S5:E14 | Bruce Upchurch

10/13/21 • 33 min

A Sheepdog Feeding on the Word

Bruce Upchurch, the new director of campus security at Cedarville, brings more than 30 years of law enforcement experience to his role, which includes the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and the Oakwood Public Safety Department. He has been a K9 handler for criminal investigations and a sniper with a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) unit.

He has been pushed to his limit mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually and admits that he’s brought job stress home with him. But through it all, the Lord has kept him together, through long stakeouts, altercations with suspects, and harrowing danger.

Ultimately, Bruce went into law enforcement to help others, and that’s why he’s at Cedarville. He sees himself as a servant, and if he’s not serving, then he’s not doing his job. Caring for faculty, staff, administrators, students, and visitors is his goal.

With all that in mind, it’s important that he stay grounded in his relationship with God, which requires grounding in the Word of God. Memorizing Scripture has kept his heart and attitude in the right place during the most difficult assignments.

“Sheepdogs and wolves are similar,” Bruce shares during the podcast. “They have the same intensity, just one has empathy for the sheep, and one wants to kill the sheep. Be a sheepdog, have empathy, but also be connected with the Word of God. If you do not, you can be led down that path of being a little more like a wolf and less like a sheepdog. Stay firm in the Word; memorize the Word of God. To walk in the Spirit, you need to live in the Word.”

A Sheepdog Feeding on the Word

Previous Episode

S5:E13 | Dannah Gresh

Being Healed and Healing Others

Best-selling author Dannah Gresh, a 1989 graduate of Cedarville University, was surprised when she was notified that she was selected as this year’s Alumna of the Year. In fact, she thought it might be a mistake.

But Dannah has come to learn from years of personal experience and ministry that has touched thousands upon thousands of girls, moms, boys, and dads, that the ways of God are always profoundly amazing. And His healing and redeeming hand was on her in a special way in this unexpected honor.

God has blessed Dannah in many, many ways. From her mom coming to faith while her baby brother was critically ill in the hospital, transforming her family overnight, to bringing a beautiful teenage daughter from China into her own family in State College, Pennsylvania. To helping her and husband, Bob, who is co-founder and CEO of Pure Freedom, shift from an event-based ministry to one that included virtual and digital content and programming, just prior to the onset of the COVID pandemic. The Lord’s goodness has been abundantly clear.

But more than that, Jesus met her in a very personal way to heal her from sexual pain in her teenage years to be a voice for truth in an age when truth, as she says in the podcast, is being crucified. His love and His Word provide the rock-solid basis from which anyone can discover hope, meaning, and purpose.

Receiving the 2021 Alumna of the Year award was another way Jesus ministered to Dannah’s heart.

“In many ways, I haven’t lived a perfect life; I haven’t lived a sinless life,” she shares during the podcast. “So, I think when you get honored, the Lord somehow does some redemption even in those deep places that you think, ‘These things were fixed and healed.’ There’s an unworthiness that we carry with us, I think, until the day that we are with Jesus when we look into His eyes face to face. It was just a sweet moment of healing and encouragement for me.”

Dannah spoke in chapel September 30, 2021, on the topic “The Secret to Being Fruitful,” just prior to being honored as Alumna of the Year on homecoming weekend.

Next Episode

S5:E15 | Will Smallwood

Spearheading a Historic Campaign

Will Smallwood is Cedarville’s new Vice President for Advancement. The Cedarville University Board of Trustees approved him for this role during their traditional homecoming weekend meeting.

Will is leading the University’s One Thousand Days Transformed: The Campaign for Cedarville, which was announced at homecoming weekend. The $125 million dollar campaign, the largest in school history, already has commitments of more than $95 million. This comprehensive campaign will transform the university’s facilities, campus experience, affordability, and long-term sustainability.

Will is no stranger to multi-million dollar fundraising efforts. During his days as Senior Vice President for Advancement and University Relations for Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU), he spearheaded a five-year $42 million campaign, which was realized a year earlier than projected.

Will leads with humility and kindness, realizing any gift to Cedarville is truly a work of God in the hearts of friends and alumni of the University. He is glad to serve in the role God has provided to impact the lives of students and the long-term health and thriving of Cedarville.

“I have long observed the excellence of Cedarville at every level, from the administration to faculty and staff and its outstanding student body,” he shared with Cedarville public relations earlier this year. “There is also a rich history of generous and faithful support from alumni and friends committed to preparing students who will honor the Lord with their careers and bring Gospel intentionality into all aspects of their lives. To play a small role in this worthy and crucial mission is an incredible blessing.”

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The One Thousand Days Transformed: The Campaign for Cedarville includes an athletic and academic expansion, the Scharnberg Business Center, and a new welcome center and academic home for several of Cedarville’s outstanding academic departments.