Faithful in every footnote is the phrase that was scripted above Dr. Christine Jones's desk as a doctoral student. While she worked on her dissertation, those words would morph into her personal outlook on education.
"My greatest passion is to inspire, train, and encourage new generations of musicians; more than anything else, this has driven me to become a better performer and teacher," DBU Alumna Meredith Tompkins shared. Born and raised in Midland, Texas, Meredith grew up in a musical family and eventually gravitated to studying music herself.
Dr. King’s call for racial equality and justice in America is far from fulfilled as we enter this new decade. That unfinished call goes beyond the starting point of awareness and a change of mind to move toward individual and collective accountable action, including participating in constructive dialogue, hiring without prejudice, conscientious engagement in civic life, and joining together to ensure a fair and impartial justice system, as well as ending cycles of poverty and educational disadvantages in underprivileged communities.
For current DBU graduate students, Shirley and Joyce Porto, the religious freedoms enjoyed by some are an urgent call to speak out for others around the world without them. Together they are working on campus to inspire students to give voice to the voiceless and make the world a more just place for all.
Belén Ramírez’s testimony of one incredible answered prayer for healing followed by several more that went unanswered for a long time illustrates a valuable spiritual lesson: “We are not God; we do not decide when God heals and when He doesn’t. You have to always ask for His will. And His will be done.”
For every anxious or drifting student who walks into Dr. Mary Nelson's office, ready to withdraw from their programs at any moment’s notice, she sees an image her younger self knew all too well.
It was a big decision, and it called for a family meeting. DBU Alumnus Brance Barker, then a fourth-grader, hopped on his parents’ bed and sat next to his sister, wondering why a family meeting had been called. His father, Dewain Barker, who had been leading a homeschool co-op at the time, shared he was feeling led to pioneer the concept of the “University Method of Education." And so Brance’s young life changed significantly.
Before she ever attended her first missions class at DBU, the Lord had already been working in Brindley Taylor's heart to help her see every lost person through the eyes of His redemption.
The theme of senior Connor Torre’s story can be told in the one realization he has constantly faced the last four years: “God is directing my steps.”
