Tennessee governor, first lady share faith journey at the Gathering
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
As Lipscomb is located in one of the nation’s most popular cities today — Nashville, Tennessee, one never knows who will stop by the university’s weekly campus-wide worship assembly, The Gathering, to share stories of faith and courage.
On Nov. 10, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and his wife, Crissy, were the featured speakers and shared their faith journey with students, faculty and staff.
“The Haslams serve the state generously and unselfishly,” Lipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry told the assembly. “But today they don’t come in that role. They come today to share their lives and their work, but more importantly they come to share their faith with us.”
The Haslams are no strangers to the Lipscomb campus. Their home, the Executive Residence, is located just over a mile from the Lipscomb campus. Gov. Haslam may often be found working out on campus or speaking at a Lipscomb event. Likewise, Crissy is a member of the current Leadership Tennessee class and is a frequent guest on campus.
“We’re neighbors. It’s been fun for us. I love the role that Lipscomb plays in this community. I know that people come to this school for a lot of different reasons. But I hope you get a sense of the unique role that Lipscomb plays,” Bill told the assembly. “I love how involved you are in the community both as an institution and as individuals. Whatever you take away with you from your college experience here, I hope that one of the things you take with you is your experience of being a part of the fabric of a community that God has called you to for a reason. Lipscomb has done a wonderful job of modeling that.”
Both Haslams said they experienced tough situations as young adults that caused them to rely on their faith.
Born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Bill said he was blessed with parents who instilled their strong faith and work ethic in their children. As a young man, he excelled in academics and sports and was a leader in student government. When he was 16-years-old, the sudden, unexpected death of his mother marked a turning point in his young life. Haslam said his family leaned on each other and on their faith to get through the tough days.
“Three weeks after I decided I wanted to give my life to follow Jesus, I got called out of one of my high school classes and was told to head home. I got there and found that my young, 42-year-old mother had died,” Bill said. “This new faith of mine was being challenged.”
“There are going to be things in your life that are hard … huge times of challenge and struggle. I don’t know what it will be in your life,” he continued. “But it will happen. For me it has always helped me get through those times to go back to who I am and what I believe.”
Bill entered Emory University in 1976, and on the first day of class met Crissy, a native of Houston, Texas, who moved with her family to Memphis, Tennessee, as a child. They forged a friendship, but it wasn’t until tragedy struck several years later that the friendship became something different.
“I felt very alone in college,” said Crissy. “And then during my junior year of college one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through — and hope I ever will go through — happened to me. My sister, who was a senior in high school, died in a car wreck. That just rocked my world. It was horrible. It was tragic. She was gone in a split second.”
Crissy’s parents arranged for her to fly home that next morning, but she needed someone to take her to the airport. She called her friend, Bill, whom Crissy remembered having lost his mother unexpectedly, because she knew he would understand and wouldn’t mind waking up early to take her to catch her plane.
The support from her friends who surrounded her during this dark time greatly impacted her faith.
“They didn’t try to give me answers for what had happened,” she recalled. “But they had hope. And that was something that I needed. At that point, that’s when I really surrendered my life to Christ. I realized that I couldn’t control my life. I didn’t have the power. I could not deal with these kinds of things by myself. Then, it seemed like Scripture came alive.”
Through Bible studies, reading theological books and listening to good preachers, Crissy said her faith grew. Bill and Crissy began dating a few months later. The pair graduated from Emory in 1980—Crissy with a double major in finance and marketing and Bill with a degree in history. Then Bill and Crissy married and moved to Knoxville, where Bill managed his family’s chain of gas stations known as the Pilot Corporation.
In 2003, Bill ran successfully for mayor of Knoxville and was re-elected in 2007 with 87 percent of the vote. In 2011, Haslam was elected governor of Tennessee, and was re-elected to a second term with largest re-election victory in modern Tennessee history.
Bill and Crissy have been married for 34 years and have with three children and four grandchildren. For more than three decades, they have been members of Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Knoxville, where Bill serves as an elder.
Having friends to hold him accountable has helped Bill stay focused in his career. He advised the audience to find people to hold them accountable throughout life.
“One of the biggest difference-makers in my life has been a group of guys – the Flying Five – that I’ve met with on Friday mornings for years,” Bill shared. “I kind of blew it by moving to Nashville when I became governor. But we would talk about everything from what it means to be a good husband, to raising children, to check book issues to career decisions. Having those folks walk with me through a lot of those hard decisions shaped my life more than anything.”
He said that campaigning for office was one of the most challenging experiences of his life.
“It’s a process of self-exposure,” he said. “You have opponents who will say things about you, media asking endless questions and throughout the process you start to doubt yourself even. And in Philippians Paul says that with humility in mind, think of others better than yourself.”
“Well, think of the whole act of campaigning itself,” he continued. “It’s about saying, ‘I’m the man. I’m the man who can solve this city’s problems or this state’s problems.’ Working through that struggle and trying to figure out how to stay true to who I am and what I’m called to be while I’m saying on the other hand that I think I’m the right person to lead this state in a challenging environment was a struggle.”
The Haslams firmly believe they have been called to this juncture in their lives.
“God called us to serve together,” said Crissy. “It has been fun, doing this together. Being in the role of the governor’s wife I am to show Christ to others and glorify God. I hope my efforts are focused on others and not myself. I have to remind myself of that a lot. I’m to model Christ to the people around me. Sometimes that is to people I see a lot. Sometimes it’s to people I only see once. I depend on Him to give me the words to say and to encourage others.”
Bill said that as governor some days are tough. But he tries to always remember God’s faithfulness.
“Regardless of the circumstances, the thing I cling to is this it is important for me to remember God’s faithfulness,” said Bill. “I keep a journal, and I write something in it every day to remember to help me remember the hard times in the past. To remember how big I thought it was at the time and how I thought it was the end of the world. That journal reminds me that in lots of circumstances, good and bad, God provides and has been faithful. I didn’t always get the result in the end I had in mind. But God has always been faithful.”