Indiana Wesleyan University will induct Hobby Lobby CEO David Green into the IWU Society of World Changers as its eleventh member today, April 3, in a University-wide convocation at 10:00 a.m. in the IWU Chapel Auditorium.
The University will unveil a bust of Green, for permanent display in the IWU Jackson Library, and confer upon him a presidential citation. Several members of Green's family will attend, as will hundreds of IWU community members, including students, faculty, staff members and alumni.
Green is notable for his generosity toward his employees, through his insistence on a high minimum wage and a 66-hour work week with Sundays off; his support for scholarship and Biblical history through the Green collection of ancient manuscripts; and his philanthropy to a variety of causes as signified by his signature on Warren Buffet's "Giving Pledge" for the world's richest people.
Most importantly, however, IWU chose to honor Green for his commitment to putting God first in his life, and to living out that commitment in the public sphere.
"David Green is a business leader, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, an author, a patron of scholarship and culture-but above everything else, he is a servant of Christ like any one of us, a saved sinner dependent upon the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit," wrote IWU President Henry Smith in a letter to the IWU community. "He attributes any success he has had to his trust in God, and acknowledges that God has used that success as a platform to minister to the world."
The April 3 convocation will stream live on IWU's WIWU-TV, digital channel 51 or Bright House Channel 23 for viewers in the Marion era.
The IWU Society of World Changers launched in 2003, giving the University a way to recognize individuals who positively engage culture through excellence in their chosen professions, and whose lives embody the values, mission and vision of the University.
The Society has honored such individuals as former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy, author and disability advocate Joni Eareckson Tada, musicians Bill and Gloria Gaither and bestselling author Frank Peretti.