How do we know Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) is making an impact on the lives of college students? According to Will Huss, recently elected coordinator for RUF, the ministry’s staff may not always know immediately what God is doing on campus, but a healthy benchmark would be to take a look at the churches where you find former RUF students engaged and serving.
Huss is a product of the ministry himself. Although he was raised in the PCA, his Christian faith didn’t mature until he was a young architecture student at Clemson University in the late 1980s and early ’90s. He remains grateful to the high school youth pastor who made him promise to look into RUF before he left for college.
RUF shaped Huss’ beliefs about what the Scriptures teach because he had to defend his faith with a biblical world and life view. “It helped shape me into who I am,” he says.
After graduation, Huss began working in an architectural firm and eventually advanced to become CEO of a construction management company, Trehel Corporation, based in Greenville, South Carolina.
When Church Meets Campus
Huss stepped into the RUF coordinator-elect role in July 2019, bringing with him not only business acumen but also a lengthy ministry history. He has served both as a Clemson Presbyterian Church ruling elder and an RUF Permanent Committee member, and has led numerous Bible studies and Sunday school classes for local college students.
“The way I approached business is very similar to a ministry, so I don’t see there being much difference at all between the two,” he says.
Huss hopes to bring more structure to the burgeoning organization, which has more than tripled in size during the past 20 years.
Huss hopes to bring more structure to the burgeoning organization, which has more than tripled in size during the past 20 years. With a budget of $45 million and more than 400 full-time employees, including more than 180 interns, and serving on 170 college campuses worldwide, RUF needs more strategic direction and administrative scaffolding, Huss says.
One focus is to better develop area coordinators — those who shepherd, coach, and consult with those ministering directly on campuses. And from there, the campus ministers, staff, and interns seek to better connect college students directly with the local church.
Huss adds, “What is significant about RUF is that every campus minister is an ordained pastor in the PCA, and a member of a local presbytery. It’s not just plopping someone onto a campus; it’s taking the church itself and going to the campus.”
Reshaping a Shifting World
Huss says that RUF is not just affecting the church’s future, but also that of the broader culture.
“We are trying to speak truth and point people to Jesus in the realities and applications of Scripture, so that as they get out [of college], they can help shape their contexts,” Huss says. “The mission of RUF has been to ‘reach students for Christ and equip them to serve,’ and that is what we plan to continue doing in the years to come.”