March 5, 2014
Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie addressed the OBU community during chapel service on Wednesday, March 5, at 10 a.m. Ogilvie is a world renowned speaker, pastor and author.
Ogilvie challenged the audience to give the Lord everything that is in them: their heart, dreams, passions and lives. "I come with a real sense of deep concern and urgency this morning," Ogilvie began. "Over and over again I've heard men and women say they decided during their college years whether they were going to live a self-propelled life or if they would decide they had a goal so big and a vision so great that it could not be accomplished by themselves."
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Ogilvie told students that they need to rely on God to help them find those dreams and to accomplish them. When he was 14 years old, he was on the verge of dropping out of high school. A speech teacher took him in, trained him, encouraged him to compete in speech competitions and helped him earn a college scholarship to Lake Forest College. It was during college that Ogilvie trusted Christ as his personal savior.
When that happened, he said the Lord "provided supernatural strength that was so far beyond anything [he] could do."
Ogilvie used examples to show the students that everything worthwhile in his life was arranged by God. He said that no matter the circumstance, God always gave him what he needed at that moment. He challenged the students to give the Lord everything they were and everything they knew; to trust Him completely with their lives and their futures.
Ogilvie cautioned on the danger of "losing heart," telling the students, "It isn't until our hearts are captured [by the Lord] that we are able to live the way we were meant to live."
In 1996, he was named one of the "Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World." He holds numerous degrees, including a Doctor of Divinity and numerous honorary doctorates from universities around the nation. He received the distinguished Service Citation from Lake Forest College; the Silver Angel Award twice for Television Ministry; the Gold Medallion Book Award; the Salvation Army's William Booth Award; and many others.
He has pastored churches spanning six decades from the 1950s to early 2000's and has authored over 50 books. The focus of his ministry through the years has been on the care, encouragement and support of business, political and community leaders. Early on, he developed a deep appreciation for the impact of leaders on society and their need to receive pastoral care to live out their faith in the workplace.
He pursued this calling for twenty-three years as pastor of the historic First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood where he sought to enable leaders in the entertainment community, as well as business and community leaders in the greater Los Angeles area. In addition to his responsibilities as pastor of the Hollywood church, Dr. Ogilvie is a media communicator, author and frequent speaker throughout the nation.
Ogilvie served as chaplain of the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2003, where he listened to and prayed for the needs of our nation's leaders. He frequently prays with and for leaders and stands with them as they seek to be faithful to God in their decisions and leadership.