Charleston Southern University formally dedicated the new Whitfield Center for Christian Leadership Sept. 11.
The 26,500-square-foot facility houses classrooms, conference space, a resource and research center and offices for the School of Christian Studies, as well as other academic departments.
“We envisioned a critical need for a signature building to house our Center for Christian Leadership more than a decade ago,” said Jairy C. Hunter Jr., president. “The dedication of this building is a dream come true for the CSU family. This conference center will be a global resource to anyone seeking information and guidance on Christian leadership principles.”
The Center for Christian Leadership will host three institutes: Biblical Worldview Institute, Faith Integration Institute, and Marketplace Institute.
Doug Hunter, executive director of the center, said the goal of the center’s offerings is to enable students to “leave as disciples equipped to serve God wherever they are led. It is a resource for providing kingdom leaders in the years to come.”
Before offering the opening prayer at the dedication, Jim Austin, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said the convention is “thrilled with its partnership with this university, which God in his sovereignty has planted here.”
Jane Hamrick, widow of CSU founding president John Hamrick, said the center is “a tribute to all those present and to the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”
The center is named in honor of Shirley and Floyd Whitfield, who are longtime benefactors of the university and contributed approximately $3 million toward the project.
Floyd Whitfield, 85, said during the ceremony that it has been a blessing to contribute financially to CSU and “today caps it off.”
President Hunter said, “Shirley and Floyd were the first people Sissy and I met when we moved to Charleston. The Whitfields are our trusted friends who continue to be loyal ambassadors for the university and faithful supporters of Christian higher education.”
“The incredibly significant investment Floyd and Shirley Whitfield have made in the Center for Christian Leadership is a wonderful affirmation of the vision God has been developing at Charleston Southern,” said center director Doug Hunter. “It is also a powerful testimony to the commitment they share for developing kingdom leaders for the next generation.”
The Whitfields are members of Grace on the Ashley Baptist Church.
— With reporting from Don Kirkland, editor emeritus of the Courier.