Cedarville Magazine, Summer 2019

32 | Cedarville Magazine Cedarville Magazine 251 N. Main St., Cedarville, OH 45314 1-888-CEDARVILLE | magazine@cedarville.edu cedarville.edu/magazine Since 1887, Cedarville University has been educating students for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ. From one small administration building to our current 441-acre campus, God has always provided for whatever the “challenge” that has been before us. The Board of Trustees has prayerfully spent the last year dreaming and praying about the next steps for Cedarville University. We have watched God bless us with steady numerical growth over the last four years. The University has outgrown its facilities and needs to find solutions. Chapel is crowded, the dining hall is full, residence halls are at capacity, and classrooms need to be updated and expanded. We want to make sure that the “1,000 days” students spend on our campus are filled with affordable, yet excellent, programs in high-quality facilities. In light of that, the Trustees believe God is leading us to move forward with a 10-year Campus Master Plan that will allow us to keep transforming lives for generations to come. In fact, we are hoping to secure a large part of the funding for these priorities within the next five years. The needs of our growing student body are that urgent. As a pastor, a plan of this magnitude seems overwhelming. Achieving this plan is almost beyond my comprehension, except that God has prompted the hearts of our administration and Trustees to trust “Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20 CSB). The vision of how God can transform students in the 1,000 days they are on the campus of Cedarville University has seized us. The Trustees serve God in businesses, in churches, and in ministries, and we are united in our commitment to sacrifice equally to see this vision become a reality. That does not mean we will give equal gifts, but it does mean that we will make equal sacrifices. And all of our gifts are important. In fact, Jesus singled out the smallest of gifts by the widow not because of its size, but because of the sacrifice behind it (Luke 21:1–4). In order to achieve this bold plan, we are praying that God would raise up thousands of people who will prayerfully make a sacrificial gift toward this vision. We need a few large gifts and many smaller gifts to make this dream a reality. If every alumnus and like-minded friend of the University would partner with us, we could see this miracle happen in just a few years! Let’s set a record not just in the total amount that we give, but in the number of people who participate. Let’s encourage our former classmates to get involved. Let’s invest in something that will last for eternity. Let’s prayerfully consider giving the largest gift we have ever given to Cedarville! Now your pastor is expecting that you will not divert your support from your local church to this project! This is an “over and above,” sacrificial kind of gift. But how awesome is it that we could be a part of this life-transforming miracle? Pastor Chip Bernhard ’77 is Lead Pastor of Spring Creek Church and a Cedarville Trustee. Making the Vision Reality IN CLOSING