As an English major at the Johns Hopkins University, Perrin continued to read the Bible. Soon enough Perrin found himself in his first Bible study. Over a year later, after attending an all-night fraternity party one Friday night in November, Perrin attended a Navigator conference in Annapolis, Maryland. There, in response to a gospel call from Bob Boardman, a career missionary working with Buddhists in Japan, he gave his life to Christ. Following his conversion, Perrin threw himself into the campus ministry at Johns Hopkins, sharing the gospel “with everything that moved.” In his final semester, Perrin felt God leading him to work for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship as a full-time campus staff member.
During this time, Nick spent several summers as a special student at TEDS, taking courses in Hebrew and the History of Christianity. It was also where he caught the bug for seminary. So by 1991, while working for InterVarsity part time, he attended Covenant Theological Seminary full time. Within weeks of arriving, Nick met his wife Camie at church. Originally from Mission Viejo (Calif.), Camie graduated with a BS in Elementary Education and took a teaching position nearby. After six months, Nick proposed to Camie in front of her first grade class.
After graduating from Covenant, Nick and Camie shared a busy and rewarding few years. Nick became the assistant pastor at Naperville Presbyterian Church (IL) and after a few years and a now expanded family (sons Nathaniel and Luke), Nick pursued a doctoral degree in Bible at Marquette University. Three years later, they relocated to London, where Nick became the Research Assistant for the Canon Theologian of the Westminster Abbey (N.T. Wright), while also pastoring at International Presbyterian Church, West Ealing, London.
After London, the Perrins returned to the States. Camie homeschooled the boys; Nick took a full-time job as Assistant Professor at Biblical Seminary (now Missio Seminary) in Hatfield (PA), while also serving as a part-time chaplain at a Mennonite retirement community called Dock Woods. These were busy times, even in the off hours.
Eventually a Wheaton faculty member within the Bible and Theology Department invited Nick to apply for an opening at Wheaton College Graduate School, which he did and was offered the position. So the Perrins returned to Chicagoland in 2005. Four years later, Perrin was promoted to Full Professor and appointed as the Franklin S. Dyrness Chair of Biblical Studies.
While at Wheaton, he managed to author more than a dozen books, over four dozen essays or articles, over two dozen reviews, and nearly two dozen dictionary articles.
In 2010, Nick and Camie, together with two other core families, sensed God’s calling to start a Christian classical school in Naperville, Illinois. While Nick served as the Board Chair and Camie as the Head of School, Covenant Classical School realized an initial enrollment of 90 students with 40 percent being students of color. Under strong leadership to this day, Covenant Classical School continues to thrive.
Eventually, Nick stepped down from his role as board chair to become became Dean of the Graduate School at Wheaton, a role he held for five years.
Today, Nick and Camie’s eldest, Nathaniel, lives in Chicago and serves as the business manager for The Point magazine. Their youngest, Luke, is a senior Chemistry major at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Nick and Camie have relocated from Wheaton to Lincolnshire, a six-minute drive from the Deerfield campus. Coming up on twenty-seven years of a wonderful marriage, they are excited about serving Trinity together. And they are also excited about what God has in store as God prepares to write Trinity’s next chapter.
