By Cheri Stutzman | Echo
Former English Hall Director Julia Hurlow has taken a new role as Director of Discipleship and is full of vision and passion for the coming year.
As Director of Discipleship, Hurlow will primarily be working with Discipleship Assistants (DAs) and Assistant Hall Directors as she oversees discipleship on campus. She will also be heading up Sexuality and the Body week and Title IX programming.
Her vision for coming years is to have more Title IX education here on campus, including education on what Title IX situations look like. She desires to get campus engaged in hard conversations related to these topics.
"Breaking down barriers would be my bottom line," Hurlow said. "(I'm) helping to educate, break down barriers as well as help people have maybe a broader understanding of what it looks like."
Hurlow would also like to create opportunities for students to go on retreats that will focus on spiritual disciplines. She hopes to set up a spring break trip where students could go to a monastery or a silent retreat center and look at spiritual disciplines such as silence and solitude.
Hurlow has her Doctorate of Ministries in Semiotics and Future Studies and has been working within discipleship programs ever since being an undergraduate student at Indiana Wesleyan University.
Jesse Brown, dean of students and Title IX coordinator, is excited to get have Hurlow on his team and get her opinion and input on Sexuality and the Body and Title IX programing.
Brown said Hurlow was a good candidate for the position not just because of her education and experience but also because of her passion for discipleship.
Sophomore Taylor Williams, who is a DA for Third Center English this year, was sad when she heard Hurlow left English Hall but excited for what Hurlow will do in this new position.
"I got an email this summer just saying that she . . . was moving up to Director of Discipleship," Williams said. "And I got really excited because I had seen just the way that she related to people and the way that she loves people so well. It just really exemplifies Christ in all that she does, so I'm excited to see how that carries on throughout campus rather than just English Hall."
Hurlow enjoyed her time as a hall director both in English Hall and before she got to Taylor, but she's excited for this new opportunity she's been given. It gives her the chance to focus on what she loves: talking to people about what is happening with their faith and their identity.
Hurlow is planning on putting her effort into helping students grow in discipleship and into seeing barriers surrounding difficult topics broken down.
"I always say that grass is greener where you water it," Hurlow said. "And so, I feel really committed to wanting to water grass here at Taylor . . . I want to spend my energy and time, helping and being part of the community here at Taylor and helping discipleship."
