Ben Carson Tells Liberty University Graduates They Have ‘Tremendous Spheres of Influence’

Ben Carson, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, spoke to graduates at Liberty University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine on Saturday.

Carson followed former President Jimmy Carter, who gave the address at the main commencement ceremony earlier that day. Carter’s speech touched on human rights and equality.

Carson told the graduates they all had “tremendous spheres of influence that God has provided for you.”

“If you use them the right way and allow Him to work through you, it is amazing,” Carson said. “And not only in the operating room, but everywhere.”

President Donald Trump delivered the commencement address last year — a decision that divided students at the Christian university, whose president, Jerry Falwell Jr., has long been a vocal Trump supporter. George H.W. Bush was the keynote speaker in 1990.

Liberty is a private Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., founded by Falwell Jr.’s father, Jerry Falwell, the famous conservative televangelist and Southern Baptist pastor who died in 2007.

You can watch Carson’s full remarks here: