Divine disruptions: Christon Arthur’s unexpected journey to La Sierra’s presidency

La Sierra University will celebrate Arthur's inauguration as its president at the La Sierra University Church on May 20, 2025, at 11 a.m. The ceremony follows a series of inaugural events in honor of the first year of his presidency.

Arthur, who serves at the first Black president in the history of the institution now in its 103^rd academic year, is shaping a campus ethos of inclusivity, a safe space where all are welcome. It is a vision rooted in the influence of his mother who always set an extra place at the Sunday dinner table during his childhood to welcome any visitor who happened by. It is a value system exemplified in the slogan ‘there is a place for you’ which is used throughout the president’s campus communication and which was reiterated in Arthur’s first convocation address in September titled “There is Place for You in God’s Hands.”

“Every student has a right to be in an environment where they can experience the healing ministry of Jesus Christ,” Arthur told the campus community.

Arthur and his five siblings were raised in the Catholic faith tradition, but during his teen years he began questioning the chief tenets of Catholic doctrine. During this time, Arthur was also occasionally attending the Grand Roy Seventh-day Adventist Church, initially to spend time with friends who were Adventist. But as the religious dissatisfaction chafed at him, his interest in the Adventist faith grew, leading to his conversion and baptism at the age of 22 on July 14, 1984.

Arthur’s decision to join the Adventist church would set in motion a cascade of experiences and opportunities that transformed his life. It began with the influence of the Grand Roy church lead pastor Keith Boldeau who insisted that Arthur fill out an application to attend Caribbean Union College in Trinidad and Tobago.

“The pastor came to me on a Sabbath day, I’m having my Sabbath peace of mind, and he came and disrupted my peace,” Arthur said with humor, recalling the memory. “He said, ‘I think you should go to college.’”At first uninterested, Arthur eventually obliged and gave the completed form to Boldeau who submitted it to the college along with references without informing Arthur. Arthur was shocked to receive a letter several weeks later from Caribbean Union accepting him as a student.

“That conversion to the Seventh-day Adventist religion changed my life.” -- Dr. Christon Arthur, La Sierra University President

Arthur began classes in January in 1986 majoring in theology and with some business courses mixed in. The college was organized as a work-study school allowing students to pay for tuition through employment. Arthur worked from 7 a.m. until noon and attended classes in the afternoon. In spite of the difficult schedule, he rapidly pushed through his courses at Caribbean Union, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theology in December 1989.

“I started taking classes and in a sense, I have not stopped,” he said.

The experience served as the catalyst for a 35-year teaching and academic administrative career that has included posts at Tennessee State University and Andrews University where he lastly served as provost for eight years. He holds multiple degrees including an Ed.S. and a Ph.D. from Andrews University and completed post-graduate studies at Harvard University’s Institute for Management and Leadership in Education. He is currently an MBA candidate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

“That conversion to the Seventh-day Adventist religion changed my life,” Arthur said. “That was a pivotal moment. I can look back and see the moments when God intervened and changed the trajectory of my life.”

Divine game changers

The bachelor’s degree brought teaching opportunities in secondary school, or high school, for 10 years and an opportunity to participate in Andrews University’s summer master’s program at West Indies College in Jamaica.

It was in Jamaica that Arthur encountered another pivot point along his life’s journey – he met his future wife, Carmelita, who worked as a college library attendant. The couple married in 1995 in Jamaica and moved to Grenada. Carmelita Arthur holds an MBA and serves as a development officer with the La Sierra University Office of Advancement. The couple has a son, Christon Jr., age 24 who recently completed a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Andrews.

In 1997, the doors of providence swung open yet again. Back in Grenada, Arthur was teaching high school and was in line for the school’s principalship after the position became vacant. He and others believed he was a shoo-in for the position, but the job fell through. Arthur was surprised and disappointed.

A few weeks later, he received an unexpected phone call offering sponsorship of further graduate work up to a doctoral degree in the United States funded by the Organization of American States, or OAS. The caller said the organization had been aware of Arthur’s progress in the education field and wanted to provide him the opportunity to move forward. OAS is described as a regional organization under charter with the United Nations and dedicated to human rights, democracy, social and economic development and security in the Western Hemisphere. It works with Caribbean governments to provide educational opportunities for Caribbean nationals. Arthur’s abilities were noticed and he was recommended to OAS for support in pursuing graduate degrees.

Through the OAS sponsorship, Arthur earned an Ed.S. in curriculum and instruction in 1998 and a Ph.D. in educational administration in 2000, both from Andrews. 

“That’s how we came to the U.S. I was sponsored to do a Ph.D.,” said Arthur. “[And] it all started on a Sabbath afternoon with a pastor saying to me, ‘you need to go to college.’”

Arthur later went on to study in Harvard University’s Institute for Management and Leadership in Education program and last year earned a graduate certificate in finance from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where he is currently a 2025 candidate for an MBA from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

While the OAS sponsorship brought him to the United States and to degree programs at Andrews, providence once again took hold and redirected life decisions that Arthur had previously made. Arthur had determined that unlike many in the Caribbean, he would never leave Grenada and immigrate to the U.S. to reside there permanently. He had laid his cards on the table with his wife and informed her of his resolution. “I’m a Caribbean guy, I’m going to live and die in the Caribbean,” he had told her.

While they were preparing to ship their belongings to Grenada from Michigan following Arthur’s completion of his Ph.D. program, a phone call between the couple revealed Carmelita’s hesitation about leaving the U.S. At the last minute, with his and his wife’s possessions at the airport in shipping crates, he chose not to buy an airline ticket home to Grenada, but instead began searching for a university teaching job in the United States.

That decision led him to an assistant professorship in educational administration at Tennessee State University and a life in Nashville that was good a fit for the family for the next 10 years. There, Arthur honed his career in higher education administration and teaching, earning a Faculty of the Year Award, tenure, and positions as acting and interim department head for educational administration and as associate dean of the Tennessee State University College of Education.

“But I knew how it started,” he said in recollection. “I knew had I not become a Seventh-day Adventist, had a pastor never led a decision, I would not have persisted [in education].