Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2015

as additional contributing factors. Almost 25 percent of our alumni continue to listen to chapel on the radio or over the Internet. 1 MurrayMurdoch indicated in Cedarville College: A Century of Commitment that the importance placed on chapel began at the top. James T. Jeremiah added a chapel to the campus landscape in 1976 as the center for spiritual development. A former pastor and always a minister of the Gospel, Jeremiah gave great emphasis to chapel, so much so that our current facility still bears his name. Near the completion of the chapel, he engaged students in a walkathon to raise the necessary funds to purchase pews for the building. 2 When evangelist Paul Dixon became President, the chapel maintained its central importance. Murdoch wrote, “One of Dixon’s first priorities as President was the chapel service. He viewed this as the primary responsibility for a Christian college president.” 3 Dixon stated, “Historically the direction you give the chapel ministry determines the future of the institution.The heartbeat of every Christian college is what happens in chapel.” 4 Dixon James T. Jeremiah, Cedarville University President from 1954 to 1978, speaking in the nearly completed chapel, then at Apple Technology Resource Center. Paul Dixon, Cedarville University President from 1978 to 2003, broadcasts live on radio while students carry hymnals to the new James T. Jeremiah Chapel. 34 | Cedarville Magazine