Spotlight on Brent Davis, PhD
By Brent Davis
As I noted in ‘Around AUHS’ my colleagues have prevailed upon me to say a few words about myself. I am a California native and an only child. My father is a retired jail chaplain, and my mother is with the Lord. At an early age, I learned that I was a sinner and needed a savior. This was brought home to me when one of my friends convinced me to steal some money from the offering when I was about four or five.
One of my favorite hobbies is reading. I read many different books as a child, but one in particular made an impact on me (besides the Bible, of course): Voice Under Every Palm. It is the history of radio station ELWA and after I read it, I believed God was calling me to be a missionary, specifically to work in a missionary radio station like ELWA. To that end, I studied electronics in high school and worked in the school radio station. However, in my senior year, my counselor advised me to think about something in English. You see, I had just gotten the highest verbal score on the SAT in the high school while my mathematics score was merely respectable.
To make a long story short, I eventually got an MA in Applied Linguistics, married a beautiful young lady from Taiwan who also had a call to missions and went to Central Asia as missionary for 23 years where I taught English and worked on translation. We also had three children who are now grown up and five grandchildren.
I came to AUHS to teach English as a Second Language because of the opportunity to bring Christian values into the curriculum. Since then, I have become part of the campus ministry and part of the planning for a new university focused on training people to minister to the homeless.
In the future, after getting the new university off to a good start, I plan to travel with my wife and spend more time with our grandchildren. So, now you know a bit more about me. I am thankful for the opportunities to impact the lives of students and build a better world to the glory of God.