Building True Community: UMHB's New Beall House Creates a New Home for Discipleship and Belonging

June 04, 2026

By Christi Mays

On any given afternoon, the UMHB campus hums with the familiar rhythm of a new semester with students spilling out of lectures, laughter echoing across the Quad and new friends gathering at Bawcom.

Logan Knous ‘25 remembers that feeling when he moved onto campus his freshman year. After the excitement of Welcome Week, he found himself surrounded by people yet still alone. At night, when sleep was hard to come by, he asked God, “There must be more to this, right?”

That feeling of disconnect is the quiet reality many students carry into their first semester where full schedules and friendly faces don’t always feel like real belonging.

This fall, UMHB is transforming Beall Hall, a residence hall that has stood on campus since 2002, into Beall House, an intentional living community designed to close that gap by bringing discipleship and belonging into daily life.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF COMMUNITY

The idea behind Beall House has been years in the making.

For Dr. Michael Burns, UMHB’s dean of students, and Dr. Brandon Skaggs, vice president for student life, the question has been simple: How do we help students not just grow spiritually, but truly belong?

Rather than gathering once or twice a week, students will live alongside their leaders and have a daily emphasis on discipleship. That is what sets Beall House apart.

“It’s creating an experience that encourages students in their relationship with God,” Burns said, “while giving them a real sense of community.”

It’s the kind of experience that Knous said would have been perfect when he was searching for community. Knous, who is serving as resident director of Beall House, says it took time, but he eventually found community through a student organization called UMHB33.

“That’s what made my college experience transformational,” he said. “Being around people who pushed me to grow.”

CLOSING THE GAP

Beall House aims to make that kind of transformation the norm. Students will participate in large-group Bible studies, small groups and one-on-one discipleship. They’ll memorize scripture, share meals and gather for worship. Men will follow the same curriculum as UMHB33, which is a 36-week, gospel-centered, small-group Bible study for men at UMHB that focuses on building a life of authentic manhood modeled after the 33 years Christ spent on earth. The women will study Flourish, a yearlong scripture-based mentoring journey designed to foster spiritual growth through building intentional, one-on-one and small-group relationships.

Just as important as the structured elements are the unplanned ones that are bound to take place, like late-night conversations, spontaneous prayer, shared meals, games on the lawn and quiet moments of accountability that happen not because they’re scheduled, but because students will be living closely with other like-minded friends.

“I want this community to be a place where we can take a break from the busyness of life and simply play games with one another, or even roast marshmallows,” Knous said.

BUILT ON BELONGING

At its core, Beall House is about belonging, something university leaders know is critical to student success.

“It’s creating more opportunities for true community and true brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ with a smaller group of students so they can find that sense of belonging quicker,” Skaggs said.

That sense of belonging isn’t just a feel-good outcome, though. Skaggs is hopeful it will make a measurable impact.

“We have found that students who find their sense of belonging early are more likely to stay and they’re more likely to graduate,” he said. “And so that’s why that’s really important.”

The model itself is also distinctive.

While many universities offer living-learning communities centered around academics, Beall House is rooted in spiritual formation, a reflection of UMHB’s Christian mission.

“How can we take the living environment and create an opportunity for brothers and sisters in Christ to come together to grow spiritually and learn how to live in community with one another? How are we intentional about that? That is where this idea came from.”

A LEAP OF FAITH

If the vision for Beall House sounds bold, the students stepping into it have shown even more courage since they were invited into something unknown.

“It’s really hard to ask somebody to be a part of something that you don’t really know fully yet,” said transformational development senior M.K. Adams, who was asked to serve as the house leader for the women.

Most of the students who were invited to live in Beall House already had other housing plans for the upcoming year with apartment leases signed and roommates selected. They were set for the fall semester.

And then, the house leaders personally invited them to be a part of Beall House.

“I have just been encouraged by their faith and their willingness to be a part of this,” M.K. said.

Joshua Young, a sophomore special education major and house leader for the males, had been praying for exactly this kind of community long before Beall House was created.

“This idea of discipleship and community is something I’ve really, really desired my entire life,” he said. “So, praying on my knees nightly, ‘Lord, would you send guys my way?’”

When the opportunity came, he found himself asking others to take the same leap of faith.

“I approached them and said, ‘hey guys, I know you have everything figured out, but would you abandon everything and join me?’ That’s a hefty ask.”

And yet, they said yes.

“We have an absolutely stellar leadership team of guys and gals who joined in on this crazy adventure,” Josh said. “But I also want to acknowledge the community that’s going to live in Beall. These people who have said, ‘Hey, I’m going to actually abandon my apartment plans and I’m going to join in this,’ they’re absolute leaders in their own right too.”