University of Oklahoma

Survival is Insufficient: Why Bella Needed Community on Campus

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 20:45:22 +0000

Ashlye Vanderworp

Survival is Insufficient: Why Bella Needed Community on Campus

“I went into college wanting to live missionally and bring people to Jesus in a secular university,” Isabella (Bella) Starchman, student at the University of Oklahoma (OU), said.

Growing up with pastors as parents, Bella meant this. But anxiety about schoolwork and fear that she would experience the same rejection she faced in high school soon replaced this desire.

In her first month at OU, Bella began to only focus on school—on being the perfect student and succeeding. She thought becoming involved in any sort of club would waste time she could spend studying, so she avoided everyone she came across and even ran away from students handing out flyers.

“I just wanted to survive,” Bella said. “I wanted to finish college with a perfect GPA and an opportunity to start over in a new phase of life.”

By October, though, Bella was tired of being alone. She decided to try out some Christian ministries but didn’t click with any right away. Disappointed, she walked around campus one day and prayed, “I’ll try one more time, and then I’m going to give up. Please help.”

As she prayed, Bella suddenly looked down and saw words written in chalk: ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship Large Group—Thursday, 8:00 p.m. Immediately she looked up ��ñ�� online, and, feeling as though the large group gathering would be too intimidating, opted to attend a small group first instead.

“It was so great!” she said. “Everyone there really loved Jesus and we just sat down with God’s Word and dug into what he had to say to us. ”

While this seemed like a turning point for Bella, it was the first and last time she attended the small group that semester. Tragedy struck her family two weeks later when her uncle committed suicide.

Bella was shocked, confused, and hurt. Her heart was hardened again, and she desperately wished she could stay home and not go back to OU because she didn’t want to be near people or let them in close.

Months later during her spring semester, Bella received a surprising text message from Anna, one of the leaders of the small group she attended, inviting her to an ��ñ�� game night.

“My first thought was, How does this woman even remember I exist?” Bella said. “She literally met me one time! My second thought was fear—I didn’t want to get hurt or feel rejected. But Anna’s message was so kind and genuine that it made me feel like she actually wanted me there.”

So Bella went and was instantly welcomed, having the opportunity to meet many of the students who were part of OU’s ��ñ�� chapter. She was surprised by how kind each person was and by how comfortable they made her feel. As she drove home, Bella cried, grateful for the ways God had just placed this new community in her life.

From then on, Bella had a community to go through life on campus with, from attending Bible studies to eating lunch and studying. Her hopelessness turned into hope, and she no longer dreaded being on campus.

“I wasn’t alone on campus all the time, which made OU feel more and more like home,” Bella said. “These were friends that loved Jesus. They wanted to see OU transformed by God’s love. More and more, I wanted to do that too.”

Now, Bella is a senior and is leading a small group Bible study herself, supporting others who, like her, experience pain and loneliness and long for a Christian community and witnessing to those who aren’t yet Christian. God has revealed so much to her, including the ways she had made perfectionism an idol, and has brought new life to places of past hurt.

“Through ��ñ��, God renewed my vision of his purpose in my life and what he has called me to do at OU,” Bella said. “He used ��ñ�� to lift my eyes to him and correct my ideas about what my life should be. Life isn’t about surviving—there is more.”

Bella found a community through her ��ñ�� chapter that showed her there was more to life on campus than what she thought. Find a community like this on your campus by clicking the button below.

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News Keywords

University of Oklahoma

christian community

Finding God in Business

AD-16225 — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:47:41 +0000

News

Abi Christian

Finding God in Business

As a professor of entrepreneurship and management at the University of Oklahoma, much of Dr. Lowell Busenitz’s research and teaching is rooted in the biblical view of giftedness. For 13 years, he has encouraged students to start businesses or pursue jobs consistent with their individual personalities, passions, and talents. He believes that through our unique gifting, God gives us each a glimpse of his creation to share with others (see the video below).

“The closing paper they write in my class is, ‘Where do I fit in the world of entrepreneurship?’” said Lowell. Often students return to his office a few months to a year later, still needing to process this question. Lowell’s own discovery of where he fits in this field began in the 1970s with his relationship with God.

Girls, Drinking, and Bible Study

As a freshman at Grace Bible Institute in 1970, Lowell felt stagnant in his faith and needed stretching. He knew a lot about Christianity, but sensed there was more to walking with Jesus than what he was doing. Encouraged by his older brother to attend Urbana 70, Lowell heard inspiring speakers such as Billy Graham, Elisabeth Elliot, and John Stott.

But what really grabbed Lowell’s attention was meeting college students from across the country, the vast majority involved in ��ñ�� chapters. “Through my interaction with them, I saw the life that there was on secular campuses among students,” said Lowell. “I decided to transfer the next year.”

He applied to Emporia State University, joined ��ñ��, and changed his major since many of the missions agencies at Urbana expressed a need for business skills. During his first semester, he attended ��ñ��’s Bible and Life Conference. “I came back and felt like God was calling me to lead an evangelistic Bible study. I was scared stiff,” said Lowell. “I didn’t know what guys in my dorm would talk about besides girls and drinking.” Yet he met several students eager to study the Bible with him, and one student, a non-Christian, was so excited to take part, he did most of the recruiting.

An Active Student Movement

Lowell enjoyed working with other students, whether in Bible studies or chapter meetings, and joined ��ñ�� staff after graduation. “In the late 1970s, the student movement was so robust and active,” said Lowell. “We didn’t work to plant new chapters. We were getting phone calls, saying, ‘Please, can you come here!’ It was hard to turn down.”

During his first year on staff, Lowell worked with three different campuses, which soon expanded to five, then seven, and eventually nine. Six years later, Lowell was burned out. “I had to step aside for the sake of my family and for me,” he said.

He worked awhile in construction and eventually started his own business. As another six years passed, he realized his passion still was working with students. “There’s this great energy from hanging around students,” said Lowell. “Yes, sometimes the days are long, but the students are here four short years. What an opportunity!” Encouraged by friends, he returned to school so he could eventually teach at a university.

Inspired by Scripture

In graduate school at Texas A&M, Lowell’s interest gravitated towards entrepreneurship. The research on entrepreneurs, however, was limited. For awhile, people had studied personality traits, wondering if successful entrepreneurs had a higher risk and higher need for achievement or perhaps a greater tolerance for ambiguity. By the mid-1980s, mixed results led scholars to abandon this train of thought.

But Lowell’s study of Scripture with ��ñ�� convinced him that the issue was relevant and rooted in the many Bible verses on giftedness. “We’re all unique creatures that God has designed and put together,” said Lowell. “Some people are more gifted in starting businesses that require a lot of bootstrapping and connecting the dots. Other people are better at taking the baton once the business has started.”

Lowell’s dissertation proposed that entrepreneurs make decisions differently than managements in large organizations by relying on their heuristics and intuitive judgments. “They have to as part of their survival,” said Lowell.“They can’t be too rational, or they’ll never get around to starting a business.”

His insight sparked a breakthrough in understanding how entrepreneurs function and succeed, and influenced other scholars to pursue the topic again. One of his published articles has been cited in over 800 other research works. Today business students are learning more about how to approach new opportunities in their business ventures.

“There are strengths to entrepreneurs and definite weaknesses,” said Lowell. “But they help us better understand entrepreneurs and give us some glimpse of what the Creator has made.” Like many other ��ñ�� alumni, Lowell’s work reflects those truths revealed to him.

News Keywords

University of Oklahoma

Entrepreneurship

��ñ�� alumni