MTP 27: Marcus Kilpatrick, From Small Town to Academia: A Journey of Faith and Fitness

In this episode of Meet The Prof, we sit down with Dr. Marcus Kilpatrick, a Professor of Exercise Science at the University of South Florida. Dr. Kilpatrick shares his unique journey from a small-town upbringing to becoming a respected academic and mentor. We explore his research, his passion for student engagement, and the importance of vulnerability in building meaningful relationships on campus, and how to live out one's faith in a secular environment. From his days at Florida State University to leading a Bible study for students and faculty at USF, Dr. Kilpatrick’s story is one of dedication, humility, and faith.

Email: mkilpatrick@usf.edu

Read about Marcus: https://meettheprof.com/view/professors/entry/marcus-kilpatrick/

Here are some takeaways:
1. College Students:
   - Faith in Daily Life: Integrate your faith into everyday conversations naturally. If Christ is central to your life, it should come up just as naturally as any other passion or interest.

2. College Professors:
  - Faith in Academia: Professors can honor God through the excellence of their work and by creating spaces where faith can be discussed and explored. Don’t be afraid to share your faith when appropriate, as it can positively influence students.
 
3. Parents of College Students:
  - Supportive Environment: Pray for your child to find mentors, like professors who share their faith, and peers who will support them in their walk with Christ.

Titles Mentioned: (with Amazon Links Affiliate Program)

A Grander Story, by Heather Holleman and Rick Hove   https://amzn.to/46NSgbv
 
Sent, by Heather Holleman   https://amzn.to/4fS82Gf

The Princess Bride   https://amzn.to/4dsLJFt

Nacho Libre   https://amzn.to/3YKGPzn

Monty Python and the Holy Grail  https://amzn.to/3Z7yDcL

Life of Brian   https://amzn.to/3M7oTau

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Transcript

(00:00)

Hello, my name is Alana and I'm a graduate student at the University of South Florida. And my question for a professor is how can I incorporate, practically incorporate the gospel into my conversations with my professor and my peers.

Shane (00:16)

Hey everyone and welcome back to Meet the Prof. I'm Shane Hartley and my friend, Spence Hackney and I, we're so grateful that you're listening. Thanks for tuning in now. And our goal is simple. It's to encourage Christ -centered conversations on the college campus. And we have a treat of listening to an interview now we did with Dr. Marcus Kilpatrick. And Marcus is a Professor of Exercise Science at the University of South Florida. And we started with trying to get some exercise motivation and advice from him.

And then he shares a lot about this exciting journey. He went from a small town into academia, the value he's learned of vulnerability with his students in order to build a relationship. And I was especially challenged by his leading a Bible study with professors and students together on his campus. So I think you're going to be really encouraged by this interview with him.

And before we get started, if you would click on like or subscribe or follow wherever you're listening to this. without any further ado, we will jump in with our interview with Marcus Kilpatrick.

Shane (01:25)

Marcus, I am not only excited to do this because of some I've got to know about you last couple years, but you're another Florida State alum like myself. So go Seminoles. Great to have you here with my Chapel Hill friend, Spence. Go Heels. And I am very interested to hear about some of your research here about psychological aspects of exercise.

Because I'm hoping that will help me really get motivated in exercising more. Is that what you're talking about? Just how to really psych ourselves up? Is that all of your research?

Marcus Kilpatrick (01:59)

Yeah, my track record is perfect. If you spend 10 minutes with me, you're going to be set for life for exercising forever. Yep. That was a big lie. Yeah, over the course of my career, I'm trying to make a dent. It's big issue, right? We have people that every January will jump into the gym and by March, they're back on the couch. so I'm...

Shane (02:05)

Yep. You're a pro. Tell me, let's do it.

Yeah.

Marcus Kilpatrick (02:25)

making a small dent and really love what I do, just trying to understand motivation and behavior and how we can maybe manipulate exercise in terms of frequencies, durations, intensities, modalities, environments, to try to give people a little bit more of a fighting chance to stick with exercise because structured exercise is not natural. It's something that's kind of a modern invention. And so it is something people have to work pretty hard at. And so...

Shane (02:49)

Yeah.

Marcus Kilpatrick (02:55)

I have a lot of fun. I'm in my lab today. And we put people on treadmills and bikes and we have them wearing a mask to measure their oxygen consumption, much like those old Gatorade commercials. So it's a lot of fun, but I don't have any answers really, at least not ones that apply very well to a podcast.

Shane (02:57)

I like it.

That's what I want is answers. Like, I'm dying to hear this. Yep. So sorry. That's the only reason we were interviewing you. Hey, onto the really important stuff. I also saw you're a Princess Bride fan. so tell us your favorite line from the Princess Bride movie, because you can tell a lot about a man by this question.

Marcus Kilpatrick (03:32)

I mean, I suppose the Inigo Montoya, the famous...

Shane (03:37)

You killed my You killed my father. Prepare to die.

Marcus Kilpatrick (03:39)

Yeah, so that's gonna be great. But I've indoctrinated my kids into that movie and my wife, so it's a little bit of a tradition. We'll watch that maybe on my birthday every year. It's a lot of fun. Yeah.

Shane (03:51)

That's epic. I can already tell you're a good father. Like for me, my kids are, they've got to watch Nacho Libre, and they've got to watch Monty Python's Holy Grail and be miserable the entire time. So your bar is pretty high. And then Princess Bride. That's the Holy Trinity of movies right there. Good for you.

Marcus Kilpatrick (04:07)

I'm sad to say I tried to watch because I couldn't finish it. I thought I was going to appreciate all the Monty Python humor, and I actually did not. I was disappointed in myself that I couldn't appreciate it more, but maybe I should give it another try.

Shane (04:14)

Yeah.

Hmm.

Well, there are those who can watch Monty Python and enjoy it. And then there's normal people. You know, there's two types of people in the world. I'm not one of the normal people is what I've realized. And now if you can watch Life of Brian, you're really odd because it's like the dryer version of Holy Grail. So that's totally good. So we all have these like, and I can think of my most embarrassing moment in college. What was your most embarrassing moment? Let's stick with undergrad in your undergrad college.

Marcus Kilpatrick (04:53)

Yeah, so I think embarrassing is also terrifying for me in that I was a small town kid, go to a big state university. I think it was the first time I'd ever been on a bus, other than a school bus. The first time I'd ever been on a bus was a campus loop type bus that went around Florida State's campus. And I didn't really know where I was, what I was doing and wasn't paying attention. And I get off the bus and without thinking.

Shane (04:58)

Ooh.

Marcus Kilpatrick (05:22)

I step in front of another bus that was coming straight at me. And I remember being yelled at by the bus drivers and presumably, you know, jeered by the other students on the bus. But more than anything, I was just glad to be alive. But that was embarrassing is one thing that comes to mind. But it was truly terrifying. That's probably as honestly, it's among the one or two or three closest times I've probably been to not being alive. It was.

Shane (05:25)

Mmm.

Yeah.

Marcus Kilpatrick (05:52)

So I probably didn't make that as much fun as you wanted, but it was both embarrassing and truly terrifying.

Shane (05:57)

We can start asking other professors the question of this what's the most traumatic thing that's ever happened to you in college? We've had some answers similar to yours. That would be up there. And so we from a small town in Florida is that he ended up at Florida State.

Marcus Kilpatrick (06:06)

Ha

Yeah, for sure. One of those, one caution light, more farm animals than people, public school graduating class of 27.

Shane (06:14)

Yep.

Yeah.

27, all right, you've got me beat. I thought I was in my small town.

Marcus Kilpatrick (06:24)

But I'm going to add to it in terms of the peculiar. The mascot was a hobo.

Shane (06:32)

You can't be serious. Describe this.

Marcus Kilpatrick (06:34)

the Laurel Hill Hobos. And so apparently, at the turn of the century, early 1900s, it was a little bit of a staging area for trains and that sort of thing. And so it was known for its hobos. And so somehow when the school was being developed, the people of the community came together and they decided that naming the mascot, the hobos, would be the right move. so playing basketball in high school, their cheerleaders were

Shane (06:59)

It stuck.

Marcus Kilpatrick (07:03)

cheering out hobo cheers while I'm trying to play defense or make a shot. anyway, that's, it actually made a list of the 10 most ridiculous or embarrassing mascots. And so it didn't win, but it was on the list. So.

Shane (07:05)

You

there's a good recruiting tool. It was in the top 10. got publicity. think about conversations you want to be at. Wouldn't you love it around the table where there's four guys. do think about the of the school? The Vikings, the Marauders, the Hobos and Hobos somehow wins. That guy was a salesman. That guy was persuasive. Maybe smoking something.

Marcus Kilpatrick (07:36)

And I think the story goes about 10 or 15 years ago, there was an effort to change the mascot after I finished school there and the community said, NO, we're sticking with this. We're committed.

Shane (07:43)

Hmm.

We love the Hobos. Well, I'm picturing you growing up in this environment, so I have a question. You described some online of how you came to Christ. I'm really curious, how would you say you saw God make some real turning points in your life, some changes? Because not a lot changes quickly in a small town. How did you see God work and bring significant changes in your relationship with him?

Marcus Kilpatrick (08:19)

Yeah, so grew up in a church family, but it was also again in the small town that I grew up in and I grew up in a Methodist church. There was the big Methodist church, which was 10 miles away, which had a hundred people in it or less. And they met for church every Sunday morning at like 10 or 11 in the morning. But there were also other two smaller churches that were out in the woods, which one of mine was. And so I grew up going to church.

I think it was the first and third Sundays of every month. The other small church was the second and fourth Sundays of every month. And then on the fifth Sundays, I guess no one out in the woods went to church, was kind of how that went. But, so, it was a revival event at the other country church when I was about 13 years old, is when I would say, that's when I accepted Christ. It was a kind of an old school.

Shane (08:50)

Not every Sunday.

football.

Marcus Kilpatrick (09:15)

kind of an altar call type of a situation. But I don't remember feeling pressured or guilted or anything. It really felt like that was what God was calling me in that moment. And some good things happened over the next few years, but it really wasn't until I went away to university at Florida State and got really connected into the Methodist Campus Ministry, the Wesley Foundation, made a great connection with the pastor there.

And that's when God started working. So I know that's different than a lot of stories for coming to faith and walking away from faith, but that's how I would describe it. A significant moment as a teenager, slow change, and then really big, powerful kinds of changes in my faith and my walk as a young adult at FSU.

Shane (10:09)

What do you remember in college being the biggest catalyst or things that really helped you grow most helpfully?

Marcus Kilpatrick (10:17)

Yeah, that's a good one. I don't know that I had ever really been exposed to ongoing teaching of the gospel in the way that I was there. I got a sermon, very brief sermons that I recall. It didn't really feel very important. Somehow I didn't see just how important the gospel was.

But when I was on campus at FSU, we were doing Bible study, I was learning worship songs. I would say it was about that environment. There was something pretty special about being around a group of young adults who are excited about Jesus. And so I think it was that environment. mean, when your aunt is your Sunday school teacher and your neighbor is the piano teacher, is the piano player at church, it just...

Shane (10:59)

No.

Mm. Mm.

Marcus Kilpatrick (11:15)

It didn't feel the same, something unique and beautiful about my experience at university.

Shane (11:22)

a big part of being a Christian is stepping out of your comfort zone. That's a big part of living the faith out. And that's a lot of what you do when you go to college. Like you came from a small town. You met you, you'd never seen a bus before in kind of the pre -show. Tell me about a time when you did something uncomfortable.

for Christ and kind of how it turned out.

Marcus Kilpatrick (11:45)

Yeah, so guess it's easier for me to think about when I did something uncomfortable and then Christ revealed himself to me rather than me thinking about doing it for Christ. But Florida State was two hours away from home. That was a big leap. Spent time there. But then I was excited about graduate school and I had an opportunity to go all the way out to University of Texas at Austin. So I started as a Seminole fan. That's my first allegiance.

Shane (11:51)

Great, okay.

Marcus Kilpatrick (12:14)

but my second allegiance is to the Longhorns. But you'll see me repping my University of South Florida Bull shirt. I'm almost reluctant to talk about being a fan of other teams except the Bulls when I'm with you all. So going out to Texas was a very, very scary thing to do. It was exciting, but given my background, it seemed like too large of a leap.

Shane (12:28)

Mm -hmm.

Marcus Kilpatrick (12:44)

But I had the opportunity there. A true giant in my discipline, Jack Wilmore, was a faculty member there. He was my master's mentor. And I got to learn under him for my master's degree. But he also held a Bible study for faculty and students. And I got to be a part of that. It was beautiful. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shane (13:04)

Epic.

and students together.

Marcus Kilpatrick (13:11)

And I have the privilege of doing kind of replicating some of that now, has been great too. Being mentored by him, he's passed away, but I still talk to his beautiful wife from time to time. But then my PhD mentor there, because I kind of shifted more from physiology into more behavior and psychology between my master's and my PhD.

Shane (13:16)

Really?

Marcus Kilpatrick (13:38)

have a wonderful friendship and mentorship with him, just talk to him all the time. So I can now see what God was doing. But what that also meant is that I left behind my family, my friends, and the woman that I loved, who's now my wife, but I had to leave all of that behind. And it was difficult, but it was also clarifying in terms of what I wanted for my life with Holly, my wife.

And it also helped me see a path for me to become a professor. think initially when I went out to graduate school, was my undergrad degrees in nutrition. was studying exercise physiology as a master's student. All of this is related, but they're slightly different. I wanted to be a sports nutritionist, like an RD type physiology professional working with professional athletes. But being around higher education undergrad into the master's program decided that

I really could see myself being a professor. That leap of faith turned out to be a very beautiful decision. It clarified things with my knowing that I wanted to be with my wife, my now wife, and it also helped make a really clear path for me in terms of professional pursuits.

Shane (15:00)

It's probably hard to imagine if you hadn't done that, which you likely would have been like if you hadn't gone up to Texas.

Marcus Kilpatrick (15:04)

Yeah, it is interesting to think about a parallel universe. I'm sure God could have used no matter what the circumstance would have been,

so pleased and so thankful for the way it all transpired for sure.

Shane (15:16)

Yeah, I think about that first part of John where he talks about being pruned You know, I'm the vine you're the branches and pruning is for the vine probably a painful process It's probably pretty painful to let your wife go But look at what Christ does, you know, he brings you together with these two guys who became How huge in your life that's fantastic fruit that sounds fruitful

I've noticed as you've taught, you've underscored the importance of relationships several times. That's the other thing I'm taking away. Just how critical it is to these quality relationships in your life as you go. What advice would you have for students? This is off the cuff, I realize. Trying to form those relationships like you've had. These formative relationships.

Marcus Kilpatrick (16:04)

Yeah, and I think probably like, you if we want to use stereotypes like most men, think women tend to have a larger network of friends and men tend to have a smaller network. And so I don't want to pretend that my network is particularly large. It's small, but I guess I'm drawn to the idea of vulnerability, sharing the deepest parts of who we are with people, letting them see.

who we really are and those who really love you will really love you no matter what they see. When they see that less desirable side of who we are, if they continue to show love and generosity towards you. so there's a vulnerability, a risk when we do that. And sometimes it doesn't.

Shane (16:41)

Hmm.

Yep. Yep.

Marcus Kilpatrick (16:58)

maybe work out and those relationships aren't the ones that last but the ones that do last in response to all that vulnerability are the ones that you can count on for a lifetime.

Shane (17:04)

Yeah.

So I can't imagine something that would be more endearing for a college student than having a professor who put the guard down and shared anything of transparency and vulnerability. How are you able to do that, if at all, with your college students? even how does that relate to your faith? How much you're able to share about your faith in Christ with your students?

Marcus Kilpatrick (17:35)

Yeah, so I think there are opportunities when one of the classes I teach, the primary class I teach for undergraduates is an exercise psychology course. And so we might be talking about body image. We might be talking about self -esteem and how exercise can be related to that. And so there's opportunities. It's like every person alive, I think, except for the rare person or the liar who would say that they feel great about every aspect of themselves and their mind, their body and their appearance.

There's ways for me to describe some of my insecurities within that context. And one thing I do at the beginning of each class, and I've done this as long as I can remember for sure, but I'll do this kind of a meet the prof kind of a thing where I say, hey, here's who I am. And I will show them that I come from this really small town and I'll talk about where I've been trained and.

Shane (18:11)

Really?

Marcus Kilpatrick (18:34)

I'll have a photo of my family and my dog and those kinds of things. But as a part of all that, I indicate to them that I'm a believer. I just say this is an important part of who I am. And I would say something like, you probably won't hear me talk about being a Christian in any significant way the entire rest of this semester. But know that as best I am able, I'm trying to leverage

Shane (18:47)

Yeah.

Marcus Kilpatrick (19:02)

who I am as a follower of Christ with how I'm going to treat you. I'm going to try to be as fair as possible. I'm going to try to be as generous as possible within the confines of having an organized, good course that has accountability. But I'll make that sort of a pronouncement at the beginning of class. But then there will be opportunities to sprinkle out into the semester.

Shane (19:06)

you

Marcus Kilpatrick (19:27)

where I can say, this is an insecurity that I would have had about my body, about my mind, about my relationships and how that might affect my mental health. And it was really, really cool. Just last year, I had a student when we were talking about how exercise can positively impact stress and depression and anxiety, he came to me after class and had an opportunity to.

to let him know that I would be praying for him and have directed him to some services on campus to kind of help him deal with some mental health challenges. And so it's not at all the case that it's every semester that I have a student come to me and say, hey, thank you for what you've said and what you've done. But when it happens, it's really cool. And I feel good about the obedience that comes with that. But I shouldn't, but maybe as an encouragement to other, like,

Shane (20:15)

Mmm.

Marcus Kilpatrick (20:24)

faculty members, would say it is at least somewhat common that when there are believing students in the classroom, I do make them aware of a Bible study that I'm a part of. And so I'll let them know about that, like a campus, kind of an exercise science centric Bible study for faculty and students. And once in a while, there will be another student that will say, wow, thank you for letting me know that you're a Christian. You you get the whole idea of.

Shane (20:42)

Really?

Marcus Kilpatrick (20:52)

I didn't realize that faculty were Christian and that sort of thing. I think I have an opportunity to provide some vulnerability, to discuss my vulnerabilities, my insecurities. And then that can reap a small harvest of students that will want to come back and kind of talk more about those things.

Shane (20:55)

Yeah.

Marcus, tell us about that Bible study that has faculty and students in it. How's that organized? How's that run? There's two different worlds coming together.

Marcus Kilpatrick (21:21)

Yeah, it's really great. Like I said, I, my mentoring professor at master's program, that's where I got this idea of sorts. It took me a long time to maybe fully realize it. Certainly during the pursuit of tenure promotion, I had some concerns about how much I could put myself out there as a believer. I probably always did that pronouncement in class, but was maybe reluctant, maybe even fearful to do a lot more. But in

In the last many years, we just come together. have a conference room. It might be as little as three or four people. It might be six or eight or 10 people. I do a little bit of preparation, but it's not a really heavy teaching time at all. But there are graduate students occasionally, undergraduate students, and two or three faculty members. And it's been really great organizing the

the time for that this fall right now, we think we have a good time for it. so I think back to my mentor, my master's mentor, Jack Wilmore, and the inspiration that he provided for that, which is a great way for me to honor his investment in me.

Shane (22:20)

It's amazing.

you

it seems like to me, there are more self image issues with kids today, with students, you know, from middle school on up to college students. Seems to me it's linked to some social media stuff where you kind of always got to be in your best behavior. There's some picture of you just going to get posted up to wherever. And when I went to school, I wore

stained shirts and a baseball hat every day because I didn't do laundry, right? And that's how we, how boys are old. you've been teaching long enough to see some changes, like how are things changing with our student population right now? And maybe even if you can think of it, like what, what advice would you have to students on how to deal with it? You know, the changes as far as self image goes and those sorts of things.

Marcus Kilpatrick (22:58)

Thank

Yeah, it's a bit of a almost an odd contradiction in terms of I know that does that struggle, but there's also what I've observed, which is students will come to class dressed in all sorts of ways and oftentimes looking they're very, very worst of sorts. And yet you can really you can get a real strong sense when we have these conversations that it resonates with them that it's a point of struggle.

And we have some sometimes, not always, and it really depends on the dynamics of the room and the situation, but we can have some really, really rich conversations about that.

Shane (23:51)

Hmm.

Marcus Kilpatrick (24:01)

In my situation, would say I have another way that I manage that, which is I look to the God who created me and all of the attributes that I have, physical or otherwise, are things that God saw fit for it to be how He wanted me to be. But certainly, and I'm not super familiar with all the research, but you're for sure on it in terms of

Shane (24:29)

Yeah.

Marcus Kilpatrick (24:31)

the pressures that students have. don't see it in my classroom, but you will certainly see like when we have students, if I have a student that wants to be on my research team or a student that's applying for a job, the due diligence on my part without being inappropriate in any way is I'm gonna Google search these students to see who they are and what they're all about and what we will see online versus

Shane (24:51)

Yep. Yep.

Marcus Kilpatrick (24:59)

what I might see in person is very different. And so it's almost as if students are living two different lives. There's their real life, and then there's this very artificial life. so I don't know what that's like, but I imagine it creates a lot of difficulty and conflict and contradiction of who I really am and who I want to portray. And I think the research is abundantly clear that

Shane (25:02)

Yeah.

Marcus Kilpatrick (25:28)

There is a mental health crisis that's associated with the younger generations now. And maybe they're just more willing to talk more about it than people of our generation, and that's got to be part of it. But there's something about the culture, something about media. And if you were to have an expert on here, they could talk more about those details. But it's certainly the case that those types of things are exacerbating problems. mean, it's probably undeniable.

that the advent of social media is worse for the mental health of young people. I think that's been documented.

Shane (26:04)

Yeah,

You know, I didn't tell you this ahead of time, but I'm pretty excited. We have a question from the USF student and I'm excited about this because not only is this a student you may run into at some point, you may already know this student, I doubt it. But this is someone that my son Blake and I know. We've been on a mission trip with this student, Alana is her name.

Marcus Kilpatrick (26:21)

Okay.

Shane (26:29)

And we've been on two trips with her with Cru overseas. take a listen to Alana's question here.

Shane Hartley (26:36)

Hello, my name is Alana and I'm a graduate student at the University of South Florida. And my question for a professor is how can I incorporate, practically incorporate the gospel into my conversations with my professor and my peers.

Marcus Kilpatrick (26:52)

Thanks, Alana, for that great question. I suppose the answer that I would offer in terms of how you might approach that is that if the core of who you are relates to Jesus, if who you say you are as an individual is you are a Christ follower, my encouragement to you would be to just tell people about what's important to you, to let them know that

in your mornings, in your midday, in your afternoon, in your evening, what are the things that you're doing? How are you handling yourself when you encounter a difficult situation? How do you respond to that? And so simply be authentic about who you are and how you approach everyday circumstances and how it is that God helps you. And there's a place for being vulnerable about how you may struggle and how you need to lean into God to help you deal with those challenges.

And so I hope that helps.

Shane (27:48)

That's helpful to me, Marcus. That's really well said. Reminds me. And we don't think twice. If you're a big sports fan, that eventually comes up. So if you're a big Christ fan, it seems like it would naturally come up at some point. I love the way you set that up. That was fantastic. You remember how Heather Holleman would naturally just talk with people about what she's learning in the Bible, what she's struggling with. So she's the very first interview we did at Penn State. So yeah, thank you. That's helpful.

Marcus Kilpatrick (28:14)

Great, sure.

Shane (28:15)

Let's do lightning round. Yeah, we got some quick questions for you now. So Marcus, what advice would you give your 18 year old self if you could go back in time?

Marcus Kilpatrick (28:27)

Slow down. Don't be in a rush to get to the next stage of life. The next stage of life will come, but enjoy the stage that you're in. Even if it's difficult, try to find the enjoyable parts of it and embrace the challenge of what that stage of life is all about so it can inform how to manage all that comes next.

Shane (28:52)

Excellent. Great answer. So what is the main thing you would want graduating seniors to know before they go out in the world? What's your advice?

Marcus Kilpatrick (29:01)

Yeah, I think I would encourage this, whether this is a high school senior or a college senior, is you don't have to have it all figured out. And it seems like maybe culture, maybe parents sometimes, maybe the world puts a lot of pressure on us to have everything figured out about what we're going to do in one year, five years, 10 years from now. And a lot of things can change. And so don't worry about the distant future.

Shane (29:21)

Mm

Marcus Kilpatrick (29:30)

Worry about the near -term future. And even with the word worry, we should back off the word worry. Just enjoy the moment. Let the burdens of the future come in the future. Just take on the day and take on the near -term and allow whatever the long -term future is going to be, allow that to just come to you rather than worrying about what you should be doing today for tomorrow.

Shane (30:00)

So Marcus, what advice would you give to other Christian professors, especially who would want to have an influence for Christ on campus, but maybe are afraid of any pushback?

Marcus Kilpatrick (30:12)

Yeah, I guess it's hard to tell someone who's afraid to not be afraid. But that would be how I think I would encourage folks is that my experience at a large state university, certainly there is some amount of reluctance on the part of other faculty and maybe administration to really be out in front of promoting like any sort of faith perspective. But my experience has been

much better than what my fear was. I think I feared that I would be attacked and that I would be, that folks would come after me. And my experience has not been like that. And so I guess my starting point would be to don't be afraid and go to the Lord and ask God to give you wisdom and just give you one step, whatever that step might be. And I know that through Cru and Faculty Commons, there's a lot of great resources and

I've been encouraged. Help me remember the name of Heather Holleman's book that she wrote.

Shane (31:17)

Yeah, she has several, one of them is Sent, another is...

Marcus Kilpatrick (31:22)

The prior book that she wrote that gave lots of ideas for faculty members is a...

Shane (31:29)

yeah, A Grander Story she wrote with Rick Hove. Yeah.

Marcus Kilpatrick (31:30)

our grander story. Yeah, so there are so many beautiful examples in that, in that very small, very readable book that provides real practical, tangible ways that any faculty member, any staff member on a campus that wants to honor God, there are ways to do that that are pretty easy.

Shane (31:56)

what about, what would you say to the mom or dad who's getting ready to send their high school senior to college at this big scary state university?

Marcus Kilpatrick (32:08)

Yeah, I mean, I'm not too far removed from that. I have a 22 -year -old and a 24 -year -old, so we've done that four and six years ago. And I think ultimately it would be, if you're a Christian parent and you have a Christian child, to trust the investment that you've made over the prior 18 years. Not trusting it that there are any guarantees about what the future may hold, but trust that God has led you

Shane (32:16)

Okay.

Marcus Kilpatrick (32:37)

and your child to this point. so trust the work that you've done. And then of course, no Christian parent needs to be reminded to pray for their kids, but I'd say pray for your children. But pray for the folks that they will interact with. Pray that they will find community. that they will have roommates that are gonna be a source of encouragement rather than discouragement. Somewhere a long time ago, I remember,

Shane (33:01)

That's great.

Marcus Kilpatrick (33:06)

being encouraged for me when my children were young to pray for their future spouses, which is an odd thing to do when you have a 10 year old. But if you're a parent, even now, or if you have a child that's gonna be going off to school soon, you can pray in advance. Days, weeks, months, or even years in advance that they will meet professors, they'll meet other students, that they will get invited to.

Shane (33:16)

Yeah.

Marcus Kilpatrick (33:35)

campus ministry function or to a church. So I'm slowly, I'm a slow learner, I'm slowly learning that prayer is really, really powerful. And so to encourage parents to pray in all sorts of ways for their kids and for those that the individuals their kids will interact with.

Shane (33:46)

So true.

great, thank you. Marcus, one of the hopes we have for Christian college students is that when they're coming to graduate and they want to find a career where they can glorify God the most, our hope is that they would see that that doesn't have to be being a pastor, being a missionary, working for a Christian nonprofit, but they can glorify God in almost any field.

So how do you see God glorified in your research, in your career, in a way that really can help people learn more about God and even worship Him more?

Marcus Kilpatrick (34:39)

Yeah, so God has called many people, but we might say a select number of people to full -time vocational ministry. But God calls many more people, all of His people, to a lifetime of service in other vocations where we can glorify and honor God. And so it was my Master's mentor who very plainly taught me the idea that I glorify God through the excellence of my work.

And so being excellent in what we do honors God. And so we can glorify and honor God through our work by the quality of the work that we do, but by the way that we interact with and impact the people around us, the relationships that we build. And so, yeah, I'm increasingly compelled that the world needs lots of great pastors and lots of great full -time ministry folks.

but what the world needs even more in some ways, not to diminish the role of professional ministry. What the world needs is just believers of all stripes to honor God with everyday living vocationally, in our neighborhoods and all the places that we have influence.

Shane (35:57)

do have a great platform for the gospel. Thank you for standing in that gap. You do a lot of good.

Marcus Kilpatrick (36:02)

Yeah, it's a privilege to have... to do the work that I do. It's not lost on me how great of an opportunity I have. so I imperfectly hope that I'm able to honor God through what I do.

Shane (36:09)

Yeah.

It's such a privilege for Spence and I to get to know you. We are so grateful for you taking this time out to be with us, you being open and being transparent. You are an example of vulnerability that I think we all need. I think that's something that students especially will be drawn to and so thank you so much for being available to students the way you are.

Marcus Kilpatrick (36:46)

Very, very good. So glad to be a part of this. Thank you.

Shane (36:50)

was an amazing conversation with Marcus Kilpatrick. So many good points came out of that. And I think I'm especially just encouraged with the importance of vulnerability in building relationships. And so please don't forget to like or subscribe or follow to the podcast now, share it with someone you think it might help. And then I have a few specific challenges. One, if you're a college student, would you consider going, finding us on Instagram,

and sending us a question you would have for Christian professors? Maybe we can use it on the show. If you're a college professor, would you go and find us on meettheprof.com and consider sharing some there of how you've come to know Jesus, what your relationship is like with Jesus. Maybe we can publish that for people to see as well. And lastly, if you'd be interested in financially supporting our ministry, we would love that and you can find out more and give online.

www.give.cru.org/0424344. Thank you so much again for listening, for being a part of this with us. And just like last our challenge for you is to initiate at least one Christ -centered conversation on the college campus.