Judson speaker: Greatest challenge to come

Most commencement speakers heap high praise on the graduates they felicitate.

The keynote speaker at Judson University's fall commencement Saturday, Dec. 13, was more subdued in his praise.

"You have passed Judson's test, so you think you have no more tests, no more assignments," said Alistair Brown, president of the Northern Theological Seminary in Lombard.

"I'm sorry," Brown said. The toughest challenge for the graduates was just beginning, he said.

On Saturday afternoon, 125 Judson graduates received their degrees from the Elgin university in a ceremony on campus.

Ten students formed the first class to graduate from the university's master's program in Organizational Leadership.

Brown, a Scottish-born theologian, challenged graduates to live up to their promise and create something enduring.

"The epitaph I fear being written on my gravestone: 'Alistair Brown, he had potential,'" Brown said. "Build well. Build something that truly lasts."

University President Jerry Cain congratulated graduates with his usual mix of humor and history.

Cain noted the rising enrollment at the Evangelical university, recently named one of the top undergraduate colleges in the Midwest by U.S. News and World Report.

"If that continues, within a few years we will be holding commencement at Soldier Field," Cain joked.

The university president said that despite the twin challenges of a bad economy and a growing student population, Judson is in good financial standing.

"We will finish this year without laying off one staff member or one faculty member," Cain said. "We are doing better than General Motors."