“Entering God’s Rest”: Honoring Dr. Gary Derickson’s 35 years at Corban

How do you sum up a career that spans three faithful decades?

When I knocked on Dr. Gary Derickson’s office door with that purpose in mind, I was surprised to find him leaning back in his desk chair, biblical commentaries and books on scriptural exegesis (many of which he has contributed to) piled around him like Greek columns, pretending to be asleep. It’s something he has had little time for over his 35 years at Corban University.

For generations of Corban students, he has been a steady presence in the classroom. He is known for his clarity, his rigor, and his commitment to Scripture, navigating and nudging students through the intricacies of God’s Word with a kind of disciplined consistency that might have something to do with his background as a tugboat captain in the US Army.

Whether it’s his yearly practice of reading through the Greek New Testament, his well-worn vocabulary cards, or his clockwork rotation of boldly-patterned sweaters, consistency has been a defining quality for Dr. Derickson.

But as a child, Derickson would have hardly been able to fathom living in one place for over thirty years. By the time he graduated high school, he had attended ten different schools, including time in Egypt, where he learned to navigate the streets of Cairo as a young boy and attended both Egyptian and American schools.

He had no concept of what it meant to put down roots. As the holder of a Master’s in Horticulture from Texas A&M, and an avid tomato grower, roots should have been something of a specialty.

But when he first arrived at Corban, he didn’t expect to be here long term. It was simply not something he knew. Hired to teach both Bible classes and biology labs, he had aspirations of one day moving on to teach seminary courses.

“I was very antsy at first,” he recalls. “It took about 10 years before I finally realized this is what God wants me to be.”

The contrast has not been lost on him. After a childhood defined by motion, Corban became the place where he stayed. “Once I realized this is where God wants me, then, for the first time in my life, I just didn’t feel the need to move,” he says. “Corban became my Promised Land. I didn’t know it at the time, but when I came here, I had entered God’s rest.”

Derickson has called Corban home for longer than any other place in his life. That rootedness is inseparable from a concept he has taught for years: the scriptural idea of entering God’s rest—finding purpose through stepping into the land, place, profession God is calling you to.

For Derickson, it was a realization that did not come through careful planning, but through simply following God’s leading and learning to say yes to His will. “I think the real lesson I’ve learned in my life is a commitment to obedience,” Derickson says. “If you keep obeying, all of a sudden you’ll look around and realize you’re right where God made you to be.”

Much like his prize tomato plants, Dr. Derickson’s obedience has undoubtedly produced good fruit. Over 35 years at Corban, Derickson has taught thousands of students, contributed to major works such as the Nelson Study Bible, the Grace New Testament Commentary, and the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary, and remained an active participant in the Evangelical Theological Society. This is why, at this year’s Commencement, he was honored with the title of Professor Emeritus.

Derickson, however, would not consider these accolades as the highlights of his career. Instead, he favors the simple moments with his students: an alum returning to campus relating how one of his lessons impacted their life, or a young freshman stopping him after class to share how a lecture answered a question they had been struggling with. “More often than not, I answer questions unwittingly,” Derickson laughs. “But that is just proof of God using me.”

As this year’s Commencement keynote speaker for the class of 2026—his final class—it was no surprise that Derickson returned to the idea that has shaped his life.

“The graduates are now standing on the border of the Promised Land,” he says. “Are you going to enter God’s rest? How do you get there? Through obedience.”

For students anxious about what comes next, it is both a challenge and an invitation. Not to have everything figured out, but to trust God enough to take the next step. That same trust now carries Dr. Derickson into retirement.

What does God’s rest look like after 35 years of teaching? In some ways, it looks familiar. There are still projects waiting—contributions to a new visual study Bible, more tomato plants to tend to, sci-fi and fantasy novels to finish writing. And then, when all that is done, perhaps, there is something simpler.

“I made a rule that I wouldn’t play computer games until I got my work done,” he says. “And it hasn’t happened in 35 years.”

Even in retirement, it seems unlikely that Dr. Derickson will find himself with much idle time. After all, he doesn’t consider the concept of entering God’s rest to have very much to do with resting. But perhaps, somewhere between writing, teaching, and studying, there will be a quiet moment—long enough for a game of Warcraft 2, and maybe, if he’s lucky, even time for a real nap.