As we begin our third academic year on our miracle campus in Glendale, we are excited to celebrate faithful friends and University partners through naming dedication ceremonies that help us continue making this unique and historic campus our own.
Last spring we dedicated the Don and Mary King Performing Arts Auditorium, and in September dedicated the Doerksen Business Office.
Over the last month we held two more dedication ceremonies, each honoring longtime University supporters whose contributions were integral to the success and growth of ACU.
First, we had the pleasure of dedicating our library classrooms in honor of the First Baptist Church of Cave Creek in a ceremony on October 29.
Back in 2017, the Board of FBC of Cave Creek donated the property on which the former church had been located to Arizona Christian University. Over the years, the church had faithfully supported several missionaries who were graduates of ACU (Southwestern College) and had several pastors who were alumni of the school as well.
FBC of Cave Creek’s generous contribution helped make it possible for ACU to move to its new campus in Glendale, and to advance its mission of training the next generation of Christian leaders.
Then on November 3 we joyfully dedicated our iconic globe monument in honor of Floyd C. Brown, a missionary who spent a significant part of his life ministering to the people in Indonesia. His grandson, Floyd Brown, a member of ACU’s Board of Trustees, spoke about the transformation in his grandfather’s life from hard-drinking, hard-living Communist to faithful Christ follower and missionary – and the difference that transformation made in his father’s life and in his own.
The globe, initially installed exactly 21 years earlier by the Thunderbird School of Global Management, was created by the French artist Annja, and was a symbol of The Thunderbird School’s global mission and scope.
At ACU’s rededication ceremony this month, President Munsil spoke from Joshua 24, reminding attendees that God gave the people of Israel land for which they did not toil, and cities they did not build, but with the challenge that they fear Him and serve Him.
“God gave us this land and these buildings and these monuments that we did not build,” said President Munsil, “and yet we get to live in them and enjoy their beauty. God is challenging us – will we hold on to the gods of this world or will we serve the living God? Today we get an amazing opportunity to witness the commitment of Arizona Christian University and its board of trustees to choose to serve the living God.”
It was an honor for ACU to rededicate the monument in honor of Floyd C. Brown and all the missionaries who are graduates of Southwestern College and Arizona Christian University who have heeded Jesus’ call to “go and make disciples of all nations.” We are eternally grateful to the Brown family for their contributions to the Kingdom of God and to ACU, and look forward to future generations of ACU students being able to see this symbol of the Brown family’s Christian service and generosity.