This summer, Union Adventist University is welcoming a familiar face back to campus as chaplain. Mollie (Cummings) Dupper will lead the Campus Ministries team starting in July.
A 2014 Union graduate, Dupper knows the pivotal role Campus Ministries plays in the lives of students. “I love Union,” Dupper said. “I loved being a student here, I loved working in Campus Ministries, and I met my husband here. I really have a heart for Union Adventist University. This place shaped who I am as a person and how I have served in ministry ever since.”
Buell Fogg, Union’s associate chaplain, has long been a mentor to Dupper. “I’ve known Molly since she was a seventh grader at North Star Camp,” Fogg said. “I have seen God lead her to Maplewood, and to Union, throughout her career and now back to Union. I can’t wait to see how the Lord continues to lead through her. I am so excited!”
According to Dupper, Fogg is the reason she chose Union as a student. “He came recruiting at North Star Camp when I was 12,” Dupper recalled. “I remember thinking, How can I be like that guy when I grow up? I can’t believe I get to work with him now!”
She also credits Rich Carlson, chaplain emeritus, as a mentor and major influence on her ministry. “My freshmen year, I came to Union so jazzed to work in Campus Ministries, but all the jobs were already filled,” she said. “I went to Pastor Rich’s office and asked, ‘How can I get involved?’ He turned the question around and asked what ministry I wanted to create.” She and a friend developed a proposal to partner with faculty and staff to host students once or twice a month in their homes. They named their ministry Soul Food.
“I knocked on Pastor Rich’s door hoping for a position that already existed, but being given the space to actually make something — to look for a need then create a ministry to serve that need — was a big learning moment,” she said. “It’s not just stepping into positions others have built, but looking around prayerfully to find a need that isn’t already being met. That shaped the way I look at ministry.”
Armed with a degree in religious education, Dupper’s post-college career began as a Bible teacher at Collegedale Academy in Tennessee. After marrying Carl Dupper, also a 2014 Union graduate, she joined him in Florida where he worked for AdventHealth, and she served at WholeLife Seventh-day Adventist Church as first a youth pastor, then young adult pastor, and finally senior pastor before moving to the Spring Meadows Seventh-day Adventist church, also in Florida, where she worked once again in youth ministry. Meanwhile, her husband had a meteoric rise at AdventHealth, becoming CEO of AdventHealth Central Florida just five years after graduating from Union. Following the pandemic and having just welcomed their first child, the couple decided to move to Carl’s home state of Colorado. They launched a home cleaning service, TidyTask, which continues to expand under Carl’s leadership (watch a presentation Carl gave during Union’s 2024 Leaders Building Leaders Conference). Most recently, Mollie has been an associate pastor at the Boulder Church.
“In each ministry setting, whether a school, a youth group or a young adult ministry, I’ve adopted the model I learned from Pastor Rich at Union: servant leadership, giving space to journey with Jesus, offering the freedom to identify an unmet need, and helping find the resources to create a ministry,” Dupper said. “Everywhere I’ve had the opportunity to do that, it’s been amazing seeing the transformation as youth and young adults come alive: becoming followers of Jesus and leaders of ministry.”
Though living in Colorado, her children (Wesley, age 4, and Alice, 18 months) already feel like Nebraskans. Many of the classes she took while completing her master’s in pastoral care from Andrews University met on Union’s campus, and she chose to march in Union’s graduation to receive her diploma in May. Dupper said, “My son has come to Lincoln so many times, when I asked him what his favorite place is, he said, ‘Nebraska!’ Taking my master’s classes on Union’s campus has been a lot of fun for me and the kiddos.”
A new chaplain is not the only major change in Campus Ministries for the 2025-2026 academic year. The office has been relocated to the former Career Center just off the Atrium of the Don Love Building. The remodeled space features three offices, a larger lounge area and a kitchen. The move is part of an effort to make the Atrium the hub for student life and activities, joining the athletics office, library, Student Association offices, Student Center, Student Health, Student Success, and Writing Center on the north side of the Don Love Building.
“I’m really excited to get to know the students, faculty and staff: the Union of today,” Dupper says. “I want to hear what God is placing on their hearts and what God is calling this student body to do. I am praying I can be a support to them, to remind them who they are in Christ, that they are absolutely loved by Jesus Christ, and that He is journeying with them.”
Carlson shared his excitement to see Dupper in the role, saying, “Mollie comes with good experience, and even more importantly, a good spirit. She has a great heart for Jesus, and that’s the best gift she can share with the students.”