On August 19, 2024, Reformed University Fellowship National Coordinator Will Huss announced his intention to resign, effective June 27, 2025. Six months later, RUF announced that its permanent committee had unanimously recommended Ruling Elder Andrew Rein 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. We will be sharing these conversations in two parts, beginning with Will Huss.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
When you started in 2019, you began developing strategic goals for RUF, including the development of core values that would guide that growth – can you update us on how RUF has grown in the last six years and what RUF’s core values are?
Our purpose has not changed since 1973 – over 50 years now– and there’s a very solid philosophy of ministry that established what RUF’s ministry looked like. To me, it was very clear that Jesus loves college students and was using RUF to meet them on the campus. That was true 50 years ago, that was true six years ago, and it’s true now.
The overall ministry is doing well, but there has been substantial growth over the previous 10 to 15 years. It’s incredibly evident to me that Jesus loves this ministry and loves his people.
We actually didn’t develop our values, we captured them. Our process of capturing those values was a long, encouraging, and laborious process, but the collaboration and ultimate consensus were remarkable.
Those values are:
- We’re gospel driven. We believe in a fixed theology that’s rooted in the person and work of Jesus, but it’s applied to a flexible methodology.
- We’re connected to the church. Part of the vision and mission of RUF is that we want to build the future church. RUF connects to the campus and the historical, local, regional, and even global church of Jesus.
- We’re pastoral. We move towards people, and we meet people. It’s a very relational and accountable ministry in that pastoral aspect.
- Lived graciousness. We’re convinced that grace is an application of a doctrine that we believe, but it’s also how we want to live and work out relationships and pursue ministry.
- We’re celebratory. We want to recognize and delight in the reality that God is at work.
Those are the five values, and, while they’ve always existed in RUF, it’s actually a part of our vocabulary now. RUF’s long-term vision is to grow the church. Hopefully we are building the denomination and building Jesus’ church. That’s the objective.
Looking back over the questions you have fielded about RUF in your role – what is the one thing people most often misunderstand about RUF?
A lot of the questions revolve around the size and depth of the organization. We’ve grown rapidly, and we’re a complex organization. Most people don’t realize how many campuses we have (200). A lot of people don’t realize that we have a global reach with RUF International and RUF Global. Countries from all over the world are sending their best and brightest to the United States to study. What a rich ground for us to go and minister to them! That becomes an opportunity for those people, as they’re impacted by the gospel, to go back to the countries of their origin, and some of those countries we can’t get in. It’s very missional in that aspect.
Then there’s the global aspect. We’re actually taking the model of how we do RUF – our philosophy of ministry and our values – and we’re going into foreign countries now. We’re partnering with Mission to the World and with Serge and are able to take the model into countries all over the world. It’s probably our biggest opportunity to grow.
Most of our folks are pursuing outward-face gospel ministry, but many of us are there to support that. How do we support our campus ministers, our campus staff, and our interns to pursue college students with the truths of Scripture and the love of Christ? RUF is blessed with those doing campus ministry, but it also needs people gifted in operations and finance and organizational development and advancement. This is where I think Andrew will take it to another level and be able to take what’s been built over the last several years and will do really well.
As you look forward, what advice would you give Andrew as he looks to lead RUF?
One, keep the main thing the main thing. Our purpose has not changed since 1973: reach students for Christ and equip them to serve. Connect those students to the local church, and build the future church.
This has to drive every decision that we make, so there’s no drift from our purpose and no drift from our philosophy of ministry. I’m encouraged to know that Andrew is very committed to this and can articulate it well.
Secondly, build trust internally and externally. You deepen the relationships with staff, presbyteries, churches, and the denomination. You have to move towards people even when it’s uncomfortable. Building that trust is a big piece.
Third, one of the things that we’ve focused on over the last six years is that we worked really hard in collaboration and removing silos. If you don’t have collaboration, you tend to have silos, and the only way you break down silos is to collaborate.
Fourth, share the vision and get excited about the future. RUF is growing, the PCA is growing. Both of those are unusual when you look at other campus ministries and denominations. I believe the fact that RUF and the PCA are tied together is one of the reasons both are growing.
Then the final one is to pay close attention to the strategy and sustainability.
Many churches and presbyteries support RUF, but financial stability includes finding partners and donors that love the vision and will support the work. Andrew has got a track record of this, and he’ll do well with what’s already established. I have a great deal of confidence in Andrew’s abilities as a leader and have no doubts that he will help all those things I’ve mentioned. One of the greatest gifts that he has is that he’s really curious and he listens. He balances that with a love for RUF, her purpose, and the church.
What do you think RUF’s biggest challenges and opportunities are? How can churches and members support and pray for RUF?
There are several challenges and opportunities in RUF. We’ve got some campuses that don’t allow Christian organizations on their campus, and there’s a challenge in that. High cost areas [present a challenge]. Try to do RUF on the West Coast or in New York City or in Boston, and it is so expensive to live up there.
One of my goals for years has been that every church in the PCA would support at least one RUF ministry, financially or in prayer or hopefully both. Andrew’s got a vision that more individual churches would ‘adopt’ an RUF ministry, its campus minister, staff, and interns. Not every presbytery has an RUF ministry, but any campus could still be adopted, and the folks doing ministry could still use the support.
RUF and the PCA are both growing, and data shows about 25% of the PCA right now is between ages 18 and 35. A quarter of the denomination has got those college years in it. That’s a huge opportunity to build the future of the denomination and the church.
Another challenge is workforce development. We tend to talk about workforce development in manufacturing or construction, but it’s also true in ministry. Where do we find the next round of pastors? It has become more challenging, and we’ve had to put a great deal of effort into recruiting. It has to start early. What does that look like for us and RUF? Do we start pursuing young people in youth groups and begin planting seeds and saying, “Hey, this is a great opportunity for ministry”?
Raising money in general is a challenge, but it’s even harder to raise money for the operations of a national office. We just embarked on our first capital campaign, and it’s gone really well. Andrew and his wife Holly were intimately involved in that campaign, which encourages me to think about the future with his leadership. There’s still time to give to that, if somebody would like to give to the capital campaign. Many PCA churches give to the PCA’s partnership fund or the partnership share, which helps RUF immensely. I pray that that continues and increases. It makes a massive difference for RUF, and we need your help.
As far as how people can pray, there’s three ways: One, pray for our campuses and for our college students to be reached and equipped and for the staff, who come to the campus every week and chase college students around to share the love of Jesus with them.
The second way is to pray for the resources needed to do college ministry. That includes people.
And third, pray for local churches and individuals to support and love on the staff, but also to love on the students. I can look back on my time in RUF 30-something years ago and the local church really loved on me as a college student. I grew up in the church, but for some folks, this is their first introduction to that. Pray for the churches, that they would know how to love and minister well to college students.
What are you most grateful for as you look back over your time as coordinator of RUF?
There are so many things. I’ve had a front row seat to watch this ministry in action and how the Lord has used it, and the growth has been incredible. The support from the denomination, and even outside the denomination, has been encouraging.
If I had to name one thing, it would be the people: the people in RUF who have labored for the sake of college students and people who have supported RUF with their love and their encouragement and financial resources. People that have told me over the years that they pray for me and my family and for the RUF staff. I’m thankful for the people inside RUF who have grown in their ability, their role in the ministry of reaching and equipping students, whether that’s in accounting or an intern leading a small group Bible study on campus. The people are the thing that I’m most thankful for.
I love RUF more than ever. I’m actually really sad to leave. I hope to be a resource for Andrew and the ministry and all the staff any way I can. My wife, Missy, and I plan to be involved in RUF in every way possible. I don’t know that there could have been a greater impact on my life during my years as an undergraduate student than RUF had. But I would also argue that over the last six years, the impact RUF has had on me, my wife, my children, and our marriage has been even greater than those years when we were in college.
Is there anything you would like to add?
RUF is in the best place it’s been in a long time, and that is the work of a lot of people. I’m just so excited for where the Lord is going to take this ministry and use it in young people’s lives. It’s incredibly evident to me that Jesus loves RUF.