PINEVILLE – Joe Aguillard is no stranger to daunting challenges. Even when he was hardly big enough to touch the pedals, he drove a tractor on the family’s rice and cattle farm in southeastern Louisiana.
By Karen L. Willoughby
Managing Editor
PINEVILLE – Joe Aguillard is no stranger to daunting
challenges. Even when he was hardly big enough to touch the pedals, he
drove a tractor on the family’s rice and cattle farm in southeastern
Louisiana.
Never once did that tractor get away from him, his mother, Helen Aguillard, reported.
“He really grew up knowing how to work,” Mrs.
Aguillard said in a recent conversation with the Message. “He was very
smart, well-liked. He had a lot of friends – always at our house.”
Aguillard also was athletic – he lettered in
football, basketball and track all four years of high school – and he
sang in the church choir – his mother thought he was called to music
ministry – but none of that came up in the multitude of accolades
showered on the eighth president of Louisiana College during inaugural
events March 22-23.
Instead, he was lauded for his Christian commitment,
high moral principles, scholarship, leadership, integrity, and – as
entered into the Congressional Record by U.S. Congressman Rodney
Alexander, – as a “top notch educator whose ability is sure to lead
Louisiana College to its greatest days.”
In addition to letters of congratulations from
President George W. Bush and dozens of college presidents across the
nation, Aguillard at his inauguration received the 2005 Edgar Godbold
Educator Award from the Louisiana Moral and Civic Foundation and
mention was made of the LACTE recognition “exemplifying scholarship,
leadership, integrity” he received in the spring of 2004, honoring his
service in 2003-04 as president of the Deans of Colleges of Education
in Louisiana.
Dignitary representatives reported Louisiana
Governor Kathleen Blanco sent Aguillard her special recognition of his
inauguration, and Senator David Vitter presented a proclamation on the
senate floor in Washington D.C. attesting to Aguillard’s
appropriateness for the presidency of Louisiana College.
The two-day inaugural event began with a Wednesday
evening worship service. Musical interludes “The Lord is in His Holy
Temple,” “Shout to the Lord,” “With a Thousand Angels,” “He’s Been
Faithful” and “In Celebration: The Solid Rock” mingled with the reading
of Old and New Testament scriptures – Psalm 122:1, Isaiah 40:28-31,
Hebrews 11:32-12:3.
Prayer was a major component of the evening:
invocation by the Rev. Don Hunt, The Lord’s Prayer exquisitely sung by
Dr. Loryn Frey, prayer for Louisiana College by the Rev. Curt Iles,
prayer of dedication by Dr. Chuck Kelly, president of New Orleans
Baptist Theological Seminary, and benediction by the Rev. Joe Kite.
David Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana
Baptist Convention, preached the inaugural sermon on “The children the
Lord has given,” using Isaiah 8:18-22 as his scriptural admonition.
“Louisiana College has for one hundred years pledged to parents, church
and community to be a ‘good mother’ to those children entrusted to her
care,” Hankins preached. “The college has an opportunity for
inestimable impact on those who receive their formal, professional
education in its programs and process of study. …
“Louisiana College is, without apology, a
confessional institution,” Hankins continued a few minutes later. “The
greatest legacy you can leave when you are done is to remain a
confessional institution, and to shape students’ lives and define the
students’ mission on the basis of that confession.”
His three points, Dr. Hankins said, were to seal the
Word of God, sanctify students’ world and send them forth as witnesses
of God’s power and His love.
“Dr. Aguillard, I would remind you that whatever
great challenges you may encounter here – and they can be formidable –
you have a God who is greater,” Hankins concluded. “So above all,
please Him. We stand with you; we pray for you, we cheer you on as you
declare for all of us: ‘Here am I and the children the Lord has given
me. We are signs and symbols from the Lord Almighty.”
Pomp and circumstance enveloped the Thursday morning
inaugural service, starting with a mass choir and orchestra, and the
procession of robed faculty.
“Unchanging foundations in changing times” from
Malachi 3:6 was chosen by Dr. Aguillard as his inaugural theme, delayed
since his ascension to the presidency in January 2005 by last summer’s
double hurricane hits over the southern portion of the state.
Special note must be made of the soul-stirring
Battle Hymn of the Republic, with mass choir and orchestra conducted by
Dr. Curt Hamlett. Other music included “Praise to the Lord the
Almighty,” “How Firm a Foundation,” “All Hail the Power of Jesus’
Name,” and the “LC Alma Mater.”
Greetings were presented to President Aguillard by
the mayors of Pineville and Alexandria, and 13 others, including state,
denominational and U.S. leaders. Jimmy Draper, recently retired
president of LifeWay Christian Resources, brought the Call to Service
with Ecclesiastes 12:12 and John 21:25 as his scriptural references.
“There is critical need today for an institution
that will hold the highest academic standards in the arms of Christian
faith,” Draper preached. “May Louisiana College be such a school. …
“Let Louisiana College declare that there is at
least one Baptist university that relishes the confrontation between
learning and the word of God,” Draper said a few minutes later. “That
it does not stand over the Word of God to judge it, as if it were just
another piece of literature for dissection, that it does not stand
alongside the Word of God as if the professor’s ideas are of equal with
the Apostle Paul, but rather that it stands under the Word of God as
our judge and our salvation and as the true measure of all knowledge.”
Draper emphasized Baptist distinctives in his conclusion.
“In the inauguration of Dr. Joe Aguillard as president of Louisiana
College, let us celebrate our commitment to the absolute truth found in
the written Word [of God] and in the Living Word, our Lord Jesus
Christ,” Draper preached.
In his inaugural response, Aguillard presented his vision for the college.
“Louisiana College is and will continue to be a
distinctively outstanding Christian liberal arts college, grounded in
the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, the authority of the scriptures, and
academic excellence,” Aguillard said. … “First of all, we will
fulfill the intention and purposes for which this institution was
founded. We are committed to professional development and academically
rigorous instruction.
“… To our great forefathers who have gone on
before us, I pledge until Christ comes to continue the path set before
us,” he continued. “To our students – past, present and future – I
pledge until Christ comes a leadership focused on the pre-eminence of
Jesus as we define and articulate everything about a Christian liberal
arts institution. To Satan, the great deceiver, I pledge that by the
power of the name of Jesus you are bound and defeated, subservient to
Christ’s majesty. Until Christ comes, that Jesus Christ will reign as
Lord of this college.”
A lavish reception catered by Aramark followed the
inaugural ceremonies, and in an adjacent room were memorabilia from
Aguillard’s student days at Louisiana. He is the second LC graduate to
serve as president.
Both of his parents, his wife Judy and their three
daughters are (as of this May for his youngest) LC graduates.
“God has been faithful,” Judy Aguillard said after
the Wednesday evening inaugural worship service. “God called us here.
… I will take care of my husband and do anything I can to be a
servant to Louisiana College.”