Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2017

a tennis center, so they’d go there. Some of the team would stay with us, along with their coach, Dr. Murdoch. He’s a special guy. It helped to meet other people involved in athletics.” The last kid can sometimes be the maverick, choosing to go his own way. But for Mike Green, the experience and example of his siblings made his college choice extremely easy. “I trusted my brothers and sister implicitly,” he said. “If it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me. I never even considered another school.” And it worked out pretty well for Mike. He met his wife, Missy (Hall) ’88, his second week on campus. “We dated for the rest of my freshman, sophomore, and junior years, then we married between junior and senior year,” he said. “We graduated as a married couple. A Christian college is a great place to meet your mate.” He graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting and is a partner with his brother Alan in their Lakeland-based construction company, Green Construction. For some students, making their own way apart from family is one goal of the college experience. Not so for Sandy, who earned her bachelor's degree in education and teaches third grade at Lakeland Christian School. “My cousin Brian Green ’85 was attending at the same time, and his unit in Lawlor and my unit in Printy really hung out together,” she said, noting the halls housed other class years besides freshmen then. “It was great just having that person I could call and say, ‘What time are you having lunch today?’” Older brother Alan, and his wife, Donna (Dennis) ’82, who married between sophomore and junior year, lived in a home near campus. “I would go to their house and take my friends along,” Sandy said. “Being that far away from home, it meant a lot to have someone familiar nearby. I had friends, too, but I loved having family there.” For all the Green siblings, and their extended family, Cedarville’s unwavering commitment to integrating Scripture in every discipline has been a strong pull. “Academics are always important, but you can get that at many good universities,” Dan said. “That biblical integration was critical, and we wanted to put our kids in that environment, too.” “Everybody that graduates from Cedarville has that Bible minor,” added Alan. “That’s a great foundation for kids to understand and own their faith. And that’s not just a hope; that’s an expectation based on history. I came out of Cedarville owning my faith. “It goes beyond career. We know that God’s going to direct their careers, but that biblical worldview goes with them throughout their entire lives.” And there are the people who have impacted the Greens. “To be around other Christians, that’s a good place to cultivate those relationships with people of like mind,” Dan said. “This saying created a couple years ago — friends for life — I believe that. Some of our closest friends went to school with us, and our kids grew up with their kids, and then we’ll rendezvous back at school because their kids chose Cedarville as well.” What about the next Green wave — the grandkids? Will Cedarville roots reach into their generation? “My kids are 7 and 9, and I’d like to see them go there,” noted Dan’s oldest son, Matt ’05, who earned a bachelor's degree in accounting and is CFO at Lakeland Christian School. “I know it’s a great environment for kids to grow into adults and chew on different ideas while also being in a familiar place. I know how important my time at Cedarville was in shaping me and who I am in Christ. “Cedarville is so ingrained in who we are as Greens,” he continued. “As I look to the future, to know there is this solid school, a place that we can all look back on and see how Cedarville has shaped our family through the lens of the Gospel. Cedarville is part of our family’s story.” Clem Boyd is Managing Editor of Cedarville Magazine . The Green family has ties to Cedarville that start in 1953, when their uncle first attended. Here’s a list of all the Green connections: § § Ray Erickson ’57 § § Mark Warren ’79 § § Sharon (Green) Warren ’79 § § Dan Green ’80 § § Julie (Hutchins) Green ’81 § § Alan Green ’82 § § Donna (Dennis) Green ’82 § § Barry Hutchins ’83 § § Brian Green ’83 § § Rose Mary (Rasmusson) Hutchins ’84 § § Steve Erickson ’85 § § Sandy (Green) Nilius ’86 § § Mike Green ’88 § § Missy (Hall) Green ’88 § § Kelly (Issakainen) Green ’05, M.Ed. ’15 § § Matt Green ’05 § § Joel Green ’07 § § Terri (Schenk) Green ’08 § § Nicole Green ’09 § § Tim Green ’11 § § Alison (Scharold) Green ’12 § § Jenna (Green) Berkey ’13 § § Bethany Green ’14 § § Stephen Green ’17 § § Kaylee (Andreas) Green ’18 § § David Green ’19 § § Abigail Nilius ’19 Cedarville Magazine | 19