Lyle Miller (’84) | #youareims
In one word Lyle Miller (’84) would describe IMS as FORMATIVE. He said, “No single experience has shaped my faith and informed my world view more than the four years I spent at IMS.” Saying of IMS, “It will change your life!”
“Your worldview will be expanded as you claim your identity as a beloved child of God and discover in new ways how Christ is the center of our faith, community is the center of our world, and reconciliation is the center of our work.” Lyle said he continues to be thankful for faculty who were adept enough to realize that nearly every class period could contribute to faith formation. Learning the math or English lesson was important, but teachers knew when to allow the conversation to move from the subject at hand to an issue of faith. And more importantly, they were able to make the subject at hand be an issue of faith.
Lyle went on to say that, “IMS informed nearly everything about my future. As a result of being at IMS, I gained lifelong friends and met my spouse, I chose a life of service to the church, and I learned that the choices I make with my gifts, resources, and time all make a difference as I seek to live out God’s vision in the world.” And he said, “Academically, I felt very prepared for college, but more importantly, I learned that nothing occurs in a vacuum. The choices we make in one area of life have effects in other areas.”
One of Lyle’s favorite memories was actually more than one. He said that three interactions with a particular teacher mold into one: (1) being disciplined for littering on an Interterm van trip, (2) receiving a blessing as my teammates and I stood at the state cross country meet start line, and (3) being grilled during chapel as we role-played my appearing before the draft board as a conscientious objector. That all of these experiences were outside his academic discipline as a choir director points to how he and others saw their mission as being about forming us as [whole] persons.
All of these things are why Lyle would say that what he still loves about IMS is that, “It continues to form students as Christ’s disciples.”