THE MOUNTAIN TOP a

“I was looking over the mountain with these jagged peaks all around me and a huge lake thousands of feet below,” Arnold says. “We were taking in the peak and what we had just accomplished. I sensed God was speaking to my heart, saying, ‘I’m a creative, imaginative, expressive God. When I look from heaven, I see you in this place and I’m less amazed by the beauty of the place and am more in love and amazed by who you are as my creation.’

“In that moment, I had this experiential revelation of the love of God,” he continues. “I broke down crying. I knew then I wanted to give my life to help people experience that same kind of love.”

He spent the next three months listening and discerning how God wanted him to serve—as a pastor, a teacher, a coach?

“I felt like He said, ‘No, I want you to serve alongside your dad in the ministry,’” Arnold says. “That kind of surprised me. When I said yes, I never thought I’d be doing it for the next 23 years.” even though his great-greatgrandfather Constantine Peter “CP” Arnold [W1882] and great-grandfather Thurman Arnold [1910] attended Wabash, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that the youngest Arnold learned about the College through a co-worker of his mother.

“I knew I wanted something different,” Arnold says. “I wanted to go to college and study what I loved and was passionate about. Wabash was formative in who I was. But it also formed these deep connections and friendships that are still influencing me today, and now they’re influencing the ministry too.”

Scott Schroeder ’99 and Brian Kerr ’97 were members of FIJI with Arnold.

“Andrew was one of the first pledge brothers I met at Wabash,” Schroeder says. “He’s a one-of-a-kind individual. It’s one of those classic Wabash connections—I knew when I met him, he was going to be a friend of mine for life.”

“I was the pledge chair when Andrew was going through his senior year of high school,” Kerr says. “I was struck with how free-spirited and authentic he was. He makes everybody he encounters feel like they are the center of the world.”

Schroeder and Kerr serve on the board of directors of SROM.

Schroeder was first drawn to the organization through his experiences backpacking with Arnold.

“Andrew knew my capabilities far more than I had appreciated. Everything we did was new for me,” Schroeder says. “I always enjoyed pushing myself. When you’re with Andrew or on a SROM outing, there’s no shortage of opportunities to push yourself.

“As I learned more about the organization, I couldn’t get over how SROM uses outdoor wilderness as a Christian ministry vehicle,” he continued. “It would exist without mountains, backpacks, lakes, and ice because they are so fundamentally sound and strong in their Christian faith and their desire to share it with others.”

Kerr spent a summer after graduating from Wabash serving on SROM’s staff before joining the board.