When autocomplete options are available, use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
Apply Give

Vice President Mike Pence visits Liberty Law for day of celebration and remembrance

 

On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence addressed Liberty University School of Law students during two private events, emphasizing the importance of standing firm in the faith as they seek to defend this nation’s founding truths.

“You’ve built a one-of-a-kind law school that really puts faith and the truths of God’s Word, the foundations of truth in His Word, at the very center and the core of your legal education,” he said during the school’s first Consecration Service, which was open to all students, faculty, and staff of Liberty Law.

Pence expressed how Liberty contributes to his optimism about the future of the U.S.

“I want you to be encouraged that whatever challenges you face, whatever challenges our nation faces, God is still at work,” he said. “I believe with all of my heart that God is not done with America yet. And all we need to meet this moment is you. … This great institution is raising up a generation of Champions for Christ. … I am more convinced than ever (as I) look at your shining faces and this dedicated faculty that we’ll meet that moment. And the best days for the greatest nation on earth are yet to come, so help us, God.”

He shared his story of journeying from seeing his faith as just a religion to entering a genuine relationship with Christ as a young man. As someone who took the profession’s oath himself, he encouraged the future lawyers to defend the Constitution while standing on the biblical principles that Liberty Law has poured into them. Pence earned a Juris Doctor from Indiana University’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law and was an attorney in private practice early in his career.

School of Law Dean Morse Tan shakes hands with Vice President Mike Pence during the Consecration Service.

“As you go from here, I hope as officers of the court or wearing the uniform of the United States, or those of you who feel called to public service, will take that oath to heart,” he told the students. “And not just support the Constitution but defend it. We live at a time when Liberty is enshrined in our Bill of Rights, and the freedom of speech, freedom of religion are under regular assault in the popular culture and oftentimes in the courts. Today as we consecrate this school … think about your pledge to defend the Constitution.”

“There is no one that we would be more excited to have at our first-ever Consecration Service where we want to dedicate ourselves, commit ourselves, consecrate ourselves to the Lord, than Vice President Mike Pence,” said Liberty Law Dean Morse Tan, who served as Ambassador-at-Large for the U.S. State Department’s Office of Global Criminal Justice from 2019-21 during the Trump-Pence Administration. Tan came to Liberty Law in January 2022.

Liberty Interim President Jerry Prevo, Campus Pastor Jonathan Falwell, and Provost and Chief Academic Officer Scott Hicks were also in attendance at the Consecration Service, held in the school’s Supreme Courtroom. Prevo and Hicks briefly addressed the crowd, and Falwell concluded the afternoon event in prayer.

Earlier in the day, Pence also spoke at the school’s annual Ad Fontes ceremony, an annual tradition for 3L students and their families in preparation for graduation. Ad Fontes, which means “to the source” in Latin, is a ceremony unique to Liberty Law that began in 2007 as a way to provide third-year law students an opportunity to renew their focus on the Bible as the primary source of Christian faith and law. The ceremony also emphasizes other source documents that led to the formation of Western legal traditions.

Grammy Award-winning Christian recording artist Michael W. Smith performed during both events on Tuesday.

During the ceremony, Pence shared his confidence in the students.

“I know that you’ll carry yourselves into debate with wisdom and stature and grace before God and grace before men,” he said. “You learn here at Liberty University to be champions – Champions for Christ. And I know that you’ll also be champions for the law that’s grounded in the truth of His Word.”

He said that challenging seasons of life are inevitable.

“Adversity reveals character,” Pence said. “When the time of testing comes, and it will, it does for all of us, you will be in that moment the man or woman that you have prepared to be in every quiet moment before. I encourage you to continue in what you have learned here in the Liberty University School of Law. Continue to practice those disciplines in your life to be the leaders in the law, in your families and in our nation, that America will need.”

Liberty Interim President Dr. Jerry Prevo stands alongside Pence during the Consecration Service.

A special part of the ceremony is when graduating students can touch the school’s Ebenezer Stone. The stone, originally from Mt. Sinai, was given to the law school by Liberty founder Jerry Falwell Sr., who procured it as a reminder that God ordained and established the school and that He will remain faithful to it. School of Law graduates are the only ones allowed to touch the stone.

Pence also had a book signing between the two services for his latest work, “So Help Me God.” The signing was held in Liberty Law’s Mountain View Room.

Tuesday marked Pence’s fourth visit to Liberty. Most recently, he addressed the student body in Convocation last September. He delivered the keynote address at Liberty’s 46th Commencement in May 2019 and spoke at Convocation in October 2016 as then-Indiana governor and Republican vice presidential candidate.

Grammy Award-winning Christian recording artist Michael W. Smith performed during both events on Tuesday. He serves as the executive director of Liberty’s Michael W. Smith Center for Commercial Music.

You can support Liberty University’s School of Law by contributing to the Ebenezer Fund.

A graduating student touches the Ebenezer Stone at the Ad Fontes ceremony.

 

Chat Live Chat Live Request Info Request Info Apply Now Apply Now Visit Liberty Visit Liberty