Dearest Sattler Stakeholders,

Happy New Year! I am thrilled to share Presidential Newsletter #8. Onward to power, love, and sound minds/discipline (2 Tim 1:7).

Approaching One Year of Entrustment

• One-year point and donor development: In January we will cross the one-year point of launching Entrustment T̶u̶i̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ . In parallel, I am excited to introduce John Feeley, who joined us this December in the newly created role of Executive Director of Alumni and Donor Development. John joins us with more than 25 years of experience working in alumni relations and fundraising. John will oversee building our outreach efforts with the Sattler community.
• December quadrupling: Early results show that we nearly quadrupled the number of donors who made a gift over this time last December in our first formal year-end fundraising appeal. I will share our final results in the next newsletter.
• Thank you: Please accept my heartfelt thank you for your generosity and support for the College and our students.
• Invest in Entrustment: Give at this link.

The Reformation at 500: Commemorating the Birth of the Free-Church Movement

• On January 21, Sattler College will commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Anabaptist movement with a special evening program of student, faculty, and guest speaker presentations, including a time of singing hymns written by early participants in Anabaptist congregations.
• Our keynote speaker will be Daryl Driver, author of a new book published this fall: Alien: Created for Another Kingdom. Mr. Driver has been a pastor for 35 years, currently shepherding Word of Grace Church, a congregation in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that is part of the Rosedale Network of Churches. He has served on the Executive Board of the Rosedale Network and the Board of Trustees for Rosedale Bible College.
• Students of the college’s fall Reformation history course have been developing an exhibit of early Anabaptist history that will also be featured. Members of the community are welcome to attend presentations, running from 5:00 to 8:30 pm. If you would like to join for dinner at 5:30 pm, please register here. No need to register to attend the talks.
• Read more about this historic event through a series of blog posts tracking the historical events 500 years ago here.

Refer a Student

• As always, if you know of anyone who would be a good fit at Sattler, please consider making a referral (or benevolently forcing the person you have in mind to start an application). Your recommendations are truly invaluable—most of our students first heard about Sattler through a personal referral. By spreading the word and making referrals, you can help us grow our student body. Refer a Student.
• Thank you to everyone who made referrals after the last newsletter! Our applications are slowly ticking up to fill the class of 2029.

Student Life & Discipleship

• Winter Discipleship Workshop: You can pray for our freshmen, sophomores, and juniors as we have been developing a winter discipleship workshop for the sophomores and juniors in addition to the workshop for the freshmen Jan 17–18. The freshmen workshop is focused on reflecting and sharing life stories. The sophomores and juniors will be focused on giving and receiving specific feedback to each other in their journey groups. 
• Senior Retreat and Intensive: Each year the senior class spends five days together offsite to strengthen their friendships while simultaneously diving into their last core class: Global Poverty and World Change. You can pray for them to both invest in their class and develop thoughts around how to engage some of the world’s pressing problems. 

Solidarity & Mourning

• Particularly close to my heart (I was born and raised in Ecuador), an article titled “A Journey Through the World’s Newest Narco-State” examines “the ways in which international drug cartels and globalized organized crime groups have moved in on Ecuador, turning its coastline into one of the world’s foremost exporters of cocaine. With the profits has come the violence—and the question of how Ecuador might recover from such a swift descent into chaos.”
• “Since 2023, Ecuador has been overwhelmed by a remarkable degree of violence. Mayors and presidential candidates have been assassinated. TV stations have been stormed. Kidnappings have been rampant. Prison outbreaks have occurred with frequency. How and why has such lawlessness overrun a country once deemed one of the success stories of South America?”

Quote Bank Challenge

• Did you know one of our alumni created a Sattler Quote Bank? It’s filled with memorable moments from our staff, faculty, and students. Each month, we’ll award Sattler merchandise to the first three people who correctly guess the origin of a featured quote!

This Month’s Quote: