Celebrating $205.8 Million and Future Cedarville Sphere

The future of Cedarville University seems to rise right out of the waters of Cedar Lake on the latest Cedarville Stories podcast.

The conversation opens with the kind of news that gives Cedarville plenty to celebrate. Dr. Will Smallwood, Cedarville’s Vice President for Advancement, reflects on the strong finish of the 1000 Days Transformed Campaign, which raised a record-setting $205.8 million. He describes a campus humming with momentum — scholarships are transforming students’ lives, new facilities reshaping daily routines, and generous gifts strengthening Cedarville’s mission for years to come.

That momentum is already showing up across campus. Students are learning in new and upgraded spaces, living in expanded housing, and stepping into opportunities that would have seemed out of reach only a few years ago. Smallwood points to the growing number of students serving with Global Outreach teams, discipleship thriving in residence halls and chapel, and a University determined to remain faithful to its mission. Cedarville, he explains, is not simply enjoying the success of a completed campaign. It is stewarding those gifts carefully and putting them to work right now.

That makes the next part of the conversation sound even more believable.

As attention turns to rumors about Cedarville’s future, one idea begins to loom larger than the rest: the Cedarville Sphere. Not a simple bridge over the lake. Not merely another campus building. A sphere. A striking, immersive, 100,000-square-foot venue rising in the middle of Cedar Lake, wrapped in a 360-degree LED display and designed to reimagine chapel, classes, concerts, and even athletic events. With talk of renderings, architectural conversations, innovation, and a projected $400 million price tag, the vision sounds ambitious but not impossible for a University riding a wave of growth and generosity.

In fact, it sounds like classic Cedarville — daring, distinctive, and centered on student transformation. The vision feels bold, but not outlandish for a University fresh off a historic campaign and full of forward-looking energy. For most of the episode, the Cedarville Sphere stands there in the imagination like the next big step, a landmark-sized symbol of a campus already expanding in remarkable ways.

But beware of the loftiness of the idea. In fact, you’ll want to stay tuned to the entire program to dissect fact from fiction on this special April podcast.

Clearly, the playful ending of the Cedarville Sphere does not take away from the larger story. It sharpens it. Cedarville may not be building a glowing globe on Cedar Lake, but it is clearly building something lasting in the lives of its students.

https://share.transistor.fm/s/77f2c625

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5JI5Gi4NlY

S14:E13 | Dr. Will Smallwood: Celebrating $205.8M and Future Cedarville Sphere