Midland University is honored to welcome Lamont Wells as its keynote speaker for both the Omaha & Online commencement and undergraduate commencement ceremonies on May 8 and 9 at the Wikert Event Center.

The graduate commencement ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 8, with the undergraduate ceremony set for Saturday, May 9, at 10 a.m.

Wells serves as the Executive Director for the Network of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Colleges and Universities, which includes 28 institutions.

“I have spoken at many commencement ceremonies and each time it gives me the opportunity to see and feel the energy,” Wells said. “There is no greater feeling than being in that high-energy moment. Of the 28 institutions, Midland is the only one I haven’t been to yet, so I am glad this moment will complete that for me.”

Wells said that while commencement ceremonies can often be the conclusion to one chapter in a student’s life, it also is the opening of the doorway to a new chapter.

“It is a culmination, but also a beginning,” he said. “I want students to see this is the beginning of the life that is before you. You can’t wait to finish, but you also can’t wait to begin.”

As an undergraduate student at Morehouse College in the 1990s, Wells found out first-hand that his college experience led him down a path he never would have predicted.

“My original thought was that I was going to be a vice president at a large bank,” Wells said. “Those dreams were dashed when I took my first Calculus 2 class and found my limits in math.

“I had a higher religious calling at that point in my life, and even though I may have had other dreams for myself, my vocation has served me well.”

He has held a variety of roles with the ELCA, including serving as a Campus Ministry Director, where he worked with nearly 250 universities. 

“I’ve had a 30,000-foot view, but also have been on the ground engaging and consulting,” he said. “I’ve been able to benefit a lot of institutions by bringing that academic, administrative, and theological background into helping us become advocates of the entire mission we’ve been called to.”

When speaking to the next generation of servers and leaders, Wells wants to impart some of the Lutheran traditions that will serve students well as they embark on a new journey.

“Our mission is rooted and open, which means we are rooted in the Lutheran tradition, but open to the becoming and the engagement of all of the inter-religious, inter-faith, all of the things that are around us, and we are not closed and secluded. I want to talk about living what you’ve learned, and that this is not a completion of something, but an ongoing formation in your life.”

He is humbled to have the opportunity to present his message to the Midland graduates.

“I have been preaching for 34 years, and I still get nervous for these moments,” he said. “I want people to be blessed or inspired by something I have said. That impact matters to me.”