W. Bryce Hagedorn,
Program Director of Counselor Education,
University of Central Florida
[March 18, 2014]~~
One of the things that we may all find challenging as Christian faculty is discovering the believers in our orbit of relationships on campus. For me, knowing other Christ-following faculty and students has always been a great encouragement.
Recently, we hit upon the “Live it Out UCF” strategy in one of our Christian faculty planning sessions . This strategy included:
- periodic luncheons at which colleagues would share how he or she expresses their faith on campus
- hosting reading and discussion groups in our offices
- forming special interest groups of like-minded colleagues and grad students
- Christian faculty committing to introduce themselves as believers at the beginning of each semester’s class
- purposely finding ways to bring Christian values into their research
ID
Still, each of us lamented how hard it was for us to know which of our fellow professors desire to follow Christ and also to find a way to identify Christ-following students who were serious about their faith.
As an experiment, we decided to design and purchase a wristband in our school colors, gold and black. On each wristband, is the slogan, “Live it Out UCF” printed along with the school logo—-a Pegasus with a star. Five hundred of these were delivered right after the NewYear. To be honest, they look really cool!
Casting the Vision
At our Cru meeting on January 9, I was invited to cast the vision for what we as faculty felt might help foster the movement through mutual identification as followers of Christ. We reminded the students of the early Christians’ use of the sign of the fish to recognize each other as believers.
We asked faculty and students to commit to wear the wristband only if they were genuine followers of Jesus and were intentionally trying to live a life of faith in Christ. Over 200 students and 10 professors/grad students have indicated that they were ready to “Live It Out.” What a thrill!
Right now, we are not sure where all this is going. But we’re feeling a great deal of encouragement along with some buffeting from the Enemy. We’ve experienced some discouragement along the way: increased work loads, appointments falling through, unusual temptations toward personal sin have all met us. Yet in some ways, this buffeting from the Enemy also indicates that we’re likely on the right track.
We believe this simple “Live It Out” idea was His idea. We’re looking for His help as we, both faculty and students at UCF, learn to “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in every respect, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10).