Worship leaders bringing people into the presence of God. Web site designers using their talents to help churches reach their communities. Nurses praying with their patients. Teachers sharing God’s love in their classrooms. Business owners guiding their companies by Christian principles.
These are the graduates of the University of Mobile (UM), where faith and learning combine to prepare a generation committed to sharing Jesus Christ in every area of their lives.
“The Great Commission is at the heart of what we do at the University of Mobile,” UM President Mark Foley said. “When we graduate students who are prepared to be leaders in their careers and also are equally equipped to share their faith in their workplace and community, we are intentionally changing lives for Jesus Christ. It is why the University of Mobile exists.”
Classes began Aug. 12 amid Ram Rush orientation activities. Events included “Dinner on the Run” introducing students to area churches, “The Walk” candlelight ceremony in which students are challenged to live out the university’s philosophy of “Changing Lives to Change the World,” a concert by Christian artist Jon McLaughlin and Project Serve community service.
A continuing challenge for the 48-year-old school is space for more than 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students and the academic and spiritual life and athletic programs that attract them to the Baptist campus. This fall marks the opening of Ram Hall, a 7,690-square-foot addition to Ingram Dining Hall. Ram Hall expands cafeteria seating to more than 200 and provides an auditorium with state-of-the-art digital audio and video including two high definition wide screens with Blu-ray.
The new auditorium provides needed room for weekly True Spin campus-wide Bible study. Led by campus minister Neal Ledbetter, True Spin filled the 323-seat Weaver Auditorium last academic year. Ram Hall will seat up to 600.
About 2,000 M-Fuge campers were the first to use Ram Hall this summer, as UM is one of nine sites in the United States for the missions program operated by the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources.
Also new are a renovated bookstore and the ability for students to view laundry rooms from their computers to check the availability of machines and receive text alerts on their cell phone when their laundry cycle is complete.
Faith is intentionally incorporated into everything from the academic curriculum to student activities and residential life. The result is a university where professors challenge students to think about what they believe and why they believe it, and have the courage to share those beliefs. It is a place where faculty members know their students well enough to pray for specific needs.
Through academic programs such as University Missions, founded in 1992 by the university’s School of Christian Studies, students earn college credit on international missions trips. Since 1992, 114 teams led by UM’s theology professors have traveled to more than 40 nations, resulting in approximately 10,750 professions of faith. More than $3.75 million in funds and donated supplies has been raised for missions efforts that include building chapels, providing health care, preaching and prayer walking, holding backyard Bible clubs and door-to-door evangelizing.
The program is open to individuals and church groups in addition to UM students. More than a dozen churches and associations in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida now have their own missions ministries growing out of their University Mission experience. Mission trips planned for the 2009–10 academic year include Portugal, Brazil, Malta, England, France and Wales, among others.
Campus ministries are integrated into all aspects of student life and aimed at preparing students to live their faith everywhere and at all times.
Students will experience Urban Plunge in November, an intense 48-hour inner-city missions trip taking teams to New Orleans, Birmingham, Baton Rouge, Memphis and Atlanta. During The Bridge in February, they will work with church planters.
True Spin Bible study on Tuesdays and Campus Prayer on Thursdays bring the college community together weekly in study and worship, while small group Bible studies and prayer groups gather in residence halls and across campus.
UM students serve on retreat teams and provide leadership for youth retreats at churches across the state and beyond. The Youth Hostel Missions program takes students on a month-long personal evangelizing mission across Europe.
These are just a few of the programs that intentionally develop students’ faith and their ability and courage to share that faith.
The academic program prepares students to be leaders in their chosen field by teaching them to pursue excellence and the example of Jesus Christ in their professional and personal lives.
The School of Education, which earned a perfect A on the recent state report card for teacher preparation programs, is an example of the university’s quality academics. UM offers more than 40 areas of study through the College of Arts and Sciences; the schools of business, Christian studies, education and nursing; the Center for Performing Arts and the Center for Adult Programs.
The new UM Connect program is being developed to bring students from China to UM for study and immersion in the UM culture. A new integrated program in the School of Christian Studies provides an opportunity to earn both a bachelor’s in theology and master’s in religious studies in only five years. A new maternal birthing simulator allows nursing students to participate in simulation activities that include high-risk childbirth delivery and caring for premature newborns with complications.
Enhanced musical theatre and worship leadership programs in the Center for Performing Arts will bring industry professionals to campus to share their expertise. New courses in new media and internships in the music industry are added to the popular Worship Leadership major.
The new GATE program, Gaining Advancement Through Education, provides access to employed adults working in industry to begin their college education by earning an associate of science degree on their way to a bachelor’s degree.
“Changing Lives to Change the World” happens every day on the University of Mobile campus. But it doesn’t stop there. When each graduate walks across the stage to accept a diploma, that individual also hears a challenge from UM President Mark Foley: “Now, go change the world.” (UM)
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