assistant business professor Ellis Sloan grew up in Charleston, S.C. in an Orthodox Jewish family. He at – tended the Orthodox Synagogue with his family on oc – casion. He attended a public school and went to Jewish school in the afternoon to learn how to read Heh z'ew. fu Sloan grew up he was taught the history ofJewish people and the thousands of years of persecution they had to endure. He was at heart, aJew. GJ'owing up in a public school exposed Ellis to Christianity. and from an early age, he had a deep vested interest in spiritual matters. He began to compare the differences in the religion he was b e ing taught and the religion he only h eard about. He sought answers from his J ewish teachers but n eve r see me d to nnd them. "There was great tension between J ews and Christian s, " Ellis said. "The re was a limit to how much sea r ching you co uld do be ~ cause o f the people that have gone befo l'e you and the feeling o f an owed allegiance. " The lack of answers eventually drove him away and his p e r sis– ten ce for t he truth began 10 fade. H e los t his mother at the age of 21, an event that trigge red a re– awake ning of spirituality, fo rcing him to feel th at there was some ~ thing greater yet to learn. He began working with a man who attended the Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock. The man saw th e st r uggl e that Ellis wa s facing and introduced him to a gentl eman whom he attended church with . T he man could relate to what was going on in young Ellis Sloan' s mind . H e too was aJew, aJewwho had found the t r uth of Chl'ist and was very eager to share it. Ellis instantly saw this man as a big brothe r, someone who un – d e r stood him. The two began studying th e Bible and slowly but surely the answers Ellis seemed to b e searching fOl ' began to un – fold. He went on to meet Lori Pryor , the woman who wou ld one day Asst . Prof. Business be his wife, Lor i, th e daught e r o f fo rme r Vice President of Aca – demicAffairs, Neal e Pryor , became an immediate influence on his life and they began to dat e and study the Bible together. "He had a heart that was searching," Lori Sloan said. "We start– ed talking and he launch ed right into questions . HaVing a father who taught Old Testament Theology [at H arding]' I knew more about his religion than he did." Ellis knew th e kind of p e r son Lori was simply by her presence. The bond they started gave him an even greater desire to find the truth. "She encouraged me and gave me se n sibl e, common sense an – swers, " Sloan said. After a great amo unt of studying, Sloan began realizing the t ruth and the answe r s he was searching fo r. However , he wanted this decision to be genuine . H e d id not want to believe something simply because someon e h e loved beli eved it. He wanted a faith that would be r eal for him. " I didn' t want to make an emotional decision ," Sloan said. " It made no sense for me to go from o n e religion that didn' t make sense to another. " His continual studying and r ea lizati o n of the truth led to his baptism on Decembe r 3 1, Ig8g. The deci sion was his and his alone. But it was one full o f fear and co n sequence. "1 didn' t te ll my father fOl ' a lo ng time , " Sloan said . "} didn't even invite L01'i's parents because 1 didn' t want my father to feel that they had anything to do with it." Ellis would never claim h e has left theJewish faith. Jewish cul – ture was still a huge part of his life . H e raised his children in dis – cussions of their J ewi sh he ritage and continued to celebrate Jew– ish holidays like Hanukkah and Passover. He Simply believed that Christ was a piece of the puzzle that he n eve r knew before. Joel Blake Jennifer Fisher. M.S. , Instr. Comm. Sci. & Disorder Chaney Floyd, EdD., Assoc. Prof. Edu. Debbie Ford. M.S.W., Assoc. Prof. Social Work ' John Fortner, Ph.D ., Prof. Bible Gabriel Foust, M.S., Instr. Compo Science , AI Frazier, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. Business/Dept. Chair Mgmt. Shane Fullerton. M.Ed., Asst. Prof./Asst. Womens BB Coach Pat Garner, Ph.D., Prof. Speech Zane Gastineau, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof./Chair Engineering lana Gettman, PharmD., Asst. Prof. ... Noble Goss, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. Spanish/German Jim Gowen. M.A.T., ASSOC. Prof./Dir. Me'ns Intramurals Kay Gowen, M.S., Assoc. Prof. Comm. Joe Goy, PhD. , Assoc. Prof. Bialogy Susan Grogan, Ed.S., Asst. Prof. Edu. Nathan Guy, M.Phil., Instr. Bible Shaya Hancock, MA.T., Instr. Kines. Jiukuan Hao, Ph.D ., Asst. Prof. Pharmacy Ronnie Harlow, M,S.E., Asst. Prof./Head Athletic Trainer Greg Harris. PhD. , Soccer Coach/Asst. Prof. Jackie Harris, M.N.Sc., Asst. Prof. Nursing Julie Harris, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. History Kayla Haynie, M.A., Asst. Prof. English Paul Haynie, Ph.D., Prof. History facul ty 149
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