Becoming Something with Jonathan Pokluda

Episode 380: Who Are You Becoming in College? | feat. Josh Rutledge

July 13, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the first nine days of college, Josh Rutledge slept with multiple women, used drugs, and got drunk. Lying in his dorm bed that night, praying as he always had, he started weeping uncontrollably. When he confessed everything to a fellow Christian the next day, the response was: “That’s just college. That’s just what you do. You kind of get right with God afterwards.” That moment became a fork in the road—and a warning about how easily the church itself can collude with the lie that college is a consequence-free zone.

The Real Question College Asks

Rutledge, who works in spiritual formation at Liberty University, argues that the dominant question posed to high school seniors—“What are you going to do with your life?”—is actually the secondary question. The primary one is: “Who are you going to become?” That shift matters because it reframes college not as a four-year holding pattern or a party pass, but as a season of intense formation. “Spiritual formation,” he says, “is just asking the question, what are you becoming based on the disciplines in your life, what you're doing, who you're around?” Most students do not realize they are being formed every day, whether they choose to attend to it or not.

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What you'll learn

1 (06:32) **Spiritual Formation as the Core Question of College** - Josh Rutledge, Assistant to the Regional Director at Liberty University, argues the most important question for a college student isn't "what will you do?" but "who will you become?"
2 (08:00) **The Myth of Consequence-Free College Years** - JP and Josh dismantle the cultural lie that college is a "free pass" for bad behavior with no lasting penalties.
3 (09:41) **JP's Personal Story: The First Nine Days** - JP shares his own painful college experience of rapid moral failure and the devastating response he received when he sought help.
4 (12:15) **The Hidden Cost: Depression and Suicide Ideation** - Josh and JP discuss the real, hidden aftermath of those "first nine days" that the world never shows on social media.
5 (13:35) **The Invitation: College as a Season of Deep Formation** - The conversation pivots to the positive vision: college can be the most formative season for your faith, not just something to survive.
6 (15:25) **The "College Athlete" Model of Faith** - Josh introduces a powerful metaphor: your faith should be like a college athlete's sport—a defining, all-consuming "other thing" alongside your academics.
7 (17:32) **The "Concrete is Wet" Moment** - Josh explains why college is a uniquely critical time for forming lifelong habits of faithfulness.

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Show Notes

In this episode we sit down with Josh Rutledge from Liberty University to talk about what spiritual formation actually looks like in the college years — and why the decisions you make at 19 can shape who you are for decades. JP opens up about his own first nine days of college and the fork in the road that followed, and Josh shares why this generation of students may be more spiritually hungry than any before them. If you're in college, heading there, or wish you could go back and do it differently, this one's for you!