President Bull welcomes students to receive God’s grace this year

Seeing students back on campus for this 2024-2025 academic year is a tremendous joy. I pray that God will bless this campus and each of you with a meaning-rich and inspiring year.

Welcome from Concordia University, Nebraska where God’s grace pours forth abundantly, never in vain! 1 Corinthians 15:10

Our theme verse is from 1 Corinthians 15:10: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

In chapel, classes, devotions, and informal conversations, I hope you find time to delve deep into this verse and its implications. It points to many profound truths that can be a blessing now and for eternity. Among them is the reminder that you are a unique child of God, deeply loved and deemed of immense worth by the God of the universe–most evident in the fact that He sent His one and only Son to die for your and my sins.

No trial, no achievement, and no failure can change this. Whether your year is easy and joy-filled, challenging, or a combination, God’s love for you and declaration of your worth is constant. At the core of your identity is this–you are a dearly loved child of God and He wants what is best for you. He invites you to come to Him often in prayer, to hear Him speak to you in His Word, to participate in the Christian community here at Concordia, and to be an active part of blessing and befriending those around you.

This is something consistent, steady, and undeniable that can guide, comfort, and strengthen you throughout this year. God’s grace is for you and everyone you will encounter. Understood rightly, it is a truth that can transform how you see yourself and others, the peaks and valleys of the year, and your entire experience at Concordia and beyond. As such, one of my many prayers for you and the Concordia community is that this continues to be a place where we live, love, and learn together–basking in God’s love for us in Christ.

May God bless you, even as He works through you to be an immense blessing to those around you. May this continue to be a school where we all regularly point one another to “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”