Look Who it Was Random video

The Journey: Peter Swanson

1,178 views · Published 29 September 2010 · 3:20 · Indexed 3 October 2026

Channel: Biola University · 2010 · Education

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Peter Swanson applied for Biola University on a whim. When he was accepted into Biola and his dream school, he expected to accept the invitation from the latter. However, God did something he has done many times in Peter's life - he interrupted his plans.

"God started to really change my heart," said Peter. "I knew I was going to end up at Biola."

The genuine conversations Peter had during a campus visit allowed him to experience a Christ-centered community in a way he had only seen on mission trips, he said. It's a community Peter is holding tight to now on campus as a freshman.

"I think Biola is a pretty unique place," said Peter. "It's really encouraging to me to see that it wasn't a hopeless dream to think that there is something more to my relationship with God, community and the church operating as a body."

Two weeks prior to arriving at Biola, Peter decided to switch majors to Biblical studies. Once again, God had interrupted his plans, he said. Last summer was the third he had spent doing mission work in another country with his high school. He had fallen in love with Swaziland the first two summers and planned to go again this past summer without a team.

"It was cool to feel like I had made an impact there [Swaziland] in more than my stump of Connecticut," said Peter. "It looked like we were going to be able to go back, then God threw me onto the Haiti team last minute."

Reluctantly, he gave up the idea of going to Swaziland and then joined a team going to Haiti after the team leader Shawn Haggerty, who became a mentor to Peter, called and asked him to fill an open spot. It was a time during which God plucked Peter out and showed him not only how much he loved him, but how much he needed a team, he said.

During the trip, he was asked by Haggerty to preach, something he felt Peter had been gifted to do. Peter felt that God confirmed some of that during the time he spoke in Haiti prompting him to pursue a major in Biblical studies.

Although Peter is unsure of how he will be involved in ministry, he knows God is calling him to the church, he said. He would like to help Christians grow in their faith - beyond just attending church or professing belief in God.

"If the church is supposed to be a vehicle for changing the world and I'm dissatisfied with it," said Peter, "then I have either the option of leaving it as it is or changing what I feel is wrong with it. There's people out there doing that. I want to be part of that movement."

Excited for the next four years, he looks at his Biola education as not simply a means to an end. He wants to grow and develop relationships while here that will further his impact for Christ when he graduates, he said.

"I really want to take away growth from these four years," he said. "I want to come out of here with strong friendships, my relationship with God, above all else, stronger and my mind stretched."

Learn more at http://www.biola.edu/news/feature/freshman-journey/peter/

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