Ed Stetzer Announces Plan to Leave LifeWay, New Position at Wheaton College

 

Outreach magazine is excited to join with Ed Stetzer in announcing his new position at Wheaton College.

 

Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of LifeWay Research, has announced that he is leaving his job to serve in a newly created board chair position at Wheaton College. 

 

Wheaton College stated in a release, “Dr. Ed Stetzer has been appointed to a newly created chair, The Billy Graham Distinguished Endowed Chair for Church, Mission, and Evangelism. In this role, he has been named Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College (BGCE).”

 

In a Charisma News article, Stetzer explained why he is leaving LifeWay after many years with the company. 

 

“When Wheaton College created this new, endowed chair, which included serving as Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism, Donna and I prayed, talked, and considered. Then, we decided to go,” Stetzer wrote. 

 

“The opportunities God has opened for me, and for which I am accountable to Him, have become broader than only a publishing focus,” he continued. 

 

Stetzer said that he will continue to write books and blog. But in the new role at Wheaton, he will be able to “help lead a new conversation about evangelism and mission for the moment we are in. We will do that through networking leaders, researching best practices, engaging thought leaders in the academy, and strategic ministry initiatives.” 

 

Stetzer’s new position requires a relocation to Chicago, and leaving the church he planted in Nashville. 

 

“We will miss our friends, and resigning from the church I planted in Nashville (Grace Church) was heart-wrenching. But we have set our face toward Chicago, Wheaton College, the Billy Graham Center, and serving the church in her mission and witness,” Stetzer wrote.