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Where in the World: Graduates extend Liberty’s footprint across the globe

November 15, 2021

“Maintaining the vision of the founder, Dr. Jerry Falwell, Liberty University develops Christ-centered men and women with the values, knowledge, and skills essential to impact the world.

“Through its residential and online programs, services, facilities, and collaborations, the university educates men and women who will make important contributions to their workplaces and communities, follow their chosen vocations as callings to glorify God, and fulfill the Great Commission.”

The phrases above come from Liberty University’s formal Statement of Mission and Purpose. From the beginning, the vision was to go global — to impact the world.

The first group to call themselves Liberty alumni could fit around a dining room table. Nine students received the school’s first diplomas at an impromptu ceremony in 1973. A few dozen more turned their tassels a year later when Liberty held its first official Commencement. It wasn’t long before Liberty was being called one of the fastest-growing evangelical schools in the country. By its 25th year, the alumni family had reached 26,000. 

But that growth wouldn’t compare with the next 25 years, as enrollment skyrocketed when Liberty arrived early to the online learning scene and greatly expanded its degree offerings.

Today, there are over 250,000 alumni all across the globe who are effecting change and sharing God’s love in their workplaces and in their neighborhoods. God led some of them from Lynchburg, Va., into the mission field overseas. Some enrolled as international students with the sole desire to earn a degree so they could return to their homeland and be a part of God’s work there. Other alumni living outside the U.S. have taken courses from the comfort of their own homes — wherever an internet connection could turn their dream of receiving a quality Christian education from an ocean away into reality.

There is no doubt that Liberty’s brand is now exceptionally strong and widespread. It’s a compelling story for such a young institution. Higher education has not seen the likes of the growth that Liberty has experienced in its short 50 years.

From the first year, when 154 students attended classes in church Sunday School classrooms, to decades later when thousands of students witnessed a state-of-the-art campus emerge out of farmland on a mountainside, the progress is obvious. But while today’s images show a thriving campus with world-class academics and NCAA Division I athletic programs, Liberty’s greatest assets at every stage in its 50-year history have always been
its students.

This issue is dedicated to our alumni — from those who stepped out on faith to enroll in the first classes at a new college with no formal campus to call its own, to those who followed in their footsteps, caught the same vision on Liberty Mountain, and left that mountain to impact the world around them as Champions for Christ. 


Roberto Reyes

’11, B.S. in Religion: Youth Ministry

Saltillo Coahuila, Mexico

Camp Program Director, Rawlings Foundation

“Liberty has been monumental in my life. All of the pastors and professors who invested in me there helped me in preparing for my current missions work here in Mexico.

 “Remembering all of the messages that I heard while at Liberty and remembering to never ever give up as I was told back then is something that I carry with me in my everyday life. … Liberty has been one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. I’ve been able to share with so many people throughout my ministry what I learned from my professors.”


Faithe Saccsara 

’17, B.S. in Global Studies with minors in Spanish and Sports Ministry

Tarapoto, San Martin, Peru

Founder and Director, Empowering Quechuas ministry

“I remember hearing while at Liberty that if it’s Christian, then it ought to be better. We run sports academies (soccer) and obviously we have lots of competition in this market that’s not Christian. We don’t want to be mediocre as a Christian, non-profit soccer academy. We want to go above and beyond what those more wealthy academies do, and we believe we can because if it’s Christian, then it really should be better. We have the inside scoop on how our lives are supposed to work because of our access to the Holy Spirit and because of our access to the Bible. We hold that excellence to a high standard in our soccer academies — the same way Liberty holds excellence to a high standard with the university.”


Dominique McKay 

’09, B.S. in Communications: Journalism

Washington, D.C.

Communications Director, U.S. Senate  

 “What I love most about being a Liberty alumna is how our personal stories point people to Christ. When meeting and getting to know new people, Liberty — and by extension my faith — is a central part of the story of where I came from and how I got to where I am today.

“During my time on Capitol Hill, I have made it my focus to be very public about my faith life and worked to develop relationships with people from all backgrounds. As Christians, evangelism is something we should strive to be actively engaged in no matter our career choice. Whether you’re a nurse, professor, cashier, or businesswoman, I believe that God has placed you in the position you are in to do good work and share about the good work He is doing in you.”


Albert Mavunga 

’09, A.A. in Religion; ’10, B.S. in Communications; ’13, M.A. in Executive Leadership

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Africa

Founder and Director, Smile for Africa Foundation

“Liberty shaped me into knowing what God’s purpose for my life was. If it wasn’t for Liberty, I believe that I’d be chasing worldly dreams that I had, which weren’t bad but weren’t in line with what God had purposed for my life. Liberty helped to refocus me and direct me into what God had called me to do in life. 

“Liberty is special to me because not only was I equipped there to be a Champion for Christ, but I was also given the necessary networks and capabilities to move back to Zimbabwe and to be able to engage my people for the sake of the Kingdom. … It’s also special because I’m coming from Liberty Mountain where the focus is solely about Training Champions for Christ.”


Taran TeeKay Kerr 

’15, B.S. in Psychology: Clinical Research & Counseling

Chiang Rai, Thailand

Secondary Principal and Head of ICT at Chiang Rai International School

“Liberty helped me learn so much more about the Bible and how it relates to people. The background that I came from was that I did all of the religious things, but there was not much of a relationship with Jesus. At Liberty, I learned that I needed a deeper relationship with God.

“Just recently I had the opportunity to share with one of my students that you are not born into Christianity, but it is rather a decision that you have to make, which he was unaware of. I told him that if he ever wanted to accept Jesus, he could come to my office at any time. He told me he would think it over and come to my office the next week.”


Grace Ripley 

’17, B.S. in Global Studies with a minor in Sign Language

Dakar, Senegal

Renaissance School of the Deaf 

“In Senegal, the deaf population is largely unreached. I have the great opportunity to work at the country’s only Christian deaf school. I have the privilege to speak freely regarding the Gospel to my students, and I do that quite regularly. I often work with little kids, and I’ll use Bible stories to work on vocabulary, and I also invite the older students to my house so that I can continue to speak into their lives.

 “I feel so privileged that I was able to have an education with Liberty’s Global Studies program, and I’m thankful for how I was able to learn how to be involved and invested in another culture. I received a lot of great tools for how to do this well and to incorporate the Gospel into different settings.”

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