Lipscomb University has been impacting lives for more than a century.
Students and faculty celebrated Lipscomb’s 125th year on October 4 during a special Founders Day Gathering service. From its beginnings with nine students and three faculty members, the university has now grown to nearly 4,600 students and over 200 faculty members.
Opening the Gathering service, President Randy Lowry took the stage to pose the question: “Are we doing what he [David Lipscomb] would have had in mind?”
“We gather here to celebrate his dream . . . and his sense of great purpose in this city,” Lowry said.
Lowry went on to compare David Lipscomb to Walt Disney, in the sense that without David Lipscomb’s imagination, we, as students, would not be here. President Lowry continued by speaking on what he thought David Lipscomb would think of the campus today. He said he [David Lipscomb] would probably not have ever dreamed that Lipscomb would have campuses all around the world — or Colleges of Pharmacy, Nursing, etc.
“Could he have imagined that music would become such an important part of Nashville and Lipscomb?” Lowry questioned.
Lowry concluded his message with a simple statement to all students: “You are the fulfillment of his imagination and his dreams.”
After President Lowry spoke during chapel, a special video was show to give students a glimpse of how Lipscomb came to be and to get a taste of what David Lipscomb was like.
In the video, Dr. Howard Miller and Dr. Robert Hooper, both history professors at Lipscomb, sat down to discuss the different aspects of David Lipscomb’s life. In the video, it was mentioned that tuition used to be just three dollars a week. The video also discussed how much David Lipscomb and his fellow colleagues learned about themselves through teaching at the then-Nashville Bible School.
Award-winning artist Michael Gunger then led the service in worship.
At the end of the special Gathering Service, President Lowry took the stage one more time to make some announcements.
“By the end of fall break, there will be 200 additional parking spaces,” Lowry said. Students cheering immediately followed this special announcement.
Classes from 11:55 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. were cancelled in celebration of Founders Day. There was also free food and carnival games available in Bison Square, and The Arcadian Wild performed.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb University