LCU ceremonies honor both 2020 and 2021 graduates

[May 14, 2021]  On a cool and breezy Saturday, May 8, 2021, Lincoln Christian University held ceremonies for graduates. Due to Covid-19, the events were held out of doors allowing more people to attend. Because there was no ceremony last year due to the pandemic, both the 75th and 76th LCU/LCS Commencement Ceremonies were held this year.

At the morning ceremony for the 2020 graduates, 50 undergraduate degrees, 32 graduate degrees and 2 doctorate degrees were conferred.

The afternoon ceremony for 2021 candidates drew a larger crowd. At this ceremony, 68 undergraduate degrees, 55 graduate degrees and seven doctorate degrees were conferred.

Each of the classes had many candidates not present at the ceremony who were also graduating.



The invocation at the afternoon ceremony was led by Chantell Mills.



Both ceremonies began with first year LCU President Silas McCormick welcoming friends and family of graduates. He thanked those who helped figure out a way to make the ceremonies possible. McCormick asked family members of graduates to stand and be recognized for supporting the graduates during their schooling.

Some of these graduates are the third and even fourth generation in their families to graduate from the school.

President McCormick congratulated the classes of 2020 and 2021. On behalf of the professors, he said all were excited to see where God has called the graduates and takes them in kingdom service. These graduates join thousands of Lincoln leaders who have left here on adventures in ministry.
 

Though the graduates are leaving the school, President McCormick said they will forever remain a part of this community.



Like family, President McCormick said they may disagree at times, but there will nonetheless always be a seat at the table for the graduates. The common mission that brought students and faculty together when they first came will bind them together when they leave.

President McCormick said LCU sought to offer graduates an educational experience that integrated the heart, mind and soul. This experience pointed graduates toward a commitment to lifelong service to Christ and His church in whatever context they find themselves.

For McCormick and the faculty, the hope is graduates have been forever “ruined.” These graduates should never be able to look at any aspect of the world without asking how God sees it. They should then faithfully apply a Biblical and theological framework and respond with grace and truth.

Since there was not ceremony last year when previous President Don Green was finishing his presidency, he presided over most of the ceremony for the class of 2020.

Special recognition was also given to Jim Allison, who was retiring from the faculty after over 40 years of faithful service to the school.

Special music was followed by a message from keynote speaker Dr. Ed Stetzer. Stetzer is Dean of the School of Mission, Ministry and Leadership at Wheaton College as well as Executive Director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. He also serves as teaching pastor at Highpoint Christian Church in Naperville and has written hundreds of articles and a dozen books.

Stetzer’s message for both ceremonies was “Thinking Christianly in a Divided Age,” basis on II Corinthians 5:16-17.

As Stetzer started his message he said 2020 will be remembered for the pandemic, but also so much more that will be talked about in history books. We saw political division, racial injustice, protests, violence, riots, and political brokenness.

Christians were upset with others and the world was tearing apart. Stetzer said many did not know how to respond. The year 2020 has gone five more months into 2021 and it seems like we are in the 17th month of 2020.

We find ourselves in the midst of a world very different from 2019 not just because of the pandemic. Stetzer said it appears America has gone through a cultural convulsion every 60 years or so.

We appear to be going through a cultural convulsion now with people questioning sources of authority and creating new sources of information. Stetzer said people are unsure of what it means for them living in a culture with others who have different views and ideas. Here is the world we find ourselves in.

Stetzer asked, how then shall we live as followers of Jesus in a world that is do divided?

We are not the first to live in a divided time, cultural convulsion or even a pandemic. Stetzer said in 1968, we had a similar cultural convulsion. Protests in the street would dwarf anything that happened in the last few years. Many protested the Vietnam War and with that the civil rights movement, Stetzer said the country was bitterly divided.

All this division was there in 1968, but there was also a pandemic. Stetzer said that pandemic was due to what was then controversially called the “Hong Kong Flu.” It spread around the world.

Stetzer asked, how then should we live in a divided time? It is probably the most divided time in our history.

He said scriptures point us to ways and paths forward in 2 Corinthians. Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and spoke to how they were living in the midst of their divided time.

In 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 it says, “From now on then, we don’t know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, now we no longer know him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come!”

Those who have been around the church have likely heard this verse. Stetzer said people like the part “old has passed away, the new has come” so much they put it on plaques. In Christ we are made new and born again in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Even though that verse talks about a new life, Stetzer said before that, the passage talks about a new way of looking at the world around us. Christians should have a new set of lenses or way of seeing the world tied to their life in Christ.

When Stetzer was an interim preacher at the Moody Church in Chicago, people often expressed their opinions through complaint letters. In one letter, someone said Stetzer had adjusted his glasses 74 times during the first 36 minutes of his sermon or once every 30 seconds.

The person told Stetzer that in Christian love because he thought Stetzer would be interested in knowing anything that would distract from the sermon. He knew Stetzer would want to be as effective for Christ as possible.

Having worn glasses since childhood, Stetzer said he adjusts his glasses because they are out of focus.

We live in a tumultuous world and our gospel lenses have been jostled by world events. Stetzer said we need to see the world not from a worldly perspective shaped more by a cable news channel than the gospel. We should not be driven more by our social media feed than the gospel.

What the world needs now is Christians who have been shaped by the power of the gospel and are walking in power of the Holy Spirit. We need people who are choosing when the world is filled with rage and outrage to instead be filled with the Holy Spirit, and show and share the love of Jesus.

The graduate’s lives were influenced by professors who showed them care and compassion hoping to shape them as a followers of Jesus. Stetzer told the graduates if their lenses got knocked around by the world events in 2020, it is time to adjust those gospel lenses as needed.
 

Even if we knew Christ in a worldly perspective, when we are a new creation, the old has passed away. Stetzer said a new life is connected to a new look and a new set of lenses through which we see the world.

The message was how do we think christianly in a divided age? Stetzer said as followers of Jesus who have been changed by the gospel, it must include engaging the world as Jesus would call us to.

For Stetzer, it means showing and sharing his love to a broken, hurting and divided world. Stetzer said Christians should not be joining in the division but showing the love of Jesus in the midst of the division. Ultimately, then Jesus’ name will be more widely known.

In closing, Stetzer prayed God would work in and through his people and thanked him for the classes represented here. As the graduates engage in their various workplaces, Stetzer prayed they would be reminded in a tumultuous time, we need the work of Christ. He prayed they would show the love of Jesus.

Thanking God for the Jesus movement that began in 1968 when the world was divided, Stetzer said there are now millions of new followers of Jesus. He prayed 2021 will be a time when God’s spirit is poured out on his people.

Stetzer’s prayer is people go into the world with gospel shaped lenses knowing they have new life, new look and new set of lenses through which they see the world. He prayed [the graduates] would make much of Jesus as they show and share his love. Stetzer closed by asking God to bless the graduates and their families and send all on mission for the sake of Jesus’ name.

After the message, President McCormick handed out degrees to each graduate individually. As graduates crossed the stage, Dr. Brian Messner shared each student’s plans and any special awards or honors.

Graduate and Seminary Degrees were handed out by President McCormick, with Dr. Peter Verkruyse sharing each’s student plans and any honors.

In continuing with a long-time tradition, each seminary graduate is presented with a towel to "to wash the feet of the world,” reminding them of their call to serve. The other graduate students receive a bookmark that says, "live your mission," reminding them to live their mission in the world." This year a bowl was also included.



The ceremony ended with a benediction by Chris Steele, whose son was part of the class of 2021. Steele thanked God for the milestones, experiences and transitions, and praised God for bringing the graduates to this moment.

LCU is “a Christian higher education community whose mission is to nurture and equip Christians with a Biblical worldview to serve and lead in the church and the world.” The graduates are challenged to go out and fulfill this mission.

[Angela Reiners]