Growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Holly Irwin didn’t spend her childhood dreaming of a future as a vice president at a higher education institution. In fact, she originally planned to study medicine. But she has always been willing to follow her passions and interests and to listen to the voices of important people in her life as well as the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
A sense of calling has led to Irwin’s choices. In different seasons of her life, she has experienced new vocational callings, often felt through the encouragement of others.
Her journey has led her through overlapping seasons of work in psychology, higher education administration, and pastoral ministry. Through it all, her commitment to living a life faithful to God and others has never wavered.
Irwin’s long tenure at PLNU and her personal experiences of mission and calling have prepared her well for her newest role at PLNU as vice president for mission and calling. In her role, she will help guide both the university and its students, faculty, and staff in faithfully pursuing both calling and mission.
Understanding The Terms Mission And Calling
Calling is sometimes defined as our purpose, encompassing the life and tasks God has planned for each of us. Calling brings together our gifts, passions, and talents in our unique path of service to God. We can be called as individuals, the way Moses was called by God from the burning bush (see Exodus 3), and we can be called as a family of believers, the way Jesus called his disciples as a group to “wash one another’s feet” by living in service to others (see John 13:1-17).
Mission is sometimes defined as the specific task or tasks a person or organization is called to do. Moses was called by God, and his mission was to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Peter was called by Jesus to follow him, and his mission became leading the early Church (see Matthew 16).
Sometimes the terms mission and calling are used interchangeably. Sometimes the term mission is seen as the purpose of a group or organization with calling as the role of individuals. All these interpretations have at the heart the idea of purpose and, for Christians, obedience to God.
At PLNU, calling has been a vital part of our university identity and history.
“In our context, ‘calling’ is linked to discipleship, following and becoming like Jesus,” said President Kerry Fulcher. “The Calling sculpture at the heart of campus reminds us of our responsibility to answer Jesus’ call to become his disciple and our role in helping students respond to Jesus’ call to become disciples. This is at the heart of PLNU’s history and Christian mission, rooted in the Great Commission.
Mission And Calling In Irwin’s Experience
In Irwin’s case, college was a time when she experienced a vocational call to the field of psychology. She fell in love with psychology when she took an introductory course, devouring the assigned textbook cover to cover. Toward the end of her undergraduate study, a trusted professor recommended graduate school. She took the advice and earned her doctorate in experimental psychology. While she was finishing her degree, she applied for an assistant professor position in psychology at Point Loma, interviewing under President Jim Bond, and was offered the job. She completed her doctorate in December of 1997 and began teaching at Point Loma in spring 1998 under President Bob Brower just as Point Loma College became Point Loma Nazarene University. Prayer, passion, and wise counsel had led her to a career and a place she loved.
From there, an ongoing vocational calling led her to increasing positions of leadership. She served as a department chair and became the interim college dean in 2010. In 2011, she was hired as a full-time dean. In that role, she learned more about the depth and breadth of the university and administrative work. In 2017, she became vice provost for academic administration.
Prayer, passion, and wise counsel had led her to a career and a place she loved.
“Shortly after I began that role, I began having what I call ‘I see in you’ conversations with people in my life,” she said. Several people she trusted shared that they saw in Irwin a gift for ministry. “I experienced a confirmed call into ministry in the summer of 2022. That was a surprise to me, but it was a profound experience.”
In addition to her work at PLNU, since 2023, Irwin and her husband have been co-pastors of a Nazarene church in Lakeside, California. Her husband is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene, and Holly is in the ordination process. She also just completed her M.A. in Christian ministry at PLNU.
“I’m so excited to be able to refer to myself as an alumnus!” she said.
As she adds serving as PLNU’s vice president for mission and calling to her resume this summer, Irwin is excited to take on a new mission that helps others find theirs and helps the university to continue to be a missional place.
“In this new role, I’m tasked with providing strategic direction for our Christian ministry, Wesleyan Holiness identity, and vocational calling as well as integrating this throughout everything we do. Part of the role is creating initiatives that deepen understanding of our Christian ministry among faculty, staff, students, and external partners. It’s exciting when I think about the implications and the ways we can be purposeful about who we are as an institution.”
Mission And Calling At PLNU
PLNU’s mission statement reads: “Point Loma Nazarene University exists to provide higher education in a vital Christian community where minds are engaged and challenged, character is modeled and formed, and service is an expression of faith.”
“Our mission is not just a statement; it is the foundation that unites and guides us,” Irwin explained. “I would define ‘mission’ as ‘shared purpose.’ It’s what binds us together as a community; it’s the collective ‘why’ that defines PLNU as a Christ-centered university. It shapes the direction of our work and the culture of our community.”
A mission is meant to be durable. In the 27 years that Irwin has served at PLNU, much has changed. Within the university, there has been tremendous growth in programs offered. There have been new buildings and changes in faculty, staff, and administration. In the larger world, technology has rapidly evolved and upended much of daily life. Twenty-seven years ago, people were just getting started with dial-up internet access. The smartphone and social media were still a decade away. And yet despite how much has changed since 1998, the central purpose of the university that drew Irwin to Point Loma remains.
“Our mission is what provides us with that stable center,” Irwin explained. “It’s an anchor, being grounded in our Christian mission, being rooted in Christ.”
“Our mission is not just a statement; it is the foundation that unites and guides us.”
Having an anchoring mission helps organizations make wise decisions and persevere through challenges. It also helps tie past and present goals and successes together.
“I love Isaiah 62, our university chapter,” Irwin said. “We place it in our Commencement program. It’s where we have been. Looking at the history of our institution, Phineas Bresee [the university’s founder] was facing a significant challenge of possible institutional collapse. He was earnestly praying when he came to that chapter and felt it was God’s promise to us. In the act of remembering where we have been, we remember that we have faced challenges in the past and relied on God to see us through and guide us, not knowing what the outcome would be. We will continue to have challenges. We live in a broken world. Yet, when we stay anchored in our mission and rooted in Christ, we can use that to think about and pray about ways we might move forward.”
Mission And Calling In Individual Lives
“I think about vocational calling as the ongoing discovery of our unique gifts, the ways that we are built, our passions, our life experiences, and how all that aligns with God’s purposes in the world,” Irwin said. “How then is that expressed through the work that we do? The service that we offer? Even in our relationships? It’s about the whole person. How is the whole of us showing up?”
Irwin notes that vocation is broader than a job or a career. What is the essence of who our students are? How has God called them? How is God continuing to call them and us? Irwin notes that she didn’t receive her ministerial calling until recently.
“God gives us continual callings on our lives,” she said. “That carries throughout our entire lives. Even in retirement, God calls us into the next chapter.”
How can we discern God’s call at whatever life stage we are in? Irwin says while we aren’t usually given an exact blueprint of what to do, there are ways we can effectively seek to understand what God’s will for us is. She suggests engaging in practices such as: “Prayer. Reading Scripture and praying back God’s promises that he has for us. Leaning into trusted people who really know who you are. Having those ‘I see in you’ conversations where we are allowing them to be mirrors for us, saying, ‘Here are the gifts I see you bring to the table.’”
PLNU’s whole person approach to education and focus on lifelong vocational calling is important. Some people view higher education as a commodity — a transaction to secure a good job.
“With our students, the goal is, yes, to prepare our students in the field that they are called to, but included in that is the shaping of students as whole persons, their character, their faith, their purpose,” Irwin said. “Through the lens of our Wesleyan Holiness tradition, our Christian mission calls students to lives of purposeful service empowered by God’s grace so that they can become agents of compassion, justice, and reconciliation.”
For Irwin, her new role as vice president and part of the president’s cabinet is not just a promotion. It’s God’s call to her in this season. Upholding and supporting the mission of the university is close to her heart and allows her to use her gifts and experiences in service of God and others.
Irwin shared part of President Fulcher’s inaugural address that resonated deeply with her: “Our mission is not about prestige or power, it’s about forming students who are spiritually anchored, intellectually prepared, and mission driven. That’s the heart of Christian liberal arts education. We don’t just prepare students to succeed in a career, we help them discern how to live lives of purpose, service, and Christ-like love in whatever field they enter.”
