#BearsOfBaylor — “I think that’s what makes Baylor, Baylor.”

“I love being around our students, because they’re exceptionally great students. I always ask them who their favorite professor is and what’s been the most transformative class. They don’t have to think twice, and frequently when I ask them who their favorite professor is, they can’t limit it to one.

“What’s struck me is how incredible our professors are in reaching out to students beyond the classroom and their interpersonal relationship with students. And I think that’s what makes Baylor, Baylor. Because I think this is unique. I just had students in here yesterday morning — I just invite students and say, ‘Hey, do you want to come in?’, and some of them are bold enough to do so — and so this student brought in her roommates, and we were just talking. One was talking about being called on in the middle of class, and her first response out loud was just ‘Oh no.’ And the professor responded to her so pastorally, in the classroom and then after the classroom. I just thought, that’s what makes the culture at Baylor a Christian university.

“I believe Baylor is a collective of fallen individuals — which Christian faith believes that we’re all fallen, living in a fallen world — who are fully committed to Jesus Christ as Lord, and who have come together and believe that you can devote yourself to loving the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. Loving the Lord with your mind doesn’t mean you can’t also love the Lord with your soul.”

[Every Baylor Bear has a story; #BearsOfBaylor brings those stories to you, one by one. These stories, these people… This is our Baylor.]