Alumnus Micah Englehart’s next step is to carry on his father’s role in college ministry

When you ask most five-year-olds what they want to be when they grow up, many will dream of becoming astronauts or firefighters. But Micah Englehart, alumnus and associate director of Student Life at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, had a different answer.

“I said BSU director,” he laughed, reflecting on his earliest memories of spending time at the Baptist Student Union at New Mexico State University, where his father served as the director. “Because I loved being raised in campus ministry. I was surrounded by the coolest demographic on the planet, right? College students. … It just so happened that the college students I was surrounded by were those college students who were learning how to be on fire for things of God.”

David Englehart (’85) began leading the student ministry at NMSU in 1985 after graduating with his Master of Divinity from Southwestern. For nearly 40 years, he has shaped generations of students through discipleship, Scripture engagement, and missions.

Those early experiences set in motion a lifelong passion for campus ministry for Micah Englehart. However, his journey to leading campus ministry himself has taken time and a great deal of patience, his testimony serving as a textbook example of waiting on God’s timing. But when choosing where to go to college for his undergrad, Englehart didn’t stray far.

“I didn’t really consider going anywhere else,” he said of his enrollment at NMSU, not just for academics but to fully engage in the very ministry that had shaped his childhood. While there, he met his wife Annie, the daughter of International Mission Board missionaries. Englehart’s vision of his future ministry continued to develop during his studies there.

“I knew I had missions on the mind and campus ministry on the mind and wasn’t sure exactly how that was all going to flesh out,” Englehart said.

That ministry goal took him from Las Cruces to the University of Oklahoma, where he served on the campus ministry staff for six years before being called to Southwestern to pursue further education. At first, Englehart admits, he resisted the idea of seminary.

“I really came to seminary kicking and screaming,” he said. “… I didn’t want to slow down to put a down payment on readiness and understanding that comes through a theological education.”

But God had other plans. Once Englehart embraced the opportunity, he found himself captivated and transformed by what he was learning about the Bible and ministry.

“It’s been a season of thoughtfulness that has impacted how I actually approach ministry,” he said.

He graduated in 2022 with a Master of Theological Studies with an emphasis on cross-cultural missions. But Englehart still recognized that he needed to continue to develop his own Christian character, which led him to joining a ministry training program at Hope Church, where his family attends.

“It was humbling to get to this place,” Englehart said. “Because I first had to come to a place of agreeing with God where He was saying, ‘Micah, you’re not as ready as you think.’”

Accepting that he needed to grow in character as well as in knowledge, Englehart’s family stayed in the area to participate in the ministry program while also still serving on campus, first in the Office of Admissions and then in Student Life.

Now that time of preparation comes to a conclusion as Englehart will return to Las Cruces after the spring semester to step into his father’s role as campus ministry director of Christian Challenge, today’s version of the BSU, at NMSU. Englehart steps into a role he has watched his father steward with faithfulness and vision. For Englehart, that legacy brings with it both excitement and weight.

“The guy that I’m taking over for has been doing the job for seven years longer than I’ve been alive,” he said. “So, there’s that automatic awareness of how much I have to learn and how much room I still have to grow to be a good steward of the leadership of that ministry.”

Englehart made it clear that he isn’t focused on replicating his father’s leadership style, rather, he’s entering the role with an acute awareness of his own weaknesses and his need to rely on the Lord’s strength in those areas while also leaning on the staff team and student leaders he is inheriting.

“I want to remain finely tuned to leading and being responsible the way God would have me lead and be responsible,” he said.

For Englehart, college ministry is not just a personal legacy but also a very strategic area of ministry.

“They’re in a one of the most strategic seasons of life because you’re an adult, technically, and you’re in a posture of learning because you’re at the university,” Englehart said of student ministry. “And it’s kind of one of your very first times to have a real chance to make something your own in terms of what you care about, and how you live your life. And the decisions that you make, the habits that you form, even the relationships that you make in college are likely to set the trajectory for the rest of your life. Man, if those things happen in line with the Great Commission, that’s huge.”

It’s that eternal significance that keeps Englehart inspired as he looks ahead to leading mission trips, discipling students, or simply managing the day-to-day logistics of an already fruitful ministry, including tasks like taking care of a building and hiring staff.

Englehart won’t be making the journey alone. His wife, Annie, a missionary kid who grew up in South America, shares his heart for the Gospel and ministry. Together, they’ve been shaped by seminary life, the Hope Church training program, and raising their young family in Fort Worth.

Their kids, ages six, five, and a newborn, have never known any other home. When Englehart accepted the New Mexico job and shared the news with them, their excitement came as relief and an affirmation of the family’s shared sense of calling.

“They were real pumped, like jumping around, so that was a blessing,” he smiled.

When their oldest later asked about leaving their friends, Englehart said Annie told him that it is okay to be both happy and sad, which Englehart said has defined their current time of transition as they leave behind close friends while starting God’s next assignment.

Alex Miller, director of student life at Southwestern, has known Englehart for many years now, as Micah has served the school under the leadership of his office. In those years, Miller has witnessed a range of characteristics in Englehart which he admires and that affirms to him that Englehart will be a tremendous leader.

“Micah understands that what God says should be treasured and received in a way that not only inspires but changes a person’s life,” Miller said. “One of the ways this has shown itself is in his teachability. Micah actively seeks to learn from others.”

He praised Micah’s humility and his uniquely effective approach to evangelism through it.

“You will probably hear him say something like, ‘I do not have an original thought; I just do what I learned from others,’” Miller recalled. “Micah isn’t lying when he says this, but what I know to be true is that he has thoughtfully culled and adapted what he learns to meet the needs of the people he cares for and shares the love of Christ with.”

“Micah will be missed in the Student Life office,” Miller added. “But there is no doubt in my mind that he will thrive as the NMSU Christian Challenge director, and he will be loving on his wonderful family and chomping on some green chiles as he does it!”

Another life Englehart has had a significant impression on in his time at Southwestern has been Mathingmi Hongchui, an international student from India who met Englehart in his Contemporary Evangelism class. Englehart introduced him to Scripture memorization and disciple making. Hongchui described their one-on-one meetings to read, pray, and go out evangelizing as some of his best experiences at Southwestern.

“Micah’s investment in my life has been priceless,” Hongchui said. “His passion for Scripture and people has left an indelible mark on my heart. Micah embodies the very essence of a disciple-maker: a man of God’s Word, intentional, vulnerable, and selfless. His influence on my life is a testament to the power of genuine love and friendship.”

As Englehart prepares to leave Southwestern to take on the very role that inspired his calling into ministry, he said he realizes he is entering a position where he can be used by God to lead others.

“I’m trusting God that He knows what He’s doing,” Englehart said “That the ministry will move forward and keep putting out Gospel-oriented, world-changing disciple makers, and that He’ll be near to me and my family as we do it, that He has good things in store.”