$500,000 grant allows Evangel to make project permanent

Dr. Robert BergSeptember 20, 2006
Contact: Paul K. Logsdon, Director of Public Relations and Publications, 865-2815 ext. 7292

SPRINGFIELD, MO. — Evangel University recently received a $500,000 renewal grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. These additional funds will extend and make permanent a project started in 2003 by the assistance of a $2 million grant from Lilly.

Through the funding of seminars, research and travel, Project Envision has assisted hundreds of students, faculty and staff with the exploration of ways in which faith affects life choices, particularly vocational decisions.

“The mission of Evangel University has been greatly enhanced by the curricular and program expansions that the Lilly funding has provided,” said President Robert H. Spence.

“This has been an investment in the lives of young people who are taking positions of leadership in churches and communities across the nation and around the world, and we are pleased to be able to make Project Envision a sustaining program through this renewal grant.”

New name, new director for Project Envision

Since Project Envision is no longer a short-term program, officials felt a change was in order and renamed it LifeWorks: The Center for Leadership & Life Calling.

Not only does Project Envision have a new name, it also has a new director. Dr. Robert Berg was appointed director of The Center for Leadership & Life Calling. He succeeds Dr. Michael Palmer who served as director of Project Envision from its beginning in 2003 until he was recently named Dean of the Regent University School of Divinity.

Dr. Berg has been a member of Evangel’s faculty since 1989, and he had served as chair of the Department of Theology since 2003. He said, “My passion is to see that all of our students have a sense of calling, no matter what career field they are entering.”

Founded in 1937, the Lilly Endowment is an Indianapolis-based private foundation that supports its founders’ wishes by supporting the causes of religion, community development and education.