Transferring into community

Why Bethel? 

When he’s asked that question, Nate Holder ’26 immediately jumps into the story of his first campus visit. A guy—a professor, Nate presumed—was walking around: “He saw me, and he was like, ‘Hey, what's your name? Nice to meet you. Where are you from?’” Nate explains. “We started getting into a deeper conversation. I’m adopted, and turns out he has adopted grandchildren. We connected through that and talked for over an hour.”

Later, Nate relayed to friends that he met a professor—his name was Ross Allen. “They were like, ‘Dude, that’s the president of Bethel!’ I was shocked. In none of my other schools did I come close to talking to the president,” says Nate. “When I talked to President Allen, I remember thinking, ‘this is where I want to be—where they’ll allow me—want me—to be part of the community.’” 

He transferred to Bethel in the fall of 2023 and since then has found that his conversation with President Allen—meaningful, authentic, welcoming—was indeed indicative of the Bethel experience. From his classes and choir to intramural sports and relationships with professors, he has found a place where he belongs.

His transfer path

Adopted, Nate grew up one of 13 kids in South Dakota, where his father was a pastor. He started his college search close to home, but wasn’t finding much for Christian—more specifically, Baptist—schools. So, he landed at a school in Florida and quickly became discouraged by a lack of close-knit friends and music classes that interested him. He moved back home—now Omaha, Nebraska, where his parents moved—and enrolled at a small Christian college that within months announced it would be closing for financial reasons. On the move again, he tried a school in Wisconsin and found the teachers unhelpful and even unaccepting of his ability to write and play music by ear. 

Nate was officially giving up on college, deciding it was not meant for him. He planned to pursue his passion—music therapy—on his own. And during this time, he worked at Camp Chetek, a Christian camping ministry, in Chetek, Wisconsin, where he met a Bethel student who suggested a visit to Bethel. He wrote off the invitation.

“OK,” she said. “Just come to Vespers." So he did. 

“I was in shock. I was like, ‘they do this every week?’” Nate says, as he recalls sitting in Benson Great Hall on a Sunday night for the first time amidst other students praising and worshipping God. “Having an opportunity like that to go to a service every week where it’s just straight-up worship? Where you get to pray with friends? I said, ‘OK, I’ll come look at Bethel.’ ”

Jumping in

Nate officially visited Bethel, spoke with President Allen, and then enrolled that fall. He  commuted his first semester, and then began living on campus—first Heritage Hall and now North Village. At the encouragement of friends and other Bethel students, he immediately jumped into activities on campus. He started playing intramural basketball, helped organize a soccer club, and began not just attending Vespers, but helping lead it. He didn’t think he’d be allowed to “play the keys” at Vespers, having just started at Bethel and only able to play music by ear. But once again, he was assured that there was a place for him. 

“A friend told me, ‘you’ll be fine!’ And it’s been so much fun—amazing really—adding my own flavor to the worship,” he says. 

Nate also got involved in theatre. He landed the role of Gaston in Bethel’s winter production of Beauty and the Beast; played three different characters in the play “The Plot, Like Gravy, Thickens,” and will be playing Aldoro in the upcoming Cinderella production. “It is a lot of work having to memorize all your lines, but it’s so worth it,” he says. 

Adding to his already-full schedule, Nate started choir, even auditioning and being selected as lead soloist for a few numbers. “I think the cool thing about choir is that it's a mixed group of people who come together to create one sound,” Nate says. “We represent all these different degrees and interests but can come together to do amazing concerts like Festival of Christmas.” 

Academics and faith formation 

His studies at Bethel—he’s majoring in music with an emphasis in voice and minor in psychology—have been in stark contrast to those at other schools. “Because I play music by ear and not by learning notes, I had a teacher at one of my previous schools tell me that I was a lost cause,” he says. He also recalls many times emailing a professor asking for help only to have them cancel meetings with him at the last minute. At Bethel, his professors have been understanding and available. 

“The open-door policy blows me away. I email a teacher. They respond immediately and say, ‘can you come up to my office right now?’” he says. “My teachers are always willing to stop what they’re doing.” In fact, one of his professors gives students keys to her office. “She has a couch and a piano. She says, ‘if you need to practice, feel free to use my office. Or if you just need to relax, come on in.’ It’s really awesome,” says Nate. 

Nate has also grown spiritually, thanks to Chapel—the most important place at Bethel to experience community, according to him—and support from campus pastors. When he first came to Bethel, he was struggling to view God as loving. “I had my walls up. I had been kind of beaten down, and I saw God as a scary God—someone who was just going to cut me out of the will if I didn’t do what I was supposed to do,” Nate says. He started connecting with Matt Runion, campus pastor for spiritual formation and care. “Matt told me that it was OK, that lots of students struggle with their view of God. I said, ‘Are you serious?’ I broke down. And he shared with me what God tells us in the New Testament: How we strive to live according to his Word as much as we can. And when we don’t succeed, God won’t say, ‘yup, you’re done.’” 

And God is definitely not done with Nate. He says his parents tell him they can see now why he chose Bethel—that they can see him maturing, the ways God is working in his life, and how he is impacting others. 

Nate and two friends created a podcast called TriBros, where they interview professors, pastors, students, and even President Allen, about spiritual growth and what sets Bethel apart. “This year we have a long list of students we want to interview, asking them about their faith and why they chose Bethel,” he says. You can check it out on Spotify. 

Into the future

Nate now works in the Admissions Office. He gives tours and has the opportunity to share his experiences with prospective students and their families. “People are usually surprised that there are so many opportunities for students even as freshmen. You don’t have to wait until you’re an upperclassman to do things. You can get involved right away and get plugged in right away—like me!” he says. 

Looking ahead, Nate hopes to spend a semester in Nashville and a semester in London studying music. After school, he wants to start his own music therapy clinic. “I want to bring people in, play a song for them, and have them tell me what’s going on in their life,” he says. “I’ve done it, and it really helps people open up.”

Nate eventually relayed to President Allen that he had no idea of Allen’s position when they first spoke—made even more comical by the fact that their initial conversation took place near a large, framed picture of Allen. For Nate, a university president taking the time to know him became an analogy for how our heavenly father wants to know us. “It's never ‘we're up here, you're down here, and you have to reach our level.’ That’s not how God is. And it’s not how Bethel is. We're all working together to grow our faith.”

Get to know Bethel

Looking for that college experience you’ve been dreaming about? Here, you’ll meet and have fun with great friends, take challenging classes that prepare you for a meaningful career, and find a safe place to explore who God is and what He has in store for your life. Come check out Bethel. We’d love to show you around and tell you more.

Schedule a visit