By Marcus McCormic, Staff Writer
In the spring of 2022, Bryan Powell graduated from The Master’s University with a bachelor’s degree in cell and molecular biology. The transition into the working world was not an easy one, but it taught Powell several lessons about how to deal with the change, and those lessons are presently applicable to this year’s graduating class and the ones to follow it.
“My freshman year at TMU, one of the speakers in chapel made a joke about how every senior’s least favorite question is, ‘so what are you going to do after graduation?’ I laughed it off at the time, but then I got to my senior year and realized he was totally right.
“I’ve known a lot of different types of seniors during my time at TMU. Some seniors had a very clear plan of what they wanted to do and others had absolutely no clue,” Powell said. He fell into the latter category, struggling to figure out what exactly he wanted to do before, during and after he walked across the stage to receive his diploma.
In his first few years at TMU, Powell had desired to do biomedical engineering, but over the course of his time, he found that his interest in the subject and career was waning. By the time he graduated, he was stuck trying to figure out what to do with his degree that he spent four years acquiring and didn’t have a passion to put into action.
“When I got out, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so the thing that I found most helpful is, if you don’t know exactly what to do after graduation, just start doing something. Don’t just keep waiting and waiting and waiting for the perfect opportunity,” Powell said.
His immediate steps after graduation led him to work inventory at a testing facility lab, where he realized that the work being done there was not what interested him.
“I worked there for about a year while I figured out what I wanted to do long term and I realized that I didn’t want to work in biology for the rest of my life,” Powell said. During his time working at the lab, he found he was consistently asked by people at his church and in his family whether or not he considered doing ministry.
Looking back on his life, Powell saw that there were signs that ministry was likely the direction he was supposed to be heading this whole time.
“I’ve enjoyed teaching, I had a high school Bible study… I loved digging into it, and when I was at TMU, the things that my mom and dad were pointing out and saying was that when I was talking about my classes, I didn’t seem invested.
“What I really seemed invested in and spent the most time talking about was the ministry that I was doing as a Resident Assistant… I got similar information from one of the elders at my church who had seen me teach in Sunday school,” Powell said.
Through his own self reflection and the guidance of the people he trusts in his life, Powell went on to pursue further education at The Master’s Seminary. This decision made him qualified to become an adjunct professor at TMU for the 2023-24 school year and put his bachelor’s degree to use.
Looking back on the path that he’s followed to be in his current position, Powell has noted that the guidance of people he trusts has led him to where he is now.
“If I didn’t have other people in my life, I don’t know what I would do with myself. There’s so much wisdom to get from people who are older than you, who’ve gone through more than you.
“The curse of youth is to think that you understand the world so well and that you can just freely disregard other people’s advice. I’ve suffered from that… from not being humble enough to listen to the advice of others,” Powell said.
Learning from this, Powell came to develop the conviction that it’s best to have “two or three people you can talk to” who are usually older and have more experience in life. Now being two years more experienced than when he was graduating, Powell has taken on the advice of many of his mentors and trusted friends to develop his own philosophy on how to move forward in his post-graduation life.
“Trust God with your plans, hold your plans with an open hand, and keep moving forward. Don’t be so inflexible that having your plans changed cripples you,” Powell said. He went on to cite Proverbs 16:9 as his guiding verse, which says, “The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.”
Though only two years out of college, Powell’s journey can serve as a reminder for this year’s graduating class that the steps immediately following graduation won’t determine the rest of life, but rather are the beginning to a story where any outcome is possible because God is in control.
The TMU Mane 