The Blue
Tribune
The Blue Tribune is your place to learn about all things Covenant and keep up with stories from campus and beyond. By guiding you through the different aspects of Covenant, we'll help you decide if you want to pursue your very own Covenant experience.
From Cambodia to Harvard: Trey Nation ’08
When Trey Nation reflects on his years of academic study and time in the field, it is clear to him that even as his gifts and career have evolved, all his talents have been best used when used for God’s kingdom.
A Journey to the Mountain
Trey came to Covenant after hearing about the college from his youth pastor and coming to campus for summer camps. He graduated in 2008 with a degree in community development, which has been impactful throughout his career. “I learned to write and think clearly at Covenant, skills which remain relevant in any field, but certainly in academia,” Trey says. “Although community development might seem tangential to what I do now, I’m constantly amazed at how much it continues to inform my work.” Apart from receiving an education, Trey describes his experience at Covenant as an invaluable time in which he felt he learned to walk with Christ in a community of believers and to delight in the Word of God.
From Covenant to Florida to Cambodia
Following Covenant, Trey spent a year working at ECHO, a training and research farm in South Florida focused on subsistence and tropical agriculture. Following ECHO, he worked as a consultant for Food for the Hungry in Cambodia, where he began to truly realize his desire to learn and teach the Old Testament. “I had a clear sense that God had given me gifts to teach and to serve the church through those gifts,” Trey says. “Too many Christians find the world of the Old Testament alien and strange; however, understanding the context of the Old Testament only adds to our ability to understand God’s Word and perceive all of its beauty.”
From Seminary at Gordon-Conwell to PhD at Harvard
After his term in Cambodia, Trey followed this calling and spent four years at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary doing an M.Div. and M.A. in Old Testament. During this time, Trey and his wife worked in campus outreach towards Chinese international students in the surrounding universities. After seminary, Trey began further study in his love for the Old Testament, pursuing a Ph.D. program in Assyriology at Harvard. Throughout his career, Trey has seen, and continues to see, his faith at the core of who he is.
I believe that ‘faith’ is not something that is outside of the rest of my life, imposing more or less influence on it. If we belong to Jesus, then we are not free agents anymore. My marriage and parenting, my studies, my friendships, and even my leisure should be part of my service to the King.
To read more of his story, visit Trey’s alumni profile.