Over the past 4 years Reverend Jeremy Irwin’s absence was felt in the Bible department at WCA. Luckily he made his grand return this year by teaching worldviews and psychology. In late 2020, Reverend Irwin departed from the school and moved to Baltimore, Maryland. Now after 4 long years Irwin has made his glorious return to Westminster.
Irwin has come forth and shared his story about the reason he left, the reason he came back, and what he did in between. During August of 2020, Reverend Irwin left St. Louis, Missouri for Baltimore, Maryland. A decision that was made because of his wife’s pursuit of a teaching job. His wife, a former graphic designer, did not have the qualifications to teach at a school, so she had to go receive a graduate degree in Baltimore, and eventually go on to teach at a college university. The reason for wanting a teaching job was because she saw how much Irwin enjoyed his job at WCA.
But why did Irwin become a teacher in the first place? Irwin said:
“I was a pastor from 2010 to 2017, a lot of things were great about it, but I ended up getting really burnt out. Then I switched over to being a teacher here and I absolutely loved it […] Some of the reasons for that. When you’re a pastor, even your most committed members, you see them basically two times a month, maybe three times a month. When you’re a teacher you get to see your students at Westminster four times a week for an entire year, so you get a ton of opportunities for spiritual conversations.”
Irwin loves to connect with people by use of spiritual discussions, and Westminster was the best place for him to do that. His love for teaching at Westminster had inspired his wife to pursue a teaching job herself. Irwin supported the decision and they left to help her get her degree.
The move was difficult for Irwin not only because he left WCA, but he had to put his wife’s career on the front burner, and his own career on the back burner. Although the Irwin family moved away from WCA, Irwin decided to continue his teaching career at multiple different schools, including homeschooling during COVID. Some of those teaching jobs included teaching Bible and worship arts, which he already knew how to do, and even some classes that he wasn’t used to like Latin and science. Both of those were an interesting change for Irwin who got to learn tons of new things from his new colleagues and is very grateful for the time he spent teaching those classes.
Irwin attempted to come back in 2022, but unfortunately was not able to. Recently his wife was offered a teaching job at WashU, and she decided to take it. After they made the decision to return to Missouri Irwin reached out to Dr. Micah Gall, head of academic development, and asked to come back. After many discussions it was determined that he would teach three sections of worldviews and two sections of psychology. Irwin was excited to come back to a teaching job he loved and said:
“I really love it here. The thing I most love is having spiritual conversations with people […] You actually get to do that more as a teacher than you get to do as a pastor […] “When we got the opportunity to come back I was filled with gratitude, and I still am.”
During the process of Irwin’s return, Gall was not the only one who had an effect on the situation. Reverend Davis also was a key factor to the decision. Davis enjoyed Irwin and his skills while he was at WCA from 2018 to 2020 including his ability to make his class easy to understand for people of all skill levels because of the fact that the Bible subject does not include honors classes.
After hearing about the opportunity that was offered to Irwin’s life, Davis knew that the chances of Irwin’s return were rising, and he was excited. Davis said:
“I was having discussions with Mr. Gall […] It was mid-spring semester that the possibility arose that the Irwins were moving back here […] But I said if that happens we should do what we can to bring him back on staff.”
Excitement was in the air for the Bible department after the change in roles that Steven Ottolini had, after he became the assistant director of student life and would no longer be in the classroom. This gave Irwin the perfect chance to return. Irwin’s return was important because of the important characteristics such as the selflessness that he possesses. Davis said:
“There’re some people who have these qualities, but they have to be center stage […] Irwin is not like that […] Everything about him was wanting to be part of the conversation and not the one driving it […] That just speaks to the quality of humility about him, and that’s something you would hope would come from someone who teaches Bible.”
Irwin’s important decision to leave the school because of his wife’s career ended up working out for everyone including Westminster. The process in which he returned was an exciting time because of the prospect that a great teacher would be returning to the school, and hopefully you will have the opportunity to meet and interact with Reverend Irwin in the future if you haven’t already.
