Posted December 11, 2015 by
Tags: My Wheaton
Learning, Growing, Giving Back: Graduate Resident Adviser
Three years had passed since I completed my undergraduate degree, and I was struggling to figure out what the next step in my life was going to be. I looked into seminary degrees and teaching, anxiously searching for hours online. It felt like I only had three truths to lean on: the discipleship relationships I had experienced brought me great joy, I had much to learn about practical ministry, and God had always been faithful to provide a next step.
After finding Wheaton’s Graduate Resident Adviser (GRA) position, my wife and I prayed for confirmation that this was the right next step. Soon after, I discovered that the GRA positions opened many educational and practical opportunities to disciple men and women in the Residence Life setting. The Holy Spirit made our next step clear: we would live and learn with the Wheaton family.
And honestly, Wheaton has truly become our spiritual family. Between the Christian Formation and Ministry (CFM) program with a concentration in Student Development, the weekly student gatherings in our apartment, the honest community of believers, and discipling men through tough issues, I am constantly amazed by God’s provision of learning and opportunity.
Through the CFM program, God has fanned the flames of my heart to love Jesus more. My professors have embodied the transformational power of a relationship with Christ, exemplifying how Christian education must revolve around knowing and experiencing Christ. As Charles Spurgeon prayed, “Lord, be present here, then will I look up from the book [Scripture] to the Lord—from the precept to Him who fulfilled it, from the Law to Him who honored it, from the threatening to Him who has borne it for me, and from the promise to Him in whom it is ‘Yea and amen.’”
Ethan Jones M.A. '17 is pursuing a masters in Christian Formation and Ministry with a concentration in Student Development. He is a Graduate Resident Adviser (GRA) in Terrace Apartments, one of Wheaton's upperclassmen dorms, and works in the Residence Life Office. To learn more about Wheaton's graduate school, the CFM program, or the GRA position, visit their websites.