The Rev. Adam Miller-Stubbendick joined the Carthage community as campus pastor in July 2024. He welcomes all students to take part in everything the Center for Faith and Spirituality offers on campus.
Get to know Pastor Adam through this Q&A:
Carthage serves students from all faith and non-faith traditions. What do you see as the role of the campus pastor on a campus like ours?
As Carthage’s campus pastor, I have the privilege of accompanying young adults through their college years. My hopes and goals are that, as part of their Carthage experience, students will reflect on their values, meaning, and purpose, and learn more about why they believe what they believe. In addition to learning about one’s own values, it is important to learn about the value systems of others.
A second important aspect of being campus pastor is to be present and available for students. While in college, young adults can experience some of the greatest moments up to this point in their lives. I want to be part of moments of celebration, discoveries, and milestones in the individual and communal lives of Carthage. Young adults in college will also experience grief, loss, and tragedy. In these times, my role is to be there, to care well for them individually and communally, and be a processing partner.
Finally, I believe one of my purposes at Carthage is to help the community slow down, breathe, and be reminded that we are human beings, not human doers. Sometimes it is good and right to simply be. We do better as individuals and as a community when we are centered and rooted in who we are.
How has your faith been influenced by your experiences?
My journey through life and faith has been one of learning from people all around the world. My roots are in two small towns in eastern Nebraska. From there, I looked for a college where I could play football and study theology, and I did both at another ELCA college, Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, Minnesota. After college, I studied at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, where I met my wife. I lived in Cairo, Egypt during my internship year of seminary. I have lived and worked in several states, and served in Jerusalem for the past few years in partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. My faith has been influenced by relationships in each of these places.
The places themselves matter — being surrounded by nature, like at Carthage, or regularly being in the biblical city of Jerusalem and town of Bethlehem has shaped my faith. Yet, it is the people of these places who challenge, affirm, and cause me and my faith to grow. Other people’s stories and my relationships with them constantly humble me, help me check my biases and own my privilege, and give me hope, even amid all the chaos we currently experience in the world and in our lives.
Why should students get involved in the Center for Faith and Spirituality, even if they’re not from a faith background?
My hopes are that each student at Carthage can find a place for themselves in the Center for Faith and Spirituality. Most broadly, we desire to be a center for students to root themselves deeply in their own faith, spirituality, and meaning-making, while also discovering some morsels of truth and curiosity in other people’s rituals, understandings, and meaning-making.
Students are the heart of the Center for Faith and Spirituality. Student leaders collaborate to design some amazing programming for both rooting and being open — from weekly worship on Tuesdays to Interfaith lunches on Thursdays, and from service learning to opportunities to explore deep theological conversations. If a student can’t find their particular understanding of the world in our current offerings, I encourage them to come talk with me. Let’s work together to create what students need to thrive and be their whole, authentic selves.
What appeals to you about providing pastoral care to students?
Young adults are full of ideas and imagining what is next for them. Being a caring adult who helps them discover how their passions and talents and gifts align is holy and life-changing work, for both students and those of us graced with the opportunity to explore life with them.
Earlier in this Q&A, I mentioned the gift of accompanying young adults in the important moments of their lives. This is what appeals to me. Listening to young adults; holding space for their hopes, fears, and desires; seeking to understand who they are; being there for them in crises big and small; and building community together matter to me.
Young adults are full of ideas and imagining what is next for them. Being a caring adult who helps them discover how their passions and talents and gifts align is holy and life-changing work, for both students and those of us graced with the opportunity to explore life with them.
One thing that I really appreciated as I was interviewing at Carthage was the brief mission statement of the College, especially how it was all tied up with the word “together.” We need one another. I’m grateful to be welcomed to Carthage by incredible faculty and staff colleagues. I’m excited to meet students and get to know the uniqueness of who they are and what we might be able to do together along this little patch of the shores of Lake Michigan. Together, let’s seek truth, build strength, and inspire service.
What might students be surprised to learn about you?
I moved to Kenosha this summer with my wife, Jordan, and our 2 sons, Julian (8 years old), and Ari (5 years old). I’m the breakfast-maker in our family (pancakes, eggs, smoothies, and a couple baked dishes are my go-to breakfasts), and my wife is the baker (mostly cakes and cookies from scratch).
By the time you read this, we hope to have a new puppy. While we adopted a kitten from the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City, we are really a dog family. I’m more of a sports-watcher than player at this point (although I’m open to this changing), especially American football, soccer, basketball, and golf. While I’ll watch any high level football either digitally or in person, I’m married to a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan. Let’s go, Bills — and let’s go, Firebirds!
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