on christian college.

{at our friend Anthony's wedding, August 2011}

Seven years ago, almost to the day, I began as a freshman at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama. The decision that led me to that tiny Christian college in the land of sweet tea and deep Southern drawls had been a painful one. Long my third choice, Faulkner didn't have a pretty campus. The student population was small, and the library made me, book lover that I am, want to cry. But in May of 2004, a professor of Great Books called me and convinced me that Faulkner was the place for me. 

Three months later, I sat in my dorm room in tears, sure I had made the wrong decision. 

Soon, though, friendly faces became family, and I knew my professor had been right: Faulkner was exactly the place for me. 

Now that I'm an adult living in the "real world," I get a lot of looks when I say I attended a Christian college in Alabama. Ironically, people in the world and in the workplace don't seem to care all that much. There are the occasional assumptions, of course, like the fact that I must have received some uber-conservative education, a la Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell. (I didn't.) Or that I must have had to suffer through really odd, strict rules, like weekday curfews and mixed bathing. (For the record, Faulkner doesn't have swimming pools, and trips to the lake were most definitely co-ed. Also? I've never minded rules.)

The worst responses I get, though, are from fellow believers. The day I finally announced I would be attending Faulkner University, I had a fellow church member look at me in disdain, asking why I would waste my talents at some "podunk farm school." Even now, years after graduation, when I sit in groups of Christian peers, they all seem relieved by the fact that they attended public colleges and universities. Just last week in Bible class, I overheard someone say they were so glad they'd never gone to some "religious institution." (I was sitting right there.)

Here is the truth: Not a day goes by in which I am not grateful for the education I received and the people I met at Faulkner University. 

A few weekends ago, as we celebrated the wedding of a dear friend, I sat with bridesmaids and groomsmen who I truly believe will be our friends for a lifetime. Despite differences in geography, politics, and yes, even theology, we all can sit and share our lives with one another. We rejoice together, weep together, and argue together. These are people who are spiritually-minded, both in their thoughts and in their actions. They have a depth and a maturity that gives me such absolute comfort, that reminds me that sometimes, God gifts us with kindred spirits and reminds us that we are not alone in this world.

Comment Magazine recently linked to an article about Christian college graduates that asked if Christian college graduates were "world changers." The author, Ray Pennings, writes:

The picture the data paint is that Christian schools are having a significant effect in the lives of their graduates, but not in a world-changing way that some might aspire them to. Compared to their public school, Catholic school, and non-religious private school peers, Protestant Christian school graduates have been found to be uniquely compliant, generous, outwardly focused individuals who stabilize their communities by their uncommon commitment to their families, their churches, and larger society. This study found that graduates of Christian schools donate money significantly more than graduates of other schools, despite having a lower household income than graduates of other private schools. Similarly, graduates of Christian schools are more generous with their time, participating in far more relief and development service trips than their peers. 

Our friends, now spread across the Southeast, are passionate, determined people trying to make a difference in their churches and communities. That Saturday afternoon, we sat and talked about our struggles, the obstacles we're facing as we try to bring what we learned at Faulkner into the world we now live in, and I knew: These Christian college graduates are touching lives and subsequently, making the world a better place. After all, what better place to begin changing the world than by changing your community first?

I know everyone's college experiences are different. Neither of my parents graduated from Christian colleges, nor did my brother. I admire and respect people -- friends and family included -- who attend or attended public colleges and universities (Go Noles!); I just know, deep down, for whatever reason, that path wasn't for me.

Instead, I chose to go to a tiny little school in southern Alabama, a school that proclaimed they would educate my "whole person," body, mind, and soul. They did exactly what they promised.

This month, we paid off my very last student loan. I owe Faulkner University nothing, but at the same time, I kind of owe them everything.

I didn't have your stereotypical Christian college education. I don't recall any passionate debates about creation versus evolution (okay, okay, they were there somewhere, I just didn't pay much attention). Scriptures and political agendas weren't shoved down my throat. Sure, I guess some traditions fit the stereotype, things like social clubs and acapella singing groups, candlighting ceremonies (which I abhorred) and choreographed musical numbers.

Mostly, though, I was taught to think for myself, to seek and to search, to argue respectfully and passionately. (Did I ever tell you about the time I wound up in the university president's office? Good times.) I was reminded that Scripture is living and breathing, that God's presence can be felt and experienced, and that sometimes, people really are as nice and as genuine as they appear to be.

There's a chance, I'm sure, that I'm looking back on my time at Faulkner with rose-colored glasses. Time, I think, does us that favor. I know that there were not-so-nice moments, people and theology that I disagreed with, things I look back and wished I'd never done (see above: choreographed musical numbers).

But overall, I think, that's what the college experience -- any college experience, small or big, private or public, Christian or not -- is all about: making the occasional misstep as we discover who we are and who we are meant to be.

I'm grateful that, for me, that discovery process occurred in a safe, loving environment at a small, Southern, and yes, Christian, college.