To Be "Deliberate"

Participants in the first half of the Installation Ceremony, which began at 2 p.m., included the Honorable Herman J. Smith Jr. ’70, chair of the Presidential Search Committee and vice chair of the Gordon Board of Trustees; Dr. Carrie D. Tibbles ’93, Gordon Board of Trustees member; Mr. George H. Gallup Jr., chairman emeritus, The Gallup Poll; Dr. Dennis P. Hollinger, president, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; Dr. Paul R. Corts, president, Council for Christian Colleges & Universities; and Dr. Bryan C. Auday, chair, Gordon Faculty Senate.

Dr. Nathan O. Hatch, president of Wake Forest University, delivered the Charge to the President, extolling the virtues of “being ‘deliberate’—a word derived from Latin and implying a careful weighing in the mind of important issues, as on a delicate scale. Busyness and hurry can be the enemy of many things, and one of them is serious learning. Students need to find occasions to think deeply and grapple at length with texts and issues and case studies in the disciplines they take on. This takes time; time to allow our minds to become uncluttered; time to focus on an argument long enough to own it, or challenge it, or unpack its relevance. Wisdom is a fragile flower that will be choked by a cluttered and hurried mind.”

Mr. Kurt Keilhacker, Chair of the Board of Trustees; and Drs. Richard F. Gross and R. Judson Carlberg, sixth and seventh presidents of Gordon, participated in the investiture of President Lindsay, which included the presentation of the presidential medallion. Mrs. Lisa B. Forkner, member of the Presidential Search Committee and of the Board of Trustees, provided a prayer of dedication for President and Mrs. Lindsay.

Dr. Lindsay’s Inaugural Address, “Faithful Leadership for the Common Good,” is reprinted in part on pages 22–26. Dr. Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, closed the ceremony with a benediction.  

Music was contributed by the Ipswich River Brass Ensemble; the Gordon College Choir; and the Gordon College Wind Ensemble.

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