Alumni Interview: Devon Dollahon

To start off, can you tell a little about yourself? What are you up to these days?

Sure thing! My name’s Devon Dollahon, and I’m the oldest of three brothers. I’m an avid lover of all things Tolkien, an engineering PhD student at Texas A&M University studying prosthetics research, and most importantly, I'm someone whom the Lord has redeemed for His kingdom (in no small part due to the ministry of Wesley Foundation at Tech). Lately, I’ve been trying to publish a difficult yet interesting paper for my research, planning for an exciting dungeons and dragons campaign, and starting a bible study on Ecclesiastes

How long have you been a Christian? What is the sort of abbreviated story of your life with Christ so far?

I’ve been a Christian for almost as long as I can remember. I grew up in the Church, and I have a vivid and emotional memory from when I was very young of really understanding what Jesus did for me. Most of my life I did earnestly seek to do what He wanted and to love Him rightly, but also I grew up with the issues of pride and isolation. I was a very avid reader of theology and assumed I had all the answers, and yet I also had views of God that made Him seem distant, dispassionate, fickle, and unloving. Though I rarely admitted it, I was angry at God and afraid that my deepest worries about Him were true: that He hated people or that He wasn’t even real. I had caring mentors in high school who began to show me God’s love again, but I really began to have those deep-rooted issues break down in college when I was invited into The Wesley. Until that point, I had not encountered a community with such sincerity and passion. It is amazing what real love in the body of Christ can do to break down pride and fear. I became a Wesley intern after I graduated, and that was a pivotal experience that gave me a glimpse of what it means to live a life completely for Jesus. Since then, I’ve moved onto graduate school to pursue my PhD, and while I've gone through another period of isolation that feels much more stark in comparison to the connection I experienced at Tech, the Lord has continued forming me for His kingdom. I am glad to have recently found a faithful community and am excited for what the Lord has planned for me here for the future. 

Do you remember who first invited you to Wesley or who was your first Wesley hangout?

Yep! I was invited by Matt Ramsaur and John Waltz, two phenomenal Wesley interns who were not afraid to invite a bunch of random freshmen to events and ask for their numbers. They also were not afraid to talk about personal and deep difficulties in their lives, which gave me an opportunity to be open and trust people at church with who I really was, the good and the bad.

Do you remember your first impression of coming to the building?

Oh wow, sort of. I remember it seemed very relaxed. I was surprised by how folks were always lounging around on the big old chairs at any time of day. It did have a certain “homey” appeal to it, despite the dirty furniture and scuffed walls. For the current students reading this, y’all new folks have got it good now! After visiting recently, I can say that the building has really had an upgrade since the time I was a student!

What were some things that kept you coming back all that time, even after some of those people you first met had already left?

I always came back to Wesley because, even though the efforts that folks made were not always perfect, I realized this was a community that was on fire for God and for loving His children. I always felt welcomed, loved, and invited into a work that was greater than me. I remember the unbridled joy that was present at all the random dance parties, or the sincerity with which folks at The Wesley sought to reach others, or the genuine interest they took in knowing who I was. 

Do you have any specific favorite Wesley memories? (Small groups, missions, retreats, Laid Back Lunch, and more?)

Oh, tons! Here are some of my favorites. When Hannah Sober gave her testimony. The time my aunt died and John Waltz was there to comfort me. The retreat when Garrett Warren, a former intern, hyped me up enough to give an awful, yet hilarious, freestyle rap about Middle Earth and sandwiches in front of everybody. When I dressed as Gandalf for a halloween party and everybody did a conga line behind me! When Courtney Nash, another former intern, started a dance party late one night and everyone joined in until late into the evening. The moment when I stood on a mountain in Tennessee with my fellow interns and took in the view. Oh! Definitely the time I relaxed with my friends after a good day of hard work in Mexico during a mission trip when we watched a fantastic, weirdly wonderful cartoon about getting lost in a forest.*

Tell me about your time as an intern. How did your time during the internship shape your faith, your life then, and your current life?

It’s totally changed my life. A lot of the formation you experience as a student is intensified when you become an intern. You’re forced to confront many of the difficult things about yourself that you may have been able to avoid before or were unaware of. You also learn to give everything you have for other people and for the Lord. It’s tough but incredibly rewarding. Through the internship, I can say that I truly learned how to pray. I learned the importance of habits, of seeing the holiness in the ordinary, of sacrificing for the needy, and of putting the needs of the gospel above political allegiances. Also, there were some important life skills about organization and leadership that helped me to mature along the way. One of the most important aspects of the internship was that I got to meet some really fantastic students. A major part of what it means to welcome people into the body of Christ is to see the beauty in them and appreciate them. I didn’t always realize it at the time, but just meeting with people and discovering the personalities of those people is by itself a real joy.

So, it can be anything, but what messages or words from scriptures, sermons, conversations, books, etc., do you find yourself coming back to?

I find myself returning often to the writings of Thomas Merton, and specifically to his New Seeds of Contemplation. His writings about seeing God’s beauty in nature and the way nature praises Him allows me to be joyful even on mundane days. It teaches that prayer and contemplation are centered around the presence of God and that the real joy and difficulty of sainthood is to abide in God’s presence continually. There’s also a fantastic prayer in that book which I return to regularly, and its closing sentences are phenomenal:

“But give me the strength that waits upon You in silence and peace.
Give me humility in which alone is rest,
and deliver me from pride which is the heaviest of burdens.
And possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love.
Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love,
that I may love not for the sake of merit, not for the sake of perfection,
not for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of sanctity, but for You alone.
For there is only one thing that can satisfy love and reward it, and that is You alone.”

What advice from your own experience of being in college and being a Christian would you give to other students?

My advice for students is this: the small things you do every day really matter! What you spend your time doing every day determines who you are. If you spend all your time focused on school, as I used to, you will become someone obsessed with academic standing, separated from others, and wondering why your faith is so weak. Schedule time every day for the Lord and for others. Build up habits of service and love because those small things add up. Be diligent, but most of all, look for God’s presence in the beauty of ordinary life. 

*It’s called Over the Garden Wall, and it’s phenomenal; you should totally check it out! 

Devon Dollahon

Devon was a Wesley intern during the 2018-2019 year. Infectiously joyous, extremely engaging, and always ready to quote something he’s been reading, Devon has and continues to inspire others to follow Christ!