S2E12 College Conversations: Why Mentorship Matters with Wye Huxford (Transcript)

Summary

In this episode of College Conversations, host Jeff Sherrod sits down with Wye Huxford, a veteran of Christian higher education with nearly 50 years of experience. Huxford shares his journey from growing up on a dairy farm to becoming a professor and mentor at Point University.

Key topics discussed include:

- Huxford's call to ministry and passion for mentoring students

- Trends and challenges in Christian higher ed, including declining biblical literacy and interest in ministry

- Huxford's approach to integrating faith and learning, and the importance of redemptive discipline

- The role of risk-taking and following the example of Jesus in Huxford's teaching and mentorship

- Huxford's involvement with The Institute for GOD and his relationships with students past and present

This conversation provides valuable insights for anyone interested in the state of Christian higher education and the critical work of mentoring the next generation of Christian leaders. Viewers will be inspired by Huxford's lifelong commitment to pouring into students and modeling Christ-like character.

Be sure to check out Huxford's blog at wyehuxford.com for more of his wisdom and perspective.

Wye Huxford speaking to the undergraduates of The Institute for GOD in their weekly chapel.

Transcript

[00:00:10.90] - Jeff Sherrod

Hey, everyone, and welcome back to College Conversations, the podcast about all things related to Christian higher education. My name is Jeff Sherrod. I'm joined with President of the Institute for GOD, Mr. Gregg Garner, and Professor Laurie Kagay. And today, we have with us a real special guest, Mr Wye Huxford, who is from Point University. Wye Has been in Christian higher education for almost fifty years. You you've worked as in the pastorate, for some a long time too, about twenty years. So a couple decades there too. So we're really excited to have you. You're actually friends, were one of the mentors of our chaplain, Mr. Chris Jones. So, you know, you're coming out this week and speaking in chapel for us, so we're all appreciative of your time and

[00:00:52.29] - Wye Huxford

Thank you.

[00:00:52.70] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah. For being with us here today. We appreciate it. So while we're yeah. We're we're excited. You know, anytime you've had someone in Christian higher education, you know, this is kind of our jam. We've been loving it. We talk about it all the time. We pray about it. We've, you know, it's really where our heart is. So to have someone who's been in it for a long time, it’s a gift to be able to kinda hear from your experience, and the things that have kinda moved you over the years. So Okay. Maybe we could even just start with that. Maybe some of your background, how you got involved in ministry early on, and what was the call towards college ministry and yeah.

[00:01:23.79] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. I grew up in Berkeley County, South Carolina, which is forty or so miles inland from Charleston, which good South Carolinians call the holy city Okay. Because of all the massive churches

[00:01:40.40] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:01:40.70] - Wye Huxford

That could date back to the revolutionary war. And, I grew up on a dairy farm and assumed all my life I would be a dairy farmer, because I liked cows.

[00:01:54.29] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:01:54.79] - Wye Huxford

And I got to hang out with my grandfather at the dairy farm, and I just thought that was a great life. But I have this distinct memory when I was, I don't know, seven years old maybe. The preacher in my little home church in Russellville, South Carolina was a very tall older man, and he always had a big winter hat and a overcoat on. And I remember he threw his hat on my head one day and said, that boy needs to be a preacher.

[00:02:30.00] - Jeff Sherrod

How old were you?

[00:02:30.40] - Wye Huxford

Six or seven. Early on. Yeah. And, I didn't think about that story for a long time, but, in recent years, that story has popped back up into my thinking. And I don't I don't know that that's why I'm been in ministry, but I don't know that it isn't. Right. So so, anyway, I ended up going to Atlanta Christian College, as it was called at the time, and had a great experience. I went to grad school in Cincinnati and was fortunate enough to be selected to be a grad assistant to the head of the New Testament studies there. And just as I was about to graduate, the president of Atlanta Christian College called me up and said, we'd love to have you come back and do some administrative work and teach. And my wife was doing a master's in music, organ, and piano performance, and he said we could also use Vicky to teach. Right. And we did the right thing and said, let us think about this and pray. And we end up saying yes, and that was in nineteen seventy six when we moved back to Atlanta, from Cincinnati. And I've been teaching at what is now Point University ever since. And, early in my life as a teacher, young guys who had part time ministries were always coming to my office saying, how can I do this with my youth group this weekend? And they were asking me questions, and I preached at a little church while I was in grad school. But, you know, we it started out at about forty people. And when I left, there was a hundred or so, but that wasn't the kind of ministry experience I thought maybe I should have.

[00:04:22.69] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:04:23.60] - Wye Huxford

So I decided to become the preacher of a mid sized church on the south side of Atlanta and, kept teaching at Atlanta Christian College. So, honestly, I think for those twenty years, I lived in the best of both worlds because I got to do what I love to do. Both in the classroom and in the pulpit. And, I started traveling for a mission called Seminary of the Nations, and I went all over the world. And I loved that. In fact, that was a volunteer organization. They paid your airline fare and your hotel bill and otherwise. Thank you. Right. And, I love doing that. And if I could have found a way to afford to do that, I would have quit preaching and teaching at ACC and just done that the rest of my life, but I couldn't. Yeah. But I did find out that I was gone so much. You know, inevitably, I would be in, you know, Chennai, India, and the chairman of the board's wife died. And it's kinda hard to get back for the funeral.

[00:05:27.80] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:05:28.00] - Wye Huxford

And I felt like it wasn't fair to the church. So I decided to to leave the church. I left on good terms. We had relocated, had built some great facilities, in a great little town just south of Atlanta. And, I worked for a mission that has an institute at the University of Tubingen. Called the Institute for the Study of Christian Origins. I did that for three years, and then I came back full time to Atlanta Christian College, which soon became Point University. And, I've done some of everything there. You know, I was one of the few people not bright enough to say no to the second chance to be dean of students. So I did that twice in my life. Okay. I've overseen spiritual formation almost my entire life there. Yeah. And that's not my job right now, but I still do a good bit of that. Yeah. So that's that's the story.

[00:06:30.39] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah. That's great. I think that I mean, I I like the connection between this is definitely our heart too. Right? We're we're definitely in the academy, and we want people to understand, God's word. And we know that takes effort and work to be able to get there. But at the same time, there's, like, that pastoral concern, you know, that we all share too, like, that we want people to be able to live this out, in their hearts. So, yeah, that's great. I'm curious, like, during that time, do you how did that, you know, even maybe shape some of your teaching? Your your preaching, your going to the college, like, the you you found them informing both?

[00:07:03.39] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. In fact, I know I'm a better teacher because I spent time preaching.

[00:07:09.89] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:07:12.00] - Wye Huxford

And I did you know, typical while I was a preacher, I did Sunday morning. And for most of that time, Sunday night, church was pretty normal and often did a Wednesday night adult bible study. And I had a men's bible study group. And there's something about a person whose proneness is towards academic I mean, I'd be real happy being in my office with the door shut and leave me alone and I'll study all day. But I don't think that's what I should do. And I think there's something really important about people whose mindset is like mine who just like study.

[00:07:55.80] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:07:56.50] - Wye Huxford

To actually be with real people who can teach you a lot about life.

[00:08:01.30] - Jeff Sherrod

Right.

[00:08:01.89] - Wye Huxford

And I you know, one of the textbooks I use at Point is written by Will Willimon. And it's about ordained ministry, and there's a section where he talks about, you really need to be out on the farm with your church members if you're gonna preach well.

[00:08:19.19] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah. So That resonate with you with the with the farm too. Right? Yeah.

[00:08:22.80] - Wye Huxford

Right. Yeah. God did tell us to play in the dirt at the beginning.

[00:08:25.89] - Jeff Sherrod

So Right. Absolutely. Well, one of the things I was kind of interested in thinking about is that, you know, you've been in Christian higher education for, you know, forty eight years. And so you've been able to see trends in this time, way that ways that churches are sending students to learn the Bible, changes in students themselves, maybe even with biblical literacy, changes that have happened over the the decades, the ways that colleges have accommodated for some of those students and maybe shifted. And so I was kind of interested in, like, maybe some things that you've observed. I know this is a kind of a broad question here, but, if if you are thinking back at, like, you know, real high level view, what what are some things that you're looking at? You're like, man, this has been something that was definitely different now than it was then.

[00:09:13.89] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. Well, I I would say, first of all, the number of students who are interested in making ministry a life career Yeah. Is I think that's a serious issue for the church. And,

[00:09:28.20] - Gregg Garner

Because it's dwindled. 

[00:09:29.70] - Wye Huxford

Because it's dwindled. Yeah. And I even heard, NT Wright on a podcast was asked, you know, what are we gonna do at our church in somewhere England when our priest dies because there are no guys in seminary anymore. And and Wright said that that's not just a uniquely Anglican issue. And he mentioned how often he travels in the US and how many different faith groups he's around. And he said, I'm not around any group that's not concerned about. We don't have enough kids interested in ministry these days. And I think I mean, that's a serious issue. I don't know what the answer is. We pray about that a lot at point, but it's a serious problem. The biblical literacy thing, you know, you know, not every kid at point knows there is a Sermon on the Mount, much less where it is Right. When they come to school. Mhmm. And they might have grown up in church.

[00:10:32.10] - Jeff Sherrod

Yep.

[00:10:33.10] - Wye Huxford

And that's that's a real troubling issue for me because I don't think you can actually do the kind of ministry God has called us to do without some real serious biblical core in your heart.

[00:10:50.10] - Jeff Sherrod

Right.

[00:10:51.39] - Wye Huxford

And, you know, I try to remind our faculty that if we knew the backstory of kids at point, we would be thrilled at how well they're doing, not upset, because they messed up. And kids come at least kids at our school, and I have friends in other colleges who would agree with really, really sad backgrounds. And we we have a pretty large African American population at point. And, you know, I've I've had all kinds of conversations that just make you wanna cry about the kind of neighborhood they grew up in in terms of crime and drug addiction and those sorts of things. Yeah. Because they live in metro inner inner city Atlanta. I don't think kids like to read anymore, which really disturbs me greatly.

[00:11:56.39] - Jeff Sherrod

Yep.

[00:11:59.50] - Wye Huxford

So those those are some of the things. Yeah. I could I could probably go in all afternoon, but you might wanna go other places.

[00:12:05.00] - Gregg Garner

Now we're here for it. So if you if you wanna get into it, we wanna we wanna hear from you. We wanna learn from from your life and how God's given you the perspective you have. So feel free if you wanna keep going.

[00:12:16.00] - Wye Huxford

Well, I I think I've always been, I mean, open to, taking kids to lunch and breakfast. Have them at our house. And it it seems to me that I've I've never experienced a time when kids weren't interested in that. But, kids I don't even know at Point will come and ask if they can go to lunch with me one day. Which and then I go to lunch with them. I I discover they don't know a male figure that they feel they can trust. And, there's a lot of kids at Point that I think are in that category. Which is why I think mentoring is is so important.

[00:13:02.39] - Jeff Sherrod

Right. Yeah. That was something that you know, that's that's really how you're here even with us today is through a mentoring role you have with our chaplain, who was I I guess, that was some twenty years ago

[00:13:12.29] - Wye Huxford

Yeah.

[00:13:13.39] - Jeff Sherrod

That he was Atlanta Christian. And so, yeah, what what does that look like for you today? Are you you're still mentoring kids that are there? You still have relationships with students that graduated?

[00:13:22.00] - Gregg Garner

Before we get there, I'm curious because of the way you worded that. Do you find yourself having to attend to the redemptive need that exists in students even more so than equipping them for the ministry that they probably, at least in terms of why people go to bible school, you know, on the face came for. Do you find yourself having to do a lot of redemptive rehabilitative type ministry?

[00:13:51.00] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. We we do at point, and that's in part because we decided twenty or so years ago, we would if a kid is willing to say they're open to spiritual formation and will participate in the spiritual formation activities we do on campus. If you say yes to that, we'll let you come to Point as a student. So we have some students who have been in church all their lives, and they don't need me to have a redemption conversation with them. They probably do need me to have a sanctification conversation with me. But we have a lot of students who who need to to hear some clarity about who Jesus is and what difference he makes. And which means we have, a number of baptisms on our campus every year. And some of those kids occasionally end up thinking God is calling me to ministry, and so they change majors. And so I think that's a good thing. And and we get criticism sometimes because we let people come to Point that some of our older Point graduates don't think they should. And, if they push me too hard, I will say, well, we had this many baptisms on our campus last year. How many do you have in your church? And we usually have more. So Yeah.

[00:15:25.60] - Gregg Garner

Proof's in the pudding.

[00:15:26.60] - Wye Huxford

Yes. And there's a little smart in my mouth sometimes.

[00:15:31.50] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah. For some of those, is there a is there a certain work that you feel like you're doing? I I guess, may I ask it this way. Like, for the work that you're letting students in for ministry, Point University. That's not just the College of Biblical Studies. It's kind of everybody.

[00:15:48.50] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. We well, one of our core values is that we want every graduate, to take faith into the workplace. Yeah. And if that workplace happens to be church or a Christian camp or whatever, that's great. But it also might be an accounting firm or a public school classroom. Yeah. Our public school our teacher ed graduates almost always end up within a few years being elected teacher of the year of their school or county. So That's great. That's I mean, that that's a great area of ministry actually in my mind.

[00:16:31.10] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah. Do you, you know, even as you're getting into this kind of work, I'm curious. Like, do you have strong does Point have a lot of strong connections with local churches that they're using? Because some of the conversations that we've had about this issue, like even declining enrollment, people being less interested in the in ministry overall, it's like it's a college problem. Right? Like, we're dealing with enrollment issues, but, also, we're recognizing that this is also a church problem too. And how can churches get more interested and work together with the colleges to equip the next generation? And, like, what kind of partnerships? Have you found anything like that or that wanna be with churches like that?

[00:17:07.20] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. We, well, we require every employee appoint, to sign off on our statement of faith, which is a pretty Orthodox Christian statement about God, the father, son, and spirit and scripture, etcetera. And we also have a statement of expectations, one of which is that every employee, whether you're Huxford, who's the dean of the College of Biblical Studies or, you know, the the assistant football coach, that you are engaged in a local church. And, so that I think that helps some in terms of, well, there's a kid where I go to church. He's a new student at Point this year. I'm not saying it's because of me, but I I think the fact that I'm there, I I had a chance to direct him in that direction.

[00:18:02.40] - Gregg Garner

Yeah.

[00:18:03.50] - Wye Huxford

And, but, and we have, well, we don't have our own chapel building in West Point because, you know, Point moved from very close Hartsfield Airport to about sixty miles south in 2012. And, we don't have a chapel yet, which disturbs me because I want my funeral to be in the chapel. And I'm getting old enough that they should be building the chapel by now.

[00:18:33.90] - Gregg Garner

Right.

[00:18:34.50] - Wye Huxford

But, so we have chapel at a church about two miles down the street. And they're very gracious and welcoming and help us, and their worship leader helps our student worship leaders. And, but, we're very engaged with them. Number of faculty actually go to that church, but, there are other churches in the nearby area as well. And then some of our faculty, I personally still live closer to Atlanta than to West Point where Pointe is located.

[00:19:05.70] - Jeff Sherrod

Okay.

[00:19:06.59] - Wye Huxford

So and we have some faculty members who live in metro Atlanta, but they're involved in their church, but and that's sixty miles away. So Yeah.

[00:19:16.79] - Jeff Sherrod

So at this point, it's a lot of the connections are mostly informal connections you guys are

[00:19:22.40] - Wye Huxford

Yeah we send teams out in the you know, we send camp teams out in the summer to go to Christian camps and conferences. We have music groups that will go and sing in churches. And the the COVID thing kinda messed a lot of that up. And some of it's not back to where it once was, but I think engagement with the church is really important. Yes. Yeah.

[00:19:45.90] - Gregg Garner

Yeah. Yeah. So why what what what gets you fired up? What are you passionate about? What is what is, like, your thing? If you want the world to know this is what my life's about, What is it?

[00:19:59.00] - Wye Huxford

Oh, man. That's a hard question because I've got too many things to say. I would say the mentoring thing is one I think everybody who knows me will will know me. Oh, that's the guy that takes three or four different kids out to breakfast or lunch every week. And, that that's very important to me. And I don't you know, when I I don't know if I'll retire or not. I might I have two children who promise me that if I am shuffling down the hallway drooling on the way to class, they will say, dad, it's time, and they will. But, I don't want to quit doing that if if I were to retire, for example. And, I don't know, ten or twelve years ago, I went to Santiago, Chile teaching for a group called Seminary of the Nations. And, the guy down there there's a little institute for native Chilean people, and he wanted me to teach the pastoral epistles on, like, six or seven nights where I had three to four hours each night. And I thought, I can't do that really. But so I started working on the pastorals and decided we probably should have called them the mentoring epistles because I think that's what Paul's doing with Timothy and Titus. And I'm confident those weren't the only two people he did that with.

[00:21:28.29] - Jeff Sherrod

Right.

[00:21:28.90] - Wye Huxford

And there's a lot of instruction to both of those guys about not just how to do ministry in a pastoral way, but about themselves, their own lives.

[00:21:38.70] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:21:39.20] - Wye Huxford

And so I've kinda made that my

[00:21:41.50] - Gregg Garner

So how would you define mentoring?

[00:21:47.09] - Wye Huxford

That, you know, most for me, most of the time, it involves a meal. And I'm a good listener, and people seem to be comfortable. I mean, people will tell me things I wish they didn't tell me sometimes, if you know what I mean. Yeah. And, and then, I'm I'm courageous enough to say, yeah. You can't do that. You gotta change, and how can I help you change? And sometimes it's been, you know, you you really you gotta see a more professional counselor than me, and I know some. And

[00:22:30.90] - Gregg Garner

and So making yourself available, listening

[00:22:33.70] - Wye Huxford

Listening.

[00:22:34.29] - Gregg Garner

Giving guidance, giving accountability, and then knowing when it's time to turn them over to someone that needs to give them more intensive attention.

[00:22:42.79] - Wye Huxford

And that hasn't happened a whole lot with me, but, it has. And I am not reluctant to say it. So

[00:22:52.50] - Gregg Garner

Yeah.

[00:22:53.40] - Jeff Sherrod

Do you have a do you have certain texts that you're like, these are kind of my go to biblical texts that I'm using when I kind of engage in these relationships, or it's it's all kinda responsive to what people go into?

[00:23:02.09] - Wye Huxford

It's more responsive, but, yeah, I'm a very Philippians 2:5 is my go to text for about anything in in the world.

[00:23:15.40] - Gregg Garner

Yeah. The mind on the mind of Christ. Yeah.

[00:23:17.00] - Wye Huxford

The mind of Christ. And and, I mean, there's so many places in scripture where you can just really you don't have to listen to me. This is what God says, and and I'm more responsive. And I remember when I was a college freshman, one of my teachers seemed to have had the whole Bible memorized. I mean, he didn't, but, you know, he could quote scripture from all over the place. And for some reason, I thought that would be a neat thing to do one day. And then, I don't know, ten or fifteen years ago, some student came up to me and said, do you have the whole Bible memorized? And I said, of course not. But I do have a lot of scripture memorized

[00:24:03.09] - Gregg Garner

Yeah.

[00:24:03.50] - Wye Huxford

Just because I've used it for so long.

[00:24:05.29] - Jeff Sherrod

Right.

[00:24:06.20] - Wye Huxford

And so I I have well, I I would give God a word of praise for giving me the kind of mind that can remember stuff well

[00:24:16.40] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:24:17.40] - Wye Huxford

Including scripture.

[00:24:19.20] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah. That's great. For we were talking about as well, like, for you, mentoring isn't just, like, something that you're doing during college. Right? But you're you're you do intent there's an in some intentionality to say, hey. Even after you graduate, this is so what does that look like for you? How do you kinda keep some of these relationships going even after students graduate?

[00:24:36.29] - Wye Huxford

Well, it's it's easier for the people who who stay in the area.

[00:24:40.79] - Jeff Sherrod

Mhmm.

[00:24:41.40] - Wye Huxford

And, you know, I see them at different things, and we'll just say, let's have breakfast sometime. But, I mean, there's a a whole group of people who will just shoot me an email or text or phone call and say, hey. When can we have lunch? And, I mean, that's a but, I mean, I feel honored that some twenty five year old guy wants to go to lunch with a seventy three year old man and ask for advice, that's pretty neat. And, I do a lot of that. And so it just kinda keeps on going because they reach out and I like everything I do, but the last thing I would hate I mean, the the last thing I don't want to give up is

[00:25:30.40] - Jeff Sherrod

Is the mentoring piece?

[00:25:31.20] - Wye Huxford

Mentoring thing.

[00:25:31.50] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:25:32.29] - Wye Huxford

That's right. I think that's where a real life changing conversation

[00:25:40.70] - Gregg Garner

mentoring, or is that just something that you kind of are able to string into any course that you're teaching since it's such a passion of yours.

[00:25:50.50] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. I mean, I can talk about that in Greek class. But, one class I've taught a long time is called the practice of Christian ministry, and we talk a lot about mentoring there. And one of my best friends, also teaches he teaches the spiritual formation class in our ministry degree, and, he and I are on the same page when it comes to mentoring. And, so they're getting it from more than one angle as students.

[00:26:25.79] - Gregg Garner

Would you say there's a distinction between mentoring and discipleship, or is there are they synonymous? How would you think about those two terms and perhaps even processes?

[00:26:38.59] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. I think, mentoring can enhance the process of discipleship. Maybe it's how I would talk about that. 

[00:26:49.79] - Gregg Garner

So discipleship can happen independent

[00:26:52.00] - Wye Huxford

of the ministry. Yeah. I think so.

[00:26:53.70] - Gregg Garner

Okay.

[00:26:54.20] - Wye Huxford

But I think the rough spots, if I have a good mentor, I can get through those better.

[00:27:03.59] - Gregg Garner

Gotcha. So the the the mentor and the discipler, what would be the distinction between those two people?

[00:27:14.20] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. I I mean, I like to think I do both of those, but the distinction maybe the mentoring is a little more intentional, maybe more intense and direct.

[00:27:28.09] - Gregg Garner

So mentoring would encompass discipling

[00:27:32.40] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. I think so.

[00:27:32.70] - Gregg Garner

Where discipling doesn't necessarily couple with mentoring.

[00:27:36.79] - Wye Huxford

Perhaps. Yeah.

[00:27:37.59] - Gregg Garner

Gotcha. That's great. And for you, with respect to the class load that you have and then the opportunities that you get to mentor, everyone, do you feel like the experiences you have with your mentees informs even how it is you present material in the classroom?

[00:27:58.59] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. Definitely. And that's very similar to what I was

[00:28:02.50] - Gregg Garner

Saying about the church experience.

[00:28:04.40] - Wye Huxford

Earlier that I know I'm a better teacher because of my life as a preacher, and I I would say the same thing about mentoring.

[00:28:11.59] - Gregg Garner

So mentoring is getting on the farm with them.

[00:28:13.50] - Wye Huxford

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:15.70] - Gregg Garner

That's great.

[00:28:16.40] - Jeff Sherrod

If if you are thinking do you mostly disciple young men, or is it you do women as well? Or

[00:28:21.90] - Wye Huxford

I do women. Yeah. But it's mostly men.

[00:28:25.09] - Jeff Sherrod

Mostly men? Yeah. If if well, if we're thinking about, like, those college students that you have now, if they're asking for certain topics that come up and you're like, what are some of, like, the repeat hits that you're like, alright. This one came up again. And the

[00:28:43.09] - Wye Huxford

For those who are still in school Yep. It's it's often the girlfriend issue. That's the definite reason.

[00:28:52.79] - Jeff Sherrod

So this one never changes. Right?

[00:28:54.70] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. My children at one time started calling me the love doctor, which I told them to quit. But, that that comes on that. Like

[00:29:03.70] - Gregg Garner

Like a Netflix special. Yeah.

[00:29:04.59] - Jeff Sherrod

I know.

[00:29:05.50] - Wye Huxford

I can make some money on that. I think career just frequently.

[00:29:13.20] - Gregg Garner

So love life, career.

[00:29:14.70] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:29:16.90] - Wye Huxford

I don't know if I can afford to stay in school next semester.

[00:29:19.70] - Gregg Garner

Finances.

[00:29:23.09] - Wye Huxford

Frequently parents.

[00:29:25.20] - Gregg Garner

Family.

[00:29:25.59] - Wye Huxford

You won't believe what my dad said to my mother. Kinds of awful situations.

[00:29:31.79] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah.

[00:29:34.40] - Wye Huxford

And, and a lot a lot of times, it's, you know, kind of core value issues that

[00:29:42.09] - Gregg Garner

What would be an example of that?

[00:29:45.59] - Wye Huxford

Is it okay if I sleep with my girlfriend over the weekend? Or how much can I drink and not be sinning? Or what what kind of videos should I be watching?

[00:30:00.59] - Jeff Sherrod

It's like core values, but also some boundaries Yeah.

[00:30:03.50] - Gregg Garner

Really to it sounds like with respect to their moral position. Yeah. Right.

[00:30:07.70] - Wye Huxford

And, I mean, I think this is true from everything I've read suggested as the pornography thing for males, especially, is a real serious issue. Yeah. And, I can remember being shocked the first time a kid just walked in my office and said, “Hey, Huxford. I'm watching too much porn.” And, but that doesn't shock me anymore. Because it's so common.

[00:30:34.70] - Gregg Garner

Yeah. Is there anything that your college does or that you've heard of other colleges doing to address in a more routine and maybe maybe even institutional way the issue of addiction to pornography?

[00:30:53.29] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. We we have, well, you know, our Internet system supposedly blocks pornography, but we all know that doesn't work like it they claim. But we do sometimes we do seminars on campus. Sometimes we do group counseling things on campus. Occasionally, we'll you know, somebody in Metro Atlanta will be doing some big program on the topic, and we'll encourage students to go to that. Yeah. I don't think we do enough. But I don't really know.

[00:31:31.09] - Gregg Garner

Are there any classes in the curriculum that address human sexuality? And what what are they called?

[00:31:38.90] - Wye Huxford

The primary one's called Human Sexuality.

[00:31:42.29] - Gregg Garner

And is it, like, from a biblical perspective?

[00:31:44.09] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. They use a secular textbook, but it's taught by a deeply committed Christian. And, often that class is in the classroom right across from my office door. So, I hear a lot of what's going on.

[00:32:00.09] - Gregg Garner

Yeah. Yeah. So a deeply committed Christian using a secular textbook teaching the subject matter, do they also bring, biblical text into the into the discussion?

[00:32:09.29] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. Yeah. Another of our core values is we wanna integrate faith into every discipline. Yeah. And I think that means more than I'm gonna put a Bible verse on my course syllabus. But it doesn't necessarily have to mean every class session is gonna have a Bible verse in it. That that does that make sense to you?

[00:32:32.90] - Gregg Garner

Yeah. I I can hear what you're saying.

[00:32:36.40] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Well, even as we're, you know, getting to learn from you, what would you say is, you know, I think you said you're seventy three at this point. What's what's next for you at this point?

[00:32:48.90] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. I don't know. I, I I wanna keep teaching as long as I am able.

[00:32:58.09] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah. Is there a certain discipline that you're like, I'm all in on Greek or I'm all in on

[00:33:02.50] - Wye Huxford

Yeah. I mean, I I love teaching Greek. It's fun. You're the smartest person in the class most of the time without any effort. And you can see light bulbs going off in Greek class like you can't see in some other classes.

[00:33:19.90] - Gregg Garner

What what's your light bulb Greek teaching? You know that a high percentage of the time, you're gonna teach this and all the light bulbs going off. Because I think all of our listeners want their light bulbs going off. Bless us. Bless us, bro. Like, what is it?

[00:33:34.09] - Wye Huxford

Well, once you begin to figure out how Greek tenses work, the whole bible can take a whole, well, the whole New Testament can take a different I don't mean different as in contradictory to what I've always known, but things that I wondered about can begin to make sense better. Because I figured out, oh, that's a perfect tense verb

[00:33:57.70] - Gregg Garner

Mhmm.

[00:33:58.09] - Wye Huxford

Not a present tense verb.

[00:33:59.90] - Gregg Garner

So. Yeah. So can you give us a a practical consideration with the biblical text and just preach a little bit?

[00:34:06.40] - Wye Huxford

Okay. So, let's see. Well, in Matthew 9, the end of the chapter where Jesus was going about the cities and village, teaching in their synagogues, heralding the gospel of the kingdom, healing all kinds of sickness and disease.

[00:34:29.59] - Wye Huxford

So I heard that text when I was a college student preach so much that I I really kinda disliked it because they were beating you over the head if you weren't gonna go be a missionary in China or something. You aren't really loving Jesus. And, then when I got smarter and paid attention and knew some things I didn't know way back then. So for example, that opening verb, well, our English word perimeter comes from that word. So if Jerusalem had an interstate two eighty five like Atlanta does, they would have called it that highway.

[00:35:13.80] - Gregg Garner

So that's the one that goes around the city. Right. Yeah.

[00:35:17.00] - Wye Huxford

And, also, it's an imperfect verb. Most scholars think it's a customary imperfect, which means this is every day in the life of Jesus. This is not one day he went out to the cities and villages. That he customarily did every day. So if I wanna be like Jesus, then whether I'm in the urban area or I'm in the rural area I’ve gotta figure it out. And, you know, over the years, I've obviously, I can't really go to a Jewish synagogue and take over and teach. But I I can see that Jesus was very involved in his world. He knew what his needs were, and he was willing to take risks to make

[00:36:01.90] - Gregg Garner

You're saying that because the text says that whether he went to the cities or villages, he went to the synagogue and taught. And because you're saying we gotta in order to be like Jesus, you're saying we don't necessarily have to go into the synagogue and

[00:36:12.19] - Wye Huxford

But we do have to be engaged in our world. Aware of involved, aware, and be risk takers.

[00:36:18.30] - Gregg Garner

 Yeah. So the the risk takers. That’s a big one. Tell tell us more about that, like and even maybe how how you've taken those kinds of risks because I can hear that in your mentoring approach, these young people are so confident that you can be a fortress of security with their confessions that they would even just pour out to you and say, hey. I am addicted in the to one of the most shameful kinds of things. So they obviously

[00:36:44.40] - Jeff Sherrod

Even when they don't know you're totally well. Right?

[00:36:46.30] - Gregg Garner

And and and you're you're you and with all due respect, you're old enough to be their grandfather. You know? So, like, typically, young people don't talk to their grandfather about

[00:36:54.50] - Wye Huxford

Yes.

[00:36:54.90] - Gregg Garner

Too much along those lines. So the fact that they're I mean, you must have taken some risk at some point that made young people go, like, this guy is cool. This guy cares. We're gonna reach out. So give us a sample of that risk that you're talking about from Jesus that demands of us to risk as well.

[00:37:14.59] - Wye Huxford

You mean a a risk Jesus took or a risk I take?

[00:37:17.40] - Gregg Garner

I'm sure that the risk you took was informed by the risk Jesus took.

[00:37:20.90] - Wye Huxford

Okay. So, well, in my sermon tomorrow, I'm I'm gonna talk something about the Luke four story.

[00:37:29.80] - Gregg Garner

Alright.

[00:37:30.59] - Wye Huxford

And where but they eventually he risked I don't tell you too much because I don't wanna read my sermon.

[00:37:37.80] - Gregg Garner

It'll come out after you say it. So

[00:37:40.50] - Wye Huxford

You know, in his hometown synagogue, after people were kinda saying nice things, he risked telling two old testament stories, one with Elijah and one with Elisha that dealt with non Jewish moves of God's part. And they wanted to throw him over the cliff. So that's to me, that's a Jesus is my hero kind of story. Because, in fact, there's a line in my sermon, I'm embarrassed to say, the empire's never tried to throw me over the cliff. So maybe I'm not enough of a risk taker. But,

[00:38:23.90] - Gregg Garner

Now we gotta sit with that. Yeah. That's intense. I don't think most people would feel that what you just said was anything other than something to maybe gloss. But Right.

[00:38:35.80] - Jeff Sherrod

And it's deep. That seems too much. Yeah.

[00:38:37.50] - Gregg Garner

Deep. Like, you're so you're you're revealing to us that your faith in Jesus, when he says follow me, is so involved that you want to even follow him to that position where they push you off a cliff. Yeah. That's bold. That is their season.

[00:38:52.40] - Wye Huxford

Well, you know, not perhaps not literally, although literally Yeah. I get it. That's fine.

[00:38:59.90] - Gregg Garner

Yeah. I mean, they're essentially, the the act is to say, we reject you. We don't want you a part of who we are. This maybe is the town you grew up. Not anymore, buddy. But, you know, the Hebrews outside the city. And

[00:39:12.59] - Wye Huxford

I want I want to be well, I tell students all the time, Jesus was a very offensive person, but he offended people about things that matter. Yeah. We tend to offend people over nonsense.

[00:39:26.50] - Jeff Sherrod

That's very true.

[00:39:27.40] - Wye Huxford

Right. So that's yeah. Yeah. So I'll tell a quick little story. My first semester teaching, I taught a senior ethics class, which I don't really think I was qualified to teach. But I was the new kid on the block, and they gave it to me, and I did it. And, I I used one of the textbooks had had been used in that class before, but I used Howard Snyder, Community of the King, and Ron Snyder books as supplementary reading, which way back at that time, those two guys would not have been popular people on our campus. Yeah. But I got away with that. So it's December. I'm standing outside the end of the classroom building, which looked down a long sidewalk to the gymnasium. And this kid in that class came up to me and said, three people cheated on your exam in ethics. Now these are seniors. This is a Christian college. We would have described ourselves at that time as a Bible college, and it's an ethics class. Well, I just thought, okay. My teaching career was one semester long because I'll if I can't keep them and he said they stole a copy of the exam out of your office.

[00:40:58.80] - Gregg Garner

Wow.

[00:41:00.19] - Wye Huxford

And then he said I told them they had the 2:00 this afternoon to come talk to you. And if they didn't, I would tell you who they were. So to the credit of those three students, they they came to my office. A guy, smartest guy in the class who did not need to cheat, he was helping two girls who were doing their best to pass. He climbed over, drop ceiling kind of thing in the hallway, pull another drop ceiling thing out, jumped out of my office, found the exam in my desk drawer, and they studied all night. That's crazy. And, at that time, had anybody but me known that, they would have been kicked out of school. And I don't know. I just didn't always wanted to be more redemptive than punitive. And that that means you take risks sometimes. So I told them that, this is gonna have a big effect on their grade, but I was not gonna report it to the academic office. And that we would have to talk after Christmas about a plan. But I would not fail him. So I turned in grades. The two girls got d's, and the guy got a c. And, I actually walked by the academic dean that afternoon. Well, afternoon after grades were turned in. And he looked at me and said, what what are you doing as a new professor giving a kid with an almost four point o GPA a c in your ethics class? And I said, he got what he earned, and I walked on.

[00:42:52.90] - Gregg Garner

Yeah.

[00:42:53.59] - Wye Huxford

And I think I mean, I'm not trying to pat me on the back about that, but I'm just saying

[00:43:01.40] - Gregg Garner

Well, it resonates with Jesus said. Right? I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

[00:43:05.30] - Wye Huxford

I was willing to to risk, what would happen to me because I didn't I didn't think those kids needed to be kicked out. They made a mistake. They're all decent kids.

[00:43:18.50] - Jeff Sherrod

Because the risk is even, like, you know, something happens again. And now they cheat on another exam, and it's like, why didn't you report it first?

[00:43:24.09] - Wye Huxford

That actually was a part of our conversation Yeah. After Christmas when I told them that I'm I'm putting my own neck on the line with with you guys, and you better not get it chopped off for me. So and I've been trying to do that kind of stuff my whole life, you know, from kids caught with a beer bottle in the back of their car on campus before graduation and go get kicked out of school to all kind of stuff. I think redemptive is how Christian college student life should be run, actually.

[00:43:58.19] - Jeff Sherrod

Yeah. I love that. You when you were telling the story, you talked about you there was a point in Atlanta Christian or Point when it was considered a bible college versus now it's a Christian college. What was kind of the transition between the two and or even helping people understand the difference?

[00:44:17.00] - Wye Huxford

Well, we you know, when I started well, when I was a student there, they were accredited by what was at the time called the AABC, American Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges, which is now the ABHE. And, we wanted to expand our curriculum to grow, but we felt like we had to be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. And so we did that, and the only expansion we did was a business degree. And then we started working on teacher ed, and that required some other certifications in addition to SACSCOC. And I don't I don't know that anybody made up some conscious decision, oh, we're not a Bible college, but we're not really a liberal arts college because business is not exactly a liberal arts main topic. But, we like to say we are a Christ centered institution of higher education. That's what we describe ourselves as. But every kid at Point, I don't care what degree you get, online, residential, whatever, every point graduate has a fifteen hour biblical studies minor. And, that's a freshman. We call it drama of scriptures. It's an overview of the story of the Old and New testaments, a Jesus class, how to read and interpret scripture class. A capstone class we call Christ Culture and Career, which is where we really try to focus on how do you take your faith into wherever it is you're gonna be working in your career. And then they get to pick any other biblical studies class they want to to make up the fifteen hours.

[00:46:18.59] - Jeff Sherrod

That's great. Yeah.

[00:46:19.40] - Gregg Garner

Yeah.

[00:46:19.90] - Wye Huxford

So we have not forgotten about the Bible.

[00:46:22.69] - Jeff Sherrod

Right. Well, amen. Well, why yeah. Thanks so much for for joining us today and for just sharing your story, sharing your heart. I know that you also you're you you you write blogs as well. Right? Like, where I do. Where can people go to to learn a little bit more about your work?

[00:46:36.09] - Wye Huxford

My blog is wyehuxford.com.

[00:46:39.59] - Gregg Garner

Okay. One moment. wyehuxford.com.

[00:46:44.09] - Wye Huxford

Got it.

[00:46:44.69] - Jeff Sherrod

Got it. Well, thanks again, Wye. Thanks for being with here today.

[00:46:48.00] - Wye Huxford

Thank you.

[00:46:48.59] - Jeff Sherrod

We'll see you guys next time.