Free to be holy
Steve DeNeff, author, speaker and senior pastor of College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Ind., was the featured speaker at the Phaup Holiness Lecture Series Feb. 18 and 19, 2008, at Southern Wesleyan University’s campus in Central.
DeNeff gave a Christian perspective of how a person’s wants, actions and consequences are interrelated for better or for worse. He stressed the importance of making wise choices, asserting that true freedom can be experienced by pursuing holiness. DeNeff travels extensively as a speaker at conferences, camps and retreats and is also active in the training and development of new ministers. A visit to Southern Wesleyan eight years ago inspired DeNeff to embark on speaking tours.
The Phaup Holiness Lecture Series is named for B.H. and Dorothy Phaup, who for 50 years ministered together in The Wesleyan Church. During his ministry, B.H. Phaup, a 1932 SWU graduate and a trustee from 1951 until his death, was a highly regarded preacher and well-known expositor of the Wesleyan holiness message. Prior to his death, Phaup had expressed a desire to establish a holiness lecture series at SWU and had set aside funds to make the series possible. That goal was realized in 2000 when their son Gary and his wife Nina endowed the B.H. and Dorothy Phaup Holiness Lecture Series.