Michael T. McCaskill Memorial Scholarship
Michael T. McCaskill (BJU ’03) lived life to the fullest and had a heart for people. “Mike’s passion was helping others grow in the Lord, and that was obvious from both his conversation and the way he lived his life,” says David Orr (BJU ’92).
After completing his undergraduate and graduate degrees at BJU, Mike became a youth pastor in Apex, N.C., where he poured his heart into the young people. “We could tell that youth work was his passion,” says Megan Buffaloe, one of the 10 teenagers from Mike’s youth group that now attend Bob Jones University. “I am here at BJU because of Pastor Mike’s influence on my life.”
At the age of 26 and just five weeks after the birth of his daughter, Grace, Mike was diagnosed with a brain tumor. “Mike called me the day he was diagnosed. ‘Dad, I’m on my way to Duke with a brain tumor,’ he said, just as calmly as ever,” Mike Sr. recalls. “Mike knew his theology…he knew that this life was not the end-all.”
Even during the worst of his trial, Mike’s motto remained steady—“Even if I’m not all right, I’ll still be all right.” He understood God’s grace and lived every day in victory until the Lord called him home on June 16, 2007.
“Mike wanted nothing more than to serve Christ and to be a loving husband and a doting father…and God, in His mercy, gave Mike all of those opportunities before He took him home,” his wife, Lora (Rhodes, BJU ’03), says. “Mike loved bigger than anyone I ever met…n a unique way that I think could only come from loving his Lord more than us all.”
“Mike was just a regular guy who wanted to accomplish something great for his God,” says his mother. “His life impacted lives not only for today, but, more important, for eternity.”