Over 1,300 LU students, staff pour into local community through annual Serve Lynchburg event

As the Spring 2025 semester comes to a close, Liberty University’s eighth annual Serve Lynchburg on Saturday provided an incredible service opportunity for the LU community to positively impact the lives of others in the surrounding area.

This year, over 1,300 students, faculty, and staff participated in the event, serving at 96 different locations in Lynchburg and beyond, including with local churches, food banks, public schools, libraries, community centers, and more.

“I admire and appreciate that Liberty has such an emphasis on service, because then it can really show God’s love and shine His light towards the Lynchburg community and other communities,” freshman Hope Vranes said. “It shows that we as Liberty students really care about the community and want to share God’s love with them.”

Vranes, who grew up in Lynchburg, decided to spend the day working with Lynchburg Grows, a local urban farm that provides fresh produce to the community and provides meaningful jobs for those with disabilities.

For nursing sophomore Emma Whitmore, Saturday allowed her to serve at her local place of worship, Hill City Community Church, by cleaning closets and setting up the church for Sunday’s service. Noting she chose Liberty in part because of its focus on community outreach, Whitmore loved the opportunity to pour into others through Serve Lynchburg.

“(Service) was so important to me growing up and something that was built into how I was raised,” she said. “In Philippians 2, it says to have the same mind as Christ, taking in the likeness of a servant. As we’re supposed to imitate Christ, it’s important for me to find opportunities where I can do that.”

Members of Liberty’s executive leadership, including President Dr. Dondi E. Costin and Chancellor Jonathan Falwell, served at various locations, encouraged students, and thanked them for their selfless work.

“When we talk about training people to become Champions for Christ, we want them to understand the full spectrum of what that means,” Costin said. “Most of what we get to do as Christians is follow Christ’s example to serve other people. … If Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can come to serve us, certainly a big part of our Christian faith should be to serve others in the same way.”

“Service is a key feature of our curriculum,” he added. “Part of what you get in your time here at Liberty University, is you get to understand service is not a box you check, it’s who you are and what you do. The fact we do it all year long is amazing. … This is a one-day snapshot that shows the community and students what we get to do for the rest of our lives, and that’s (to) serve other people.”

Chancellor Jonathan Falwell emphasized the important responsibility every Christian has to model Christ’s actions by serving, noting that Christ dedicated His ministry to service.

“It’s important for us to give back to the community, to impact those who are around us 9 months of the year for most of the students,” he said. “It’s a privilege for Liberty University as an institution to have a positive impact on our community, not only for the good work we do today and Christian Service throughout the year, but also to make a Gospel imprint and impact.”

Junior music education student Ayiana Figueroa, spent her morning and afternoon cleaning playhouses and working alongside RUSH HOMES to prepare for the second annual Parade of Playhouses fundraiser at Lynchburg City Stadium. While onsite, her team met with Liberty’s executive leadership.

“A good leader is a good servant,” she said. “I believe President Costin, Chancellor Falwell, and (Senior Vice President of Spiritual Development) Josh Rutledge do that well. That’s displayed by them coming out to encourage and thank students but also get to know the partnerships they create around the community. It’s inspiring to see that if we want to be good leaders, we have to be good servants first.”

Liberty has been built on a longstanding tradition of Gospel-centered community service, in part through the LU Serve Office, which organized Saturday’s event.

“Serve Lynchburg is an annual event that LU Serve looks forward to hosting with our Lynchburg organizations,” said Steven Gillum, senior director of LU Serve. “We hope it continues to inspire Liberty students to be Champions for Christ in their communities and to show Christ’s love to people in need.”

LU Serve exists to Train Champions for Christ by providing engaging educational and ministry experiences for students. This is accomplished through intentional partnerships with organizations that embrace and support Liberty University’s mission and purpose. LU Serve provides meaningful service opportunities such as CSER and CSER trips, LU Serve Now domestic and international humanitarian aid and disaster relief trips, and Serve Lynchburg.