“The Power of an Idea” ft. Fresno Pacific University’s André Stephens I Saturdays at Seven – Season Two, Episode Eighteen

Click here to listen to the episode on Spotify

In the eighteenth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with André Stephens, President of Fresno Pacific University. Stephens opens by discussing the history of the Fresno Pacific Idea Statement, the revisions it underwent since its inception in the 1960s, and the ways it creates frameworks for conversation and communal identity. In particular, Stephens emphasizes the pivotal role the Idea played as the university sought to emerge from the challenges posed by COVID-19. Ream then asks Stephens to unpack his calling to higher education, the service he provided in admissions and student development at Biola University, and the discernment process which led to his appointment as Fresno Pacific’s president. One of the dimensions of Fresno Pacific’s identity that appealed to Stephens during that discernment process was the university’s commitment to embrace underserved students—many of whom reside near the university in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Stephens addresses the ways he and his colleagues prepare to engage, challenge, and celebrate students. Ream and Stephens then close by discussing the relationship Fresno Pacific shares with the Mennonite Brethren, the ways Stephens has sought to nurture that relationship, and the ways that relationship impacts how faculty and student success is cultivated and recognized.

Todd Ream: Welcome to Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. My name is Todd Ream. I have the privilege of serving as the publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review and as the host for Saturdays at Seven. I also have the privilege of serving on the faculty and the administration at Indiana Wesleyan University.

—

Our guest is André Stephens, President of Fresno Pacific University. Thank you for joining us.

André Stephens: Thank you, Todd, for having me.

Todd Ream: Fresno Pacific was founded in 1944 by the Mennonite Brethren Church as Pacific Bible Institute. Today, the university understands itself as Anabaptist, evangelical, and ecumenical. To start, would you begin describing how each one of those dimensions forms and shapes Fresno Pacific’s identity as an institution?

André Stephens: Yes, again, thank you, Todd, for having me. And yeah, Fresno Pacific has been around for 80 years and was founded by the Mennonite Brethren an ethnic group, actually, who had migrated from Europe and to the central part of the U.S. and then to the central part of California and have a long and deep commitment to education.

And so Fresno Pacific, specifically was founded on these three core concepts is, as you mentioned, Anabaptist, I think in general being a voluntary commitment to faith as you know by their sign of baptism, and that was why they were persecuted in, in, in Europe. And so, this is a commitment to, again, a voluntary commitment to faith. 

The evangelical part, I think, just classically, as we understand it classically, because I know the term has different meanings today, but just this idea of sharing and living out faith in community. 

And then that ecumenical here at Fresno Pacific, we welcome other faith traditions into the dialogue here on the campus. Usually when I speak the, and here at Fresno Pacific, we have a shorthand for that, Anabaptist, evangelical, and ecumenical. And that essentially is that Jesus is at the center of our faith community, at the center of our lives, and reconciliation at the center of our work. And so, how we go about that, both I think presently and aspirationally as an institution, is that our faculty and our staff, and certainly in the co-curricular areas, seek to share the love of Christ with students whether they’re traditional undergrads or adult learners, which we have many as we go about the work that God has called us to.

Todd Ream: Thank you. Thank you. In fall 1961, Arthur Wiebe began his 14 year tenure as president. With the investment of campus leaders such as John Toews and Dalton Reimer, Wiebe’s tenure not only included the expansion of programs, personnel, and facilities, but also the development of what came to be known as the Fresno Pacific Idea Statement. Would you please describe for me the Statement and how it lives itself out amongst campus today?

André Stephens: Yeah, absolutely. So I love the Fresno Pacific Idea. It is a centering document of how we view teaching, learning and service here. The idea is not just new, right? It’s actually founded out of John Henry Newman’s book, The Idea of a University and then later Arthur Holmes, The Idea of a Christian College. 

Johnny Toews, who you just mentioned as one of the co-authors, just recently passed away, actually. And then Dalton Reimer is still around. He was one of the first people that I met and sat down with here at the university when I came in 2022. 

And so the Statement actually, there’s actually so much to it, but it is, again, a centering document of how we believe life and learning take place at the institution. There are a couple of things that I want to note about the Idea just for our audience and listeners. Part of it is actually a relatively short document, but it has to do with our, again, our primary identity and the vision of community and pursuit of wisdom and knowledge as a community of learners. 

The Mennonite Brethren, again, we’re governed by the Mennonite Brethren, but this gives kind of a centering, centering piece for all our matters of faith and, and learning here.

So let me share just a couple of things from the Fresno Pacific Idea that I think is helpful for me and for our community as we lean into teaching, learning, and service. I’ll quoting here in part from the FPU Idea. 

It says, “We seek to be a collegium centered upon Christ and His Church. It is committed to the ideals of God’s Kingdom and to the perspective of the liberal arts in which integration of faith, learning, and action is a primary goal.” It goes on to say, “All authentic knowledge and experience are unified under God. There is no contradiction then between the truth of revelation, of scholarly investigation, and of action.” 

And so I think in a world right now that just feels so complex and anxious and maybe even some would say polarized and divided the FPU Idea again, is a centering document that says we are a community of believers centered on Christ and His Church. And, and that we in this pursuit of that we can ask the questions because everything is under God. Again, there’s no contradiction between the truth of revelation and of scholarly investigation and of action. 

And this reminds me of Colossians 1 at 1:16, that all things are created by Christ and in Him, and they hold together. And I think there’s certainly in higher ed, I would say on a macro level, there’s some questions and tensions about the value of higher ed. Even in a Christian college, I think there’s questions about boundaries and what we can explore, we might explore, not explore. But I believe that certainly the FPU Ideas gives us the freedom, I would say, of divine curiosity knowing that we have this opportunity in our classrooms, in our zoom rooms, and in our co-curricular activities to actually pursue truth that’s founded on the person of Jesus Christ.

And so this idea is like all ideas have consequences, right? They matter. Ideas matter and, and it gives us again, the freedom and the divine curiosity to do that. I would also say it’s a work in progress, right? We have not just checked the box and say, we’ve got this. Obviously the university is a dynamic place. Students are certainly coming and going and obviously faculty and staff are coming and going, but we seek to center on these maybe transcendent principles that act as a framework for us to do our work. 

I believe that higher education, though, is financially a challenge for many students. The decision is not a financial one or shouldn’t be. It’s a missional one. And so we’re clear in who we are and what we’re attempting to pursue, especially in the cacophony of higher ed right now and all of the pressures that exist.

Todd Ream: In what ways then is it beneficial, and perhaps you were echoing this already, beneficial to the Fresno Pacific community to think of itself as an idea and as a work in progress?

André Stephens: Yeah, it’s super beneficial. I’m going to be super transparent here, right? I’m a new, newer president. I think I could still say I’m new too and I’m in my third year now. And coming through COVID many institutions and organizations were challenged in a variety of ways, and part of it is just like who are we becoming.

And FPU in particular lost a thousand students during the pandemic. So it went from a school of 4,000 students to a school of 3,000 students, so a significant revenue decline. And really no plan in terms of how we move forward in that. And so I would say the Idea becomes again, a centering document that we use to engage our present but also plan for our future.

The FPU Idea is also, it’s not a dynamic document, actually, it’s been updated twice, I think, since the early 60s when it was created, so in the early 80s and the mid 90s. And as we reset the institution and move forward in strength and in health, it continues to be that plumb line, if you will a discussion point, the dialogue reminding us of the ability to dialogue about the work we do. 

I’m going to just touch on one of my favorite quotes and it’s related to the FPU Idea from Nicholas Wolterstorff. Actually it’s from an edited book that, and they’re, they’re referring to Nicholas Wolterstorff on this, and he says the quote is:

“Institutions are to witness to the coming of shalom, to serve all people, not just Christian, in relieving misery and pain and responding to the wounds of humanity. The goal of Christian higher education is to change the world by making it a place of human flourishing.” 

And so I think again, just in honesty here for our institution it’s gone through a really hard and dark time. I had to come in and lay people off, staff and faculty in order to right size the economics of the institution. But that is not done without a framework and without a vision for our future. And I believe that an institution like Fresno Pacific and many of our Christian colleges and Church-related schools have a frame for how they engage teaching, learning, and action. 

 And we know the data, I’m sorry, I might be going long here, but we know the data in terms of national data, although there’s a lot of megachurches I know around, but when you look at the national data from Pew or Barna or Gallup or whoever, we know that fewer people go to church. Fewer people read their Bibles. Fewer people pray every week. But there are individuals still coming to our colleges and we have an opportunity to share the love of Christ with them through the work we do. 

So I think we’re not a church. While we’re not a church, certainly as a Mennonite Brethren, you know, a governed institution, we are in partnership or in service to the Church. And the FPU Idea again helps us to frame that in ways that are constructive to our thriving and certainly in the thriving of our students.

Todd Ream: Thank you. I want to ask you a few questions now, if I may, about your own formation as an educator. You earned an undergraduate degree from Biola University and then graduate degrees from Cal State Fullerton. Go Titans!

André Stephens: Yep.

Todd Ream: And Claremont Graduate University. You served for several years in enrollment management at Biola before being appointed the university’s chief student development officer. 

Would you describe the discernment process led you to commit your life’s work to serving in higher education? And then what mentors or authors, if any, impacted your calling the most?

André Stephens: Yeah. Thank you. So wow. So my life was changed sitting in a chapel at Biola University in probably 1987. My Dad was a United Methodist pastor with words that I would use to describe now, not then, because I was just a kid, he was an angry person. And my view of God was like my view of my Dad, like I felt like he got the world started and he was just there to punish you anytime you did something wrong. And so I had a deep fear of God, actually. 

In high school I played basketball. Actually I didn’t play. I just sat on the bench, but I went to Westmont College for a summer basketball camp between my junior and senior years, and I loved it. And a friend of my family said, well, if you’re looking at Christian colleges, why not Biola? I had not heard of Biola. I grew up in Southern California. It was about 35 minutes from where I lived. 

Ended up going there because I felt I could learn about God. And I actually, within a week or two, I wanted to transfer because the Christianese or Christian language was a barrier for me to understand. But I was actually a track and field runner in high school, and I got connected with the track team there. And really that’s where I really found like belonging as a saint now.

But sitting in a chapel a speaker spoke about the love of Christ and how he is gracious and merciful and He loves us. And my heart melted there, Todd. And so from that point on, I was really involved in school as a student. I did all the things. I was an RA and an orientation leader and student government and the athlete. 

And there are a few people at Biola at that time, faculty and co-curricular and student development, who plugged me into different conferences and helped me develop leadership skills. I got a job in the admissions office afterwards and I loved it. I felt like it wasn’t really work because my life was changed there and it was easy to tell students and their families about what a great education they would get.

At some point I wanted to become a faculty member actually. And so, so then went to Cal State Fullerton and I did a master’s in speech communication. Around the same time I was getting promoted at Biola and I realized, and with some you know, mentors and others who would come alongside me, people said, you’re a good administrator. And so I stayed in that track. 

The president at Biola, my bosses, the VP and others would come alongside me and encourage me and give me opportunities to grow, and I just continued along that path. There are two or three people I would point to who were helpful for me. One was Greg Vaughn. He was my boss for many years and still is a mentor to me. My first boss, her name is Lydia Knopf. She works at Hope International University in Fullerton now, but she was a great mentor to me in terms of just doing good work. 

And then probably one there, there are many, I love to read, so many people in books or writings have been influential to me, but I will say in my leadership journey, in particular was the StrengthsFinders Chip Anderson, who was at Azusa, he’s passed away now, he came to Biola in the early 2000s and went through each of the 34 strengths. 

Positivity is one of my top five strengths. And so he just talked about that strength being when a team has that strength that the team outperforms other teams. And I just remember it honestly, just helping to unleash who I was trying to be someone that I wasn’t as a leader. 

Like some of my peers were more analytical and strategic. And I tended to not be, I mean, obviously I have those strengths, but they don’t look the same. And so just embracing who I am as a leader was really freeing for me. And so that was one book and the person as we engaged in that, that really made a difference in my life.

Again, I love to read, so both fiction and nonfiction leadership books have been helpful as I continue to grow. And then yeah, people who have come alongside me who’ve encouraged me in the journey. 

Todd Ream: You mentioned in 2022, you began your tenure as Fresno Pacific’s president. Would you please describe the discernment process that led you to make the transition from leading the student development division at Biola to now leading Fresno Pacific University as president?

André Stephens: Yeah, so I had finished my doctorate at Claremont a year or two before we were in COVID. I was Biola, I don’t know if the word now, cause the COVID czar at Biola, I was leading all the-

Todd Ream: Oh, you were popular then.

André Stephens: It was so bad. It was a crazy time. Yeah, it was a crazy time. We were in L.A. County, right, which was probably one of the strictest counties in the country in terms of Covid and education and higher education. And so you just could not please anyone. It was a really challenging time. But I loved it actually. I led a team of about 14 or 15 people from across campus who helped us navigate that season.

I spent 35 years at Biola, four as a student, and then 31 as a staff member there. And again, it changed my life. I loved it. But I had a sense that I would not finish my career there. A few people had mentioned to me about being a college president. 

Now I sat around the table as a VP for six or seven years, six years, I think. And sometimes I would sit around the table and I would think to myself, oh yeah, I could see myself doing this. But more often than not, I would sit around the table and think, why would anyone want to do this? This is crazy, you know, if I’m being honest. 

Todd Ream: Barry Corey may have asked you the same question.

André Stephens:  I know. Well, he was so encouraging. He is one of those who certainly could see me as a college president. I think the timing, I think he was just like, what, you’re leaving now? 

You know, but it is certainly a calling, I would say because it’s not an easy job, but part of it, so during COVID we were shut down for a while. And so I would, well, I don’t run anymore, but I walk and and God gave me a scripture that I’m not someone who’s had like a life verse, but during that period there are two scriptures that God gave me. And one was Acts 17:26-28. And the end of that chapter, Paul is saying from one man, from one person, God made everyone and He has determined or appointed their times and determine the place of their habitation is what the verse says. 

And so in, in COVID remember this is, yeah, in 2020 to 2022, I guess, early 2022, you know, people, especially in California, wanted to leave California— it’s just a crazy time. And yet God is saying He has appointed our times for now. And so the question, you know, is how then should we live? And so I wanted to embrace that. 

And then 1 Peter 4:7-8 He says the end of all things is near, right? And certainly during COVID it felt that way. I mean, if you’re familiar with Southern California, I remember going to Costco, actually by Whittier Christian and driving down Beach Boulevard, and there’s a line that looked like a mile long for people to get toilet paper. And so it felt like the end of all things is near.

Wow. I was driving on the 605 freeway to pick up something from the church and this is during the height of Covid, and, and, literally, there was no car in front of me, no car behind me, no car on either side of the freeway. It felt like the first wave of the rapture or something. But if you are in L.A., you know there’s cars on the freeway, like, 24/7.

And so, this, this little, you know, few words, the end of all things, is, is near. And it says, therefore, be sober-minded. Be alert and be sober minded. Why? So that you may pray. And then verse eight says, above all, love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins. So those two verses were percolating inside of me for a number of months.

And as I, a few people reached out to me again in early or late 2021, I guess, in early ’22, and said, our president here Dr. Joe is retiring and we think you would make a good president. And so I just obviously with my wife, started praying and started to talk to people who knew us well. Our kids, we have three kids, they were all out of the house at that point. And so, the question to us is, what do we do in this last phase of our work life? 

What I loved about Fresno Pacific is that it is an open enrollment school. And so, there are many students here who have deep faith and other students who have yet to discover faith which is different from Biola, right? Where it’s students who come to Biola have to be a Christian. And so we love the idea of being around non-Christian students or yet to be Christian students and sharing the love of Christ with them. 

And I also, from a professional level, love that Fresno Pacific actually has a lot of adult learners, right? The adult degree completion program and, and the graduate schools and seminary is where a lot of higher ed is going. And so I love just the diversity of the portfolio here. 

And so I was clicking on their website. I didn’t know much about Fresno Pacific except that they were in our athletic conference, but didn’t know much about it but when I saw a picture of students, Todd, and standing near this iconic fountain and it just grabbed my heart. And so I just threw my hat in the ring. I just felt like, okay, God, do you have this for our next season of life? And that was a part of it. 

So people who encouraged us along the way. A few scriptures that I felt God was stirring in my heart about how to, how to live in the appointed time that he has given us and then how to love love well. 

Todd Ream: Yeah, thank you. That image of the fountain and the students there student success has been a point of emphasis to the leadership you exercised for years at Biola and has already been noted as a point of emphasis to the leadership you brought with you and are seeking to exercise at Fresno Pacific.

Theologically, how do you understand student success, and in what ways, if any, is student success practiced at Fresno Pacific different than how it might be at other private schools, or perhaps even other Christian schools?

André Stephens: Yeah. Wow. That’s a good question. So let me just answer it understanding it theologically first. I believe that every student is made in the image of God. Every individual is, right, we all are. We have the imprint of God, excuse me, the Imago Dei on us. So as such education, I believe it’s not just for a vocational end, actually, but it’s for a transformational end. 

And, and so that students who come into the classrooms and the Zoom rooms here, and to your point, at other Christian colleges and Church-related schools that we have a framework that we believe education is about life and flourishing and, and truly transformation. And so I share here that the students who sit in a classroom here should be materially different than a classroom at Fresno State or Fresno City College. 

The robes we wear, right, our academic regalia at convocation and commencement, they’re actually priestly robes. They’re descended from priestly robes, right. And they, among other things, represent our High Priest Jesus Christ. They represent His truth and they also represent His service or humility, right. They represent the truth of Christ, the truth that we’re pursuing the truth that’s found in a person and they represent humility and service. Like He took up a basin and a towel and He washed the disciples’ feet. 

And so the students who come here again at Fresno Pacific, many are not from a church background. We have many Catholic students. We have students who also have deep faith but as the students engage with the curricular and the co-curricular here, we have to integrate our faith, teaching, learning, and service.

It’s ongoing work that we have to do. It’s both present and aspirational as we onboard faculty and as we engage faculty. And the student’s success is that they will know the love of Christ even if they don’t accept Christ as their Savior, they will know that there is a God who exists and that loves them. 

We take all of our new students up to Hume Lake, which is a large Christian camp that many are familiar with. It’s just here in the Sequoias, literally an hour and 20 minutes away from our campus. There’s no cell phone reception there, so you have a couple hundred students and many of them from the Central Valley who’ve never been up to the Sequoias.

And up there you see, you get to see the stars in the sky, right? The Milky Way, all, all of this beauty in the heavens. And so many in this day, day and age, they look to horoscopes to, in the stars to kind of define their life or to roadmap for their life. And I shared with the students, like, I don’t want you to look to the stars just for guidance in your life, but I want you to look to the Person who hung every star in the sky and knows them by name.

And so we, in our language, I think, and especially for me coming from Biola to here, I’ve had to really work hard at making language accessible to our students because sometimes there’s a Christianese and we can get lazy in that. But to make it accessible to them. 

And then those, the students here and I’m just going to just briefly talk about the Central Valley as, as it pertains to student success specifically the students in the Central Valley compared to the rest of California it has the second lowest college going rate. It has the second lowest transfer rate, high Hispanic/Latino population, high first gen population, right? 

And we know that if your parents didn’t go to college or complete college, the chances of you completing it are, are minimal. We have high Pell eligible students here, almost well, over 60% of our students are Pell eligible. And so we serve a really underserved population here in the Central Valley, but the students aspirations match any students across the state. 

And so the goal is that their success certainly vocationally matters, but it’s again, transformative. I share with the students, like when I hand them their diploma or that, that diploma binder they, when they cross the stage, I share with them, I don’t want them to have big heads, but I want them to have big hearts. 

It’s like the end of the Grinch, right? There his heart grew, whatever, three sizes too big. And so I want them to have big hearts for the community and for their world. And so, their success is our success. And their failure is our failure as an institution. 

We have to be student centric. And what I mean by that is not that we’re not, you know, helping our faculty to be successful or co-curricular staff to be successful, but the students are the heroes in the journey. And the seeds that we plant in some of them now may not mature and, you know, we may not see it, actually. But we’re called to be faithful in the time that we have with them. Again, we are to be a witness. We are to bear witness for them. 

I think, all good institutions, we pave a way for flourishing for students. And FPU is recognized for that, certainly, because we take a lot of low income or Pell eligible students, and we’re able to graduate them and give them that social and economic mobility. And that’s amazing. 

I think it was Francis Schaeffer who said, “Our calling is to exhibit God and His character by His grace in this generation.” And so I have a bias towards hope. I believe that we have, this is to me, not burdensome, but a joy to lean in, in ways that really bring about true transformation.

And we get to see every now and then the guy pulls the curtains back and we get to see these lives being transformed in just magnificent ways. And it’s not just the individual, but it’s their families and it’s not just their families, it’s their communities. And it’s a pleasure actually to be a part of that.

Todd Ream: Thank you. I especially appreciate the way you described the unique opportunities that you have given Fresno Pacific’s location in the central San Joaquin Valley there in California and how it can change students’ lives. 

I want to ask, as our time unfortunately, begins to short, about the educators that, the curricular and co-curricular educators that serve these students, and that help them along their journey, and in particular, how does the Fresno Pacific Idea, as we talked about earlier, impact than how curricular and co-curricular educators there that serve at Fresno Pacific understand their calling to the academic vocation?

André Stephens: Yeah, so they say presidents are like chief reminders sometimes. So you have to say the same thing over and over again. And for people to, for it to sink in and it’s hard right now. Like I’m super empathetic to our faculty and co-curricular staff, especially again, coming out of COVID. It just reset so many things and certainly the way students engage or don’t engage.

But COVID and there are other things, certainly bigger things across our country and our nation that we’re challenged with. And I think what’s different now is that from my perspective, it used to be that as an educator, you do things students are experiencing certain things, and you come in and you provide help or assistance or education or whatever it is.

But I think we’re in a season now where it’s like students are experiencing things and then the faculty are experiencing the same things, right? Or the students are having these struggles, the faculty and staff are having those things. Like we’re all in it together. 

So I have to remind people of the calling that because we can, we can certainly drift as an institution and certainly as people away from that core mission and the framing that the FPU Idea has. And what do you have to do to drift? Well, nothing. 

Like I grew up in Southern California, went to the beach often and you could be at Pier 3 in the next minute, you’re at Pier 12 and you’ve done nothing but drift along with the current. And so for our faculty and our staff, we have to have a vision for our work, imagination for, again, I have a bias towards hope that we can actually affect change, transformational change in students’ lives. I have to remind the faculty of that. 

And we certainly have to be intentional about whether it’s programs or trainings for faculty to be effective at their work. But we have to have a vision for it. That proverb, right, without vision the people perish, that word perish is like a perishable, it’s like a slow decay. That is a challenge I think for many institutions because it calls for change, possibly, right? Changing the way we engage. And again, I think coming out of our COVID and certainly the macro things that we’re all experiencing, we may have to do things a little bit differently in order to engage our students well.

I have to remind, I have to support, I have to help as a president keep us anchored in our commitments, in our faith, certainly our faith commitments, to the work that we have with students. 

And it’s hard, and I would say, and this is more descriptive for the students that we serve, many of the students we serve in the Central Valley. The research would say that you know, first gen, Hispanic, low income, it takes more work, right? Because the systems that we set up are actually not systems set up for them. It’s not enough, the research says, to just be a cheerleader for the students. We actually have to provide material help. And so that takes a lot from our faculty and I recognize that and how to, how do I come alongside to support the material ways for those who are helping the students engage well.

Todd Ream: Are there some examples that you might offer in terms of ways that that support is, how the support is exercised toward educators or maybe programs that help them sort of develop these skills and sensibilities?

André Stephens: So we have a whole new leadership team here at FPU and so we’re leaning into that. So my whole cabinet is new, either from that from other Christian schools. Actually, I don’t want to say I stole, people who have come from other Christian schools. I don’t know if I should name them, but from Biola, from Vanguard, from Point Loma, from Messiah. We’ve had academic leadership and administrative leadership who are joining in the work here. And it’s amazing. 

And so part of what we’re doing now is setting out our strategic priorities and principles to engage our faculty and staff in that work. But certainly there are already programs for certainly for students, like an academic success center and tutoring and things like that.

We’re pursuing federal grants as a HSI to help support our students and our faculty actually. And then we’re in the early stages of developing a faculty development program as well. So lots of different pieces are coming together with a new administrative cabinet.

Todd Ream: Thank you. Are there any particular virtues when serving the unique student population that you serve that you think are important to be cultivated as you bring in successive generations of educators?

André Stephens: The one, the one thing I thought of in terms of virtues, I think is the virtue of humility. Yeah, we, I think the work is worthy work, right? And again, it’s not what we do to students and the vice could be that, oh, these are poor, you know, first gen students and we’re just doing, they’re just should be lucky to be here.

But I think the virtue is its humility to say things like, what, what do we also have to learn from these students and their families that would make us a better institution? How do we become an institution worthy of the students that we serve? Yeah, I would say that, I mean, there are many, but I would say that would be one that comes to mind.

Todd Ream: My guess is graduation is quite a celebration Fresno Pacific.

André Stephens: Oh, yeah, so it’s crazy. So we graduate actually fewer than a thousand students I think this past year, a little under a thousand students in all programs. And we’re in a downtown arena called Selland Arena and have two ceremonies that day and they’ll be 10,000 people that we serve in person.

And I’m just like, what in the world? Todd, my first commencement ceremony here, it just blew my mind. I’m standing at the podium and I ask, like, if you, I basically say, if you’re a first gen student and you’re the first in your family to graduate, would you please stand? You and I know the data, right. And I see it’s like nearly half of these students stand up, if not more. And I’m just thinking this, this isn’t, this is incredible. And the place is just going nuts. 

And I’m trying to like hold onto the podium and not, you know, pass out or cry or whatever. It’s just so transformative because I know and you know that these students, it’s not only their lives being changed and transformed, but it’s their families and it’s generations, so it’s incredible. 

And and yeah, everyone comes, the aunts, the uncles, the grandparents, the cousins. I mean, it is truly an incredible celebration with 10,000 people in there. It’s amazing.

Todd Ream: You may, you may want to think about the football stadium

André Stephens: I know. 

Todd Ream: The next option there in town.

André Stephens: That would be great. Yeah, but if it’s too hot there in Fresno in May, you never know, you can get a hundred degree. You hit a hundred degrees in May, which would not be good.

Todd Ream: For our last question that I want to ask about, in what ways is the health of the academic vocation, as practiced at Fresno Pacific, related to the health of the relationship the university shares with the Church. You’ve talked about ways, you know, that we’ve talked about mission, we’ve talked about the Idea, we’ve talked about the Mennonite Brethren too, and their, their heritage and contribution. In what ways is what you do related to the health there?

André Stephens: Yeah, that’s a great question. So I’m going to share. I’m a pastor’s kid. So I love the Church. I believe in the Church. My wife is a pastor’s kids. We love the Church, but there’s certainly tension between the Church and academia, I think in general. This is, I was at Biola, which is not, which is a non-denominational school, right? And so here we are connected to the Pacific District of the Mennonite Brethren Church denomination. 

And it seems like, to me, that schools are always a little bit more, I don’t know what the right label or term here is, a little bit more progressive maybe than the Church. Again, we are not a church, but we are the Church and we’re in service to the Church. 

I think again, the Church has a lot of challenge in the churches now and certainly a decline in, in church attendance and in biblical literacy, all of these things. And I think this, the schools, an institution like FPU can come along this, excuse me, come alongside the Church in ways that are healthy and constructive, meaning that a person who may not step foot in a church will actually step foot in a classroom at a Christian college and meet the person of Christ.

I get the privilege again to have a front row seat of this where there’s a student— we have a, for example, we have a class here that every student takes. It’s called Jesus and the Christian Community. It’s essentially a study of the book of Matthew. And the students, the first question that’s asked in the class is who, who do you say Jesus is? Who do you think Jesus is, right. And then the last question that is asked in the class is, who does Matthew say Jesus is, right. 

And then between that and this course, this semester-long course, they’re, you know, reading and exploring these themes in the book of Matthew. And it’s just a beautiful way to introduce students to the person and the work of Jesus. And so, there’s students who’ve never touched a Bible. I just heard of one the other day. He never opened a Bible before, was in a car accident, and then started to pray because he has been encountered here in this work. 

So all that to say that we have to be in relationship with the Church. Part of that is we have a seminary here, the FPU Biblical Seminary. It’s helping to train the next generation of leaders. As you know, seminaries are declining for the most part. I think over 60 seminaries have either closed or merged since 2002, 2004. 

Certainly as president of the university and, you know, the seminary I personally am taught speaking with pastors, visiting churches, preaching at churches, both Mennonite Brethren and others to develop healthy relationships. In a day of social media where people post, we have, you know, obviously faculty post things, students post things and church leaders, pastors sometimes go sideways and some of that, and so it’s just helpful to be in relationship with church and church leaders. 

We host a number of things here for our denomination and are able to engage in, I think, winsome ways. I think our faculty are giving back and being present with, whether it’s research or just present in service at churches, the local churches here are so super, super important to your point of nurturing the relationship. 

But a lot, again, this is, we can do a whole, I mean, a whole semester on church relationship and where churches are right now. It is a complex time, I think, and an anxious time. My conversation with pastors sometimes, and again, I’m being honest here, sometimes I’m concerned because it feels like I would call it cable news theology. And it concerns me in that way. 

I don’t believe we need a road to the right, Todd, or a road to the left or even a middle road. I believe we need a higher road in this in our culture and in our day. How are we to bear witness of Christ in a culture that feels like it’s going crazy? There’s certain things about the Bible that are mysterious, I think, and other things that are super clear. 

And one of, one of my favorite verses actually is in Luke 12, I think, where, where Jesus says, fear not little children. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And so I believe that, so I try to live and try to engage with churches in ways that it’s not a culture of fear. 

Again, I said it at the beginning, we have a God who created the world and He has given us His word, like both things, like a world that He so loves. Every day that I drive to this campus, I say a simple prayer. It’s Psalm 24:1. It says, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that’s in it, the world and all the people.” We are stewards of what is His. I want to steward that well. I want to steward that with our church, church leaders well and I think we have to be a posture of humility, but also constructive to helping churches navigate this season.

Education is different, right? We actually ask questions and explore ideas. Often in churches, that’s not the case unless you’re in a Bible study or something. You know, when a preacher’s speaking from the pulpit, typically you’re not asking questions or challenging what he or she is saying from the pulpit. And so sometimes the approach is different. 

And so I think part of our job as an institution is to help educate our pastors, be in good relationship with them, serve them. They’re tired as well. There’s a lot of things that they’re navigating. I imagine they feel like they’re walking on a tight rope sometimes, especially with all the political stuff, but I think we can be, we can be in a healthy relationship. 

And there’s layers to this, I think partly because of COVID and people weren’t connecting as well, but I’m happy to say that we’ve reestablished relationship with some of our Mennonite Brethren church, because they were, they were broken, frankly, and I just reached out to people and just had coffee or lunch and sit listen and just process things.

And I told him, you know, I hear you here as a new person, you hear all the stories and things that happened 5, 10, 15 years ago, or what have you. And I just say, you know what? FPU isn’t perfect because I’m here, actually. And it’s not perfect because of some of you here, like we’re broken people trying to navigate this together.

I hope we can fulfill what Jesus prayed in John 17, right, that we don’t have to be all lockstep with the same uniform ideas, but we can have a unity of spirit and a unity of loving God, loving others, and serving in ways that are constructive to God’s kingdom.

Todd Ream: Thank you very much.

André Stephens: Oh, absolutely. I have enjoyed this. 

Todd Ream: Our guest has been André Stephens, President of Fresno Pacific University. Thank you again for taking the time to share your insights and wisdom with us.

—

Thank you for joining us for Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. We invite you to join us again next week for Saturdays at Seven.