Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2015

raised money and built the Dixon Ministry Center, which houses the Jeremiah Chapel. As the new facility opened in 1996, Dixon signaled the transition to the new chapel with students carrying hymnals from the old building into the new. Wi l li am Brown cont inued the traditional emphasis on chapel by speaking every Monday, training his beloved students to think with a biblical worldview. He dismissed students each day with the memorable, “Have an awesome day in Christ.” Through four different buildings and four different presidents in the last 60 years, alumni, students, faculty, and staff will all testify to the importance and centrality of chapel. This August at the annual Fall Bible Conference, nearly 100 students professed faith in Christ while more than 90 answered a call to ministry. Whether professing faith, repenting of sin, answering the call to ministry, or making other spiritual decisions, students have been significantly impacted by their chapel experience. STONE OF REMEMBRANCE The summer of 2016 will be the 20- year anniversary of the Jeremiah Chapel in the Dixon Ministry Center. While this facility has served Cedarville well, the time has come for renovation. The life expectancy of the pews has expired, while the color of the carpet and pattern on the fabric testify to the style of a time gone by. Additionally, our video and sound equipment is greatly out of date. Moreover, the student body has grown from 2,509 in 1996 to 3,711 in the fall of 2015, thus requiring additional space through expanding the auditorium into one of the classrooms along the back. Yet, for all the expanding, updating, and renovating, the foundation for chapel remains the Word of God, and the message of chapel is still the Testimony of Jesus Christ. As we renovate every area of the chapel — the sound, video, carpet, seating, paint, rails, lights, and stage — we ask for your help. We want to provide an opportunity for alumni and friends of the University to invest in the most important part of Cedarville — to invest in eternity for generations to come. We are also raising money for this renovation because we don’t want these upgrades to be financed in any way through student tuition or fees. Your support will provide a state-of-the-art chapel facility that does not depend at all on current students’ funds. After the Israelites had finally crossed over the Jordan River in Joshua 4, the Lord commanded Joshua to take 12 representatives from the tribes of Israel and have them construct a memorial out of 12 stones from the Jordan. This memorial was to serve as a reminder to future generations of God’s faithfulness to His people and His promises, signaled by the Jordan’s waters drying up as the Ark of the Covenant passed over. Establishing a memorial can serve as a reminder to those to come of God’s faithfulness, just as it was for the people of Israel. As part of our chapel renovation, we invite you to raise up your own “stone of remembrance” through placing a plaque on a seat in chapel, signifying all that God has done in this place, and thereby reminding future students of God’s faithfulness to Cedarville University throughout its 127- year history. For a gift of $250 dollars or more, we will place a plaque of remembrance on a seat in the renovated chapel. On this plaque, we will inscribe a Bible reference of your choice, along with your initials, and your year of graduation (if applicable). Some may choose only the Bible reference, which can be a life verse, something you heard in chapel, or a special verse representing a time when God worked in your life. The seats will be randomly assigned to avoid any appearance of violating James 2 and valuing one area over another, and we will map out where each plaque is placed. Imagine Whether professing faith, repenting of sin, answering the call to ministry, or making other spiritual decisions, students have been significantly impacted by their chapel experience. William Brown, President of Cedarville University from 2003 to 2013. Chapel renderings courtesy of Worship Space Advisors Cedarville Magazine | 35