SCA president has seen growth in campus involvement

Four key organizations at Erskine—the Student Government Association (SGA), the Student Christian Association (SCA), the Judicial Council (Judicial), and the Erskine Entertainment Board (EEB)—help set the tone on campus as they deal with stewardship of student organization resources, support for faith commitment and service, issues of integrity and discipline, and choices regarding activities offered to students.

Ross McEwan, a senior from Dumbarton, a town near Glasgow, Scotland, is president of SCA at Erskine College. Known for his enthusiasm and willingness to speak about moving away from his “pursuit of worldly fun and partying” and toward beginning “to follow Jesus Christ,” he has held leadership positions in several Christian organizations on campus and has seen “God’s hand changing many lives at Erskine.”

He has observed some of that change from his vantage point as a student leader. “As president of the Student Christian Association, I have seen firsthand the enormous growth in campus involvement,” he says.

When McEwan attended the Reformed University Fellowship retreat during the fall semester, he drew a connection between some points made by the retreat speaker, the Rev. Daniel Mason, and his own experience as SCA president. One of Mason’s four talks about love emphasized loving through one’s vocation—in the case of the Erskine students attending the retreat, “loving through our current vocation as college students,” McEwan says.

“We have so many opportunities to serve those around us and share Christ in our existing schedules,” he explains, noting that “everything we do in life presents an opportunity to glorify God, but sometimes our selfishness and busyness can disrupt that.”

McEwan and others in SCA are trying to apply lessons presented at the retreat. “Through much prayer and deliberation, we as Christian students in SCA have become more aware of our selfishness and talked about how we can better love and serve our peers every day.”

He is certain that this approach has been beneficial. “A proof that this has been effective is the huge rise in weekly meeting attendance paired with an increase in our event attendance—50-100 for our last few events.” he says.

“I became president in spring 2016 and have since seen SCA weekly meetings grow from five to 10 people meeting on and off to 25-30 or more students meeting every week to share devotions, pray together, and plan campus-wide events such as worship evenings, bonfires, and hammock hangouts.”

McEwan’s fellow SCA officers are Jordan Joseph, vice president, a senior from Forsyth, Ga., who is completing a major in Bible and religion as well as a major in philosophy; Rebecca Reiter, treasurer, a junior from Anderson, S.C., who is majoring in biology and minoring in psychology; and Cali Colbert, secretary, a senior from Daytona, Fla., who is majoring in psychology and minoring in family studies.

McEwan was invited to represent Erskine College at the 65th Annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. The breakfast, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 2, was followed by an intensive leadership training weekend for students in which attendees will have the chance to “dive deeper into discussion on faith and values, focusing on the concept of servant leadership,” according to a letter from National Student Leadership Forum Director Jennifer Bertelsen.

Ross McEwan’s reflections on his experience at the prayer breakfast and leadership forum will be published soon on this site.