On the first day of the Old Testament course he teaches, Dr. Brady Braatz (’01) tells his stunned students that he once earned a C in that very class. Then he smiles—and begins teaching it as MNU’s university chaplain.
The confession isn’t self-deprecating. It’s an invitation.
“I tell my students, ‘This is not beyond your reach; we can do this together,’” Brady says. “Life is about more than what shows up on a transcript. Yes, work hard. Yes, push through difficulty. But in the struggle, you’ll discover new things about God—and about yourself.”
Discovering Calling in Community
When Brady arrived at MNU as a freshman from Apple Valley, Minnesota, he knew a lot about God, but he wouldn’t have said he knew God yet. That changed as he watched faith integrated into daily life—friends at chapel were the same friends in class, the same people he ate with in the dining hall.
“All my lives were colliding, and during that time I knew I wanted to be a minister,” he says.
But calling rarely unfolds in a straight line. Brady started as a nursing major—where he met his future wife, Kreisa—until a compassionate faculty mentor gently helped him see his gifts lay elsewhere. He shifted to business communications, graduated in 2001, and headed into commercial insurance. Forty-five days later, MNU called. He came back immediately.
While serving as an admissions counselor and later resident educator, Brady began seminary and then started working with Chaplain Dr. Randy Beckum, the person he credits with shaping his understanding of pastoral leadership. “If you had asked me in college what I wanted to do, I would have said, ‘I want to be Randy Beckum.’”
Leadership roles in the Spiritual Life area followed. When Beckum left MNU in 2015, Brady stepped in as interim chaplain—a role that soon became permanent. Now in his seventh year as chaplain, he still marvels: “If you had told me I’d end up here, I’m not sure I’d have believed it. But it’s exactly where I wanted to be.”
The Next Faithful Step
Today, a red lantern sits in Brady’s chapel office, a symbol he often shares with students seeking direction.
“Students want a flashlight—a clear beam illuminating the whole road,” he says. “But God’s will is more like a lantern. It lights about three feet. As you take the next faithful step, you see a little more. Life is a meandering journey, not a straight path.”
And with each step, Brady seeks to remind them: God is already there, faithfully lighting the way.
