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GC Commencement

Published: April 13, 2021

Plans are funny things, Hal E. Conklin told Greenville College graduates at Saturday's [May 21] commencement ceremonies. They dont always work out the way you think they will.

I can say without a moments hesitation that everything I thought I was going to do when I graduated from college never happened, he told them. But everything that happened in my life was better than what I had imagined.

The current chairman of the board of administration for the Free Methodist Church USA challenged students to keep moving ahead even when things get discouraging or turn out differently than theyd planned.

That advice is something he knows first-hand; hes lived it.

As a college graduate, he had great plans of impacting the disadvantaged youths of Oakland, Calif., through his work in a youth center. But after a brief stint there, doors opened up and he ended up moving to Santa Barbara in what he termed the garbage business.

We found ways of diverting recyclable materials out of the waste stream and giving them to non-profit organizations to sell, he said. We started with 10 Boy Scout troops and in the end we were working with about 500 organizations.

It gave him such notoriety that he was nominated and elected to the Santa Barbara city council.

I was feeling somewhat despondent that I wasnt doing what Id felt that God led me to do when I was getting out of college, Conklin said. But I couldnt do much about it because by that time I was married and had two kids, and I needed a job.

He was subsequently elected mayor of Santa Barbara and then elected head of the national organization of mayors, a position that allowed him to lobby members of the U.S. Congress about issues important to municipalities. For a decade, he also trained public officials on how to set up recycling programs.

A highlight of his time in Washington came when he was able to sit in on a private dinner with former President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

It was a remarkable evening, he said. I thought to myself, I never thought that learning about garbage would lead to this! How did this happen?

I realized that God had taken me on a circuitous route taking me to a city Id never been to, to do a job I knew nothing about to do exactly what Id wanted to do in the beginning, which was to help people.

It was a great eye-opener to me. Sometimes, when God answers your prayer if you stay faithful hes going to take you on a journey that you least expect.

Conklin shared his journey at Saturdays 10 a.m. graduation ceremonies for 111 masters degree and non-traditional students, and then again in the 3 p.m. ceremonies for 221 undergraduate students.

The ceremonies, which were presided over by Greenville College President Ivan Filby, also featured prayers and scripture readings by students. The colleges concert band provided prelude music and the choir sang two songs at each ceremony.

This story was originally published on May 26, 2016 in the Greenville Advocate.

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