It is finally upon us! Eastern University is 100 years old! Happy Birthday! I had the pleasure of speaking with University President, Ron Matthews in anticipation of our centennial celebration. “The legacy we have inherited through Eastern, through the seminary, is delightfully affirmed in the generational consistency of our impact.” President Matthews described how he had spoken to four generations of university and seminary alumni in just two weeks who were shaped by Eastern to take the Gospel into their communities and to work for kingdom justice. He said he spoke to people in their sixties and seventies, and as young as recent graduates, all embracing Eastern’s mission. “This celebration gives us a time to be intentional in our delight in that, and give thanks for God’s faithfulness and provision.”
In a time when theological education has been weakened and trust in religious institutions has waned, Dr. Matthews sees Eastern’s lasting legacy active in the world through people like Tony Campolo, Bryan Stevenson, and Shane Claiborne, but also in a myriad of others who serve without the same degree of public exposure. Hundreds of alumni are serving in their local communities and around the globe, bringing Christ’s light and love to the world.
Dr. Matthews says he is humbled to be the president of the seminary, a seminary that was born in a previous era when the church was facing division. “What I appreciate about Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary was that they cared very deeply about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s Good News. You can’t change the News. And yet, it’s not just about knowing stuff. It’s about the relationship of transformation that Jesus makes… how followers of Jesus desire to make communities better in sharing the Good News and improving daily life in the provision of need and work and service.”
Palmer’s mission, the whole gospel for the whole world through whole persons, is integral to the University’s broader mission of faith, reason, and justice. “We do not have faith if we do not have the Gospel, a Gospel that embraces life, death, and the beyond. And that faith is lived out through whole persons in different languages, and in anthropology and biology and the liberal arts. That’s how we reach the whole world.” He continued that this is how we follow Jesus’ call to give hope to the poor, to feed the hungry, and free the oppressed. Eastern’s work of justice is Kingdom Justice.
Dr. Matthews’ hope for the future of Eastern and Palmer, is to be found faithful to what birthed its existence: a commitment to being a diverse, Christ-centered community. “We have the opportunity to demonstrate the kind of faith that embraces the whole of humanity. It is who God created us to be: a people who listen, who love, who learn, who serve, and who lead.” He says the Eastern community, our students, faculty, alumni, staff, and donors all strive for this, and he believes that regardless of what shifts occur in the culture around us, it will persist.
"We must be attuned to the creativity of life that Christ calls us to at any given time, in any given season."