Ad Building Rededication & Homecoming Set
By Alan Miller

Indiana Wesleyan University will rededicate its 110-year-old John Wesley Administration Building on Thursday as a prelude to IWU's 2004 homecoming, which begins Friday.

The rededication ceremony will be at 3:15 p.m. Thursday and is open to the public. The building, which cost $18,000 to build in 1894, reopened a year ago after undergoing a $2.5 million renovation.

Richard Simons, a local historian, said the administration building is one of the oldest buildings in Marion. It is the only structure that remains from what originally was Marion Normal College.

The administration building houses the IWU president's office, advancement department offices and a meeting room for the board of trustees. A bust of John Wesley, the English evangelist who founded Methodism, stands inside the front door.

The administration building is located near 42nd and Washington streets. The rededication ceremony will be outdoors, weather permitting.

Homecoming 2004 officially begins with the President's Prayer Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Friday in IWU's Baldwin Dining Room. Agnes Robertson, who graduated from IWU in 1954, will speak at the breakfast. She is a real-estate agent in Colorado Springs.

Robertson's husband, David, is a former associate pastor at Lakeview Wesleyan Church in Marion. One of their sons, Dwight, is the founder and president of Kingdom Building Ministries; another son, David, is a Christian recording artist.

Wayne Schmidt, a 1979 IWU graduate, will speak at the annual homecoming chapel services at 10 and 11 a.m. Friday in Phillippe Performing Arts Center. Schmidt is the pastor of Kentwood Community Church in Michigan, one of the largest congregations in The Wesleyan Church.

The 50- and 60-year class reunions will be at noon Friday in the banquet rooms in the IWU Student Center.

The alumni banquet is at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the Student Center Commons. A concert at 8 p.m. Friday will feature Legacy Five, a gospel-singing group. Concert tickets are $10 and may be purchased by calling the IWU Alumni Office at 765-677-2110.

Homecoming will end Saturday with the Wildcat 5K challenge, plus a variety of games, athletic events, entertainment and reunions for alumni and their families.

IWU, which was founded in 1920, has more than 37,000 alumni.

Alan Miller is the University Relations Director at Indiana Wesleyan University.