MTP 38: Faith in the Classroom: Professors and Students Share Real-Life Stories from Coastal Carolina University

In this special live recording episode at Coastal Carolina University, we’re joined by an enthusiastic group of Cru students and three remarkable faculty & staff members who are making an impact on campus through their faith and careers. 

Professors Jeff Ranta, Associate Professor of Communication; Nathan LaRubbio, Academic Coordinator of Student-Athletes; and Heather Hagan, Associate Professor and Chair of Teacher Education, open up about the intersection of faith and work, sharing both humorous and heartfelt stories from their college days to their current roles.

Thoughtful student questions prompt discussions on handling ethical dilemmas, finding success in service, and the importance of building authentic, supportive communities. 

Email Jeff: jranta@coastal.edu

Email Nathan: nlarubbio@coastal.edu

Email Heather: hhagan@coastal.edu

Watch Meet The Prof on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@MeetTheProfOfficial/videos

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/meet-the-prof-with-shane-and-spence/id1733311320

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6kizp6klascdMj1nqaj6LD

Find over 500 Christian Professors on MeetTheProf.com:
https://meettheprof.com/

Get free resources for answering questions about God at:
https://www.everystudent.com/

College students, follow us on Instagram and send us a question(s) for Christian professors by DM here:
https://www.instagram.com/meettheprofofficial/

If you’d like to financially support our Faculty Commons ministry, you can do so online at https://give.cru.org/0424344

Transcript

Shane Hartley (00:00)

Well, this is so exciting. So here we are at Coastal Carolina University and we have some incredible students with us who are the Cru students. Thank you for letting us be with you. And we have these three incredible faculty and staff from Coastal. So pretty exciting to get this time to do whole different kind of podcast. So we always start with something where we want you to...

really open up on something serious. So we ask, what is the most embarrassing moment you ever had as a college student? I got stranded in Sicily for two days with no money as part of a Navy ROTC trip to Rome.

one of the helicopters came back the next morning to pick up some spare parts, which included three spare midshipmen, and we flew out there. But that was the most embarrassing thing that happened to me when I was in college. Wow.

And that is obviously pre-cell phone and Apple file. Pre-cell phone, pre-ATM, pre-email.

Wow. So Nathan, do you have one? I'm thinking and I don't know.

The one thing that's coming back to mind is like every single time I had to present in front of class and I did that awkward I have no idea what I'm saying. I stuttered my face was probably red sweating all that stuff. I do remember though before that I think was middle school I was sitting in US history and I don't know how this happened, but my phone started playing or my I think it was my iPod touch To age me a little bit. I was an iPod touch kid

My iPod Touch started playing down by Jay Sean and Lil Wayne, just that full blast volume in the middle of class. And I don't know how that happened, but not college, but it that's what stuck with me when you, when you asked that question. So that's a good one. It could have been worse. could be Rick Astley, right? so mine is it was my freshman year. It was summer after my freshman year of college and I had been

I'm vacation with my family in the middle of nowhere, like, and I was really bored and I typed out an email to my then boyfriend, now husband. And his last name starts with an H, but I was also on a listserv that starts with an H. And if you don't know what a listserv is, it was like an email chain that goes to like a hundred people. And I clicked the wrong thing. So I sent this very dramatic email and

It was to everybody. And I got emails back from like people I went to high school with, is everything okay? Cause I was very overly dramatic in the email and yeah, that was pretty mortifying. That's pretty heavy. feel angst just hearing you talk about that. Yeah. I know I, it was, was bad, but it was summer at least. So by the time I got back to campus, it was, yeah. Wow.

We might want to stop asking these questions. They stress us out. More embarrassing moments. Yeah. I see more podcasts coming in. That's

Yeah, we're doing That's gotta luck out in the studies. It could be worse. It could be worse. I've got a very serious question. How do you pronounce the name of this mascot at this school? Chanticleer. Chanticleer. Chanticleer. Chanticleer. And it's a rooster. It's a type of rooster. Okay. Great. You've got one of the most epic mascots in the history of mascots, I think. So if you want to hear the geek version, it comes from the Canterbury Tales. Okay. Yeah, and which is ancient literature. I definitely read that, seventh grade English teacher.

Not in this teacher book. remember that. We've rumbled that into our heads the first week we get here. Well, one thing we want to hear is how has your faith in Jesus intersected with your career?

one of the things that we have to do for tenure is we have to apply for tenure and it's not automatic. And it goes through several steps before it gets to where it needs to be. And it's an up or down vote. And if you get a down vote, you got to go start looking for another job. And so two years ago, I was told by a lot of people that I was going to be fine, that I had met all their criteria, whatever.

But somehow or another that didn't get it to one of the committees. And I got a really negative letter that put my whole future in jeopardy for probably six months where I had no way to... Tenure is one of these super secret handshake kind of things where you can't talk about it, you don't know what's going on, you know you file somewhere beyond where it is. And so I really had to face the fact that I've moved here, worked really hard, but I may be out of a job in a little while.

And what it did for me is it really drove me back to God. And I can tell you, I confess to you that at some level, as we're Christians and we get to be Christians for a long time, we sort of drift away and we sort of kind of handle everything. And when we call God, sometimes we should be talking to God more than we were. And I was in a position where I really had nowhere to go. And that was where my faith intersected with my career.

Thank you. right. I think for me, it's a matter of just where he's placed me. I think so I was an elementary school teacher in Florida and then I decided it was a good time to go to graduate school and God's hand was completely over that. It was like I applied to like four schools. I had no idea what I was doing.

Two of them I just flat out didn't hear from, which is kind of weird, right? And then one, I didn't get accepted. And then I got accepted at Indiana and it was a great blessing. And but God used that time in my life.

to just grow me so much. And then moving us here was just, we could just tell like, this was where God wants us. And so I think that's probably the biggest way that my career and my faith have intersected.

Yeah, I think a lot of it intersects. What I would add to what they've said is, you know, we get to be in a position where we work with college students and that's a very like volatile time in people's lives. So I think we get to interact with students and individuals at a very turbulent time. And so it's part of it's stressful because I think I'm, match that stress level sometimes and I'm like, this isn't necessarily helping anyone. But I think other times.

You get to be kind of a calming voice for people. You get to be a supportive voice for people. You get to build community and relationships with people who are desperately seeking that, obviously, as they kind of grow into their adulthood. So I've definitely seen my faith intersect with that a lot because I get to see one of my student athletes freaking out about something. I get to be that voice that says, I'm supporting you. Team might be losing. You're stressed out with your workload. But I get to be a pillar of support for you. So think that's a huge part of that intersection.

So the university is often a difficult place for faith right? It's in the news all the time.

I mean, you guys bumped into the obstacles that you've had to overcome to integrating your faith with your life here.

I think sometimes it's more of a level of comfort than anything else.

I have been really blessed to just engage with a lot of Christians on campus in a lot of different ways, which has been amazing. But there are those times that I really just want to say to a student like, can I pray for you? know, like, or just really like, you know, I wish.

they had the hope of the Lord in this situation. And so I think that that's one of the tougher aspects.

I'm very thankful that I haven't really encountered negative interactions or things like that, but I do wish I could say more and do more sometimes. She feel like you can't stop and say, can I pray with you?

Probably not unless I knew for sure that the student was a Christian and that I don't even know that it's that I can't Like maybe I'm just not bold enough to do it. That is certainly a possibility Do you guys feel like you can be open about your faith to the classroom or to the field?

because I'm the faculty advisor for Cru and also DELITE, which is a women's ministry here on campus, in my introduction on first day of class, I have a slide. It's got pictures of my kids. It's got pictures of University of Florida. It's got pictures of the school I taught at. And then it has the logo for Cru and the logo for DELITE. And so, on day one, I'm like, I'm a faculty advisor for Cru and DELITE.

And then my students do an activity where they share about themselves and it's like a timeline activity. so oftentimes Christian students will say, I went on a mission trip or I got baptized or this or that. so then I can ask them some questions. I always ask the students some questions about the things on their timeline. then...

And then also like in advising appointments when I'm like, what are you doing this summer? And all that sort of stuff. Oftentimes that will open the door. And I think it probably does open the door for Christian students who already know that I'm a Christian to talk about those things. And then, you know, like the conversation goes where it goes. I also am purposeful with the stickers on my water bottle. Water bottle evangelism.

Yeah, I mean, I think

Like I said, started, I said earlier, started in January, so I'm still like pretty new to my role. So this is something that I'm trying to like learn how to do. I had a friend of mine, supervisor at UCF where I was before I was here. And he always used the word tactics and tactful is like a means. like sometimes, sometimes I think the most important thing is like for people to want to like talk to you and like have like build a rapport with you and have a level of trust with you. Like just got to build a relationship with them. So it's very, it's.

It's very simple, but it's also like not maybe our easy, you know, quick catch all approach. like with students, like I have a great pleasure of having, you know, some students who I have to come have to come see me daily. So like having that is great. I OK, hey, Monday, let's talk about this. And maybe it's three or four weeks later and we've built up a relationship and then that opens doors to talk more about, you know, deeper personal things. I can bring up my faith in that and maybe ask them some of those kind of spiritually salty questions. Let's call them.

I spent a lot of time building that trust and getting to know everybody. And then I sort of work it in. I do work it in in some of my classroom presentations. We do a lot of talking about what motivates people in communications, what they think about and how they think about things. So that's really the entree for me. But also in my office, if you go in my office, there's three or four Japanese woodblocks of Jesus.

first miracle and a couple of other things that are a little bit abstract, but once you look at it and you figure out what they are. And then I have Isaiah's statement about rising up on wings of eagles on my wall. So you kind of know where I'm coming from, but I don't want it to be a position where I'm holding up a giant billboard and then people say, well, I don't need to listen to him anymore. So that to me is a very important part of what I do, but that's not the only way. mean, the guy that was out there today with his neon green sign, everybody see him? I'm talking about, right?

And he's preaching and he's telling the truth. I don't know how many people responded positively, but it's all relevant type of evangelism. It just depends on what you're comfortable with, I think, and what God's gifted you to do.

And there is a certain delicacy about it too, because you're in positions of authority and power over students. Like you control their grades. so you've got to be careful not to leverage that for the gospel. mean, that's not the goal here. I appreciate the wisdom you brought to that, for sure.

I know one thing that when I was in college, I think most college students are trying to figure out what it means to be successful on some level. And I'm still trying to figure out what it means to be successful. How has your faith influenced your perception of what success looks like?

just graduated my graduate program last May 2023. So I think we all have the maybe some of y'all have it too, you know, college student, you're like, I'm gonna get out of here and just it's gonna be great. You know, I'm gonna make six figures and life's gonna be awesome. And I'm gonna not run any challenges. That's I'm sorry to tell you all that's not how it works. Unfortunately, or fortunately, in God's sovereignty. But, but yeah, I think I've

You know, nine months into the job, I spent a lot of time. I want to beat myself up to be like harsh, but I think I spent a lot of criticizing myself like, why am I not doing this better? Why am I making mistakes? So why have I not learned this by now? And I think I've had a lot of great people around me, brothers, have poured into me and said, like, no, like you're you're you just started, Nathan, like, it's OK, you know. And so I give myself grace being shown grace by others, but also give myself grace. I think that kind of has helped reshape my focus and like success is me just.

being faithful and serving well. That means showing up. That means being like honest and vulnerable. I've had students, this has been really hard for me, I've had students who I've had to tell, like they asked me a question and I've had to say, I don't know. I don't have an answer for you. Let me try and figure it out. That's a really hard thing for me to say is like, they look to me as their active coordinator and like, he has all the answers to everything under the sun. I'm like, I don't unfortunately, but I who does, God does. But yeah, like just coming with a, you know,

Developing humility and I think developing just a sense of grace that like, you know, you're never gonna be perfect at your job But you can just serve well sort of faithfully and God's gonna use you in ways that you can't really Comprehend while you're in the motions

So I think...

To me, success in a much more abstract way is trying to keep my relationship with God first, as my first priority, and being open to letting God do what He wants to do with you. And I think that can be real challenge because we have so much competition. We have competition about you earning money, do you have status, do you have the latest thing, whatever that is, whatever material things you have.

Do you have the right house? Do you have the right clothes? Do you have the right friends? And you can go on and on and on. But I think what we have to remember is that God has made all of us to do a specific job or a specific set of jobs. We've been gifted in those things. And if we are looking towards Him, He's going to lead us to that particular place. But sometimes success is defined by succeeding when there's want. Paul talks about being content in need and content in times of plenty. We need to learn those skills.

And I think that's one of the biggest challenges for us as human beings in our adult life is learning how that works.

I want to ask a follow-up question and go to you, Heather, to be more specific with all of this. So I imagine you would say success is similar to them of being faithful and that you love your students. You're not in this for the money. And I've heard faculty don't make as much money as people think they do. Six-figure thinking. So I was wondering if you had...

That sounded good. have high ambitions. Can you think of a story of someone that you, like a student, you were able to an influence on that really meant a lot to you?

I have had quite a few stories that have kind of gone the same way. So I'm going to lump them together. because in, in every major, right.

you know, junior, senior year, like things ramp up and that's when they come to me is like junior, senior year. So, and they have time in the classroom and all these things that they need to balance and school and all these things. And in addition, I, we put them in front of, you know, a class of 25 third graders and be like, here you go, you know, and they're like, I don't know what I'm doing. And just, being able to kind of like,

support those students with some confidence, with some life skills, and then to see them graduate and get their own classroom and be successful. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to do some observations with some of my former students who had been teaching for 12 to 18 months at that point, and just to kind of see them in action, right?

And to be the one that they can, like I often hear like, I appreciate how you heard me and I appreciate, know, like we need you to hide our back and you know, like, so just being kind of that safe place, because I also know that it can be a lonely time. You know, you're away from home, like you don't have a friendly face all the time. And so like I'm lumping all those students together, but,

It is a blessing to be in that situation and to support students that way.

Well, so we would love to hear what you all think and questions you have. So if you have a question, raise your hand. We'll bring a microphone to you.

You can hold that. What are some questions you wish students would ask you to give you an opportunity to like share faith? Like what can we ask our professors?

at least every semester I make this speech in every class, which is you need to know what your own ethics are, because at some point you're going to be challenged. In this career that I do, you're going to be challenged with your ethics. And so I would love

to have them ask me that question instead of me asking them.

We talk a lot, like I mentioned, like seniors and like time management and work management, all this sort of stuff. And also my students are becoming teachers and y'all probably know like teacher burnout is a thing. Like we have a lot of teachers that are not continuing in the classroom. So we do a lot about like self care and you know, like, and I would love for them to ask me like, what did you do to kind of ground yourself to,

take care of yourself, you know, like how did you manage that in the classroom? Because it was very much like the Lord and then being in a strong faith community. And so like, I would love to be able to share that.

So yeah, just asking people or professors or whoever you come across, like why do you do what you do? And that's a very easy, it's a very basic elementary question, but also it leads into a lot of deeper things like faith, for example, I think for all of us, that would definitely pop up pretty prevalently in that question. That's great. Who else has a question?

Good, we have several.

So in today's society with Christianity becoming less and less prevalent and Christians as well, we see a lot of times where, you you try to approach someone and Christianity comes up or your religion comes up and it becomes almost a negative thing or they are against that. Sometimes they get mad or whatever. Do you ever have situations where, you know, students are against that? How do you handle that in a sense that?

You know, you don't set a negative presence for yourself, but you let them know that you're there for them and you know that that's fine that they're not Christian, you know, you're not going to shove that on them, but you are there for them.

You know whenever you're facing a situation like that where you know, you're being almost like your faith is being challenged like one of best things to do is to Trust God that God's gonna use whatever you

do the right way. Like it could be as simple as saying like, like you said, like you don't necessarily have to be like, like, let me bash you over the head with the Bible real quick. You know, you can, you can just, you can just say something like, well, okay, like, you know, I'm sorry you feel that way or whatever. And just know that like, I, know, I'm someone who cares about you. I'm someone who like wants to be supportive of you. And even something as small as that can maybe go a long way, you know, plant a seed down the line where that person realizes like, like that.

that Christian was being loving to me.

Yeah, I'll just I'm just going to echo real quick. Like, yeah, I think just continuing the interactions with them of support, care, showing them God's love. I think that will just go a long way in an authentic, like authenticity. Yeah.

think Christ's example of the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve. That's it. I think you serve your way into

credibility.

So, what would you say to a student struggling about Jesus God or the Bible, for example?

what would you say about students struggling with Jesus God or the Bible? I would say don't be afraid to ask questions. Unfortunately, I know some people that in college were told, you know, we don't ask these questions and they're no longer walking with the Lord. And so I would say, you know, find someone, a mentor, somebody who is more mature in the faith, work through those.

And don't be afraid to ask the questions. God is bigger than your questions. He can take them and He will show you the answers. And don't try away from that.

one of the most important things in my life, last maybe a couple of years or so. That's like being able to ask God questions, know, be have the boldness to go before the Lord in prayer and say like, God, like, why? Why are you doing this? can, you know, you don't necessarily have to, you don't have to be like this perfect spotless, like, I feel so good coming to God in prayer, like God wants us to come to prayer in those low places. I think about like David in the Psalms and how he's lamenting and he's crying out, he's pleading with God. It's not a...

God, everything's so great. know, there are some of those are just great. Obviously, we need to, you know, we have we have those ones as well. But yeah, really learn to like dig deep and ask God those questions and, you know, understand and know and just trust that like, God is all know and God is all powerful. God does have a rationale and a reasoning for it. And like his whole entire, you know, all of God's actions throughout the course of history has led to you being able to walk faithfully with

With being in academia, have you all experienced being disregarded by your colleagues? And if you have, how have you dealt with that?

have not really experienced that with my colleagues. However, I do feel like I experienced that a little bit in graduate school and that would be generalizable to a lot of other universities, just like the position I had in that sort of thing. And I think it's not easy, but it's something that like,

You just kind of have to follow the Lord and what he calls you to say and do, and just kind of leave it up to him after that. And it, it stinks, right? Like nobody wants to be the one that's left out or the one that's disregarded. and like, especially if you're not the one, if you're the one that doesn't have some pure like seniority or you're the one that doesn't have tenure or you're the one, you know, like that's hard. but.

you have to be faithful and again like just surrounding yourself with people who you know and trust to talk with them and like they can encourage you, God can encourage you through them. I think that that's really crucial too.

I don't think I've had necessarily an outright like, you're done cast aside for, you know, for my faith stuff here at Coastal or anything like that. But I think, you know, being being bold, one, like we've been saying to share stuff with them that you know, to be true, like that's not that's never going to be a wrong thing. never going to be a wrong thing to tell the truth. Someone I think at the same time, like kind of blended with the last question, like

Lean on God in that situation. You know, I can I can do I think about past co-workers I've had at other places past students that I've Ministered to and I've just been like, you yeah, I lean on God like I like I'm doing I'm doing I'm doing My part I'm trying to do my this job. Well, I'm trying to honor you well, but like it's just not working like call out to God for help is all ultimately like People don't people aren't going to be like denying you they're going to be denying God. So like you have to let them

You have to like give them the door, give them the way and the door to, you know, go through. But I think ultimately just lean on God for how people perceive you and how people perceive him.

My name is John Garrielli. I'm a junior and I'm an Intel major.

In such a worldly and sinful place such as university, how do you avoid becoming a lukewarm Christian?

Yeah, I think one of the most important things is community. You got to have people around you, whether it be directly with your church community or collegiate ministry. For me, I just moved to the area nine months ago, so I still got friends back home that I call and I go back and visit with. And that's some of the most edifying moments for me when I get to debrief with them.

embracing the opportunity, I think. Like, I think seeing, you know, obviously, I was thinking about this earlier today, the letter to, it's the letter to the exiles in Jeremiah where it says, you know, pray for the wellbeing of, or seek the wellbeing of the city that you're in. You know, like we're exiles on earth. We're not, this isn't our, you know, eternal home. We're exiles here, but like God still wants us to like seek the wellbeing of it. And so.

You know, even if that means we're be, know, obviously means we're gonna be interacting with people who aren't the same as us, but like we have an opportunity to love and support them and build community with them. And, know, ultimately make, you know, make coastal a better place than where we found it. And that's, that's like my ultimate goal. You know, I hope that I can look back in two, three years and be like, okay, yeah, maybe there's only two or three students or two or three people I came across, but Lord willing, I've made an impact with them and their lives and they've gone on to.

impact other people.

I think being in academia or being in any career, it ends up being very much a part of your identity and who you are. And I found it really important to have just those scriptures, God's promises about who I am or His plans for me or, you know, why He or

what I should be doing with my time, like all of those things. So that if there is, there are situations that pop up that are.

I don't remember exactly what you turned, cause you to stray or cause you to be lukewarm, right? That was the phrase exactly. Just having those promises like just ready, memorized to just kind of speak back to those, whatever lies or whatever distractions are coming my way. It's helpful for me to have a few scriptures that I can.

like rely on and just like meditate on just to kind of counteract that a little bit.

Hi, my name's Caleb Holmes. I am a sophomore art studio student. My question is, back to what y'all were saying about truth. It is imperative that we speak the truth, but I also feel that it's imperative that we do it in a way that doesn't drive people more away from Christ than it already is.

How would you go about doing that?

We were talking about this in the Bible study I led this morning. When people react negatively to what you're saying about God, it's their reaction to the truth of God. I mean, at some level, what you're saying is not the words you're saying. It's when you're preaching back to the person and their spirit is in conflict with the truth that they're experiencing.

So I think in a lot of ways we need to be faithful to what we're saying. We don't need to be offensive. Does that make sense? We want to be inclusive in our love for people, but at the same time, if we love the truth and we love God, we also need to be faithful to do that as well as being faithful to be helpful. So I think in a lot of cases when people are reacting negatively to truth that you're saying, if you're saying it's still in a loving manner, you still may get the reaction you don't want.

But it's God's truth that they're reacting to. You didn't make it up.

Yeah, I think to bounce off that, mean, look to look to Jesus like Jesus. I think what Jesus said offended people, but I think Jesus ever went at anybody offensively, you know, in the entirety of scripture that we have of him. He comes to people and he goes beyond the physical and into the spiritual, into the person's heart. He questions the very core of who these people are, like their core identity and their core beliefs. And I think that's something that we can definitely emulate.

Excuse me, and I think like one of the things like I said earlier like one of the biggest things in my life over the last couple years has been realizing just how like relational God is like this isn't the all the theology is obviously Amazing and incredible and very very important that we have a good solid foundation and understanding of scripture and all that stuff but like At the core of Christian life like God is God wants to know you God wants to know you

Ultimately with the Holy Spirit like we want to know him and so I think That's a huge framework that you can come at people with and I think that not come at people with us, you know approach people

I can go back and look at all the sins I've struggled with my life. God did not assign worth to me because of what I used to do or what I did or even what I am now. My worth is through Christ. so I think being able to look at people the same way and be like, yeah, they may struggle with this, this, this, and this, but I know Jesus loves them. I know God loves them. I want to love them. I want to emulate that love towards back to them. And I want to love them despite...

maybe their sins and their shortcomings and their flaws, I want to love them for like who they are, which is a person who was made in the image of God.

just demonstrate like you value them. You listen to them, build that relationship and God is the one who saves them. We don't, he just uses us. So hopefully that will, you know, he'll use it in that way.

Well, that's a great way to end. Yeah, we'll close it with that. I just want to thank you all. Thank you, Cru and students for inviting us in. I'm so inspired by you being involved with Cru, investing in your relationship with Jesus, your relationship with each other. And we can tell already you have an awesome group. So yeah, it's just a joy to come be with you all. And thank you, Heather, Nathan and Jeff for.

being here on campus and for wanting to share Christ through your work and through your words. thanks for taking your time out tonight to do this. I just want to say all that excellent questions. I really enjoyed all of them. So thank you very much for challenging us a little bit. It's good. We'll do a part two with the rest of the questions.