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Reconnecting & Rejoicing: Liberty aims to cultivate stronger alumni community as it celebrates its rich heritage

Liberty alumni at the Homecoming Alumni Tailgate on Oct. 15. (Photo by Joel Coleman)

All along Liberty University’s 51-year journey, countless young people have come to Lynchburg, Va., with the desire to learn how they can impact the world as Champions for Christ, and now hundreds of thousands of graduates have gone out and done exactly that.

In the school’s early years, students were attending classes in makeshift buildings, living in former hotels and the homes of local churchgoers, and sowing figurative seeds in support of the vision of Liberty’s founder, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell. Today, those seeds have not only sprouted — they’ve blossomed. With over 200,000 graduates representing Christ in their chosen professions, Liberty has grown immensely while the core of its Christ-centered education has remained the same.

Liberty’s Alumni Relations Office has made connecting with Liberty graduates from across the decades a priority, knowing that the students of the past have set the standard for what it means to be a “Champion.” Reunions hosted by Alumni Relations have sprung up in different parts of the country, and the annual Homecoming has continued to be a special time of celebration for the school’s past, present, and future.

As the years have passed, some alumni have lost contact with the university over the decades or have not visited campus to see what God is doing on Liberty Mountain. For those who graduated between the years of 1973 and 2000, the alumni office has begun a focused campaign to reconnect and update their information. A Pioneer Committee is being formed to recognize and honor the faculty, staff, administrators, and others who helped establish Liberty in its earliest years, often for little pay, and lay the foundation that has been built on since.

“I’m convinced it’s hard to go forward until you reach back and touch the people before you,” said Director of Alumni Engagement Dr. Greg Tilley, adding his favorite catch phrase: “Alma mater equals alumni matter.”

Director of Alumni Engagement Greg Tilley speaks with Homecoming guests at the Flames Fan Fest on Oct. 15. (Photo by Matt Reynolds)

Speaking to a room of alumni at the annual Alumni Reunion during Homecoming, Tilley explained the renewed goals of the Alumni Relations office: “The theme is ‘reconnecting’ and remembering the people who planted the seeds from which we are now reaping what has grown. There are so many people, especially from those early years, who we want to recognize, thank, and bring back into close connection with what we have going on here at Liberty today. I can’t say enough about how much we appreciate them.”

Tilley himself has reconnected with Liberty in recent years after forming fond memories as a student himself from 1988 to 1992. After he graduated with a degree in community health promotion and minor in athletic training, Tilley attended chiropractic school in Georgia and went on to maintain a 23-year practice in in his hometown of Blacksburg, Va., while also spending 20 years as the team chiropractic physician for Virginia Tech’s sports medicine department. In 2019, his son decided to attend a College for a Weekend (CFAW) event at Liberty, and Tilley recalls feeling the Lord calling him back to Lynchburg.

“I was dropping my son off for CFAW, and as soon as I got out of my car, I felt it,” Tilley said. “It wasn’t an audible call, but I felt like God was telling me that I needed to return here.”

He initially brushed off the feeling as merely a wave of nostalgia as he walked the campus of his alma mater, but after his wife, Jennie, told him she felt a similar stirring, the Tilleys decided to move to Lynchburg.

Tilley speaks to alumni at the Alumni Reunion on Oct. 14 as part of Homecoming Weekend. (Photo by KJ Jugar)

“It’s like that saying we say a lot: ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell Him what your plans are,”’ Tilley said. “We prayed about it, meditated on it, and we decided that the Lord was leading us here, so I retired from my practice and we packed up. We were able to sell our house and move here all during a global pandemic, which is in itself a miracle, and I’m excited to be back at a place that means an incredible amount to me.”

After being part of Liberty’s Planned Giving team for a short time, traveling to 12 states to promote the school and make connections with university supporters, Tilley became the director of alumni engagement in September. Tilley is the father of two Liberty University students and has another child at Liberty Christian Academy (LCA).

Tilley first met Falwell in 1987 through his uncle Jim Matherly, who was one of the first associate pastors at Thomas Road Baptist Church (which Falwell founded in 1956 and pastored until his death in 2007) and played a part in establishing the church’s bus ministry and LCA. While a student at Liberty, Tilley worked as the head trainer for the men’s basketball, men’s soccer, and baseball teams and formed a close friendship with Falwell.

“Doc (Dr. Falwell) was such a sports fan and was at all the events, so I got to work with him a lot hand-in-hand,” Tilley said. “He was a man of God, and his faith was so strong that it was like an immovable object. He always had a pastor’s heart, he cared and loved for people, and he set such a Christ-like example.”

 

To reconnect with Liberty, visit Liberty.edu/Alumni, call (800) 628-7973, or email alumni@liberty.edu. Alumni can also share their news and accomplishments at Liberty.edu/ClassNotes.

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