Clint and Vickie Bryan, Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma
In the fall of 1979, Clint Bryan left home to attend the University of Arkansas. As a freshman who would live away from home for the first time, he did not know what to expect, as he was the first in his family to go off to college and, ultimately, get a degree. The dormitory in which he lived housed more people than lived in his hometown; yet, he felt alone in a crowd. There were keg parties in the dorm and guys getting sick all over building; the culture shock was immense as his hometown was in a dry township and his family practiced a holiness lifestyle. His work-study job was in the Chemistry Library. This position afforded Clint an opportunity to become acquainted with Mary Stokes, the faculty advisor for XA at UA.
At the end of the sixth week of classes, Clint decided to drop out of college, as his grades were sad. Before emptying his dorm room into his car to go home for the weekend and not come back, he went to Mary Stokes’ small group. He had been invited a couple of weeks before, but had not gone yet. He also attended Mary’s church, First Assembly of God, on Sunday. She began to encourage him to attend the XA main group. He worked evenings so was not able to attend as often as he liked. Clint said, “Mary’s small group had the bigger influence on me. She would check on me during the week and would walk me over to the prayer room in the Chi Alpha House when I was dealing with questions or anxiety.” In his junior year, Mary asked him to co-lead her small group.
Upon completing his undergraduate degree at UA, he and his wife, Vickie, went to graduate school at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and he earned an MS degree in chemistry. There was no XA ministry at KU. Mary encouraged them to charter XA at KU and lead it. They spent the next three years as a student leader while in graduate school. During this time of student leadership, Mary served as a long-distance mentor by checking on them and the ministry. She would listen to their testimonies, prayer requests, and give them input on the ministry. When they returned to Arkansas during intercession breaks they made sure to visit with Mary. It was during that first semester in graduate school that the Bryans received a divine revelation of their purpose—”we would pursue working with undergraduates.”
Clint earned his PhD at the University of Arkansas in chemistry and accepted a chemistry instructor position at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1988. The campus had a XA ministry, so they got involved. In 1994, the student leadership asked Clint to become the XA faculty advisor. Since then, Clint and Vickie have led the main worship meeting, led small groups, driven students to retreats, SALT and RUI, delivered groceries to the dorm during holidays, and hosted up to forty-two students at their home for Thanksgiving. Clint said, “It has been important to me to get students where they want to get. Just as Mary did for me, I wanted to stand in the gap for my students.”
There’s More
Did you know national XA has an alumni association e-letter? In their October 2021 issue they featured another Professor and Chair of the Chemistry Department, Timothy E. Glass. Timothy graduated from Stanford U where he was active in XA before landing his assignments at the University of Missouri. He serves as faculty advisor for XA and has spoken at Mizzou XA.
More on his story:
https://xaalumni.com/2021/10/alumn i-in-the-marketplace-spotlight-timothy-e-glass/
