[1] Raised in Chicago to Taiwanese immigrant parents, Lin earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in economics from Harvard University in 1994 and a Master of Arts (MA) in global leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary.
[4] Lin and his family returned to the United States in 2006, taking up various positions in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, including directing the Urbana Student Missions Conference and, in August 2016, becoming the organization's first non-white president.
[5] Lin believes he was appointed the position because of his leadership in crossing racial, cultural, and ethnic barriers.
[7] In 2015, then president-elect Lin and interim president of InterVarsity Jim Lundgren issued a 20-page position paper highlighting views on divorce, extramarital sex, and gay marriage, and initiating a process of involuntary terminations of staff who disagreed with these positions.
Critics have held that this marginalizes members who are LGBTI or supporters of same-sex marriage.