Dedicating the Vicki and Rick James Campus

Dear Friends:

In 2006, the trustees of United Theological Seminary, under the leadership of President Ed Zeiders, decided they could no longer afford to maintain the six 80+-year-old buildings at the Harvard Boulevard campus. Feeling God had provided them with an opportunity, they sold the campus to our friends at Omega Baptist Church and moved to the Jewish Community Center in Trotwood.

Eleven years later, we celebrate that decision, because we now have a comfortable modern one-story building to house the Zimmerman Chapel, O’Brien Library and Thie Fellowship Hall, alongside classrooms and administrative offices.

During the past year, Vicki and Rick James from Fort Wayne, Indiana, have helped United continue to grow in our Trotwood location. They have generously committed more than $600,000 in scholarship aid for our students and a $500,000 matching grant to help us pay off the $4 million mortgage on our facilities.

When Vicki and Rick James attended our graduation service last December, Rick told the graduates, “God has given you the gift of preaching and teaching to bring people to know Jesus Christ and make disciples of Jesus.”

The James family has their own gifts, including the gift of generosity. In thanksgiving for their deep faith and generous hearts, the Board of Trustees has decided to name our building in their honor.

Consequently, trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni/ae and friends of United are invited to a complimentary luncheon and dedication service on Saturday, May 20, 2017, from noon to 1:30 p.m. We will dedicate our building to the glory of God and name it the Vicki and Rick James Campus in honor of their faith in God and commitment to educating faithful and fruitful pastors and church leaders.

If you are able to attend this luncheon and dedication service, please RSVP by May 15 to Laura Weber at [email protected] or 937.529.2278, or go online at united.edu/campus-dedication.
After Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem he offered a prayer of dedication to God.

[The people of Israel] bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.’…So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

2 Chronicles 7:3, 5

On May 20 we will stand in front of the building God has provided for us, bow our heads in prayer, give thanks to our God, whose steadfast love endures forever, and dedicate this house to the glory of God and the education of God’s servants.

I hope you will be able to join us.

Grace and peace,
Dr. Kent Millard
President
United Theological Seminary