“This group was one of the bigger highlights of my time in college.”
– Big-X
United States Marine Corps.
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
Marine Aviation Training Support Group-21
Navel Air Training Command
211 Farrar Road
Pensacola, Florida 32508
1000
MOC
11 May 21
From: 2ndLt Inman, Jordan S. “Big X”, Former Alpha Group Member
To: WPD Ring Leader, Dr. M.
Subj: WHOLE PERSON DEVELOPMENT
- Whole Person Development. I really had no clue what I was walking into my first time. Very quickly I learned it was more than a mentorship group that hung out on Thursday nights. It was a family. The men in this group were more than friends, teammates, and classmates. We became brothers, and WPD gave us the space to challenge and build that relationship. It was a group built on the framework of holistic development. Spoke of with the four wheels of a car analogy. Weekly, we would discuss the alignment and balance of the wheels of our figurative car. Each wheel being a pillar on which our lives were affected by.
- This group, overtime, became the highlight of my week. It did not matter if we had a set topic of discussion or a challenging conversation; it could have simply been a night where we ate tacos from Taco Bell and enjoyed community. There would be nights some of us would cry because of things we were struggling with in our respective lives. Then there would be nights that we would cry because we were just laughing too hard. I cannot dive into detail, as we had a code for the most part. What happens there, stays there. So you can imagine some of the funny things that may occur in a room of college guys. Dr. M made sure we did not get to out of hand. It gave each man in the group an opportunity to be challenged in leadership, which I believe is crucial when thinking of our world today and how we can leave our influence out there. Influence. We always talked about this. Influence and leadership. You can have influence without leadership, but you cannot have leadership without influence. As “Image-bearers”, we are always influencing and being influenced. Good and bad. We talked about how this role we inherit affects those around us and how we can leverage this for the good of the Kingdom. We are always thinking. Always feeling. Always influencing.
- This group allowed us to develop and grow our character. It allowed us to talk through problems in our lives. WPD gave us an outlet. I would go as far to say that it kept us out of trouble. “Redeem Thursday Nights” was a tag of Dr. M’s. Thursday night was college night at the bars and clubs in Springfield. This group kept us here. It kept us honest and true to our values as believers and as men. Most of us started the group our sophomore or junior year of school. Over the course of three years, we saw some go who could not get behind the ideals and were stuck in immature ways, but to those of us who stayed, we grew. We became better, more mature men who I would choose to believe, will go out and make some major waves in the world. Men who will lead communities and people for good. Men who will lead their families the way God desires for us to. Men who will act as a barrier between right and wrong, always being that influence for good.
- This group was one of the bigger highlights of my time in college. Dr. M, to this day, is someone I deeply respect and admire. His leadership and guidance to those of us in the group will be a lasting mark on why we are who we are today. I looked forward to Thursday night almost as much as I looked forward to Sunday mornings. The community and brotherhood I found in WPD is not something that is found easily. Young men in today’s world need community like this. Community and leadership from someone with far more experience than them. This group undoubtedly has made each of us better, and for myself, provided me with an example of how I want to lead individuals. In my work environment and in my private life.
- WPD was fun. We had a ton of fun just being guys around each other. We played long putt contests if you showed up early. Drank more bottles of water than you can count. We gave each other nicknames that are still used to this day. Men need other men to build community around. They need other men to be guys around. To talk about guy things with. WPD was that. We got to enjoy years and years’ worth of wisdom from Dr. M and many other honorary members who joined us for a night or two. WPD meant everything to me. I have said it already, but it was a highlight of my week. I would not be the leader, or the man I am without this group and the growth being apart of it brought me. Though we are busy in the “real world” now, I know we still value the thought provoking and encouraging texts we still receive from Dr. M to our Alpha Group message thread.
J. S. “Big-X” Inman. May 2020 Graduate.