A final thought from our editor

1111 N Main St Joplin, MO 64801 Change service requested

Non-Profit Organization U. S. Postage PAID Joplin, MO 64801 Permit No. 62

ONE MORE THING A final thought from our editor

READY TO STAY

Amy Storms

In December, Ozark’s faculty and staff held a surprise graduation ceremony for senior Gaga Ntahiraja. Gaga finished her classes last semester and returned to her home country of Burundi, East Africa. Since Gaga won’t be able to attend commencement in May, Ozark employees filled the lobby of the Casteel Administration Building to celebrate Gaga and send her out. Gaga is ready to go—ready to take lessons learned at Ozark back to Burundi as she shines the light of the gospel. (Watch Gaga’s graduation at occ.edu/gaga.)

One of the things I love most about Ozark is that we go everywhere. Our students, faculty, and alumni serve…everywhere! Ozark has sent Ambassadors for Christ to all 50 states and over 100 countries around the world. I love that—by the grace of God—our little campus in the middle of the Midwest prepares kingdom leaders and world changers in Burundi and beyond. Truly, Ozark gets students ready to go.

But I love something else about this place: Ozark also gets us ready to stay. Howard Hendricks said, “You cannot impart what you do not possess,” and in order to go out with the gospel, you must first stay rooted in it. “Remain in me, as I also remain in you,” Jesus told his disciples. “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

Remain…abide…stay. For a branch to go and bear fruit, it must stay connected to the vine. My 22-year-old son, Nathan—another Ozark grad—has a tattoo on his left arm that reads, “Send me.” It’s a reminder from Isaiah 6:8, and Nathan is ready to be sent. Recently, he told me his plans for his next tattoo—a conversation every mom hopes to have. On his right arm, Nathan wants a tattoo that reads “Abide,” as a reminder from John 15. “Because,” my son explained, “you have to abide in the vine first. Then you can say, ‘Here am I. Send me.’”

To be ready to go, you have to be ready to stay. Nathan and Gaga and thousands of Ozark Ambassadors like them are ready for both. Amy Storms is a wife, mother, Strong Hall dorm mom, English professor, and director of marketing and communications at OCC.