By Norm Miller, LC communications
PINEVILLE – Louisiana College announces Dr. Jay Strack as keynote speaker for its 160th Commencement service. The May 7 ticketed event will be held in Guinn Auditorium.
An effective communicator, author and minister, Strack has spoken across the US and in 30 countries to an estimated cumulative 15 million people in churches, and stadiums, such as the Georgia Dome, Astrodome, Super Dome, Reunion Arena, and the Olympic Village Stadium in Moscow, Russia.
Strack’s motivational oratory has gained corporate attention and includes the following speaking engagements:
- NASA, Walmart, Chick-fil-A, Johnson & Johnson, General Motors, Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, RDV Sports and more.
- NFL, NBA, & MLB teams and events, including featured speaker for two NBA All Star Games.
- The Air Force Academy faculty and students.
“Jay is the most dynamic communicator I have ever met,” said Dr. Rick Brewer, president of Louisiana College. “I am thrilled that our graduates and their families will be exposed to Jay’s insights, and his encouragement as well a challenge to pursue new levels of Christian leadership for the sake of the future and for God’s kingdom.”
Brewer and Strack were “collegians and friends during our undergraduate work and have shared in numerous ministry opportunities across the Southeast,” Brewer said.
“Through God’s blessings, we have that ‘iron-sharpening-iron’ kind of relationship, and I am blessed to call him my friend.”
Commended for his work against drugs by former secretary of education, William Bennett, and former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Strack has been interviewed nationally and internationally on radio and television including CNN, the McNeil Lehrer Report and the 700 Club.
NBA Orlando Magic Senior Vice President Pat Williams says, “When I hear my good friend Jay Strack speak, I make sure I have a pen and plenty of paper. He is awesome, baby!’’
Zig Ziglar described Strack as “entertaining, powerful, inspiring and informative.”
From a home racked by divorce several times over, where Strack was emotionally, physically and sexually abused, Strack has devoted his life to helping people experience transformation. Having overcome his own drug addiction as an adolescent, he proclaims three principles that can change any life:
- “If God be for me, who can be against me.”
- “It’s not how you start, but how you finish.”
- “If I can overcome, anyone can overcome.”
Despite is checkered history, Charleston Southern University took a chance on Strack and gave him a semester to prove himself. In spite of being labeled a troubled student, and having ADD and dyslexia, he earned degrees in religion and psychology. “I went from totally unmotivated to a doctorate degree,” he says.
At 19, Strack was licensed and ordained as a Southern Baptist Minister. He served as senior pastor of a mega-church for five years at the age of 26, and later became a prominent evangelical evangelist. He has spoken 26 times at the Southern Baptist Convention. He served on the SBC Committee on the Order of Business, The ERLC (Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission), president and vice president of C.O.S.B.E (Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelist), C.O.S.B.E Hall of Fame, and was first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Strack’s Student Leadership University has now reached more than 160,000 students through its various programs, including: the 23-city Lift Tour, and Youth Pastor Summits in Orlando, Dallas, Nashville, Toronto, Southern California, Nairobi, New York City, and Lynchburg, Virginia.
“Jay is effectively impacting multiple thousands of emerging leaders annually through his Student Leadership University,” said Brewer, who was instrumental in the formation of that international ministry.
Strack speaks to students in the same way he presents to major corporations and professional teams, believing that with the right tools, students can soar into future-tense thinkers and leaders.
Strack is the author of 38 highly inspirational books, including:
“The Three Success Secrets of Shamgar”
“Good Kids who do Bad Things”
“Above and Beyond”
“Everything Worth Knowing I Learned Growing UP in Florida”
“Critical Issues. Absolute Answers.”
Strack is the editor of three study Bibles:
- Transformer – Thomas Nelson;
- True Love Waits – Broadman Holman, and
- Student Leadership Bible – Thomas Nelson.
