Students Encouraged to Find Their Calling in Christ During Convocation
Posted on: August 28, 2026
Tigerville, SC—North Greenville University students were challenged to align their academic pursuits and lives to God’s call during the university’s Convocation ceremony Monday morning in Turner Chapel.
Convocation serves as the official start to the academic year, a bookend to the commencement that will take place in the spring of 2027.
“Convocation is a time of welcome and encouragement,” said NGU Provost Jan Foster, as she welcomed students, faculty, and staff. “It is here, at the start of the semester, that we remind each other why we are here and who we are as a community of believers.”
NGU President Dr. Gene C. Fant, Jr. delivered the Convocation address, highlighting the second of NGU’s 4C’s: calling.
“We believe that when we have community that has our backs and a calling that comes from God, we will have the courage to live with boldness and that courage will overflow into compassion for our communities,” President Fant stated in his remarks, reading from the books of Genesis and 1 Peter.
President Fant encouraged students to take a step back from planning their goals and ask some different questions.
“’What will you do?’ is actually not that helpful of a question,” he said. “You will do a great many things and you see God weave together the different experiences that you have. The better question is ‘Who will you be?’ Our calling is rooting in our identity. What we do is an overflow of who we are, and calling is about how we live from the time we get out of bed in the morning to the time we return to it at night.”
Noting that God has a plan for each of our lives, President Fant emphasized the importance of each person’s calling.
“The concept of calling is rooting in the reality that someone calls us. We are responding to a calling that comes from a divine caller,” Fant said. “God loves us and has a plan for us. Our highest is to follow him and repent—to change our sinful habits and become Christ followers. But we are called to even more than that.”
President Fant said that although some will be called to occupations and careers that are more visible, others are called to a quiet life of faithfulness, transforming their workplace and communities as leaders who work for the glory of God.
“God is the Lord of the heart, mind, soul, and strength,” he said. “Calling is a platform for all of life and is not limited to scale or prominence. Calling is about who you are, but more importantly, it’s about whose you are.”
“God does not call you to be famous; He calls you to make His name famous,” he continued. “He does not call you to do great things; He calls you to be faithful in small things. He does not call you to be an influencer; He calls you to be holy. He calls you to align your life with His will.”
