Thursday, September 8, 2016

Liberty University Vice Provost visits LUCOM, delivers message of encouragement

Thu, 08 Sep 2016Asa Keimig, Marketing and PR Coordinator

Liberty University Vice Provost for Academic Administration, Ben Gutierrez, Ph.D., M.Div., delivered an encouraging convocation message to student-doctors at Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM) on Wednesday, Aug. 31.

“Everybody needs encouragement,” said Dr. Gutierrez. “Everyone experiences hardships.” He recounted Paul’s hardships in his second letter to the Church of Corinth and how he begged for relief from the hardships he faced. “If Paul can get discouraged and if I can get discouraged, then everybody can get discouraged,” he said.

Dr. Gutierrez spoke on how it is God’s character to encourage the discouraged and how Paul found relief through encouragement from the Church of Corinth. “God delivers His encouragement through people,” he said. “Paul knew that there were people who were there praying for him, and encouragement is what got him through.”

Dr. Gutierrez encouraged students to encourage one another, to build each other up, and pray for each other. “We try to vail it, but deep down we all need encouragement,” he said.

Following convocation Dr. Gutierrez and Danielle Eschedor, a Liberty University pre-med junior, received a private tour of LUCOM. Dr. Gutierrez and Eschedor had met only days prior and when the topic of conversation became medical school, Dr. Gutierrez invited Eschedor along as his guest of honor. Troy Burnett, Associate Director of Student Services, and Stevie Vetter, LUCOM-Student Government Association (SGA) Vice President, led a tour of the Anatomy Lab as well as the Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine Lab (OMM Lab). Dr. Gutierrez and Eschedor were both amazed by the state-of-the-art technology available to student-doctors and became overly excited about the possibility of being a part of an anatomy dissection or an OMM session.