April 30, 2004

Wesleyan church leader is graduation speaker

Dr. Earle Wilson, general superintendent of the South Central Administrative Area of The Wesleyan Church

CENTRAL, S.C. – A man who has been a Wesleyan author, professor, college president and church superintendent will be the featured speaker at Southern Wesleyan University’s graduation ceremonies May 8.

Dr. Earle Wilson, a general superintendent of the South Central Administrative Area of The Wesleyan Church, is the university’s spring graduation speaker. He is completing his twentieth year in this assignment and holds the highest elective office in the denomination. He is recognized for his powerful preaching, excellent leadership of the church and his love for the church.

Wilson wrote a book, “We Hold These Truths,” published in 2000, which explores the basic truths of Christianity and the Wesleyan tradition. As a general superintendent for The Wesleyan Church, Wilson oversees the operation of some church offices, works with district units and ministers in local churches. His district includes Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, South Coastal and Tennessee. Internationally, Wilson’s district includes areas such as Australia, New Guinea, Haiti, Puerto Rico, India, Pakistan and other countries.

Wilson received undergraduate degrees from Penn Wesleyan College and Evangelical Congregational School of Theology. He earned his master’s degree at Princeton Theological Seminary and has an honorary doctorate from Houghton College in New York. He has been a Wesleyan pastor in New York and Pennsylvania and was a theology professor for many years in Pennsylvania. Wilson was also president of United Wesleyan College in Allentown, Penn., for 12 years.

Wilson and his wife, Sylvia, have three children and eight grandchildren. He lives in Indianapolis, Ind.

The university will hold two separate graduation ceremonies at Walden Tysinger Gymnasium. The 10:30 a.m. ceremony is for graduating students from the Central and Greenville locations earning associate’s, bachelor’s, Master of Education or Master of Ministry degrees. The 3 p.m. ceremony will be for students from the Charleston, Columbia and North Augusta locations earning associate’s and bachelor’s degrees, as well as for students from all locations earning Masters of Science or Master of Business Administration degrees.

More than 330 Southern Wesleyan University students are expected to graduate, according to Registrar Rock McCaskill. The average age of the graduates is 36, he said.