Presidential Statement on America’s Super Centennial Celebration and the 85th Anniversary of Cornerstone University
On October 27, 2025, I celebrated 45 years of having immigrated to the “Land of Opportunity,” the United States of America. I was 9 years old when I landed on America’s new Ellis Island — Miami, Florida — with my Permanent Resident “Green Card,” the gold standard of immigration. That same day, my family and I made our way to Orlando, Florida, and flew to our new home in America: Rochester, New York. A few days later, I witnessed my first snowfall and experienced my first Halloween. Four weeks later, my family and I experienced our first Thanksgiving. On January 20, 1981, almost three months since our arrival to the United States, my family and I watched the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan on television. I remember the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” being sung and played on national television during the inauguration and my father telling me, “Remember this, you are watching history being made.” It was a historical display of American grandeur and gratitude that was seared in the mind and heart of a 9-year-old immigrant.
On July 4, 2026, we have the beautiful opportunity to celebrate America’s Super Centennial and to witness “history being made” as numerous historical displays of American grandeur and gratitude are once again seared in the minds of young and old alike. This coming July 4 and the entirety of 2026 provide us with numerous opportunities to reflect on what makes America grand and why we should be grateful for America. And these reflections should also engender within our hearts and minds how we should live our lives in America now and in the future and how we should prepare and educate our posterity to think about and live in the America of the future.
As a university community, we will celebrate America’s Super Centennial throughout 2026 in small and large fashion. From Super Centennial logos and branding to chapel services and special prayer vigils to guest speakers and book launches to Wisdom & Influence podcasts to special athletic events and family and alumni gatherings, to Wisdom Conversations and special community events, we will gather in prayerful gratitude for the “Land of Opportunity” in which we have been born or to which God has brought us. And we will gather in prayerful reflection to ponder how we can better “seek the peace and prosperity” of America for “if it prospers, [we] too will prosper.”
This year, 2026, also affords us with the opportunity to celebrate the 85th anniversary of Cornerstone University. Since its auspicious beginning in 1941 as the Baptist Bible Institute of Grand Rapids to today’s Cornerstone University, we have much to celebrate and for which to be thankful. And we have much to do to prepare Cornerstone for thriving in the America of the future. Cornerstone exists first and foremost because of God’s gracious providence and provision and, second, because God’s servants back in 1941 boldly decided to create an institution that was Christ-first, Gospel-first. Cornerstone has shone the brightest when its sole focus has been Christ, the Gospel and extending the reach of these through the strategic deployment of its mission. Our 85th anniversary provides a singular opportunity to all of us to recommit ourselves to a Christ-first, Gospel-first Cornerstone and to create with God’s help the necessary innovative conditions for the strategic and bold extension of Cornerstone’s mission reach for the America of the future.
This same commitment has guided our work since my inaugural address in October 2021. There, a bold vision was unveiled for Cornerstone’s future — for Cornerstone to become the Destination of Choice Christian university, having one of its graduates in every household in America. This entails Cornerstone becoming the preeminent Christian university of our nation offering highly sought after value and quality to thousands and thousands of students in every corner of West Michigan, Michigan, the Midwest, the nation, and beyond. And by God’s grace and the work and support of many, we are on our way. Building on 85 years of accomplishments, our historical and recent two years of enrollment growth, the increasing demand for our Cornerstone Advantage™ imbued academic programs, accolades from The Wall Street Journal, robust first-ever industry partnerships, and the extended reach of our academic programs via the revolutionary SOAR™ learning modality, we’re beginning to see that the bold vision of a Cornerstone graduate in every household in America can become a reality. Yes, we are a small Christ-first university. But the harvest is great, and we serve the Great Lord of the Harvest. Let’s pray, ready ourselves, and run to the fields of harvest to educate influencers in the world for Jesus Christ.
Three years ago in 2023, as we commemorated 82 years of history, I shared the following with our university community. Now in 2026, what I said then is truer than ever.
“Our university finds itself at this very moment with the greatest missional opportunity in its 82-year history. Never has our university had such an opportunity to be as compellingly distinctive than at this very moment. Never has our university had such an opportunity to prepare and educate tomorrow’s Christian influencers for our communities, churches, marketplace, and world.”
May our hearts be full of gratitude and celebration as we reflect on the goodness and mercy of God on America and on Cornerstone University. And let us work and seek the peace and prosperity of our country and university while we yet have the God-given opportunity to do so.
SOLI DEO GLORIA.
Gerson Moreno-Riaño, Ph.D.
President
Cornerstone University
