Biola partnered with the Together LA conference in an effort to reconnect with Los Angeles. This reconnection is a step towards the overall initiative for city engagement to bring Biola back to its roots and move beyond campus to broaden perspective, said Brian Miller, interim vice president for university communications and marketing.

Redeemer Presbyterian Church pastor, Timothy Keller, will lead the conference of workshops, networking sessions and speakers for pastors and church leaders to learn how to better serve Los Angeles Feb. 26-28 at West Angeles Church. The theme of this event resonates with Biola’s goal to reconnect with the city and prompted administration to contact the Together LA staff to become involved.

“When Biola heard about this, several of us reached out to their planning team and asked,  ‘How can we help? This is close to our heart too and we want to be able to engage with you and help in any way we can,’” said Brian Miller, interim vice president for university communications and marketing.

STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES

Students can purchase tickets for Together LA on the registration website. Even if students do not attend the conference, they have a few possible opportunities to get involved, Miller said.

Biola will host a film competition open to all students to produce a two to three minute video that answers the question of how Biola loves Los Angeles. There will be a cash prize and the winning video will be aired at the conference. Students will start to see promotions for this opportunity starting mid-October with posters and Twitter posts, Miller said.

A service project open for student involvement in Los Angeles will make a second opportunity available. However, this project remains in the planning stages, Miller said.

“We’re looking for ways to make connections, to build relationships,” Miller said.

UNIVERSITY INVOLVEMENT

Together LA presents a step forward in the campus’ goal to make an intentional effort to engage with the city said David Nystrom, provost and senior vice president. The school plans to take advantage of the faculty, staff, students and campus programs that already connect to the Los Angeles area, said Nystrom.

“To say, ‘Here are the gifts that God has given us, can they be of use to you and what you are trying to do,’ that helps us understand the city from the city’s perspective,” Nystrom said.

Another connection exists with the Multi-Ethnic Leadership Advisory Committee, a committee of around 25 pastors from the Los Angeles area, which recently made a goal to partner with Biola and find ways to engage the university with the city of Los Angeles.

Together LA may feature several Biola faculty members as speakers at this event. Additionally, Biola continues with RED talks, inspired by TED talks. RED talks are taking steps towards city engagement as faculty will give mini lectures in different settings around Los Angeles, Miller said.

Biola plans to host a live stream of the event that includes Biola commercials as an investment in future business connections, Miller said.

The university’s aim is to make connections in the city that will enrich curriculum, Nystrom said. Several opportunities lie in making such connections, including ministry, internships and relationship building for life after Biola.

“This is an opportunity for all of us to live unto the promise of what Christian community is supposed to be,” Nystrom said.

Biola’s connections extend to organizations such as the Dream Center Foundation and the Fred Jordan Missions in skid row, Nystrom said.

The timing of the conference also falls on a significant date in Biola’s history, the university’s 107th birthday.

“When we think about our birthday, we think about our heritage and we think about Los Angeles,” Miller said.

PART OF A BIGGER GOAL

Together LA is a step in the bigger campus goal of making a greater effort to engage with the city. Many faculty, staff, students, and campus programs are already connected to Los Angeles, and the school is going to take even further advantage of these connections, according to David Nystrom, provost and senior vice president.

Nystrom explained three goals in this return to the city. The first is to fulfill the desire for members of the campus to fully live as a Christian community in one body by connecting with organizations in the city that hold the same foundation but present different experiences, said Nystrom.

“First of all, I think there’s a desire to live into the New Testament vision of the Christian community as a body where we exist in a relationship of mutual interdependence,” said Nystrom.

The second goal is to first, grow as a school by widening our perspective and second, bless the city’s Christian community with the resources that Biola already holds.