It may be cloudy and rainy outside, but the Commencement Weekend Celebration will be full of smiling faces. The graduating seniors will gather in the cafeteria for the annual senior breakfast provided by the Alumni Association and Career Services on Friday morning, followed by their class picture on the steps of Cooper Hall. Commencement rehearsal, an afternoon gathering, and dinner will lead up Friday’s main event – Baccalaureate. The Friday worship service has been redesigned this year to include more worship music and a short address by Chaplain Christian Dashiell. It will take place in Culbertson Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. The traditional bagpipes will begin at 9:45 a.m. on Saturday to begin Commencement, which will take place in Gleason Physical Education Center. Commencement will feature guest speaker Dr. Luder G. Whitlock Jr., executive director of CNL Charitable Foundation, who will share his speech, “What’s Next?”

Whitlock is the executive director of the CNL Charitable Foundation, the Seneff Family Foundation and president of the Excelsis Center. He has served as a pastor and worked with theological education through various organizations and seminaries. He served as president of Reformed Theological Seminary for 23 years, growing the institution to one of the 10 largest seminaries in North America.

Whitlock has worked with several evangelical organizations, both in the United States and in other countries. He has assisted in church planting, invested in developing leaders, and served on Christian school boards to further the education of children. “Christianity Today” recognized him as one of the five seminary presidents most influential on theological education during the last half of the 20th Century.

More information on Sterling College’s Commencement Weekend Celebration can be found at https://www.sterling.edu/academics/commencement.

Sterling College is a Christ-centered, four-year college located in Sterling, Kansas, with a mission to develop creative and thoughtful leaders who understand a maturing Christian faith. For more information, visit www.sterling.edu.