Torch Talk
Torch Talk is the podcast for bold local leaders.
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Torch Talk
Developing the Next Generation
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In this episode of Torch Talk, Lindsey Chupp sits down with Jeremy Miller, President of Rosedale Bible College, to talk about leadership, developing the next generation, and staying true to your mission while navigating growth.
Jeremy shares his journey from pastoring a local church to leading Rosedale Bible College, along with the lessons he's learned about organizational leadership, culture, and investing in young leaders. The conversation explores why transformation matters more than information, how organizations can grow without losing their identity, and what today's emerging generation is really searching for.
Jeremy also discusses the challenges and opportunities facing higher education, the intersection of faith and business, and why leaders must continue to grow if they want their organizations to thrive.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
• Why the mission should guide every leadership decision
• How to grow without losing your identity
• What today's young leaders are looking for
• The importance of investing in the next generation
• How faith and business intersect in everyday leadership
• Why leaders must continue to evolve as organizations grow
• Building cultures that encourage transformation, not just information
• Practical ways leaders can invest in their teams
This episode offers a thoughtful look at leadership, organizational growth, and developing people, especially for business owners, educators, and leaders committed to building organizations that make a lasting impact.
And I will say we have a number of students that see us as a gap year program. So they come, well, I want to do a year at Rosedale. And of course, a lot of them end up staying for two years because they do find it meaningful and impactful in their lives.
SPEAKER_00Welcome back to Torch Talk, the show where we spotlight bold leaders growing businesses and communities with grit and purpose. Today's conversation is one I've really been looking forward to. I'm joined by Jeremy Miller, president of Rosedale Bible College. Jeremy is a leader with a clear vision and a deep heart for the next generation. He's passionate about developing young leaders and helping bridge the gap we're seeing across generations, both in the church and in business. In today's conversation, we're going to talk about what he's seeing in the next generation, how faith and business intersect in today's world, and what the future could look like for both leadership and organizations like Rosedale. Thanks for joining me today, Jeremy. I'm looking forward to hearing all your thoughts, inspiration, wisdom, guidance, all the things Jeremy brings to the table. No pressure. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01Well, Lindsay, it's great to be here. Uh, this is a lot of uh fun. I love these conversations. And so I appreciate the invitation.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so for somebody who's listening who doesn't know who you are or where you've come from, give us a little bit of backstory about how you became the president of Rosedale. What has your career journey been like?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I grew up on a farm out in central Kansas. And um, but early on, I've I've felt a call to serve the church and the kingdom of God. And I never quite knew what that would look like. Uh a lot of your listeners probably know that I pastored a church here in this area for 12 years, Middle Night Christian Assembly in Fredericksburg, just up the road from here. And in that time frame, one of the things that I was very passionate about was helping develop the next generation of leaders. I cared a lot about that. And in that process, I served on the Rosedale Bible College board, an institution given to doing that. And long story short, they had a transition in their uh presidency. And I was invited to uh step into that role, and we felt like that was the next step for us. And so we've been there eight years, and it's been an incredible journey.
SPEAKER_00Eight years, I can't believe it's been eight years. It feels like yesterday.
SPEAKER_01It does. It does.
SPEAKER_00We have uh we each have four kids, and a lot of those kids are close in age. So I remember having that conversation like, wait a minute, we've been, and then to think about what has happened with all of those kids in eight years is really crazy. So we're getting old. That's what the it's true.
SPEAKER_01And when I come back to this area, uh like it feels so familiar, and yet I know eight years changes a lot.
SPEAKER_00And so it's well, this building is a great example because when you lived here, it was a grocery store and and we're walking around the office, and you're like, hmm, it looks a lot different than it used to.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's beautiful. I love what you guys have done.
SPEAKER_00So we'll do an office tour for somebody listening sometime where she would be like here, so they know what we're talking about. Okay, so tell us what does your role look like now? You're you've been the president at Rosedale Bible College for eight years. How you know, what do you actually do?
SPEAKER_01Right. You know, people ask that, and I often find myself saying, I don't know if I actually do anything except I meet with people and talk about what they're doing to advance the mission. So our, you know, our mission is to prepare kingdom workers. And we do that through higher education. And I could go into that a waste, but we'll leave it at that. But so I'm meeting with people to understand for for the people around me to understand how their piece of the work there fits with uh the mission. And then I'm also on the road a lot. I travel a lot, and so I'm talking with donors, I'm talking with potential students, uh, I'm speaking in churches. So my my role is very outward-facing. Uh, and I mostly meet with people my whole life.
SPEAKER_00Is that what you expected when you were going into the role?
SPEAKER_01Um yes and no. I expected a lot more management. And the reality is that the culture that I came to was really good. And there's not as much management that's needed, and what was actually needed is what I'm trying to do and finding myself doing, which is meeting with people outside of the college.
SPEAKER_00So are you traveling more than you were expecting?
SPEAKER_01I I had this idea that I would need to travel. I didn't know. I would need to travel so much.
SPEAKER_00Have you gone anywhere crazy? Or is it just mostly national, like within the United States? Have you gone anywhere international? Do you have any wild travel stories?
SPEAKER_01Not international travel stories, but it's a lot of traveling within the United States. And then also it's kind of a dual situation in that I also, you know, my calling and the role at the college are very intertwined in terms of uh how I understand the church. And so I oversee a number of churches as well. And so it creates this overlapping role, set of roles uh that my life is given to. But in terms of crazy, I'm sure I could think of some crazy stories, but it just has required a lot of traveling. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So what has actually changed with Rosedale itself, the, you know, the college over the eight years that you've been there? Because I do think you guys have grown a lot, you've added on, you know, you're you're developing your programs. So kind of give us some insight into what's happening right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You know, one of the biggest tensions is how to maintain the central component of who you are, uh while also being open-handed to new opportunities that God's bringing into your world. So, you know, which ones of those fit who you are and which ones are just not for you. And we've taken this posture where we have really tried to identify carefully, okay, who is Rosedale Bible College and and what is it that we do? And we're a niche school. Uh, we're a two-year school, and we can't so we can't do everything. In fact, there's a danger in doing too many things that you actually lose your identity. And yet at the same time, uh to have open hands to what God may be bringing your way has been just an incredible journey in learning how to navigate that tension.
SPEAKER_00Your question originally, I feel like I'm No, and I find I find that a little bit amusing because I'm listening, knowing the clients that we work with, that's such a that's a business problem too. Yeah. Like that's a fielding of okay, you know, what has God called fierce creative solutions to do? And then, but not holding that so rigid that you're not exactly open. And that's right, even being aware that that is a question, yeah, that self-awareness is so critical when it comes to running a business, a school, a church, or whatever that looks like, because filtering through, even just because something is an opportunity, doesn't mean it's a good one, but also not seeing the opportunity is a problem too.
SPEAKER_01That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_00So, how do you constantly stay in balance to have that awareness?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Probably spending a lot of time with God, honestly.
SPEAKER_01But that's true. It really is true, and you can't brush over that. The second piece is having a pretty deep awareness of what it is that you do and what it is that works, right? So, for instance, um we strive to have uh top-notch academics, and yet uh people have said, um, you guys are like a Bible, uh excuse me, you guys are a discipleship community dressed up as a Bible college. Right. So what we're looking for is fundamentally not just information kind of transfer where we teach you information or give you information, but we're actually looking for the transformation of your life to set you up for something that God has for you beyond Rosedale. Right. So that idea of transformation and what that takes is we understand it to be more than just about passing information to students. And so how we design our community to function matters just as much as the kind of content that's coming through the classes. And so it's it's factoring in all of that. And then when you do that, then you're actually asking questions of okay, how how large can we be and still facilitate the kind of organic relational components that matter so deeply to transformation uh while also trying to allow for as many students as we can to be part of that. And um so it's those kinds of tensions uh that are part of our conversations that we're trying to do.
SPEAKER_00The integrity of the smaller groups and like the touch points you need with the students. That's exactly right. I love the description of it being a whole life transformation because kids go to college and college and life are totally separate. And there's an expectation of how kids act at college, a little bit scary for parents, having experienced that with my first one and now thinking, oh, I have three more, I have to send to college. But in general, you're nurturing both you want it to be a practical, tactical, here's a skill that you have learned while managing here's your spiritual life at such a critical point in their lives. Like they're and really, I mean, I would say a lot of 20-year-olds up to 30 are still figuring out that's right, what am I here for? What has God called me to? And they're just it's just such an interesting season. Um, we were talking about our our employees, but like thinking back to my 20s, the world has changed so much. Yeah. And some for the better and some not.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00So that it just understanding the critical uh time period that they're in.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, I would say that there is a just being a part of the Rosedale Network and like there's a perception around it being very uh spiritual, maybe like, yeah, like I don't really have a good understanding of the types of programs and the tactical side of what you're actually applying.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00And how serious is it? So if somebody comes there for a business, you know, program for two years, what are they actually learning? So it is blended with both. They're getting, they're getting real skills, real yeah.
SPEAKER_01So, but I would say, Lindsay, that that our focus isn't fundamentally skill building.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01So we are, we are a two-year college. So, first of all, that takes us out of like a whole set of programs. And we're at we actually offer one degree, which kind of throws people off. It's like, wait, what, what are you doing? Like, and and it's a biblical studies, associates in biblical studies, which then uh the way that our culture approaches education right now, that feels like, well, I don't, I don't know what that applies to. But the reality is that that's our our goal isn't to graduate people with a degree in any of the things that most of our students go on to get degrees in. So what we do is we offer enough gen eds so that the first two years of a student's collegiate career can often be done at Rosedale. Uh, and because of people's investment in the college, it's uh an unbelievable price. Like our average out of pocket for a first-year student is like $5,500. And that's everything living there, taking the classes. But our purpose is to shape who they are primarily, and then get them ready for the thing that God has for them next.
SPEAKER_00And most of the time you're expecting them to go on and finish college.
SPEAKER_01That's what a lot of our students do. And I will say we have a number of students that see us as a gap year program. Okay. So they come, I want to do a year at Rosedale. And of course, a lot of them end up staying for two years because they do find it meaningful and impactful in their lives. But our focus isn't fundamentally giving them, say, a marketing degree. Although we have business courses within that associate's degree that give them a taste and help them identify is this a pathway that that I could see myself on? And then when they do go on, you know, those credits follow them and transfer and help them knock down their time after, you know, that they need to take classes after they're finished at Rosedale. So it really is fundamentally, we're aimed at shaping the person. And that's that's our goal.
SPEAKER_00And which most first, I mean, the first two years of most college students is that anyway. It's just not called that.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00I don't know very many of the 18-year-olds that know what they're gonna do, even if they've declared a major and all of those things. So it usually ends up changing anyway.
SPEAKER_01And and we we can really protect them financially. So instead of going to a school where you're gonna pay $20,000, $30,000 out of pocket, grab a bunch of loans while you're not sure what you're doing. You can be in a place that's being really intentional about setting you up for things from a little different perspective, from a broader perspective and a faith perspective. And then hopefully at the end of that time, maybe you've narrowed some things down and you're ready to head in a specific direction. And of course, we have students that go home and plug into the family business and you know, don't go on.
SPEAKER_00Right. So do you know like what how how big is your program right now? How many students do you guys have?
SPEAKER_01Uh we're right right at 100 students right now.
SPEAKER_00Okay. What is your capacity?
SPEAKER_01Uh well, we just built a another dorm. Um, and so that bumps that capacity. I I think we'd feel comfortable in the 130 student range. Um beyond that, we you know, we just have to do some real thinking about how the program shifts. Um so go from there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That is a that is an intentional group because 100 students is a great, I mean, you're gonna know everybody there on campus.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna feel like you're part of a family and you you can I mean, you can work hard at hiding, but that's gonna be really difficult.
SPEAKER_00Everybody's like, where's Jeremy at?
SPEAKER_01You're gonna be known.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh that's just the deal. And that's actually part of transformation when you can't hide it and you have to face who you are. You're also dealing with who other people really are. That's part of part of the beauty of it.
SPEAKER_00You know, you hear a lot of things. We hear a lot of when you're older, you hear a lot of bad things about kids. But I have also been hearing a lot about um revival amongst teenagers and college age students.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00What are you seeing with the kids that are coming on campus? What are you seeing with just this generation in general? Give us an overview.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Those are really good questions. And of course, when you start talking about whole generations, you cannot, but you can't, it's you're it's so dangerous. It is really dangerous because you've got a lot of things going on in a lot of different directions, but there is a hunger. Uh like I sense that. And and there are some shifts that I think can be you're pretty safe in in generalizing. Um, a couple of things that are really interesting to me uh is uh what I perceive to be uh an openness and a desire for um the historical and like the historical streams of the faith and even historical practices. So for instance, I'll give you uh just an illustration. When I was at Rosedale Bible College, however many years ago was it, 25 years ago, um we would have a weekly hymn, not a week, a monthly hymn sing, and I dreaded them. I saw what are we doing? This is not how we worship that gives life and like you know, it just felt old and stale to me. But we did it anyway, and you know, you go on with life. Since I've been at Rosedale, our the monthly hymn sings even among kids who they didn't know what a hymn was when they came to Rosedale, that is one of their highlight chapels. And in fact, uh almost every year I have kids coming to me, it's like, why why don't we do that more than once a month? Like, what's the deal? And I'm thinking to myself, what I don't I don't know what that's about because that was not my experience. And yet there's something that I I think I think students want depth. They want to understand their like what are the doctrines of the faith? And again, when I was 25 years ago, it's like, well, doctrines are just things that people fight about. What's why why why are we hammering these things out? And now students are like, Well, I I think my faith has to be more than just like trying to conjure up a deeper love for Christ and actually or these feelings, like may maybe I actually need to know what I believe and why.
SPEAKER_00Right. They need to anchor it to something.
SPEAKER_01They have to anchor. That's a great way of saying it. That's right. And so there's a kind of a craving for more depth than I think maybe 15, 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think about growing up in a church, not a Mennonite one, but growing up in a church in a generation where like our we had such like our practices that were built into us at a very young age were different. So I grew up singing hymns. Yes. Then we switched to contemporary music. And so we have a foundation. There is a depth there that is different.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's not flashy, it's not showy. Right. And so that feels very like superficial and authentic a little bit. And the church really swung hard. If you think about like just everything feeling like a production. Yes. And it's interesting in how to connect the faith from that generation at the same time in real life. The 20-year-olds are picking up grandma hobbies. Yeah. So they're wanting to knit, crochet, like do all of the things that it means it shows that there's a natural intersection of everything in life. And even in in marketing, and we're talking about this, like with the introduction of AI, people want real experiences. It's like the real world is going to mean more. So we like for businesses, you have to create better real life experiences. It's going to have more impact for for everything, for the church. You we have to really consider what this in-life real person experiences like, not just our perception.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And this generation is craving that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And it it can be a hard adjustment because they know they need something, but they don't like it is really hard to get yourself to even to do some of the things that you know you need. That's, I mean, it's true for all of us. So, for instance, like, how do we use technology in the classroom? We were just having this conversation in a faculty meeting recently where it's like, okay, students bring phones, laptops, but then it can be really difficult for a student not to get distracted by that in a classroom. And so we've had some professors, we haven't had a blanket statement, but we've had some professors say, there's just not going to be any technology in our classroom. Which feels like a hard line, but most of our students are actually grateful to have somebody enforce something they know they want and they know they need and they know that's good for them, but they don't have the capacities to choose that.
SPEAKER_00To set up their own boundary. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00That's in interesting. I think about like our team meetings, everybody has a laptop. Yeah, it's so easy to be distracted. Like you're like, oh, I got a text. Oh, I gotta. Yeah. And we were raised when you were working, like you know, cell phones weren't allowed in the workplace, and there was all it was not a part of what that was like. So now everybody lets everything. I mean, my kids call me six times a day. I was scared to call my parents at work. Like I better be dying and the house on fire if I was calling somebody. So, but just even our level of accessibility to each other is a problem.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_00Like we are, we think that we have to respond to everybody right now where it used to be, you would call, leave a message, and maybe they call you back in three days, and that was acceptable. That's not now.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I think this generation also feels like that uh overwhelm of notifications and just the massive information coming their way. Yeah. So lump that in with all of the other things they're going through. And they don't know how to filter it themselves. That's right. So if they can be taught some of those best. That would be great.
SPEAKER_01And it's a dance because they need to they need to know how to incorporate effectively technology into their lives. Because you that you just can't get away from that. But I all there's also they have a real willingness to draw boundaries, I think, in a way that many of us as adults, older adults, have difficulty doing because we just didn't grow up in that. So we have a deeper framework of life without that. And I think sometimes that makes us who are older a little more careless. Where uh younger people they didn't grow up with that different framework.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And they have a keener recognition that they need something different.
SPEAKER_00So I'm not sure how that all works, but yeah, we're all I'm I'm thinking about that while you're saying it because I'm thinking we were also raised in a different work environment. So like that, you know, just work hard, put your head down, deal with anything that's thrown your way.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Have no expectation of being treated properly. Like a good culture was not on my radar when I was 20 years old looking for a job. That wasn't even talked about.
SPEAKER_02Right, right.
SPEAKER_00Um, so I would say like for myself, the disconnection is I just work a lot. And so like the accessibility to everything is yeah, you know, I I have actually, you know, we were talking about the history of fierce. Like one of the things now that I feel like we're heading into our fifth year is oh, maybe I can like actually set my laptop down at five and walk away from it and not pick it up again till eight the next day. Yeah. That seems like a wild concept. Yeah. So, but those are yeah, thinking through the boundaries of what's healthy from a work perspective.
SPEAKER_01And I think, I think there is a balance there. You know, when you're starting an organization or a company, or uh even I found when you're trying to help, say, a college expand and grow, there's no founder, there's no entrepreneur that's built anything successful, at least that I'm aware of, who was able to work less in those early years. Absolutely. It's just there's a high cost to that, and that's just reality.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I would say I I don't know that again, this is huge generalization. I think 20-year-olds, again, generalization, are very nervous about um working that hard. Yeah. And I might offer that as a gentle criticism. That's fine if if that's what you want, but it it's also very hard to have an executive position or to to be in a in a leadership role if you're not willing to sacrifice some of that time.
SPEAKER_00I think about this when it comes to my kids, you know, you always want to give your kids a better experience, better life than what you have. But I even even with being, I would say my kids would say I'm strict and made them do work and stuff. But even with all of that, to give them the experiences that I want to have myself and bring them along with me has created a softness in them where, like, yes, I'm experiencing this, you know, my oldest is 19, then I have a 17-year-old and easily overwhelmed by schedules, like the hustle that I've had to put in the last five years, they don't haven't built that grittiness, that ability to just say, okay, you're gonna have to just this is a season. That's right. And I was very transparent with my family along the way. Like, hey, and really, work-life balance is not is not real. Like, I have people talk about that. Like, what is is a what's a healthy work-life balance? No, you go through seasons. That's right. What's God calling you to? Where should I have the most focus? Look for agreement from your family. And if, and then you're you're committing to that together because yes, there are seasons where I I mean 12, 16, whatever hour days you got to do, you have to do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00If you want to get where you want to go. And it depends on how fast you want to get there too.
SPEAKER_01That's exactly right. So and there, and there can be legitimate costs to that. There, there are trade-offs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And yeah, as a believer and a kingdom person, somebody who's training people to think and live in the kingdom, um, I wrestle with some of that. I don't want my kids to resent the the ministries that I've been a part of. At the same time, um, I want them to see that hard work and dedication matter.
SPEAKER_00But when you pair that with something God has directly called you to, so if you are not doing, if you're not shooting for an executive role because that's what you want, like there's an alignment there and a blessing that comes with that. Yeah. And I think that that's different too. I've been asked a lot of questions about that with my kids. Like, if I'm setting an example for them of me chasing what God has called me to, and I don't, here's the thing, I've worked a lot. I've never one time, like I and I get tired. I love what I'm doing. There is no question. God, when you have that like calling connection, there's a blessing and an energy that goes into it that you don't have when there's not alignment there.
SPEAKER_01That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_00That's a great example for for kids, you know, little kids all the way up through, you know, their 20s. Some more is caught than taught, right? So if they're seeing that, uh even hopefully later on in their their careers, they'll be able to see it and look back, even if they don't love how much dad is gone now. One day they'll look back and be like, but he did what God was telling them to do. There's a difference there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And it and it almost is it's a stewarding of the responsibility. It's I like the way you you talked about that. It's not actually chasing something, it's a stewardship, and you feel the burden, not in a bad way, but like this, I'm responsible for this. And I've I've got to do that well. And I want to do it as well as I can.
SPEAKER_00It's really the intersection of faith and business too. Like that leads right into like it's a lot. I think about growing up in a church, you are either you are a missionary who goes to another country and you do something else. And then you, you know, like that's the problem with you teach everybody to go up, and then you're like, well, I have to go get a real job. And there's a disconnection there. I would say our generation, the younger generation, is being taught differently than that. Like that's right. If God has given you a natural talent ability to do something, that can be used for his purpose. You can find a company that is going to help support that in the right way and have some really awesome opportunities. And then that creates better alignment overall. All right. So we've talked a lot about generations, what's happening with you. Tell us a little bit about what you see coming in the future for you, for Rosedale, for all of the things you're involved in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, I I would categorize that a couple different ways. For me personally, um, so I've been at Rosedale for eight years. And what I am what I am discovering in this this year specifically, so we just had a massive capital campaign project, finished that. So grateful for it. But what I what I realized for me that if I'm gonna lead this institution effectively for, you know, into the future, there are things that I have to change. And there are ways of leading that I have to change. And um, so that has been an important recognition. Uh one I'll just give you an example. So um I actually went through a time last fall. It's amazing you have this really successful project. We built this dorm, $6.5 million dorm debt-free, which was a huge win for the college. That we don't carry debt on that. But I right after that, I had this drop. And I was actually, I was, I felt myself floundering a bit, uh, just kind of unsure for myself, what's next? How does this work? So I called a mentor of mine who was a former college president, and uh we talked regularly, but I was telling him processing kind of what I'm seeing, what I'm thinking. And he listened a bit and he's like, Well, Jeremy, tell me again how long you've been at the college. And I said, This is my eighth year. And he said, Well, here's the deal the data for college presidents. First of all, I think like, what is it, four to five years would be the average 10-year. And he said, most don't make it past eight or nine years, because the thing that got them there is not the thing that's gonna take them beyond. And so you have to make a decision to either reinvent the way you're leading and adjust, or find a different college and start over, which is what apparently a lot of presidents do. And then, you know, do the thing that you know to do. And uh, but uh, you know, my calling and purposes intersecting the church with higher ed. Um Rosedale is just a really ideal fit, but I hold that with open hands, but I I just this last year have been thinking through and working on what what are the pieces for me that have to change so that Rosedale continues to flourish and and I can be there in a sustainable way.
SPEAKER_00Interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that's been great. It's actually been a really good process.
SPEAKER_00Have you any broad any books by Benjamin Hardy? No. Okay. I'll tell you about them after the episode's over. They might be very helpful for you. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So then what do you see happening over the next few years with with Rosedale?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for the college. Um, well, first of all, I think we're still trying to get a handle on how AI is gonna reshape everything. Oh, it's just a reality.
SPEAKER_00It's like it is a reality, we can't avoid it. Yeah, but what do we do with it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But um, in but there are some things like God continues, you know, here's our posture, Lindsay. Uh we we try to know who we are. I mentioned that. And then we have open hands to God saying, what are the opportunities that you have for us? And then then we try to discern is this opportunity from God or not. But anyway, we have had so many opportunities coming in. Um, and and one of the one of the real ones is to we really feel like it's important for us to separate ourselves from government funding. So our our students all are eligible to receive Pell Grants and all the you know loans and stuff. But our dream is to have RBC be um something that a student can pay for in a sum with a summer job uh because we're we're developing additional sources of revenue that change the financial picture for our college. And so that's one of the big pushes uh right now that I'm really excited about and hopefully in a few years can talk more uh in detail about. But so that would be a big piece is to really set the college up financially for the future.
SPEAKER_00That's a really exciting goal to have. So I'll be we'll stay tuned to see what happens. Sure. You'll have to come back in two years or three years and update us.
SPEAKER_01We'll see what happens, you know. Yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so you've talked a little bit about the size of the college, but you've like as far as the number of students and having a close community, but you've also talked a little bit about growth goals and wanting to hold those intention to each other. So, how do you really balance those two things of wanting to keep the integrity of the size, the connection while still knowing that Rosedale needs to grow?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So one of the there's a lot of there are a lot of things that happen organically at the college that help build that intimate community. Uh so for example, our staff and faculty both, many of them live right around the college. And so we make it make the college cafeteria available to our staff and faculty to bring their families over and eat with students and eat at the college a couple of nights a week. Uh, we look for ways to help our faculty integrate their lives with the college. So, really practically, like our um real estate market has just exploded out in Rosedale because we're within 30 minutes of downtown Columbus, or 35 minutes of downtown Columbus. So, people, anyway, people want to work in Columbus and live in the country, so they buy around Rosedale, which makes housing very expensive. And so, as a college, we've tried to be pretty aggressive in buying property that comes up for sale so that we have property to offer the people that we employ. And so uh a couple of like we're trying to actually facilitate that kind of community, but that takes action in a lot of different areas to help maintain that.
SPEAKER_00And funding. You gotta be well prepared to go in and buy the land. Well, and you have to have a good idea of the future because without that, then that's right. Why would you be buying land? But that's a really great way of you know keeping everybody connected. I love that idea of having you basically like family nights and you're bringing everybody to campus, and there's just a very authentic feeling of that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and our our our professors' offices, like the doors are open unless they're meeting with a student or somebody else. And so students drift through our office wing and you get knocks on your doors, hey, you got a minute? You know, they want to talk. And sometimes you don't, and you have to be upfront with that. But I love saying yes to that. Uh, or hey, could you come back in a half hour? And then we just talk.
SPEAKER_00That's the key to any interaction with a 20-year-old ever. Like if that's what I'm learning as a parent. If they're like, hey, you got time to caught talk, it doesn't matter if it's 10 o'clock at night, you better be saying yes because you don't know when your next opportunity is.
SPEAKER_01That's right. And it does cost you. Like, then that creates, you know, that's that time's not free. Yeah, but it's really important. So, but you try to embrace that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay. So as a Christian business owner, something that I always am very aware of is how I position my faith within the organization. And I know, you know, you look at all different types of businesses. So you have the Pravia who has 20 core values and they're very faith-based. I recently listened to them at a at a WEDC event and they said, we're pursuing faith and excellence. And that's just is very clear in their purpose, right? And then you have different organizations. Like I would say, you know, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian and business owner, but I don't overly push faith directly in the organization. I kind of actually look at it more like I am an open door. I want people to come experience something here, get curious, ask questions, be a part of opportunities, like with branches worldwide where they get to see this in action, but I'm not as pushy, if that makes sense. So because you're shelf helping shape another um generation that's very like at a critical point in their lives. Any advice for me or other business owners who are hiring a younger generation for how to implement faith, how to influence the generation, any advice that you would have?
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm slightly hesitant to give advice on this because I am responsible for a Bible college, which is inherently like they're coming expecting that.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Right. But I think there are some things that I think could be applicable to institutions or organizations that aren't Bible colleges or churches or that kind of thing. I I think, first of all, caring for people and what they're actually dealing with outside of the office environment goes a long way. And part of that caring as a Christian uh can be as simple as offering to pray for somebody who's working through some stuff. And I don't think that's something that could needs to be off the table for a manager or a business owner. Um, you probably have to be sensitive with that, but most people are willing to let you pray for them and to display your care in that way. It's amazing, I found how much people feel cared for by that. And that's that's a very simple thing. Another thing that we've tried to do is we have our vacation package that we offer employees, but we also about two years ago added uh five days that they can go serve another nonprofit. So if you're taking off time to go serve another nonprofit, we want to bless you in that. We want your life to have mission and purpose even beyond what you're doing at Rosedale. And so, I mean, that's a something like that. It there's small ways of encouraging employees to think about a life that's bigger than their work. And so that's not a total answer, but maybe a few ways.
SPEAKER_00Just a few, that's practical. Yeah. So there's a few key things that they could do. Yeah. I appreciate that. Yeah. Okay. So if somebody is listening to this and they want to know more about Rosedale Bible College, where should they go find information?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So the a great starting spot is our website, uh www.rosedale.edu. You can Google us or you know, whatever you do to find out information. And also come visit us, Holmes County, Wayne County, two hours away. We love treating people to campus.
SPEAKER_00It is and you have students coming from all over them. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. We've got um students this year from Oregon to New York to Florida and everywhere in between. Okay. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00So if anybody is listening, go check out Rostamps.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we'd love to, we'd love to host you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for being on the show today. I really enjoyed our discussion.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Lindsay.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for tuning in to Torch Talk. If today's story sparks something for you, share it with a colleague, community leader, or future change maker. Until next time, stay inspired, stay intentional, and keep your fire burning.