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10.13.05 Michael Cromartie Cromartie reflects on college and career Covenant College graduate Michael Cromartie, vice president at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., loves his job and believes the way he got the job he loves is providential. "I'm not the person you'd pick to be in a think tank," he said. "Sometimes God just takes us and puts us where we need to be." Cromartie is one of a number of successful Christian liberal arts school graduates featured this month on the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) Web site, and he spoke on Christianity and Public Service Thursday as part of this year's Erskine Lectures. Since he lives and works in the fast-paced D.C. area, Cromartie enjoyed spending time in the relative quiet of the Erskine campus. He believes strongly in the advantages of s small Christian liberal arts college. "You can never overestimate the value of individual and personal attention," he said. "The value I got at Covenant was that I got to know my professors — my teachers became my mentors, and that counts for a lot." Cromartie spent a year and a half at a large state university before transferring to Covenant College in Georgia, which now has about 1,000 students. "I think we learn best in community," he said. "And the way you have community is that you are known." But what about confronting the world, as he does in his job every day, working with leading journalists and politicians? "If you 'marinate' in a place like Erskine, grow and develop your worldview, and you're at peace with who you are, then you can go off to graduate school," he said. "There's plenty of time in life to gain experience confronting the world." As to how he got into the daily business of confronting the world — often by helping secular journalists better understand the Christian faith they are writing about — Cromartie cites first the guidance of God, and only second some steps he took toward a career. He worked for four years with Prison Fellowship, and said he thinks that helped prepare him for what was to come. "Traveling with Chuck Colson gave me a wider experience of the country and the world," he said. But his big break came at a dinner party, where, he said, "I was just standing in a corner, feeling sick." "I had been sick that day, and definitely was not working the room," Cromartie laughed. "And I didn't say that I was looking for a job or anything." Turned out the Ethics and Public Policy Center needed to hire two people, and he became one of them. "Find out where your interests lie, and work to excel in that area, praying that God will show you where he wants you to be," Cromartie said. "Be faithful in your calling, learn your discipline," he urged. "God will honor that." He said young Christians coming into the workplace after college need to "develop an attitude of service." "I'm really not a networker, but I do try to help people," he said. "I've had an attitude of trying to facilitate and help others, and I think this has helped me." Cromartie said that although the term "servant leadership" has become a cliché, it describes an attitude essential for Christians. "Just be a servant," he said. |
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