Testimony Tuesday: God desires to use the faithful

By Bella Agnello

Every morning after reading the Bible, Professor James Leightenheimer takes a 1 1/2 mile walk around the neighborhood, talking with God. Throughout the day, he engages in constant dialogue with God as he continues to learn how to be faithful to him in the big and small moments of life.

Leightenheimer has served as an associate professor of communication at Cedarville University since 1982. He teaches audio production and radio classes, and he created Cedarville’s student radio, now called Resound Radio. Now, getting ready for retirement, Leightenheimer reflects on the countless ways God led him to opportunities and relationships that were better than he could imagine.

Leightenheimer grew up in Portsmouth, OH, in a church that did not preach the gospel. Despite not being raised on the gospel, he would lie in bed at night as a little boy and ask God to reveal himself to him. God answered his prayer when he was in high school. A new pastor came to the church and brought the gospel to the pulpit. 

The pastor preached that good works were not enough to save people from their sins, but that it was through faith alone that one could be saved from the wrath of God. This new pastor offended Leightenheimer with his bold message.

“I’d tried to be good, but from what he was saying, I needed a savior,” Leightenheimer said. “Attending church was not enough.”

On June 15, 1974, Leightenheimer rode his new bike over to the church under the pretense that he wanted to show it off to his pastor. However, what he really wanted to do was learn more about the gospel. At 16 years old, he knelt to the floor of the pastor’s office and asked the Lord to save him.

A few years later, while looking for a college to go to, Leightenheimer met several people, including his high school sweetheart, who committed to attending Cedarville University in the fall. As chance would have it, he, his girlfriend and some of the members of their church attended a Bible Quiz competition on Cedarville’s campus during his senior year of high school. 

“I remember rolling into the village in a van and just being underwhelmed,” Leightenheimer said. “There wasn’t much either in the village or on the campus, so I was not particularly impressed by the campus or the facilities. But despite that, I like to think it was through God’s movement in my life that he led me here, and I didn’t just follow my girlfriend.”

As a college student, Leightenheimer saw faith demonstrated in ways he had not seen growing up. Inspired by the men in his dorm, he cultivated a personal devotional life and learned what it looked like to have friends who prayed for one another and their families. In chapel, he learned through Dr. Dixon – the university’s president at the time – about the importance of faithfully raising a family on the gospel.

Though his spiritual and social life flourished, Leightenheimer’s grades did not. Undeclared, he focused most of his attention on theater, where he landed the lead role in several plays. By the spring of his freshman year, his advisor, Bob White, knew that his character needed to be put to the test.

“I don’t think we need to plan for you for the fall,” White told Leightenheimer. “I don’t think you’ve got what it takes.”

Leightenheimer rose to the challenge and began to seek out a major. Impressed by the Broadcasting students in his dorm, he decided to major in Broadcasting. At the same time, God brought Wes Baker and his wife, Rebecca, to Cedarville, and they taught Broadcasting and Theatre respectively. 

Together, the couple inspired Leightenheimer and gave him a vision for what his life could look like. As he grew more interested in broadcasting, his grades improved and he made it onto the Dean’s honor list by the spring of his sophomore year.

“Every quarter, I’d walk into Bob White’s office,” Leightenheimer said. “‘Not gonna make it?’ He would laugh. I think I did that for the succeeding nine quarters.”

Leightenheimer participated in the Broadcasting Club on campus and rose to a leadership position towards the end of his time as a student. One month before graduation, Leightenheimer got a job at a large FM station in Dayton, which he stayed at for a few years. When he felt God calling him onto the next job, he called his old professor to ask if he could list him as a reference.

“Funny you should call today,” Baker said. “Your name came up in a department meeting. We’re looking to hire somebody to help me with the program, but we didn’t think you’d want to leave where you’re at.”

In the fall of 1982, Leightenheimer began teaching at Cedarville, passionate to share with students what he’d learned from his years at the station. Though he felt inadequate to teach next to his former professor, Leightenheimer felt God encouraging him to step more fully into who he uniquely created him to be, to give to students the blessings that only he could give them.

Leightenheimer poured himself into his students with a gumption that transformed the broadcasting program. For the next seven years, he acquired the funds to create a student radio. He helped students understand the unique gifts that God gave them in order to accomplish the work he set out for them. Over time, these students became professionals that he connected newer students with, as several of them moved on to work for stations such as 104.9 The River and KLOVE.

“My greatest satisfaction is seeing that this generation of leaders in Christian media is largely comprised of Cedarville graduates that came out of our program that I had the chance to teach and help along the way,” Leightenheimer said.

Now approaching retirement, Leightenheimer reflects on the many blessings that God gave him during his time at Cedarville – the ultimate blessing being that he is part of a growing family. When former students get married, they invite him to their weddings. When they move away, they stay in touch and offer to help current students establish their careers. When he needs prayer, he knows which students he can rely on to pray for him.

Just as God taught him in the beginning of his career, Leightenheimer encourages his students to embrace the talents and abilities God gave them and to be passionate about the unique vision that God has for them.

“God has a very important place for each person to fill,” Leightenheimer said. “My prayer is that students will stop, take a breath and say, ‘God, what do you want me to do? How can I use this time [in college] to be best ready to do that?’”

Throughout his life and the lives of his students, Leightenheimer has seen the faithfulness of God displayed through how he desires to use people in specific ways to further the gospel and give glory to him.

“God can use anybody who is willing.”

Bella Agnello is a junior Broadcasting, Digital Media and Journalism major with a concentration in Journalism. She enjoys thrifting, listening to records and reading classic Russian literature in her spare time.