Cedarville Magazine Spring 2019

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE Chapel is the heartbeat of a Christian university. Visit Cedarville at 10 a.m. on any weekday, and you’ll see our heart beating strong. You’ll join a student body coming together to worship King Jesus and to learn from His Word. You’ll experience 50 minutes filled with life, laughter, faith, songs, tears, power, wisdom, community, and Scripture. Other Christian universities may have allowed chapel to fade from the priority of the busy campus schedule. We have determined to maintain our commitment to a daily gathering required for all undergraduate students. Chapel is the pivot on which each of our students’ 1,000 days on our campus turns. This is the place where we remember who we are as the people of God, joining together to praise Him and learn from His Word, and to build each other up in the faith. What happens in chapel each day becomes the common thread in conversations that take place in the dining hall, or in discipleship groups, or in the locker room before practices or games. It sets the tone for life at Cedarville. And it’s a life-changing time. You’ll read in the pages of this issue of Cedarville Magazine how chapel became a turning point for our alumni, moving them to surrender their relationships, their futures, and their plans to God’s will, trusting that He is the good Father for whom there is no sacrifice too great. This is the time when future preachers of the Gospel receive experience delivering expository messages to their peers. And before they ever arrive on the platform, they have been prepared for this role through mentoring and discipleship by faculty and staff. This is the place where we emphasize, as I have during my series on Ephesians called ID: In Christ, that our ultimate value and worth come not from our achievements, our careers, or the estimation of others, but from what Scripture says about those united with Christ. No longer forsaken, we are chosen. No longer orphaned, we are adopted. No longer guilty, we are forgiven. No longer enslaved, we are redeemed. No longer rejected, we are accepted. No longer despised, we are loved. We must counter the lies of the devil with the truth of the Gospel. I pray that as you read this spring issue of Cedarville Magazine , you will be reminded of the impact of chapel on your own life, or prompted to pray at 9:55 a.m. each weekday for life transformation for our students during those remarkable moments we share together. I welcome you to join us for chapel in person or via livestream at cedarville.edu/chapel and see God at work. In Christ, Thomas White, President cedarville.edu/president @DrThomasWhite facebook.com/DrThomasWhite instagram.com/drthomaswhite/ linkedin.com/in/jthomaswhite Subscribe at drthomaswhite.com