by David Melton
Early on Wednesday morning of the recent BBF meeting in Canton, I had an appointment — at a truck stop! I was meeting the bus of Boston students as they headed back to our campus after performing a drama on the ministry of Adoniram Judson entitled “Devoted.” I got up and met them at the truck stop to throw my suitcase in with them (that’s a $30 bag fee saved!). But I really wanted to personally tell our students thank you. That morning I stuck my head in the door of the bus, while the 18-wheelers roared engines all around us, and thanked them for how hard they worked, how great they did, for making my job so good, and for showing what Boston-quality heart and skill is.
The truth is that Boston students not only acted, and sang, and set up props, and worked hard, and made a pretty long bus trip. They also taught. They taught me. That dawned on me as the bus pulled away from that truck stop with about 35 of the best young people you ever saw. I didn’t think fast enough to say it then, so I’m saying it now.
The whole project, from Pastor Mike Frazier’s gracious invitation, to our faculty, to the amazing team at CBT (John McCaw and Robert Hagy and all the gang were incredible!), to Pastor Tim Taylor and Victory Baptist in Vergennes who loaned us their shuttle bus, to Dan and Tim for literally going the extra mile … the whole experience was such a fun, energizing, inspiring team effort. I could say so much about them all. But since I have only a few lines, I will just thank the students for what they taught me as they recreated the lives of the Judsons and their missionary saga.
Students, you taught me once again that so much more is possible than we usually imagine. We couldn’t even tackle the idea until students returned for the fall and the performance was September 18! I privately agonized over my desire for the Judson story to be told, and for our students to have that opportunity — I was horrified that I was asking too much. Thanks students. You taught me that committed young people can do amazing things.
Students, you taught me with your creativity. Actors, set designers, costume designers, stage crew with creative strategies to move the scenes along (“men in black”), all contributed to “Devoted: The Judson Story.” All across our campus as the preparations intensified you could feel the energies swell. Boston students taught me to never sell them short! They took the Judson story and owned it. Nowhere was that more evident than the original score, written by Boston students in a music composition class with Professor Jason Cross. I thought it would just be cool if they wrote an instrumental score. Then I heard they were going to write lyrics, too! Then, Jason popped into my office with this chirpy grin and said, “You need to hear this.” He read me the lyrics our students had written, drawn from the long-neglected journal remnants of Adoniram Judson …“ I will plant the cross. Lord, now send the rain!”* Neither of us said anything. Just couldn’t. We knew we had been schooled.
After the Tuesday night in Canton I was wandering around backstage high-fiving and fist-bumping everybody I saw. I was proud of Boston, proud to say with all of them that “I am Boston,” proud to work hard for these young people. But what I know now is that I was better educated, too. Our students had taught me again how much history matters, how inspired we can be from one another, how much fun you can have while you work incredibly hard. Around the corner, backstage, came one of our students, Jacqui. With hesitation she asked, “Did we do okay?” “Nope,” I replied momentarily masking my joy. “You didn’t do okay, you hit it out of the park, Jacqui!”
Make that, Professor Jacqui.
*Incidentally, if you would like to hear “I Will Plant the Cross” or have a free copy of the music as written and performed by our students, just go to boston.edu/devoted