Nisbets’ gift helps perpetuate Campbell mission

     The late Jim Nisbet and his wife Betty made a significant gift to the Robert and Anna Butler Chapel capital campaign. The $6.8 million chapel will be part of the Divinity School campus, providing a spiritual sanctuary for the Campbell community and an exceptional worship and teaching facility for divinity students. The campaign reached its silent goal of 60 percent before declaring a public phase to raise an additional $1.7 million.

     Nisbet, who died in December 2005, founded or co-founded over 15 businesses, most of which sold and distributed mechanical equipment for industries in North and South Carolina. He established the Nisbet Tennis Center at Campbell and chaired and co-chaired many capital campaigns leading to the construction of several new building projects. Nisbet served as chairman of Campbell’s Presidential Board of Advisors for a total of 20 years.

     Included in the Butler Chapel complex will be a sanctuary, bell tower, the tallest point on campus, and a Prayer Room for quiet contemplation, reflection and individual prayer. Also planned are numerous sites in the surrounding gardens for study, fellowship and meditation.

     “With the construction of the chapel, ministry students will soon have a ‘laboratory’ to practice their ministerial and other professional skills,” said Dr. Michael G. Cogdill, dean of the Divinity School. “The presence of a new chapel will greatly advance the opportunities for worship, teaching and service our faculty is able to provide to our students.”

     The chapel will be the capstone of the university, said Campbell President Jerry M. Wallace, “a permanent statement to all of this university’s unashamed commitment to Christ and to the mission of Christian higher education.”

     For additional information on how to assist Campbell as it seeks to raise the final $1.7 million in funds for the chapel construction, call the university Advancement Office at 910.893.1215.


    Photo Copy: The late Jim Nisbet and wife Betty