Defining ‘Character Development’ at TMU

Jonathan Popadics sat quietly in his Waldock Hall dorm room reading the book of Romans, contemplating the culture shock of being immersed into The Master’s University community with little knowledge of the gospel or the Bible.

“I had all these people ask me penetrating questions that were piercing my heart,” Popadics says. “I almost wanted to push them away, but then began to understand that they actually cared about me.”

He quickly realized he was not a Christian, and the weight of his sin pressed down on him. Popadics repented that fall semester in his dorm room and found hope in Jesus Christ. His life has never been the same.

TMU made headlines this year when it finished No. 1 in the Wall Street Journal’s rankings for Character Development. While this was a high honor, the University cares about more than producing good citizens who contribute to society. When TMU talks about character development, it means pointing students — like Popadics, who now works for TMU’s development office — to Christ and His Word as both the standard for godly living and the power to live it out.

As Dr. Mitch Hopewell (TMU’s provost and chief academic officer) says, character is “aligning someone’s life and practice with God’s Word.”

“It’s our job to live out the biblical definitions of any character trait — honesty, integrity, love,” Hopewell says.

The WSJ rankings were determined by responses from current students and recent alumni of roughly 2,000 schools across the country. This year, the survey included a new category, Character Development, based on questions related to how they feel their universities have helped them contribute to society, how often they promote good no matter the circumstances, if they’ve become more wise and just, and how well they have been equipped to positively change the world.

The fact that TMU scored well in these categories, Hopewell says, is a byproduct of the school’s mission.

“We set out to help students understand what it means to have a life of enduring fidelity to God’s Word, and to love Him,” he says. “Building good citizens with high character is something that comes out of pointing our students to God’s holiness.”

Russell Moir is TMU’s new vice president of student life and campus pastor. He also led student life from 1985 to 1991, giving him a long-term perspective on the consistency of the University’s mission.

“What character development meant back then, wonderfully, is the exact same thing it means now,” Moir says. “The very principles, ideals, biblical truths — we believed them then, and we believe them now. We are so rock solid on our commitment to Scripture, and we are not going to let the culture redefine what character is.”

Moir says chapel is one of the most important elements for building character. “We work as hard as we can to bring in the best preachers that we can. And we don’t let chapel drift. We don’t let chapel be about a bunch of really interesting things. We keep chapel all about preaching the Word of God and worshiping the Lord. I think that’s a real cornerstone.”

Another key aspect of character development at TMU happens in the classroom.

“Our professors demonstrate the godly character and discernment that students need to have in the workplace,” says TMU President Dr. Abner Chou. “You have to learn how to apply the Bible rightly in your life.”

Chou continues, “In every discipline, there is a battle that people fight to capture thinking and discipline under the authority of Scripture, and that’s what produces deep character because you are exercising your mind and your will to conform to what God has for you.”

Jonathan Popadics’ own life changed primarily through his athletic career at TMU. When he came to the University his first year to play baseball under Coach Monte Brooks, he didn’t know the Lord.

But within the first week of school, Popadics experienced a deep heart change.

“I started to observe and listen to those around me, and I realized these people weren’t fake but genuine,” he says. “It was the most uncomfortable comfort. I remember thinking, ‘What these people have, specifically their trust and clear intentionality in life towards God, is incredible.’”

Popadics adds, “God used every aspect of life on campus — the classroom, baseball field, dorms — and the people God brought into my path to bring me to faith.”

Popadics now serves as TMU’s director of development. He says, “The Lord saved my soul through these ministries, so I can tell people with conviction, ‘The Lord is at work here.’ And I’m certainly not the exception.”

Caleb Williams, a current TMU senior studying English, understands this heart change. He says he’s grown spiritually because of chapel and classes, but most of all through the accountability of fellow believers who “follow Christ with such diligence and discipline, always putting Him first.”

“Being here reminds me of how much I have to grow,” Williams says.

For almost 100 years, The Master’s University has worked to foster a deep love for God and His Word in its students, which in turn produces the kind of people even the world observes to have high character. Some things may have changed — the property, presidents, buildings, and students — but the commitment to Christ and Scripture has not. And the fruit of this commitment is being displayed to a watching world.

In the words of Popadics, “It was never about personal character growth for the sake of personal advancement, but it’s for something bigger — for the church, the kingdom of Christ.”

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