On August 19, 2024, Reformed University Fellowship National Coordinator of six years, Will Huss, announced his intention to resign, effective June 27, 2025. Six months later, RUF announced that Ruling Elder Andrew Rein received unanimous recommendation by the RUF Permanent Committee to become the next coordinator. He will begin this new role on July 1, 2025, pending his approval by the Theological Examining Committee and the 52nd General Assembly in Chattanooga. 

Huss and Rein each spoke with byFaith, reflecting on the leadership transition and RUF’s ministry on college campuses throughout the world. Last week we shared our conversation with Will Huss. Today’s conversation, edited for length and clarity, is with Andrew Rein. 

Tell us about your history with RUF, both at Vanderbilt and more recently at Hilton Head Presbyterian, and why you love this ministry so much.

I was a relatively new believer when I got to Vanderbilt, and it was at RUF that my understanding of the gospel fell into place. I began to see how faith impacts everything I think and do. Also at Vanderbilt, I developed several deep and lifelong friendships that I keep in close contact with to this day. I met my wife Holly there, and we have four children. Two of our children are biological and two are adopted. Our passion for adoption is a big part of our story, and it began at RUF, where we grasped the nature of our adoption to the Lord’s family.

More recently at Hilton Head Pres, I was fortunate enough to lead the creation of what is now called HHPC’s Partners ministry. We assigned advocates for each one of our partners, and I chose to be the advocate for the two RUFs that were proximate to HHPC. We’ve hosted these campus ministries and their families in our home, encouraged them, and prayed with them. We’ve hosted leadership retreats for these campus ministries, which has led to meaningful relationships within these RUF ministries. RUF students have attended HHPC, where we developed special curriculum for them, and we’ve also taken some of our high school students to Large Group at these RUFs. This introduces our students to RUF before they make their college decisions and is an opportunity for the RUF students to minister to high school students. These times remind me how great RUF’s model on campus works and what a blessing it is for HHPC to be a part. 

Further, the practice of “adopting” RUFs could be a model for others as the men and women who are leading these ministries can sometimes feel isolated. To have a church come alongside them shows them that we care, provides support for them, and offers places for their students to go off campus. 

Now, as to why I love RUF so much. Part of it is my personal story, but also RUF is vital for the future of our churches. About a quarter of our members are aged 18 to 35, which is one of the highest ratios among denominations in the United States, and that’s because of RUF. 

I did a little crowdsourcing project among my friend group from Vanderbilt to see what RUF has produced 25 years later. Among the classes of ‘99 to ‘02, RUF produced at least nine seminary grads, four campus ministers, seven RUF Interns, 14 ruling elders and deacons, and 23 marriages. Pretty remarkable. Now multiply that across nearly 200 campuses and decades of classes. You can see the impact RUF has had and will have on the future of churches and in the PCA.  

Finally, I have four kids, ages 17, 15, 12, and 10. One of our greatest desires for our children, regardless of what path they take in college, is that there will be an RUF campus minister, campus staff, and interns that will care for them. We want to help make that a reality for as many college students as possible.

Tell us about your business background and why you chose to pursue this role rather than continue on in the private sector.

I’ve had two primary business experiences. The first was at Access Spectrum. Access Spectrum develops spectrum bands and through those processes I learned a great deal there about listening, learning, and building consensus, which are tools I continue to employ today.

The last 14 years were at Hargray. For half of that time, I was responsible for sales and marketing, and the other half I was chief financial officer. I learned a great deal about leading and managing teams in a complex environment, the importance of organizational health, and how vital an organization’s culture is.

RUF has an already defined culture. Its mission (Reaching students for Christ and equipping them to serve) and core values (gospel-driven, connected to the church, pastoral, lived graciousness, and celebrate) are fantastic. I look forward to championing the mission and core values with RUF.  

I chose to apply for this role because Holly and I always felt like we had a call to care for those and support those in front line ministry. We want those in professional ministry to know they’re not alone. Their work is of the utmost importance, and this continues to be our family’s special calling and role in ministry. 

After we sold Hargray in 2021, our family spent almost eight months on the road from January to August of 2022, exploring the United States. During that time, I developed a sense that God was calling us to expand our efforts in this area. Rather than return to the private sector, I started to get a lot more involved in a variety of ministries.

I also joined HHPC’s staff, first as the director of the Partners ministry and then later as interim ministry director while the church developed its long-term strategic plan.

We see the RUF Coordinator role as an extension of this calling that we were already living and embracing. The job is primarily one that supports those in ministry, but one that requires the skills and experience of someone who’s led and managed within a complex organization. It’s a mix of my passion and values alongside the skills I’ve developed in the private sector over the last 25 years or so.

Can you tell us more about your role as HHPC’s Ministry Director – how does that experience transfer into this new role?

I love HHPC, and I love the local church. It’s been a privilege to serve as a ruling elder there for the last 15 years or so. Our mission is to multiply the worship renewal and community of Jesus to the people and places of the Lowcountry, and through it, the world. As elders, we prayed through how God would have us pursue this mission. We increasingly believed we needed to develop a plan that would result in HHPC launching a network of three to five churches in the Lowcountry by 2035. The Lowcountry of South Carolina is one of the fastest growing regions in the country, and so if we were going to multiply, we wanted to make sure we were multiplying a healthy ministry. The session asked me to come and lead this planning process and organize the staff to give us the best opportunity to succeed.

We embarked on this planning process in January 2024 and just concluded it with a “family meeting” at HHPC on April 27. We have begun the process of multiplying into Bluffton, the second of what we hope will be three to five congregations. After completing this project, I stepped down from HHPC staff and returned to being a regular elder in April. 

I don’t think I would have applied for this role [with RUF], if not for that experience. I learned a great deal about the differences and similarities between ministry and business. I worked with an incredible group of men and women who taught me a lot more than I taught them. It was the first time that my relevant skills and leadership qualities totally aligned with my purpose and values. I loved serving on staff there. After my church, the organization I’m most aligned with in terms of passion and values is RUF. 

The role of coordinator has a much broader denominational impact than the local church. What is exciting to you about the idea of serving in that capacity?

Prior to 2022, my time was heavily occupied by a family of four kids, a demanding work environment, and deep involvement at HHPC. I loosely kept up with what was going on in the presbytery through our pastors and General Assembly from our RUF connections, but I couldn’t prioritize the broader denomination.

Since returning from our long trip, I’ve given it a lot more time and priority. I’m really looking forward to going to General Assembly this year, as I think it’ll be an invaluable opportunity to listen and learn. I know the RUF Coordinator has a particular role to play in the broader denomination. I’m a quick study, and I look forward to the challenge. 

I think the biggest thing I can do in this role in the broader denomination is to enhance RUF’s connectivity to the church. We have students for four years while the church will have them for 10 to 20 times that. This ministry is training our students, campus ministers, campus staff, and interns to lead in the church: to pastor well, to shepherd elders well, to be valuable lay leaders, to model gospel-driven lives as husbands and wives and fathers and mothers, and to manage the matters of the church, presbyteries, and the denomination with graciousness. Enhanced connectivity to churches is something I think is a major priority for this role.

What about the role made you want to be coordinator of RUF?

I love working with and leading people in pursuit of a common and purposeful mission. I had that at Hargray, and I loved the people. At RUF, I will get to do that with an organization that also aligns so closely with my values and beliefs.

RUF is in a healthy place, thanks to the men and women on college campuses around the world, the men and women in the national office who do so much to ensure we’re creating and sustaining gospel-driven campus ministries, and the leadership of Will and his team. I’m deeply grateful to them, to the permanent committee, and everyone throughout RUF for their commitment to the mission. I can’t wait to lead this team of people.

But I think the thing I’m most looking forward to is telling the RUF story to churches, presbyteries, parents, grandparents, and students. I believe God is working through RUF in powerful ways. We have stories of transformed lives, redemption, people who’ve experienced tremendous growth and grace, and people who will never see the world again the way they did because they’ve grasped the idea of a biblical worldview.

Not only that, but I’ll also enjoy sharing the challenges that we face as an organization. The challenges are almost exclusively a function of our rapid growth because the underlying model works. 

For example, we need to build a more scalable organization to enable healthier growth. We need to develop approaches to sustain our campus ministers and campus staff for longer periods of time. We need to develop new and different fundraising approaches to broaden our donor base. We need to enhance our connection to the church. And we need to protect and perfect our core ministry while we go deeper on a growing set of campuses. As we share our challenges with people–with campus ministries, churches, presbyteries – we’ll be able to both ask for specific assistance and benefit from their ideas and involvement.

Is there anything you would like to add?

“Stewardship” is the word that comes to mind when I think of this role. RUF has been around for over 50 years, and we’re standing on the shoulders of many that came before us. I recognize that I’m being tasked with overseeing a special ministry, and I intend to build on this legacy as we continue to grow into the future.