I thank Dennis for the opportunity to speak with you all this evening. I've been asked to briefly share with you — as a member of the HELM Board and as a mentor to HELM Fellows — what I see as the value of HELM. I can do that, but this summer, as a seminarian, I am taking a 7-week intensive course on Koine Greek. Greek pretty much occupies most of my brain cells these past few weeks, so I ask for your indulgence to allow me to share with you about HELM through a few Greek verbs and words.

The first verb is apokrinesthai — to answer.

HELM gives board members the opportunity to answer the call to serve the church. Our board is made up of lay leaders, professionals, university professors and administrators. Together we look for ways and at ways we can best support our institutions of higher education, how we can best celebrate leadership development for he Disciple undergraduate students and how we can nurture Disciple seminary students in order for them to answer — apokrinesthai — their call to ministry.

I fell that each HELM Board member takes their responsibilities of serving the board with great seriousness, but also with much commitment and great pride. We know we are nurturing leaders who will help to guide the vital future of our church.

The second verb is akuow — I hear. If I was to parse out this verb, it would be Present Active Indicative, First Person Singular. I hear.

As the Associate Director of Church Relations at Chapman University I hear the students talk about their hopes, their dreams, their passions, their goals. Also, I hear about what breaks their heart and what bruises their soul.

The HELM Fellows that have come through Chapman are a unique group of you adults. With them, I hear and I see (another Greek verb, blepo) how they take their passions and turn them into actions that help make their university a better place. HELM Fellows have led Progressive Christian bible studies, they have taken active steps to make the campus a greener, more eco-friendly place, they have started a Habitat 4 Humanity chapter at Chapman. I look forward to seeing and hearing what our three incoming HELM fellows have to dream about and also put into action! The leadership skills and the community bonds they have gained in HELM have helped them give life to their passions.

The last Greek word I would like to share with you is Idou! — Behold! Can you say this word with me? Idou! Idou! Idou! Idou!

Behold your HELM board! Behold your HELM scholars! Celebrate with us this great and vital ministry of our church. Idou!