A Focus on Gratitude

“Each donation creates an enormous impact and life-changing opportunities for our current and future students,” continued Hill. “When our community of Asburians come together to give, it is amazing to see what God does.”

Giving as an Honor

The Hintz couple shares the impact of their Asbury experiences, leading them to fund opportunities for students and encourage future donors financially.

Greg Hintz ’90 and Trisha Fehler ’90 Hintz chose Asbury by very different paths.

Greg came from a long lineage of Asburians and lived around the Louisville area, which meant familiarity. “My earliest memories were of family coming to our house from Asbury on the weekends,” said Greg. “I’ve always had this tie to the University.”

Whereas Trisha had never heard of Asbury until her senior year when a pastor took her to visit campus and encouraged her to apply.

“I wasn’t planning on going to college, but I loved it,” said Trisha. “My home life was very chaotic, so I saw Asbury as a sweet, sanctuary place to grow up for another four years.”

A powerfully decisive moment for Trisha was an awards night of her senior year of high school. Simply showing up to support her friends, she was surprised by Asbury’s Dean of Students and was personally gifted the Presidential Scholarship of $1,000 to come to Asbury, which she says sealed the deal for her.

Greg and Trisha met at a freshmen orientation service and started dating two months later. While studying education at Asbury, Trisha served as a resident assistant (RA) of Glide-Crawford. At the same time, Greg double majored in accounting and business management, played tennis and class ball (the Asbury version of intercollegiate basketball), and was a Johnson West (1st floor) RA. They became engaged before their senior year and graduated with the Commanders, Asbury’s 100th graduating class.

“It’s our little bragging right to be a part of the 100th class,” beamed Trisha.

The Hintz couple stayed connected with Asbury in many ways — attending Reunions, visiting campus to see their son, Wade Hintz ’20, spending time with friends in Wilmore — but the most significant connection point is through the professional sphere.

Working for a big four accounting firm and then transitioning to a top 10 accounting firm, Crowe LLP, Greg loves to keep contact with Asbury professors and hire students into his firm.

“I’m so proud of the Asbury accounting students,” said Greg. “They have a willingness to work and are above everybody else in maturity, capability, and value systems. Asbury is one of the places we want to hire from because we’ve had such success.”

The couple started their giving journey with Greg’s leadership on the 2016-2019 subcommittee for naming the Walt and Rowena Shaw Collaborative Learning Center (Shaw CLC) atrium in honor of former Asbury professor Don Winslow ’65, a founding faculty member in Asbury’s Business Department.

“I can’t even begin to describe how influential Don was in every facet of our lives,” Greg said, discussing his work in the subcommittee to honor Winslow. “To me, that’s one of the beautiful things about Asbury, how professors pour into students unlike anywhere else. Don would have all of us accounting kids over at his house and prep us for interviews.”

They continued their generous giving toward the atrium over a five-year pledge. The couple recently pledged a generous donation for the Outdoor Venue, a multi- functional, first-rate facility that will serve to help athletes train and compete at a high level, and also as a venue for sponsoring concerts, worship nights, and facilitating a range of events through which Asbury shares Christ’s love with students, alumni, faculty and staff, friends and families, and the wider community.

Today, Greg still works as a CPA and is looking forward to retirement. The Hintzes are enjoying a new phase of life with their three adult children, Wade, Evan, and Bethany. They invest intentional time in service to Fisherville Baptist Church and spend the rest of their day with their beautiful Great Dane, Sasha.

“Asbury is part of our heart, and we believe in it,” said Trisha. “We just want it to grow and be as impactful as possible for the Lord, the world, and the students there.”

“As I think about Asbury, what’s big on my heart is to create another generation of generous givers,” said Greg, “who, with hearts of God’s direction, try to exponentially grow donors who give to people in need and keep Asbury improving.”

Walking This Path with Us

Lately I’ve been reading two books that have mentioned “the way” or “the path.”

Asbury 1907 alum, E. Stanley Jones, (the only alum nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice!) wrote a daily devotional called “The Way,” where he talks about how we are making daily choices that are simply either within “God’s way” of life or on a different path which he describes simply as “not the way.”

Another book someone gave me recently is called “The Steward’s Way” and reminds us that even David, who was described as a man after God’s own heart, still prayed for guidance and asked God to “Teach me the way in which I should walk…” (Psalm 143:8).

As stewards of Asbury’s important mission during this time period, it is sometimes daunting as a leadership team to determine “the right path” and “the way” we should go in a multiplicity of decisions regarding academics, planning and policy, cultural response, walking with students, fundraising, etc.

It is, however, incredibly humbling and reassuring to be reminded that this little institution in Wilmore is first being stewarded by God himself. God gives us the gift of thousands of prayer warriors, alums, and friends from all over the world who invest with their resources, time and talents to walk beside us. They encourage us to maintain this vitally important mission as we challenge and support students in their growth and development into Christ-like leaders.

As we reflect on the abundance of new facilities and programs, higher enrollment, and increased spiritual temperature, we are simply honored and in awe of what God is doing. I want to extend a heartfelt “thank you” to so many of you who have joined us in these exciting days. (I didn’t say “easy days,” but they are worthwhile and exciting.) We are not only blessed by you, but desperately need your partnership in this journey as we continue to steward what God has before us.

Thank you for walking this path with us, and we look forward to many future years of faithful stewardship.

Dr. Mark Troyer
Vice President for Institutional Advancement & Strategic Partnerships

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