LEADERSHIP | Q & A
Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders Today A CONVERSATION WITH MIKE RAKES
M
ike Rakes, D.Min., recently became the fifth president of Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. An ordained Assemblies of God minister and a graduate of Central Bible College, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and Biola University, Rakes formerly served as lead pastor of Winston-Salem First (AG) in North Carolina. He is the author of Surrendered and Unafraid: The Flourishing of Faith During Seasons of Suffering, which Rakes wrote following the loss of his 27-year-old daughter.
Why do the Church and academy need each other? We all bear the same responsibility to get the gospel into every avenue of the human experience. The Spirit is calling students into the marketplace, local churches and pulpits, and missional hot spots all around the world. Since both the Church and the academy care about equipping students
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for God’s work, we must partner together to give this generation every opportunity to live a life that impacts others. To rescue, equip and deploy the next generation into the harvest field seven days a week, we need both. Can you explain what you mean when you talk about rescuing, equipping and deploying? The enemy’s strategy is becoming more overt as the “ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2) makes his play for the minds and hearts of even the very young. By “rescue,” I mean that we create experiential bridges to get students to a university that believes in the supernatural power of God. By “equip,” I mean that we prepare compassionate innovators who can embody hope to the hurting around them — no matter where they are in the world. And by “deploy,” I mean that Evangel graduates are spiritually responsible people who are socially engaged in making a difference in
