Cindy and I attended Homecoming at Johnson Bible College last night to hear David Eubanks preach his final Homecoming sermon as JBC’s president. Dr. Eubanks took office in 1969, and he was 14 years into his 38-year tenure when I came to JBC as a freshman in 1983. He will retire later this year. Many wonderful things were said about Dr. Eubanks last night, all of them true. One of the most interesting has to do with buildings.

It would be an understatement to say that the JBC campus has been improved during the Eubanks years. Practically every major building on campus was built since the mid-70s, and two dorms (the ones Cindy and I lived in) were built, torn down, and replaced in that time. Since Dr. Eubanks became president, the college transformed itself from a small huddle of old buildings on “the hill” to a widespread campus of first-rate facilities.

But the buildings aren’t the legacy.

One speaker (I think it was Ken Overdorf) pointed out that only one building remains from the days of Ashley Johnson, who founded the college in 1893, and that is the house the president lives in. But the legacy of Ashley Johnson extends to all the churches, missions agencies, schools, etc. that have been served by JBC graduates.

Dr. Eubanks has been an amazing builder who led JBC to become a modern, technologically advanced, academically excellent, competitive college. He leaves a campus that will bear his imprint for many years to come (including a building named after him). But his real legacy is described by the words that were repeatedly mentioned about him last night: Integrity, faithfulness, humility and service. Dr. Eubanks has left on all of us alumni an indelible picture of what a Christian leader ought to be.