During the annual Baccalaureate Service, Purple Heart veteran and evangelist Tim Lee challenged the Class of 2016 to bring the “pulpit” to the nation.
In his speech, Lee said that in his opinion, there has been no one like Liberty’s founder, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, in the last 100 years.
“Jerry Falwell made the church the central voice, the leading voice in America’s moral and ethical issues,” Lee said. “Along the way, we (professing Christians) have lost something. … ‘We’ who are politically conservative Christians, ‘we’ who still believe in the historic American principles we learned about in our homes, our churches, and in our Christian schools; ‘we’ have lost an identity.”
Lee charged graduates to recapture the same “spirit of determination” Dr. Jerry Falwell had.
Lee praised Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. for boldly taking stands on controversial issues and said the younger Falwell was “cut from the same cloth” as his father. Lee added that if pastors were no longer willing to take a stand, then maybe that mantle has passed to (Christian university) presidents.
Lee told graduates that America needs a new generation of journalists, lawyers, doctors, coaches, athletes, teachers, and scientists who can skillfully use biblical truth and constitutional government to educate people.
“In all of the public debates and confrontations over moral and civic issues going on today in hundreds of cities and towns in America, the one great thing that is missing is the pulpit,” he said. “If we had 10,000 pulpits aflame with the righteousness of God and with a revolutionary fervor for morality and patriotism, we could turn this nation around in one generation.”
Lee noted that there is no one else in the world he would rather share his message with than Liberty graduates.
“I believe the potential response here is of the highest caliber,” he said. “We are in one of the most amazing academic learning centers in the world.”
Throughout the service, graduates were encouraged to remain true to their Christian roots as they enter the job market. The service included an invocation from Dr. Ed Gomes, director of Spiritual Development for Flames Football, music from Liberty’s Wind Symphony, Chamber Singers, and the Sounds of Liberty, and a benediction from the Rev. Jonathan Falwell, senior pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church.
President Jerry Falwell explained the rich history of the Baccalaureate, a collegiate tradition predating the founding of America, and said that Liberty has remained true to the faith and values it represents even while older institutions — in spite of the biblical mottos etched in stone on their facades — have strayed from it.
Falwell said one of the first things that he and his wife, Becki, noticed when he became president in 2007 was how Liberty students “radiated the love of Christ to everyone they encountered.”
“Our fervent prayer for Liberty University is that it will remain true to its Christian roots in perpetuity and that your children, grandchildren, and generations of their descendants will sit in a service just like this one and thank God for their Liberty University education,” he said. “At Liberty University, God is the guest of honor.”
![Provost Dr. Ronald Hawkins (left) and President Jerry Falwell (right) conferred upon Tim Lee an honorary Doctor of Divinity.](https://www.liberty.edu/journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/165/2016/05/ron-hawkins-tim-lee-jerry-falwell-201605130096JRxxJA-300x300.jpg )
Provost Dr. Ronald Hawkins (left) and President Jerry Falwell (right) conferred upon Tim Lee an honorary Doctor of Divinity.
Falwell noted that an important part of Commencement the next day would be a time of honoring veterans. “It is fitting that our keynote Baccalaureate speaker is Tim Lee,” Falwell said. “He never strays from preaching an uncompromising message grounded deep in patriotism, righteous living, and biblical revival.”
While in the Marine Corps, Lee lost both of his legs in a land mine explosion in Vietnam in 1971. Today, he is the president of Tim Lee Ministries based out of Garland, Texas. Lee is a member of Liberty’s Board of Trustees and a regular guest speaker on campus. In 2012, Liberty awarded Lee the George Rogers Champion of Freedom Award, given annually to a veteran who has displayed extraordinary heroism.