The Vision for the Future?

An address on April 30th, 2005 by Mark Elsdon,
Co-Pastor/Executive Director

In my first nine months here in Madison I have had the privilege of meeting many wonderful people who have long-time connections with Pres House. I’ve met former students who served as elders when there was a Presbyterian church here, men and women who sang in the famous Pres House choir and couples who were married here. I have spoken with people who served on the Pres House board over the years, attended concerts in the chapel, had countless cups of coffee in the Catacombs, participated in Sunday School classes as students or did work on this incredible building. I have even run into strangers at the grocery store who were familiar with Pres House!

Having recently moved from large, metropolitan areas like the San Francisco Bay Area and urban New Jersey I first assumed that the endless connections to Pres House must be because Madison is a “small town.” This is probably true to some extent but I have grown to realize that everyone seems somehow connected to Pres House because it has been such an important home for so many people over the years.

Pres House has been a spiritual and even a physical home for countless students, faculty and other members of the university community. The fellowship that alumni fondly remember, the leaders that have been sent from here, the spiritual growth that was fostered are all signs of God’s faithfulness. God has been meeting people through the ministry of Pres House for almost 100 years! On this day marking my installation as campus pastor I am incredibly grateful to have the privilege of participating in God’s work at Pres House.

And it is truly an exciting time here at Pres House! After a period of pause in active Presbyterian ministry we are embarking on an ambitious journey to recreate Pres House as a thriving home for the university community. Though the way we will go about this will be different than the ministry of the past the spirit is very much the same.

We, the staff and Board of Pres House, believe that we are called to be a home for Christians and spiritual seekers alike to fulfill our mission of being “a witnesses to Jesus Christ at the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, serving the university community as a mission of the Presbyterian Church USA and in cooperation with other ministries.”

This home involves two parts – a spiritual home and a physical, literal home. This two part home will provide space for people to encounter Jesus Christ in their lives and be changed by that encounter. Ours is a holistic ministry addressing the spiritual, intellectual, emotional, relational, and physical needs of people.

I’ll speak briefly about these two homes a little more. First and foremost we seek to be a spiritual home. As Erica shared in her story, we all need a place to explore spiritual questions with the love and support of others. I believe that although the majority of students at UW-Madison are not involved in regular Christian activity or community, they do have a deep desire to encounter God in their lives. They ask questions like: “How does what I am learning in the classroom interact with who I am as a person? And is God involved in that somehow? How do I relate to the brokenness in the world and what resources are there that speak hope into situations of despair? What is my life all about and is there a purpose to what I do everyday?” I cannot answer those questions for them and I am not even sure that the church can answer those questions - or at least not adequately. But I do believe that Jesus Christ has something to say to all of us who ask such questions. And Pres House is a place for us to wrestle with these things in community and in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

So the centerpiece of this spiritual home will be worship. A very talented and thoughtful group of students has gathered together this year and have been working on planning a unique worship experience that will be held on Sunday afternoons at 4:30 beginning in September. We will be experimenting with a variety of different ways to worship through student written music, sermon dialogues, physical responses to scripture and other creative approaches. The goal is to provide a place for people to meet God and to respond to the grace of Jesus Christ without having to adhere to an established church culture. In addition to weekly worship we will continue a successful discussion group that started this year and begin new small group options. Over time we intend to continue to grow our program to include seminars, special events, mission trips, internship programs, regular service projects, and other activities generated by students and others involved. In short we will be a spiritual home for the campus community.

We also plan to provide a physical home for students. Erica shared a story about her experience living with students who truly cared for her. She was blessed to live in an authentic community. Not all people are so fortunate. We believe that supportive community is crucial for spiritual, emotional, relational and intellectual growth. The university experience is often overwhelming and difficult. It is also exciting and challenging. Students and others need a community to walk alongside them through the ups and downs and when the big questions come up. Not to protect them from the challenges for it is there that we often grow the most - but to walk alongside them in the midst of difficulty. They need a place to call home that fosters that kind of community.

As I understand it, from the very beginning of Pres House there have been hopes to build additional facilities on this property. We can thank the foresight and vision of those who acquired this land in the heart of the university some 85 years ago for the opportunity we now have to create something new. When this building was completed in 1931 the back wall facing the parking lot was not covered in the same beautiful stone as the rest of the building. Instead it was finished with simple brick. Perhaps that was done in the hope that more could be built at a later time. Almost 75 years later we are working on making that possibility a reality.

Our plan is to build a six-story apartment building on the parking lot behind Pres House. The lot stretches from Murray St. to Fitch Ct. and covers about 2/3rds of the width between Pres House and the Peterson Building. The facility we plan to build will allow us to achieve our goal of being a physical home to students. I’ll share briefly some highlights about the building and encourage you to stick around for the reception to look at the models and drawings for further detail.

The building we are proposing is six stories over one story of underground parking. The first floor is a mix of residential and multi-use space for programming needs. The remaining five floors are 3 and 4 bedroom apartments. Most of the apartments have two bathrooms and many have balconies. There will be 43 units totaling 150 bedrooms.

Our architects have created something special in designing this new building. This is not going to be just a typical apartment building but a beautiful addition to Pres House and to the surrounding area. We believe this building will enhance the Universities plans to develop the area surrounding Pres House into a top notch arts and humanities district.

We are thrilled to be moving forward on this project. Our hope is to begin construction in less than a year, be open by late spring 2007 and filled for the 2007- 2008 academic year. As we build this new building we will simultaneously, or almost simultaneously be restoring and renovating the existing heritage building. Our goal is to enhance the already striking beauty of this building and make it more useful for 21st century ministry programs. At this point we are still receiving input from various groups including the neighborhood, the university, city planning and others before finalizing the plans for new construction and for the renovation of the heritage building.

The purpose of this building project is twofold. One purpose is to provide a longterm and sustainable funding source for Pres House ministry. But the primary purpose is that we seek to offer a supportive home for students and perhaps other members of the community. We will be offering a distinctive living option for the campus. Residents will have the opportunity to engage in high quality residential life programming that will foster authentic community and enhance their university experience. The atmosphere will encourage healthy living and be conducive to studying and learning. Residents will also, on a voluntary basis, have easy and relaxed access to our full range of religious programs from worship services to discussion groups to mission trips and so on. Many apartment buildings have laundry facilities and internet access (which we too will have) but none of this quality and size afford students the opportunity to engage in spiritual exploration like we will!

I appreciate all of you coming out this afternoon to celebrate my installation with me and to listen to our plans for ministry at Pres House. As we wrap up this part of the program and get to the fun part – food! – I want to take a brief moment to introduce to you the other two staff at Pres House. Elisabeth Platt serves us as our Operations Manager, a title that accurately reflects the enormous range of work that she does here at Pres House! Please take the opportunity to thank her for this day was only possible through her hard work! Dave Olson is our Resident Manager. He lives in an apartment in the basement of this building and sees that the building is cared for. Finally, I would like to ask the Board members of the Presbyterian Student Center Foundation to please stand. The Board of Directors is actively engaged in seeing that the mission of Pres House is carried out in everything we do. Their ministry as board members is an incredible blessing to Pres House and to me.

You will find as you exit the chapel and head to your right into the main lounge that some tasty food has appeared for us all to enjoy. You will also find two models of the building and some drawings to give you a fuller picture of what we are working on. Please take a look at them as you mingle. I look forward to greeting many of you personally over punch and treats now in the main lounge…

Mark Elsdon, Co-Pastor/Executive Director
(608) 257-1030

Read Erica's address >>