Service members, veterans, spouses charged to be ‘all in’ for Christ at Military Graduate Recognition Ceremony

Over 20 percent of the more than 28,000 members of Liberty University’s Class of 2023 have military ties (5,098), including spouses of current servicemen and women, either active duty or reserve.

Before Dr. David Jeremiah sent out the graduates on hand for Friday night’s Commencement Main Ceremony at Williams Stadium with a Marine Corps “Hooah” as a call to action or battle cry, Liberty’s Office of Military Affairs honored the military representatives in attendance for Friday afternoon’s 11th annual Military Graduate Recognition Ceremony, held in the sanctuary of Thomas Road Baptist Church.

Following a prayer of dedication led by Dr. Gregory Dowell, Liberty’s vice president for Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity, and the presentation of colors by the Army ROTC Eagle Battalion color guard, U.S. Navy (ret.) Chief Musician E. Daryl Duff, an assistant professor in Liberty’s School of Music, sang the national anthem as well as the song “A Hero For Today.”

All of those in attendance from the various branches of the military — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, and Space Force, both active and reserve members and veterans — stood when their respective themes were played during the Armed Forces Medley.

U.S. Air Force Chaplain Col. (Ret.) Dr. Steven Keith, director of Liberty’s Center for Chaplaincy, and his wife, Delta, served as keynote speakers. The Center for Chaplaincy operates through the Rawlings School of Divinity to equip and send out chaplains to all branches of the military as well as civilian and non-military organizations.

Dr. Ron Hawkins, founding dean of Liberty’s School of Behavioral Sciences and former provost and chief academic officer, served as emcee for the event.

“Liberty University has long been a very active supporter of the military,” Hawkins said while recognizing the sacrifice they have made to complete their degrees while serving and defending their country, both here in the United States and around the world. “In a very real sense, you have a deeper appreciation for what happened to the disciples and others when Jesus said to them in the New Testament, ‘As the Father has sent me, even so, send I you.’ You are sent to all kinds of places. You don’t have the opportunity to say, ‘No.’ You just simply surrender and go.”

He also acknowledged the military spouses on hand on what was, appropriately, Military Spouse Appreciation Day.

“We want to thank all of the military spouses that are here today and watching online,” Hawkins said. “You probably should be getting a degree as well.”

Delta Keith addressed the 2,631 graduating military spouses, imparting wisdom learned over the 30-plus years that she supported her husband while he served in the Air Force.

“Being a military spouse can be very hard physically … mentally, and emotionally,” she said. “It can be hard spiritually. With deployments, you must take an additional responsibility in your spouse’s absence, handling every emergency imaginable without a manual, managing all aspects of running the household — from kids to financial issues to the care of the home while at the same time working a job and finding time for your studies.”

Mrs. Keith said when the going gets tough, military spouses get smarter.

“We try to better ourselves,” she said. “We decide to go to school to get a college degree or a master’s or a doctorate. Are we crazy? No, we are military spouses. You are amazing. You are part of an industrious, hard-working, persevering, dedicated group.”

She noted that less than 1 percent of the United States population is in the military and just over half of those are married. Of those spouses, only 25 percent have a bachelor’s degree and only 10 percent have an advanced degree.

“Therefore, you are in an elite club,” Mrs. Keith said. “You are remarkable. Congratulations on completing this degree in the midst of many obstacles and hardships. Now your journey continues. …. Continue to put your trust in the Lord. Look for all of the opportunities that come before you. Make the most of every job, large or small, that you are given over the course of your life. Be a Champion for Christ with this degree and shine for Jesus.”

Steven Keith challenged the military graduates to be willing to serve in any capacity God calls them to, and not to try to follow their own path, but the straight and narrow road that leads to heaven.

“The Lord says, ‘I want you to be all in it for Me,’” he said. “God doesn’t want to be in your plan. He told His apostles in Matthew 16:24, ‘Take up your cross and follow Me. I’m going to go die. Come and follow Me and be willing to die with me.’ When you raised your hand with the military, you were saying, ‘I’m all in.’ But when we raised our hand with God and gave our life, did we really understand that commitment?”

Col. Keith performed more than 125 ramp ceremonies (memorial services for fallen soldiers) on the back of airplanes at Camp Sather in Iraq, where he also prayed over more than 600 wounded soldiers in the medical tents. One of those was a nonbeliever who was positively influenced by three members of his platoon who were Christians and who Keith performed a ramp ceremony for, leaving him with survivor’s guilt. That opened the door for Keith to lead him to Christ.

“At that moment, the Holy Spirit came over me and I thought, ‘Wow! This is God’s will that I am in Iraq. And I am here to be His mouthpiece and to be His heart and His hands, and I wouldn’t want to miss this for anything.”

“You do not want to miss the Commander-in-Chief’s will for you, for your life,” he added. “So your charge this afternoon is to tell the Lord if you haven’t already, ‘Lord, I’m all in. I’ve been trying to include you in my plans, but I don’t want to do that. I want to be all in with Your plan, and I trust You Lord. Wherever You send me, wherever You put me, I’m all in.’”

As tradition, each graduate received a commemorative coin engraved with three symbols: a Bible, representing spiritual direction found within the Scriptures; a U.S. flag, in appreciation for the freedom American citizens share; and a graduation cap, in honor of the ongoing pursuit of wisdom and knowledge set aflame at Liberty. Military veterans who now work in Liberty’s faculty and administration participated in the coin presentation.

After all of the degree presentations were completed on Saturday, Liberty’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) graduates who have committed to serve for the next eight years in the United States’ military were recognized during special commissioning ceremonies. Liberty’s Army ROTC Eagle Battalion sent out 25 officers from the School of Music’s Center for Music and the Worship Arts, Concert Hall, while the Air Force and Space Force ROTC Day Wing unit launched 20 officers from the LaHaye Event Space after that ceremony was relocated from the D-Day Memorial in Bedford due to impending weather in the forecast.