Liberty University Commencement 2019 - Vice President Mike Pence

that verse i asked charlie to read my father had a paraphrase of it he's a southern boy so this was the southern paraphrase he would tell his congregation don't get mad when people tell lies about you just be glad they don't know the truth so our commencement speaker currently serves as the 48th vice president of the united states while he has dedicated much of his life to public service he serves our country with high distinction dignity and honor defending america's freedoms and principles often under the unrelenting scrutiny of a hostile press he serves alongside president donald trump with great admiration and respect and i have observed that he is one of the most engaged and influential vice presidents in my lifetime i know he would i know he would say that he would not be the man that he is today work not for his faith in christ and the love of his life karen pence before serving as vice president he was the 50th governor of the home state of india of his home state of indiana he brought he brought several key reforms to indiana to help promote the dignity of human life economic freedom and all the necessary conditions for the common good he also served four terms as one of the most conservative members in the u.s house of representatives he has described himself as a christian conservative and republican and in that order now i ask that vice president prince joined me at the podium to recognize his service and devotion to our country his nobility of character deep abiding faith and conviction resilience and leadership and promotion of american ideals and freedoms which is a shining example to liberty university students and graduates and central to our core mission of training young young men and women as the servant leaders for tomorrow with the power vested in me by the board of trustees of liberty university the doctor of laws is hereby conferred upon vice president mike pence with all the rights and privileges appertaining there and too now join me in welcoming to deliver our 46th commencement address vice president mike pence well hello liberty [Music] president falwell the board of trustees my friend dr ben carson faculty family distinguished guests it is an honor for us to be here in williams stadium with 20 000 liberty loving champions for christ for the 46th commencement ceremony of the liberty university class of 2019. you did it and i want to thank you jerry thank you for those uh overly generous words i'm deeply humbled to be here with you and honored by your esteem but with so many families here i only wish that my parents could have heard that introduction my father would have enjoyed it my mother would have believed it but all kidding aside we are so grateful to you jerry and becky and your entire family for your friendship for your leadership and for the honor of joining you today it is my great honor to be here with you and the largest graduating class ever at liberty university thank you for the honor and as i begin let me bring greetings from a great friend of liberty who gave his first commencement address as president of the united states from this very podium just two years ago i told him yesterday that i was going to be with you all today so allow me to pass along the congratulations of the president of the united states of america [Applause] i bring congratulations and greetings from president donald trump somebody in the deep state that was fun [Applause] and let me also say it's a real joy to be here with um really the most special person in my life she's a marine corps mom she's a champion for military families she's an elementary school teacher she actually taught six of today's graduates today would you welcome my wife of 33 years the second lady of the united states of america karen pence to liberty university today you know karen and i couldn't be happier to be back on this beautiful campus we paid our first visit to liberty mountain during the final weeks of the 2016 campaign and even though we spent only a few hours here we could tell that there was something special about this place when you open your doors in 1971 liberty had just 154 students in 1985 your founder the reverend jerry falwell senior set what then seemed to be an impossible goal he said that by the early 21st century liberty would have a student body of 50 000 men and women but the truth is even jerry falwell senior didn't foresee how liberty would grow it is amazing to think that more than one hundred thousand men and women are receiving a liberty education today as dr falwell once said it was his conviction that whatever was required to make a good christian also makes a good citizen and from what i've seen and heard of this graduating class of 2019 i know that to be true this is a remarkable class remarkable achievements and you all ought to be proud this year's graduating class is from 50 states and more than 80 nations around the world the oldest graduate is 87. and the youngest graduate is 17. nearly 6 000 students graduated with honors and as we already celebrated more than 6 000 graduates are in the united states military or have military family ties thank you again for your service to the united states of america also among you are scholars musicians artists and of course athletes who led your men's basketball team all the way to the second round of the ncaa tournament this year let's hear it for coach richie mckay the 2019 jim phelan national coach of the year well done coach it's now more impressive than your many achievements in the classroom and in athletics are the acts of kindness that have demonstrated the character of this class of 2019. i learned that liberty students have actually performed more than a half a million hours of community service and nearly 2 000 of your faculty and students performed roughly 9 300 hours of community service in the lynchburg community in the month of april alone that's a remarkable record of charity and support a few days ago i actually received a letter from one of your graduates who i had the pleasure of meeting during a service at the capitol just last year he wrote to me that he came to liberty to study a profession that he dreamed of doing as a child he said he'd be honored to be able to serve his community and his nation to be able to put on a badge you see he's a police officer who puts his life on the line for us each and every day and today officer james belcher is graduating with a degree in criminal justice congratulations officer belcher where are you thank you for your service and congratulations to all the liberty graduating class of 2019. let's hear it for this extraordinary group of young men and women you know this is a great day well i can tell looking out at all of you that you know you didn't get here on your own you know there's a old saying back in the state of indiana that when you see a box turtle on a fence post one thing you know for sure if you had help getting there and i know that's true of all of you for the last four years your professors and the faculty and the administration here at liberty have poured themselves into your lives the friends you made here who studied with you who prayed with you who reassured you during those anxious days of papers and exams i'll let you in on something they're gonna be some of the best friends you ever have in your life and that won't change but most important of all long before you arrived on this campus your parents were there and they're here today every step of the way they were encouraging you supporting you believing in you and on this mother's day weekend i can't help but think of the moms who drove you to school helped you with your homework took you to games they got you dressed on that first day and they hugged you on the last one can we just ask all the moms who are here with us today to stand up and take a bow the class of 2019 knows they wouldn't be here without you today you the class of 2019 will graduate from an extraordinary university you'll enter new careers in new endeavors and they say timing is everything in class of 2019 i just want to tell you you picked a great time to graduate because after two years of the leadership of president donald trump jobs are coming back and america is back you are entering a growing american economy it's true the america that awaits your energies and ambitions and is experiencing a new era of opportunity and optimism you're beginning your careers at a time when this economy is growing and we've restored american stature at home and abroad businesses large and small and little more than the last two years have created more than 5.8 million jobs unemployment is at a nearly 50-year low and there are more americans working today than ever before in the history of this country and this year for the first time ever there are more job openings in america than there are americans looking for work that's good timing liberty not that liberty graduates are going to have any trouble finding a job i can promise you the liberty name carries great weight with employers all over the country i should know i'm proud to say there are actually four liberty alumni on the vice president staff at the white house today and we're proud of each and every one of them so the american economy is soaring and you all ought to know that prosperity didn't just happen since day one of our administration president trump and i have been advancing the very principles and values that you studied and learned here at liberty principles and values that are making our country strong and great again we've been rebuilding our military standing with our allies and standing up to our enemies and under this administration if the world knows nothing else the world knows this america stands with israel here at home we've been expanding freedom cutting taxes rolling back the regulatory state returning authority to the people in the states and we've been upholding the foundation of our laws by defending by nominating strong conservatives to our courts at every level and i promise you as of this last week 103 judges confirmed to our courts and every one of them will uphold all the god-given liberties enshrined in the constitution of the united states you're entering in america where you have a president and an administration that are standing strong for all the liberties we cherish the freedom of speech the freedom of religion and we stand without apology for the sanctity of human life the truth is when you leave liberty mountain you're going to find an america filled with promise and i know the men and women of the class of 2019 will thrive because you have the support of your families you've gotten a tremendous education and because here at liberty it was all built on a foundation that cannot be shaken and i know what i'm talking about you know maybe like many of you graduates today i was raised in a church home but by the time i got to high school i was one of those people who still went to church but i was just going through the motions i decided to go my own way i got to college though i started to meet some people that i could tell had something i liked it wasn't just confidence or an easy familiarity with success i really knew they had something that i didn't have and the only way i could describe it was joy they seemed to have a peace regardless of their circumstances and and i was drawn to them so i decided to start attending a christian fellowship on campus i i had this friend who was wearing a really cool cross around his neck and um so i started asking him where he got it so i could get one it's true frankly i started to pester him about it i'll never forget the day i went up to him and i said hey man i've you know i've decided to go ahead and do the christian thing so i want to get one of those crosses you wear so let me know where you got it and he looked at me and said something that i'll never forget he looked me in the eye and he said mike you know you've got to wear it in your heart before you wear it around your neck and i wrestled with those words for days i i didn't know what he meant but i knew there was truth in it a few weeks later i found myself at a youth christian music festival in wilmore kentucky i i listened to a sermon or two all day long and i heard those words that i'd heard ever since i was a little boy that god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life but on that rainy saturday night i i heard it differently sitting on that hillside i realize that also meant that god so loved me that he gave his only son to save me overwhelmed not with guilt but with a heart overflowing with gratitude that night i put my faith in jesus christ as my personal lord and savior and it's made all the difference so i say not so much as your vice president but as a brother in christ if what you've seen and heard and learned in this place has also taken hold in your hearts go from here and live it out share it because america needs men and women of integrity and faith now more than ever it's true the truth is we live in a time when the freedom of religion is under assault yesterday i was informed by the u.s commission on international religious freedom that today christians suffer more persecution around the world than any other religion in fact the united kingdom released a report just last week that said persecution of christians worldwide is near genocide levels in the last few months we've seen unspeakable attacks on people of faith jewish synagogues in pennsylvania and california on mosques in new zealand christian churches in sri lanka and on three historically black churches in louisiana no one should ever fear for their safety in a place of worship and these attacks on people of faith must stop one week ago i was standing before the charred remains of mount pleasant baptist church in louisiana and i must tell you i was deeply inspired by the example of pastor gerald toussaint he's a pastor of one of the three churches that was burned but he was the one that said on the day that they arrested the arsonist he said quote we've got to forgive him pastor toussaint brought a community together with faith and grace they overcame evil with good and that's the kind of faith we need to see more of in these divided times faith that unites on a foundation of grace because we live in a time when it's become acceptable and even fashionable to ridicule and even discriminate against people of faith dr carson just talked about it a few moments ago you know it wasn't all that long ago that the last administration brought the full weight of the federal government against the little sisters of the poor merely because that group of nuns refused to provide a health plan that violated their deeply held religious beliefs and when the state of georgia recently was debating legal protections for the unborn a bevy of hollywood liberals said they would boycott the entire state and when my wife karen returned to teach art at an elementary christian school earlier this year we faced harsh attacks by the media and the secular left and a major newspaper reporter actually started a new hashtag called expose christian schools inviting students to share their horror stories of christian education the freedom of religion is enshrined in our first amendment and in the hearts of every american and these attacks on christian education are unamerican i'm proud to report our administration has already taken decisive action to protect religious liberty and will continue to do that just that and i promise you we will always stand up for the right of americans to live to learn and to worship god according to the dictates of their conscience the american people cherish our tradition of religious education and as president trump said at this very podium two years ago on our watch no one is ever going to stop you from practicing your faith or from preaching what is in your heart that's a promise but my message to all of you in the class of 2019 is derives of the moment that we're living in today you know throughout most of american history it's been pretty easy to call yourself christian it didn't even occur to people that you might be shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the bible but things are different now some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional christian beliefs so as you go about your daily life just be ready because you're going to be asked not just to tolerate things that violate your faith you're going to be asked to endorse them you're going to be asked to bow down to the idols of the popular culture so you need to prepare your minds for action men and women you need to show that we can love god and love our neighbor at the same time through words and deeds and you need to be prepared to meet opposition as the founder of this university often said quote no one ever achieved greatness without experiencing opposition so men and women of liberty university class of 2019 as you strive for greatness know that you'll face challenges you'll face opposition but just know this if like shadrach meshach and abednego you end up in the fire there'll be another in the fire so class of 2019 my word to all of you is decide here and now that you're going to stand firm that you put into practice all the things you learned here on liberty mountain that you'll never give up that you'll persevere and that you'll always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have and you'll do so with gentleness and respect because our nation and our world need that message of grace and love maybe more now than ever before and as you do these things in increasing measure i promise you you'll be blessed you'll be a blessing to your family to your co-workers and you'll be a blessing to this nation america has always been a nation of faith and as our first vice president john adams said our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other so just know as you strengthen your foundation of faith and the foundation of faith among the american people you will be strengthening the foundation of america itself so thank you for the honor of addressing you today to all our graduates i say have faith have faith in yourselves proven by what you've accomplished to get you to this very day have faith in the principles and the ideals that you learned here and the noble mission that's always animated this university and have faith that he who brought you this far will never leave you or forsake you because he never will for class of 2019 this is your day the world awaits as you leave this place go forth for liberty make liberty proud we will all be cheering you every step of the way and never forget where the spirit of the lord is there's liberty and i know right after we get then making this country great again you're going to make america greater than ever before congratulations class of 2019 you did it god bless you and god bless america you

Channel: Liberty University

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Length: 29min 59sec (1799 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2019