by David Melton
Commencement at Boston Baptist College is impressive. For years we have held graduation events in historic Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston — the same building where the Sons of Liberty called for a new American nation. When our graduates walk across the stage to receive their degrees, they step where patriots, statesmen, presidents, and world-changers have stood. A masterpiece painting twice-the-actual-size of George Washington towers over the entrance to the platform while a striking oil of Abraham Lincoln is staring at you when you get to center stage. It’s quite an appropriate place to finish a Boston education.
Our students almost never come from high pedigrees, much like the men whose faces peer at them as they receive their degrees. Sam Adams was a deacon’s son who did manual labor just about every day of his life. But he was a meticulous student, and at Boston Baptist College, we welcome the notion men and women of God should be as well read and thoughtful as anybody else on the block. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery and escaped to become one of America’s most notable voices for freedom and the dignity of life. He is insightfully quoted as remarking, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” It seems hardly any other words call more strongly for biblical education. Like so much else, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.
So, it’s not just the building, it’s not just the history, it’s all of that and more that is the framework to celebrate 21st-century men and women — our men and women — informed, thoughtful, hearts warmed for Christ. Unwilling to accept the status quo. Impressive historic hall. Impressive men and women. Very impressive.