Freed-Hardeman president David Shannon to step down, return to church work in 2026

‘Preacher president” David R. Shannon, who left the pulpit of the Mt. Juliet Church of Christ in Tennessee to take the reins of his alma mater, Freed-Hardeman University, will step down from the position and return to ministry next year.

Shannon will step down from the Henderson, Tenn., university’s helm at the end of the 2025–26 academic year, board of trustees Chairman Scott Latham announced Friday. The 16th president of the university, which is associated with Churches of Christ, provided eight years “marked by record-breaking growth and transformational leadership,” university officials said.

Shannon traces his association with Freed-Hardeman to the mid-1980s, when former President E. Claude Gardner walked into a Centerville, Tenn.-area sawmill and recruited him. Shannon graduated with a degree in Bible in 1989. Before taking on the university’s top job, he served for 18 years as minister for the Mt. Juliet church, about 20 miles north of Nashville.

When first identified as a candidate, Shannon had doubts about his lack of academic credentials and higher education experience, he told The Christian Chronicle in a 2017 interview.

Related: Ph.D. optional: Why a Christian university with doctoral programs chose a preacher president

“It wasn’t a quick process for me to overcome,” Shannon said. “After the first meeting, I told them I would have to think about it. … My wife (Tracie) and I prayed over and over about this, and never once did we pray for it.

David Shannon speaks to the teens at Exposure Youth Camp in Huntsville, Ala., in 2018.

“We finally just reached a point where we said to each other and (to God) in our prayers, ‘If this is what you want, we’ll do it, but your will be done.’”

During Shannon’s presidency, enrollment reached record highs in seven of the last eight years, university officials said, and student retention climbed to an unprecedented 90 percent. Current enrollment for the spring 2025 semester is a record 2,190, said university spokesperson Dawn Bramblett. In the past eight years, the university launched new degree programs at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels, including cybersecurity, engineering, physical therapist assistant and ministry.

David Shannon snaps a selfie with a Freed-Hardeman student during a fall event in 2018.

Shannon headed a fundraising campaign, FHU NEXT, that raised more than $24 million for the university’s endowment, added nearly $30 million to operational funding and fueled more $50 million in capital improvements. The university renovated academic and residential buildings and created new facilities for dining and athletics.

Recently, the university celebrated the launch of Henderson’s first Chick-fil-A franchise, located in FHU’s new dining hall.

Freed-Hardeman University students eat at their new dining hall’s Chick-fil-A.

After stepping down, Shannon will rejoin the Mt. Juliet church’s ministry staff as connections minister, the congregation announced on social media.

“David’s passion and expertise for connecting people to God will be a blessing to our church family,” church leaders said. “He will be involved in teaching classes, providing ministerial counseling, mentoring, and sharing time in the pulpit with Craig Evans.”

Reflecting on the past eight years, Shannon said, “One of the highlights of my life will always be the opportunity to serve Freed-Hardeman University. This is a place Tracie and I love deeply — its mission, its people and its purpose. While this decision was not made lightly, I believe the timing is right for the university and for me.”

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