C = The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). A simple equation, but one that meant everything to me 30 years ago as a 14-year-old freshman from Houston. I descended on the TCU campus with about 700 other high schoolers from Texas and New Mexico for a 4-day conference for Christian Youth Fellowship, the Disciples’ version of a high school youth group. It was my first taste of college life — living in the dorms, eating at the Main and having our big meetings in Ed Landreth. I went to this conference every August for four summers and it had a profound impact on my life.

This is the experience that sold me on TCU and saved me from being an Aggie, like most of my close high school friends! In my teen-age mind, TCU was my school — just as Notre Dame belonged to Catholics and Baylor to the Baptists. I was even naive enough to believe that every TCU student was going to be just like me — a fourth-generation Disciples of Christ who came to TCU because of the church affiliation.

What a shock it was when I arrived on campus in the fall of 1975 to find that my experience was clearly not the norm. In fact, I quickly learned that we Disciples were outnumbered by virtually every main-line denomination. Equally as quickly, I learned that TCU was not a “church” school in the narrowest sense of the word but that it was a “church” school in the broadest sense of the word.

My pride in the inclusive, ecumenical history of TCU and my denomination grew as I realized how much this tradition affected my college experience. For me, things haven’t changed that much in 30 years. The “C” in TCU still means the Christian Church — my church. My school. Intertwined historically since 1873 and for me since 1975. Still relevant. Still meaningful and still shaping the lives of students in a unique and positive way.