Building upon last year’s theme of “Know God,” our university family has been admonished to “Reflect God” during this academic year. As our president Stephen Jones explained, knowing God naturally leads to reflecting God — imitating his character.

As the Collegian staff, we are committed to reflecting God through our weekly publication. The content that fills these pages should reflect the character of our Lord, and we will strive to ensure that each article, design and photograph reveals the holiness and creativity of God.

Today’s media frequently reflect dark, immoral and godless ideas and lifestyles. Christianity is the minority, and God is scoffed at and mocked. Christians are hard-pressed to safely navigate through the images and worldviews of newspapers, magazines, news broadcasts and online sites.

Therefore, The Collegian exists not only to inform students, faculty and staff and alumni, but also to shine as a light in a dark world of media. Our light will shine by reflecting God through the pages of our paper.

With edifying words and unifying themes, our goal is to share how God is working on and through the university’s campus. Our readers can trust The Collegian to produce a quality paper that shares news and photographs, involves students, and glorifies our Savior.

To achieve this goal, we will write about events and students to edify the body of Christ. We will include photos to share the experiences of our university family. We will also seek to use social media to encourage and unify those on campus and those around the world.

As a staff, we have chosen Matthew 5:16 as our theme verse for the year. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

The light of our paper should shine forth in such a bright way that it leads others to the Great Light.

Our staff is dedicated to growing closer to God so that we can reflect Him and stand out in a lost world of media.