• Advancement & Alumni Staff
• Planned Giving
• Ways to Give
• FAQ

 Donate Online »

Dear Friends and Alumni:

Another year is winding to a close—but before it does, I hope you will consider a very generous GIFT FOR THE KING.

As you know, GIFTS FOR THE KING has become a tradition here at Bryan. Like the Magi, we bring our modern-day gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh to honor Jesus Christ…and also to keep the work He began here at Bryan College going strong.

This is especially important during tough economic times because that’s when our students need the help of the Bryan Scholarship Fund most of all.

This is a lot of money to raise all at once—but I know you will help generously so that more and more students like Yuri can have the opportunity to be trained as a disciple and leader for Jesus Christ here at Bryan College.

You may have heard Dr. Randy Hollingsworth (Chair of the Humanities Division) tell the story of how his family met Yuri while on a mission trip to Honduras in 2005. Yuri was their translator and they had a great time together. But as they prepared for the trip back home to Tennessee, they told Yuri—“We’ll see you later.”

She replied, “Hasta (until) never.” So many people came through saying that and then she never saw them again. The Hollingsworths decided then and there they’d prove her wrong—so they were back to Honduras again in 2006.

Yuri’s life was definitely one of “limited opportunity.” She had lived in an orphanage ever since she was 2 years old. At 13, she had to stop school in order to work in the orphanage kitchen and earn money. Then an American missionary arranged to cover Yuri’s education through high school.

A seed of hope was planted in her young heart…a seed that the Hollingsworths watered by encouraging Yuri that if she finished high school, maybe she could come to the States and attend Bryan College.

Well, Yuri didn’t just graduate—she became valedictorian of her high school class — and soon she was on the phone asking, “When can I come to Bryan?” In 2008, Yuri got a conditional visa to visit America and enrolled in an English as a Second Language program at the University of Chattanooga. She even received an award for the most improved ESL student! Despite her achievements, however, her test scores were still not high enough for acceptance at Bryan.

She considered a junior college in Georgia…but her heart was tied to Bryan. She really wanted to come to a Christian college, she already knew the Hollingsworths and several other people on campus. And she loved soccer—wouldn’t it be great to play for the Lady Lions?

Randy asked me to talk with her and see if there was anything I could do. I saw in Yuri a deep desire to learn and help those she had left behind in Honduras—qualities targeted in one of our scholarships for international students. I told Yuri if we accepted her into Bryan, she would have to concentrate on her studies first of all and make above a 2.5 GPA. If she did that, then she could try out for the Lady Lions in her second year.

Yuri got to work, studying furiously. She asked for help in the library, the writing center, and from her professors. Dr. Hollingsworth said, “I have never seen a more dedicated person. She studied ALL the time!”

And it paid off. Yuri made the Dean’s List with a 3.5 GPA…and by the end of her first year, she had her jersey number for the next fall too! Yuri has been playing amazing soccer and studying hard ever since.

This coming May, she will graduate and the dream God has given her is to play soccer professionally so she can raise the money necessary to start an athletic ministry for kids back in Honduras. Her goal is to provide a positive, inspiring influence in the lives of thousands of children who are just like she was before the Hollingsworths came along.

I am so proud of Yuri and her dedication…and also the hundreds of other Bryan students who are working hard, learning and training as disciples of Christ so they can serve Him well when they graduate.

Whether they go on to become teachers, pastors, actors, missionaries, businessmen or soccer players, they have a foundation built from both knowledge AND practice here at Bryan that will have them leading and discipling others in their footsteps.

This is exactly what Christians have been doing down through the centuries—and that’s why I hope you will give a very generous GIFT TO THE KING this year so that we can continue to disciple more and more students like Yuri every year.

These last few weeks of the year are when we typically receive the highest number of gifts for our Bryan Scholarship Fund, so please be very generous. We need more than $225,000 in order to help Yuri and others through the rest of the school year. Thank you again for the way you are sowing into the futures of these young men and women through your support of Bryan College. This is truly a GIFT that honors our King.

With gratitude for the greatest Gift of all,

Stephen D. Livesay, Ph.D.
President

P.S. I know the past few years have been tough for everyone financially—but this just makes it all the more important that we keep our Scholarship Fund strong and safe so that students like Yuri have a real opportunity. Thank you for helping as you can—and may God bless you and yours with a very joyous Christmas season!