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SELFISH GUY
“My first two years at Cedarville, I basically led a
very selfish life,” Jenerette said.
But he had an epiphany one summer. “I began
to question why I was still at Cedarville,” he said.
“I decided to either make changes or transfer.” His
conclusion? “I came
back junior year and
was a lot friendlier.
But I recognized there
was still a void.”
A soccer injury
left Jenerette, a Yellow
Jacket winger, feeling
more unsteady. “That
fall, the Lord began
taking some things
from me,” he said. “I
broke my right big toe,
and that took playing
time away. The Lord
took away 100 percent
health. It just made me think more and more.”
At the winter Missions Conference in 1982,
God spoke to Jenerette through a speaker. “I vividly
remember him pointing his finger in my general
direction and saying, ‘You’re not living your life right
for the Lord and you know it; you need to get right with
the Lord.’”
Jenerette wrestled with going forward, but decided
to wait. The call to action came again. “I remember
thinking, ‘I’m going to live for you, Lord,’” he said.
He spoke briefly with Pastor Harold Green, former
Campus Pastor and Vice President for Christian
Ministries at Cedarville, and then walked to the back
of Jeremiah Chapel to receive one-on-one counseling.
He spoke with John Hart ’81, Cedarville University’s
General Counsel today, but a first-year Admissions
Counselor then. “I prayed with him to accept Christ,”
Jenerette said. “At that moment, I didn’t realize that’s
what I needed to do. I just knew I wanted to live for
Christ now.”
Jenerette had a new direction and began reading
four Bible chapters a day, growing in his faith. But he
needed outside involvement. After a heart-to-heart
conversation with Don Callan, then Athletic Director at
Cedarville, he knew what he needed to do. He reached
out to Green, affectionately known as PG, to mentor
him and his roommates.
Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education,
Jenerette taught for several years at a Christian school,
then switched to business, working for Crown Home
Furnishings in product management, production
control, and engineering.
He returned to college at Coastal Carolina
University to earn his social studies certification. While
there, he began working in the financial aid office part
time. He has continued to work in that capacity ever
since, including three years ago when he was hired as
the Executive Director of Financial Aid at Cedarville.
Jenerette admitted he was in a dry spell for several
years before returning to his alma mater. Friends all
over the country, including Cedarville alumni, loved
him and prayed for him. “There’s a Bible verse I use: ‘A
bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick
he will not snuff out’ (Isa. 42:3). That was me. The Lord
remained faithful to me as I was not faithful to him.”
RULE-STRETCHER
English came to Cedarville University with a chip
on his shoulder. “I wanted to look at other schools,”
he related. “But my mom told me I had three choices:
Cedarville, Cedarville, or Cedarville.” He started at
Cedarville thinking he would do his time and then
switch schools in a couple years.
His poor attitude worked itself out in a lifestyle that
showed disregard for Cedarville’s standards — but just
far enough so he wouldn’t get caught. “I was a fence
walker who regularly jumped on the wrong side, but
then I’d jump back on to look respectable again,” he
explained. Then a
friend confronted his
hypocrisy. “She looked
at me, and with love
and honesty, said, ‘If
you expect me to think
that behaving outside
of the code of conduct
that we both signed
is cool, then you are
sorely mistaken. As a
matter of fact, I think
it means your word is
worth nothing. If you
don’t value your word,
how can I value your
word?’”
That friend was Layne Etchison ’88, whose last name
just happens to be English now.
“I heard everything taught in chapels and in my
fundamental Bible classes,” he said, “but it was one of
those moments, when someone speaks in your life,
and it started a train of thought: ‘What are you going to
do with your life? Are you throwing away your time at
Cedarville? What is your spiritual worth?’”
From that point on, English started investing more
seriously in his spiritual growth. He drew up a philosophy
of business while a member of Cliff Fawcett’s business
seminar class: God, family, then business.
“Those were the three main points,” he said. “Over
the next 27 years since graduation, I’ve been constantly
returning to that philosophy of business.”
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Cedarville Magazine