Earlier this semester, the campus ministry department announced that Steve Davidson would be filling in the role of becoming one of Lipscomb’s new campus ministers.
While he’s new to the position, Davidson, a husband, father of two and grandfather of two, is no stranger to campus.
Davidson was recruited coming out of high school to play basketball for the university under legendary coach Don Meyer. After his time as an undergrad, Coach Meyer helped Davidson find two jobs with Lipscomb.
“When I was finishing up, Coach Don Meyer, who I played under, asked me to stay, and he was able to work out a deal as far as me working in admissions as an admissions counselor representing the school, but also working as an assistant basketball coach,” Davidson said.
For Davidson, this was only a two-year plan. He planned to leave Lipscomb after graduate school, but the education major and graduate student ended up taking on the role of assistant director of admissions. A year later, Davidson became the campus’ director of admissions – a title he would hold for 13 years.
Davidson used some of Coach Meyer’s organizational lessons to help him succeed in the work.
“Coach Meyer was a very organized person and loved to teach on organization, so that helped me a lot as far as being an administrator in the admissions office,” Davidson said.
During his time as the director of admissions, the university saw, as Davidson put it, up and down years. Through the challenges that came with the job, Davidson admits he greatly enjoyed in the opportunity.
“I really loved the job,” Davidson said. “I learned a whole bunch.”
During this time, the director of admissions set up many campus-wide events, one of those being the IMPACT summer camp, which still finds success today. Davidson described the event as “a church camp on steroids.”
Just last summer, IMPACT drew over 3,000 campers to campus to participate in the event.
Davidson said that a bi-product of the event includes the fact that nearly 10-25% of an upcoming freshman class can claim to have attended IMPACT before their time at Lipscomb.
Another monumental number that Davidson relayed was that through the 21 years that the camp has been in service, over 1,000 students have been baptized (and many more have been positively affected).
Through the success of IMPACT and other programs, the spiritual outreach came into fruition. Davidson merged from admissions to taking over the campus’ spiritual outreach – a job Davidson has served for 19 years.
While Davidson will still serve this role, he will also be taking on a new opportunity in becoming one of campus’ newest ministers.
Davidson hopes that he can take his game plan for IMPACT and translate it over to the campus.
“As far as my desire with what I’m doing with campus ministry, it’s pretty much the same theme we have for IMPACT – make an impact on teens lives so they can make an impact on this world for Christ.”
Davidson also hopes to help foster the relationship between students and their peers, whether it’s with fellow students or faculty and staff members. He noted The Joshua Project, the Gathering and Breakout Chapels as different outlets to promote this idea.
Davidson also expressed his excitement to be working with the other campus ministers, Keela Smith, Caroline Morris and Jake Burton. He hopes to bring his experience with spiritual development and administration to benefit the program and its fellow ministers.
Davidson is stepping into the role after the departure of Jason Parker last December. In regards to Parker’s departure, Davidson said that Parker felt that God was calling him to a new ministry.
Dubbed the ‘big dog’ by Dr. Scott McDowell, Davidson will now play an even bigger role in campus’ spiritual life. He hopes that his experience being on campus can help influence others to potentially take the same journey he began as a student-athlete.
“I knew [Lipscomb] was a Christian school, but I didn’t really know what that meant,” Davidson said. “I came for basketball, but through relationships, I realized, ‘Wow, there’s something more to it – something missing in me personally,’ and began my pursuit of seeking out God and seeking His face.”