When looking for a college, common questions often include: How will this school affect the rest of my life? Will it prepare me for a successful and fulfilling career? Will going here really help me learn to live out my faith in the real world? Is it truly worth the investment?

For answers, we asked six Christian college grads to tell us how their education prepared them for life after graduation. Representing a wide range of career fields, from law enforcement to business and from teaching to film making, these alums share the lessons they learned as undergrads about integrating real faith with the real world. According to them, Christian colleges are not just a place to study. They are training grounds for equipping Christians to view their everyday work—whatever it is—through the lens of faith, community and grace.

Daniel Francis, an '05 grad of Tennessee Temple University, knows firsthand that police work is often a high-stress job. In his first three months as a midnight patrol officer in one of the roughest neighborhoods of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Daniel responded to one shooting, three stabbings and an officer-in-trouble call.

To cope with the stress of being on patrol in dangerous situations, Daniel says many turn to alcohol or other unhealthy and destructive releases. Francis turns, instead, to the wealth of friendships he made with fellow graduates and professors during his years at Tennessee Temple.

"I have different outlets I can use to process the stress because God has given me these people," he said. "It's a huge help."

Daniel graduated from Tennessee Temple with a degree in sign language and applied to the Chattanooga police department, following in the footsteps of his father, a police captain who also graduated from Tennessee Temple. Daniel felt well prepared by his Christian college education for a career in law enforcement. Attending a Christian college gave Daniel a biblical worldview that continues to shape the decisions he makes as a police officer. He said he looks at situations differently than many other officers—especially in the way he treats the people he encounters on patrol.

"When on patrol, we work with people from all walks of life," said Daniel, who frequently encounters prostitutes, drug addicts, drunks and others often looked down upon in society. "I treat them just like anybody else. Coming from a biblical viewpoint, I realize that this person is equal with me."

Police work has its dangerous moments, but Daniel has a peace as he relies on God to bring him home safely each night to his wife and their new daughter. "You rely on God," says Daniel. "You do what you've been trained to do and keep your head in the game—and you let God take care of you."

Little Alex was the terror of Philadelphia's P.H. Sheridan Elementary. He was not only disruptive, but also violent. He had even attacked one teacher with a pair of scissors.

No teacher wanted to teach Alex. Except Claudia Perez. After much prayer, she agreed to take the little boy into her third-grade classroom. Along with relying on prayer and her faith, Perez also relied on the Christian philosophy of education she learned at Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Biblical University.

"You learn how to view kids and see where they are coming from," says the '02 grad. "It doesn't excuse what they are doing, but it does explain a lot."

Claudia's training allowed her to recognize Alex's emotional issues and work out a strategy to help him learn. By the end of the school year, he had completed all his schoolwork and passed his first school year ever without a single suspension. This kind of personal attention is why Claudia was selected as one of Philadelphia's eight Teachers of the Year in 2005.

That's no small accomplishment. Claudia's school district is a tough area to teach in. Almost 90 percent of local families live below the federal poverty line. That might be intimidating for many young teachers. But Claudia was fully prepared by her education at PBU. PBU exposed her to a wide variety of educational settings, from student teaching assignments in both public and Christian schools to overseas work in Israel, Mexico and Ecuador.

Claudia's faith motivates her to work hard at creating lesson plans that target the varied ways her students learn. "In the classroom, it's often easy to get frustrated with kids," she said. "You can get angry and feel like giving up on a kid, thinking that he or she will never learn. But I have a responsibility not just to the child, but to God."

Brent Gudgel ('02) went to California's Azusa Pacific University intent on a career in computers. Then he made a life-changing discovery. "I figured out I could get paid to go to chapel if I videotaped it," he said with a laugh.

Taping campus chapels was Brent's entry point into the film world. After creating a short film that caught the eye of a marketing director, Brent was hired to shoot a documentary in China. The assignment led to other film projects in both China and Indonesia. "I realized, 'Wow, maybe I could make a living doing this stuff,'" says Brent.

Today, Brent is a social justice filmmaker whose projects have taken him to more than 20 countries. His most recent project, Dear Francis, an award-winning feature film spotlighting the AIDS crisis in Swaziland, has been screened nationwide and was aired on Showtime last summer.

"Going to a Christian college helped point me in the direction I'm going today," said Gudgel. "It helped me develop a certain worldview and figure out what I was passionate about."

Social justice films are less lucrative than other assignments Gudgel could pursue. But he finds the stories are more fulfilling to tell.

"For me, filmmaking is a means to an end," says Gudgel. "It allows me to tell stories that move people to do something—like offer compassion and hope."

Attending Azusa Pacific offered some benefits Brent might not have enjoyed at a larger school. For instance, he was given more individual attention and flexibility that allowed him to work on everything from short films and documentaries to music videos.

"I didn't get lost in the crowd like at a larger school," said Brent. "I had more individual attention and opportunity, and in hindsight that was a big deal. At a Christian school there's the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond. There's a chance to do more sooner. It can be what you make of it."

LaShane Hill dreamed of doing missions work in Africa after her graduation from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1998. Instead she found herself in inner-city Los Angeles, where a two-week missions trip at a rehab center for drug addicts and prostitutes awakened a new passion within her.

Today, LaShane is the evening supervisor at House of Hope, a homeless shelter for women and children run by the Orange County Rescue Mission. She has spent the past decade doing hands-on urban ministry everywhere from gang and drug-infested housing projects to homeless shelters.

"I am a minister, but that doesn't leave me stuck in the church," LaShane said. "The church is a bridge to the community and the world." Likewise, she builds bridges of trust and understanding in the inner city, connecting the poor to social services, the police to mistrusting neighborhoods, and city government to the homeless.

LaShane acquired her ministry skills in college, where she had to help her mostly white classmates understand her African-American culture. That experience helped her discover a gift for connecting people across economic and cultural barriers.

For LaShane, OBU was her door of opportunity from a tough home life. But the transition to a small Christian campus in Oklahoma was quite a culture shock for an inner-city Chicago girl. She soon became deeply discouraged, feeling disconnected from other students and their backgrounds. She began feeling inferior and thought she should leave the college.

When her professors learned LaShane wasn't doing well, they rallied around her.

"My professors told me they believed in me, that I could do this," LaShane said. Some studied with her. Others took her into their homes over college breaks, offering her a family setting. She soon grew to love the school. "My professors created a home environment for me beyond the classroom."

Melvin Sanders says his Christian education helped broaden his definition of what a career in ministry looks like.

At only 24, the '05 grad of Central Christian College is already a financial adviser running his own Edward Jones branch in Kansas City, Missouri. He manages more than 500 accounts with $10 million in assets. "I consider myself advantaged to have attended a Christian college," he says. "If I had gone to a larger school, I might not have believed I could do something like this so soon."

Melvin thrived in a small-campus environment, where the one-on-one personal attention he received from professors taught him to believe in his ability to succeed. Since he wasn't viewed as just another student, Melvin learned to believe in himself and his gifts. Having been treated as more than just a number, Melvin reflects that in his work with clients. His client relationships are about more than just dollars, stocks and bonds. Sanders believes helping people financially can help them in other ways as well.

"Finances can be a big burden on people's lives," he says. "I can be a light to them, helping make their lives a little bit easier."

Melvin's faith gives him a source of job satisfaction that doesn't rely solely on financial returns.

"When you go to a Christian school, they give you a spiritual perspective," says Sanders. "I have the perspective that there is more to work than making money. Many people feel that if they haven't made money, they haven't done anything. But if I can develop a relationship and give advice that is helpful, I've done my job."

Sanders remains actively involved at his alma mater, and still visits favorite professors regularly. "It's not just a four-year experience and it's over—it's ongoing," says Melvin. "It's a relationship that continues. It's not like you're just a student finishing a degree, but you're actually part of a family. And once you've gotten your degree, you still want to be a part of that family."

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine.
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