Gregory Mathis, senior pastor at Mud Creek Baptist Church in Hendersonville, N.C., encouraged North Greenville University’s 2010 record-high graduating class of 270 to make good life decisions in order to live happy, healthy, holy lives.
From left: Gregory Mathis, North Greenville University’s spring commencement speaker, with wife Deborah and NGU president Jimmy Epting.At the May 6 commencement ceremony, Mathis told graduates that their answers to three questions would reveal whether or not they would live happy, healthy, holy lives: “What are you going to do with Jesus? Who are you going to marry? What are you going to be in life: a giver or a taker?”
He said the most important decision they will make concerns their response to the Lord Jesus Christ. If their answer is yes to living for him, “you are in for a good life on this earth and in eternity,” said Mathis.
Mathis concluded his address by telling the graduates, “Today you’re beginning the rest of your life. Life passes so quickly. Before you know it, your life will be over. What kind of life are you going to live? Will you choose to live the life Jesus described for you? If so, it will be your gift to him and your grief to others,” said Mathis.
Mathis, who has served his church for 29 years, is a professor of evangelism at Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute. He served two terms as president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and has served as president of the North Carolina Baptist Pastors’ Conference.
At the conclusion of his address, Mathis was presented with an honorary doctor of divinity degree.
Henry Blackaby, president of Blackaby Ministries and co-author of the “Experiencing God” Bible study, led graduates in a devotional thought. Blackaby’s grandson, Daniel Richard Blackaby, was a member of the 2010 graduating class. – NGU