Editor’s Note: Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, began the 106th academic year in Opening Chapel Monday. Below are excerpts of his address.

Welcome to this great occasion as we open the 106th year of ACU.

Today’s message is for our students.

We want you to know that while you were away this summer, a lot happened here. The Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation & Wellness Center is nearly finished, and it will be ready for this Friday night’s RecFest.

Another great class of freshmen has arrived on campus to follow in the footsteps of last year’s freshman class, which represented the most academically prepared class in ACU’s history.

It even rained – once – while you were away.

In late May, our men’s track and field team won yet another national championship, bringing ACU’s total across all sports to 62. There are only four college and universities across the country, including USC, UCLA, and Stanford, who have won more NCAA national championships across the board than our Wildcats. That’s pretty fast company.

Our football team will open the season at No. 3 in the national polls, and they will take the stage this Thursday night in Stephenville against Tarleton. They’ve also been preparing for the showdown on Sept. 17 in Cowboys Stadium, where they will continue to defend the Lone Star Conference title. Make plans now to be there on Sept. 17.

This year’s freshman class represents a new wave of students who share our vision. Of the 3,000 other colleges and universities across this great land, they chose ACU. And we chose them, too, because we saw what incredible potential they have to change the world. They want to live Christ-centered lives and be the global leaders of tomorrow, starting today.

In my inaugural address last fall, I talked about what it means to outlive your life, and many of you today are doing just that. The faculty who teach you and give you unprecedented opportunities to be involved in undergraduate research, who make you partners and co-authors in that research and take you around this nation and literally around the globe to conferences to learn and present your work alongside them. The staff, who befriend and mentor you, who often serve as your parents away from home and make you feel a part of this great community. The 80,000 alumni who live in more than 100 nations, some of whom are here today and watching through our live cast. This is a place full of people with a passion for leading by serving.

If I had time today, I could go on about many of you who combine a heart for using your God-given talents and your academic and professional training to make a real difference in the world.

The sun never sets on an ACU student or professor or staff member or graduate or thoughtful donor who’s outliving their life in places around the world. It’s just what we do at ACU, and I’m convinced nobody does it better.

So as we begin this 106th year of Abilene Christian University together, students, I ask you to do this:

• Keep your Christ-centered focus – or get one;

• Find a mentor – or be one;

• Find a worthy cause you can support – or create one;

• Find a church you can plug into – or start one;

• Determine that today is the day you will begin to outlive your life – or improve on the way you do it;

• Thank the people who have made it possible for you to attend ACU and make them proud of you;

• Decide to have a great school year;

• Kick your GPA up another notch, and if you have a 4.0, help somebody else to do it;

• Don’t text and drive;

• Love God, serve others, and take as many people with you to heaven as you possibly can.

May God grant each of us the courage and the perseverance to live the life He’s called us to. God bless each one of you this year, and may He continue to bless ACU.