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Interview with Jim Leightenheimer — 9/29/2025 10:00 AM
Today's Alumni Week chapel is an interview with Mr. Jim Leightenheimer, retired Associate Professor of Communication, and recipient of the Distinguished Service Award at Cedarville University. Mr. L. shared his testimony of God's faithfulness throughout his 40-plus years of teaching at Cedarville, and encouraged us to lean into relationships with godly people.
Notes
In chapel this morning, the Cedarville community was blessed to hear from our own Jim Leightenheimer, retired Associate Professor of Communication at the University. Leightenheimer shared memories, advice, and testimonies of God’s faithfulness throughout his time at Cedarville University.
One piece of wisdom he shared was to “lean into relationships.” God gives us different kinds of people: those who encourage us, those who inspire us, and those who challenge us by caring enough about us to share hard truths. Leightenheimer shared stories of some of the amazing people who encouraged, inspired, and challenged him by being thoughtful, modeling excellent teaching, and using difficult truths to push him to grow.
Leightenheimer also talked about the student radio station he founded and faithfully influenced. As a student, he was blessed to work at a different radio station, but he noticed that his fellow classmates needed a place where they, too, could practice what they were learning in the classroom. So he used his senior project to do a feasibility study for starting a radio station at Cedarville. It didn’t go anywhere at the time, but he was charged with starting one when he came back to the University to teach. In spring 1990, they were able to go on the air with the student radio network WSRN. From there, it grew. Since then, Resound Radio has been a launching point for huge careers for students.
Leightenheimer talked about students he had mentored and impacted during his time as a professor, many of whom have gone on to do incredible things. He said, “God sent us the kind of people where it was easy to see how they could make an impact.” Now, they are content creators, podcasters, and professors. They work at film studios, in the journalistic field, and at the executive level. Some speak to audiences of millions. They have had a huge impact on influencing people for Christ.
Leightenheimer expressed, “I’m blessed by what God has done with people. He is so good, and I’m blessed to have just a little part in that.”
Leightenheimer also shared the things that have brought him the most joy at Cedarville. He said, “The biggest thing that brings joy is the moment when the light goes on for a student, when God delivers to them a vision for the thing that He wants to do with them.” He also said that great joy comes from seeing them succeed in church, at home, in the workplace, and in leadership positions.
“We give God the glory for all of those things,” Leightenheimer said. “He did it. We haven’t accomplished anything that He didn’t enable us to do. We don’t have anything He didn’t give us.”