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ODU campus minister to retire. Rob Sandford, Baptist campus minister at Old Dominion University in Norfolk for 39 years, will retire June 5. Sandford, who also has overseen campus ministry at all schools in the Norfolk area, took the position in 1970. For two years prior to that he was Baptist campus minister in the Lexington area. Sandford took on the ODU ministry position just as the state was starting what would become a four-year university. The Virginia Baptist Mission Board, which oversees Baptist campus ministry in Virginia, purchased a building to serve as ODU’s Baptist student center in 1973. Sandford is now the longest-serving member of the Mission Board staff.
Senate panel kills troopers’ prayer bill. The Virginia Senate’s courts of justice committee rejected legislation Feb. 23 that sought to let Virginia State Police chaplains invoke Jesus Christ or any other deity in their prayers at public events, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The voice vote defeated a bill which had been approved by the House of Delegates. Earlier, the committee killed a similar Virginia bill. The defeat ends for this year efforts to override state police policy that restricts chaplains to nonsectarian prayers at memorial services and trooper graduations. State police policy says chaplains should refrain from invoking a deity and instead offer inclusive, nonsectarian prayers at official government events.
CNU to break ground for chapel. Virginia’s youngest state university is about to get what many of the state’s oldest public universities already have — a chapel. This summer, Christopher Newport University will begin construction on a $6 million chapel, the Newport News Daily Press reported. The nearly 14,000-square-foot brick building will be funded with private donations, including more than $1 million raised at a recent benefit concert. CNU President Paul Trible said the school raised all but about $1 million of the total cost. Trible said the new worship facility can be used by people of all faiths. The main space faces a raised platform and a stained-glass window of a stone lion against a sun setting over water and framed by trees. “These are symbols from all beliefs — a lion, water, the rising sun,” Trible told the Daily Press. “But for someone of no faith, it’s just a beautiful scene.” Several public colleges and universities in Virginia have chapels well-used by students, said Trible. The spaces can become central gathering places in times of sorrow and tragedy, he added. CNU was established in 1960 as a two-year branch of the College of William and Mary. It became independent in 1977 and gained university status in 1992.
Intermont wins regional title. Virginia Intermont College won its 10th straight regional title in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association competition Feb. 22. The Virginia Baptist-affiliated school in Bristol will now compete April 5 in zone competition in pursuit of a 10th straight trip to national competition, the longest streak in the country. VI has won the IHSA national championship three times — in 2004, 2005 and 2007.