Tom Lin will begin his term as president of InterVarsity in August this year.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, a college campus ministry with chapters in over 640 campuses, has announced on Monday that Tom Lin will become its next president, making him the first Asian American to serve in the position. His term will begin on August 10.
“We’ve got so many men and women, ethnic minorities, who serve in leadership at InterVarsity,” Lin told Christianity Today. “We’ve worked at it, and we’ve continued to learn and grow. We never say we’ve arrived, but this is a significant moment for InterVarsity. It is significant … for any large, North American evangelical organization to have a non-white president.”
Lin has been serving in several capacities in the ministry for many years since he began his career in 1994, beginning with planting chapters in universities, going overseas to start college ministries in Mongolia, and serving as the vice president and director for missions since 2011. Lin has also directed IVF’s major triennial conference called ‘Urbana’ for two years in 2012 and 2015.
In a statement, InterVarsity said that Lin has “every qualification InterVarsity could want in a president.”
“His resume—which includes degrees from Harvard and Fuller Seminary, as well as roles as a campus staff member, a missionary, a pastor, and a vice president in InterVarsity—is impeccable. He knows how to strategize, lead, catalyze, and plant. His yes is yes, and his no is no.”
“But what perhaps makes him most qualified to serve as our next president,” the statement continues, “is his history of continually saying yes to God’s call on his life, even when it meant saying no to his personal dreams and plans.”
As president, Lin will be leading over 40,000 college students, 38 percent of which identify as an ethnic minority.
InterVarsity features separate chapters of ethnicity-specific ministries, such as Black Campus Ministries, Asian American Ministries, Latino Fellowship, and Native Ministry. Lin planted Asian American ministry chapters in his alma mater Harvard University as well as in Boston University.
