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The word revival has a few meanings. It could mean, “a renewed interest or attention in something,” a “new presentation or publication of something old,” or a “period of renewed religious interest.” For the past 127 years, one place at Grand View University has experienced a revival in all its forms: Grand View Lutheran Church.  

For 11 of those 127 years, the Rev. Dr. Russel Lackey, or ‘Pastor Russ’ as he is known to the campus community, has served the church as the Senior Campus Pastor, and it is under his guidance that the church entered that period of revival. Before Lackey’s arrival on campus, the church had a diminished presence on campus and in the community. Campus Ministry employee Kate Faas explained how Campus Ministry has managed to stay thriving.  

“When Pastor Russ came, campus ministry was very, very tiny, and it was kept alive by some very faithful people,” Faas said.  

Despite the revivals, there were some challenges. 

“It was struggling to survive; I was told at one point there was only four people at chapel,” Faas said.  

Lackey said there were times when the chapel had about twenty to twenty-nine individuals on a Sunday.  

“The building was in bad shape. They [some individuals] might have lasted for a long time, but they weren’t connected like we are. So, it felt like in many ways instead of turning the lights off, we began to turn ‘em back on,” Lackey said.  

Lackey’s plan to turn the lights back on had to start somewhere, and so he started with the congregation to see if they were open to trying new things. As Faas put it, they were totally on board. 

“The congregation has been very open to Pastor Russ. The congregation to Pastor Russ is like, ‘let’s try it and if it works great, and if it doesn’t, we’ll learn from it,’” Faas said.  

Lackey’s efforts paid off, too. In his 11-year tenure at GVU, he helped raise $4 million to establish the “Rassmussen Skow Campus Pastor Chair,” the “LBIC Chair,” and the “Forde Professorship.” Lackey also raised 2 million dollars to help establish the Nexus Institute and the Moses Project. Lackey’s efforts don’t stop there. He has also helped grow the church through grants from The Lilly Project and through the campus community. 

One of Pastor Lackey’s most ambitious projects was the 5-million-dollar renovation to the 105-year-old Luther Memorial Church. For this project Lackey said that his way for getting funding from this project came from within the congregation itself.  

“Grand View has been under a lot of buildings with the physical plant. You had the Rasmussen Building, the new dorms put up, and then the Student Center. What was interesting was a lot of the names on those buildings were connected to the church. So, I realized that they love their church, they love Grand View, and this was kind of the final project that needed to be done. It really does kind of serve the church, but it also is meant to serve our Lily projects as well as the university and the community,” Lackey said. 

Through all of the improvements made to campus ministry, it might be hard to imagine a church without Lackey, but that is exactly what is about to happen. At the end of this year, he will be leaving GVU to take up a new call near his hometown in Newport Beach, California.   Besides growing the campus ministry community and the physical changes Lackey also said that there’s some repair work to be done spiritually too. Faas said that Lackey and the ministry at Luther Memorial have never given up hope. 

“COVID definitely had people feeling lonely, isolated, and disconnected. When COVID hit, they started having parking lot church and Russ would have a microphone and they’d sing from their cars. We also had a drive through communion, we’d have church on the lawn by Humphrey, sometimes we’d be in the Rodhold Room. Not all churches are super flexible with these kinds of things, but we made it work,” Faas said. 

Many of the people in the church that wanted that connection were elderly men and women of the congregation, and that is where Lackey said one of his biggest roles as pastor comes into play.  

“I believe that every institution has a life cycle like a person’s age and then you need new birth…I think the work that was done on Grand View Campus that was related to faith really began with World War II and the baby boom and did a cycle.” “I’m doing a lot of funerals for church members, right? So, they lived in the building, they experienced the full life of the baby boom. I think my time has been to allow that cycle to end and to put in place new birth for the next 50 years,” he said.  

Transitions take a lot of listening too, and it’s through that attentiveness that Lackey has been able to be a sounding board and a confidant for many students at GVU. Lackey has loads of advice to give to students just starting out and those who might be graduating soon. 

“You know, Hellen Keller said ‘life is an adventure, or its nothing at all.’ I would simply say that there’s a lot of reasons to be nervous or scared about the present future, there are a lot of anxieties that we can have and a lot of doubts in our minds and hearts about ourselves, and others. But finding the way or the people to journey with you to go through life to take risks and to keep going. That’s all I really encourage them to do is try to live the life you want to live and be gracious to those around you and be gracious to yourself,” Lackey said.  

Lackey also had some advice for the new campus pastor: should they find a copy read the Viewfinder magazine while waiting to interview. 

“My hope is that they find someone who has a pastor’s heart… someone who will genuinely just pastor the students and pastor the congregation. Love the people – do that first and foremost, and then the second thing is, forget about the programs that we have. If you take care of the business of loving the congregation and loving the people then be open … just make sure you love the people,” Lackey said.   

While Lackey might have a renovated church to preach in, an endowed chair to teach with, and all the accolades that come with all of the changes he’s made to campus, he said the one thing that he loves about his job, and the one thing that he’s going to miss the most, is the people and students at GVU.  

“I’m sad most about leaving people. I genuinely love the team I work with. I also love this new generation of students, people who have gone through a lot and are looking for connection. I’m genuinely sad I won’t get a chance to live into that. Then finally, I’m going to be sad to miss what President Keck is doing. She is great, she has good vision. I like the ideas that she has and what she’s generating with the President’s Council. I am more optimistic about Grand View’s future than I’ve ever been, and I’m sad that I won’t be able to experience that up close,” Lackey said.