This is the Truth Network. For decades, people have come from all over the world. To High Point, North Carolina, to get the best furniture money could buy at the best prices. But there's something else. In high point now, that people are traveling from all four corners of the globe to see.
To put their kids in school there and to experience. It's like nothing you've ever seen before. It's a place that is marked by. Extraordinary transformation, which is the title of the book written by Nito Cobain, and I'm sitting here with him right now. Sir, what in the world is this place?
What's going on?
Well, let's do it first. Thank you very much for all that you do, and thank you for being an advocate for the good things that we do at High Point University. High Point University is 102 years old, but in the last 20 years, High Point University has had a metamorphosis, a transformation. And it is today a God-family country school. It is a school that is built on values.
We believe that we are in the business of planting seeds of greatness in the minds, hearts, and souls of our students. We want them to enter the hold hallways to learn, but we want them to exit the hold hallways to be disciples, to be stewards, to make the world a better place. And the way we've done that is you have to be distinctive, right? In a world that has so many institutions out there, many of whom, by the way, are not doing very well. A lot of these colleges today are struggling with enrollment, struggling with finances, cutting programs.
Hypon is thriving. God's hand is on this work. And God wanted Hype University to be blessed and to thrive. And I believe that parents are in trusting us with the children because they believe wholeheartedly that here we really can Provide an atmosphere for every student to receive an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment and with caring people. And so we built, you know, we built, as you know, a phenomenal campus.
If any of your listeners haven't seen this campus, when they see it, they will marvel at how things can be transformed for the good. And I want to get into that. I want to hold off a little bit. I want to come back to High Point, the University, and how this all got going, and how this explosion here that people are again are just blown away by when they come and see it. I want to talk about you a little bit.
And you talk about yourself, your story. You came over to America, you had millions of dollars in your pocket. You had a huge, you know, a huge arsenal of employees, thousands of employees, and you just kind of, you were, you were made to succeed just like that, right? You had it all right there. The silver spoon, right?
May the good Lord forgive you for misstating the facts.
Well, still, you know, I came to America on a one-way ticket. My mother borrowed the money to send me to America. I grew up in a Christian family. My mother believed that America and the West is the place to be. This is the land of the free and home of the brave.
The streets of America are paved with gold. Not literally, but figuratively and symbolically, and that I could make something of my life. My father died when I was six years of age. And when people asked me the question, if you're If you have changed one thing in your life, what would be the one thing you changed in your life? My answer is very clear.
I would have much rather have had a dad who would have read me a book, sang me a song, taken me to the circus, thrown me a frisbee, or taught me how to tie the laces on my shoes. But that was not my fate. And you know, when God breathed in our nostrils and gave us life, God had a purpose and a plan for our life. And so, while I had adversity in not having a dad who would have taught me how to play soccer or play basketball, that was my mom. My mom had fourth grade education.
She was a woman of faith. She would teach me things like, it's perfectly okay to be disappointed. People will disappoint you. Events will disappoint you. Circumstances will disappoint you.
But never ever be discouraged. When you're discouraged, that means you've lost all faith. That means you have no hope. That means you don't believe in God's grace.
So my mom would say to me, who you spend time with is who you become. Hang around the right people. The circle of influence in which you find yourself determines the person you become. And by the way, the deeper and better your circle of influence, the narrower and less important is your circle of concerns, because that's what faithful courage is all about. And so, my mother would say, What you choose is what you get, make good choices.
You know, the circumstances in which you find yourself do not define where you end up, they only tell us where you start. And so, she'd say, How you change, how you transform yourself, is how you succeed. And so, I had the strength. of this woman who raised five kids. with no dad.
and had fourth grade education. And yet she had uncommon wisdom. And I came to America, you know, and went to school, worked my way through college. It was tough, my friend. I was lonely.
I was scared. I was broke. But I believed down deep in my heart that God has a plan for my life, that if I just exert myself, I'm resilient and yet be agile and flexible, and good things will come my way. And so, you know, I went to undergrad and grad and came out of grad school, began my first business, which was, by the way, Christian ministry. You know, I'd worked in a church throughout my years in college.
And my first business really was coming up with leadership materials that youth leaders can use in churches across America and the world. And about three years, I had 68,000 clients in about 32 countries. And that's how it all began. And then my speaking career came, my consulting came, then I owned companies. And then.
I was going to be the chairman of High Point University, and the school was not doing well at all. This was back in 2004, 2005. It was a tiny little school with a few academic. Schools here and landlocked, as you know, and very tiny little. A budget and $120 million in deferred maintenance.
The picture was not very pretty. They twisted my arm and talked me to come to High Point and be president. I said, I'll do it for two years. Here I am, 22. Two years later, I fell in love with the purpose, the impact.
What we can do with the lives of these young men and women who come to our schools.
So that's my story. Listen, I'm grateful for it. I thank God every day for the opportunity to serve. And when people say to me, How do you spend your life? I say, one-third of my life is in, I invest in learning.
One-third of my life, I invest in earning. And one third of my life I invest in serving. And you know, people talk about philanthropy, but a better word is stewardship, discipleship. What is it that we do in our life that can create impact in the life of others? Wow, that's the voice of Dr.
Nito Cobain. I got his book right here in front of me, Extraordinary Transformation, a subtitle: An Entrepreneurial Blueprint for Leaders Who Seek Transformational Growth in Any Organization. I'm probably going to listen to this podcast of my own. over and over again because this guy just opens up and pours out all kinds of wisdom. And I want to ask you, you mentioned your faith.
How important has your faith been? Because people, they get close to high point. They think, well, this is just all about the money. This is just all about success. This is just all about the big buildings and all.
But then they come to your veterans' event, they come to the prayer breakfast, they hear about Jesus, they hear about your love for God, they read this book about when you had to get on your knees. Hear this great man. They see him next to Zig Ziglar speaking all over the country and all over the world, commanding huge audiences, writing books, running a school. This is a man who, by himself, got on his knees many times and completely trusted God. Talk about the importance of Christ and your faith, Dr.
Covain, in your life.
Well, there's no question in my mind that every day when I get up, I first thank Jesus for the very fact that I've been entrusted with something worthwhile to do. I believe that we were all born for a reason. I believe that God breathed in our nostrils and intended for us to have a plan. I don't believe God said, I'll tell you what, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I'm going to create some extraordinary people. But Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I'll create some ding-a-lings just to make things balanced out.
I don't believe that. I believe that God intended for us to do something important in our own way. You could be a third-grade teacher or you could be a president of the United States and anything in the middle. But for me, my faith guides, all that I am and all that I do, and I want more importantly to be a model for our students. That you can be successful.
It's okay to be successful. It's okay to enjoy the gifts, but keep your eyes on the giver. Always understand that the mercy of the good Lord and His grace is what guides us every day. Allows us to do well.
Now, look, God is not a bus boy. God is not going to pass the exam for you. God is not going to bring the customers to your front door. You must get up and be resilient. You must have faithful courage.
You must exert yourself. You must give of yourself. But God will give you wisdom and strength if you ask for it and if you seek it, because God will never forsake us, you know. And that's what I want. Hype University is a Christian institution.
And we always pray at every event and we do these things to honor God, but also to make sure that every one of us is a creature of God. We didn't just come out of some, you know, laboratory somewhere. God breathed in our nostrils and gave us life. And, you know, Jesus said, if you've done it unto the least of thee, brothers and sisters, you've done it unto me.
So, in all that we do, in all that we and all that we are, we ought to be taking care of God's kingdom on this earth and living for eternal impact at the same time. Same time. And there's a man right here that lives this out, and his book is Extraordinary Transformation. I encourage you to get a copy. We're going to talk real quick about the story of High Point University and High Points University when we come back on Truth Talk.
Ride for this. Hang on. The great artists Michelangelo said Everyone else sees A stone. But I see a beautiful statue. It's all in the vision of the artist.
And I'm sitting with an artist right here who's inspired so many people. I carried your book into the restaurant. I had breakfast with a leader this morning, and he saw this book. He said, What is going on with that guy? Who is that, Nito Cobain?
What is he doing out there? What's going on at the high point? And some of these leaders, they try to remember to not have their checkbook with them when they see you because you're going to help them lighten that load, but to help them give back. And you yourself have given back. I mean, there's stories in this book where you've helped some historical black colleges raise millions of dollars.
You've helped build stadiums. You've helped Christian groups all over the world because you have a heart of generosity. And I just love that. I want to give us a little. Sketch out a little blow-by-blow of kind of how God brought you to High Point.
University, you are a student here. And suddenly you find yourself. I mean, maybe 30 years ago, you never would have thought. In a million years, you'd be sitting in a room talking about this or writing this book about what's happened at this school. Can you give us a little story?
Because it really, everyone needs to, you know, this idea of without faith, it's impossible. And you've had the mustard seed, and this mustard seed has grown up. Nito Cobain. Well, first of all, you know, we give God all the glory. We say we're on God's side.
We are on God's side. We let God guide us every day. And I'm just a vessel. I'm just a vessel. I don't claim any level of intellect or intelligence about what we've done here.
I'd like to tell you, I had this great vision for Hypo University. That would be an inaccurate and incomplete assessment. The truth is what happened is that God placed me here. I wasn't that enthusiastic about it, you understand? I had four or five businesses doing very, very well, but I came here to serve.
And then God placed angels in my way. And then God lit the way for me. And at every turn in every way, I found that under that bushel there's a light, but I got to turn that bushel over and look for the light. And people want to help you. You know, people want to be people like discipleship, people want to be good stewards, people want to be needed.
And there are many, many Christians, and there are some non-Christians who want to be of help to you. And then they discover the ministry and they discover the value and they discover the goodness it creates.
So, you know, High Point University is. I can't explain it. I really can't. People want to give me credit for leadership and they want to give me credit for vision and they want to give me credit for creating all the stuff in downtown High Point and High Point University. It's God at work, man.
I cannot explain it in human terms. But I will tell you this: when you're on God's side, look out. And when you're living as a faithful servant every day, look out. Because when you least expect it, something will happen. And it happens in my life, throughout my life, by the way, but Hype University was an illustration of what can happen when you have faith, when you have courage, and you put the two together and live it every day.
And, you know, people want us to be heroes, models, and mentors, but more importantly, we have to be examples. These students are looking at us to see who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe in? Why do we live the life that we live?
And so, you know, Hype University, look, you know, it was a school with $120 million in deferred maintenance. It had only about 18 buildings, 90 acres, landlocked, only 100 faculty members, only three academic schools, only 1,400 students. A budget of $28 million. Today, we have 6,600 students, 14 academic schools, law, engineering, dental medicine, optometry, and more. We've grown to 600 acres.
Our budgets have grown to 550 million. Our students come from every state of the Union. And 50 countries beyond, but more importantly, more importantly, for every student entrusted to us. We make sure that we model behaviors. and we model beliefs that they know who we are.
And with whom we stand every day. And you see it on our basketball team, as you know, you see it in our chapel, you see it in our classroom, you see it at our prayer breakfast at Christmas, and all the other services that we have here. And you see it certainly in how our students reach beyond themselves a million or so hours a year that they serve in the community. They're examples of all that can happen. They raise money for that, which is important.
So it's really mission work that's based on a vision that says that we have a responsibility and we must be responsive. Jesus said, if you've done it to the least of the, you've done it unto me. And that means we have to be responsive to the needs around us and about us. And look, you know, by their fruits, you can judge them. That's all I got to say, right?
You know, and the book of Matthew tells us very clearly, man, you know, we can judge you by the fruits. And what we're trying to do here is ensure that the students, very important these students, See in this institution the kind of disciplines, traits, characteristics, values, and spirit. That they would want to be a part of it. And that's what the Christian faith is all about: that we are on this earth but going through a journey. We have an eternal life.
We live for eternal impact, not for service or impact on this world. And legacy is not important. What is important is impact. If we do it unto the Lord, good things will come your way. Let me ask you: there's some stuff in this book.
I mean, there's some messy stuff in this book. I mean, there's some tough meetings. I just am sitting there, you know, I kind of know how the story ends, right? But I can picture someone reading this thinking: how in the world did he convince all these executives to write a big check? How in the world did he get through this very difficult time?
Can you speak to leaders out there, folks, on dealing with the mess, the ugly? You know, when everyone is against you. And you only have God there. Is He enough? And what's your challenge to folks dealing through very difficult times?
We're in some difficult times in our world today. We got some war going on, we got some turbulence in the markets and other things. Economically, a lot of folks are struggling with mental health. There's just this all-time depression, and people are doom-scrolling, and they're stuck on their devices, and they become slaves of that, and families are disjointed. What's your word to folks struggling, and kind of as God showed you through the things you've been through?
Yes, but no one said it's going to be easy. You know, if it's going to be worthwhile, you have to do the work, you have to travel the journey. If you're going to be a great basketball player, you've got to be a practice every time, and you've got to give it your all. And that's really how this world works. And so, at Hype University, in my tenure the last 22 years, by the way, I'm the longest-serving president of any public or private institution in North Carolina, sitting president.
That bespeaks right there bespeaks for what. God has wanted for me in my life. And to give me the energy to do it every day, because it's challenging. There are lots of challenges, economic and otherwise, you know, enrollment cliff and all the rest. And yet we continue to thrive at High Point.
We continue to do amazing things.
Well, you know, we had the Great Recession in 08, 09. That's when your 401k became 101k, you remember? And then we had COVID to deal with, and we stayed open. We were faithful. We stayed open.
And amazingly, parents left their kids in the school. They didn't pull them out. They said, we trust our children with you more than we trust them at home with some computer and by their lowly selves in a room. But look, Um Nobody should be expecting a paved road with no challenges. Challenges make us stronger.
You know, trials and tribulations are more normal than people think they are. And you cannot be discouraged by that. That's when you have to pray more and ask for guidance and ask for a road that's lit for a better day. And so, you know, leadership is a wonderful term, but a lot of people misunderstand what leadership is. Leadership is different than management.
You manage a process, you lead people.
So to lead people, you have to inform them, involve them, inspire them, and then inspect what you expect and then increase their potential to create greater impact.
So it is at Hype Point. What we did is very simple. We had a clarity of vision. We had a solid strategy to follow through. We employed practical systems.
We did not give up. We execute consistently. And we said to ourselves that, you know, prayerfully. If we can get the right people around us and not give up, people want to be a part of this ministry. You know, I'm not sure I ever really begged for any money, Stu.
I only talk to people about who we are and what we're trying to do. And when you deliver, when you take care of the children and you deliver, and people look from the outside and see who you are and what you do, and they see that you're consistent. You're consistent in your behavior, consistent in your modeling, you're consistent in your faith. It's amazing how many people want to be on that team. And that's really what happened at High Point.
And the pillars grew in and of themselves. And yeah, you can look at High Point. Today we have 128 buildings, 6,600 students, 600 acres. We've grown by leaps and bounds. But I don't let that get to me.
you know, say, oh, look what we have done. I'm always looking about what we can do in the life of every student. Can we plant? A seed of greatness and faith. in the life of every student.
Because buildings are buildings, but it's it's the human beings that we want to go out there and be truly missionaries for all that which is good. I don't care if you're going to be a banker or you're going to be a a teacher or a minister. In your life every day, you must live the kind of life that pleases your Creator and that tells people that they can see through you what Christian faith is all about. Do you have a favorite Bible verse? I know you quote scripture in your book.
You quote a lot of scripture when you speak, which I love it, by the way. Keep doing that. In fact, do more of that. We love that. I love hearing the word.
What's a verse that maybe you kind of hung your hat on, or that's something that's maybe one of your favorite verses? I know there's so many. I hate to put you on the spot.
Well, the New Testament is filled with verses that I love and I believe in, and I look at, and I have them sitting in front of my phone. And believe it or not, at home, I've got them hanging where I shave and where I dress and so on. Because I'm a human being, and sometimes you get a little weak. But the strongest one for me comes from the Old Testament. that God breathed in my nostrils and gave me life.
Because that's Yeah, if God had not breathed in my nostrils and gave me life, oxygen, for which so many of us forget that that's a gift. And when was the last time you thanked God for the gift that you paid nothing for, but without which you will physically be extinguished?
So, I like to remember that that's how it all started: that God's plan for my life started with that breath of life.
Well, you've inspired me for years with your messages, and one of the questions you ask-you've asked millions of people this question, and you ask it in your book, too: you know, what is your legacy, or even better, what is your impact going to be?
So, if someone's listening to this podcast 50 years from now, you know, we're both in heaven having a great time. What is it? You want to be remembered by. You know, it's the old, what do you want on your tombstone, right? The dash in between the dates.
What is it that you, your legacy, with the school, all of that? What is like that, that thing that you want people to most hold on to? How would you answer that? I'll tell you how I'd answer that. I shook the hands of 1700 graduates last week at four different ceremonies.
And these students, as they came across the stage and They received their diploma and they shook my hand and took a picture with me. They said things in my ear. And it was beautiful things. And the one Tall guy like you, big athletic guy, looked at me and said, and they only have two or three seconds with me because they were moving like this. looked at me and said, You inspire me.
You inspire me. Then he walked away. and that resonated in my heart. Wow, all I want. is that God would use me as a vessel.
to inspire others. to lift their souls up. to higher standards of living and to make sure, and by that I don't mean monetary or physical, I mean spiritual and emotional, so that we can be examples for others.
So all I want is someone to say, You know, he inspired me. And because of that inspiration, I was able to do this, or I was able to help that, or I was able to be a faithful. faithful disciple in my own existence. Truth top line. Yeah.
