before.
