Presidential Newsletter #15
September 8, 2025 2025-09-09 15:04Presidential Newsletter #15
Dearest Sattler Stakeholders,
I’m eager to share to share Presidential Newsletter #15. Onward to power, love, and sound minds/discipline (2 Tim 1:7).
New Students
I am excited to announce the Class of 2029—seventeen mission-fit young men and women from across the globe who are eager to embrace the Sattler vision of academic excellence and relational discipleship. Please join us in praying for them as they step into the rigorous environment at Sattler. Pray that God would sustain them and equip them to build up His church.
Click here to read more about the Class of 2029.
Toah Nipi
As in years past, our new students began their journey together at the annual New Student Retreat at Toah Nipi in southern New Hampshire. Over three days, they bonded through meals, worship, and shared experiences, including the arduous hike up Mount Monadnock. We were also grateful to have many of our staff and faculty join them for this formative time.
New Dorms
An exciting development for both current and future students is our move to a larger dormitory at 237–239 Beacon Street. Beacon Street is one of Boston’s most iconic avenues, running past the Public Garden and the Boston Common before climbing Beacon Hill beside the Massachusetts State House. To live in historic Back Bay is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and an experience our students will carry with them for years to come.
This new space represents a significant step forward in student life. It provides three common areas instead of one, a dedicated cafeteria, and proper bike storage. Rooms are smaller overall, allowing for fewer students per room, and we are especially pleased that the new facility also makes it possible for married students and their families to live in the dorms if they wish. We are deeply grateful for this provision and look forward to the positive impact it will have on our community in the years ahead.
New Staff and Faculty
Sattler College has made several recent hires, and I am delighted to introduce them to you. On the staff side, we welcome Steve Buxton as our new Facilities Manager and AnnKatherine Hartzog as an Admissions Counselor. Both have already begun making valuable contributions to our campus.
On the faculty side, with Dr. Hans Leaman on sabbatical this year, we are pleased to have Dr. Thomas Santa Maria joining us in his place. Dr. Santa Maria comes to us from Yale and brings deep expertise in history, especially the history of renaissance and early modern Europe. In addition, we are privileged to have a number of adjunct professors teaching this fall: Jamie Owens, David Sayers, Dr. Maureen Lee, Dr. Susan Freeman, John Maudlin, Dr. Yasanka Chalasani, Harrison Miller, Jay Murphy, and Dr. Nathan Zook.
Convocation
On August 25, 2025, Sattler College held its fifth annual convocation, formally opening the academic year at 8:38 a.m. The ceremony featured a faculty address from Dr. Jesse Scheumann, who exhorted students to embrace learning as an opportunity to grow in wisdom and worship, not simply as a path to good grades. Co-Director of Student Life Kristi Mast and Student Council President Uriah O’Terry also offered encouraging words to the community. In my own presidential address, I reminded us all that true diligence flows not from striving for achievement, but from worship and the secure rest we find in Christ.
Question of the Month
To compete in the contest, answer this question without the use of AI, Google, or other forms of “cheating.” (In other words, you should know the answer.) Click here to submit your answer for a chance to win! This month’s prize is a Sattler mug. If multiple people get it right, we will select one of those winners for the prize.
“What bill was the death knell for the Puritan movement?"
Answer to the Previous Month’s Question
John R. Mott was a Christian evangelist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. He led the YMCA and the Student Volunteer Movement (associated with the well-known missionary CT Studd). The Nobel Prize Committee wrote about Mott: “In the summer of 1886, Mott represented Cornell University’s Y.M.C.A. at the first international, interdenominational student Christian conference ever held. At that conference, which gathered 251 men from eighty-nine colleges and universities, one hundred men – including Mott – pledged themselves to work in foreign missions. From this, two years later, sprang the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions… [Mott] crossed the Atlantic over one hundred times and the Pacific fourteen times, averaging thirty-four days on the ocean per year for fifty years.” He would also found the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) which would go on to have as members people like Jürgen Moltmann, Dietrich Bonhöffer, and Lesslie Newbigin. Online, you can read for free Mott’s book: Strategic Points in the World’s Conquest: The Universities and Colleges as Related to the Progress of Christianity (1897). Fun fact: Mott and a colleague were offered free passage on the Titanic. He declined the offer in favor of a more humble ship. When he heard of the Titanic’s sinking, he is reported to have said, “The Good Lord must have more work for us to do.”
Sharable Thought
“I think many of those people who refuse to give time to the Bible are suffering from a spiritual disease. And I’m going to tell you what the spiritual disease is. I call it spiritual laziness. And I call it that because it’s only in that area that those people are lazy. They can hold down a job, they can be a housewife, they can keep a spotless kitchen, they can cook wonderful meals, they can earn a good living in some honorable profession, they can be industrious in everything except one thing which is reading of the Bible. I suppose there are many of you here tonight. You would sit an hour in front of a television set and think nothing of it. But if you were to give an hour to studying the Bible you would think it a tremendous achievement. You see that’s not natural. If you’re only lazy in one particular area of your life it’s not a natural laziness. It’s a spiritual laziness and it has a spiritual cause. And it’s cause is the enmity of Satan who wants to keep you from the thing that will help you more than anything else in your life.” – Derek Prince
Save the Date
Sattler College will host its 2025 Fall Open House on October 17-18. This event is the perfect opportunity to experience our community firsthand. Prospective students can sit in on classes, tour the campus and Boston (I plan to lead a Christian History Tour of Boston), stay in the student dorms, and connect with faculty and students. Parents are warmly invited as well, to see the environment their children are considering and to ask any questions. We love welcoming visitors, and this dedicated weekend offers a true window into life at Sattler. Click here for more information or to register.
Randy Alcorn Coming to Sattler
I’m excited to announce that Randy Alcorn, bestselling Christian author of over 60 books, will be joining us during our Fall Open House weekend. Stay tuned for more details, and don’t miss this opportunity to meet him in person while experiencing Sattler College.
Prayer Requests
- Pray that our students would truly be formed to walk in the steps of our King Jesus.
- Pray for laborers in God’s harvest field (Luke 10:2) and that Sattler students and alumni would take this call seriously.
Support Sattler
Refer a student: Did you know that most Sattler students applied because someone referred them? Here’s how you can help. If you know someone that would be a good fit for Sattler, refer them or help them start an application! As a token of appreciation, we’ll mail you an exclusive Sattler College pennant flag.
Give: Help make Sattler College available to more students by supporting our Entrustment fund.
Visit: Come see the Sattler community in action. Feel free to reach out to let us know you’re coming, so we can show you around.
Feedback: Do you have ideas to make this newsletter better? Let me know by sending an email to info@sattler.edu.
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