School of Law vice dean inspires students by sharing ‘God’s good story’ through family’s tragedy

If there’s one thing Liberty University School of Law Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Faculty Development Rodney Chrisman loves to tell his students, it’s that the hardships and sufferings they experience are all part of “God’s good story.”

After suddenly losing his wife, Heather, in 2018 and becoming a single father of nine kids, Chrisman experienced a period of intense grief and suffering. But his trial hasn’t prevented him from sharing his testimony.

Originally an atheist, Chrisman met his wife while working at a local movie theater in high school. He said she was the first Christian he argued with about God who didn’t become defensive or offended.

“A lot of people, when I would tell them I was an atheist, would get really mad and aggressive,” Chrisman said. “But Heather would listen to a lot of the arguments I had for why God doesn’t exist, and she would say, ‘I don’t know the answer to that, but I still believe.’ It was a big deal to hear somebody say that.”

They married in 1996, during Chrisman’s junior year at Eastern Kentucky University.  He continued to law school at the University of Kentucky, where, at the end of his first semester, everything changed spiritually. His first child, Sierra, was born.

“When Sierra was 12-13 weeks in utero, they did an ultrasound. I had been very libertarian and pro-choice … but then when I saw her (in an ultrasound), she was so obviously a person. It was worldview-shattering. It put a crack in my heart, and God kept using that baby to open me up.”

After the birth of Sierra and entering his 2L year, Chrisman immersed himself in Scripture, developing a desire to pursue Christ that remained throughout law school and into his career.

“If Jesus is real and who He says He is, then it absolutely demands everything. I saw that, and Heather and I decided we wanted to do what pleases the Lord most. I felt like God was calling me to be a pastor.”

Chrisman left his job at a large law firm and pastored a local church in Kentucky while operating his own law practice for three years. He eventually started looking into seminaries, and one morning, while doing his Bible reading, he felt pressed to visit Liberty Theological Seminary, even though he did not know much about it. But while visiting Liberty, he subsequently heard about its School of Law, which was in its first year, and applied for a position there. The School of Law did not have any available faculty openings for that fall, but Chrisman moved with his wife and two kids (and one on the way) to Lynchburg in 2005 and started his career at Liberty by teaching Business Law for the School of Business. In 2006, he became an adjunct faculty member of the School of Law before becoming full time in 2007. They were blessed with six more children during his time at Liberty, and his children now range in age from eight to 25.

Chrisman had the honor of meeting Liberty’s founder, Dr. Jerry Falwell, before he passed away in May 2007.

“It was just really awesome to spend time in (Dr. Falwell’s) office with him, talking about the law school, and he even prayed with me,” Chrisman said. “He loved people, and he loved the Lord, and he loved this university. He was a great man.”

Chrisman has taught students from every graduating class at Liberty Law, in courses ranging from Tax Law to Law and Economics, Lawyering Skills, and more. This fall will mark his 20th year at the school.

“The most central thing about Liberty Law is the Christian worldview,” Chrisman said. “We want to provide our students with an excellent legal education, and we want to be producing the best lawyers in the country. But we do that in fidelity to the western legal tradition and the Christian worldview as expressed in the Holy Scriptures.”

Chrisman said the Christian worldview is present on a larger scale — not just in the curriculum. While many law schools are competitive and cut-throat, he said Liberty Law cultivates trust between the students, and the faculty and staff value building all students up for success. Like Chrisman, faculty strive to have an open-door policy, where students can ask them questions pertaining to academics or life in general.

The love and care that faculty and students have for each other surpasses academics, Chrisman said, as he found immense support from the law school during one of the most difficult times in his life.

“Heather and I’s expectation was that we would have years and years together, but a lot of times the Lord has a different story. And that was the case for us,” Chrisman said in an interview last year with Center for Law and Government Senior Executive Director Morse Tan, former dean of Liberty Law. “In June of 2018, Heather unexpectedly passed away from complications of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. We had hoped that she would recover from it, but that’s not the path that the Lord chose in the story He gave us.”

When Heather died, all of Liberty Law rallied around the family to show their support. Faculty assisted Chrisman by lightening his grading and courseload, students reached out and sent family meals, and Liberty’s leadership stepped up to help.

“Through losing Heather and the time that followed, I came to realize that everything God gives you, He gives not just for you, but to build up and minister to others,” Chrisman said. “God is telling through history — all of history — this great and wonderful story. But like all good stories, it’s got bad parts. Not all the parts of the story are good, but it’s working together for good. God is telling us this wonderful story that is for His glory.”

While Chrisman found it hard at first to be transparent with students about his grief, he was convicted by God that he needed to share it.

“I told my students to make sure they tell people that they love them, because you don’t know when you might not see them again,” he said.

One student told her husband Chrisman’s story about the notes he and his wife would leave for each other, and soon thereafter, her husband left her a note for the very first time in the almost 28 years they had been married.

“That blesses me every time I think about it,” Chrisman said. “We’ve all got hard things we go through, and to think that God is so good as to use that to help somebody else when they are going through something hard is a blessing.”

Chrisman is grateful for the support he has had from Liberty Law and the ways he can use his story to build up his students for Christ.

“The number one thing we want when you come to Liberty Law is for you to be closer to Christ at the end than when you started,” he said. “If we make you best the lawyer in the world and yet we don’t see that (spiritual) growth, then we would view that as a failure. We want people to be formed in the image of Christ, and we get the privilege of being part of helping them grow in Christ while they are here.”