Donor gives second-record-breaking $10 million gift to Evangel University
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Edited News Release/KY3) - Evangel University President Dr. Mike Rakes announced a second $10 million gift from the Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby and Mardel.
Hobby Lobby CEO David Green is a major financial supporter of evangelical organizations in the United States whose family financial worth is reported to be $13.6 billion after starting his first craft shop in 1970 with a $600 loan..
The donation is set up as a matching gift and will be used to support several presidential initiatives, including the completion of the much-anticipated Valor Center. This is the second $10 million donation given to Evangel by the Green family over the last two years and matches the largest gift received in university history.
“We are grateful to the Green family for their continued support of EU,” said Rakes. “This second gift from the Greens is more than a spark, it’s an affirmation of Evangel’s impact on this generation.”
The matching gift allows for the contributions of university donors toward these initiatives to be doubled up to $10 million over the next 12 months.
The gift comes on the same weekend when the Evangel football team is playing in the second round of the NAIA playoffs after finishing the regular season with a thrilling 41-38 double overtime win over Bethel (Kansas) that saw the Valor block a tying field goal attempt on the game’s final play to earn their 11th straight win.
“I was just thinking of how our football team, who just finished an undefeated regular season, would say, ‘We’re 1-and-0!’ after every game,” Rakes said. “And I was thinking that was a good leadership technique for us when it comes to the Valor Center. Let’s finish what we’ve started. It’s 70,000 square-feet that’s a new arena for volleyball and basketball and a fieldhouse for football and soccer so the funds are going to go towards that.”
To look around the modern campus now you’d never know that for many years after its 1955 opening, Evangel’s buildings consisted of old army barracks from the O’Reilly General Hospital that treated wounded soldiers during World War II.
Now from new intramural fields and an indoor fitness center to an artificial turf football practice field and the new Valor Center going up next door, the facelift continues. The school’s older facilities like the current basketball facility, the Ashcroft Center built in 1967, are getting replaced or remodeled after decades of use.
“You know we just finished remodeling the first dorm in 40 years so we’re excited about that,” Rakes said. “So there are a lot of things rising and elevating on our campus and the Valor Center was the next piece for the student’s experience. We’ll be able to do a lot of things in there like concerts, chapel and a game-day where the food trucks will pull up. It’s just going to be a lot of fun for us.”
And the Evangel optimism is coming at a time when at least 47 public or private colleges have closed or merged since 2020.
In 2013 the Assemblies of God Higher Learning Commission approved the consolidation of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and Central Bible College with Evangel University.
“We’re watching private schools really struggle for survival and at Evangel we’ve had our own struggles,” Rakes pointed out. “We cut our operational budget by $2.1 million dollars this year so that we can get ourselves aligned to help this generation get to where they need to go. We want to give the student the ability to pivot so as jobs change and climates change, they can make the changes they need to become innovators. You know our world makes it easy to see that we need young people who are bright and professionally-competent and have Christian love and compassion. And that’s what our graduates carry. We have 55,000 graduates now and that is significant.”
To watch the construction of the Valor Center in real time, visit evangel.edu/liveconstruction.
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