Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2019

Founders Hall is the first home of Cedarville College chapel.According to the 1895–96 Cedarville College catalog, the chapel was located on the first floor. In 1953, after the merger with the Baptist Bible Institute, chapel is held on the second floor. Alford Auditorium , previously the gymnasium, becomes Cedarville’s new chapel after the construction of the new gym/student center, which is today Tyler Digital Communication Center.As student population grows, two chapel services are held daily. Milner Chapel was originally renovated to serve as a biology lab. It was home to chapel beginning fall 1955.After chapel is moved to Alford Auditorium, the vacant space is converted into the campus bookstore and now serves as the History and Government Center. 1955 1895 1963 CHANGING CHAPEL determines the future of the institution. “The heartbeat of every Christian college is what happens in chapel,” he said. MONDAY MORNING It was Dixon who set aside Monday as the President’s day in chapel. He then arranged for a wide variety of speakers to minister Tuesday through Thursday, while Friday was set aside for student chapel, as well as faculty and department meetings. In addition to his dynamic preaching, multiple generations of Cedarville students remember with fondness Dixon’s frequent admonition to stamp everything they did with quality. He frequently closed the chapel program with his favorite hymn, Christ Is All I Need . The campus relived that experience leading up to Cedarville’s 2018 homecoming weekend, when that beloved song was played once more at chapel when Dixon spoke. The presidency of Bill Brown continued the chapel emphasis. Monday remained as the president’s day, and Brown spoke on a regular basis. Brown came to Cedarville from the academic community and frequently spoke of the value of chapel in the educational process, stressing in particular a Christian worldview. Few who experienced Brown’s emphasis on worldview will fail to recall his use of pop culture to call attention to the spiritual needs of a secular culture or the President’s desire to have the student body pray for members of that culture, as Brown sought to reach them with the Gospel. By the time Thomas White was chosen to be President of Cedarville University in July 2013, the chapel hour was so deeply embedded in the Cedarville culture that it influenced the calling of the new President. White describes himself as “a preacher who serves as a university president.” He stated, “I was called to preach. I don’t think I would be at Cedarville without the opportunities to preach provided by chapel.”