“The first time I had ever been on campus was Feb. 9, 2014,” Dr. Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver said while thinking back to the season of receiving a pull from the Lord to come to Union University and serve as Union’s 16th President.
“If the Lord is calling you there, what difference does it make what it looks like?” he said after many people talked about how crazy it was that Dub had never been on campus during the interview process.
Dub sits with his hand on a can of diet Dr. Pepper, twisting it absentmindedly, deep in thought. If that moment were a movie, the camera would have zoomed in to capture his intent expression. The lighting of the room and his signature bowtie perfectly in place.
“Looking back causes you to reflect, then causes you to think forward,” Dub said. “The last five years have been incredibly sweet, incredibly fulfilling, incredibly encouraging.”
In May 2013, Dub received an email from Union’s 15th President, Dr. David Dockery, saying that he was resigning and that Dub should consider applying for the position.
“So, I read it,” Dub said. “I was like that’s nice, and I hit delete.”
He laughs thinking back on that moment, sitting in his office at East Texas Baptist University, but the Lord was persistent and Union University continued to come to Dub’s mind.
Susie Oliver thinks back to their days in Texas when, during Union’s search for a new president, the head of the search committee joined her and Dub for dinner.
“They were describing what they wanted in a president,” Susie said. “And I was like, that sounds like Dub.”
One of the reasons the decision was so hard for Dub was because while serving as president of East Texas Baptist University, Dub had been able to see the blessings that the Lord had given that university, and he wanted to stay and sit in those blessings.
He talks about how he finally took the time to pray about the decision and the Lord said to him, “Would you rather rest in your work, or live in My will?” That is when Dub knew that he was being called to Union.
Since the Board of Trustees elected Dub to be Union’s 16th President 5 years ago on Feb. 10, 2014, he and Susie have had a huge impact on campus. They continue to look forward to what the next years will bring and still reflect back on what the Lord brought them from.
The campus has a unique way of creating community, and the Olivers have been able to establish community inside and outside of Union.
“Personally, Union’s been different than East Texas for me,” Susie said.
Students know the impact that the Olivers have had on campus. They celebrate the Christmas holiday in McAfee together, Susie leads the cheer team and Dub has led trips with students to Israel. They have become the leaders of the Union community. They have been examples of what it means to love and live in Christ.
Union is unique.
“Its Christ-centered mission isn’t in name only; it’s embodied and lived out on campus,” Dub said. “Union attracts students who desire that. I don’t want to set it out as perfect. It’s not perfect. I’m not under any delusions that it is, but its pursuit is about being Christ-centered.”
For many students, Union University becomes home for four years of their lives. For the Olivers, coming to Union was leaving a place they had called “home” for seventeen years.
Susie was not sure what to expect, but she said, “When we came to Union, it just felt like home.”
Photo by Campbell Padgett
