Changing Seasons

“I’ll never be here 25 years.”

That’s what Doug Hastings ’79 said in the early 1980s when he and Nancy (Andersen ’80) Hastings first started working for Moody Radio and the Alumni Association, respectively.

Nancy smiled. “When you are 22 years old, it is hard to believe that you would be doing anything for 25 years.”

Forty years later, retirement is just around the corner for Doug, vice president of Moody Radio, and Nancy, executive director of the Alumni Association. Once they retire in February 2022, the couple look forward to getting more involved at their church and spending more time with their children and grandchildren.

“We both want to find purposeful, meaningful ways to serve the Lord,” Nancy says.

Serving God through serving alumni

That sense of purpose has driven the Hastings to devote their skills to Moody over the decades. In the Alumni Association, Nancy has loved working with student employees and serving Moody alumni.

“This job has exposed me to so many people and so many stories of God’s faithfulness,” she says.

Using radio for ministry and evangelism

Doug served in many capacities, from administration to programming, prior to assuming his VP role three and a half years ago. For most of his career, Moody Radio was housed on the top three floors of Crowell Hall.

“We continually had technical challenges in that facility,” Doug says. “It just wasn’t designed for what we needed to be doing.”

Doug was excited to relocate his team to the Chapman Center, home to both Moody Publishers and Moody Radio. Completed in 2018 with state-of-the-art broadcast and production studios, the building allows for media collaboration and creativity that has enabled Moody Radio to produce 190 hours of original programming each week.

“The ability to use such a powerful medium for ministry and the gospel, I think, is what I will miss the most,” he says.

Intrigued by radio

Doug became interested in radio during high school while doing maintenance work at a local radio station. Walking past the control rooms, he thought, “If I have to work for the rest of my life, I want to do something that’s fun.”

When he learned about the Communications major at Moody, Doug applied and began his Moody experience in the fall of 1976.

Following a family legacy

For Nancy, Moody was a family legacy. Her uncle Donald Wise ’44 taught Greek and Bible courses at Moody. Her aunts, Margaret (Andersen ’44) Wise and Ruth (Wise ’76) Larson, were alumni as well as her cousins Tim Wise ’70, Larry Wise ’72 ’74, Ruth (Wise ’76) Storvik, and Darrel Storvik ’76.

Eager to attend, Nancy’s interest in radio and love of public speaking drew her to the Communications major.

She and Doug started dating and were married on July 19, 1980.

Committed to sound doctrine

Doug’s first job after graduating from Moody was at a Christian radio station. Because the station’s programming lacked theological consistency, Doug decided not to sign on long term.

“But I knew the consistency that Moody held—and such a high standard for sound doctrine and biblical teaching with their programming,” he says.

In 1981 Doug made a two-year commitment to work at Moody Radio, not knowing he would stay for four decades. “In the media world, that is pretty unusual,” he says.

Nancy’s path back to Moody

Despite Nancy’s interest in radio, husbands and wives were not allowed to work in the same department at that time, so Nancy applied for the secretary position in the Alumni Association, a job that included editing the Alumni News magazine.

“That was my tiny little thread to being involved in communications,” she says.

In 1985, 11 months after the stillbirth of their first child and pregnant with their second, Nancy left her job in the Alumni office. For the next 13 years Nancy was a stay-at-home mom, caring for their two children, during which she served for six years on the Alumni Board, filled in part-time roles, and served as the Brick Walkway coordinator. Nancy returned to the Alumni Association in 2003 and became the executive director in 2011.

Nancy directs the alumni board, prays for alumni requests, and tries to keep the wide range of alumni constituents happy, which keeps Nancy on her toes—and on her knees.

“We have alumni from 20 years old to 105,” she says. “So trying to be relevant in our ministry can be a challenge.”

Jim Elliott, vice president of Stewardship, says, “Nancy’s passionate, caring, and steady leadership has been instrumental to the Moody Alumni Association. The development of Alumni Communities, the Life after Moody event for graduating seniors, and virtual reunions during Founder’s Week in 2021 are evidence of the creative ways in which Nancy has served alumni.”

Fixing his eyes on Jesus

Doug says he’s approached every position he has worked at Moody Radio with the same goal in mind.

“You’re not going to be able to please everybody,” he says. “But you just have to focus and concentrate on doing what you think the Lord is telling you to do and that the programming and content is true to God’s Word.”

At Doug’s 40th anniversary party, COO Mark Wagner got ahold of then 22-year-old Doug’s work application with his answer to the question, Why do you want to work at Moody Bible Institute? Doug’s exact words: “I want to be part of sharing the gospel to a searching and lost world.” Mark said, “That really encapsulates all the things that Doug has done for the last 40 years for Moody Radio.”

Although Doug and Nancy won’t miss the 40-mile commute from their home in Indiana, they will miss touching lives through Moody.

“This place has been a part of our life since we were 18 years old,” says Nancy, tearing up. “That’s going to be hard to walk away from.”

Doug nods. “You step away from that, and it’s not like your worth is diminished, but your scope of influence changes. Handing the baton off to someone to take it and run with it in their own way is also energizing for me, because I think God has seasons for everyone. And our season is changing.”