by Frank Brazell
It might be a cliché, but Spring is just around the corner. For our office staff in Fayetteville, that means one thing: GOLF. It’s always an all-hands-on-deck event as we try to provide world-class service for our partners as they golf, network, and invest in our students. Personally, it’s one of my favorite workdays of the year (first place goes to our all-staff meetings at the beach during the summer). I love the peace of sitting above a green, monitoring to see if any of our many excellent golfers hit a hole-in-one to win a year’s lease on a beautiful Subaru from Sam Johnson’s Cross Creek Subaru. It hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve enjoyed every moment of my time overlooking the golf course at Gates Four, feeling the Spring wind and (usually) the sun on my face as I bask in the stillness.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a ton of work that goes into making these events happen the first Friday after the start of Spring. While I might conclude that the day is a great opportunity to escape the office, the team members in charge of getting the event off the ground have a bit more to worry about. For Elsa McBride, who will be running the tournament for the first time this year, March 22nd will be the culmination of months of planning and preparation. Aside from her normal duties as our Dean of Library Services, she has spent countless hours working with partners, sponsors, golfers, and the club itself, all while marshalling our staff for responsibilities during the event. But why does she do it, if this pulls her away from the mountain of work for which she’s already responsible?
It’s simple: It’s for our students.
Manna University doesn’t exist if we don’t have students. Therefore, we strive to make biblical higher education affordable and accessible to emerging leaders everywhere. This would not be possible without our internal student scholarships. In turn, these internal student scholarships would not be available without the generous contributions of our partners: local churches, church planting movements, businesses, and individuals.
Whether it’s students in Colombia, Romania, Rwanda, along the military highway, or our students from diverse backgrounds anywhere around the world who are blessed by the scholarships they receive, our students are all grateful for the generous partners who make their education possible.
I know I was.
When you think about me sitting in my golf cart on March 22nd, maybe praying, maybe just enjoying the quiet, know that I’m probably going to stop at least once and thank the people who got me there. In 2017, I came to Grace College of Divinity (now Manna University) as a broke graduate student who felt called to biblical higher education. I left behind a decent-paying, but unsatisfying sales job, had one child, and another on the way. I didn’t know how I was going to make things work, but I knew that God had called me to this place, and I had to trust that He was going to provide. He did so through many different people, some that knew me, and some that didn’t. Among the latter were generous partners who donated to the Dawn Galloway Memorial Scholarship, which allowed me to focus on school, earn my Master of Arts in Christian Leadership, join the Manna U faculty and staff, and launch my career and calling.
So when I’m sitting in the cart on March 22nd, hopefully over Hole 15 (my favorite), I’ll know who put me there. It was you, and I’m grateful.
Interested in golfing or any of our various sponsorship opportunities? You can find out more here.
