From Tiger Tunes and sports to the Ouachita community and students in general, Refuge leader Dillon Thomas loves many aspects of a school he was not originally planning to attend.
“I did not want to come to Ouachita at all. My cousin went to Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, and I went and toured there my junior year and I was like, ‘this is where I want to go,’” Thomas said.
Despite his determination to attend SBU, Thomas’ mom wanted him to keep his options open. So, he came to visit Ouachita because he had plans to wrestle and knew that Ouachita had a wrestling program.
“So we had a Monday off and my Dad was like, ‘why don’t we go down there and tour the campu?’ When I was touring, first of all, I fell in love with the beauty. The beauty was the first thing that I saw,” Thomas said.
Along with the beauty of the campus, Thomas ran into an old friend from camp who helped convince him that Ouachita was the place for him.
“Probably what put me over was the fact that it wasn’t really me that decided Ouachita, it was kind of God,” Thomas said.
Ouachita sent Thomas countless hand-written cards stating they were excited about the possibility of his attendance at Ouachita. This showed Thomas that at Ouachita, he wouldn’t just be a number and that the people here actually cared.
“God just kind of led my heart here, and I have loved every second of it, and I am so thankful that I have been here,” Thomas said.
After coming to Ouachita, Thomas got involved in many campus activities such as Campus Ministries and Tiger Tunes.
“I really love Tiger Tunes and the spirit it promotes. That’s where I got to know a lot of my friends,” Thomas said.
Many of his friends from Tiger Tunes also pledged Eta Alpha Omega with Thomas. Besides holding many officer positions in Eta, Thomas has also held many positions in Campus Ministries.
He began his freshman year by participating with Big Brother, Big Sister and ultimately became the leader last year. Thomas has also been involved with Backyard Bible Club and, most importantly, Refuge.
“[I] never thought that I would be in a leadership position like this,” Thomas said.
While he didn’t know he would become a Refuge leader, Thomas has loved attending Refuge all four years and has always thought it would be really cool to be a Refuge leader.
Other than school activities, Thomas’ passions include wrestling and music, specifically, classic rock.
“[My parents] really got me into music. I’m a huge rock fan, and I attribute that passion to them because they always listened to classic rock with me,” Thomas said.
Thomas has attended many rock concerts as well as wrestling matches.
“I never had a winning season, but it wasn’t really about the winning for me. It was about the team and about the sport,” Thomas said.
Although he planned to wrestle at Ouachita, Thomas realized that it was not a part of God’s plan for his life. Because of this, Thomas decided to quit the wrestling team. However, this has not stopped him from attending Wrestle Mania the past eight years.
Since he was young, Thomas has enjoyed wrestling.
“If there was anything that I could do, it would be to wrestle. I am so passionate about wrestling,” Thomas said.
As for his future, Thomas, who is majoring in Christian missions, biblical studies and philosophy, would love for God to lead him to Canada to do mission work.
After working through the book “Radical” by David Platt, Thomas began to feel a call towards missions. So, he worked in Canada for three summers.
“I’ve heard that two percent of Canadians profess to be Christians, which was really astounding to me,” Thomas said.
Through these summers, Thomas began to realize that God wanted him to be a missionary and to go to places that most people wouldn’t go.
“I didn’t know where it was, where God wanted me. I just knew that I wanted to serve and I knew that I wanted to go someplace unreached. So that’s kind of where my heart’s been at,” Thomas said.
– Ethan Dial, Staff Writer
