This past weekend the Chattanooga newspaper carried the story of the addition of a branch location for Niedlov’s Breadworks, the local maker of artisan breads established several years ago by Covenant alumnus John Sweet (class of 2000). The recently opened Niedlov’s Deli will serve the St. Elmo and Lookout Mountain neighborhoods with a full deli menu as well as John’s wonderful array of fresh-baked breads and pastries. Those of us who live nearby are really happy to have Niedlov’s treasures now even closer to where we live! And we’re not the only ones who appreciate what John has created: In 2010, in recognition of the success of his business and its contribution to the community, John was named Small Business Person of the Year for the state of Tennessee.

Actually Niedlov’s is just one of many examples of Covenant alumni putting their Covenant education to work in creative, entrepreneurial, community-serving ways. In fact, the list is rather long and includes both for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises. The following is a partial list of enterprises which Covenant alumni have founded or played a major role in founding:

• True Shine, Chattanooga window-washing business
• Greyfriar’s, downtown Chattanooga coffee shop
• Harrison Center for the Arts, downtown Indianapolis center for the arts, education, and urban revitalization
• Herron High School, downtown Indianapolis public charter school providing classical liberal arts, college preparatory education
• World Magazine, Christian news magazine
• Bifrost Arts, worship music organization
• rbt Bags, maker of oilcloth bags and goods
• Lookout for Orphans, not-for-profit that raises funds to help families in Lookout Mountain meet financial requirements for adoptions
• Jennifer Daniels, singer/songwriter
• The Company Lab, program to help Chattanooga entrepreneurs start small businesses
• Chattanooga Football Club, amateur soccer organization
• Choices, Chattanooga pregnancy resource center (formerly AAA Women’s Services)
• Tight Seal Plumbing, Chattanooga plumbing company
• Clumpies, Chattanooga-based maker of specialty ice cream
• 3HD, Chattanooga-based technology and graphic design firm (recently acquired by ND&P)
• Tricycle, provider of environmentally-friendly merchandising services to the interior-design industry
• New City Fellowship, multi-ethnic PCA church in Chattanooga
• Hilger Higher Learning, provider of supplemental education resources and social activities for Chattanooga-area homeschoolers
• 26 Tools, writing and communications company
• Medium, software/IT company (formerly Coptix, formerly Cross Consulting)
• Kalypto Medical, medical device company
• The New Empires, contemporary music ensemble (formerly Third Lobby)
• LifeKraze, social networking enterprise encouraging active and healthy lifestyle

And it’s not just off campus that the entrepreneurial impulse is active. More than ten years ago, Dr. Brian Fikkert led the effort to found The Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College, to provide know-how and resources for microeconomic development in poor communities around the world.

Just two years ago, a group of students developed Covenant’s first forensic team, which now travels regularly to tournaments and has won numerous national awards. We have recently witnessed the creation of a Campus Stewardship Committee and the Student Service Coalition — in fact, of the more than forty student clubs and organizations on campus, the vast majority were student-initiated and are student-led.

Last year, noting this history of wide-ranging entrepreneurial energy and impact, we at Covenant laid down plans for The Seed Project, an annual program to encourage the continuation of such efforts by giving current students the opportunity to compete for $10,000 in seed capital for ideas and plans which they present to an adjudicating panel. The Seed Project operates under the auspices of the Center for Calling & Career, whose director, Covenant alumnus and one of the founders of Clumpies Ice Cream, says this about our hopes for this new campus venture:

As image bearers of God, our Creator, we possess innate qualities that spur imagination and drive us to create and innovate. The Seed Project will provide opportunity for the pursuit of putting these ideas into action.

Among the Seed Project ideas that students have been developing are a videography business, a service business to Lookout Mountain residents, an online Bible commentary and study for students, and an on-campus ATM.

Of course these entrepreneurial ventures point to a larger conviction at the core of the mission of Covenant College: that as God’s gospel people we are called to live out the new-creation implications of the salvation and hope that are ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, serving the communities and world in which we live and bearing witness to the coming consummation and reconciliation of all things under our Lord’s sovereign and eternal rule. This happens as Covenant alumni, because of what they have come to know and love, faithfully work in all kinds of jobs, minister in churches, love their neighbors as themselves, vote, serve in the military, raise children – and, yes, build thriving, entrepreneurial ventures from the ground up.

What a delight to see this energy at work in the lives of Covenant alumni around the world! And what a delight to nurture this energy in our current students!