Recapping DBU's 2019 Campus Guests

Throughout 2019, Dallas Baptist University opened its doors, stage, and heart to several prominent guests whose outlooks challenged and inspired students, faculty, staff, and guests.

"You can change tactics to achieve an objective, but principles can't change," Bush encouraged the gathered audience. "If principles shift as a leader, it creates confusion in an organization."

For DBU's 27th Annual Patriot Baseball Banquet in February, former U.S. President George W. Bush joined the celebration and discussed faith, service, baseball and unwavering leadership with moderator Pete Delkus (WFAA-TV Chief Meteorologist).
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Weeks later, DBU fittingly welcomed former First Lady Laura Bush when DBU hosted the 2019 DFW Movement Day on campus. She encouraged the represented communities gathered to come together in conversation and progress over core issues such as childhood education and poverty across the metroplex.
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Later in the spring, DBU welcomed Ross Perot Jr. to campus as part of this year's Christian Business Owners Conference. Perot spoke about how he both followed his father's path while forging his own in business. He encouraged those in attendance to cultivate their business practices from one motive: treating others fairly.
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"Good business means that you are taking care of everybody, you are fair with everybody, and you treat everybody like you want to be treated," said Perot.

Rounding out the spring, DBU welcomed author and political analyst Arthur C. Brooks to address the ever-timely issue of civility in the country, and how love ties the nation together in completeness- in both political and personal life.
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"We really need to talk more about love in politics," Dr. Brooks said. "We have these garbage standards of trying to get civility and tolerance...You need something stronger and better, and that's love."

DBU then kicked off the fall semester with Aran Puddle, Creative Director at Hillsong International Leadership College in Sydney, Australia. Puddle led students in a special time of worship in the Burg. DBU partners with Hillsong International Leadership College in a transfer program built to further establish the intersection of a kingdom mindset with training to serve.
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A Fall Convocation Chapel in October was held to both commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Pilgrim Chapel, and to honor Dr. Stephen Mansfield - former CEO and President of Methodist Health System of Dallas- with an honorary doctorate for his servant leadership in the realm of healthcare in Dallas.
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Later in the fall, DBU's Veritas Lecture program and The Institute for Global Engagement, in partnership with DMA Arts and Letters Live Series and World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, hosted former Secretary of Defense General Jim Mattis. Mattis spoke about his book Call Sign Chaos, shared stories of how he grew as a leader from the battlefield, and called for civility in maintaining strong friendships and being above the politics of today's culture of tribalism.
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DBU's Veritas Lecture program also hosted a variety of other guests. Alumni Jonathan Fechner and Wayne Hamilton, along with pastor Chris Simmons (representing Bridge Builders and Cornerstone Baptist Church, respectively), discussed ministry pertaining to the challenges the urban community faces, and how both Cornerstone and Bridge Builders have allowed service development in DBU students.

DBU also hosted pastors Bryan Carter, Dr. Jeff Warren, and Jason Paredes to hold an important conversation on the topic of racial reconciliation within the church and the world as a whole.

Chapel speakers this year ran the gamut from prominent pastors Costi Hinn and Dr. Jack Graham, to "Run the Race" film producer Jake McEntire, to Oklahoma Senator James Lankford.

Notable Events

This year, DBU also hosted a series of notable events on the hill:

• Lion's U: In conjunction with Lion's Den DFW, this conference - a miniature version of the larger Lion's Den conference- challenged students to grow in business leadership, and to integrate faith into their professional practices.
• DBU's Inaugural Tech Symposium: The first tech conference of its kind at DBU featured speakers addressing topics such as technological advancement for smarter cities, data analytics, and information security.
• The DBU Humanitarian Academy: During Fall Break, DBU gave students the opportunity to learn from leaders in the fields of humanitarian aid, human trafficking, and critical incident stress management response.
• The National Hispanic Educational Summit: The conference celebrated its 10th anniversary, continuing its mission to bring the worlds of church and academia together to address how to best sustain Hispanic college students in both academic progress and empowered spiritual shepherding. 
• The Herb Robbins Research Symposium: Scientific Analyst at Bios Partners and DBU alumnus Dr. Timothy Van Treuren served as the keynote speaker at this annual conference highlighting the spiritual calling of responsible scientific research and STEM education.