David Sheldon
Campus Pastor
David was born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, home to Indiana University. He spent his undergraduate years in Chicago, where he was involved in urban ministry across neighborhoods such as Cabrini-Green, Englewood, and Woodlawn. After graduating, he married his elementary school sweetheart, Emily, and the two moved to Indianapolis for her graduate studies. During this season, David completed a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) while working in both a homeless shelter and a church on the city’s near eastside. Following Emily’s graduation, they relocated to the Lansing area, arriving just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a season of various jobs, David returned to school and completed a Master of Theology (ThM). His thesis explored evangelicalism, race, and social action in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s.
David longs to see people cultivate a faith that is not only thoughtfully formed and honestly wrestled with, but one that is embodied in daily life. Within the context of campus ministry, this means creating spaces where students can ask hard questions, engage their intellectual pursuits, and explore what faith looks like in the midst of academic pressure, vocational discernment, and community life.
It is a vision for a faith that moves beyond ideas into action which can be expressed in rhythms of prayer, habits of humility, and tangible love for others. On campus, that takes shape in how students study, build friendships, navigate their future work, and care for the broader university community. At its core, this is a faith that holds together devotion and practice, loving God wholeheartedly while extending that same love outward to neighbors in real, concrete ways.
Michigan State University
Why we care about MSU:
MSU is more than a campus. It is a formative place where thousands of students are shaped intellectually, relationally, and vocationally during some of the most pivotal years of their lives. The questions wrestled with here about truth, purpose, identity, and calling carry far beyond graduation and into every sphere of society.
To care about this campus is to care about the people who will become leaders, professionals, neighbors, and friends in communities around the world. Campus ministry steps into this moment, offering a space where faith is not set aside but thoughtfully engaged. It is where students are welcomed fully, formed deeply, and invited to live faithfully in the midst of their academic and everyday lives.
The Beginnings:
MSU was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan. MSU became the first Land Grant Institution in the country committed to a life of teaching, research, and outreach that directly served and benefited the common people. Its purpose was to educate and train the sons and daughters of farmers and factory workers so that they could return to their communities as thought and responsible leaders and citizens.
Today:
MSU has over 50,000 students with roughly 40,000 of them being undergraduate students and 10,000 of them being graduate students with an additional 12,000+ faculty and staff. Amongst these numbers MSU boasts its "most diverse student body to date" with roughly 13,000 students of color. In terms of geographical diversity, all 50 states and 139 countries are represented. These students pursue degrees in over 400 academic programs across their 17 degree granting colleges.