JACKSON, Tenn. — May 22, 2010 — Nearly 530 Union University graduates received degrees May 22 on the university’s Great Lawn during the 185th annual spring commencement ceremony.
That brings to 1,130 the number of Union graduates from the class of 2010 – the largest class in Union’s history, surpassing last year’s total of 975 graduates. The class of 2010 represented 25 states and 13 different countries, including Kenya, South Africa, Iceland, Honduras, Brazil and others.
“We are blessed once again with an outstanding graduating class, and are thankful for each and every one of our graduates,” Union University President David S. Dockery said. “I know you will join me in praying for God’s blessing and direction for them in the days ahead.”
This year’s class included the first graduates from Union’s Master of Social Work program and from Union’s graduate program in urban education.
Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, Tenn., delivered the keynote address and charged Union graduates to be radically committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to watch what God would do with their lives.
Rainer, who has researched the generation known as “Millennials,” or young adults born between 1980-2000, for an upcoming book, said that only about 10 percent of that generation are Christians.
“You are a decided minority,” Rainer told the Union graduates. “How then will you live?”
Rainer read the biblical account of Jesus healing 10 lepers, with only one of the 10 returning to thank him, and challenged the graduates to be like the one man rather than the other nine.
“God has given you an incredible opportunity,” Rainer said. “Show the world that you’re different. Seek to serve rather than to be served. … Though you are few in number, you can turn the world upside down.”
As part of the ceremony, Matthew Kuchem, a graduate from Fort Worth, Texas, who majored in political science and broadcast journalism, received the university’s Elizabeth Tigrett Medal. The award, created by Tigrett’s son to honor his mother, has been awarded since 1912 by vote of the entire Union faculty to an outstanding member of the senior class.
Union also honored Rainer by inducting him into the Carl F.H. Henry Society of Fellows. Dockery praised Rainer for his leadership at LifeWay, especially in the days after the Feb. 5, 2008, tornado that decimated the Union campus. Only days after the tornado hit, Rainer led LifeWay’s trustees to pledge $350,000 to Union for the rebuilding effort.
“For that, Dr. Rainer, all of us on this campus will always be grateful,” Dockery said. “We thank God for you.”
