The greatest recession of our time is trying to end but cannot quite find its finale. Our country has experienced the effects of a liberal coalition of white house, senate, and house of representatives for only sixteen months, and, in that time, our freedoms are eroded, we are unbelievably deep in debt, and our leaders continue to spend hard to fix it for us...or, more accurately understood, fix us for it.
Conservatives, having lost their way and paid the price, now searching for a just cause and a champion, can only kick dust and shout "no." Most churches in America of varying brands stand unchanging in bewilderment as a generation of thirty-and-under-somethings leave those churches for places not yet fully understood. American small businesses, having known all along that they hold the answer to the economic questions, simply wait for the opportunity.
And, through it all, God has begun to move. As a friend put it recently, quoting from C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, "Aslan is on the move."
I am firmly convinced that the Lord has already started a cultural and spiritual restoration of our country. As He allows and leads, I intend for our university to be a significant part of it. His plan has always been before us. "If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, an will forgive their sin and heal their land."
I will ask our Board to formally adopt what by any human measure is an impossible objective...that the University of Mobile will become a nationally recognized voice and transforming influence in the revitalization of Christian faith and character in America by the year 2020. We call it the 2020 Vision plan.
It is the most far-reaching thing we have ever considered, and, quite possibly, the most important of our lives. For, if we succeed, we will have participated with the Lord in preserving a nation for His purpose in the lives of our grandchildren.
Such a thing is not accomplished apart from sacrifice...mine, yours, and that of many others. I hope the readers of these words find favor with it. If you are willing to sacrifice your resources, time, and influence to the conclusion of the matter, join us. Otherwise, stand aside, and wonder what it might have been like to walk with Aslan as He moves upon a nation.
More later.
