Former Liberty Campus Pastor Continues To Mentor College Students During Retirement

For the past 44 years, Dane Emerick has taught, mentored and disciplined Liberty students. He retired from Liberty on Dec. 31, 2020, but he has no plans to stop helping students navigate the challenges and triumphs of this season of  their lives.

During his time at Liberty, Emerick served the student body as associate dean of men, campus pastor, counselor and associate director of the Office of Community Life. 

Emerick started in full-time ministry in 1968. He attended Washington Bible College and became a youth pastor at a church in Pennsylvania in 1973. But he was asked to resign from his church. 

“I was a radical. I had a motorcycle,” Emerick said.

Following the resignation, Emerick struggled with depression. During this time, he recalls watching an Olympic cross-country race on TV. The leading runner tripped on his shoelace, fell in mud and just sat there.

“I jumped up as if my TV could hear me and said, ‘Stupid, get back in the race,’” Emerick said. “And I realized that was God saying, ‘Stupid, get back in the race.’”

And so Emerick and his family packed up their Ford Maverick, attached a trailer to the back and set out for Lynchburg in 1976.  Emerick decided to attend Liberty’s seminary to study pastoral counseling and Christian education.

When they arrived in Lynchburg, the family had no place to stay or jobs to support themselves. They eventually found a place, and Emerick’s wife, Joan, applied to teach at Liberty Christian Academy at the start of the new school year.

“We prayed, ‘God, if you want us here, please show us,’” Emerick said. “And that day, a schoolteacher resigned, and they hired (my wife).” 

Emerick got a job cooking for the students at Liberty’s main dormitory, the Stewart Arms Hotel, and became a  resident director. 

“We lived with mice, cockroaches and an elevator that would drop you a floor or two,” Emerick said. “But it was fantastic because we saw God working in our lives.” 

As he was called up to become assistant and later associate dean of men, Emerick found himself challenged by what the positions required of him. Being a dean meant Emerick had not only a pastoral role but now a disciplinary one as well. He had to tell young men and women who had gotten in trouble that the university was moving forward with administrative withdrawal.

Because of his spiritual gift of mercy, he struggled through these conversations and, when the decision went to the review board, Emerick urged the members to let him work with the student. 

“But I also realized that sometimes I have to face consequences for my actions,” Emerick said. “God forgives. God gives us a second chance, but God doesn’t take away consequences. We learn through those.”

Some of Liberty’s current professors and staff were disciplined by Emerick during their time as students. Seeing the love with which they were disciplined usually led them back to Liberty. He has even done weddings of students he has had to send home. 

“They come back and really serve the Lord,” Emerick said. “They would tell me, ‘We know you didn’t want to send us home, but you knew it was the best for us.’”

Even after his retirement, Emerick still meets with students looking for guidance and counsel and hosts Bible studies at his home. One Bible study he leads is for students who are veterans, a group that he feels particularly close to as he is a veteran of the U.S. Navy himself. He and his wife, bringing a wealth of wisdom from their 47 years of marriage, also do marriage counseling and discipleship. 

“I always say my second office is Panera,” Emerick said. “I still meet with students over there. They’ll just call me up and say, ‘Can I meet with you?’” 

Emerick’s greatest desire for his students is for them to stay in the word of God. He also urges students to find good friends who will sharpen them as well as confront them in love, like he has done for so many throughout the years.

Renee Farmer is a Feature Reporter. Follow her on Twitter at @reneefarmerr.