One of the fundamental characteristics of leadership is to be aware that it is impossible to change anyone’s heart. All that a leader can do is provide a system that will allow for the desired change to occur.
With this in mind I watch every incoming freshman class and wonder if we here at Bryan College have set up a system that allows for students, over the course of four years, to have their minds and hearts refocused toward Christ. I believe that we have accomplished this. I, myself, have been drastically changed by my experience here at Bryan.
As I look back on my time here, I can see that it was the people, not the institution that changed me. I have come to believe that the systems we create must be ones that connect people with people. We need a system that allows for seniors and juniors to reach out to freshman and sophomores, and allows for faculty and staff to reach out to students. Every sophomore, junior and senior on campus can think of at least one or two people (students or faculty) who have influenced them in some way to follow Christ.
Although this has been true for all of the upper classmen, I wonder if it will be true of the future freshman classes. Next semester 66 upperclassmen will move down to the new town homes. Most of those students will choose a meal plan that will have them only on campus for classes and possibly one meal a day in the cafeteria. With this happening, I am left wondering if the freshmen will lose their opportunity to experience what so many of us upperclassmen have come to value so highly: our relationships with one another.
I humbly suggest that instead of letting this happen, those 66 of you who will be descending halfway down the hill next year will decide, right now, that you will use your new housing not as an opportunity to “get away” from campus, but as an opportunity to minister to the rest of the school. I’m talking BBQ’s in the parking lot before soccer games, Super Bowl Parties and Bible Studies. Open up your homes and give the underclassmen next year an opportunity to learn from your success (and failures). If we fail to establish this as a pattern next year, it will be much harder to make it happen in the future. This is your opportunity to play your part in continuing this community that has been such an essential part of each of our lives. I sincerely hope that we will all rise to the challenge.
Sincerely,
Andrew McPeak
Tags: Andrew McPeak
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