Christon Arthur
Episode 167

Narrator: Welcome friends to another episode of the Story and Experience podcast. Join your host, Japhet De Oliveira with his guest today and discover the moments that shape us, our families and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, welcome friends to another episode of the Story and Experience podcast. I am absolutely delighted to be here in Riverside, California on site recording this particular guest. If you're brand new to the podcast, we have a hundred questions. They become progressively more vulnerable and open closer to 100 but they're about stories and experiences of this particular person sitting across from the table from me and what shaped them into the leader that they are today. So I'm going to begin with the first 10 and then I'll hand over to you and you can pick numbers. Sound good?

Christon Arthur: That sounds good.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right-

Christon Arthur: .... great.

Japhet De Oliveira: Awesome. Could you tell us number one, could you tell us your name and does anybody ever mispronounce it?

Christon Arthur: So a unique name. Christon Arthur, and there are times when I mispronounce it so it's-

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Christon Arthur: Yeah. It's my mom who came up with this creative concoction.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, nice.

Christon Arthur: Christon Arthur and I have the misfortune or fortune of not having met anyone with that name or the spelling of that name.

Japhet De Oliveira: See?

Christon Arthur: Yeah. Very unique.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Christon Arthur: Very unique.

Japhet De Oliveira: Do people sometimes call you Arthur instead of Christon?

Christon Arthur: Yes, all the time.

Japhet De Oliveira: All the time.

Christon Arthur: And when they do, they think they're correcting me. No. Yeah, they think I don't know what it is, so I'm being corrected. No. It's Arthur, isn't it? Oh, you're Arthur? Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Christon Arthur: It happens often.

Japhet De Oliveira: Do you ever correct anybody when they do that or you just let it go?

Christon Arthur: Oh, I correct them.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yes I do. Yes, I do.

Japhet De Oliveira: Help them navigate it.

Christon Arthur: Well.... So I'll say, but no, it is Christon. And then they'd ask me, they'll look at it and say, "How do I pronounce it?" And I say, "Put the accent on the N. So it's not Chris Thorn. Christon.

Japhet De Oliveira: Christon.

Christon Arthur: Christon.

Japhet De Oliveira: Christon.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right.

Christon Arthur: Christon.

Japhet De Oliveira: I wonder if I've got it wrong, okay. Christon. Thank you for that clarification. Could you tell us what you do for work? Yeah.

Christon Arthur: So for work, I have probably the best job in the world.

Japhet De Oliveira: Uh-huh.

Christon Arthur: I try to inspire people, especially students, to be their best selves.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: If they put a label on it and sometimes people want to put a label and say, "well yeah, I know, but what do you actually do?"

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I currently serve as president at La Sierra University, Riverside, California.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic.

Christon Arthur: That's why we're here.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Christon Arthur: That's why we here.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. And how long have you been in this role?

Christon Arthur: Oh man, I'm an expert. I've been here quite a while. I've been here four and a half months.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, all right.

Christon Arthur: Yeah. Four and a half months.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's good. Now tell us a little bit about what you did before you became president of La Sierra University?

Christon Arthur: Yeah. My career started as an educator in 1989.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow.

Christon Arthur: 35 years ago. Taught high school.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: So probably that, growing up, and this is a bit upon the embarrassing part of it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: Growing up.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: I'd play school.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Christon Arthur: Yeah. And I always play school as a teacher, not a student.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh really?

Christon Arthur: And because growing up, I had maybe up until high school at all female teachers. So when I played school I didn't know better. I was a female teacher.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's great.

Christon Arthur: Don't ask me what I did or what I wore.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I was a female teacher.

Japhet De Oliveira: Uh-huh. That's great.

Christon Arthur: Playing school.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: My students were trees and rocks. They were hard to learn. They didn't learn very well.

Japhet De Oliveira: Trees and rocks.

Christon Arthur: Trees and rocks. So I joke that, don't be too perturbed. In my very first classroom.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I taught trees and rocks and if I could have done something to them, I could absolutely guess some to you. So no, there's no hard classroom moving forward.

Japhet De Oliveira: So change was slow.

Christon Arthur: Change was slow.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And probably that's the lesson preparation for this job, change is slow.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow.

Christon Arthur: And God gave me three and rocks to begin so I can learn that lesson, change is slow.

Japhet De Oliveira: That is good.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That is good.

Christon Arthur: Change is slow.

Japhet De Oliveira: That is amazing, So you did that as a child-

Christon Arthur: I did that and then-

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: ... then taught high school. After my rocks and my trees, went to real children, taught high school for about 10 years and then migrated to the US to the graduate work.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: At Andrews University.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And my first higher education job was at Tennessee State, Nashville, Tennessee.

Japhet De Oliveira: Uh-huh.

Christon Arthur: Was there for about 10 years.

Japhet De Oliveira: Right.

Christon Arthur: Faculty, got promoted, got into administration.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And I went back to Andrews which I thought I never was going to do. Went back to Andrews as Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, then Provost. So I spent 14 years at Andrews.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Christon Arthur: Yeah. 14 years at Andrews.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow.

Christon Arthur: Great years.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Wonderful years. Snow is fantastic. Winter is great.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's true.

Christon Arthur: And now after that, that 10 year at Andrews migrated to... I said migrated because isn't it the country of California? I feel as though-

Japhet De Oliveira: It does feel-

Christon Arthur: .... I left United States, I went to-

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: No. Here, I'm in Riverside at La Sierra University.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. I've got to ask because I mean you've been here four and a half months and as you alluded to, you're an expert now.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: But give us your vision for this role and what you see for La Sierra University.

Christon Arthur: No. That's a-

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yeah. La Sierra University, it is one of the birthplaces of Adventist thought, if you will. La Sierra started 1902, there about, as a junior college.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Then was connected to Loma Linda University. It was Loma Linda University's undergraduate college. And then in 1990 there about, we grew up and become our own self-standing university.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And so in a sense, we are 102 year old teenager.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh.

Christon Arthur: We are still vibrant. And people might say, "Oh, you call yourself a teenager." Yeah. That's the joy of youth. We are not afraid. We take risks. And the risk taking is part of, I think, our identity. We are not settled. We do not think we have arrived and know the final answer. We are still curious.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: We're still exploring.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: We're still searching.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And once we think we have found, we still say, "No, that's not enough. Let's search some more."

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right.

Christon Arthur: And that's... La Sierra University has to continue to be the place where curiosity, exploration, searching for truth. We don't simply settle on knowledge, that's the law. We are lofty. We search for truth. Truth in the sciences, truth in the humanities, truth in the finance.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: Truth in beauty.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: We aspire to figure out what truth is.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And that's the vision, that's the dream, that's the hope.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful. You are excited about this, I can tell.

Christon Arthur: Yes. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. No, this is fantastic. All right, so let's talk about some practical things as well. You get up in the morning, you an early riser or late night owl?

Christon Arthur: Early riser.

Japhet De Oliveira: And what's early for you?

Christon Arthur: So on a typical day I'm up, by four.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right.

Christon Arthur: 4, 4:30.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Good. And this morning when you got up at four, first thought that went through your mind was?

Christon Arthur: First thought that went through my mind, it's going to be a beautiful day.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh. That's good.

Christon Arthur: It's going to be a beautiful day.

Japhet De Oliveira: And then do you have, is it coffee or tea or liquid green smoothie, what's your first drink of the day?

Christon Arthur: First drink of the day, probably some tea.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah?

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, okay.

Christon Arthur: Probably tea. I'm from the islands. This is not a Michigan accent, right? But from the islands or California accent. And we are herb people.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Herbal tea.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And it's not the one that you're find in a store in a packet.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: We go out into the yard, into the garden and we pick stuff from the trees and we do our own.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: So tea is baked in, I can't help it.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great, man.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. All right.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's good. Okay, here's a leadership question for you. Are you a backseat driver?

Christon Arthur: Sometimes, but I would say not the predominant trait but sometimes I am.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. And then just tell us a little bit of background here. Where were you born?

Christon Arthur: So the beautiful island.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: I got to put that in.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right.

Christon Arthur: Plug for that. The beautiful island of Grenada.

Japhet De Oliveira: Beautiful.

Christon Arthur: That's the Southern Caribbean.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. And then as a child growing up there, you alluded to this, did you really believe you're going to be a teacher from the very beginning?

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: And you said it's female teachers inspired you?

Christon Arthur: Female teachers. Well that's all I had.

Japhet De Oliveira: Do they know that? Do these teachers know that?

Christon Arthur: Probably not.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh.

Christon Arthur: Because there is not... When I was growing up.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: There is this gulf between teacher and student. You refer to your teacher as... So let's suppose you're my teacher.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: You'll be teacher Japhet, that's it. No... It's the first name, yes. But before that first name comes teacher.

Japhet De Oliveira: Teacher. Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Teacher Japhet. And if I saw you not in the classroom context.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I probably not going to make eye contact.

Japhet De Oliveira: Interesting.

Christon Arthur: Because you-

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: There's a separation.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: There's a gulf there.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: You say probably never really talk to your teachers beyond the classroom. And even then, you have to raise your hand and wait.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Keep your hand up until you're called.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah.

Christon Arthur: You put your hand down, you miss your chance. You didn't put your hand up, you cannot speak, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: So there's this real formality to it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: So no, they have no idea the impact they were having and they're all females. And I guess I thought at an early age, if you're a teacher, you've got to be female.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: So, yeah...

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I pretended to be female just now, so I can teach.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's fantastic. Well a great career and we're glad you're here at La Sierra University-

Christon Arthur: Oh thank you-

Japhet De Oliveira: So that's fantastic as well. Personality, would people describe you as an introvert or an extrovert and would you agree?

Christon Arthur: People might think I'm an extrovert, but I'm an introvert.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: I'm an introvert who knows how to play the part of an extrovert.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. So you recharge?

Christon Arthur: Oh, I have to go home. I'm going to be alone. Yeah, give me a book. Give me the pillow, give a cover, leave me alone.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right.

Christon Arthur: I'll be okay.

Japhet De Oliveira: Give me a book that you're reading right now that you're enjoying?

Christon Arthur: I love Simon Sinek. I listen to him quite a bit and he's written this book, I think it's relatively new. The Infinite Game.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: Yes. Fascinating.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, it is.

Christon Arthur: We think we are playing the infinite game, we all claim that we do but you look at our behaviors, no, it's not infinite, it's all about today. Right now, the next five minutes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yeah. Infinite Game.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Floor is open.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: So well what number would you like to pick?

Christon Arthur: 21.

Japhet De Oliveira: 21. All right, here we go. Oh, share the best compliment you've ever received?

Christon Arthur: Oh.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Best compliment... I like your mind.

Japhet De Oliveira: Mm.

Christon Arthur: You have a very inquisitive mind.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah,

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Where did that curiosity come from?

Christon Arthur: I think you grow up on the island and you spend most of your time in the outdoors.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And you see things and you wander after them.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: You're simply delved into nature and I don't know how it started but you're never quite satisfied that You know what that thing was. You poke it and you looked at it and you poke it and you say, "What else can this do? What else can this be?"

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yeah. Inquisitive mind, curiosity.

Japhet De Oliveira: I remember I knew Christon back at Andrews University. I remember you were in charge of strategy as well and implementation operations inside there. How did you make strategy, curious? Because-

Christon Arthur: Oh.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yeah. Well you think about it, curiosity, strategy, they go hand in hand because when I think about strategy, I'm thinking about what's that ultimate reality? I know what we are now.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: But what's the ultimate... Not even what's next, that's too easy. That's right next door. I don't want to know what's next, what's the ultimate? Where are we going? What's the lofty?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: What's the aspirational?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And then tomorrow my sympathy will be one step towards that. But I didn't ask, what's next?

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Christon Arthur: What's lofty? What's aspirational?

Japhet De Oliveira: Beyond the next.

Christon Arthur: If we could be everything that we can be, if we can be your best institutional self, what's that?

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Christon Arthur: As long we get there.

Japhet De Oliveira: Love it.

Love it. All right, that was 21. We're next.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, what's next?

Christon Arthur: 40.

Japhet De Oliveira: 40. All right. Ooh, tell us about a time you failed?

Christon Arthur: Oh. I failed so often that it's-

Japhet De Oliveira: That's all of us.

Christon Arthur: Yeah. It's hard to find one.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And it was maybe five, six months after I had started as Provost. So I started as provost the Summer of 2016 and it was now Black History Month.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Yeah.

Christon Arthur: 2017, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: February.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I think it was probably the first Sabbath. We invited a speaker and it was a great chapel.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Great speaker. But there are some aspects of that presentation and I thought went a little bit too far. It probably became a little bit too political.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: So the following week at chapel, I went and said to the entire student body, the campus community, "Last week's chapel probably went too far. There's something said that didn't quite represent who we are as an institution and I'm sorry that that happened."

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: But the student who invited the speaker.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: They didn't quite hear that.

Japhet De Oliveira: No.

Christon Arthur: What they heard was, "Oh, our new Provost just disrespected us because he didn't even talk to us first but he went and speak out against what our speaker said that we invited."

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Yeah.

Christon Arthur: That created a little bit of...

Japhet De Oliveira: A ripple effect.

Christon Arthur: Yeah, ripple effect. A little bit of a torment in the teacup a little bit. And they told me exactly what they felt. And looking back, the lesson I would take from that is I probably still would've gone to the chapel and said, "That's not us. That's not who we are. We don't want to really behave that way and do that level of name-calling, what have you." But I probably would've spoken to the students first.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And say, "Yeah. It's not us. Great chapel, great speaker, thank you for planning it but I'm going to speak to some aspects of it that I didn't quite appreciate." It was a failure in the sense of not taking into account the students who planned that event, invited the speaker, felt so good about that person, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And they simply walked up and they felt as, "Oh, you just smacked us down."

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well great failures are where we learn, right?

Christon Arthur: Yes, absolutely.

Japhet De Oliveira: The bad failures where we don't learn anything.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, totally. All right, that was 40, so where next?

Christon Arthur: 11.

Japhet De Oliveira: 11. All right. Oh, tell us about the most adventurous food or meal you've ever eaten in your life?

Christon Arthur: Oh.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Well, it probably is not that adventurous.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: ... but for me IT-

Japhet De Oliveira: It was.

Christon Arthur: And that happened within the last month, probably.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh really?

Christon Arthur: Yeah. Sushi.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sushi. Okay.

Christon Arthur: And not the Adventist guy which is simply... Not the Adventist-

Japhet De Oliveira: The vegetarian.

Christon Arthur: The tofu one.

Japhet De Oliveira: Uh-huh.

Christon Arthur: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: No.

Christon Arthur: The actual flesh.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: ... of a living animals. Coming from the island, we probably overcooked everything.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: We cooked plums.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Christon Arthur: We cooked everything. It took a bit of courage for this island boy to actually willingly and knowingly.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I wasn't deceived into it. Knowingly consumed raw fish.

Japhet De Oliveira: Uh-huh.

Christon Arthur: That... Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well done. Well done young man. Where next then after 11?

Christon Arthur: Let's do 24.

Japhet De Oliveira: 24. All right. Tell us about a time where you were over or underdressed for an occasion? You could see Christon's face right now it's smile.

Christon Arthur: Yes-

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, yeah.

Christon Arthur: Southern California could be casual.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Well that's the understatement of the century.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: Could be casual. But I remember recently we had a concert.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And we invited one of the operas from LA Opera.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: So it's a big concert. And I thought, "Oh well, I'm just going to go in, sit in my seat." And so I had a T-shirt. I had a little blazer over but still a T-shirt. And I go out there, I look at the program, I have to give welcome.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: I'm sure I was still ahead of time.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Sure.

Christon Arthur: I slipped. So I said to my wife, I said, "I'm in the program, I do the welcome." So you try to-

Japhet De Oliveira: Button up.

Christon Arthur: .... button one of those and go up from there. But probably I was more self-conscious than the audience because they're thinking, "Oh man, he's just joining so quickly. He is not one of us. He's only got a T-shirt." But I'm thinking I probably shouldn't have worn the T-shirt. So even if, and it probably was just my own cultural hesitation.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: I'm sure you pulled it off.

Christon Arthur: I hope I did.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right, where next?

Christon Arthur: 32.

Japhet De Oliveira: 32. If you were featured on the local news, what would the story likely be here? Yeah.

Christon Arthur: La Sierra University through its president is forging a tremendous partnership with a big business in the city. It'll be one of those partnership collaboration stories.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's good.

Christon Arthur: I'm huge on that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: We can't be isolated.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: We have to be present.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: With intentionality, contribute, and hopefully receive something in return.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like it.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Good. All right, where next?

Christon Arthur: Big numbers.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: 85.

Japhet De Oliveira: 85. Whew. All right.

Christon Arthur: Should I be scared of that?

Japhet De Oliveira: No. I think the numbers are great. 85. All right. Describe a role model you aspire to be like?

Christon Arthur: So probably that person doesn't know that they're my role model and deceased a little while ago. Desmond Tutu.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Desmond Tutu.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I probably have listened to everything he said. Read most of what he is written.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: But Desmond Tutu, I think, has that level of moral conviction and he simplifies his moral convictions. Sometimes we could complicate it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: We can make it seem so lofty that nobody else can do it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: No, he simplifies his moral convictions. I'll give you an example.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: When he became Archbishop of Johannesburg, first black, it was illegal for him to move into the Archbishop's residence.

Japhet De Oliveira: Mm-hmm.

Christon Arthur: Because the residence was in a part of South Africa that he as a black man couldn't go.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: And so he was elected and he decided I'm going to write a letter to the officials in that region to say, "I'm Desmond Tutu. I've just elected at Bishop of Johannesburg. And this is to inform you that I was going to move into my house on such and such a date."

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: Blessings to you, Archbishop Tutu.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And he said, "I thought it was respectful to let them know when I'm going to move in."

Japhet De Oliveira: To declare it, yeah.

Christon Arthur: Right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I'm not asking for permission, I'm not saying is it okay with you, I'm saying that this is the date I'm going to move in and you should know I'm going to move into it. That simplicity of conviction.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes. I like it. Good. Hey, that's good. That's good. All right, where do you want to go next?

Christon Arthur: Number 90.

Japhet De Oliveira: 90. All right. Tell us about how you overcame a seemingly insurmountable obstacle?

Christon Arthur: And maybe the key word there is seemingly insurmountable.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Right. I like that.

Christon Arthur: There are a few things are insurmountable.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, okay.

Christon Arthur: So I mentioned the story of when I offended my students.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: ... making that comment. Here's what came out of that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And for a few days, our students did the social media response.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: We had candid conversations. I met with the students on multiple occasions. And what came out of that episode, if you will, was that Andrews University hired his very first VP for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right.

Christon Arthur: Now, probably we shouldn't have had to go through that experience to make that hire but I think what it revealed to us was our blind spots and we all have blind spots.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes we do.

Christon Arthur: And so we walk into that situation with our blind spots fully there, not realizing it, but as we had conversations with students and others within our constituency.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: The blind spot became evident. And I think Andrews University was much stronger.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Much better because of that decision to hire first VP for diversity, equity, and inclusion. And it really helped shape Andrews to become more culturally aware of the different ethnic racial subgroups that were part of our university.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's brilliant.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Brilliant. All right, that was 90.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Where'd you want to go next sir?

Christon Arthur: This one 95.

Japhet De Oliveira: 95. All right. Oh, this is actually perfect for you. Could you tell us how you see faith, your faith and life intersecting?

Christon Arthur: Oh, thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Yes. I think faith is lived. Faith should not be confined to the realms of being theoretical. Faith is what I do in response to my challenge of life.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And it includes the moments when I question.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: When I might even have doubts.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And so I think of my faith as the place I go to find a response to the challenge that I face in that moment. It has to be lived, it has to be practical. My faith better show up when I need it. If my faith is so theoretical that it doesn't have any meaning and relevance in my daily practice of life, yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: It better show up in the practice when I need it.

Japhet De Oliveira: When you need it?

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like that.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like that a lot. Now obviously La Sierra University is a faith-inspired, faith-based institution.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: ... education institution. What about somebody who comes here who is not faith-based in the same way? How do they find a home here?

Christon Arthur: Yeah. So I think we shouldn't attempt to reduce faith to make it sectarian. I mentioned before that one of the persons aspire to be Desmond Tutu.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: I was listening to him and he shook my world. I had to stop it and ponder for maybe a few hours.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. Okay.

Christon Arthur: Desmond Tutu, in his own simplicity, he just made the claim, God is not Christian. I had to stop that because everything about my orientation.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Christon Arthur: ... led me to believe that God was Christian. And here was my hero. He doesn't know me.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Saying, "Oh my friends, just to be clear, God is not Christian." Noted, stop this. I stopped it. I had to process that for a few hours.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And then yeah, I agree with him.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. God is not contained.

Christon Arthur: God is not contained.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Faith is not contained. Faith is not simply a Christian belief, a Christian practice. Faith is probably not even a religious practice. Faith is not contained. And so anyone. You can walk in here.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And hopefully the way we live our faith, you can find, yeah, there's a place I can live my faith as well.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Faith is not contained.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Christon Arthur: And I think too many times, we put restrictions on it. Whether it's God or faith... And expand it. Early in my college life I read a book, very small but powerful book that helped changed my thinking. Your God is too small. And for too many of us, we've restricted God into this very small being. A God I can wrap my mind around because he's not convenient.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: I've made God convenient.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: That's not it.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Christon Arthur: That's not it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Love it. All right, Christon, where do want to go? That was 95.

Christon Arthur: So let's do on my 87.

Japhet De Oliveira: 87. All right. 87, it is. And here it is. When you're under incredible stress, what helps to ground you?

Christon Arthur: Stress happens often.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: What grounds me is I'm capable.

Japhet De Oliveira: A belief?

Christon Arthur: A belief, I'm capable. And because stress happens so often, I don't have to go very far back in my experience to find a moment where I say yeah, I'm capable. So it's that belief and part of it my orientation. I am optimistic.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Maybe sometimes too much of an optimist but I'm optimistic.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: So I'm capable and then I think about optimism.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Where do I go from here? What do I do with this? What has this or what is this prepared me for that's next?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: That optimism.

Japhet De Oliveira: Is this something you were born with or something you've grown into or where did this come from?

Christon Arthur: Probably something I've grown into. Probably as part of my closeness to my mom. My mom I think was... I've never-

Japhet De Oliveira: Is your mom still with you?

Christon Arthur: No, my mom died a few years ago.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, I'm sorry to see that. Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Thank you. My mom had every reason, life was difficult. Circumstances were there to cause her to be depressed or despondent.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Never saw my mom despondent.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Christon Arthur: There was never a day when mom wasn't singing.

Japhet De Oliveira: Uh-huh. That's good.

Christon Arthur: I have a taste for music but I didn't get her gift of singing. There was never a day my mom wasn't singing.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's beautiful. That's a great memory.

Christon Arthur: Optimism. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. And so you live into that?

Christon Arthur: I live into that.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. I like that. Christon, it's been a privilege to be able to talk to you. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for being so vulnerable and open as well.

Christon Arthur: It's my pleasure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And just I want to add to whoever there is listening to this podcast, whatever time of day during your commute, the evening, trying to unwind, probably that's my group because I listen to my podcast when I'm trying to unwind.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Declutter my mind. As you listen to this, one take away, difficulty is not a bad thing. Adversity is not all bad. Adversity help us to understand in a deep sense who we are or inner strength.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: That's when our inner strength begin to emerge, be revealed-

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: We even surprised ourselves. "I didn't quite know I was capable of all of that inner strength." Not every difficulty deserves that depth of inner strength. Don't waste it, don't give it to everything. Find a moment when that requires a deep sense of resolve. That requires me to do a deep search as to who I am here. That requires something, some depth in response. And then when we do that, we'll surprise ourselves that I wasn't totally convinced until this moment I was capable of all of that. I am here last year and a week and a half ago after our board meeting, there's a tradition that we do a board briefing.

Japhet De Oliveira: Mm-hmm.

Christon Arthur: So I had my first board briefing-

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Christon Arthur: ... as La Sierra University president.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: For those who gathered this fear of failure and so, probably I was talking to myself and it came out in their presence because small liberal arts, faith-based universities like us, they're struggling.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: Enrollment struggle.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: The financial struggle. It's a relevance question.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Are you still relevant? Are you still needed? And sometimes those who are on the outside of the camp thinking, "This is a postmodern generation, are you relevant for this 21st century postmodern culture?"

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I think the answer is it's only yes, it's a relevance that we bring. But it is hard because people are asking students, young people and their parents, what's the value? It's a big investment. What's the value added?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: What am I getting from all of this. So over the summer, on average, we had two small, like we are, universities, colleges closing per month. One every other week.

Japhet De Oliveira: Mm-hmm.

Christon Arthur: And as we entered into fall '24, the number increased. Now on average, one per week. One college close every week.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. It's frightening.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Can we survive this? And so this fear of failure is baked in. So there was at a board briefing and I said to the group that was gathered there, I didn't live Michigan. Up with my family. Halfway across the country, get up on the Rockies to the other side where life really happens so I can fail. So I looked them in the eyes and said, "I will not fail. La Sierra will not fail." Because part of that-

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Part of that is maybe me trying to convince myself because the fail failure is still there, part of baked in but also knowing that it's a first black guy that I've been entrusted to lead part of the leadership team for this university.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And if you're part of the ethnic minority, racial minority, gender minority, maybe some within or listen audience or the LGBTQ plus community.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Once you're given a shot, it's not just your shot.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: It's a generational shot-

Japhet De Oliveira: It carry others.

Christon Arthur: You get to carry others.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Right. And that raises the bar.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: That heightens the stake. You could think of that and say, "That's not fair. That stake is too high, the bar is raised too high. That's not fair." Or you could go deep within yourself and say, "Yeah, but probably this is my moment."

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: What is a moment to make a statement? That's what we are capable of.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Christon Arthur: That's what given the moment, have the right people around. You have a team that believes in the cause that you also a believer in.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: And once we've convinced ourselves and we have convinced ourselves that La Sierra is a cause worth being a part of.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Christon Arthur: La Sierra is a cause that's worth its legacy. I've got to step up.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: I've got to step up.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: This one calls for, you've saved your deep result for a moment like this.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's when you call on this-

Christon Arthur: That's when you call on it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: Resolve, I've saved you for this moment.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. This is-

Christon Arthur: I'm-

Japhet De Oliveira: ... new beginning. It's a legacy moment.

Christon Arthur: A legacy moment.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Historical. That's good.

Christon Arthur: Historical moment.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Christon Arthur: And you provide the best that you can with the help of others, help of God knowing that, yeah. I've just made it one degree easier. Not much. Maybe half a degree easier for the next person.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Christon Arthur: That's the moment.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. Christon, thank you so much for your candor, your vulnerability, your honesty. And I want to encourage people to do the same thing.

Christon Arthur: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sit down with a friend, ask them good questions. We learn about them and we are changed.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: We're changed for the better.

Christon Arthur: Changed for the better.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Absolutely.

Christon Arthur: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: God bless you.

Christon Arthur: I appreciate you.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, absolutely. God bless you.

Christon Arthur: Thank you so much.

Japhet De Oliveira: God Bless all our listeners and we'll connect again soon.

Christon Arthur: Thank you.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for the Story and Experience podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at eventushealth.org/story. The Story and Experience podcast was brought to you by Eventus Health through the Office of Culture.