A Kingdom Dream

Yesterday's chapel at TUFW was a little unusual. Our chaplain, Tony Opliger, asked seven different members of the campus community to speak for three minutes about their dreams for the university. Each was supposed to start our "speech" with the words, "My Kingdom dream for Taylor University Fort Wayne is" and end with "may it be to the praise of God’s glory." Those were really the only instructions.

I was honored to be asked to speak and I was the sixth one on the program. The dreams that were articulated--three from students, two from faculty and two administrators--varied quite a bit but were interesting and worthwhile. Everyone in attendance was encouraged to write their own kingdom dreams on 3x5 cards and leave them on the stage afterwards, and Tony also called all the faculty and staff to the front of the sanctuary and asked the students to surround us. Then four of the students spontaneously prayed for us. It was very cool.

Here are the notes I wrote up for my portion of the chapel service:

My Kingdom dream for Taylor University Fort Wayne is . . .

To see a freshman class of 153 next fall.

153 is a ridiculous number. It represents an increase of 89% in one year. Where did that number come from? Evan Wood, Pam Jordan, Doug Barcalow and Jeff Groeling sat down with me and we looked at the history and potential of each program one-at-a-time. Each individual piece of the puzzle does not seem unreasonable but put all together, it’s a crazy number to consider.

And not just 153, but the right 153 students, who will be here for God’s purpose and will impact the campus and be impacted by the campus.

This week, I was reading Genesis 17. There, God tells the 100-year-old Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son. Verse 17 says, “Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief.”

Two weeks ago, Dr. Kilty shared his plans for this year with the university’s staff and he said, “Our goal is to bring in 153 new freshmen next year.” Sitting toward the back of the room, I laughed out loud.

You know, Abraham laughed at God’s outrageous promise and that turned out pretty well. I’m hoping that my laughter and this outrageous dream will turn out well, too.

The admissions office and faculty and lots of other people will be working hard this year toward this goal. We’ll certainly be asking you as students to help. But one thing about such a crazy, audacious goal is that there is really only one way that we’ll reach it: If God makes it happen. And if He does, we’ll give Him all the glory for performing a miracle. If He doesn’t, pursuing this goal will still have made us a stronger campus.

I have one more, related Kingdom dream for TUFW. I look forward to the time when we have so many students and they love chapel so much that we can’t all fit into First Missionary Church. I want to see this place packed out three times a week so we can all worship together and eventually I want us to have a new chapel in the center of campus.

Oh, and I want air conditioning in Hauser and Bethany Halls. [Note: There were loud cheers for this.]

A few weeks ago, I was reading Psalm 118. In part, it reads:

"The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous to see. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

Then the psalmist prays, "Please, Lord, please save us. Please, Lord, please give us success."

May God also make Taylor University Fort Wayne into a cornerstone for His purposes. And like the psalmist I pray, “Please, Lord, please give us success” and may it be to the praise of God’s glory!