MTP: 07, Greg Williams, Part 2, on Emotions as an Engineer, Sharing His Christian Faith with his Students While Respecting Their Spiritual Journeys, Creating an Approachable Classroom Environment, and The Value of Making Mistakes and Overcoming Challenges

watch this interview on YouTube at:
https://youtu.be/rp3NW03GqQ8

Greg shares his approach to sharing his faith with students and respecting their spiritual journeys, insights on creating a relatable and approachable classroom environment, tearing down the wall between students and faculty, the value of making mistakes and overcoming challenges, integrating faith with education, the Christian value of doing a job well, and advice for students and Christian faculty.

Learn more about Greg on MeetTheProf.com at:

https://meettheprof.com/view/professors/entry/greg-williams/

email: williamsgl@uncw.edu

In this episode you’ll hear:

00:00 Emotions as an Engineer

03:18 Choosing Civil Engineering

05:48 How He Got Into Coastal Engineering

07:36 Sharing Faith with Students

12:58 Respect for Spiritual Journeys

15:20 Creating a Relatable and Approachable Classroom Environment

16:32 Tearing Down the Wall Between Students and Faculty

18:44 The Value of Making Mistakes and Overcoming Challenges

21:23 Question from Blessing

23:32 The Christian Value of Doing a Job Well

25:45 Advice for Students and Christian Faculty

27:17 Appreciating the Beauty of Both Mountains and Beach

29:18 Introduction and Website Information

29:48 How to Ask a Question and Be Featured on the Show

30:17 Sharing and Subscribing

30:45 Financial Support and Conclusion

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Transcript

Hi, I'm Blessing. I'm a second year and my question is, what do you think is the most important lesson students can learn while they try to integrate like faith with their education?

Shane (00:13)
Well, hey everybody and welcome to Meet the Prof. Hey, I'm Shane Hartley and my friend Spence Hackney and I have been collecting questions like you heard there from college students and then we interview Christian professors and our mission is simple. We want to encourage Christ -centered conversations on the college campus. So I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for listening. And we have a treat of being able to hear from Dr. Greg Williams We sat down with Greg and...

I think you'll really enjoy getting to know him. And please, if you like this, subscribe or follow on your podcast app, share it with someone you think it might be helpful with.

And without further ado, here is our interview with Greg

Greg Williams (00:55)
I guess one of the things I tend to think of myself as a little bit of an atypical engineer. So I'm not the, you know, the stereotypical engineer is they're really good at math, they don't communicate well, you know, the kind of the standard joke is you know how you tell an introverted engineer from an extroverted engineer.

Well, an extroverted engineer looks at your shoes when he's talking to you versus him looking at his own, an introvert looking at his own shoes. And so, so those stereotypes, I don't think have ever fit me. So I'm not the most organized. Um, as Peggy will attest, my desk looks like a bomb went off. Um, and so I feel like in my head, all these thoughts and stuff are all kind of jumbled up like a bowl of spaghetti. So, um, in, in that I think is, is a bit, uh, of an emotional piece. So like I

I like to read when I was younger. I don't do this now. I probably should. I used to write poetry. I enjoy the arts. One of my children is very creative and we love to go to art museums. And then I love to see what she creates and I really get into it. And it's emotional for me to see some of that. A movie will make me cry. My wife and I were such odd balls. She likes to watch the action and I like to watch the Oscar winning ones. And...

Shane and Spence (01:48)
Yeah.

Greg Williams (02:12)
you know, the tearjerkers and even just the other night we're watching a commercial on TV and I turned and looked at her and she's like, I can't believe that's making you cry. So maybe part of this is I'm getting older too, but so I don't have a problem dealing with my emotions. And so songs singing in church often moves me, the chills. I don't know that I cry in church, but I can get really moved with harmony from singing.

and I can't sing where the flip, but when I hear harmony and I'm just like, oh my gosh, that is God's best instrument in people that do that so well, it can move me. So I'm fine with that.

Shane and Spence (02:48)
Ah, it's great. Yeah.

So how does an emotional artsy person who cries at movies, how do you get into civil engineering? How did that happen?

Greg Williams (02:58)
Like...

Well, it's funny because this was so when I was in high school, I was I mean, I was good in math and science. And so this was back in the 80s. And my dad just said, Oh, you should be an engineer, you know, and I'm like, engineers drive trains, you know, I didn't know what engineer was. But I'm like, Okay, that's, you know, I didn't I did not know what engineering was. And so at the time, I thought I wanted to be a pilot. I used to love

I don't fly, but I used to love to be a, I just thought flying was cool. And I used to thought I wanted to join the military and fly jets off aircraft carriers. I just thought that would be the coolest thing in the world. And so when my dad was like, yes, well, right. Well, so I'll just say this was before Top Gun. So this was, so Top Gun came out when I was in college. So this is when I was a kid. And so,

Shane and Spence (03:43)
That's called the Top Gun Act. That's because we all saw Top Gun about the same time. I wanted to be a pilot, he wanted to be a pilot. We all wanted to be pilots. You're right.

Okay, alright, there you go.

Okay, alright.

Greg Williams (04:01)
So I said, well, if I'm going to be an engineer and I like to fly, then when I applied to NC State, you NC State is a school that you actually or back then anyway, I think you still can you apply directly into a degree program. You didn't, you weren't a, a university studies, and then, you know, after sophomore year, you declare a major. You declared a major as a senior in high school when you applied. And so I applied into aerospace engineering. So I said, Hey, engineering, and aerospace is flying

I got a letter back and they said, congratulations, you've been accepted to state, aerospace is full, pick another one. And they sent this one sheet of paper, this is before the internet, and they said, here's these other engineering disciplines. And they gave these little bullet statements and blurbs about what they were. My dad and I sat down at the kitchen table and we talked about them. And he said, I think you need to go into electrical. And I said, I can't see electricity. I don't, I just know you flip the light switch, it works. That doesn't interest me. Civil was outdoors. And I said,

Shane and Spence (04:55)
Yeah.

Greg Williams (05:00)
I don't want to spend my life sitting behind a desk. I want to be outdoors. So we picked civil. And again, it was God's grace that was the exact perfect program for me because it was outdoors and it was water and earth related, which led me into my current specialty with coastal engineering.

Shane and Spence (05:20)
Yeah, that's fantastic. And so you obviously love what you do. And so you found you loved this field of study through all this. That's cool.

Greg Williams (05:29)
Yeah, so I was telling a student that was in talking to me the other day that I said look I'm not saying this is how it is for everybody but when so my specialty is coastal engineering, which is a spec it's a subs subspecialty of civil engineering and even maybe in a sub of civil as water resources and then this is even so it's really getting into the details

And I took a class at State almost on a whim. A friend of mine said, hey, Greg, let's take this introduction to coastal engineering class. Looks like fun. And I liked the beach and I said, sure. And we took it and I didn't even know that there was a thing called coastal engineering, much less you could take a class or study it or that you could get a job in it. And that semester, I just got bit by the bug. And I just said, this is the coolest stuff in the world. It's almost like, you know, in,

Christmas vacation when they find the Christmas tree in the pasture and you see the lights and the angels singing, that's kind of how I felt about coastal engineering. I told the students, I said, look, it's not that way for everybody. I'm just saying that's how it was for me.

Shane and Spence (06:36)
Yeah. Now I'm just, I'm just picturing you ripping the tree out by the root and strapping it at the top of your car. And so this is how my mind works. I'm already like three steps down there, Greg. Thanks for that.

Greg Williams (06:42)
Hahaha

Yeah, yeah, you're welcome. Good happy to distract you that way

Shane and Spence (06:51)
Yeah. I like hearing about your conversations with your students and that's one thing I've always appreciated about you is you really love your students and I know that you really care how they're doing and you want to help them when they're struggling. How much are you able to share with them about your faith in Jesus?

Greg Williams (07:16)
Well, so now that I'm a full-time lecturer, I'm still trying to figure that out a little bit, how I do that well. So the one way that I did is the first day of class, as I just told them, I'm a Christian, I go to church. And then I didn't just say that, I said, and this was in all my classes, I followed up and said,

whether you believe like I do or not, I would love to speak with you. I'd love to hear where you are on this, you know, come by in my office. Let's just chat. You know, so I didn't I didn't I didn't say, you know, I was I'm trying to not feel like I'm trying to convert somebody because I don't want to come across that way. I just want to see where people are at. And so the really cool thing is, is several times over the fall and spring semester, I've had a student come in. In fact, this student came in last week. He

Shane and Spence (07:47)
Wrong.

Greg Williams (08:09)
He reminded me of that. He said, you remember last semester, you said you were a Christian, and I kind of wrote that down in my mind. And that was the lead in for him to come and speak to me. And so we had a really great conversation about what he's thinking and looking for God's guidance in his life and with his career choice and, or his major choice and what that means for a career. So I've had multiple conversations when students have come into my office about their faith.

I'm a little, reluctance is not the right word. I feel like I need to be careful how I do that when I'm standing in front of a class as part of the lecture of, I don't shy away from it. And if anybody asks me, I'll freely talk about it, but I don't wanna come across as if I'm preaching in class. So, so far, doing that last fall, I think opened the door

for people to feel comfortable, I hope anyway, and some have felt comfortable to come speak to me in class, I mean, out of class, excuse me, in my office.

Shane and Spence (09:17)
I would have loved to have a professor like you. And Spence has noticed this constantly. So Greg, you don't have the benefit of hearing these other interviews yet that we've had. But a very common theme that Spence has brought out is that professors like you saying, I welcome, I invite conversations with my students. I want them to come talk to me about anything, but especially spiritual things and Jesus. So I would have loved to have that professor. I never had that.

Greg Williams (09:41)
Right, yep. I would have too, and I never had that. I never had that all through any of my undergrad and graduate, and I was always intimidated. Well, at least in undergrad, I was intimidated by my professors and I would avoid ever going to their office. And so I could never, it would have blown my mind to have had that kind of conversation with a professor when I was an undergrad.

Shane and Spence (10:04)
In your experience, are most professors like you, or are we just talking to the good ones?

Greg Williams (10:12)
I don't know, that's a good question, Spence. I think there's a mix. I think one, the things that you guys are doing and what Cru is doing, Faculty Commons, is a thing that exists now that didn't exist when I was in college. So I'm not suggesting that there weren't Christian professors back then, but there wasn't really a mechanism. And maybe they were felt restricted on being able to speak about their faith. And so...

I just don't remember it happening. And so I think there's not that there's more now, but maybe their Christian professors are a little more open and comfortable being open about their faith.

don't know, it's hard, it's hard for me to say. I think the opportunities and the support network is there better now.

I'm guessing then it was 40 years ago.

Shane and Spence (11:09)
Yeah. Or at least it's easier for it to be visible. You're kind of easier to find. Have you ever gotten any pushback from administration or faculty or anybody on sharing the fact that you're a Christian openly?

Greg Williams (11:12)
Yes, yes, yes.

Absolutely not. Now, I've only been a full-time faculty since August, so, you know, it's, but nobody has said anything to me, whether it's been students or faculty or nobody's ever given me any direction on here's what you can or can't say or, and that's why I think is really good about that first day where that first day, you know, syllabus day or whatever, it's really about

you know, introduction and part of that introduction is me. Well, you know what? Here's who I am. Here's where I come from. Here's, you know, what makes me tick. And so I think it's, I don't think anybody can tell me, no, you can't do that. Then I'm like, well, I'm telling about myself. And I think it's important for the students to know about me. So, no, but I haven't gotten any pushback.

Shane and Spence (12:08)
It was, I had a, I had a business attorney tell me not too long ago that you were safer from liability if you told the person you're hiring upfront that you're a Christian and so you just said, Hey, we are faith informed here and how we make decisions, however you want to word it. And that way, you know, you fired them later for something. You, they, they knew upfront what they were getting into. It's sort of that.

Greg Williams (12:25)
Mm-hmm.

Shane and Spence (12:34)
So I think there's a certain transparency. It's almost like a graciousness to the student to say, hey, this is my worldview. This is how I think, you know, because you can't separate that. Like, to a degree, Christianity is a worldview. It's how I think, it's how I view the world. And it's a graciousness to say that up front. That's great. Tell us a little bit, you said something in our kind of pre-show about everybody's on this spiritual journey.

Greg Williams (12:39)
Yeah, yeah. Right, right, right. Right, right. Yes, right, right.

Yeah.

Shane and Spence (13:02)
and you seem to have a lot of respect for that. Tell me what your thoughts are on that.

Greg Williams (13:08)
Well, I think it's probably founded in my own spiritual journey. So when, you know, that kind of time, I from ninth grade all the way to when I came to know the Lord, but I didn't really know what that meant. And I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know what that meant as far as living, but I knew that God had spoken to me in a way that he had not spoken to me before. And it took me my own path a while to figure that out.

and it was God bringing people into my life to help me do that. So knowing that we're all in different places and how we come, you know, I'm a bit, it takes me longer to learn something, you know, and that's why I tell my students all the time, I says, look, I don't expect you to get this the first time, you know, it certainly didn't, when I was in your shoes, I didn't get the first time, so really come and understand

really who God was and what God has done and what he's continuing to do. It took me a while from of maturity and growing and right people come alongside and Bible studies and a spouse and those conversations. And so recognizing that's happening to other people and that everybody's in a different spot, that's why I love to talk to people. Do you find out where they're at? You know, you talk to one person and maybe they're a stronger Christian than I am. Hey, that's great. What do you what do you read? And what have you learned lately? Talk to another person that said,

Shane and Spence (14:25)
Yeah.

Greg Williams (14:33)
I think I've been going to church. I said, oh really, well, why are you going to church? You know, who are you going to church? So you just kind of, it gives you a different entry point to talk to them by having that conversation about where they're at.

Shane and Spence (14:44)
Yeah. I love what you just said there about just the notion that the student could be further along in their faith than you are. Because I think that people assume as a professor, you've got it all figured out. You've got everything all figured out. And you just by saying that said, I may not have this all figured out. So I'm on a journey to you know, that's I'm on a journey, Shane's on a journey. Yeah, that's great.

Greg Williams (14:51)
Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. From a technical piece, from a technical piece, I try to be very transparent. And I'm probably well, I will say probably I am often very self deprecating. So I crack jokes about myself in class because one, I want them to one that's my personality. I'm kind of a goofball anyway. But

I'm not afraid to go, and there have been times I've been lecturing in class and they'll start asking questions, I'll turn and look at the board and I'll go, yeah, that's just a really bad job. Tell you what, y'all just set that aside. Let me go work on this and see if I can explain this better next class, or I'll make a joke like I'll write something up wrong and somebody will call me out, say, was that supposed to be 3.1 instead of 1.3? And I'll look back at the board and I go, oh yeah. And I'll kind of erase it and I'll look back at it, I'm like

you know, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, you know, kind of thing. Or I'll say, my first mistake of the day, you know, and then I'll do it again. I'll say, my second mistake of the day. So I try to be funny so they realize that I am just a regular person. You know, I make mistakes and so anyway.

Shane and Spence (15:58)
I'm gonna go.

Yeah, yeah.

Have you found that to help them trust you more? Do you feel like they think you're more approachable?

Greg Williams (16:19)
I hope it does. I hope it tears down that wall a little bit between students and faculty. I want to, like, I crack jokes sometimes. I go on tangents. I'll joke about tangents or I'll tell country bumpkin stories. One of my favorite sayings is, especially with some of the classes we take or that I teach are, there's more than one way to do something. You can solve a problem more than one way. And I'll say there's more than one way to skin a cat.

that's an old country saying. And then I have to explain what that means. It's not a feline, it's a catfish, at least how I learned it. And then I go in and then so then I go down this tangent about what a catfish is, how a catfish is different, how you skin a catfish. And then I get done telling the story and I go, what are we talking about? And so I do that because I want them to realize that I'm a regular person and I love saying something that's kind of funny and turning around and seeing the class kind of rolling their eyes at me or laughing. So hopefully that that's...

Shane and Spence (16:49)
Yeah.

Greg Williams (17:14)
you know, kind of just tearing down that wall just a little bit that they might be more likely to ask me a question after class or stop by my office hours because they know that I'm, I'm not all pious and you know, head in the clouds kind of. So that's, that's my one is just me, but that's kind of an ulterior motive is I just want to kind of tear down that wall a little bit.

Shane and Spence (17:33)
I didn't know that referred to catfish. So you're a good teacher. I just learned something. I'm  here learning too. So I love it.

Greg Williams (17:39)
So y'all have, have y'all ever caught catfish? I mean, you know the thing about catfish is they don't have scales, you know, they're skinned. So you skin a catfish. So anyway.

Shane and Spence (17:43)
Yeah.

See ya later.

And the saying just dropped the word fish and it became how do you skin a cat? And I'm sitting here thinking like we use the rusty pair of pliers and what are the way is there? Like I want to learn how you skin the catfish.

Greg Williams (18:01)
Right.

Shane and Spence (18:04)
That's great. I feel like the subtext for Meet the Prof ought to be like, they're just real people. Because I feel like with a student, if we could just dispel that, these professors are just real people on a spiritual journey who care about you as a person, and they have stuff going on in their life too. The academic world would be a better place if everybody bought into that.

Greg Williams (18:10)
Yeah, yeah.

Right. Yes.

Yeah. So one, an example I do that is so I tell like, well, I love to tell these stories in class. I said, when I told my friends that I was going to be teaching this class, I'm teaching this semester. This is the fifth, fifth time I've taught it. I said, when I told my friends I was teaching this class, my friend says, well, Greg, didn't you have to pass it to be able to teach it? And and I'm like, I passed it. And then I tell him, I said, you know what I got? What grade I got in this class when I was your age, I got a C. And oh, by the way.

Shane and Spence (18:43)
Hahaha!

Yeah, yeah.

Greg Williams (18:53)
The semester prior, I failed two classes the same semester, Calc 3 and Chem 2. And guess what, guys? I stuck it out and I graduated. And I did not have a great GPA, but I got to grad school. I got a job. And look at me, I got a PhD. So I am not perfect. I have fallen on my face over and over again. And so I just want them to realize that if they make a B or even if they make a C, it's OK.

Shane and Spence (18:56)
Then, um...

Yeah, yeah.

That's such a good word for engineering students especially. But the ones I know are so focused on that grade. You know, and it's like the end of the world if I didn't get the thing. There's so much stress and pressure. And you're seeing these students just kind of crack under it. You know, where my son goes to school, you know, you've got mental health days trying to help students deal with it. And so you're doing a real service by saying, take some of this pressure off yourself.

Greg Williams (19:31)
Yeah, yeah.

Right.

Right, right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shane and Spence (19:51)
If you fail it, you're still gonna be called engineer. Just like if you made an A. Like at the end of the day, you know, well, not if you fail, but if you make the C, right, you still are called engineer. Yeah, that's great. Good stuff. I think you're speaking to a lot of students here. You're speaking to me. Like I heard this. I was in your shoes, man. Like STAT23, Calc, those were like the bane of my existence. I made a 25 on my first STAT test, and I'm like, what is...

Greg Williams (19:57)
Yeah.

Yep. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

Yeah.

Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Shane and Spence (20:20)
25, that's like, anyway. It's like 50% of the grade, you said. Yeah, I passed it, I passed it. But I squeaked in, I squeaked in. I was not an engineer. Well, Greg, we have been interviewing a lot of professors and then we've been asking students, what do you want us to ask these professors? So a student has a question for you. So take a listen to this question and give your answer.

Greg Williams (20:46)
Okay.

Shane Hartley (20:50)
Hi, I'm Blessing. I'm a second year and my question is, what do you think is the most important lesson students can learn while they try to integrate like faith with their education?

Greg Williams (21:04)
Well, so from my perspective as a believer, I believe that you know kind of like Spencer mentioned earlier It's my faith is my worldview. That's the underpinning of everything I do and also believe that God puts us in the world to meet needs and serve others and You can do that in a bunch of different ways. So I did it as an engineer and I did it as a As a engineering manager so in the

where I used to work. I would try to demonstrate living as Christ would live and how I interacted with my coworkers. And for the work that I did that was for others, it was the underpinning of who I am. A nurse can do that. A doctor can do that. A teacher can do that. A janitor can do that. It's what's the…

the motivation for why you're doing it, regardless of the particular job that you have. So I think the two, in fact, I think that's what makes the world go around. Thank goodness we're not all a bunch of engineers trying to be Christian engineers. It would just be a horrible place. Thank goodness there's musicians and artists and politicians and these people that do their vocation with the underpinning of

a biblical, godly worldview that can just show in love. And so I think you can do anything with that. You don't have to be a pastor to be a, to live a Christian life. Churches are full of them, and that's probably one encouraging thing about churches. There's so much diversity in the churches, different walks of life, and where people have come from, and things that they do, and all that kind of stuff, and you all gather and you worship the same God.

Shane and Spence (22:52)
Mm-hmm.

I love what you're saying is that your faith really informs your character and how you work, how you treat people, your motivation for what you're doing, not being selfish motivation. Yeah.

Greg Williams (23:10)
Absolutely.

Absolutely. It's all about others. It's not about me. It's about other people. It's the way I look at it.

Shane and Spence (23:20)
Yeah. So I heard, I heard Tim Keller made the argument that just doing a job well that serves the world has Christian value. And his example was if you, if you deliver milk to a grocery store, that then people drink and live well, that in and of itself has Christian value, even if you're not grabbing them by the ear and telling them the gospel. Like, what would you say that as an engineer? Would you agree or disagree with that?

Greg Williams (23:45)
Well, I would absolutely agree with that. But see, I think it's the way I also see this even more fundamental than that. And this really echoes this conversation I had with a student last week is, um, is, you know, there's, there's value in working to, to support one, to support a family, you know, and, you know, work is maybe most work or a lot of work is, um,

morally neutral. I mean, you can make it bad by how, what kind of employee, you know, you can be a corrupt engineer or a corrupt doctor or whatnot. But in being able to contribute to society, but also being able to earn money so that, you know, I can provide for my family. And then how you manage what God has provided provides opportunity for me to give to missionaries or to give back to the church. So the

The income, regardless of what you do, yes, it does that. You can bless others by the work you do that then has a secondary or tertiary effect down the road. But it's also kind of even more simplistic as it's income that I can take care of my family, but then also be an example in how I give and how I use God's gifts to me to show God's love, whether that's working, volunteering,

mission, missions work, whatever. I think there's a lot of ways that can happen.

Shane and Spence (25:13)
That's great. Great word. Well, so we would love to ask you a couple machine gun questions. There's another term we have for it, rapid fire. Yeah. Rapid fire. The lightning round. Yes, are you ready?

Greg Williams (25:23)
Okay.

I think so.

Shane and Spence (25:28)
All right, so first question is, what advice would you give your 18 year old self?

Greg Williams (25:35)
Be patient with myself. I think,

like the student I had the other day, I said, you know, you're 20, I didn't figure out what I wanna do till I was that class I talked about, I was 22 or 23 when I took that class. Give yourself time, you know, just be where you are. God's put you where you are now and focus on what is in front of you right now.

Shane and Spence (25:59)
That's helpful. So another question, what advice would you give other Christian faculty who have a desire to influence students?

Greg Williams (26:12)
I think be transparent and be vulnerable. Let them know that you're a person, you're a regular person. For me personally, it just, that's kind of who I am to joke about my failings in life and how I'm kind of a goofball. And so it comes out naturally that way. And I guess some people maybe aren't comfortable with that, but I think showing your students you're just a regular person and you've made mistakes and you will continue to make mistakes. I think that's probably one of the best things you can do.

Again, that goes towards tearing down that wall between students and faculty.

Shane and Spence (26:45)
And last question, we've asked others this, but it's even more relevant for you. You grew up in Western North Carolina and now you live at the beach, coastal engineer. Which is better, mountains or beach?

Greg Williams (26:58)
Well, if you looked at my Meet the Prof profile, my two favorite towns are Granite Falls, North Carolina, where I grew up, and Wilmington. So I didn't pick one, I picked two. So I don't know, so I'm gonna be a bit of an apologist for the state of North Carolina now. I mean, North Carolina's got the beaches and the mountains. You can do both in a drive. I'm amazed when I go back home and visit my dad and just see the rolling hills, you see the mountains.

Shane and Spence (27:08)
That's cheating.

Greg Williams (27:25)
And he kind of jokes, he's like, they've always been here. But when I was 18, I didn't want to look at them. I wanted to get away. I go to the beach and I stand on the shoreline and I just see the immensity of the ocean in God's world out there. And I just, I see it in both places. So I can't pick one or the other because I think they're just beautiful in God's creation.

Shane and Spence (27:32)
that.

That makes sense.

Well, Greg, this has been really encouraging. So students can get to know you more on meettheprof.com. And how else can they follow you or get in touch with you

Greg Williams (28:00)
I guess email me, come see me, I would rather have face to face conversations. So for UNCW students, I'm in the coastal engineering building.

I love talking to anybody that wants to come and talk, whether it's about engineering or the beach or the mountains or Christ, any of those.

Shane and Spence (28:15)
That's great. Greg, thank you so much for this time. I'm so grateful for you being in the students' lives and grateful for your career change now to serve as faculty there.

Greg Williams (28:17)
Yeah, yeah.

Well, thank you for this time. I appreciate what you guys are doing in Faculty Commons. And the first time, Shane, you told me about this and this ministry to professors, I just went, wow, that's the way to do it. To one, meet a need for that community, but also recognize that we have that really, really significant...

connection to students and so what a way to reach students is through faculty so I think this is a great ministry.

Shane (28:57)
Well, I hope you enjoyed that interview and you can learn more as well as read about other Christian professors on our website, meettheprof .com. And you can search for professors by name or by state or even by college campus. And you can also find many helpful resources about questions that were in the interview and other ways of answering tough questions at Cru.org and that's Cru.org. And college students,

If you would like to ask a question to a professor and potentially be on the show, this is how you do it. Follow us on Instagram, it's meettheprofofficial, and then upload us a video by direct message where you say your name, your college campus, what year you are, and then ask your question. And you can ask more than one question, and hopefully then you can be featured on the show. And if you enjoyed this, would you please share this episode with a friend?

someone you think it would be helpful to. And please don't forget to follow or subscribe to the podcast. And if you're listening to this, but you would like to watch the videos of these interviews, we record them all and we put them on YouTube. So you can subscribe to our YouTube channel, which is Meet the Prof Official. And we would love to meet you there. And lastly, if you would like to financially support our Faculty Commons ministry with Cru, you can do so online

by going to give.cru.org/0424344. So thank you for being with us and until next time, we hope you feel encouraged to have a Christ -centered conversation on your college campus.