Mitt Romney to Inspire Liberty students to do...what?

Gov. Mitt Romney to deliver 2012 Commencement address

April 19, 2012 : Liberty University News Service

Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. announced today that Gov. Mitt Romney will address Liberty University graduates at the 2012 Commencement ceremony to be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 12, at Arthur L. Williams Stadium.

“We are delighted that Governor Romney will join us to celebrate Commencement with Liberty’s 2012 graduates," said Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. "This will be a historic event for Liberty University reminiscent of the visits of Governor, and then presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan to Liberty’s campus in 1980 and of President George H.W. Bush who spoke at Liberty’s 1990 Commencement ceremony.”

This will be Governor Romney’s first appearance at Liberty University. Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. will also be making remarks during the ceremony.

Liberty University's 39th Commencement will celebrate the achievement of more than 14,000 graduates with more than 34,000 guests expected to attend. The ceremony will also be broadcast by streaming video to the families of Liberty’s 70,000+ online students around the world.

Graduation day at Liberty University. A day of excitement, accomplishment and finality. As the graduation ceremony begins, these students will take in their final address from Liberty before they are sent out into the world.

Traditionally the graduation speaker's role is implore and inspire these students once more to carry out the vision that has been instilled in them by their university. Let's take a look at a few bullet points of Liberty's mission and vision statement, shall we?

Liberty University will:

4.  Promote the synthesis of academic knowledge and Christian worldview in order that there might be a maturing of spiritual, intellectual, social and physical value-driven behavior.

8.  Encourage a commitment to the Christian life, one of personal integrity, sensitivity to the needs of others, social responsibility and active communication of the Christian faith, and, as it is lived out, a life that leads people to Jesus Christ as the Lord of the universe and their own personal Savior.

How can a Mormon bishop be called on to inspire students to commit to a Christian worldview? How can a man who in his political career has stood for abortion and gay rights be called upon to implore students to social responsibility? And how can a current presidential candidate who continues to isolate a broad base of his party - conservative evangelicals - urge students to be sensitive to the needs of others? 

I still remember the great spiritual truths I was encouraged with during my time at Trinity and their incorporation into my graduation ceremony. I remember thinking how blessed I was to be graduating from a place that recognized and celebrated my faith. 

I can't help but think that some aspect of that celebration will be lost at Liberty on graduation day. To listen to an individual who does not share their faith, who is not imploring them to serve the same God, and who does not live up to the same moral standards these students are striving for is not fair to the graduates or their families and friends who have come to celebrate along with them. I can guarantee you Rick Santorum would never be asked to speak at Brigham Young University.

Whether Liberty saw this as a great opportunity to hear from a presidential candidate or an opportunity for some publicity, they need to consider what final message they want to leave with their students and what they want their students to exemplify when they walk out the doors. 

Credit where credit is due: 

http://www.liberty.edu/aboutliberty/index.cfm?PID=6899

http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=53438

Much of what I post on this blog will inevitably be the reality of how far our culture has fallen from God's truth. 

Today instead I'd like to celebrate an individual exemplifying God's truth on a huge stage. 

Worship comes to American Idol: 

As I wrote on facebook yesterday: 

"In case you've missed it, there has been a young man on American Idol this season boldly proclaiming his faith in Christ week after week in his interviews and on stage.Tonight he was voted off. When given the opportunity to sing a final song, he promptly got down on his knees and worshiped. It was an incredible moment to watch. 

Praise God for people like Colton Dixon not shying away from opportunities to live out their faith on big stages."

Christians who authentically live out their lives of faith on public stages inevitably seem to garner fascination and often become a sort of phenomenon. Unbelievers seem so surprised that individuals could actually life out this lifestyle consistently that they find it hard to believe. Often this seems to set celebrity Christians up for failure, as they eventually will in some way disappoint, as the expectation becomes perfection. 

My favorite moment of last night was not Colton's moment of worship, but his response to why he thought he'd been kicked off. His response was to apologize to the judges for comments he'd made after his performance the previous night about not caring what they had to say. He quickly stated that these statements were not in line with who he was, and that an apology was due. 

Perhaps even more powerful a testimony than a perfect seeming life is the ability of a well known believer to admit his shortcomings and publicly, voluntarily and sincerely rectify them. Shall we sin all the more so that grace may about? certainly not. But we should be honest and vulnerable as we show unbelievers what grace and a relationship with Christ truly mean. 

Forgive the poor quality, but I hope this video gives just a glimpse of what millions experienced last night: 

No one may ever read this...


and that's ok. Although I hope that eventually people will. Maybe once I get better at this.


This blog was used over 2 years ago to update my supporters while I was in Rwanda. Since then it has sat vacant, visited probably only by me on occasion to revisit my experiences there. 


God is teaching me a lot of things that I want to share and work out through writing. As I noticed myself more and more often posting lengthy monologues about these issues on Facebook, I thought perhaps I should transfer these paragraphs back to a blog. 


I contemplated starting a new blog, but as a testament to where I've been and how God has changed me, I decided to simply add to what's already here. 


I hope to use this page as a storehouse for my thoughts and the repeated thoughts of others on  God's truth applied to our culture, political landscape and social justice issues. That is the plan..we'll see where it goes...