CIU Today Fall 2017

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Answering a Phone Call and God’s Call:
Meet the 2017 McQuilkin Scholarship Winner
By Bob Holmes
Sometimes Erin Gobbi doesn’t answer her mobile phone
when the incoming call reads “Unknown.” But one day last
February, she decided to answer. She’s glad she did. The caller
was Dr. Bill Jones, who was then the president of Columbia
International University.
“I just sat there. ‘Is this what I think it is?’” Erin said to herself.
It was.
Jones congratulated Erin of
Lexington, South Carolina on
being named the winner of the
12th Annual R.C. McQuilkin
Scholarship Event. She is now a
CIU freshman with a full-tuition scholarship.
“I just cried,” Erin said. “In that moment, when you see how
God provides for you, it’s just incredible.”
The 2017 R.C. McQuilkin Scholarship Event included 37
qualifying students from eight states. They were judged as
they took part in intense interview sessions, social scenarios
and fun group activities, which included detective work as they
interacted with current CIU students in a live version of the
board game Clue.
“I think everyone has a moment in their life when they feel they
belong. And for me that’s CIU,” Erin said regarding the two-day
McQuilkin Event. “Being at the place that I know I am called to,
was very heartwarming. I got to meet professors who were so
open to talking to me. That was really welcoming and great.”
Erin was introduced to CIU during her freshman year in high
school through her former youth minister Travis McLeod, a 2008
CIU graduate. She then began researching the school.
“Everyone I talked to about CIU
was amazed at how incredible it
is,” Erin said. “Every time I heard
someone talk about it, it was all
positive things.”
It was also McLeod who led Erin to Christ at a youth group
summer camp when she was in middle school, an event that
has led her to choose CIU’s Youth Ministry, Family & Culture
program as her major.
“Having that person who was there to talk to – to lean on, that
I could trust, that helped teach me about Christ, and what it
means to be a Christian – was so important to me,” Erin said.
“I want to be that person for other people.”
For information on the 2018 McQuilkin Scholarship competition
contact the CIU Admissions Office at (800) 777-2227 or
“Everyone I talked to about CIU was
amazed at how incredible it is.”
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