Each year, the GST graduates, faculty, and staff gather for an awards chapel. This is a time of blessing, encouragement, and affirmation of our student’s gifts and talents. Continue reading to discover the 2018 GST Award recipients and to get to know two of our award winners, Evan Saxton and Ethan Laster!
2018 GST Award Recipients
Restoration Quarterly
(all graduates)
(from left to right) Graduates Erik Masci and Ethan Laster with Dr. Doug Foster.
Stone-Cambell Journal Promising Scholar Award
Ethan Laster & Erik Masci
Graduate Joshua Alkire and daughter with Dr. Fred Aquino.
Outstanding Thesis Award
Joshua Alkire
Excellent Potential for Ministry
Evan Saxton
Academic Achievement Award
Brady Cox & Ethan Laster
Get to know two of the GST award winners!
First off, a few words from GST graduate, Evan Saxton, winner of the Excellent Potential for Ministry award:
Where have you been and where are you currently involved in ministry? I am finishing up a ministry internship with Cats for Christ, a student ministry at the University of Kentucky (where we are also Wildcats!), based out of Southside Church of Christ in Lexington, KY. I have been heavily involved in this ministry since transferring here as an undergraduate student in 2007. My internship under Kevin Wooten (an ACU grad who has led this ministry since 1989) has run throughout my time in the GST, beginning in fall 2014. I also serve as the assistant director at Blue Grass Christian Camp, where I have been on year-round staff since fall 2011.
What do you plan to do after graduation? Beginning in August, I will transition into the full-time campus minister role with Cats for Christ. This really is a dream job, as Southside has become a home and a family for my wife and me. We love walking with the college students here and hope to do it for a long time!
What was your favorite GST course? I have loved many of my classes, but Spiritual Formation with Dr. Heflin was probably my favorite. It was a great blessing to my personal walk, and it dramatically impacted the way that I hope to influence students. The way that we lean individually and communally into the Lord and His transforming work is incredibly important.
Tell us a little bit about your family and what brought you to ACU: My wife Danielle and I were married in May 2014, and, not coincidentally, I began my GST journey that following fall. We met in campus ministry and are both passionate about serving in God’s ministry to college students. We are very much a team in what we do, and when deciding to get married, we also decided that we wanted to pursue long-term campus ministry together. That is what led me to begin my GST journey. It has been a tremendous season of training to complete the MACM program while also being able to remain and grow in our role with Cats for Christ, and we are immensely grateful for God’s blessings and faithfulness along the way.
Next up, Ethan Laster, one of the winners of the Stone-Cambell Journal Promising Scholar Award & The Academic Achievement Award:
What do you plan to do after graduation? After graduation, I plan on pursuing doctoral studies in historical theology, specifically in the field of Patristics and early Christianity. I would love to both teach and work in ministry in the future.
What was your favorite GST class? My favorite class was probably Dr. Kelli Gibson’s Historical Theology class that studied the development of the doctrine of God in the early church. She helped me understand why Christians express certain truths about God’s being, and why our statements about the being of God are so important. It was a light bulb moment for my own faith and studies.
What is the synopsis of your SCJC paper? (Note: this paper won the Isaac Errett Award at the Stone Campbell Journal Conference!) I argued in my paper that the doctrine of the Trinity is a foundational assumption in the writings of David Lipscomb. It is most apparent in the way he reads Scripture–he understands the three persons of the Trinity as fulfilling different “offices” in the creation of the world, and the “creation” of salvation for humanity.
Congratulations to our award winners and to all of our 2018 GST Graduates! We are excited to see the ways that God is going to continue to use you. Stay in touch!