June 2009

Transcript of Video Message

Hello Biola Community,

It’s officially summer time at Biola and the campus appears very quiet without our students. This year’s commencement services saw the largest class of students, graduating a combined total of 880. And what an accomplishment for those students and for Biola University as well. Over 9,000 guests attended May’s commencement services. And, I've got to tell you it’s one of my favorite times of the year when those graduates come by the stage and I have a chance to shake their hand and present them with their diploma. The excitement in their eyes is just really a remarkable thing.

During Commencement, a historic figure from Biola's past made a very special appearance -- the inimitable Biola Egg. Having been abandoned outside my office door earlier in that week, I had the pleasure of introducing the Biola Egg, this 300 plus pound ball of concrete, during Saturday’s graduation. The tradition of the Biola Egg began some 40 years ago when Biola board member, Robert Welch, donated a concrete wrecking ball to the senior class. And, as many of you know, the idea was for each senior class to pass it on to the succeeding class. But, that very first night of the egg’s existence here at Biola, this treasure was snatched by a group of students and a different tradition was born. Sometime during its first appearance at this May’s Commencement, the Egg disappeared! And so, the tradition lives on!

Also, at the end of the year, I had a chance to listen to the Epsilon Kappa Epsilon induction service right in Calvary Chapel. And, I listened as students, one after another, their testimony was given by faculty members who care for them and have poured themselves into these students. One student in particular tagged me on a Facebook page not long after that with a photo that was taken that night, his name is Peter Van Elswyk.

And I think of his professsor, Gregg TenElshof, who's chair of our philosophy department, he spoke of Peter’s intellectual sharpness, his ability to synthesize and integrate ideas quickly, and his quality scholarship in representing Biola at philosophy conferences and even winning the “best paper” award. But he also spoke about Peter’s character and his personality, and how he displays a genuine seeking of wonder, and how his conversations are more like a joint adventure than an occasion to be told you are wrong.

This is also a young man who went through a transformation at Biola, like so many other of our students, who arrived as a freshman struggling with a gap between his faith and his intellect, but through his professors’ combination of academic rigor and spiritual nurturing, Peter graduated as a person confident in his faith and able to articulate it, with confidence but also with humility.

Professors like Dr. Ten Elshof are pouring themselves into Biola students, producing graduates with remarkable academic accomplishments and scholarly potential, accompanied by the cultivation of godly character. This is what we are about at Biola University.

At this time last year, I introduced Biola’s University Plan. June is a great time to reflect on the strategic initiatives that were put into place over a year ago and to dream big for the initiatives that we're going to work on in the new fiscal year that begins July 1 and well into years to come.

One of the strategic themes that Biola will be intentional about is fostering a community that loves the Lord and loves our neighbor by serving the needs of this world.

As a matter of fact, this September, Biola will host a Billy Graham Rapid Response Training seminar called “His Presence in Crisis.” This seminar is free for the Biola community and anyone else interested in learning how to appropriately share the love of Christ to people in crisis either affected by a man-made or natural disaster.

So, continue to stand with us during these summer months. It's a great time for us to be refreshed, to think about where we've been and where we're going and I can't help but marvel at all God is doing here at Biola University, and I can't help but express my thanks and gratitude to all of you. God bless you, and thank you so much.