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Elmer towns5/6/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() The founding of the school came with three main goals, Towns said: to train people to go out into every field of work and change the world, to always look toward the future, and to be based out of the Church. God has done something great through our students.” “We had nothing but a vision of what we were going to do for God. But God has called you here, God can do something great through you, and faithful is God who calls you to do it,’” Towns recalled. “In that first chapel I said, ‘Young people, we don’t have any dormitories, we don’t have any classrooms, we don’t have a library, we have nothing. Despite the limited facilities and small student body, Towns told the students in 1971 that God had great things in store for the young university. Students lived on Treasure Island, a property on the James River owned by Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church, and classes were held in the church building itself. He said that when he heard that Falwell couldn’t make it to the service, he opened his Bible to a verse he had recently studied in 1 Thessalonians 5:24: “Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it.” Towns pointed out that in his Bible he had underlined those last two words: do it.Īt the time of the first chapel, Liberty didn’t have a campus to call its own. He recalled that September morning 50 years ago. Using the same Bible and handwritten notes he utilized that day, Towns took to the Convocation stage on Friday, receiving a standing ovation. “I’ve asked Elmer to come today as a co-founder of Liberty University and take a few minutes to share with you what he shared with our very first student body in September of 1971 during our first chapel service that Lynchburg Baptist College ever had,” Jonathan Falwell said. But when Jerry Falwell was unable to attend at the last minute, Towns stepped in. Jerry Falwell, was scheduled to deliver the inaugural chapel sermon for the 154 students of the first-ever class at Liberty (then called Lynchburg Baptist College). In introducing Towns, Campus Pastor Jonathan Falwell said that his father, Liberty founder Dr. ![]() With the Vines Center packed with Homecoming guests for Friday’s Convocation, and the university in the midst of celebrating its 50 th anniversary, it was fitting to welcome the speaker from Liberty’s first chapel service in 1971, Liberty co-founder Dr. Elmer Towns delivers the same message he gave at the original chapel service: whatever God has called you to do, do it. ![]()
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