NUrturing Faith

Sharing Stories from LCMNU

July 2025

it changed my life: terrie Halbert

Terrie Halbert (’79) was talking one day with her husband about LCMNU when he commented, “It changed your life, didn’t it?”

“It did, indeed,” Terrie affirmed. “I walked into LCMNU as a pious, fresh-faced, self-focused girl from the American plains, and left as a member of the community of saints. I understood the importance of an evolving faith—one nourished by the Word, the Eucharist, hardships, compassion and laughter."

But her first experience with LCMNU and then-Pastor Clyde McCormack, or “Mac,” almost turned her away from the ministry.

“For one thing, Mac was an enormous personality, and I was unbelievably naive,” said Terrie, who lives in Traverse City, Michigan, and is now retired after 35+ years in the information technology arena.  “I didn’t even know you could drop classes until I was a junior, and I had had no idea one could speak with a professor in order to hand a paper in later if circumstances required.”

Her first Sunday morning at LCMNU featured a sermon from Pastor McCormack that Terrie said left her feeling like “he was an absolute positive heretic.”

“Mac called me pious. It took me decades to truly process what he was talking about,” Terrie explained. “The ALC church I attended in my formative years was pretty clear in its directives: to be a Christian, you go to church and Bible study, you did things in the youth group, you sang in he choir, etc. It was all about being a church person, not necessarily being a Christian person, that is, someone who expresses the love of Christ through community and service."

That difference is what Pastor McCormack challenged Terrie on, and she said she didn’t like it at first.

“The ideas he preached were shocking, absolutely shocking to me. So the next Sunday, I looked for another church,” Terrie said. “I didn’t find one that fit my criteria, so I returned to LCMNU. It was meant to be.”

Why did she stay at the campus ministry? Pastor McCormack and his focus on having students learn all things church, including training them to be leaders in the churches they would join after graduation. He was a demanding teacher and preacher.

"My faith life changed dramatically because it was no longer about serving the church as it were, and my self-righteous attitude,” Terrie said. “It was about serving my neighbors in the name of Christ through the church community."

Her degrees in German and history also fit in well with her time at the ministry, Terrie said.

“Mac was fond of saying, ‘It is the duty of every Christian to read his Bible, say his prayers, love his spouse, do his work and drink his beer.’  He made it clear that our ‘work’ as NU students was to learn.  We should learn well and not stop learning.  Whatever work we do, we should do it to the glory of God,” Terrie said. “…My focuses were German, literature and history.  Mac’s Bible and book studies, the people to whom he introduced us–amongst them, Martin Marty, Krister Stendahl, Edmund O. Wilson–beautifully enriched my education and provided fertile soil for my faith life to grow.”

Though she may not have envisioned it after that first Sunday with Pastor McCormack, Terrie said their relationship would grow immensely. She even called him to check in while she was studying abroad her junior year in Munich, Germany.

Terrie’s son and his spouse live in Chicago, so Terrie said that gives her a reason to return to the area. She returned one Sunday to experience worship with Pastor Deanna Langle for the first time.

“I heard Pastor Deanna, and she was the culmination of everything Mac was, plus her personality was inviting, not intimidating,” Terrie said with a smile.  “She is a gift from God to the students at NU. I rejoice to be able to support LCMNU’s ministry.”

Terrie fondly recalls spending time with her peers at the Center, where she learned cooking skills, met her best friend and made other cherished friendships and memories.

One student would leave his records in the center for Terrie and others to listen to while hanging out or studying, with Terrie remembering how she wrote papers on the floor to the tunes of Simon & Garfunkel.

Nowadays, she views campus ministry as essential, especially amid concerns over student mental health. Terrie also encourages alumni to continue and enhance their financial support of LCMNU.

“So, I would say that Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northwestern is life-saving and life-nourishing,” Terrie said. “May all the students there be ‘fed’ so well.”