Brian Gardner
Brian Gardner
Vice President for University Advancement
Telephone: 503-554-2112
E-mail: gardnerb@georgefox.edu
If you are reading this, you have likely had a George Fox experience. Or you are considering one. I hope my story encourages yours.
My George Fox experience marks the life I live today. Professionally, my call to the business of Christian higher education was made known to me by both a George Fox alumnus and its president at that time. This alumnus and another George Fox president continue with my professional development today. I apply many, if not all, of the principles from courses in economics, marketing, management, finance, and business law in my work of advancing the business of Christian higher education. My classes in sociology and anthropology transformed my appreciation for people who are different than me. I credit them directly for helping me develop a disposition that has allowed me to negotiate visions of donor stewardship with visions of institutional mission that have resulted in gifts of common purpose for Jesus Christ.
Spiritually, a course in classic devotional texts helped me see the Bible and faith in Christ from vantage points I had never previously considered, humbling me by my inability to fully fathom the greatness of God's grace and mercy toward his creation and toward me. I heard the Doxology, a 1674 hymn of praise to God by Thomas Ken, for the first time in chapel. The exercise of meditating on God and his Word was first introduced to me by my student government advisor on a retreat. I continue to grow in this spiritual discipline through Celebrations of Discipline, one of Christianity Today's top 10 books of the 20th century by Richard Foster, a George Fox alumnus.
Personally, my class in music appreciation helped me see the value of all forms of music, but particularly classical. My tennis class gave me an overhead serve! My closest friends and members of my extended family are George Fox alumni. My wife and I were introduced to one another by two George Fox alumni.
What is the value of my George Fox experience? What is the value of an experience that enriches a life in Christ, enabling it to positively influence society? Incalculable.
I know that my George Fox experience is one of many. What has been yours? Please share it with me at gardnerb@georgefox.edu or 503-554-2112.
"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:4- 6)
Learn about giving opportunities