On May 10, 2014, Kingswood University celebrated two historic milestones at its 69th graduation ceremony. The Class of 2014 included Kingswood’s first cohort of students to receive the Master of Arts in Pastoral Theology degree, and for the second year in a row, the university graduated its largest class ever.
Two distinguished leaders of The Wesleyan Church became additional members of the Class of 2014. In recognition of their significant Kingdom building service, Kingswood University awarded the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree to Rev. Keith Loy and Rev. David Drury.
Dr. Keith Loy, who is Lead Pastor of Celebrate Community Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and has spearheaded the popular Celebrate video series, spoke to graduates at a Baccalaureate service that was held the night before graduation.
“You’re in the battle with eternity stamped all over it, and the lost are always worth the labor,” said Loy. He explained how the best runner on a relay team is always last so that he can finish the race strong. As each graduate received a runner’s baton, Loy told this generation, “You’re God’s best for bringing it home.”
On Saturday morning, Dr. David Drury addressed the graduates at the commencement service. Drury is Chief of Staff to Dr. Jo Anne Lyon in the General Superintendent’s office and is the author or co-author of more than a half-dozen books including Being Dad, SoulShift, Ageless Faith, Duckville, & The Fruitful Life.
Drury’s message focused on the lunch that Andrew offered Jesus when the disciples were faced with feeding the multitude. “What is your ‘among so many’?” he asked. “Even though Andrew was overwhelmed by the problem, he offered the lunch that he had.”
“The problem is that we don’t do our part and let Jesus multiply it,” continued Drury. “We like things big, but Jesus likes to use small, ordinary things…None of our lunches are enough, but Jesus will multiply them.”
During the graduation weekend, the university also recognized Daniel Henderlong (Clearfield, PA) as the 2014 Class Valedictorian and Lindsey (Hudak) Gorveatte (Clinton, NJ) as Salutatorian. Kingswood alumni are serving Christ in North America and 27 countries around the world.
