Rev. Derek Wadlington is Muskingum University’s new chaplain. After spending the previous six and a half years as the chaplain for Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Wadlington began working at Muskingum in August.
Wadlington knew it was time to move on from Wilson College during the previous school year and made a chance connection with Muskingum University President Susan S. Hasseler at a joint conference for the Presbyterian College Chaplain Association and the Association of Presbyterian College and Universities.
University Chaplain Derek Wadlington’s office is located in Brown Chapel. Wadlington’s office is open to anyone who wants to stop by and chat.
“…I learned about Muskingum and the mission and the values and how the office of the chaplain can be a part of that, and it was what I had hoped for my next part of my journey, and I did not see that in the area I was living in, in Pennsylvania,” said Wadlington.
Wadlington’s key role as chaplain is pastoral counseling and care and that particular aspect has him the most excited. He wants people to know talking with him doesn’t have to strictly be about religion as his title may suggest.
“I recognize that in this day and age that if I were to sit in this office and expect people to come by and talk only about faith, religion, and spirituality…if I’m really lucky, that might be an hour out of every week. But what I love seeing is people exploring who they might become. A big calling for me in my faith is to go out and serve…just to walk alongside people in their journey and support them,” said Wadlington.
Wadlington’s wife, Kim, is finishing a contract as an interim pastor and will join him towards the end of the year. They were became ordained ministers together and co-pastored a church for five and a half years until Wadlington felt it time to move on.
“I discerned that I really didn’t really want to be a church minister, church pastor, it was just not my calling, and it was very much my wife’s calling,” said Wadlington.
Wadlington has an undergraduate degree in sociology with a music minor, a Master of Fine Arts from Ohio University in Production design and production design in theatre, and worked on the original “Lion King” Broadway production so he is no stranger to change in his career path. However, this last change was a surprise to him.
“It’s all awesome…it’s a journey, I did not expect to be necessarily starting over, just because it’s one of those life things that happens but it’s awesome,” Wadlington said.
Wadlington can be found on the lower floor of Brown Chapel in room 5 and will be serving as co-chair to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and serve in an advisory position in the Human Relations and Minority Concerns Committee.
Listen to Wadlington host Muskingum University Chapel services Thursdays at 11 a.m. on WMCO 90.7. Services reair Sundays at 5 p.m.
