Care of Souls & Commencement 2025
A View of GU – MAY 2025
“I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!” – Ephesians 1:18–19 MSG
In the April issue of “A View of GU,” we invited GU alumni and friends to come home, figurately (via scripture study) and literally (via Homecoming & Family Weekend 2026, October 23–26) … to revisit the spiritual soil of a Father who loves and sees us as the Family of God. This nutrient-rich story informs the soil of Christian education that we seek to foster here at GU. π§‘
If you’re reading this right now, you’ve probably encountered the soil story of Greenville University … one Family-of-God (FOG) opportunity to be formed (and hopefully transformed) by the rich nutrients found in a Christ-centered education for character and service. (“A View of GU: Soil Stories & Homecoming 2025”)
With our students, we foster said soil story through innovative engagement with new information about God, the GU family and GU programs. We want students to encounter a Father and a family that sees them in the context of this distinctly-GU education. With our alumni, we continue to foster this story about God, the GU family and a GU education through innovative communication via print, email, web content and social media. We want you to know we see you as we continue to till the GU soil for you.
This soil story provides a secure context in which each soul–each GU student, faculty, staff, alumni and friend—can better know whose they are so that they can better define and refine who they are in Christ. This is where God’s Word in Ephesians 1:18–19 equips God’s people to better discern God’s will for their lives. This is how being seen by a Father and a family leads to a deeper knowing of self and the role God has for each of us in His Kingdom on earth. We need the context of a bigger story to more accurately address the content of our individual stories.
In the comfort of the GU educational soil, we approach deep character formation with curiosity and confidence, facilitating immersive experiences through new experiences in a student’s personal pursuits and new understanding in relationship with other students, faculty, coaches and staff. We then further interconnected effectiveness as alumni acquire new meaning for their vocational investments, contending with culture as a flourishing member of the GU Alumni Association (GUAA). In President Davis’ words, we equip students with “a degree, a resume and a network.”
But as we continue to till the GU soil in our alumni community, we also want to extend this ongoing care of souls to you as well. In the context of a fortified foundation of faith and family at GU, we want you to know that you are not only seen but known as a precious “orange” soul 𧑠(see “A View of GU: Orange Souls & Alumni Goals”), made in the image of God with a unique compilation of beauty and brokenness, strengths and struggles, and gifts and graces. We believe that, in Christ, nothing is wasted. We can entrust every part of our story to Him in prayerful consecration, seeking to conform the roots of our identity to His root stock.
This is a “calling” space in the formation of our souls, where God’s voice calls to our voice in His discipleship of our thoughts, emotions and desires. Your alma mater desires to nurture the deep and ongoing character conformation of each alumni, donor and friend. We believe it’s in a deeper knowing of whose we are as the family of God and who we are becoming in Christ that we can better discern His will for our “one wild and precious life” —a personal and prayerful journey of self-acceptance and self-awareness. This is the way to experience deep spiritual and personal wellness. Furthermore, it is from this place of deep wellness that we better move into relational and vocational wholeness (more on this in the June issue of “A View of GU” ο).
“I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
– Mary Oliver, excerpt from New and Selected Poems, 1992, Beacon Press, Boston, MA
As students, God may have spoken into your identity and calling through a professor’s feedback, a course assignment, a friend’s observation, or even assessment tools like the Myers-Briggs or StrengthsFinder to help you better reclaim your story in the context of God’s story. As alumni, we want to continue to facilitate immersive experiences in which you God’s will for your lives—discerning direction and confirming calling—through in person, on campus and online activities. Whether as an 18-year-old college student or a 58-year-old second-career alum director ο, God’s ever-deepening conformational work in us reflects in God’s reformational work among us as a community of believers.
The “Rise Up 2030 Campaign” emphasizes the deep wellness that comes with being seen and known, followed by the wholeness that comes through being valued and inspired. This journey often takes the form of an experiential wilderness walk from problem to promise and from pain to purpose.
Commencement 2025, May 8–10
Commencement offers an annual opportunity to celebrate and commemorate the wilderness walk of our GU students, having successfully traversed the rugged educational terrain leading to a promising vocation. At the Tidball Alumni House, we look forward to reviving the long-held tradition of senior breakfast next Friday morning, May 9, from 8:30–10:30 a.m. with the hopes of introducing our “almost alumni” to their new “home,” replete with the promise of fruitful interconnection, by locating them among members of their alumni board, alumni ambassadors and other area alumni. We will also distribute the new “Alumni” t-shirt to new graduates. (Current alumni may purchase the new shirt on campus at Commencement and Homecoming. We are working on making GUAA alumni merch available online.)
Area alumni and friends will also greet our new graduates through various volunteer opportunities on Commencement morning, May 10. Alumni serve as ushers, golf cart drivers and as hosts for event guests. If you would like to volunteer for the Senior Breakfast and/or Commencement activities, please contact alumni@greenville.edu with your availability!
π YOUR NEXT STEPS: We invite GU alumni and friends to pray for these graduating students as they venture out in the world with their freshly-cut ivy sprig in hand. Pray for God’s presence to transplant them in new places of formation and growth. Pray for God’s protection in uncertainty and provision of Christian community in this transition process. And pray for God’s purposes as they pursue meaningful Kingdom service.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for Homecoming & Family Weekend 2025, October 23–26! Like our “GU Alumni Association” Facebook page! Reserve your hotel rooms! Join your reunion class FB group! Get your plane tickets! Share Homecoming social posts with classmates! In June, we’ll celebrate “The Storied Legacy” that is our Greenville University Alumni Association, 2025–26 Alumni Board and newly elected Alumni Board officers.
Keep praying. Keep watching. And keep thanking God with us for the good work He continues to do on campus in the lives of GU students, faculty and staff and in you, our GU alumni and friends. π§‘πΎπΏ
