Dr. Becky Morrison: How God Turned Her Career into a Calling

"Jesus was the greatest teacher that ever lived; He taught, loved, cared, and helped people intentionally with great love and kindness. I try very hard to model my teaching after Jesus: I want to speak of faith in Christ through each lesson. I want to help students understand that they are the hands and feet of Jesus wherever they are, whether it is inside or outside of the classroom."

To teach students how to teach is a high calling indeed and one that cannot be taken lightly. Dr. Becky Morrison has answered this call with great enthusiasm, trusting the Lord to guide her steps wherever He may lead. Because of this, the Lord has graciously placed Dr. Morrison onto DBU's campus, where she now serves as an Associate Professor of Music Education in the College of Fine Arts. Dr. Morrison is excited to share how the power of the gospel has changed her life and continues to mold her into who the Lord desires her to be.

Dr. Morrison was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, alongside her three sisters.

"My parents were real, authentic Christian people," Dr. Morrison says. "Not perfect, but loving, kind, and funny." The family attended church regularly where Dr. Morrison developed her love for music more deeply by singing in the choir.

Unfortunately, dissension in the congregation resulted in Dr. Morrison's church dividing when she was in eighth grade. This led to what Dr. Morrison would describe as "a crisis of faith." Because of this experience, Dr. Morrison developed a distrust of the church and the people within it. This distrust ultimately led her to a great deal of confusion which shaped how she viewed God. While He would eventually redeem this hurt caused by the church, it wouldn't be until much later on in her life that Dr. Morrison would come to embrace the God of love, faithfulness, and grace once again.

In high school, Dr. Morrison grew in her love for music and was confident in her choice to pursue a career as a full-time musician and music educator. Dr. Morrison obtained her Bachelor of Music with a concentration in Voice from Oklahoma Baptist University, followed by her Master of Music in Opera and Voice from the University of North Texas. She has also received her Master of Music Education from Boston University and her Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice from the University of Oklahoma.

When looking back on her road to Christ, Dr. Morrison explains "I had a rocky way to Jesus." Dr. Morrison married her husband Bart in 1988. One Sunday, Dr. Morrison and Bart attended a church service together in Fort Worth, where Bart was attending seminary at the time. There, in the service, Dr. Morrison felt once again the familiar tug of the Holy Spirit. She left to go to a prayer room where she talked to and prayed with an older woman she trusted within the church. "Amen," said the woman, concluding her prayer. Confused, Dr. Morrison asked if she was going to have her pray the prayer of salvation. "No," said the woman, much to Dr. Morrison's surprise. She desired for Dr. Morrison to return home and wait until she was alone to talk with God and truly hear Him speak. "So," Dr. Morrison says, "I did just that."

"I wrote a list of all the things that kept me from Christ: lack of faith, sin, fear, judgement, etc. So many things. I leaned back and said, 'Lord, this is what you've got, and it's not much!' I cried out to Him and told Him I needed a Savior and asked Him to come into my heart," Dr. Morrison says. "At that moment, it felt like the Holy Spirit rushed in as if He had been leaning on the door to my heart for so long, and when I finally understood my need for Him and opened the door, he just fell into my soul! I have never looked back. Jesus is my Lord and Savior; of this I am sure."

Dr. Morrison's newfound passion for Christ turned her career into a calling.

"Music is a medium created and given to us by God for praise," says Dr. Morrison. "I believe as we praise Him and extol His character, mighty works, and attributes, we are drawn to Him! God inhabits the praise of His people and that is powerful!"

Dr. Morrison intentionally makes these connections within each classroom she teaches in. From private voice lessons in her home, to her years spent within the public school system in Oklahoma and Texas, at other universities in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, and now, here, right on top of the Hill, Dr. Morrison is making the Lord known through the beauty of music.

"As a teacher, I find that my responsibility to students is to listen and to help. Yes, I am teaching content and I am aware of what that takes, but I am also teaching people, not just concepts and information," Dr. Morrison says. "Listening to a student's questions and helping them understand is the greatest thing I can do as a teacher."

Her husband, Bart, currently serves as Worship Pastor at their home church, and they have two adult children, Christopher (26) and Hayley (25).

Through the hills and the valleys, the highs and the lows, the Lord has been faithful in shaping Dr. Becky Morrison's life. Because of who God is, Dr. Morrison was able to turn her passions into her ministry, her career into a calling. When we tell our personal stories of redemption to others and live out our faith, we bear witness to Christ's love for us.

"No matter where we are, or who we encounter," Dr. Morrison explains, "we are called to be a part of God's redemptive work by being like Christ and telling our own redemptive story."