By Leslie Scanlon, The Presbyterian Outlook
The news was not what anyone wanted to hear: despite aggressive treatment, the pancreatic cancer has spread in the body of Steve Hayner, the beloved, gifted president of Columbia Theological Seminary.
The board of Columbia seminary will meet Aug. 7 to determine whether Deborah Flemister Mullen, the executive vice-president and dean of faculty, will remain as acting president as she has been since early June while Hayner received treatment, or whether other arrangements need to be made as the start of the fall semester approaches. The board also is expected to appoint a search committee to consider candidates for an interim president, said Bill Scheu, a lawyer who is chair of the seminary’s board.
Hayner, 66, became Columbia’s 9th president in 2009 and previously served as a pastor, professor of evangelism and church growth at Columbia, and president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
“People are grieving,” Scheu said. “They love Steve.”
In the days since receiving the results of the most recent round of medical tests, Hayner and his wife, Sharol, have used that bitter reality to continue to speak of their ongoing faith – and to confront directly the kinds of questions that many struggle with when someone they love faces a crisis.