Christopher Center Library

"What Does the World Need from Us?"

An Address by The Rev. Brian E. Konkol, Ph.D.
on the occasion of his inauguration as 20th President of Valparaiso University
Friday, September 25, 2026, Chapel of the Resurrection, Valparaiso, IN

Section 1: Introduction

Whenever we get somewhere good, we got there because others were good to us.

To move forward is to be brought forward, by those who lived before us, those who shaped us, and those who sometimes carried us, all because of love for us.

Today, because of all your love, and with the help of God, I accept this awesome opportunity. To be brought forward, by all of you, to this very good day, is a dream come true.

Section 2: Appreciation

To the Chair of the Valparaiso University Board of Directors, Dr. Jon Steinbrecher, thank you for the honor of being called upon to serve. I marvel at the quality and character of your leadership. I share your vision for this campus community, and as I receive this responsibility, I promise you, with the help of God, I will give to us my very best.

To all members of the Board of Directors, thank you for your confidence, thank you for your dedication, and thank you for your care.

To all members of the Presidential Search Committee, thank you for your time and effort. Thank you for your discernment, and I must say, thank you for your final selection! I am pleased with the result of your search!

To the Provost, Eric Johnson, you are a godsend. Thank you for being a daily example of faithfulness, and please always know that I am one of the immeasurable number of people who are indebted to you, for all the ways you shape life and learning.

To the Reverend Doctor James Wetzstein, to all on the inauguration planning team, and to all with facilities management, catering, and countless others, thank you for your thoughtfulness, your compassion, and for all the ways you helped to make this all happen.

To the former presidents of Valparaiso University in attendance today, Dr. Mark Heckler and Colette Irwin-Knott, thank you for your service, and thank you for the hospitality you have provided to myself and my family during this important time.

To all faculty and staff, to all students and alumni, to all community members and partners, thank you for your warmth and your welcome. And I must say, to all here in Northwest Indiana, thank you for your good humor, especially the various look-alike references I have received about Orville Redenbacher!

To Chancellor J. Michael Haynie, Senior Vice President Candace Campbell Jackson, the staff and chaplains of Hendricks Chapel, and all who are visiting from Syracuse University, thank you for being here, it means so much, and please know a part of my heart will always be with you in Central New York.

To Syracuse University Chancellor Emeritus Kent Syverud, who is not here in person, and is, and always will be, at the center of my soul. Thank you for mentoring me to do better and be better, as this day does not happen without you.

To our educational delegates and congregational companions represented here today, and to those who traveled from South Africa and Guyana, Gustavus Adolphus College and Luther Seminary in Minnesota, Viterbo University, Lake Edge Lutheran Church, the Tomorrow River Lutheran Parish, and Amherst High School in Wisconsin, and numerous others, thank you for making the time to share this experience together.

To Pastor Terry Peterson, who baptized me, Pastor Rudy Kolberg, who confirmed me, Pastor Dwight Anderson and Pastor Gretchen Anderson who continue to support me, and to all my colleagues and friends in the clergy and all ministers, thank you for your witness to the Gospel, and thank you for holding me and this campus community in your prayers.

To my parents, George and Judy Konkol, thank you for requiring me to go to Sunday School! Thank you for helping me to believe in Jesus, and thank you for helping me to trust that all things are possible, even for a small-town kid with big-world dreams. Dad and Mom, you are the best parents on the planet. I love you. Thank you for loving me. I am, and always will be, honored to be your son.

To my brother, Eric, thank you for being my coach and for always being my hero. Thank you for encouraging me toward excellence, thank you for teaching through your words and actions how to be a good man. And of course, since we shared a bedroom with bunk-beds for 16 years, thank you for not killing me!

To my children, Khaya and Tobi, I am so proud of you. Thank you for helping me, each and every day, to love more fully than I ever could have imagined. If I make you half as proud of me as I am proud of you, then I will have lived a good life. Khaya and Tobi, I love you, and I thank God for the happiness of being your Dad.

And finally, to my wife, my partner, and my best friend, Kristen, the love of my existence. We met when I was eight years old, we started dating in college, and what an adventure it has been. Following our third date, my mother gently and truthfully told me not to mess it up, because you were the best I was ever going to get. She was right. Kristen, being married to you is the treasure of my life. You are more than I deserve. I love you, and I admire you, with all that I am, and as we celebrate 20 years of marriage this week, I cannot imagine this is what you had in mind! If there is anything I do right today, it is to ensure that you, Kristen, receive the public appreciation that you so richly deserve and so rarely receive. And so, I ask this assembly to please do me one favor today, and please join me in showing our shared appreciation to my wife, Dr. Kristen Konkol.

Section 3: The Question

What does the world need from us? This is the question. What does the world need, from us?

Frederick Buechner famously remarked that “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet,” so the consideration for us becomes, what are the deep hungers of our world? What is the nourishment that our world is hungering to receive from us? What is the world seeking to hear from us? What is the world yearning to feel from us, see from us, and breathe in from us?

To learn how to live these questions, requires us to face these questions, which compels us to examine the world at the center of these questions.

Section 4: The World We Inherited

So, what is going on in our world today? As a society, are we moving forward or moving backward? Are the people of our planet wonderfully good or woefully bad? Are we becoming more united or increasingly divided? Are these the best of times or are these the worst of times? Is our world beautiful or is our world broken? The Lutheran response, to all of this, is both “yes” and “no.”

While there is much to be said about the current state of civilization, what is most remarkable is that, the world of today, is – in many ways – like the world the Lutheran tradition was born into 500 years ago. Although much has changed, much has also remained the same.

Five hundred years ago, the printing press revolutionized how people shared and received ideas. Today, the internet, online search engines, and artificial intelligence are reworking and rewiring how we create, communicate and learn.

Five hundred years ago, people wrestled with whom to trust and what to trust. Today, we are asking similar questions about what is real, whom we can believe, and how to find truth amid an unprecedented abundance of information.

Five hundred years ago, longstanding institutions were challenged and conventional authorities were questioned. Today, we too are scrutinizing what has long been established and confronting the people and institutions that hold power.

During an era of remarkable transformation, when people wondered about what a human life is actually for, 500 years ago Martin Luther proclaimed that each and every vocation could be understood as a sacred calling from God, because each and every person is fully and forever loved by God. Today, we continue to wrestle and wonder about why this thing called life even matters.

As Mark Twain is often credited with stating, history does not repeat itself, yet history does often rhyme. And in many ways, our present moment is a 500-year-old rhyme of the Reformation that shaped the Lutheran tradition and, ultimately, helped to form Valparaiso University.

The seeds that would eventually grow into what is now this campus community, were planted during a season that rhymes with this one, which is one of the many reasons why we are uniquely equipped to meet this moment, and every future time our history continues to rhyme.

Valparaiso University was made during a time such as this, for a time such as this.

And this is why we are now being called to look outward, not inward, to deepen our Lutheran roots and expand our public reach, by courageously and collectively asking: What does this world need from us?

Section 5: What Our World Needs from Us

Over the past weeks I invited our campus community to respond to this question. I asked others what they thought the world needs from us. I received numerous email messages in response, most of them were helpful. All of them left me grateful.

From students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members, and others, there were some who wrote to me and shared how the world needs people who refuse to equate different with deficient, those who pay attention to what is lasting, instead of what is loud, and those who are disciplined enough to choose what they seek most, over what they want now.

There were some who wrote to me and shared that our world needs people who choose optimism over pessimism and abundance over scarcity, those who make real friends and not merely deal friends, and others who wrote to share that we need people who stop hoping for a better past and start focusing on a better future.

There were others who wrote to share that the world needs people who bring together devout Christian faith with determined academic inquiry, and others who shared that our world needs lifelong learners who bring love through action into the world.

And of course, there was that one person – and you know who you are – who took the time to write me, to share their fervent belief, that what the world truly needs from us, are no classes on Fridays! Nice try!

Through it all, based upon all the messages I received, also because of what is true about these times, and most of all, because of the Good News made known to us in Jesus, what I do believe is that today, as was the case 500 years ago, our world needs more people whose lives are built for good.

At a time that rhymes with the Reformation, when people are both good and bad, and when civilization is both beautiful and broken, because of what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in us, through us, and for us, what the world needs from us, are more people whose lives are built for good. For us to embrace this calling and provide for the world what it needs, such good lives are built in three primary ways:

First, we build lives for good by learning without fear.

Second, we build lives for good by serving with love.

Third, we build lives for good by leading with hope.

First, those whose lives are built for good, are those who learn without fear, as they understand that learning is about far more than information, as learning that liberates is about formation through death and resurrection, as every time someone learns something new, they unlearn what they thought they once knew. Because God is still creating in this world, to learn without fear is – in the words of Dorothy Day – to concentrate on being faithful to the truth, which inspires us to listen with the intent to understand, not the intent to respond, to trust that truth should be pursued, not protected, and to know that changing your mind should be celebrated as courage, not criticized as concession.

Second, those whose lives are built for good, are those who serve with love, for they understand that no good life is lived for itself, a person is only a person through other people, and freedom is not about doing whatever it is you want to do whenever you feel like doing it, as faithful freedom is about what we are free from and what we are free for, and why.

As Jesus displayed on the cross that fateful earth-shattering Friday, our lives were given to us so we can give our lives for others, and those who serve with love will ultimately spring forth something truly special.

And third, those whose lives are built for good, are those who lead with hope, as they choose to be living and breathing carriers of good news. They choose to close the gap between the world that is and the world that ought to be, as they do have a vision for what the ideal world ought to be. Instead of complaining about what is bad, they campaign for what is good, and instead of venting old frustrations they invent new creations. For in the end, those who lead with hope are like Easter people, as they know how the story is ultimately going to end.

What does the world need from us? The world needs those who learn without fear, serve with love, and lead with hope. To borrow from David Brooks, our world needs people of character who care more about what is said in their eulogy than what is written on their resume. Our world needs people who value principle over popularity, those with strong convictions and spirited curiosities, those who prefer intelligence that is abiding and beneficial, not quick and artificial. And, the world needs those who recognize that just because you can, does not mean you should.

In other words, the world needs more people whose lives are built for good.

To state this more clearly, the world needs more Valpo graduates.

This is the headline of the story for today. What does the world need from us? The world needs more Valpo graduates. This, I do believe, is most certainly true.

The world needs more Valpo graduates, as there is something special that happens with our students here, and something special about the graduates who commence from here. Because of the way we take seriously both religious devotion and intellectual exploration, because of the way we choose to know students by name, and not by number, because of the way we prepare students to take personal responsibility and give to a larger beloved community, because of the way we help people to turn toward each other, rather than turn against each other, and because we embrace each and every student as a Child of God:

At Valparaiso University, we build lives for good.

And because we build lives for good, our students are thoughtful, they are ethical, and their impact is immeasurable. Our students are resilient, they are inquisitive, and I can assure you from my experience in the residence halls, our students love to have fun!

Our students become graduates and these graduates are a blessing to our world, as they are connectors in a divided world, peacemakers in a conflicted world, and innovators in a changing world.

The world needs more Valpo graduates, because our graduates are scientists who both advance discovery and affirm discernment, educators who both awaken the mind and ignite the soul, and business executives who both lead with intellect and serve with integrity. Our graduates are engineers who solve daunting problems and ask big questions, healthcare professionals who innovate with courage and heal with compassion, and artists who challenge longstanding assumptions and inspire breathtaking beauty. Our graduates are pastors who preach and listen, public servants who collaborate and compete, and neighbors who embrace rights and responsibilities. Our graduates are friends, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, and citizens, who learn throughout the ecosystem of their lives that faith and learning can and must intertwine.

To borrow from Maya Angelou, our graduates do the best they can until they know better, and when they know better, they do better! The world needs more Valpo graduates, because our graduates seek far more than a ticket to an entry-level job, as they seek a trajectory toward an extraordinarily good life.

Which is to say, to all those who dispute the value and values of a university such as this one, I simply invite you to meet one of our graduates, for when you do, I am confident that your doubts will quickly turn into belief. Our graduates are like hands that bless our world, so we need to send more of them out into the world, and we need to tell this good news to the world.

To all here today, if I am allowed to offer one homework assignment for all of you, it is simply this: Please, go and tell others, that the world needs more Valpo graduates. Please, go and tell others how Valpo graduates learn without fear, serve with love, and lead with hope, and the world needs more of that. Please, go and tell others how Valpo graduates are rooted in the Lutheran values of scholarship, freedom, and faith, and the world needs more of that.

Please, go and tell others how Valpo graduates are reaching into the world, and committed to excellence, to lead and serve in both church and society, and the world needs more of that. Please, and this one is specifically directed at my fellow Lutherans, especially those who are sometimes a bit too timid and far too quiet. We must be done with being the best kept secret. If you are worried about Valpo being accused of “tooting its own horn,” please be assured, there is nothing wrong with “tooting your own horn” if the sound of that horn helps someone else to find their way! We must be done with being silent. We must be done with being shy. We must be done with being the best kept secret, for now is our time, to be the best told story.

The students we send out as graduates into the world are good news for the world, and if we have good news to share, then we must tell others about it. We cannot not speak about it, so let us speak about all of it, with confidence and with clarity. As those beautiful words from the 5th Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel remind us: “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Section 6: So What Does This Mean?

To all my dear Valpo friends, I will conclude where I began, with the recognition that whenever we get somewhere good, we got there because others were good to us. The truth of today is that, each and every person here is surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses, those who lived before us, who shaped us, and who sometimes carried us, all because they love us. To move forward is to be brought forward, and now is our time to help bring others forward. As others have helped each and every one of us to get to where we are, now is the time for us to help others get to where they are being called by God to be.

This is why we are here. Valparaiso University, at its best, is far more than an institution of higher education, as we are purposeful participants in the Mission of God. We are not here merely to enroll students and produce graduates, as we are here to participate in God’s work in the world. Which means, we are not here today to celebrate a moment, as we are here to take part in a movement. And by God's grace, we are here to take part in a movement that becomes momentum in service to God’s mission. Momentum that responds to the needs of the world, by sending out more Valpo graduates into the world.

To each and every person gathered here today, my final words for you on this day are this. Every once in a while, a small group of people is moved by the spirit of God to live differently, and then others are inspired to join in. This is the story of the Bible, and this is also the story of human life. Every once in a while, a small group of people live the questions of their time, and because of their example, others are given the confidence to take part. May we be such people.

May we be the people who are moved by the spirit of God to live differently, and then inspire others to join in, so that, 500 years from now, those who come after us, may look back to us, and hopefully, give thanks to God for us.

My hope and my prayer, is that, 500 years from now, when history rhymes once again, they will look back and say that our time, was a special time, when we embraced our calling with courage. May this be such a time.

May we be such people, and may this be such a time, where we deepen our roots and expand our reach. May we be such people, and may this be such a time, when we listen for the words of God while also turning up the volume of our voices. May we be such people, and may this be such a time, when lives were built for good, and through those lives, the world was changed for good.

To all who are here, the future is calling. By God's grace, let us answer. Thank you, may God bless you, and may God bless Valparaiso University.