Bestselling author and minister Max Lucado, a 1977 graduate of Abilene Christian University, spoke to guests of the President’s Circle Dinner Saturday, March 2930, at ACU’s Teague Center. The annual dinner event honors the university’s most generous donors.
Lucado is the teaching minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. He’s been dubbed “America’s Pastor” by Christianity Today, and “The Best Preacher in America” by Reader’s Digest. His books have sold more than 150 million copies in over 50 languages worldwide.
At the President’s Circle Dinner, Lucado shared how his life changed 50 years ago as a 20-year-old Abilene Christian student, through relationships with faithful friends and faculty mentors and an encounter with God’s grace during a sermon at Highland Church of Christ.
“I heard a preacher do for me what I’m attempting to do for you: describe the grace that is greater than sin. When, at the end of the message, he asked if anyone would like to come forward and receive this grace, iron chains could not have held me back,” Lucado said.
“That was 50 years ago. In the intervening years I have failed Christ, but he has never failed me. I found a forgiveness that is too deep to be plumbed, too high to be summited. I have never been more or less saved than the moment I was first saved. Not one bad deed has deducted from my salvation. No good deed, if there are any, has enhanced it. My salvation has nothing to do with my work and everything to do with the finished work of Christ on the cross.”
Lucado earned two degrees from ACU: a B.A. in 1977 and an M.S. in 1983. He moved to Miami, Florida, took a position as an associate pastor at a small church, and met his wife, Denalyn (Preston ’79), also a graduate of ACU. Together, they lived in Miami and then spent several years in Rio de Janeiro, helping plant churches. He has preached at Oak Hills Church since 1988, and he and Denalyn have three grown daughters, three sons-in-law, and four grandchildren.
Also at the dinner, ACU president Dr. Phil Schubert (‘91) reflected on the blessings and accomplishments from the past year, including ACU’s recognition from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as a Research 2 university, the new Bullock Brothers Ballpark renovated baseball venue, $300 million raised through the Higher Ground comprehensive campaign, continued enrollment gains, and the addition of several graduate and undergraduate degrees, residential and online.
Schubert also encouraged attendees to consider how Lucado’s experience continues to be lived out through the mission of the university.
“Max Lucado didn’t come to ACU with his sights set on becoming a bestselling author. But he found people here – friends and mentors who believed in him, who saw something in him that he didn’t see in himself. And because of their willingness to journey with him, he allowed God’s grace to define him,” Schubert said. “There are more Max Lucados out there. … They’re waiting for someone to lead them, to say ‘God is calling you into hHis plan for the world. You are essential to hHis plan for the world. And you are enough. What you have is enough. He will use you to change the world.’ I believe that happens every single day here. Thank you for believing it too and being willing to invest in helping us lean into the open doors of opportunity that God is creating for us.”
