LCU Commencement speaker Pioneer Bible Translator’s President Dr. Greg Pruett challenges “Never say no to God again”

[May 08, 2018] 

LINCOLN 

On Saturday, May 5, 2018, Lincoln Christian University’s Earl C. Hargrove Chapel was filled with many friends and family of graduates for the 73rd annual Commencement Ceremonies. At the 10 a.m. ceremony, 91 undergraduate degrees were conferred and at the 1 p.m. ceremony, 93 graduate degrees and six doctorate degrees were conferred.

Alumnus Ray Jewell offered the invocation. Jewell said, “We look forward to the calling you have placed upon each of the graduates’ lives. We thank you for consecrating this day and for the achievements, but more importantly, the attitude of service that this class exhibits. We look forward to the day when you call us home and say, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servants.’”

A time of worship.

Both ceremonies began with a time of worship followed by President Don Green welcoming friends and family of graduates, alumni from the class of 1968 celebrating their 50th reunion, and the distinguished graduates of the class of 2018.

Some members of the class of 1968

Green asked family members of graduates to stand and be recognized for supporting the students during their schooling.

President Don Green welcomes everyone. 

President Green congratulated the class of 2018 and said, "We are excited to see what God is going to accomplish through you as you join the ranks of 16,000 Lincoln leaders who have studied here and gone on to settle in every state and have served in more than 165 different countries around the world.”

Green told the graduates, “We are excited to see what God is going to accomplish through you as you leave this campus, one of our offsite campuses or our online community. What we want you to know is that you are not leaving our community because we are family. The combination that brought us together four, five, six, or more years ago still binds us together as we seek to fill God's mission in the world. Praise God you are leaving on a mission and that is God’s mission."

Green said in a 2017 publication of InterVarsity Press, the article Restoring the Soul of the University offers this observation, “over the past few decades, critics of American higher education have used prophetic and even Apocalyptic language to describe the loss of something they believe should be there among these universities, but no longer exists.”

The publication describes American universities as “being in crisis, ruins, decline, collapsing; often referring to some sort of spiritual core the university has lost.” Some authors refer to “the funeral dirge there.”

Green said, one writer goes so far as to say universities are producing excellence without a soul. Certain critics wonder if American universities have gained the whole world, but lost their soul in the process.

One Harvard professor said when a university loses its soul, it neglects its core mission. While universities succeed at being repositories of knowledge, one part of their mission they have forgotten. . .The fundamental job of undergraduate education is to turn 18 and 19 year olds in 21 and 22-year-olds, to help them grow up, to learn who they are, to serve a larger purpose, and to leave college as better human beings.

Green said, “I firmly believe your educational experience at Lincoln Christian University has helped you find a larger purpose for your life and that you are leaving here better human beings and Christians. As you leave this transformational community, rest assured that you have taken a different course, but be confident that you are equipped to make a better world. I congratulate you and God bless you.”

Dr. Greg Pruett gives the keynote address.

Green then introduced keynote speaker Dr. Greg Pruett. Dr. Pruett has been President of the Pioneer Bible Translators based in Dallas, Texas since January 2007. Before he was president of PBT, he and his wife Rebecca and their three children lived in West Africa for more than twelve years.

While the Pruetts were there, they completed a translation of the entire Bible into the Yalunka language and shared Christ’s love with people who traditionally follow the Q’uran. Pruett still oversees church-planting efforts among the Yalunka through cell phone contact with church leadership and yearly visits to West Africa.

Green said Pioneer Bible Translators began on Lincoln’s campus in 1976. Through the years, Lincoln leaders have served with the organization as Bible translators, evangelists, church planters, support personnel, and members of the board of directors. It is one of the greatest movement’s in history and is transforming God’s word in many languages. PBT has translated for 42 million people in 84 languages in 18 countries.

Dr. Pruett’s message at both ceremonies was “Never say no to God again.” Pruett said it was a privilege to be in Lincoln where so much of Pioneer Bible Translators has happened.

As he addressed the graduates, Pruett said, “You have so much to be proud of. You have accomplished so much. . .Your generation has changed the world by deciding whether or not to become a YouTuber. . .You have reached the point in the music where it says, wake up, you need to make money.”

Pruett got his Civil Engineering Degree from Texas A & M University and said he wanted to be a missionary and his wife wanted to join PBT and become a Bible translator. He did not want to join PBT and become a Bible translator, so they compromised and joined PBT.

Pruett studied how to be a missionary and minister to Muslims. Before God called him to Africa, he worked on sound walls and designed sewer systems in California in his role as an engineer. Pruett said, “My life could have been about making America flush great again.”

Pruett took classes and graduated with a specialization in Bible translation but said he didn’t know that was his call. Pruett would have missed his purpose if not listening to his wife. When they went to West Africa, Pruett decided his spiritual gift was leadership and soon Pioneer Bible Translators contacted him about being president.

Pruett said, “I had no idea what God had in mind for my life and here is my point. God is preparing you right now for a purpose and you don’t know what it is. This is the moment of your life to begin discovering your purpose.”

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Pruett said, You don’t see the destination, you just the next good work that you are prepared to do. Pray and listen and act on good works.

Pruett said, “God made you perfectly suited for a purpose. What are you for? Why did God create you? Your purpose is related to your strengths.” He asked, “What is it that is your strength? Do that for a living. Consider your purpose and strength.”

Pruett asked graduates, What would your life be like if you never said no to God again and only had faith and no fear? Think about your choices. Are they consistent with your God obeying purpose? Are you marrying a spouse that will contribute to God’s purpose in your life? Are you choosing a career that is consistent with God’s purpose?

Pruett said, when we graduated it was time to find dreams and make them a reality. Some had dreams of missions, church planting, or starting a non-profit. Instead they got jobs, took out loans, bought houses and cars, and did not pursue their dreams. That might be okay, but it might lead to less satisfying work.

Steve Jobs at a Stanford graduation ceremony said, “The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Pruett said that to become an inspired person, you have to make inspiring choices. You have to face that thing that scares you. In order to do something great, you must lean into anxiety. Someday, you are going to leave a legacy.

Pruett asked, “Wouldn’t it be incredible to leave behind a legacy of eternal impact?” Whatever you do, the only two things that last forever are the word of God and the souls of human beings. If you invest your whole life in connecting those two, you will have eternal impact and leave behind a legacy that lasts forever.

We all want to make a difference and change the world, but if you think about it, we are small and insignificant. We can only have an affect with God.

Jesus said in John 14:12, “I tell you the truth. Anyone who believes in me. Anyone who has faith in me will do the things that I will do.

Whatever you ask in my name, I will do.”

Pruett said God and his word are your great source of power to make a difference in this world, so read your Bible every day. Pray and listen to God for guidance, find something to obey, and marching orders. When you pray to God for power and boldness, you can make an impact with Jesus’ power. Lead by example.

Pruett said there was a fire in his African village in 2004. As it kept burning, Pruett realized he had hundreds of gallons of water in his nearby house. He said people in the village needed to get water, but no one was listening and thought putting out the fire was impossible. Finally, someone followed him and got a bucket and soon others helped get water and dump buckets of water on the fire. The water ran out, but the fire was out. They became a community. No one had ever put out a fire in that village.

Pruett said people will tell you you are small and you can’t make a difference, but never underestimate the power of one guy with a bucket if you lead by example. We need someone to come and do something in our country and our world.

Pruett told the graduates, “For such a time as this, you were born. This is your moment, so pick up your bucket and lead. Learn your purpose. Serve from your strengths. Never say no to God again. Think about your choices. Read your Bible and pray every day for marching orders, and then take up your bucket and lead.”

After the message, Dr. Peter Verkruyse handed out degrees to each graduate individually. As graduates crossed the stage, Verkruyse mentioned each student’s plans and special awards or honors.

As graduates exited the stage, Lynn Laughlin, Special Assistant to the President and Associate Vice President of Alumni Services, presented graduates with an alumni pin, a first-year membership card, and a letter from the Alumni Association.

To remind seminary graduates of their call to serve, each graduate is presented with a towel to "to wash the feet of the world" The other graduate students receive a bookmark that says, "live your mission," reminding them to live their mission in the world."

Bill Boyce gives the benediction.

At the undergraduate ceremony, alumnus Bill Boyce led the benediction thanking God for LCU and its impact on many lives and for answering prayers to send workers into the harvest. He prayed that God would guide graduates, give them wisdom and understanding and help them boldly proclaim the gospel.

The message to the graduate and seminary students in the ceremony was to never say no to God again, pray to God for marching orders, and lead by example.

[Angela Reiners]