East Texas Baptist University graduates celebrated the tip of their time on the Hill and the work they put in to attain the end line on Saturday — whereas additionally being challenged to proceed serving God in their subsequent chapter in life.
That included Jesus’ Great Commission, to go and make disciples of all males.
“Use the gifts and skills that you have developed here over the last four years to serve the body of Christ, and to share Christ,” Jenny Hoover, affiliate professor of historical past, instructed graduates. “Your time here has prepared you to lead in a variety of ways. Don’t waste that experience.”
ETBU hosted two graduation ceremonies on Saturday on the Rogers Spiritual Life Center, with 186 college students receiving undergraduate levels and 22 graduate levels.
President J. Blair Blackburn helped kick off the ceremonies by acknowledging the household and buddies who helped graduates make it over the previous 4 years.
ETBU, he stated, was “excited to see you follow God’s call on your life.”
“Graduates, with your education and training, we challenge you to use your intellectual and spiritual witness to go and be a light to impact the world impact people, for their good and for God’s glory,” he stated, later including “Go in and pack cities and nations with the hope of the gospel. Go and serve people as devoted servants and disciples of our savior and lord Jesus Christ. Whatever you do, graduates, go, do your work with all your heart.”
Students within the commencement for the Schools of Business, Christian Studies and Humanities, Education and Professional Studies heard from alumnus Ken Brumley, director of GraceWorks Counseling, on Saturday morning. Students within the Schools of Communication and Performing Arts, Natural and Social Sciences, and Nursing heard from Hoover on Saturday afternoon.
“When I came to ETBC, I was a broken young man in need of God’s grace,” Brumley stated. “It was here that I experienced God’s deep cleansing forgiveness. To speak at this commencement brings back powerful memories of God’s faithfulness and love.”
Hoover, in her speech, highlighted recollections of campus life and the group college students fashioned whereas on the Hill. She stated it was the school and workers’s hope that college students have “flourished intellectually, spiritually, physically, emotionally and socially.”
“But as you reflect on your time on the Hill, I want you to see a large community at work preparing you to be Christian servant leaders in the life that God has called you to,” she stated. “It has been our goal, the goal of faculty and administrators, to model community for you and to draw you in to the ETBU community. It is my hope that in this community, you found people who share your burdens.”
ETBU graduate Christian Lee Phillips, from Murphy, was introduced with the President’s Award, which is given to “a graduate who represents a Christian leader, scholar, and servant within the campus and the local community.”
At ETBU, Phillips served with the Baptist Student Ministry, participated in two Beach Reach mission journeys and is the Children’s Ministry intern at Mobberly Baptist Church in Marshall. Phillips maintained a 3.95 GPA and was on the President’s List every semester at ETBU. He has been admitted to Texas Women’s University’s bodily remedy doctorate program.
ETBU additionally honored Jeph Holloway with the 2022 Professor with Distinction Award. Holloway is a professor of Christian ministry and the John Harris Endowed Chair of Christian Studies.
For their subsequent steps in life, Hoover tasked graduates to hold rising to the challenges they’ll face and to hold trying to God as they accomplish that.
“Being challenged can be uncomfortable and sometimes painful, but in a Christ-centered community, we want you to grow into the person that you need to be in the service God has called you,” she stated.