July 2008

July 6, 2008

Dear Biola University Community,

Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend Paula, the children and I downshifted several gears and let the drive of life slow down to a crawl. We breathed deeply for a few days, suspended our to-do lists and enjoyed a pace that, well, was hardly a pace at all. As we watched the fireworks from a sea wall on Balboa Island and listened to the “oohs” and “aahs” with each grand and colorful explosion, I found myself giving thanks for so much. I don’t know, but maybe my gratitude was more keenly apparent because this holiday weekend marked the one-year anniversary of our new life at Biola.

I was thankful that our children are still young enough to want to hang out with their parents, though I know these days are numbered. I was thankful as I saw in their faces the joy of life’s simplicities, knowing that their world has changed so much in the past year and yet in a healthy way, it hasn’t. I was thankful for Paula and her devotion to our family and to the Lord, keeping the two in balance as she navigated so much of our household’s details through our transition to California.

I was thankful for our country and the freedoms we enjoy as a nation. Having celebrated many a Fourth of July in Boston with all of its history, I felt the same patriotism and love for the United States around fellow Americans here on the West Coast as I did back East. Having driven across country last summer, as I have shared too many times, I appreciate all the more the many regional flavors of America as well as our shared pride in the land that we love.

I was thankful for the community of Biola University. That’s you. We too, like the flavors of America, are a diverse and uniquely gifted place. I was reminded of this when last Thursday, July 3rd, a dozen Biola staff members from across the departments accompanied me to Roscoe’s in Los Angeles for fried chicken and waffles. Some of you may remember that during a Q&A I held during a staff meeting in May, Phillip Wallace asked me about my favorite restaurants in greater Los Angeles. When he heard (with disappointment!) that I had not been to Roscoe’s, I decided I’d go. But not alone. Twelve others agreed that day to go with me. As we finally got to the date on Thursday, I found myself during the trafficked drive both ways—as well as around a big table at the restaurant—listening with deep interest to the stories of these women and men, faithful staff members of Biola. Hearing about the journeys, laughing through great stories and getting to know better these wonderful people was a highlight of my week.

Over lunch I asked Josh Pardy, who was there with his wife Emily, about a recent experience I had in Seattle at a Biola dinner for alumni, friends and incoming students. This story is more than about Josh, but it mirrors the spirit of Biola that I pray will long continue.

I met Elizabeth in Seattle. She’ll be coming as a Torrey Honors Institute freshman this fall. When I pulled from her the fact that she was a National Merit Scholar who turned down full scholarships elsewhere to come to Biola, I asked “why Biola?” The answer came easily for her. “Josh Pardy in the admissions office cared about me, called me and kept in touch with me. I felt that if I didn’t come, the admission staff would notice and would care.” What a tribute this is to our enrollment management spirit! A spirit that has resulted in what looks like an increase by 8 percent in our incoming freshmen and transfers for 2008, another class of high quality students who have chosen Biola. This caring side of Biola comes from the Christlike heart of our Ephesians 5 community.

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

I have to believe that our heart as a university is a natural outworking of our commitment to biblical principles, such as living a life of love, which Paul reflects on when writing to the believers in Ephesus.

This reminds me of an article a faculty member showed me from a magazine called Salvo in its Spring 2008 edition that listed ten “decent” colleges (as well as ten it characterized as “deplorable”). Along with the categories for the best elite college (Princeton University), the best for civic education (Hillsdale College) and the best value (Grove City College), was a category called “most faithful to religious heritage.” The college Salvo identified as topping this category was, as you have probably figured out, Biola University in La Mirada, California. Now beginning year 101, let’s continue in the virtue of faithfulness while we also imagine new and innovative ways for Biola to fulfill our time-honored mission of preparing students—in mind and character—at a biblically centered university to impact the world for Christ.

So with a heart of gratitude as we conclude a year that was filled with the expected and the unexpected…from the joy of our centennial moments to the sorrow of our beloved Clyde Cook’s passing away…I want to thank you for your service to Biola. Paula and I look forward to the days ahead serving alongside you. Biola University, I am convinced, is poised to continue to rise as a leading biblically centered comprehensive university, making an influence far and wide for the cause of Christ. All of us are important in making this happen.

Blessings to you.

In Christ,

Barry H. Corey