From transfer to trailblazer, Liberty University graduate Jacob Bull is on a mission to help veterans

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many people to make hard life decisions, including Liberty University senior Jacob Bull, who left his former college in New York due to vaccine mandates and transferred to Liberty to begin his journey as a Champion for Christ.

Bull said his transition to Liberty was “divine providence.” But as a new student on campus, he had no idea how God would use him to make a difference in the lives of veterans, the Liberty community, and on university campuses across the nation.

His best friend introduced him to Liberty, and he was attracted to the fact that not only did the university open for in-person classes in the Fall of 2020 when many other schools did not, but it also didn’t require students to take COVID vaccines.

Bull was also able to continue his athletic pursuits at Liberty. The Lancaster, N.Y., native made his debut on Liberty’s men’s Division III hockey team for the 2022-23 season.

Bull chose to pursue a B.S. in Government — Politics and Policy, knowing this program could help him become a servant leader in the political realm.

“I always wanted to help people, and I’ve always been a volunteer growing up,” he said. “I wanted to make a tangible change for our country, and I wanted to do it in politics. And if you do government the right way, you can help a lot of people.”

This desire to help others grew deeper during his junior year, when he facilitated Liberty’s inaugural Murph Challenge, a fully student-led event fundraiser for the National Center for Healthy Veterans, an area nonprofit that offers housing, wellness workshops, faith-based counseling, and other programs to veterans. The event was inspired by the CrossFit Murph Challenge, a workout created to honor the sacrifice of fallen Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy that is held in different locations across the nation. The 2023 and 2024 Liberty Murph Challenges brought in hundreds of attendees who participated in a variety of endurance and strength events, including mile runs, pushups, and body squats.

During Bull’s junior and senior years as president of the Murph Challenge, his teams raised $85,000 for the center, and the event has become a Liberty tradition.

“I’ve been drawn to the warrior ethos,” Bull said, noting that he completed a 22-mile run on his 22nd birthday, April 29. “There’s something gritty about our veterans and about our nation’s heroes that I just love. And I want to help them to the best of my ability.”

The success of back-to-back Murph Challenges prompted Bull to create a new nonprofit called Never Surrender USA (NSUSA) last year, to help other campuses around the country organize fundraisers similar to the Murph Challenge. The nonprofit exists to restore physical fitness excellence to the youth of America by empowering young people to lead impact fitness events that uplift U.S. military veterans and U.S. armed forces.

NSUSA has organized Murph Challenges and 5K runs on the campuses of Texas A&M, UNCW, and the University of Tennessee to raise money for Mighty Oaks Foundation, a faith-based recovery program led by former Recon Marine and former professional MMA fighter Chad Robichaux.

Bull said the Air Force Academy, Miami University, Pepperdine, and many other institutions have requested his assistance to launch their own Murph Challenges and veteran-related fundraisers.

“There’s so many schools that want to have these types of events on their college campuses,” Bull said. “We just have to find the resources to do it, but it’s looking really well for us.”

“I want to give all the credit to God because it was God who pulled all those strings for us,” he added. “I was just a vessel that was able to step into what He was calling me to do. That’s a badge of honor. It’s really cool to see that we are able to make an impact at Liberty but also at other places.”

Bull joined the over 30,000 graduates honored during Liberty’s 52nd Commencement. And while he is finished with his undergraduate degree, his time at Liberty will continue in the fall. He plans to earn his Juris Doctor before joining the military as a Marine Corps JAG (Judge Advocate General) officer.

“I just love my country, and I think there’s a really good opportunity we have, getting a Christian education, to use that within the military and do things I’m really passionate about, which are helping our veterans and fighting for those who fight for us,” he said.

Bull said he has grown in his faith during his time at Liberty, and if COVID never happened he would not have found his way to Liberty.

“I was falling into worldly temptations going to a secular college. I had no strong faith background. Liberty just transformed my life. … Liberty taught me that there’s more to life than the prestige of getting a 4.0 GPA. There’s more to life than your career,” he said. “The spiritual life at Liberty is like nowhere anywhere in the nation. People at Liberty genuinely care about you, and I think that’s one of the things that I will always carry with me as a Liberty Flame. And I can always come back to this place (and know) that this was the spot where I was trained to become a Champion for Christ.”