Nate Haywoodnahaywood@liberty.edu

Republican presidential candidate Don-ald Trump opened the 2016 spring semes-ter Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 with his first ap-pearance at Liberty University since 2013.

After the conclusion of a video show-ing highlights from LU Send Now’s recent trip to tornado-decimated Ashland, Mis-sissippi, Senior Vice President for Spiritual Development David Nasser reminded stu-dents of the national holiday, Martin Lu-ther King Jr. Day. He introduced a video containing slides of images of King with corresponding Bible verses that aligned with King’s values.

Following the tribute to King, a third video recapped Trump’s rise through the

ranks. At its conclusion, Nasser intro-duced President Falwell, who clarified that Trump’s presence was no indica-tion of Liberty’s political affiliation and was not an endorsement.

Falwell proceeded to list kind and gener-ous acts Trump committed over the recent years. He then added more background on the candidate, ultimately admitting he saw parallels between Trump, King, and Liberty founder Jerry Falwell Sr.

“He’s not a puppet on a string like many other candidates,” Falwell said af-ter explaining how Trump was funding his own campaign.

“To be compared to his father is really an honor for me,” Trump said. “That’s the best compliment of them all.”

Falwell concluded his introduc-

tion and proceeded to invite Trump to the stage, where he was met with a re-sounding applause from the record-setting crowd, a feat which Trump dedicated to King.

“We broke the record,” Trump said. “The first thing I said to Jerry and Becki (Falwell) when I got here was, ‘Did we break the record?’ And they said, ‘Yes you did by quite a bit.’ So we’ll dedicate that to Martin Luther King Jr., a great man.”

Trump thanked Liberty for the op-portunity to speak and then referenced his recent success in polls. Afterward, he proclaimed his desire to “protect Christian-ity” and followed this claim with the Bible verse 2 Corinthians 3:17.

The presidential candidate returned to statistics of his ability to draw re-

cord crowds and claimed his de-sire to “take the country back” is fueling the “movement.”

Trump mentioned the issues poten-tially stemming with each Democratic candidate, including higher taxes and a weaker military.

Throughout the remainder of the speech, he referenced policies and plans he had for this nation.

“I honestly think I can say… we’re going to make America great again,” Trump said. “Greater than ever before.”

HAYWOOD is the editor-in-chief.

Sarah Rodriguezsrodriguez70@liberty.edu

The Liberty University com-munity lost another of its greatest influencers Dec. 26, 2015 when a

founding dean and campus pastor, Dr. Ed Dobson, died after a 15-year battle with Lou Gehrig’s dis-ease (ALS).

D o b s o n , who recent-

ly pastored Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1987 to 2005, was born Dec. 29, 1949 in Northern Ireland. Ac-cording to Christianitytoday.com,

Dobson came to the U.S. at age 14 and then attended Bob Jones University, where he earned a Bach-elor of Arts and a Master of Arts degrees. He later earned a Ed.D. in higher education administration from the University of Virginia.

In 1972, Dobson came to Lib-erty as the dean of men and later became the dean of students, where for 15 years he influenced Liberty students and profes-sors and the Lynchburg com-munity at large. Dobson leaves behind his wife Lorna, children Kent, Heather and Daniel and six grandchildren.

Dr. Ed Hindson, dean of Liberty’s Rawlings School of Divinity and distinguished profes-sor of religion, first met Dobson

when Dobson attended one of Hindson’s speaking engagements in South Carolina while Dobson was in college. The two later met at Liberty when Dobson taught New Testament survey while serv-ing as the dean of students and Hindson taught Old Testament.

“I saw in him an incredible ability as a preacher, communicator (and) thinker,” Hindson said.

The two men quickly became friends, and Hindson said they had a natural connection because they were both young, both taught Bible survey classes and both had young children. Hindson said they became “virtually best friends in those days.”

Hindson, who first came to Liberty in 1974, witnessed Dob-

son grow and mature as a teacher of the Bible.

“As a teacher, he loved to pro-voke students to think and act,” Hindson said. “He was an excel-lent Bible teacher and preacher as the campus pastor. When Dr. Fal-well Sr. was deciding to start a sec-ond Sunday night service for stu-dents, I had the privilege of being with him and recommending that Ed be the speaker in the Sunday night service, which immediately became very popular with stu-dents. It was packed every Sunday night. Over the years as he grew and matured as well, he began to attract not only students but local adults to his services.”

Dr. Mark Hine, Liberty’s cur-rent senior vice president for Stu-

dent Affairs, remembers meeting Dobson as a student when the two would have conversations in Dobson’s office. Dobson was also one of Hine’s professors. Hine said he attended Dobson’s memo-rable weekly services.

“I remember one series he preached through Proverbs,” Hine said. “It was just amazing. It was awesome. Everybody loved his teaching and his preaching. He was very brilliant. He was a communicator, a really excellent communicator.”

Hine later became acquainted with Dobson in a more personal sense after being asked multiple times to act as the supervisor,

See LEGACY, A6

Coke products move onto campus over Christmas break.

News

A3

A student looks at whether Christians should vote for Trump.

Opinion

A5

Men’s basketball defeats the High Point Panthersduring White Out game.

Sports

B1

LU nursing department provides medical carein Togo.

Feature

B8

INSIDE THE CHAMPION

Volume 34 | Issue 1 Lynchburg, VirginiaTuesday, January 26, 2016

SportsFeature

B1B4

NewsOpinion

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Women’s hockey refuses to lose B1

b r i n g i n g t h e h e a t

Sound the ‘Trump’ets

A lasting legacy at Liberty

Leah SeaverS| Liberty Champion

RECORD — Donald Trump returned for his second time at Liberty and spoke about how he plans to make America a great country again.

Republican presidental candidate addresses the student body at Liberty

Former dean of students, campus pastor, ALS warrior and preacher dies at 65

DOBSON

Snowstorm hits Lynchburg B4

newsA2 | January 26, 2016 | Liberty Champion

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STUDENT ACTIVITIES

CLUB EVENTS

CAMPUS EVENTSCONCERTS

Starting the year off rightThe Live Healthy Liberty initiative continues with its second semester of competition Hayden Robertsonhbrobertson@liberty.edu

Liberty University kicked off its Live Healthy initiative for the spring 2016 se-mester and has many different events lined up to help the students and faculty to meet their goals and resolutions.

At the start of a new year people will be-gin to make New Year’s resolutions to cre-ate a change in themselves. For most, their reso-lution for the new year is to lose weight and to eat right.

“The best way to ensure you stick to your New Year’s resolution is to make sure you are doing something you enjoy,” Associate Director of the LaHaye Student Union Ja-mie Swyers said. “The key is getting people to find a form of exercise that is fun or something that also connects you to others and forms a community.”

On Jan. 18 the Live Healthy initiative launched its second semester of its Well-ness initiative. The initiative is a competi-tion between students and faculty to create a fun way of becoming healthy.

“This initiative is a fun way to build a community and connect individuals with the programs that promote holistic well-ness,” Swyers said. “Physical wellness is only one aspect. Mental and spiritual well-ness are also emphasized.”

The Live Healthy initiative has several meetings that students and faculty mem-bers can attend in order to gain points in their goals. There is also a new initiative

created to get students and faculty moving. “We are implementing a six week Fitbit

program this semester,” Swyers said. “You can also do the standard semester-long ini-tiative as well.”

Throughout the semester, the Live Healthy initiative will provide several op-portunities for students and faculty to at-tend the Wellness Series, a series of meet-ings with various topics on how to handle a dilemma while trying to meet their goals.

Once participants register for the initia-tive online, they will be directed to an on-line portal.

“In this online portal, participants will track exercise, earn points for nutrition and wellness tasks, as well as attending any of Liberty’s 80 plus wellness events through-out the semester,” Swyers said.

The Live Healthy initiative offers well-ness series presentations to inspire stu-dents, faculty and staff to make healthy lifestyle choices. The first event was held Tuesday, Jan. 19, and was called “New Year’s Nutrition: Setting Your 2016 Nu-trition Goals” by Kristina DiSanto, a registered dietitian on campus.

As a student, money can be tight while wanting to be healthy and go to a gym. When participating in the Live Healthy initiative, students and faculty are given resources on how to afford food and the costs of gyms.

“Students at Liberty University are of-fered many resources to help them meet their goals at little or no cost to them,” Sw-yers said. “There are cooking demos and tips for eating healthy at the dining halls, a large fitness and recreational facility, group exercise and affordable personal training services, not to mention the numerous resources, small groups and support that

Student Counseling Services and campus pastors provide to support students’ mental and spiritual health.”

A problem that a goal setter may encoun-ter is the goals they create for themselves are too big, which will cause students to give up after a brief period of time. The Live Healthy initiative teaches goal setters to make easy goals they can accomplish and not give up on.

“When setting a goal, you want to make sure it is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound (S.M.A.R.T.),” Sw-yers said. “This will help you avoid setting yourself up for failure as well as put a time-line on your goal to keep you accountable.”

Students and faculty are also able to have contact with personal trainers through the LaHaye Student Union to learn the best ways to work out that fit their personal lifestyle.

“If the student and/or faculty member sign up for personal training, their trainer will guide them through a customized workout program catered to their specific needs and goals,” Swyers said.

For more information about the Live Healthy initiative or the Wellness Tracker, visit liberty.edu/lsu.

ROBERTSON is a news reporter.

Curtis PierCe | Liberty ChamPion

LIFT — Student use weightlifting to help them stay in shape in the new year.

Will Youngweyoung@liberty.edu

Liberty University pur-chased a nearby airport for $1.8 million to use as the headquarters for its Flight Training Af-filiate (FTA) program, according to the Liberty School of Aeronautics.

The purchase of the New London Airport, which is operated in Bed-ford County 10 miles away from Liberty’s campus, was officially closed Decem-ber 21 after negotiations took place between Liberty and former New London owner Kevin Murray.

“We are extremely pleased with the warm re-ception we have received from the 50 plus pilots at the New London Airport,” Dave Young, Liberty’s as-sistant provost for aero-nautics education, said. “We see this as an oppor-tunity to further develop, grow and create a univer-sity level aviation program that will be unique and not rivaled anywhere.”

New London is a 133-acre, public-use airport and is therefore open to general aviation flights. Last year, the airport handled approx-imately 10,000 flight op-erations, something Young

said he hopes to maintain through Liberty’s owner-ship in the future.

The status of the airport is not finalized. The school of aeronautics is working with the Virginia Depart-ment of Aviation to deter-mine if New London will remain a public-use airport in the long-term. Young said he is confident the airport’s public-use status will prove to support the school’s FTA program held at New London.

The school of aeronau-tics’ FTA program aims at utilizing airports across the country to become flight training affiliates, wherein

students can take online classes to work toward their degree in aviation and receive hands-on pilot train-ing at the FTA-participating airport closest to them.

Alongside the airport, New London also oper-ates a dragstrip within its location where over 150 drag racers have compet-ed within the last year in 18 different events. Kel-ley Powell, owner of the New London Dragstrip, said he hopes to establish a strong relationship with Liberty in the future.

“Neither [New London Dragway nor Liberty] is re-ally familiar with each other

yet,” Powell said. “Liberty does not know what our needs at the dragstrip are, and I do not know what Liberty expects out of us, but everything so far has been fine between us.”

The New London Drag-strip has been guaranteed its 2016 season, which is scheduled to begin in late March. In the years to come, Young said it is ques-tionable over whether or not the dragstrip, built two years before the airport in 1958, will be able to operate within Liberty’s master-plan for New London.

“Although no decision has been made, I can see where drag racing may be incompatible with our plans for the school of aeronau-tics and to expand the gen-eral aviation component of the airport,” Young said.

Powell said he is con-cerned with the longevity of the dragstrip, though he is trying to focus solely on the upcoming season.

Concerning the upcom-ing plans for New London, Murray said he is excited to see the location become a flight school. He said his top priority in selecting a buyer was to choose one that would best continue the operations of New London while also being able to improve the facility.

“Liberty really sold us when they said they wanted to keep the airport operat-ing as it currently is,” Mur-

ray said. “A lot of good land is being turned into housing developments, so we were very happy when Liberty told us they have the same desires for the airport that we had in mind for its future.”

As far as improvements to the airport, Liberty plans on making changes to the infrastructure of the air-port, including the runway, taxiway, ramp and other fa-cilities that are too old and no longer meet the stan-dards of a modern airport.

According to Young, the purchase of New Lon-don allows the school of aeronautics more freedom in expanding their opera-tions than working with the Lynchburg Regional Airport, where the school has worked in the past. Stu-dents will now have a better opportunity to gain experi-ence in airport management and providing service to general aviation customers.

The school of aeronau-tics said it has recently be-gun to use New London for practice approaches, take-offs and landings, and looks to increase the level of op-erations over time. Plans to incorporate engineering and business students into the operation of the airport are being discussed, though none have yet taken shape.

YOUNG is a news reporter.

Soaring to new heightsLiberty Universtiy buys New London airport to add to school of aeronautics

CAMPUS CALENDAR1/27 - Campus Community

7:30 p.m. | Vines Center

1/28 - Wintergreen ski trip

3:30 p.m. | Wintergreen, VA

1/28 - Movie Night

8 p.m. | LaHaye Event Space

1/28 - Job Workshop

4 p.m. | DeMoss Hall 1113

1/29 - Friendly Friday

8 a.m. | Hancock Welcome Center

1/31 - Intramural Beach Volleyball

6 p.m. | Sand Volleyball Courts

2/1 - Sentara Healthcare Information Session

5:30 p.m. | DeMoss Hall 1079

2/1 - Intramural Racquetball

6 p.m. | LaHaye Racquetball Courts

2/1 - Intramural Soccer

6 p.m. | LaHaye Indoor Soccer Fields

mitCheLL bryant| Liberty university news serviCe

FLY — Liberty began to use the airport for practice.

Quinn Foleyqfoley@liberty.edu

Share a Coke with friends, teams, family and, now, Liberty University.

Over winter break, Liberty’s campus made the anticipated transition from Pepsi products to Coke products to ring in the new semester and begin the univer-sity’s new contract with Coke.

Louis Cambeletta, director of food service operations, said the process of moving Coke onto campus began Jan. 4 and was completed Jan. 13.

“It took a lot of coordination because it is one thing to just have one vendor have to do what they need to do, but before Coke could start (moving on), Pepsi had to get all their stuff out,” Cambeletta said.

Cambeletta said that Pepsi started moving their equipment off in December, meaning they had to work around Winterfest, an annual New Year’s event at Liberty. After all the Pepsi soda and equipment was moved off campus, Coke began coming on campus the day their con-tract with Liberty started, which was Jan 4.

Cambeletta said even though there was a lot to do, the transi-tion was very smooth.

“It was seamless,” Cambeletta said. “We just really praise the Coke team for how seamless they made this. I was nervous. … You’re talking about 100 vend-ing machines (and a lot of) foun-tain machines that needed to be changed out. Plus, every single line that runs through the ceil-ings and underground that pumps the product from one place to another all had to be replaced. It was massive, but (Coke) did a phenomenal job.”

Coke not only did a great job transitioning their prod-uct onto campus, but they also wanted to connect with the stu-dents they now serve, according to Cambeletta.

“Coke really wanted to step up their presence on campus and make sure that when students got here, they knew without a doubt that something had drastically changed from a beverage stand-point,” Cambeletta said.

On the evening of Jan. 13, students were welcomed back to campus with an aluminum bottle of coke that was placed in their dorm room.

Activities were also set up out-side the Vines Center where stu-dents received free Coke, Diet Coke and Coke Zero. Cambeletta said Coke hired a violinist to pre-form alongside the Coke Bear and Sparky at the Reber-Thomas Dining Hall on Jan 20. There was also a Sprite basketball hoop set up outside the LaHaye Student Center where students could at-tempt to shoot a basket and win a prize.

Cambeletta said even though this was a very big change, there

has been an overwhelmingly posi-tive response from students, fac-ulty and staff.

“We have got a ton of positive reactions from students,” Cam-beletta said. “The only negative reaction we have gotten from stu-dents (is from the) Mountain Dew lovers that have lost their Moun-tain Dew, but with all the Free-style Machines we put on campus … I think that they will pretty eas-ily settle into a favorite beverage.”

After a student vote Sept. 23 when 2,985 students voted for Coke and 2,713 students voted for Pepsi to be their beverage provider, Cembeletta said hav-ing Coke on campus was going to be another way to get students excited about new dining choices.

“One of our goals with dining is every time the students come back from a long break … (we) have something new for them on campus,” Cambeletta said. “For this break is was Coke. It was making sure that the students were going to be excited about something new.”

FOLEY is the asst. news editor.

Liberty Champion | January 26, 2016 | A3news

Open a bottle of happinessLiberty officially changes university's beverage provider from Pepsi to Coke

Leah SeaverS| Liberty Champion

NEW — Students can now find Coke products in vending machines.

Visit our homepage frequently for weekly menus, calendar of events and news you can use.

Reber-Thomas Dining Hall • 1971 University Blvd. • (434) 582-2262 • www.LibertyDining.com

Sodexo Spotlight: Kristina DisantoPosition/Years with Sodexo: Registered Dietitian, 4 years.Favorite Meal on Campus: An omelet from the Food Court! I love Breakfast.Loves: Playing sports, baking, and cheering on Philadelphia’s teams!Can be found: Doing cartwheels in the dining hall and talking with students.

Choose from a variety of plans, including:FREEDOM DINING & 30/60/90 BLOCK PLANS

mitCheLL bryant | Liberty UniverSity newS ServiCe

KICKOFF — The Coke bear came to celebrate with students.

Every year, our na-tion celebrates Mar-tin Luther King Jr. Day. This holiday takes place each year on the third Mon-day of January. It is a day we honor the man who dedicated his life to replacing hatred and prejudice with love and respect.

King was a humble man who preached about unity. His famous “I Have a Dream” speech was one of many in-stances where King spoke and captivated the minds and hearts of those who un-derstood what exactly it was he fought for. As an African American male, he wanted to be treated with the same re-spect as those not of color. He was killed for wanting such a thing.

More than 40 years after his death, we still celebrate his life. You can say what you want about racial issues in this na-tion, but no one can deny the substantial and significant improvements made over the years. Much of that can be accred-ited to King. For that, among many other things, we celebrate his life in January, his

birth month. All public institutions have Martin Luther King Jr. Day off as they do with most federal holidays. However, private institutions do not. Liberty Uni-versity is of no exception. Some consider this neglecting to honor King. However, I offer the perspective that by having class, I was in fact able to honor King.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s, African Americans could not attend certain col-leges. They could not do much without receiving heavy backlash for that matter. They could not work with white people, eat with them, speak to them unless spo-ken to, or be educated with them.

Fast-forward 50 plus years. I, an Af-rican American student, went to my classes, attended a speech conducted by

a presidential candidate, and reported on it as my job requires on the day we honor King. All of this done at an institution located below the Mason-Dixon line. During King’s time, this was unheard of. But I truly believe this is exactly what he would have wanted in the first place. I am black. But here in Virginia, I am not hated because of it. I can get a quality education. I have a job. I have friends who I consider brothers. None of that is affected because of my race, which is precisely what King lived and ultimately died for.

HAYWOOD is the editor-in-chief.

Within days of the Supreme Court’s legal-ization of gay marriage nationwide, the Episco-pal Church moved to al-low gay marriage within its denomination.

The Episcopal Church’s decision rallied support from the LGBTQ com-munity and garnered judgment from various Christian denominations.

In a recent meeting in Canterbury, England, An-glican leaders barred the Episcopal Church “from any policy-setting posi-tions in the Anglican Communion” for the next three years, according to the Associated Press. The Episcopal Church is an offset of the Anglican body in the U.S.

As various denomina-tions continue to adopt cultural opinions rather than Biblical truth, Chris-tians ought to be wary of where they choose to wor-

ship on Sunday. The Epis-copal Church has mistaken love of one another for acceptance of one’s actions.

According to the Epis-copal Church’s website, “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.”

Christians are command-ed to love, however it is with that love that believ-ers confront fellow believ-ers who may not be abiding by God’s law. Homosexuals have every right to become Christians, however upon conversion they must rec-ognize that the Bible con-demns homosexual acts.

Romans 1:26-27 states, “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with pas-sion for one another, men

committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (ESV).

The Scriptures make it clear that homosexual-ity is not to be tolerated. This does not mean that members of the LGBTQ community cannot be wel-comed into the Church with love. After all, ev-eryone has sinned yet can come to Church and receive Christ into his or her heart.

However, the Church should never endorse ho-mosexual practices such as gay marriage. Doing so is a direct violation of God’s law.

The Anglican Church has set an example of how church denominations are to be dealt with when they directly violate the Bible.

According to the Angli-can leadership, “the Epis-copal Church is required, for the next three years, to withdraw from ecumenical and interfaith talks where it represents the Com-munion, members cannot be elected to the Commu-

nion’s standing commit-tee…(and) will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.”

Essentially, the Episco-pal Church will still be a recognized adjunct of the Anglican Church but will not take part in the deci-sion making process for the denomination. In addi-

tion, a taskforce has been established to monitor the relations between the U.S. Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church.

By taking these precau-tions, Church leadership has set a precedent for how to address division within the Church.

The actions taken by the Anglican Church set an ex-

ample for all denominations that may find themselves fighting similar battles. In a time where cultural accep-tance seems to take prece-dence over biblical truth, all churches must be aware and ready to keep one another accountable.

OPINIONA4 January 26, 2016

Iranian prisoners return

Episcopal Church out

The Obama Administration shows weakness in latest hostage negotiations

Anglican Communion sets example for dealing with division inside of Church

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama praised American diplomacy as he announced an agreement with Iran to release Americans in what was labeled by the media as a “prisoner swap.” Among the prisoners released was Pastor Saeed Abe-dini, who was arrested in September 2012, according to the Huffington Post.

This swap has been a long time com-ing for the families of the Americans held in Iran, but the conditions of the swap leave little to be desired. America gave far too much.

The New York Times reported four Americans were released in the swap, with three choosing to return to the U.S. Anoth-er American was also released, but not as part of the swap, according to Reuters.

On the Iranian side, however, seven pris-oners were released, one Iranian and six with dual Iran and U.S. citizenship. This was in addition to the U.S. dropping charg-es against 14 other Iranians as well as lifting some “international economic sanctions,” according to CNN.

All in all, the Iranians received 21 prison-ers essentially set free, while the U.S. had to beg and grovel for four Americans in hopes of better relations with the coun-try. This deal does not seem to balance out on both ends.

Obama referred to the deal as a “one-time gesture,” according to The New York Times, and praised American diplomacy for the completions of the deal.

“This is a good day because once again

we are seeing what’s possible through strong American diplomacy,” Obama said at the White House.

The president also announced dur-ing White House remarks Jan. 17 that the U.S. had agreed to pay Iran $400 million in “payments for military equipment that the United States sold to the shah of Iran and never delivered when he was overthrown,” according to The New York Times. This also included $1.3 billion in interest that had accumulated over almost 40 years.

While it is important to bring Ameri-cans home and keep our people safe, the conditions of the deal could not be justi-fied as they gave an already dangerous power in the Middle East more fuel for the constant fire of hatred and instabil-ity growing in an area plagued by militia groups and uncertainty.

These events, which took place over a weekend, were highly tense and long await-ed. Last fall a deal was “all but sealed,” ac-cording to The New York Times, but fell apart at the 11th hour.

But now, months later, after years of imprisonment for some, these Americans are finally coming home. Now the only question that remains is, at what cost?

Many Republican leaders have criticized the deal, including Sen. Mark Rubio.

“Governments are taking Ameri-cans hostage because they believe they can gain concessions from this govern-ment under Barack Obama,” Rubio said. “It’s an incentive for more people to do this in the future.”

Agreeing with Rubio, this deal could liken the possibility of more kidnappings

or unlawful imprisonments of Ameri-can citizens abroad. Our government has clearly shown it is willing to go to great lengths to get the Americans back, which it should, so long as it does not put other Americans or the stability of an area of the world in danger.

Gov. Chris Christie, who is currently vying for the Republican bid for presi-dent, also criticized the deal and brought up the legality of the Americans’ arrests in the first place.

“We shouldn’t have to swap prisoners, these folks were taken illegally in viola-tion of international law and they should have been released without condition,” Christie said.

This deal, which gives power to an al-ready dangerous nation, released over five

times as many prisoners back to Iran, who were lawfully incarcerated, as America gained in return. The ends in this case do not justify the means as most of the accu-sations against the Americans imprisoned were suspicious to begin with.

America showed a great weakness that weekend, and while I am happy the Ameri-cans are home, I worry about the lengths the Obama Administration will go to — and the amount of resources it will freely give to — dangerous countries.

STEFANICK is an opinion writer.

Kimberly Stefanickkmstefanick2@liberty.edu

Brianna Youngbdyoung4@liberty.edu

GooGle ImaGes

PRISONERS — Pastor Saeed Abedini and others return to the U.S. after prisoner swap.

GooGle ImaGes

BARRED — The Episcopal Church is out of the Anglican Communion for three years.

N TESOA

HAYWOOD

YOUNG is an opinion writer.

This past Monday was one of the most significant Convoca-tions I have been to in my four years at Liberty University, and I have been to many notable ones. From Tim Tebow to John Piper to Bernie Sanders, I have enjoyed many highly anticipated addresses to our student body. Yet Donald Trump’s appearance at Convocation last week was unlike any other.

As Trump’s poll numbers con-tinue to climb in New Hampshire and are close to first in Iowa, Evangelicals must begin to ask themselves whether they should or should not vote for Trump. Do his personal beliefs, mor-als and proposals square with a biblical worldview?

To clarify, I am not asserting that Christians should only vote for candidates who have met some sort of religious test or even are Christians themselves. How-ever, Evangelicals should vote for candidates who support and promote the basic tenets of our worldview and whose personal character reflects these tenets.

In my estimation, Trump does not meet these requirements, for a number of reasons. First, his views on the value of human life do not reflect those of the Bible. One of the most important politi-cal issues to Bible-believing Chris-tians is the protection of every human life, including those that are in the womb (Psalm 139). Yet

Trump has championed abortion many times in his past.

“I am pro-choice in every re-spect,” Trump said in a 1999 interview with Tim Russert. In the same interview he stated he would not support restrictions on even third trimester abortions or partial-birth abortions.

Many Trump supporters would claim that these were statements he made in the past and that his comments from earlier in this campaign show he has “evolved” on this issue. The story goes, told by Trump in the Fox News debate Aug. 6, that he had friends who decided not to have an abortion and their child has grown up to be a “total superstar,” convincing Trump that he should be pro-life.

“That Trump could go from supporting third-trimester abor-tion — something indistinguish-able from infanticide, something only 14 percent of Americans think should be legal — to be-coming pro-life because of that one experience is a bit hard to be-lieve,” John McCormack wrote in the Weekly Standard.

Yet it is not just his pro-abortion past that should worry Evangelicals. Trump has continu-ally displayed a crude and profane philosophy of life. In the very first Republican debate of the year, Megyn Kelly of Fox News challenged Trump and said, “You have called women you don’t like ‘fat pig,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs,’ and ‘disgusting animals.’”

Trump conveniently claimed he did not know of these comments and later took to Twitter, calling Kelly a “bimbo.” This was not the last time he would make sexist comments on the campaign trail. In an interview with Rolling Stone in September, Trump turned his attention to Republican presiden-tial candidate Carly Fiorina.

The article details Trump and a few aides watching the news as Fiorina was being interviewed.

“‘Look at that face!’” Trump cried. “‘Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!’ The laughter grows halting and faint be-hind him. ‘I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not (supposed to) say bad things, but really, folks, come on.

Are we serious?’” Finally, Trump’s personal char-

acter displayed throughout his life should make every Christian pause. Conservatives were quick to criticize, rightly, the promis-cuity of former President Bill Clinton. However, Trump has had similar moral failings in his past — although he does not acknowledge them as moral fail-ings. He is on his third marriage, divorcing his two previous wives. He has bragged in his books that he has slept with the “top women in the world.” Maybe most con-cerning is the lack of understand-ing of the gravity of the choices he has made.

Asked in an interview with pollster Frank Luntz whether he has asked God for forgiveness, Trump stated, “I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”

The ability and freedom to vote for whatever party or candidate a person wishes is a gift from God that should be stewarded prop-erly by Christians. In light of the morals and virtues Trump has displayed in his public comments and private life, Evangelicals have much to consider.

Earlier this month, the Powerball lottery reached a record-breaking, mind-boggling jackpot of $1.5 billion, and the question of the day across the country seemed to be, “What would you do if you had that winning ticket?”

Across campuses and offices, in homes and apartments and schools, friends and families impressed each other with claims that if they won hundreds of millions, they would travel the world, become philanthro-pists, buy yachts and adopt orphans, give, invest, experience and splurge.

The amazing thing about hope is that it can often blind us from multitudes of very likely and very negative potential outcomes,

and as Americans got a taste of this fan-tastic hope, they opened their wallets with the mentality that “if somebody has to win, why couldn’t it be me?”

However, this is exactly the mental-ity that we should not have regarding the potential of mass fortune that is virtually painless, because unfortunately, on this side of eternity that simply does not exist.

For some, the lottery is more sport and recreation than anything. But for others who fall into the poverty demographic, the lottery is viewed as a sort of last hope. The lottery receives the largest amount of fund-ing from the poorest class in society and thus manifests itself as not just an econom-ical issue but also an ethical one.

According to the North American As-sociation of State and Provincial Lotteries, last year, Americans spent a total of $70.15

billion on lottery tickets, which is more than what was spent on sporting events, movies, books and music combined.

This statistic may seem shocking to many readers, however, for people in desperate need of a big break financially and who are unaware of the nearly one-in-293 million odds that are against them, spending just a few dollars at the chance of gaining millions equates lottery tickets to a cookie in a cookie jar that is just too tempting to be ignored.

Dave Ramsey, a financial author, tele-vision and radio host, and motivational speaker, comments on the lottery lines inside gas stations.

“Rich people and smart people would be in the line if the Lotto was a real wealth-building tool, but the truth is that the Lotto is a rip-off instituted by our government,” Ramsey stated in 2012.

Though the lottery does contribute to society through scholarships and funding many primary schools, based on the sta-tistics, buying a lottery ticket is essentially equivalent to throwing your money away. And Christians, affluent Christians espe-cially, are left to scratch their heads and wonder if this “game” is ethical at all.

The statistics previously stated tell us that more money is spent on lottery tickets than on entertainment, and those in serious debt and poverty are willing to spend nearly a tenth of their minute income investing in something they will never benefit from, which reveals an overwhelming longing for hope and earthly riches.

Since the fall of man, humans have wres-tled with the urge of immediate gratifica-

tion and are incredibly prone to invest time, money, and often even entire lives into worthless ventures.

The question we as Christians should be asking ourselves on the issue of the lot-tery, whatever millions or billions it may promise, is how we are investing the mon-ey that has been entrusted to us by God to bring him glory.

Is there a better way to spend that dol-lar burning in our pocket, not on a lottery ticket, but perhaps on a more direct and sure investment?

C.S. Lewis beautifully describes our sad state in his essay “The Weight of Glory.”

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak,” Lew-is wrote. “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambi-tion when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imag-ine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

We should raise our expectations on the good that can come with investing in what God says is good and holy and honorable rather than squandering our money on a flimsy chance of riches at the expense of the poor and uneducated. The lottery is a game to some, but it is financial suicide for others, and as the body of Christ we need to walk circumspectly around it and instead use God’s promise to prosper us and give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11) as the foundation to dream big.

opinion Liberty Champion | January 26, 2016 | A5

Should Christians vote Trump?

Lottery jackpot record

Evangelicals must decide whether a candidate’s views match a biblical worldview

Powerball craze raises theological questions on where satisfaction is found

Leah SeaverS | Liberty Champion

PRIMARIES — Businessman Donald Trump continues to garner huge amounts of media attention.

Lee Sutherlandlsutherland6@liberty.edu

ROZENBLUM is an opinion writer.

Samantha Rozenblumserozenblum@liberty.edu

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JACKPOT — Study shows Americans spend over $70 billion on lottery tickets annually.

SUTHERLAND is the opinion editor.

Elizabeth Lapp

elapp@liberty.edu

Donald Trump’s Convocation address Monday, Jan. 18 was met with protest by some students who felt that his history of racist and divisive comments made him ill-suited to speak on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Eli McGowan, a current Liberty Uni-versity law student, organized the protest through an event on Facebook called “LU against Trump’s MLK Day Convocation.” The protest consisted of signs with quotes from King and singing “Jesus Loves the Little Children” and a few gospel songs.

“A lot of people may not have known that it was MLK day, and so we wanted to bring that to the forefront and high-light the quality, the caliber of man, that Dr. King was,” McGowan said. “We be-lieve that there is a natural contrast that people should be able to see between that and the action Mr. Trump has taken.”

Approximately 30 other people joined McGowan in his protest. While the group consisted primarily of Liberty students, other members of the Lynch-burg community also joined in, includ-ing students from Lynchburg Com-munity College and local high schools.

“It was interesting to see the different people that were there,” McGowan said. “We had several different races. We had a girl in a wheelchair. We had conservatives who said that because of their conserva-tive values they had to speak out. We had students who are very liberal and who said because of their liberal values they had to speak out. It was really a good representa-tion of what Dr. King spoke about when he said a tapestry of all God’s people.”

Not everyone supported the protest, however, as there were students and ad-ministrators who felt the protest was disrespectful. In an interview with The Blaze, President Falwell said, “They can do what they want outside, but they are

going to be making fools of themselves.”Liberty juniors Dylan Engel and

Joshua Devin agreed with Falwell as they felt the protest would be disre-spectful and created a second Facebook page “LU against ‘LU against Don-ald Trump’s MLK Day Convocation.’”

“Josh created the page strictly out of humor, but then the page blew up and we ended up getting five times as many likes on the page as they did, and that’s just really proof that Eli and his group don’t speak for the university,” Engel said. “They are a mi-nority and the majority of Liberty students are open-minded, free-thinking people, and that’s where I think the biggest crime is where they are making it seem like we are not.”

Engel and Devin defended the choice to have Trump speak at Con-vocation seeing it as a chance to hear from yet another presidential candidate.

“I have seen Bernie Sanders,” Devin said. “I have seen Ted Cruz now. I have seen Ben Carson and now Trump. This is

my third semester at Liberty and I have seen most of the major players running for president, and I think that is pretty cool.”

Still, McGowan counts the protest as a success as he was able to speak out and en-courage a diversity of opinions on campus.

“One of the coolest things was see-ing some students who had never felt safe expressing their views on campus before coming forward and either join-ing us and having to be reassured that we weren’t going to be arrested or just thank-ing us over social media,” McGowan said. “There are definitely a lot of students at this school who maybe didn’t expect any better from Liberty, and as their fellow student, and as an alumni now, it was nice to be able to encourage them and say to them that we can help shape the univer-sity’s future, and we don’t have to be quiet.”

LAPP is a news reporter.

newsA6 | January 26, 2016 | Liberty Champion

BoB Duval

PRESENT — Students built Ed Dobson an Arkley car as a gift.

LEGACY continued from A1

now known as resident director, of the Stewart Arms Hotel dor-mitory location. Hine finally ac-cepted the job and said it was such a blessing.

“It really was like a call from God through Eddie Dobson,” Hine said. “Now I have the privi-lege of looking back to see that God was beginning something that puts me here today. … It kind of dawned on me this is a door that’s opening and God really impressed (on) me, you need to do this.”

Hindson and Hine both had a first-hand experience wit-nessing how Dobson changed lives at Liberty.

“He definitely left his mark on student life at Liberty and helped shape it and reshape it in the early days,” Hindson said. “He also left his mark on the campus pastor position as a top notch communicator who could hold students’ attention but also minister to their personal and practical needs.”

Hine said his administrative style was impacted by Dobson’s interactions with students.

“I liked him because he was not a person who would take himself too seriously,” Hine said. “I watched him in his deal-ings with students, in his deal-ings with people, (and) he had

the ability to laugh at himself. He was very involved in students’ lives. He taught me students are why you’re here. It’s why you ex-ist. And their success becomes your main goal. That’s the way it was with him.”

As dean of students, Dobson exemplified leadership skills that made him an employer people enjoyed working for, said Debo-rah Huff, a Liberty professor who worked under Dobson. Hine said he was so loved by his students they built him an Arkley car. Dob-son kept the blue sports car for a very long time.

“As an administrator (in the) dean of students (position), he was an organizer, a delegator,” Hindson said. “He would build teams of people working for him to whom he would delegate ar-eas of responsibility. … He was a very matter-of-fact person. … At the same time, he would bend over backwards to help students who were struggling to have an opportunity for redemption.”

Hindson said Dobson was the original author of Liberty’s stu-dent code of conduct, the Lib-erty Way. Dobson wanted to have clearly written guidelines for stu-dents’ behavior to be evaluated, but he was willing to adjust the rules according to what was prac-tical in life situations.

After more than a decade at Liberty, where he also was the ed-itor of the Fundamentalist Jour-nal, vice president for student life, an aide to Liberty’s founder Dr. Jerry Falwell, and one-time board member of the Moral Majority, Dobson felt the Lord call him to pastor Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Though Dobson left Lynch-burg, Hine said Dobson’s influ-ence on people did not end.

“He did the same thing in Grand Rapids he did at Liberty,” Hine said. “He loved people. He crossed all social, economic (and) racial lines. He had a whole group of African American pas-tors that he collaborated with in Grand Rapids. He did services together. He didn’t like necessar-ily that Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours in the

United States.”Dobson was not concerned

with how his role as a pastor appeared to others. Instead, he wanted to love people like he be-lieved Jesus would love them, ac-cording to Hine.

“He was very willing to take his light in the darkest of plac-es,” Hine said. “He worked with people in Grand Rapids in the AIDS community. He wanted to love and pastor people, and he did that, and God honored it.”

In 2000, Dobson’s life was changed when he was diagnosed with ALS. Given only a short time to live, Dobson created a seven-part film series through which he described hope amidst suffer-ing. The videos can be found at edsstory.com.

Hine said he passed along Dob-son’s videos to a friend who was dealing with ALS, and Hine was able to see Dobson’s influence de-spite his terminal illness.

“Even (as) Eddie suffered with a terminal disease, he was still de-termined to use it to touch peo-ple’s lives,” Hine said. “He didn’t get bitter. ... He took it, and he used it. If you watch those vid-eos, they are powerful, powerful videos, not just for those who are suffering from ALS but for life in general. It’s one of the ways that he lives on.”

Dobson continued to pastor Calvary Church until 2005, when he stepped down from his posi-tion. For the next 10 years after

his retirement, Dobson continued to travel and speak.

At Liberty’s 2015 graduation, President Falwell read a message Dobson typed by blinking.

“I cannot speak, but I need your thoughts and prayers,” Dob-son told the graduates, according

to the News & Advance.“I had the privilege of commu-

nicating with Ed earlier (in 2015),” President Falwell said in reference to Dobson’s message. “He used a special device to compose a mes-sage to all of our graduates that I shared with over 32,000 attendees at Liberty’s 2015 Commencement ceremony. Ed provided pastoral and academic leadership to thou-sands of Liberty students decades ago, making his parting wisdom to the class of 2015 so meaning-ful and appreciated.”

Though Dobson’s time on Earth may have ended, his legacy will continue to influ-ence not only Liberty but the surrounding community.

“He had great influence in the direction of student affairs and really the university at large,” Hine

said. “He was bigger than life in the establishing of the direction Liberty would take.”

“He was bright, insightful and outspoken,” Hindson said.

His brilliant communica-tion, his preaching with interna-tional perspectives, his strength in fighting ALS and his love of learning caused Dobson to be remembered as someone who genuinely loved.

RODRIGUEZ is the news editor.

les schofer

LEADER — Ed Dobson was dean of students while he was at Liberty.

les shofer

FRIENDSHIP — Dobson poses with Liberty founder Jerry Falwell Sr. at Convocation.

PASTOR — Ed Dobson preached at a popular Sunday service on campus.

MLK Day political protest Students stand against Donald Trump visiting Liberty on day honoring activitist

FAMILY — Ed Dobson is pictured with his young family.

Jordan Jarrettjjarett4@liberty.edu

Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. challenged Lib-erty University students to “bring people that are far from God, close to him” on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at Convocation, where he spoke and held a book-signing event. His passionate charge is also the mission statement of the Vous, Wilkerson’s Miami-based church, whose hip and relational style he represented this week at Liberty.

“God is obsessed with lost things,” Wilk-erson said, urging students in attendance to “invade dark spaces” as they pursue and lead ministries of their own.

Wilkerson, 31, and his wife DawnCheré are both pastors at Vous church, a con-gregation that currently meets at a Miami middle school. The church began in 2007 as a mid-week worship service called “The

Rendezvous” through Trinity Church in Miami. “Rendezvous” has since bur-geoned into the present Miami church Vous, which is still in the planting stage, according to Wilkerson.

Wilkerson made headlines in 2014 when he officiated the wedding of recording art-ist Kanye West and reality television icon Kim Kardashian. Amid scrutiny concern-ing his celebrity connections and status, Wilkerson holds that the central theme of his preaching is that everyone is “worth Je-sus to God” and should be pursued as such.

Wilkerson more recently made waves when he and his wife agreed to star in their own reality television show called “Rich in Faith” through Oxygen Media. Wilkerson considers the show, which premiered last month, to be another outlet of his ministry.

“We’re not in it to write books or do shows,” Wilkerson said. “We’re in it to

build a church. We’re in it to see people change. The show’s just another avenue to encourage people.”

Wilkerson acknowledged a challenge of nonconformity within any kind of minis-try. Concerning his own ministry in Miami, Wilkerson maintained that while mak-ing disciples means getting into difficult situations, he stays grounded through his own local church family.

“For me, being in local churches has al-ways been my salvation, because I’ve got enough normal people around me all the time,” Wilkerson said.

A highlight during Wilkerson’s address to Liberty students garnered the “That’s good!” and “Amen!” shoutouts he encour-aged in his introduction. Referring to the biblical story of the prodigal son in the book of Luke, Wilkerson used the resent-ful older brother in the story as a “picture

of religion” in the face of grace. He applied it to his charge for students to strive more for relationships than judgment in ministry and discipleship.

“Relationship comes first (and) love comes first,” Wilkerson clarified as he signed copies of his new book, “Sandcas-tle Kings,” after Convocation. “To look at somebody you don’t know or have a rela-tionship with and say, ‘You’re not a disci-ple,’ that’s not really the Jesus model. Jesus did life with guys, corrected them in pri-vate most of the time, celebrated them, ate meals with them and did a whole lot of life. I think discipleship is less about a course or a class. It’s more about a way of life.”

JARRETT is a news reporter.

Liberty Champion | January 26, 2016 | A7news

Convocation previewA look at what the spring Convocation speaker schedule has to offer studentsMatthew Piercempierce17@liberty.edu

With every new semester at Liberty University, both new and returning speakers take the stage at Convocation. What dis-tinguishes this semester from years past is that every single speaker coming to Convoca-tion was at some point requested by a student.

“Every student has something to look forward to with this lineup,” Dan Bolton, director of Spiritual Programs, said.

Bolton directly oversees Con-vocation under the Office of Spiritual Programs and is a part of the team that decides who will speak at Convocation. It is also his job to invite and host all of the guests during the duration of their stay at Liberty.

Bolton said it is the stron-gest semester of speakers yet, and there are a few changes taking place this semester. For the first time ever, this semes-ter will feature a male-only and female-only Convocation where half of the Vines Center will be blocked off, similar to Campus Community on Wednesday night, according to Bolton.

“There’s different issues af-fecting each of us,” Bolton said. “So this is just going to be a time where they dive in and talk about men’s (and women’s) issues.”

The all-male Convocation will take place Feb. 29 with Dennis

Rainey, who serves as the presi-dent and CEO of FamilyLife, part of the ministry CRU, as the keynote speaker. The all-female Convocation will take place April 25 with Christine Caine, founder of The A21 Campaign, an anti-human trafficking organization, and Propel Women, which helps women “fulfill their purpose, pas-sion and potential,” according to the organization’s website.

Global Focus week will also look differently as Liberty is

partnering with Compassion International and featuring speak-ers Donnie Smith, Ronnie Floyd, Ann Voskamp and Donald Miller.

Compassion International will feature a 2,000-square-foot mobile experience in front of the bookstore, where students, through the use of iPods and headsets distributed to all at-tendees, can understand a child’s life from somewhere around the world. According to the Compas-sion International website, the ex-

hibit allows people to experience the realities of worldwide poverty.

“We’re bringing (Compas-sion International) in to partner with them, to connect students to some of the world’s neediest people,” Bolton said.

There is one speaker in par-ticular who is close to one of the student workers for Convocation. On April 8, David Stone, the se-nior pastor of Southeast Chris-tian Church and the father of Sam Stone, the student assistant

to the director of Convocation, will be speaking.

“That is definitely the Convo that I am most excited about,” Sam Stone said.

Before his father came to speak in Convocation in 2012, Sam Stone had never heard of Liberty, but his father suggested that he accompany him to the school. They stayed in the president’s mansion, and Sam Stone said those two days played a large part in his decision to come to the school. Sam Stone, who also serves as a spiritual life coach on East Campus and as the junior class president, will get to introduce his father when he comes to speak in Convocation.

The last Convocation of the semester April 29 will feature Se-nior Vice President for Spiritual Development David Nasser and President Falwell for a day of bluegrass and Bluebell ice cream. According to Bolton, Nasser and Falwell will discuss some of the highlights from the school year and what some of the expecta-tions can be for the next year including some of the guests that will be speaking at Convocation. As for bluegrass and Bluebell ice cream, Bolton said they simply thought it sounded like fun.

PIERCE is a news reporter.

Invading dark spacesRich Wilkerson speaks in Convocation on ministering to all people in all places

Leah SeaverS | Liberty Champion

DISCIPLE — Pastor Rich Wilkerson shared some of his personal church-planting story while preaching to thousands of students at Convocation.

Leah SeaverS | Liberty Champion

MEETINGS — The Convocation schedule filled with new all-male and all-female Convos was released.

newsA8 | January 26, 2016 | Liberty Champion

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Bringing hope and joyLU Send Now team heads to Ashland, Mississippi to help with relief workJacob Clarkejlclarke3@liberty.edu

A group from Liberty University packed up and headed south during winter break, but their trip Jan. 6-13 was not to es-cape the cold and enjoy the beaches along the coast.

Nine students and four Liberty staff from LU Send Now traveled to Ashland, Mis-sissippi to assist local residents in recovering from the damages caused by the tornado that swept through the area just days before Christmas last year.

The team worked alongside homeowners for the week, per-forming tasks associated with cleaning up.

“Because of the tornado, a lot of trees had fallen down, or if there was anything left of the house, it had just been destroyed,” Kelsey Baker, associate director for the Office of Student Leader-ship and a team leader for the trip, said. “We would clean up trees to get them out of people’s yards …

and pick up belongings.”Sophomore Thomas Kraft

said the team was split into two groups. One of the groups had the chance to work with home-owners whose lakefront house was completely torn apart.

“It’s crazy to think that you could hear a tornado warning go off and then 10 minutes later while you’re in your closet, your whole house and your whole live-lihood and everything you own is just ripped out from underneath you and scattered in the woods miles (away),” Kraft said.

Additionally, Kraft said one of the ways the LU Send Now team was able to help was by searching for valuable items in the areas sur-rounding the houses.

“If we were at a house with almost nothing left, one of the biggest things we could do would be to take a couple hours and spread out and sift through their belongings that (were) just scat-tered in the yard around them and try to find something that held value for (the homeowners),”

Kraft said. “It was awesome to be able to find things that meant a lot to the homeowners that they thought (they) were never going to see again.”

LU Send Now volunteers fol-lowed the guidance of interna-tional relief organization Samari-tan’s Purse as they assisted the homeowners and helped connect them with a local church. After work was finished for the day, the team would invite the homeown-ers to the church for a meal.

“We’re not just there to help them physically but also spiritu-ally and mentally as much as we can and love on them every way we can while we’re there, whether it’s for a couple hours or a cou-ple days,” Kraft said. “We were able to show them a little bit of what the hands and feet of Christ look like whether they were believers or not.”

Weston Martin, student devel-opment coordinator for LU Send, said disaster relief trips such as the one to Ashland not only ben-efit those who the team serves

but also support the mission of Liberty to train students to serve Christ.

“A lot of times students can get bogged down in the academic part of (school),” Martin said. “But, LU Send Now really puts a walk to the talk and allows the stu-dents to engage with other people and allows them to enact their training in physical ways.”

This is the third team LU Send Now has sent out. The first two teams traveled to South Carolina in October 2015 to work with flooding relief. Ap-plications for LU Send Now are currently closed.

CLARKE is a copy editor.

Photo Provided

TRAVEL — Liberty students gave up part of their winter breaks to serve those who had been affected by a tornado that recently devestated families in Mississippi.

Photo Provided STORM — The tornado left many homes and vehicles damaged.

M. Basketball W. Tennis W. Tennis M. Basketball W. Basketball

W. Basketball vs. High Point Jan 30 @ 2 p.m.

M. Tennisvs. King Jan 30 @6 p.m.

WE’LL SEEYOU ATTHEGAME

Cincinnati Liberty

5 2Longwood Liberty

67 72Longwood Liberty

53 55

Track & FieldD. Dixon Mem. Invit.Jan 29-30

M. Volleyballvs. Va. Tech Jan 30 @Midnight

High Point Liberty

67 69Xavier Liberty

6 1

M. Tennisvs. Eastern KY. Jan 30 @11 a.m.

SPORTSJanuary 26, 2016 B1

Michela DiDDle | liberty chaMpion

AIRBORNE — Freshman guard Lovell Cabbil knocks down a reverse lay-up against the former Big South conference leaders, High Point, in the Vines Center on Saturday.

Follow @LUChampSports for Flames athletics coverage

Women’s Hockey refuses to loseThe defending national champions have not lost since September 26, 2015

The Liberty University women’s Division I hockey team continues its suc-cess on the ice this season after claiming last year’s ACHA National Cham-pionship, the first in the history of the Liberty hockey program.

The championship came from hard work and dedi-cation, two things that Head Coach Paul Bloom-field says are important to the program.

“I am not a very satis-fied coach when we are not winning,” Bloomfield said.

“We work hard. We recruit hard. We practice hard. We encourage the girls to work hard.”

The Lady Flames sit at No. 1 in the ACHA poll with a record of 10-2-1, outscoring opponents on the season by a margin of 65-20.

Despite winning last season’s national champion-ship, the Lady Flames were not ranked No. 1 to start the season, something that struck a chord in the minds of the players, accord-ing to sophomore forward Chelsea Greenwood.

“A lot of us thought (not being ranked No.1) was

kind of a rip-off consider-ing we won nationals, so how do you not be ranked No. 1?” Greenwood said.

The Lady Flames opened this season with their only loss of the year against the Washington Pride, and finished the next game against the Pride in a tie.

The Lady Flames caught fire and won 10 of the next 11 games, with the only loss being a forfeit against Grand Valley State.

“We just kind of figured we would be middle of the pack and the team has really been pretty success-ful,” Bloomfield said. “(The players have) a lot of expe-

rience together. I think that has helped. Everybody is playing for each other.”

Outscoring opponents 65-20 is no small feat, and senior forward Catherine Burrell directs that success to a few major keys.

“It definitely helps to be a defensive team and to have strong goalies, which we have both of,” Burrell said. “It also helps to have good scorers and teamwork as well. Everyone needs to be on the same page work-ing together for one goal.”

See HOCKEY, B2

The Liberty Flames men’s basket-ball team (7-15, 4-5 Big South) found itself tied at 67 against the High Point Panthers (13-7, 6-3 Big So). With less than 20 seconds remaining, the Flames were presented with an opportunity to do something they have failed to do in four years … beat the Panthers in the Vines Center.

Freshman point guard Lovell Cabbil slowly dribbled the basketball while watch-ing the clock, preparing to make his next move. On the low block, a down screen was set for redshirt-sophomore guard John Dawson who dashed to the left wing of the three-point line.

With nine seconds remaining, the ball was in Dawson’s hands. Redshirt freshman Ezra Talbert set a screen for Dawson, but incidentally brought his defender with him,

nearly resulting in a double team. However, Dawson’s quick change of direction caused the second defender to slip, leaving him in a one-on-one situation. The redshirt soph-omore out of Clovis, New Mexico lowered his head and attacked the basket. With two seconds left, he elevated and sank the go-ahead layup as Liberty knocked off High Point, 69-67 Saturday, Jan. 23.

The Flames and Panthers traded blows throughout the entire matchup. Cabbil opened scoring for the Flames with a contest-ed three-point shot. However, the Panthers immediately responded with a turnaround fade from redshirt senior forward, John Brown.

The Flames knew containing Brown, the nation’s No. 2 active career scorer per High Point Athletics, was vital if they wanted to get the win.

“Brown is a heck of a player,” Flames head Coach Ritchie McKay said. “We just want to match his physicality. Very few can

give more effort than him.”The Flames struggled matching up with

the Panthers’ forward in the first half. Sophomore center Evan Maxwell could not keep up with Brown’s quickness, while Talbert could not keep up with Brown’s strength. Brown finished the first half with 13 points, almost half of the Panther’s 27 first-half points.

However, Liberty held the rest of the Panthers players to three points or less each, and forced seven turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play.

On the offensive side, the Flames were almost as effective, shooting 43 percent from the field and 47 percent from behind the arc. Sopho-more guard A.C. Reid was responsible for half of the Flames shoot-ing success in the first half (4-7 from the three point line).

“I just told myself to keep being confi-dent and keep shooting,” Reid said. “My

teammates put a lot of confidence in me.”After the half, Liberty had the lead

and momentum, however both were short-lived.

The Panthers went on an 11-2 run, re-claiming their first lead since the 8:43 mark in the first half. High Point brought a bal-anced attack that resulted in four different players contributing. In less than seven min-utes, the Flames went from leading by sev-en, to losing by eight. High Point appeared to be running away with the game until Tal-bert weathered the storm with a two handed slam, cutting the lead back to six.

Four minutes later, the Flames were only down two. High Point had pos-session until Dawson stole the ball from Brown. Dawson beat his de-fender and drove to the baseline. Then, he slung a no-look pass to freshman forward Caleb Homesly,

See PROBLEM, B3

Nate Haywoodnahaywood@liberty.edu

Snow day, snow problemJohn Dawson hits a contested game-winner to beat the conference leaders

courtney Wheeler| liberty chaMpion

FLASHBACK — Caroline Innes during the 2015 season.

Luke Dillardmdillard1@liberty.edu

sports B2 | January 26, 2016 | Liberty Champion

HOCKEY continued from B1

Freshman wing Lauren Mc-Donald said the key to the team’s performance is their teamwork together.

“(Teamwork) is why we dominate every team we play,” McDonald said.

Burrell believes winning the na-tional championship last year put the Liberty hockey program on other teams’ radars coming into this season.

“Other teams are like, ‘oh (Liberty) is kind of south, they do not know what hockey is,’” Burrell said. “(Proving them wrong) is a really great feeling.

I really enjoyed it.”Despite the accolades that

come with winning the first na-tional championship in Liberty hockey program history, Bloom-field believes his program is based on family.

“I love to see girls come and (have) their lives changed,” Bloomfield said. “I love to see

them come and grow up, and ma-ture in the Lord. I kind of feel like sometimes I am their dad away from home. It gets a lot more in-volved than just hockey. We get to know the girls pretty (well). I love working with the girls and being apart of their world and seeing them succeed.”

If the second half of the sea-

son is anything like the first half, Bloomfield will see lots of success for the Liberty women’s Division I hockey program.

DILLARD is a sports reporter.

“I’m not going to let you leave … I want you to be on my team and I want you to help lead this team. I’m not going to let you leave.”

After a coaching change brought for-mer University of Virginia (UVA) Cava-liers men’s basketball associate head coach Ritchie McKay back to Lynchburg, Vir-ginia, these were the words he spoke to redshirt sophomore guard John Dawson. McKay’s message was simple. And it was received.

“That was the one thing,” Dawson said. “(McKay) wants me here.”

McKay took over the basketball team in April of 2015. His success at UVA made him a highly sought after coach. And just as there are with most coaching changes, there were drastic alterations to the Flames, primarily regarding their roster.

Five players transferred, one was sus-pended indefinitely and two graduated. Al-most half of last season’s roster was gone. However one of the few who remained was Dawson.

The Clovis, New Mexico native was a three-star guard according to 247sports.com. He elected to play his college ball at Marquette, but his time there was short-lived.

“(Marquette’s) program was growing in a good direction and I felt like I wasn’t a part of it,” Dawson said. “I just decided if I wasn’t going to contribute or be a con-tribution to the team, then I’ll try and go somewhere where I can be. Liberty’s the place that called my name.”

Less than a week after Dawson made the decision to leave Marquette, the call from Liberty came.

Former Flames assistant coach Vance Walden contacted Dawson. He had already spoke with Dawson’s father and wanted to go to his home for a visit. Additionally he hoped to bring the guard to Liberty. Need-less to say, it worked.

“It was crazy because (Walden) was a to-tal stranger but … it felt like he was a lost uncle that’s been there this whole time,” Dawson said. “It was (Walden) who really helped me come (to Liberty).”

After the visit, Dawson was sold. On Jan. 15, 2015, the Flames introduced Daw-son as the newest addition to the program.

The transition from schools was admit-tedly a difficult one according to Dawson. Marquette, a catholic institution, had dif-ferent rules and restrictions than Liberty, an evangelical Christian institution. How-ever, the difficulties of the transition paled in comparison to what was in store for Dawson.

The former Marquette University guard was prohibited from playing in his first year due to NCAA transfer regulations. His time off the court was one of the most dif-ficult things he experienced.

“Oh (not playing) was hard. That was the hardest thing I had to do,” Dawson

said. “When you grow up with basketball all the time, 24/7, and you only get to do it in practice and don’t get to enjoy the games and you don’t get to go out and fight with your brothers, it’s hard.”

During the two semester span away from the court, Dawson could be seen at every game in street clothes, applauding, cheer-ing and coaching his teammates, or as he prefers to call them “brothers.”

“I want to see my guys strive to be the

best,” Dawson said. “I want to see my guys be the best. I want to see (my teammates) do everything they can and accomplish ev-erything they can. And when I know they are not playing to the best of their poten-

tial, I try to get them there. Being a leader and an older figure on this team, that’s my job.”

Then, Dec. 17 came. This was the day he anxiously awaited since transferring. It was time to lace up the Nike kicks and step

on the court for the first time since 2014. Dawson received the starting nod against the Princeton Tigers. He scored 15 points and dished out four assists in the loss against the Tigers, a stat line he has consis-tently posted since his debut.

While Dec. 17 is officially the day he de-buted, Jan. 6 is officially the day he arrived.

In a road game matchup against in-con-ference rivals, the Coastal Carolina Chanti-cleers, the Flames were down by two with less than 20 seconds remaining. In only his sixth game wearing red, white and blue, the ball was in Dawson’s hands. After sizing up his defender with a couple of cross-over dribbles, he pulled up and nailed the go-ahead basket for the Flames, giving them the 62-61 victory over Coastal.

In the very next game, the 6-foot-2-inch guard recorded his first double-double for the Flames with 14 points and 10 rebounds in a victory against the Campbell Camels. Four games later, he validated the claim that his clutch shot against the Chanticleers was no fluke.

The Flames found themselves in a simi-lar scenario against the High Point Pan-thers as Liberty had both possession and an opportunity to win. With ball in hand, Dawson authoritatively attacked the bas-ket and sank the game winning shot just before time expired. Having only played in seven conference games, Dawson has hit game-winning shots in two of them, which matches the amount of conference games the Flames won during all of last season.

Liberty currently sits at 6-15 on the sea-son, 4-5 in Big South play. But since the Flames new-comer first threw on the Lib-erty jersey, the Flames are 4-3 against con-ference opponents.

In fact, when he first put on the No. 22 jersey, he had intentions to switch as soon as he could to his old number, the No. 2 jersey, which was already taken by sopho-more forward A.C. Reid. “22” initially had no meaning to Dawson. But it soon be-came more than just a number. It became a tribute.

J.D. Isler, Dawson’s high school bas-ketball coach, died in a tragic car accident within a week of Dawson’s arrival. Isler wore No. 22 in high school, according to Dawson.

“I had all the intentions of switching my number,” Dawson said. “But after (Isler died) I decided I will keep it. It is a tribute to him and his family.”

It is no secret Dawson is the leader of this team. When the game goes down to the wire, the ball is in his hands. When the five on the court for the Flames get a little unsettled, McKay counts on him to calm things down.

“(Dawson) really exudes the confidence that our team needs,” McKay said. “I love his competitive desire … we can jump on his back for a minute or two and he’ll carry us. He’s strong enough.”

Nate Haywoodnahaywood@liberty.edu

HAYWOOD is the editor-in-chief.

Dawson undauntedThe redshirt-sophomore transfer from Marquette has given life to the Flames

“I want to see my guys be the best. I want to see (my teammates) do everything they can and accomplish everything they can.”

—JOHN DAWSON

Michela DiDDle | liberty chaMpion

SPEED — John Dawson blows past a High Point defender during the victory.

Liberty Champion | January 26, 2016 | B3sports

who made the extra pass to a wide open sophomore guard Ryan Kemrite who nailed the three pointer and regained the lead for Liberty.

High Point got to the line in its next two possessions, making all four free throws. And after junior guard

Anthony Lindauer scored an easy layup, the Panthers lead returned to five. But just as they did earlier in the half, the Flames fought back with two quick threes by Reid and Talbert.

This was the second time the Flames responded to a potentially devastating run from High Point.

“I was really pleased with our guys,” McKay said. “We had a mental and physical toughness about us that I think helped us stay in the game long enough to win.”

With only three minutes on the clock, the Flames

were nursing a one-point lead. In those final three minutes alone, there were four ties and six lead chang-es, none of which was as impactful as Dawson’s game-winning layup.

Dawson, who finished with 11 points, six assists and seven rebounds, scored his second game winning shot in only 10 games. With the clock winding down and the game on the line, he wanted the ball in his hands.

“My mindset was, ‘We are going to win this game, no matter what it takes,’” Daw-son said.

Liberty shot 51 percent from the field and made just about half of their 27 three-point attempts. When asked about how good this team can be when the shots fall as they did against the Panther’s, Reid’s answer was short and to the point.

“(When we make shots), oh we’re great,” Reid said. “We’re the best in the league I believe. … Don’t count Liberty out. At all. Don’t count Liberty out.”

Michela DiDDle | liberty chaMpion

STRENGTH — Freshman Caleb Homesley lays it in during the win against High Point. Homesley had six points.

PROBLEM continued from B1

SCHMIEG is the asst. sports editor.

It feels like so much has happened since I wrote my last column. Multiple NFL teams have new head coaches, Steph Curry has made a whole lot of three-pointers, David Blatt has been relieved of his duties as babysit — I mean head coach of

the Cavaliers, and we are two weeks away from

Super Bowl 50. As the golden Super Bowl approaches,

there will be more analysis than prob-ably is necessary, especially on game day. At the center of this discussion will of course be the quarterbacks, namely Pey-ton Manning, who will be in search of that elusive second ring. Along with this topic comes the burning question that sports analysts have been debating since the dawn of time: Do rings define a play-er’s career?

Let me start by saying that I know what Joel will say to this, but hey, that is why we have this column.

It seems to me that the significance of rings varies depending on the sport. In football, for instance, I would venture to say that rings might not play as big a role as people think. Sure, a ring is like icing on the cake of an outstanding career, but it does not define a player’s greatness. In football, the quarterback position is put on a pedestal, but a complete team is still necessary for any one player to have sus-tained success.

Hall of Famer Joe Montana won four Super Bowls in his time with the 49ers and is known as one of the best quarter-backs in NFL history. But he had a little help from guys like Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Charles Haley, among others. In football, you can only play one side of the ball. Even if you are an amazing quarter-back, odds are you will not get very far if your defense is terrible.

Dan Marino never won a champion-

ship, but was still a nine-time Pro Bowler, the league MVP in 1984 and his 420 career touchdown passes rank third in NFL history. Eric Dick-erson only got as far as the 1985 NFC Championship game, yet he still managed to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season (1983), take the NFL rushing title four times and rush for 13,529 career yards, which is sev-enth all-time. His single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards still stands today.

Michael Jordan won six NBA champi-onships during his illustrious career and never lost in a finals, and he is considered by many as the best to ever play the game. Dikembe Mutombo never reached that ultimate goal, but no one can discredit his eight All-Star selections, his four De-fensive Player of the Year awards, his six All-NBA Defensive selections or his 3,289 career blocks, which is second on the all-time list.

Permit me to also take a moment to ad-dress this whole Eli Manning argument. Bottom line: Do not tell me he is better than his brother. Does Eli have more rings? Sure. Has he done anything else notable in his career other than beating the Patriots? No. Say what you will, but Eli does not have those two rings with-out David Tyree and Mario Manningham. Having a top 10 defense both those years certainly did not hurt, either.

Championships are the pinnacle of any athlete’s career, but they do not make the player. When all is said and done, mak-ing any Hall of Fame is about individual achievements above anything else, not just championships. If it is the other way around, then Derek Fisher’s name should be on the 2018 NBA Hall of Fame ballot.

How much do rings mean in terms of a pro-fessional athlete’s legacy? To some, they do not mean much at all. To oth-ers, they are the ultimate sign of an

athlete’s greatness.In light of Peyton Manning advanc-

ing to his fourth Super Bowl, it is time to break down just how much a ring really means to an athletes overall career.

A common argument against Pey-ton being one of the greatest ever is the fact that he only has one ring. After all, his own brother, Eli Manning, has more championships (two) than he does. How can he be the best, when his younger brother has more accolades?

In order for Peyton to have any chance at being remembered as one of the best ever, he is going to have to win Super Bowl 50. There is no way around it. Only then will Peyton at least have as many rings as the other guy at the dinner table during Thanksgiving.

It is simple. If Peyton would really like to be the best, then he better put another ring on it.

Another great example of how im-portant it is to win rings is Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. Unfortunately for Kelly, when it comes to football, he is remembered for one thing, … losing. How can Kelly be one of the best ever if he has never won the Super Bowl? Not only has he not won it, but he lost it four years in a row.

Like it or not, without a ring, Kelly the football player will always be remem-bered for “The Four Falls of Buffalo,” as ESPN called it.

Now I will switch gears to basketball. The best basketball players of all time have rings and plenty of them. In fact, some of them have so many rings that they run out of fingers to put them on. Bill Russell has 11. Michael Jordan has six.

Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan have five.

LeBron James has two rings, yet people still say he is the greatest basket-ball player ever. How? He does not even have as many as guys that are still playing now. I un-derstand that James still has time, but is he really going to catch Jordan? The answer is not likely.

How about the greatest baseball players of all time? This one is too easy. The top ten list of players based on World Series championships includes guys like Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Mick-ey Mantle and Lou Gehrig, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Those guys are obviously some of the best ever.

If you do not crack the list of guys who have won at least three World Series rings, then you are not going to make it onto the list of best ever.

Those are just the major sports. Some say Lionel Messi cannot be the best soc-cer player of all time because he has nev-er won the World Cup. Others say Tiger Woods is not the best golfer because he never passed Jack Nicklaus for most Ma-jor golf championships.

The fact of the matter is rings are what make a legacy live on long after a player. Losses and close calls fade over time, but championships do not.

Maybe Peyton will get that elusive sec-ond Super Bowl ring Feb. 7, or maybe baby brother Eli will shadow over him in the NFL history books long after they both are gone. If Peyton does lose, he only has himself to blame. And whoever invented rings — Peyton probably really dislikes that guy.

VANDENBOSCH is the sports editor.

AULVANDENBOSCH

OELSCHMIEG

HAYWOOD is the editor-in-chief.

“ We are going to win this game, no

matter what it takes.—JOHN DAWSON

featureB4 | January 26, 2016 | Liberty Champion

Snowpocalypse Adventures abound after the first snow storm of the year

Leah SeaverS, MicheLa DiDDLe & Matthew PhiLLiPS | Liberty chaMPion

JUBILEE — Liberty students were all smiles as the campus was covered in snow by Winter Storm Jonas starting Friday, Jan. 22.

Amber Tilleratiller2@liberty.edu

The modern-Mozart adaptation of “The Marriage of Figaro” originally written and composed during May 1786, according to history.com, debuted for the third time on Liberty University’s campus.

The performance, held in the Tower Theatre, follows Tony Figaro and his troubles in attempting to marry his fiancé Susanna.

The adaptation, “Figaro’s Wedding,” by Liberty’s school of music staff John Hugo and Wayne Kompelien, was presented over a decade ago and then once again about eight years ago. The newest presentation of the opera occurred Thursday, Jan. 21 - Monday, Jan. 25 and included not only the opera cast but also an orchestra, which was a new com-ponent to the adaptation.

Because the adaptation was performed in the (now demolished) fine arts hall that used to be attached to DeMoss Hall, the space did not allow for an orchestra. The production used a piano on stage as an accompaniment, according to Kompelein.

Kompelein said he decided upon “Figaro’s Wedding” this year because the opera fit his

group well vocally. Because of the amount of women and men, sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses, Kompelein knew “Figaro’s Wed-ding” fit well for this year.

The opera cast started practicing in Au-gust three times a week, then picked up with rehearsals after winter break and performed for three out of the five days originally scheduled. Friday and Saturday shows were cancelled due to snow.

Although the cast practiced nearly 80 hours, performing directly after winter break was a challenge, according to Kompelein.

“It’s hard to come back and do it in Janu-ary,” Kompelien said. “There’s positives and negatives. … The students aren’t in the throws of school yet, so they don’t have a lot of academic stress … the negative is you come back after five weeks and things are a little rusty.”

Despite the challenges of returning in January, senior Jeffrey Batson, double-cast as Charlie, commented on the effort of the cast.

“It’s one thing to enjoy performing, but it’s another thing to be surrounded by those who enjoy it as well and who are also working to-ward a common goal — to make it the best

show we possibly can,” Kompelien said. Another senior noted the commaraderie

of the cast.“We’re all invested in the comedy and not

afraid to make a fool of ourselves over cer-tain things,” Kristin Christopherson, who dually played Susanna with another cast member, said. “Spilling water on customers (in the Italian restaurant), flirting with peo-ple, anonymous love letters, lots of fun stuff happens in this play.”

In the end though, the long hours and rehearsals were represented by the difficult musical arias — when four different charac-ters would be singing four completely differ-ent lines of the same song at the same time.

“I think it’s the most fun musically as far as entertaining,” Madison Warren, who was double cast as Rose said. “I also think it’s one of the most challenging musically because there’s so many sporadic entrances from each character because you are trying to tie your own end of the story up because in the end, there’e three different couples that get back together, rather than just one couple.”

TILLER is the feature editor.

Trail series

featureB5 | January 26, 2016 | Liberty Champion

Student Activities will be hosting this year’s Arctic 5K Trail Race Saturday, Feb. 6 at 9 a.m. The race will take place at Camp Hydaway as a part of the Liberty Mountain Trail Se-ries (LMTS) of races.

Josh Yeoman, director of outdoor recreation for Student Activities, said racers should not expect an easy run.

“This is a fairly difficult 5K trail race for a variety of rea-sons,” Yeoman said. “It can be cold, the race is on dirt trails, and the elevation gain and loss is pretty steep. However, you can also expect a sense of accomplishment.”

The course begins around 800 feet and increases to 1,250 feet before decreasing. This race is comparable to other LMTS races, so veteran racers will know what to expect. Even with the elevation change, last years’ fastest time was 23:25.

“This race course will stay the same as last year,” Yeo-man said. “The start and fin-ish will be at Camp Hydaway. … In February, 9 a.m. can be pretty cold.”

Wearing layers is recom-mended due to low tempera-tures from previous races. Last year’s temperature on race day was in the low 20s according to Yeoman.

Yeoman said he is looking for more than just Liberty students to participate in this event, and although these races are put on by Student Activities, they are open to anyone who wants to participate.

“I hope to see a good partici-pation rate from both the stu-dent body and the Lynchburg running community,” Yeoman said. “The Arctic 5K is the first race in the spring semester Liberty Mountain Trail Series. I hope to see familiar faces as well as new ones.”

Last year, 129 runners took the challenge of the Artic 5K.

As with any other LMTS race, awards will be given to the top three male and female over-all winners as well as the top three male and female winners in each age group. In addition to those awards, door prizes will be given out following the awards ceremony.

Though not everyone can win an award or a prize, par-ticipants are guaranteed a shirt when signing up online, and snacks are provided before and after the race.

For more information about signing up for the Arctic 5K, go to liberty.edu/races. The price is $10 for students and $20 for the general public when signing up in advance. The price raises to $15 and $25 on race day.

To be better prepared for race day, runners can view the race course and elevation chart at liberty.edu/trails.

Other races coming up as a part of the LMTS include the Liberty Mountain 5K Feb. 27 and the King of the Moun-tain race in March. Signups for those races can also be found at liberty.edu/races

GEE is a feature reporter.

Kirkland Geekgee10@liberty.edu

Leah SeaverS | Liberty Champion

RUN — Arctic 5K in 2015.

Figaro’s weddingLiberty School of Music performs an adaptation of Mozart

Marching for a causeDespite the weather, 40,000 people showed to rally in D.C.

Josh Millerjkmiller10@liberty.edu

Although the Liberty University students planning on riding a bus to Washington D.C. for the March for Life could not attend because of snow, more than 40,000 pro-life citizens from around the nation gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., according to LifeSiteNews.com. The 43rd annual March for Life continued despite the impending blizzard Friday, Jan. 22.

March for Life, which protests the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, has become the world’s largest annual demonstration. The number of participants peaked in 2014 at over 800,000, according to the official March for Life website.

Attendance dropped this year due to the snow, which began falling at 1 p.m. Friday. Snowfall continued for 36 hours, dumping nearly 20 inches across the D.C. area, according to a report by The Weather Channel.

Protestors began arriving on site between 11 a.m. and noon. Protest organizers set up a stage with screens and sound equipment for the planned rally. The crowd heard from pro-life speakers, many of whom commend-ed the demonstrators for staying despite the cold.

Lead bishops from the Catholic commu-nity opened the rally in prayer. They were joined onstage by nuns from Little Sisters of the Poor, the charity at the center of an upcoming Supreme Court battle over Obamacare.

March for Life President Jeanne Mancini

introduced rally speakers over the next hour, thanking the crowd of protestors for their patience as the afternoon got colder. The theme for the rally was “Pro-Life and Pro-Woman Go Hand-in-Hand.”

Carly Fiorina, a Republican presidential candidate, expressed gratitude for protes-tors’ “devotion in defiance of the blizzard.”

Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, and Marjorie Dannenfelser, presi-dent of the Susan B. Anthony List, also spoke. They were followed by U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA).

“I am a woman, and I have been to war, and let me be clear: This is no war on wom-en,” Ernst said.

Ernst concentrated on contest-ing the claim that the pro-life

cause is an assault on women’s rights.Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) gave

the assembly an update on legislative initia-tives around the nation to combat abortion, saying that more than 100 pieces of pro-life legislation had been passed since 2012.

“You are the antidote to this present dark-ness,” Smith said.

Sue Ellen Browder, a freelance writer, de-scribed her conversion from the pro-choice movement. She said the best way to pro-mote the health and rights of women is to advance the pro-life cause. She called the pro-life movement the “authentic women’s movement of the 21st century.”

MILLER is a guest writer.

miCheLa DiDDLe | Liberty Champion

COMEDY — During the fast-paced four-scene opera, characters face troubles such as Charlie being sent to military school, potrayed above.

photo proviDeD

PROTEST — Participants of the 2016 March for Life paraded through the nation’s capitol.

featureB6 | January 26, 2016 | Liberty Champion

Social media mogulChris Underation uses new means to exemplify journalism to students

Matthew Ozburnmozburn@liberty.edu

Last summer Chris Underation, digital media and communication arts, broadcast-ing and journalism professor at Liberty University, was preparing for social me-dia journalism, one of the several courses he teaches. In addition to preparing class material, Underation thought of different ways to get the class involved and interest-ed in what he taught.

Underation said he valued students get-ting to know their professors in and out of the classroom and said this helps them to learn more. One of the lessons he planned for students was to create one social me-dia news story a week about anything on or off campus.

Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are outlets Underation wanted students to uti-lize. After announcing this to the class he began to think of a way that the students would use the social media platforms, and he decided to do the assignment with them.

“I’m a professor that’s not always com-fortable with the idea, ‘do as I say,’” Under-ation said. “I want students to ‘do as I do.’”

Underation began to post weekly stories about different professors in the digital me-dia and communication arts department. His stories quickly became the social me-dia campaign known as #HiddenLifeOf-Professors. The campaign featured weekly stories showing social media users what professors’ lives consisted of outside of the classroom.

Underation explained how some think the life of a professor is nice and easy.

“One of my friends told me, ‘You’ve got the greatest life in the world,’” Underation said. “And I said, ‘You don’t really know what I do.”

Underation mainly posted on Insta-gram as well as Facebook and Twitter. He received mostly positive feedback with a wide reach of people from all over the U.S. including a professor from UCLA.

“On one of my early posts, I heard from a guy who followed me on social media,” Underation said. “I’ve known him for a while. He’s in radio news. He retweeted it to his (Twitter) and his retweet said, ‘Here’s Chris Underation killin’ it like a boss,’ and I was flattered of course.”

Underation said today is different from when he was in college. When he was in school, getting to know a professor was a result of going to grab a burger with them or getting coffee or in some cases being in-vited over to their house for dinner.

Today Underation claims those walls have been knocked down, in a good way, by social media. Students now can find their teacher on Facebook and see what they do outside of class.

“I don’t have an issue with students knowing me through social media,” Under-ation said. “I don’t mind them knowing my stances on things, and I don’t mind them pushing back. This is all part of the educa-tional process.”

He wants to get the point across that teachers need not fear social media. He

emphasized social media is vital to com-munication between professor and student.

Underation said students complain about workload while teachers are doing an equal amount, if not more, and expressed the similarities between students and professors.

“While you’re griping about that five page paper they assigned you, they are hav-ing to write a 30 page paper and present it to their fellow egg-heads,” Underation said.

The campaign adds humanity to pro-

fessors that most students will never see. It explains why the professor might be a little tired when they are teaching that four o’clock class.

“We’re kind of students too,” Underation said.

Underation made clear that he will con-tinue the campaign through the spring se-mester, but since the class is over there will not be weekly posts like last semester.

OZBURN is a feature reporter.

Michela DiDDle | liberty chaMpion

ENGAGE — Christ Underation uses social media to tell stories and meet new people.

Katelyn Ruttkerutt@liberty.edu

Technological Breakthroughs

This spring will usher in far more than warmer temperatures, as 2016 promises to bring many changes to the technology and fashion industries.

Phillip Martin, technician supervisor at Liberty University’s Information Technolo-gy department, said he expects three trends to make headlines this year: the expansion of virtual reality, the Internet of Things (IOT) and drone delivery.

Martin said with new, cutting-edge sys-tems manufactured by large companies such as Sony and Samsung, consumers are guaranteed to see improvements in virtual reality.

According to CNET, Sony’s PlayStation VR, a gaming headset to play “in a full 360 degrees” will be coming out the summer of 2016. CNET looks at the newest “consum-er technology breakthroughs” and “give(s) you the information, tools, and advice that will help you decide what to buy.”

Samsung also introduced the Gear VR, virtual reality goggles compatible with Gal-axy smartphones to provide 360 degree entertainment.

Martin also expressed his interest in the connection between electronic devices and household items, otherwise known as the IOT. According to forbes.com, the IOT “is the concept of basically connecting any device with an on-and-off switch to the In-ternet (and/or to each other). … The re-lationship will be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.”

In 2016, this advanced network program is predicted to impact the world of technol-ogy. While once used solely by companies for the tracking of data and research, this system is now built into wearables, Smart Cars and household appliances.

“It changes how customers and compa-nies come together,” Bosch Software Inno-vations’ website said of the benefits of the IOT. “Instead of just meeting at the point of sale, the relationship becomes a continu-ous interaction, which lasts as long as the customer keeps using a product and the corresponding services.”

Forbes’ website said the IOT will allow products like a home thermostat to be con-trolled with a personal computer or phone.

“It’s really interesting to me how I can have my lights turned on, thermostat set to a good temperature and know what foods I have in my fridge before I even leave campus for home,” Martin said.

Martin said another tech trend pertains to companies beginning to utilize drones to collect information and create quick de-livery services. Both Google and Amazon have revealed their plans for using drones to speed the process of package shipment.

“Even with all of these really major changes, I’m probably most excited about the evolution of personal assistants like Siri and Cortana,” Martin said. “I’ll admit, even though I knew it was farfetched, I wanted an Al butler like Jarvis from the original Iron Man movie.”

Fashion Statements

However, technology is not the only industry evolving in 2016. Spring fashion runways are quickly welcoming a slew of new patterns, materials and styles.

“I see a lot of unique skirts coming into the picture in 2016,” Liberty fashion major Katelyn Verbeke said. “Leather, suede and mixing different materials seems to be a big trend in designs.”

Verbeke encouraged fashion lovers to mix materials and patterns, as it can create a very unique and personal look. How-ever, she warned individuals to do so with caution.

“Mixing patterns can be overwhelming,

but it can definitely make a statement,” Verbeke said.

Fetchclothing.com, “a vintage inspired clothing and accessories boutique” in Tex-as, offered tips about mixing patterns such as “keeping the different patterns in the same color family, using stripes as a neutral, and using patterned accessories with a dif-ferent patterned piece of clothing.”

Statement pieces such as jewelry and other accessories appear to be another ma-jor fashion trend for 2016, and minimalistic designs are becoming less prominent in the fashion industry according to Verbeke.

“Even the most minimalistic designers are adapting to the high demand for state-ment pieces,” Verbeke said.

Verbeke also encouraged fashion enthu-siasts to invest in a few pastel wardrobe pieces, as light colors are gaining popular-ity on spring runways. In fact, Pantone’s 2016 Color of the Year is a blend of Rose Quartz and Serenity, both soft pastels.

As 2016 kicks off, major technological advances and fashion statement standouts are two prominent trends people are sure to notice.

RUTT is a feature reporter.

New trends for 2016Both the technology business and the fashion industry are set to take off

leah SeaverS | liberty chaMpion

STYLE — Mixed materials and patterns are part of new fashion trends taking place in 2016. GooGle iMaGeS

DIGITAL — Virtual reality goggles are a new source of entertainment.

Abby Sweeneyasweeney8@liberty.edu

As New Year’s resolutions kick off, stu-dents across campus will begin their efforts of achieving a healthier lifestyle. Accord-ing to campus registered dietician Kristina DiSanto, there are several tips that can help start the year eating well and maintaining healthy goals.

“The first thing I tell people is to come up with a very concrete goal of what they want to do,” DiSanto said. “Make sure you set a very specific, concrete goal for yourself.”

According to DiSanto, small changes can be made to everyday choices enabling people to reach their goals.

DiSanto advises eating breakfast as one way to start working toward a healthier diet.

“Getting a good breakfast of some

protein and good carbohydrates is really going to be the way to go,” DiSanto said. “If you’re not eating anything at all, start by eating something: a glass of milk or a piece of toast. Something is better than nothing. And then progress to working on the components of that meal.”

DiSanto recommended eating every three to four hours in order to keep the body’s metabolism running properly. She suggests fruit as an easy snack on the go. Adding protein, such as peanut butter or a cheese stick, provides a heartier snack.

Healthier living also involves cut-ting back on certain foods like sugary drinks and processed meats from fast food restaurants.

“I never tell people to cut an entire thing out of their diet that they love, except if it’s soda,” DiSanto said. “There (are) just no nutrient benefits (to soda). It’s all empty calories.”

She also warns against the extreme mea-

sures of dieting practiced with fad diets.“They’re going to provide some short

term effects because you’re cutting a lot of calories,” DiSanto said. “But it’s not sus-tainable over the long term.”

DiSanto notes dieters may see significant changes in the beginning of a fad diet, but it is not realistic to maintain the diet speci-fications throughout life, especially the di-ets with extreme standards.

“Anytime a diet tells you to cut out an entire food group, that’s a good indication to stay away from it,” DiSanto said.

According to DiSanto, the importance of a healthy diet is typically overlooked be-cause the changes inside the body cannot be visually tracked.

“What we put in our body everyday ulti-mately affects our overarching health and that affects our brain,” DiSanto said.

Part of a healthy diet includes getting enough sleep each night in order for the body to work properly.

“If you’re not getting enough sleep, which ties into nutrition very closely, you are going to have your hormones going off, which throws off your hunger cues and then you’re thinking about eating dur-ing class instead of paying attention to what’s going on,” DiSanto said.

DiSanto believes that staying hydrat-ed is another key component to living a healthy lifestyle.

“If you’re up to 1 percent dehydrated it can affect your abilities to have good ath-letic performance and performance in the classroom as well,” DiSanto said.

With objective goals and simple dietary changes outlined by DiSanto, it is possible to maintain the intentions of working to-wards a healthier lifestyle.

SWEENEY is a feature reporter.

Liberty Champion | January 26, 2016 | B7feature

How to stay healthyLiberty campus dietician recommends manageable diet and exercise tips

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ATLANTIC continued from B8Tamberma as the residents celebrated the spirit of Thanksgiving by sharing testimonies and singing songs of God’s grace.

“Although, it was in a different language it was beautiful to see how upbeat and joyful and just filled with love and graceful-ness they were to God for everything He had done for them,” Walters said. “That was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”

When asked how the

overall experience affect-ed them spiritually, Britt shared that many students verbalized their interest in becoming missionary nurses after graduation while Walters expressed how God worked to show her the importance of rejoicing.

“I’ve learned a lot about surrendering to God ... even when things go wrong,” Walters said. “God tells us to rejoice in all of our circumstances. We re-joice because we know that He is God and He is sov-ereign and He works all things for His good.”

For the students in the School of Nursing, their trip to Togo and the re-lationships they made with current missionaries will likely be something they forever cherish in their hearts.

“I most definitely want to go back,” Walters said. “I may want to go to language school first . . . But, I think it will be really exciting to see what God does there in the future. I feel blessed to have been a part of it.”

ELLIOT is a feature reporter.

Leah SeaverS| Liberty Champion

NUTRITIOUS — According to registered dietician Kristina DiSanto, eating nutrient-dense foods, such as fruits and vegetables, is an easy way to promote a healthy lifestyle.

FYI According to the Central Intelligence Agency, there

are 7,552,318 people living in the country of Togo. An estimated 32 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

The small, sub-Saharan economy depends heavily on both commercial and subsistence agriculture.

Togo is known to run a high degree of risk for food, waterborne, vector borne and respiratory dis-eases with the most common being typhoid fever and malaria.

FEATUREB8 January 26, 2016

f o r t h e s a k e o f F i g a r o

While many students travelled home to recuperate from another successful semes-ter at Liberty University, others trekked overseas during winter break to witness missionaries in action.

Six students from Liberty’s School of Nursing journeyed their way across the Atlantic to Togo, Africa, hoping to assist missionary doctors and nurses in the field of medicine, while also providing doctors

with supplies and Christmas gifts from their families during their visit.

LU Send organized the trip, which serves as the campus travel agency and provides opportunities for students to become aca-demically and culturally engaged through various mission fields, whether it be locally, domestically or globally.

Led by Dr. Deanna Britt, Dean of Lib-erty’s School of Nursing, and Biology pro-fessor Dr. Kimberly Mitchell, the group of students was able to experience the culture and healthcare services of the small, West

African nation over the course of two weeks.

“Our goals in this trip were to expose our nursing students to missionary nursing by allowing them to meet with missionaries, and also to work in the hospital there at the mission compound,” Britt said.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency, Togo is known to run a high de-gree of risk for food, waterborne, vector borne and respiratory diseases with the most common being typhoid fever and malaria.

The students joined missionaries at two different hospitals in Mongo and Tsiko, where they were able to practice their medi-cal skills by distributing medicine and as-sisting in various medical evaluations and procedures.

For senior nursing student Rachel Wal-ters, Togo was her first experience in an overseas mission trip. She noted several economic differences and compared many techniques and resources used by the mis-sionaries to those of doctors in the United States, the largest difference being the re-lationships the missionaries had built with their patients.

“It was really cool to see the missionary doctors on rounds,” Walters said. “After they would discuss treatment options with patients or discharge them, they would all pray for them. They did that with every single patient, which is something we’re not

used to in the (United) States. They rely so much more on God there in comparison to how much we do, especially in medicine.”

When asked about their most memorable moments, both Walters and Britt expressed that although a moment may be memora-ble, it does not necessarily make it pleasant.

“There was one day that a mother came in carrying her child, and within five sec-onds of laying the child down on the bed, the doctor called a code,” Walters said. “... And sadly, the child didn’t make it. (Three of us) were just standing there, watching all of this unfold before our eyes. That was certainly a traumatic experience for all of us, and we are still trying to process it.”

Though the incident was filled with over-whelming sorrow and grief, Walters used the opportunity as a way to minister to the mother who had just lost her child.

“Afterward, I was able to pray with the mom, but (because of language barriers), it took a while for her to realize her child wasn’t coming back,” Walters said. “It was heartbreaking to watch that, and unfortu-nately, it’s something they see far too often in Africa.”

Despite this tragedy, Walters along with students Hannah Voelkner, Courtney Rousseau, Isabelle Doody, Meghan Nawyn and Rebecca Wise were able to enjoy the culture and even visit a church service in

See ATLANTIC, B7

Michela DiDDle | liberty chaMpion

DRAMA — The School of Music’s opera, “Figaro’s Wedding,” features Tony Figaro trying to pay back a loan before his wedding, but Figaro encounters troubles along the way.

See OPERA, B5

Across the AtlanticStudents and staff travel to Africa over break to witness missions in actionHannah Elliotthelliott@liberty.edu

photo proviDeD HELPING HAND — In the past, nursing students assisted others internationally.