Liberty Champion Sept 23 2014

Emily [email protected]

Maj. Michael Donahue, 41, a paratroop-er in the 18th Airborne Corps and a former Liberty University professor, was killed in action Tuesday, Sept. 16, after a Taliban car bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

The Fort Bragg soldier was an opera-tions support officer with C Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, a news release stated.

“The Dragon Family has suffered a great loss today, and we would like to express our deepest condolences to the Donahue fam-ily,” Lt. Col. Gabriel Barton, Donahue’s battalion commander, said. “Maj. Michael Donahue was an exceptional officer and a huge part of our team and our family. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this difficult time. We will never forget him.”

Donahue enlisted in the Army in 1996 before being commissioned through Of-ficer Candidate School in 2000, according to the release.

Following two combat tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, Donahue served as an assistant professor of military science as he worked with Liberty’s Army ROTC pro-gram of 130 cadets and cadre from 2008 to 2010, Donahue’s LinkedIn page states.

Maj. Bob Foy, who supervised Donahue as chair of the Army ROTC department during Donahue’s stint at Liberty, said Do-nahue leaves behind an enduring legacy.

See DONAHUE, A2

Liberty alumna takes first runner-up in Miss America pageant.

News

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Hockey splits series with Navy Midshipmen over the weekend.

Sports

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College for a Weekend hosts thousands of high school students.

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Volume 32 | Issue 4 Lynchburg, VirginiaTuesday, sepTember 23, 2014

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Flames defeat Bulldogs B1Convo Connection debuts A5

Registration drive begins

Leah SeaverS| Liberty Champion

UNDERWATER — “The Little Mermaid” takes the stage in the Tower Theatre as this semester’s first performance.

VOTE

Donahue killed in action

p a r t o f y o u r w o r l d

Former provost diesFaculty reflect on life of influential academic leader


Provost Emeritus Dr. Boyd Rist, who served the univer-sity for 40 years, died Sunday, Sept. 14, at the age of 68 af-ter battling multiple myeloma and leukemia.

Starting at Liberty in 1973, Rist wore a number of differ-ent hats, including professor of history, chair of the division of social sciences, associate dean and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, dean of the faculty, vice president for

academic affairs and provost. Rist was also named senior aca-demic consultant to the pro-vost after stepping down from his provost position to receive cancer treatments.

Rist, during the early days of being provost, worked extensively on Liberty’s ac-creditation process with the Southern Association of Col-leges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Dr. Emily Heady, dean of the College of General stud-ies and professor of English, explained that Rist has left a

major impact on the university through his work.

“His influence on this uni-versity is vast,” Heady said. “He presided over a number of initiatives that have literally changed the way we do busi-ness. When he came, we were a small Bible college. On his watch, though, we became a full-blown liberal arts univer-sity with a national reputation.”

President Jerry Falwell called Rist one of the central people

See RIST, A2

photo provided IMPACT — Boyd Rist left a positive effect on Liberty.

photo provided

SACRIFICE — Soldier died for nation.

Fallen soldier leaves a legacy

David Van [email protected]

The voter registration deadline is fast approaching, with the Stu-dent Care/Conduct Office receiv-ing registration forms until Oct. 8. After this date, students will need to hand in their forms to the city registrar’s office by Oct. 14.

This will allow students who register to vote in the midterm elections to be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4. That election includes voting for candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

The Student Care/Conduct Of-fice has been bolstering registra-tion efforts across campus, learn-

ing what works best for students and what fits into their schedules. Bradley Milks, assistant direc-tor of programming for Liberty, noted the extensive efforts to rally the voting precinct at Liberty.

“Voter registration will be con-ducted in dorms, in some classes, and at tabling throughout cam-pus,” Milks said. “We will have splash page announcements, posters and other media to re-mind students.”

Off-campus students who pre-viously voted on campus will need to update their information since they no longer can vote in the Vines Center, according to Milks.

Milks pointed out that off-campus students could still fill

out the registration forms, which will be offered at registration tables around campus, and hand them in to the Student Care/Conduct Office. The office will then take the forms to the city registrar for them.

Milks highlighted the issues that directly affect students’ lives on and off campus and the values that Liberty takes a stand on.

“We felt it was time to move forward with rallying the students in regards to the issues that are important to them — federal/state/local mandates that bur-den their tuition dollars, abor-tion, the very high meals tax, traditional marriage and other issues,” Milks said.

Montgomery Pace, chairwom-an of College Republicans at Lib-erty, also emphasized the need for students to register and vote.

“At Liberty University, we are extremely blessed to have a poll-ing location right on campus for students to exercise their freedom to vote,” Pace said. “In order to keep that location that students before us fought to get, we have to continue to register students to vote on campus and then cast a ballot on Election Day.”

According to Pace, a registra-tion table will also be staffed during the homecoming football game, offering students a chance to stop by and fill out a form.

According to Milks, in the local

H o u s e of Del-egates elec-tion in 2009, Liberty students changed the out-come. The incumbent was ahead by 1,400 votes until the final pre-cinct, Liberty, submitted ballots. Once those ballots were counted, the incumbent lost by 207 votes.

“Voting is a simple process,” Pace said. “… It is so crucial for Christians to have a strong show-ing and allow our voices to be heard in the political process.”

VAN DYK is the news editor.

JoeL CoLeman| Liberty newS ServiCe

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Liberty University senior Zhecun Jin, 22, died Wednes-day, Sept. 17, from the effects of an unexpected stroke.

After nearly four weeks in the hospital following the Aug. 21 stroke, Jin was removed from life support Wednes-day. Jin, a senior, completed Liberty’s Aviation Mainte-nance Technician program before studying in the School of Business.

During the weeks of Jin’s hospitalization, Liberty staff and students rallied around his family in support, according to Tim Voogd, campus pastor and Prayer Center manager. Voogd explained that dozens of students visited Jin and his family, despite a lack of clear direction for how to be perfectly supportive.

“(When) somebody’s hospi-talized (or) something’s a very difficult story, … that’s when you go, and you make your-self present, even though you don’t know what to say or do,” Voogd said. “And I think that was evidenced in a positive way by the Liberty community.”

According to Voogd, visi-tors from Liberty showed Jin’s family love in tangible ways.

“There were several Chi-nese-speaking students, as well as English-speaking students, who spent many hours in the visitors’ room, bringing the family food, bringing them other supplies … (and) just being there for them, to visit with them,” Voogd said. “… There was just a lot of physical presence in that hospital avail-able to the parents for almost four weeks.”

Following a Campus Church service Wednesday night,

Sept. 10, approximately 300 students joined David Nasser and Jin’s parents, through a simulcast from the hospi-tal, to pray for Jin, according to Campus Church Director Ian MacIntyre.

“(That) night showed a tre-mendous picture of how the Liberty family comes together in times of crisis and need,” MacIntyre said. “There’s no better place, there’s no better representation of the body of Christ than there is in Campus Church. And in that prayer service, hundreds of Liberty students stayed afterward and gave up their time to intercede on behalf of Jin and his fam-ily, and it’s something that this community will not forget. We will continue to pray for Jin’s family, even in the wake of this tragedy.”

According to Voogd, Jin’s father also shared his appre-

ciation for the support of the Liberty community during the prayer service.

“(Jin’s father’s) testimony was that there was so much love shared with he and his wife and for his son, through the people that were coming to visit them from Liberty, that that had made a very large impact on them,” Voogd said. “(For) two people that re-ally did not know Jesus at all prior to coming here, the tes-timony of the students was a loud message saying there is a loving God, and Jesus Christ is his son.”

A memorial service for Jin is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. at Pate Chapel in Thomas Road Baptist Church.

BROWN is the editor-in-chief.

Campus mourns student deathLiberty comforts grieving parents after son dies from the effects of stroke

Photo Provided

TRAGEDY — Zhecun Jin is remembered by family and friends.

RIST continued from A1

involved in shaping the uni-versity from its beginnings.

“He really was one of the pivotal figures and key people that has made Lib-erty what it is today,” Falwell said. “… He was one of Lib-erty’s finest faculty members, and he served Liberty well for 40 years. We’re deeply indebted to him.”

During his time as senior academic consultant to the provost, Rist worked closely with Dr. Ronald Godwin, who is currently Liberty’s senior provost. According to Godwin, Rist was a “com-pletely trustworthy, depend-able senior leader.”

In addition to those who knew him in a professional ca-pacity, Dr. David Beck, a pro-fessor of philosophy, worked with Rist at Liberty since 1978. According to Beck, Rist was a “brilliant” man who possessed all the appropriate characteristics for each of his different positions.

“I think he combined all of the important qualities of an administrator at a Christian institution,” Beck said. “… He had a good understanding of what it was to be a Chris-tian university. He understood what it was to be a university. He was a great administrator, … (and he also) understood what it was to be a faculty member. … I think, to me, he embodied what it was to live life as an academician who was a Christian.”

To Ruth Ferrell, currently the assistant to the dean of the College of General Stud-ies, Rist was more than an administrator. Rist became a good friend to Ferrell during the 19 and a half years she spent as his assistant.

“We just got to know each other so well,” Fer-rell said. “… We were just a good team.”

According to Ferrell, Rist was “a loving gentle-

man” and “a caring person” who loved his job.

“He cared about his deans,” Ferrell said. “He cared about the faculty. He cared about the staff. Whenever they needed him or needed to talk to him, if he couldn’t see them that day, we would make sure that we would set up an appoint-ment for when he would be available. He was always will-ing to hear what they had to say.”

Even after he began che-motherapy treatments, Rist continued to volunteer at the university and came in any time he was physically able, according to Ferrell.

“He was so tough,” Ferrell said.

Heady also spoke highly of Rist’s character.

“Dr. (Harold) Willmington (dean of Liberty’s Willming-ton School of the Bible) once described him as a man ‘in whom there was no guile,’” Heady said. “I think that is a very good description. He lived honestly, and he con-ducted himself with integrity.”

Falwell, like Beck, Ferrell and Heady, was also able to experience Rist in a more per-sonal role. During the 1980s, Rist was Falwell’s history teacher. According to Falwell, he will continue to remember Rist’s impact on his life.

“It was just that academic rigor (of his classes) that pre-pared me for law school,” Fal-well said. “… He was very se-rious in the classroom, but as soon as class was over, he was very personable, very friend-ly, just a quality person in every way.”

Rist is survived by his wife, Norma Jean, and his daughter, Emily Ruth.


DONAHUE’SAWARDS

DONAHUE continued from A1

“Mike was really just an amazing officer and an amazing man in every way — spiritually, physically, and intellectually,” Foy said in a Liberty Univer-sity News Service article. “He was always positive, always there for the students. He had a huge impact on the students in the program.”

Donahue was also a graduate of Liberty, having completed his master’s degree in education in 2010 and an educational spe-cialist degree in 2012, according to his LinkedIn account.

Steve Troxel, a close family friend who worked with Do-nahue at his church near Fort Bragg, explained the impact of Donahue’s death.

“Out of all the people we would’ve wanted to come home safely, … he was at the top of the list,” Steve Troxel said. “It’s kind of a shock, just because it’s such a great loss to everybody who knew him and everybody who would have gotten to know him, because he was just a fabulous guy.”

Steve Troxel also spoke high-ly of Donahue’s character.

“Whatever he did, he did full out, to the best of his abil-ity,” Steve Troxel said. “… He probably had as much potential and talent as any individual I ever met. … He was a guy you could always count on. Once he became your friend, he was a friend for life. … His actions defined the term friend.”

Steve Troxel’s son, Mi-chael, who is also a gradu-

ate of Liberty, echoed his father’s sentiments.

“You cannot understand how big of a loss this is unless you knew him,” Michael Troxel said.

According to Steve Troxel, Donahue was only weeks away from coming home and retir-ing to become a teacher. Steve Troxel said that while Dona-hue’s family and friends are grieving, they are able to take comfort in knowing that Dona-hue was a Christian.

“We know for a fact that Mike is in heaven,” Troxel said.

Donahue is survived by his wife, Sherri, who is also a graduate of Liberty, and their children Victoria, Seamus and Bailey.


#WHATSUPLUTweet us with the hashtag #whatsuplu at @LUChampionNews or email us at [email protected] with any upcoming events that you want to share and we will put it in the newspaper.

• Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters• Purple Heart• Defense Meritorious Service Medal• Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters• Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters• Army Achievement Medal with three oak leaf clusters• Army Good Conduct Medal sixth award• National Defense Service Medal second award• Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two Campaign Stars• Iraqi Campaign Medal with one Campaign Star• Global War on Terrorism Service Medal• Korean Defense Service Medal• Noncommissioned Officer Professional

Development Ribbon• Army Service Ribbon• Overseas Service Ribbon fourth award • NATO ISAF MedalHis qualifications include the Combat Action Badge and the Senior Parachutist Badge.

9/25 - AIGA @ Liberty: Handlettering Workshop 7 p.m. | DH 2199 - PRSSA: Innovations Meeting 7 p.m. | DH 33979/27 - Military Family Fun Day 10 a.m.-3 p.m. | Liberty Mountain Snowflex - Student Activities Washington, D.C. Trip 7 am - Midnight *Students will meet in the LaHaye Student Union lobby to leave at 7 a.m. and will return to campus by midnight.

10/3 - Homecoming Bonfire 9 p.m. Dorm 28 Field10/4 - Homecoming Parade University Boulevard10/7 - All Sons and Daughters Concert 7 p.m. | LaHaye Event Space10/9 - Scaremare begins 7:30 p.m. | 2300 Carroll Ave., Lynchburg, VA 2450110/14 - Indelible Grace Concert 8 p.m. | LaHaye Event Space

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Global awarenessCGE hosts internationally inspired events

Leah SeaverS | Liberty Champion

AWARENESS — Students learn about overseas work as they walk through the hallways of DeMoss.

Open doorsA plea for the persecuted

Gabriella [email protected]

The Liberty Uni-versity campus gained a global perspective last Monday through Wednesday, Sept. 15-17, as the Center for Global Engagement (CGE) hosted Global Focus Week.

Global Focus Week is a semi-annual confer-ence that, according to the CGE, exists to raise student, staff and fac-ulty global awareness.

In an effort to expose students to ongoing Christian work around the world, CGE orga-nized a special Convo-cation and a Persecuted Church Symposium featuring global work-er and humanitarian Nik Ripken.

According to stu-dents, keynote speaker Ripken quickly engaged the student body dur-ing Convocation Mon-day morning with his message entitled “Love Your Enemies.”

“He challenged us — asked us what it re-ally meant to love our enemies,” Kay Foster, a sophomore at Liberty University, said. “Christ

died as much for them as he did for us. It’s about loving people who are hard for us to love.”

According to Fos-ter, Ripken’s message was both powerful and personal.

“I liked his realness,” Foster said. “That’s a huge aspect of reaching out — not pretending you have it all together. It was as much about reaching out to your neighbor as it was about reaching out to the ends of the earth.”

Ripken delved deeper into the issue of glob-al opposition to the church at the Persecuted Church Symposium that was held Tuesday eve-ning. The event allowed students to gather and dedicate a night of prayer to global workers serving overseas.

According to Mor-gan Monasterio, a stu-dent worker in CGE, students responded to both Convocation and the symposium by expressing interest in “going to places where Jesus’ name has not yet been proclaimed.”

“We got a lot of feed-

back (from students) about reaching the world, about going to the places most people don’t want to go,” Mon-asterio said.

Global Focus Week not only sought to draw attention to the needs of those who serve around the world, but also exposed students to various world cultures. During the week’s Ex-perience Hungary expo-sition, students sampled Hungarian food and spoke to global workers from Hungary

According to Mon-asterio, representatives from various organiza-tions spoke with stu-dents throughout the week about everything from work in the global field to cultural subtle-ties such as internation-al greetings.

This fall, CGE teamed up with 11 partner orga-nizations and 70 repre-sentatives from around the world in order to better equip students with the opportunity to learn from people with real-world experience in living cross-culturally.

“Some of (the rep-resentatives) actually

live here in Lynchburg and recruit at Liberty,” Monasterio said. “But some of them have come from where they are working overseas just to be here with the students.”

The organizations set up booths in the back of DeMoss Hall where students were able to speak with representa-tives from several or-ganizations and receive more information on their work overseas. According to Monaste-rio, the representatives come to “pour into the lives of students and mentor them and give them information about what overseas work looks like.”

According to CGE, Global Focus Week will be held in the spring semester Feb. 9-13. For more information on CGE or on Global Fo-cus Week, visit liberty.edu/globalengagement.

FULLER is the graduate assistant.

Research contributed by RJ GOODWIN.

Gabriella [email protected]

“Perhaps the question should not be: ‘Why are others persecut-ed?’ Perhaps the better question is: ‘Why are we not?’”

With this question, speaker Nik Ripken captured the atten-tion of hundreds of Liberty students gathered in the LaHaye Event Space Monday night, Sep. 15 for a persecuted church sym-posium and night of prayer.

The event, hosted by Liberty University’s Center for Global Engagement (CGE), featured Ripken, the author of “The In-sanity of God” and “The Insan-ity of Obedience,” and his wife Ruth, along with Open Doors, an organization devoted to aid-ing persecuted churches.

The Ripkens, who have served overseas for 30 years, are no strangers to persecution. Working in Eastern and Southern Africa, the Ripkens made it their life min-istry to labor in countries predom-inantly defined by persecution of those with faith in Jesus Christ.

After witnessing the execu-tions of several Muslim converts and experiencing the death of their own 16-year-old son, the Ripkens embarked on a global pilgrimage to find believers in persecution and to capture the story of church planting within environments of persecution and martyrdom.

Nik Ripken shared stories of his approximate 600 interviews with believers living in envi-ronments of persecution in 72 counrtries. One such story nar-rated a Russian pastor’s 17-year imprisonment and his church’s subsequent prayer and support.

“That is the body of Christ,” Nik Ripken said, commenting on the Russian church that not only survived persecution but thrived in it.

As students were dismissed to pray for fellow Christians, Ripken was intentional in ask-ing that students not pray for an end to persecution for believers

abroad, but rather that they pray for strength in persecution.

The symposium transitioned into a time of prayer, with attend-ees sitting alone or splitting into groups. Students were encouraged to use scripture as they prayed for overseas churches and Christians.

In an effort to aid students in their prayer and understanding of persecution, CGE lined the event space with posters, each featuring the face of a persecuted Christian in countries such as Ni-geria and Uzbekistan. The posters contained information about the Christians’ plight and listed prayer points for students to specifically keep in mind while praying.

One poster was dedicated to Samson, an imprisoned pastor from West Africa. The poster asked readers to pray for Sam-son’s faith, his family and his students, but, as an echo to what Ripken had previously instruct-ed, not for his release or freedom from persecution.

A series of closed doors, each tightly bound with chains and representing a different perse-cuted country, lined the front of the room. A sign instructed stu-dents to “Pray for open doors.” Students gathered around the display, their heads lowered.

Kate Yates, a representative for Open Doors, expressed her desire to see Liberty University become part of a chain of united “Open Doors Campuses,” with all of them supporting overseas churches and missionaries with prayer, as well as sending their own volunteers to do work abroad.

“We want to make this whole place an altar before God,” Yates said.

Prayerful students exited the room somberly, with the words of Ripken still ringing in their ears: “This can be another event, or this can be a movement that can impact the world.”

FULLER is the graduate assistant.Research contributed by BENJAMIN LIN.

This week has been, by far, one of the hardest weeks I have faced as a journalist.

Sure, there were plenty of challenges wrapped up in lay-out and story assign-ments, meetings and attempting to make contact with sources. But none of those aspects of my week made it particularly challenging.

As a journalist, this week was re-

ally hard for me because of the stories I had to write.

This week, I wrote three obituaries for people in the Liberty community. I know this is not unprecedented for journalists, unfortunately, but it was a first for me.

Cancer. An unexpected stroke. A roadside bombing. These are the cir-cumstances that led to the deaths of these people. Any one of the three could probably drive someone to sadness, and I was not immune.

As I typed the stories of these three special individuals, I could not help but think of their families and friends and the hurt they are experiencing.

While I did not know any of them personally, I am still saddened by the idea of a wife having to go to bed with-out her husband by her side. I am sad-dened by the knowledge that two parents have to travel back home knowing their

son is not with them. I am saddened by the thought of three children who will not get to see their father come home from war and a wife who faces a life without her partner.

However, although having to report on these deaths was particularly rough for me, I was ultimately encouraged by the legacies and impact the three indi-viduals had on those around them, and I was inspired by the stories of practical support the Liberty community offered to grieving families.

Hearing stories of the toughness of the man battling cancer and his genuine care for others, and learning about the selfless service of the soldier killed were bright spots in these somber stories.

In interviewing people for the other story, I was uplifted as I learned how Liberty students and staff prayed fer-vently for the student who had a stroke

and physically supported his family at the hospital.

Despite the gravity of these stories, I am not left disheartened. Although it would be easy to be discouraged by these situations, I also remember that God is fashioning them for good.

In each of the stories, God is evi-dent in the way he used those who died to leave a positive impact on oth-ers. God also worked through the Lib-erty community to show his love to a student’s parents.

Although it may seem bleak at first, ultimately, in the midst of sadness and trials, God’s love can and will shine through. It took a tough task of writing these three articles to remind me of that, but now, approximately 1,700 words later, I am even more convinced.

OPINIONA4 September 23, 2014

by Emily Brown

Tré [email protected]

Every Sunday, thousands of peo-ple flood the aisles of metropolitan

arenas, ready to sing the latest chart-topping worship songs. The lights

dim, the drummer counts down, the guitarist strums the first note and the

church service begins. Los Angeles has just gained one such

arena. Brian Houston, lead pastor of Hill-song Church in Australia, announced the

L.A. church plant in the summer of 2013, and this past summer, Hillsong Los Angeles opened its doors.

“People don’t even want to stand in line to go to a club, and they’re standing in line to hear a message and go to church,” one

Hillsong churchgoer said in a video on the new church’s website.The greater Church — “the body of Christ” — that Jesus de-

scribed throughout his earthly ministry is a diverse and unique or-ganism. From two or three to 2,000 or 3,000, the number of mem-

bers is not what makes a church. However, numbers do affect the breadth of the church’s outreach. Larger churches can often hammer

a deeper dent into pop culture, simply due to size. Megachurches have the ability to infiltrate large societies in ways that

are historically not associated with the evangelical movement. Often-times, smaller churches — a historic staple of the Evangelical Church

in America — are not able to influence like larger congregations, due to finance, platform and prominence.

“There’s no question there’s a real current of evangelical enamorment with cities,” Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, wrote of

Hillsong in a Christianity Today editorial. “Evangelicals have been a rural people historically, and cities were the places sin was. But cities are also where

the people are.”This is not to say smaller churches and house churches cannot influence,

because they can and do. It is not that certain churches fulfill certain com-mands — evangelism and discipleship — and others do not. The Church ac-

complishes its goals in different ways.Often, it seems the megachurch gets a bad reputation just for being big. But

does that criticism really have any merit? Los Angeles and New York City, the two cities in the U.S. hosting Hillsong church

plants, are not often cited as model Christian cities. L.A. has an above average num-ber of people that hold to no faith and a below-average number of people claiming to

be born-again Christians, according to the Barna Group.For many of these people, a megachurch might be the only shot the evangelical

community has to attract them to the Church. According to the Barna Group, 15 per-cent of Los Angeles’ Christian population attend a megachurch — 5 percent higher

than the national average.Megachurches simply have the capability to engage more, give more and influence more.

In fact, 72 percent of megachurches have partnered with other churches on missions work, author and researcher Scott Thumma recorded in his book, “Beyond Megachurch Myths.”

Because of the nature of a large church, a missional focus is oftentimes a necessity. While Sunday school is transitioning into a thing of the past for many millennials in the

L.A. area, small-group meetings are a mainstay for the West Coast city’s Christian community, according to the Barna Group.

For the megachurch, fostering deep pastor-member relationships often proves difficult, so reliance on small group gatherings is crucial. While the higher leadership of the church remains

focused on influencing culture and the community, the small group is where connections are made and networking happens.

“Megachurches are motivated and aggressive about planting new churches,” Phil Cooke, a pro-lific writer and speaker, said. “Throughout inner cities, suburbs, remote locations and more, mega-

churches are raising up new congregations in amazing numbers.”For large churches, the platform, prominence and provision is there. Before criticizing the mega-

church movement, consider this mandate from David in Psalm 96: “Declare his glory among the na-tions, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.”

From megachurch to house church, the declaration of the gospel to all peoples must be the center-piece. Instead of jumping to criticism, we should move to celebration. We have reason to rejoice in our

diversity. Because, regardless of preference, the body of Christ is the hope of the world.

GOINS-PHILLIPS is the opinion editor.

Alex [email protected]

Belonging to a local church is essential to Christian life. It is impossible to read the Bible and not come to that conclusion. The importance of the Church is echoed throughout the entire New Testament. Constant fellowship with other believers and service as a church body is a necessity for those in Christ.

More and more, megachurches are emerging as the church of choice for Christians to attend. It makes sense — if that many people are going, they must be doing something right. Right? Not necessarily.

Part of the reason the megachurch is so attractive is its appeal to “casual” Christians. Large churches boast large numbers, but often offer minimal discipleship. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, the largest megachurch in the United States boasts 16,800 seats. How-ever, attendance numbers do not always tell the truth in regard to how much a church is doing to make a positive impact for true Christianity.

This is not to say all or even most megachurches are bad. Thousands of people gathering in one place to hear about Jesus is a great thing. I have met pastors of megachurches, and they were some of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever met. Some megachurches can be used to deceive, but most are pastored and run by men of God who are following his plan for them.

Still, for most Christians, small, intimate churches probably provide the best environment for personal growth. Not just churches of 200 or 300 people, but churches that are even smaller — house churches.

This may be a foreign concept to many Christians who have grown up in sanctuaries that could hold more than five of their houses. A house church is a small gathering of believers that functions as a church, usual-ly meeting is one of the member’s actual houses — pretty self-explana-tory. Bigger churches will usually employ this concept and assign mem-bers to “small groups” in order to promote more intimate growth.

Why the need for the middle man though? Is meeting on Sun-day mornings with 200 or 12,000 people better than meeting with 12 people? Jesus spoke to thousands on occasion, but he spent the majority of his time with the 12 people most dedicated to following him.

The church is not supposed to be a place to just visit on Sun-days. It is supposed to be a functioning body that supports itself and the community. When fewer people are involved, that be-comes an easier task. Discipleship among a small group of be-lievers is also monumentally easier than among a larger group. Picture a large church, like a cafeteria — diners do not really offer much of a selection. But, in a house church, members are able to choose the spiritual menu.

As someone who has been a part of both types of churches, I felt a greater sense of belonging in a house church than in a bigger church. I saw myself grow faster and produce more fruit than I ever had before.

That may not be the case for everyone, but to those who have never been involved in a house church and who feel their faith stagnating, the personal attention and family environment of a house church may be just what they need to get out of their spiritual valley.

TICHENOR is the sports editor.

Large churches

carry platform to impact and

engage culture

House churches develop personal and intimate faith atmosphere

GOINS-PHILLIPS

MEGACHURCHHOMECHURCH

vs.vs.

TICHENOR

Sara [email protected]

President Barack Obama has al-ways claimed to be fighting for the well-being of the country. Immi-gration reform was a cornerstone of his 2012 presidential campaign. However, with elections around the corner, the president has cho-sen to delay action on immigration reform, alluding to possible execu-tive action in the future.

“Because of the Republicans’ extreme politicization of this issue, the president believes it would be harmful to the policy itself and to the long-term pros-pects for comprehensive im-migration reform to announce administrative actions before the elections,” a White House official told the New York Times. “Be-cause he wants to do this in a way that’s sustainable, the president will take action on immigration before the end of the year.”

The president is delaying ex-ecutive action until after the No-vember elections, according to CNN and supported by official White House comments to the New York Times.

The Republican-controlled House has provided a needed source of checks and balances for Obama. Republicans have given the president only $659 million of the $3.7 billion he re-quested for the border crisis, ac-cording to CNN. The House also decided on a provision to make it easier to quickly deport illegal immigrants currently living in the United States.

But, with elections quickly ap-proaching, Obama has made it clear that now is not the time for Congressional conflict. He has slammed on the breaks in regard to the border crisis and has focused on attempting to re-gain control of the House and retain a Democratic majority in the Senate. If the Democrats gain a majority in the House and Senate, Obama will be handed carte blanche for the remainder of his presidency.

Political aspirations are at the top of the priority list for Obama. Unless Latinos and il-legal immigrants play a role in

those aspirations, they are tossed by the wayside.

“Today the president and the Senate Democrats have made it very clear that undocumented im-migrants and Latinos are simply viewed as political pawns,” Eddie Carmona, campaign manager for the PICO immigration reform group, told Reuters.

It is alarming that Obama’s commitment only runs as deep as his political priorities.

“The truth of the matter is … that the politics did shift midsum-mer because of that problem (im-migration),” Obama said in re-sponse to questions surrounding the sudden halt on immigration reform. “I want to spend some time, even as we’re getting all our ducks in a row for the executive action. I also want to make sure that the public understands why we’re doing this, why it’s the right thing for the American people, why it’s the right thing for the American economy.”

According to an article pub-lished by Reuters, a Reuters/Ipsos poll last month showed 70 per-cent of Americans believe undoc-umented immigrants threaten the country’s culture and economy. For Obama, acting now on immi-

gration is not politically feasible.According to an article by

the Washington Post, there are approximately 11 million immi-grants in the United States. Under the current system, the major-ity of these immigrants would be sent back, but Obama hopes to allow immigrants living in the U.S. currently the chance to stay.

“The president caused this self-inflicted crisis on the border by refusing to enforce the law,” John Carter, a Republican senior member of the House Appropri-ations Committee, told the New York Times.

The border crisis has exposed Obama’s top priority — his politi-cal aspirations.

“We are bitterly disappointed in the president,” Frank Sharry, executive director of the group America’s Voice, told Fox News. “The president and Senate Democrats have chosen politics over people.”

WARRENDER is an opinion writer.

opinion Liberty Champion | September 23, 2014 | A5

LETTERS TO THE EDITORPOLICIES & INFO

Emily Browneditor-in-chief

Gabriella Fullergraduate assistant Tom Footegraduate assistant

CONTENT

Dave Van Dyknews editor

Josh Janneyasst. news editor

Tré Goins-Phillipsopinion editor

Alex Tichenorsports editor

Nate Haywoodasst. sports editor

Sam Campbellfeature editor

Olivia Browncopy editor

Ash Browndcopy editor

PHOTOGRAPHY

Courtney Russophotography editor

Leah Seaversasst. photography editor

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Breann Blackgraphic designer

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The Champion encourages community members to submit letters to the editor on any subject. Letters should not exceed 400 words and must be typed and signed. The deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Letters and columns that appear are the opinion of the author solely, not the Champion editorial board or Liberty University.

All material submitted becomes property of the Champion. The Champion reserves the right to accept, reject or edit any letter received—according to the Champion stylebook, taste and the Liberty University mission statement.

Send letters to:

Liberty ChampionLiberty University, Box 2000,Lynchburg, VA 24515

or drop off in DeMoss Hall 1035.

Elections halt immigationThe president’s political aspirations push border talks further down the road

GooGle ImaGes

BORDERLINE — United States Border Patrol fence dividing Nogales, Arizona to the left and Nogales, Sonora to the right.

C O N V O C O N N E C T I O N B Y: E R I N K E L LY [email protected]

“Who is going to go to all the hell holes on the planet and speak the Jesus solution into their lives?”

With this poignant question, Nik Rip-ken, author of “The Insanity of God,” set the stage for a pow-erful Global Focus Week that challenged me. Even as I sit here and read through notes from Convocation, I’m deeply convicted again.

Will I refuse to keep Jesus to myself ?

Will you? Maybe your Christian

life resembles mine — you are living for Jesus, unashamed of the gospel, having a quiet time, attending Campus Church and Bible study if time permits. But, for whatever reason, bringing the hope of Christ to the nations has never really lit up on your radar.

Are we engaged in what God is doing

on a global level? Is the cross merely a safe theology, or is it a revolutionary real-ity? Are we settling for lukewarm living, comfort and complacency, or do we live from glory to glory? Is the radical com-mand to leave security and familiarity and “Go into all the world” a matter of obedi-ence and prayer, or is it just something for more “spiritual Christians?” Do we truly love this world as God does?

Ripken asked the hard questions, un-sympathetically awakening us from the slumber and comfort of western culture. He boldly echoed the words of Jesus from Matthew 5:43-45, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’”

After listening to Ripken, I asked my-self, “What am I doing to impact the ‘hell holes?’ Do I love my enemy?”

Our midweek speakers continued to embolden and challenge the student body

to live in the light of eternity and to seize every opportunity to share Christ with our anguished world. Miss Virginia 2014, Courtney Paige Garrett, encouraged us to be daring and unashamed in sharing the gospel wherever God has placed us. Be-fore listening to Garrett, I never dreamed that the world of pageantry could actually be a mission field.

Roy Peterson, president of the Ameri-can Bible Society, shared his passion for the marginalized, Bible-less people groups around the world. He challenged students to support the Bible translation move-ment and help share the truth through prayer and giving.

Mart Green, founder and CEO of Mardel and Every Tribe Entertainment and Hobby Lobby heir, discussed the imperative of eradicating global Bible poverty. As Christians, Green challenged us to be, “… stewards of the Great Commission in our generation.” What an awesome and convicting expression

of obedience and love for Christ. To bring Global Focus Week to a close,

students, faculty and guests were blessed with a time of worship led by one of the most influential Christian artists of our time, Mac Powell, the lead singer of Third Day.

I have come away from this week of convocation challenged and deeply stirred with a divine discontentment for the sta-tus quo. I want to abandon my comfort zone to impact the kingdom of God on a global level. I have been so enamored by my own little world that I have not al-lowed God to reveal his broken heart for the nations until now. What I heard from our passionate speakers motivated me to seek the heart of God regarding my “stewardship of the Great Commission.”

I am not sure what God will call me to do, but I know what I can do right here, right now — intercede for the nations, deny myself, take up the cross and follow Him. Wherever he leads. I’m all in.

GooGle ImaGes

TENSION — Immigration reform has been a source of friction between Republicans and Democrats.

KELLY

Felicia [email protected]

Four designs from April’s “Go Green, Go Glam!” fashion show hosted by the Depart-ment of Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) will be featured this November in Char-lotte, North Carolina, at the International Textile & Apparel Association’s (ITAA) 2014 annual con-ference.

The designs of stu-dents Melissa Breaux, Brianne Crist, Amy Yoon and Tenzi Chacha will be four of the 29 designs shown at the conference. The 29 designs were chosen out of 313 de-sign submissions. Other schools that will have

their designs shown in-clude Virginia Common-wealth University, Kent State and Cornell.

“To see that our stu-dents, four of them, are going to be shown right along with those others, it’s just fantastic,” Matalie Howard, a FACS assistant professor, said. “We’re so excited for the students. So this is a big deal for them because now de-signers are going to be at this international meet-ing. Graduate schools in fashion will be there. Other professionals will be there.”

Howard, an active member of ITAA, is the one who decided to send in the designs. She and other faculty mem-bers chose the work

of six students to send to ITAA.

Melissa Breaux, one of the four selected design-ers, used soda can tabs and garbage bags to cre-ate her design. This went along with the theme of April’s fashion show in which students used re-cycled materials to cre-ate their garments. Other designers used materials such as duct tape, bottle caps and puzzle pieces.

“I actually was inspired by mission trips to Nica-ragua because they used garbage bags to patch their houses and some-times make their houses,” Breaux said of the design. “I decided to use garbage bags and to go with a ‘re-deemed’ theme, because God redeems us, and

a lot of people look at those people in the dump as unredeemed, but God loves them.”

Breaux said fashion was a childhood dream of hers that was put on hold so that she could raise her family. Now a senior in the FACS program, she said it is never too late to follow your dreams.

“My hopes and goals and dreams are to do work with designing for the pre-teen age group and to help get clothes to missionaries for the kids in the mission field that don’t have access to clothes,” Breaux said.

Howard said the ITAA conference would be a good experience for the four designers. While

there, they will attend workshops on different aspects of design and will also have opportunities to network.

“Networking is a huge part of this, and that’s why I’m so glad they get to go, because they’re go-ing to meet professors from other universities, they’re going to meet students from other uni-versities,” Howard said. “Face-to-face is so vital in the fashion industry.”

Howard encouraged anyone interested in fash-ion, food or family and to talk to someone in the FACS department or visit liberty.edu/academics/arts-sciences/facs.

HUDSON is a news reporter.

Lauren [email protected]

Liberty Baptist’s Theological Seminary (LBTS) is expanding this year with the new Center for Chaplaincy and the Center for Asian Ministries.

The Center for Chaplaincy will be led by Dr. Steven Keith, who served as an active-duty military chaplain for 30 years and served tours in the Middle East. Keith also served as Comman-dant of the United States Air Force Chaplain Corps College at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where he worked on improving the military’s chaplain education program.

Keith said he hopes to im-prove Liberty’s program so it can be respected as the best training program for chaplains. He wants to place an emphasis on chap-lain leadership skills, because chaplains are the spiritual lead-ers for everyone in their work environment.

“We built the curriculum to meet the needs of who chaplains are called to be both by God and country — to be a spiritual lead-er, a pastor in uniform, a coun-selor and a person who is there to be a ministry of presence,” Keith said.

According to Keith, the new Master of Divinity Program will include six intensives, four in-ternship courses and a capstone piece. It will be a blended model of both in-class and online ma-terial. He said he believes this will provide students with a great wealth of experience, enabling them to be prepared.

“Our goal is when the chap-lain graduates this program, that they will be ready with a great understanding of what it’s like to work in a pluralistic environment by already being exposed to that and by being taught by some of the best professors and chap-lains,” Keith said.

According to Keith, chaplains

are like ministers in a secular workforce. As a pastor who has also served as a chaplain, Keith explained that both posts have their own unique challenges and opportunities, including the chance to share his testimony with people he is with every day.

“Chaplaincy is adventuresome for sure,” Keith said. “Some-times it is terrifying, but it is al-ways a dynamic opportunity to bring Christ to individuals that would never darken the door of a church.”

As students get close to the end of their degree programs, they will choose a focus of either military, health care or corporate chaplaincy, Keith said. While all specializations require the same skill sets and experience, each section has its own stipulations. Military and health care are the most prominent and well-known, but corporate chaplaincy is becoming more popular. Em-ployers know their employees work better when all their needs are met.

The Center for Chaplaincy will be implementing a Chaplain Journal, an online forum and an annual conference at Liberty as ways of communicating with other programs and working to “flesh out” the current issues that chaplains are facing, such as the right to adhere to their spe-cific denominational practices, Keith said.

LBTS is also expanding through the creation of the Cen-ter for Asian Ministries, led by Dr. Timothy Chong.

According to an article by the Liberty University News Service, Chong has previously worked for Liberty and returned to be-come the dean of the new cen-ter, which is an expansion of the LBTS Korean Program that will include ministry techniques for all of Asia. The center will help Asian students develop Asian communities on campus and send Liberty’s ministry training techniques back to Asia.

“Both Dr. Keith and Dr. Chong bring a fresh and new vi-

sion to their respective centers, and we look forward to seeing these new centers take shape,” Dr. David Hirschman, acting dean of the seminary, said in a Liberty News Service Article.

GLOSSNER is a news reporter.


Seminary sees increaseTheological school adds two new programs to its degree

Taylor anderson | liberTy Champion

WISDOM — David Baggett gives first lecture in Seminary Series on sexuality and morality Sept. 18.

New library opensKids books are relocatedHaley [email protected]

The Jerry Falwell Library opened in January of 2014, and since its opening, it has a been a relocation center for various other departments and smaller library collections.

One of these collections is the Curriculum Library, where all chil-dren’s books and other curriculum material for education majors at the university are housed.

Walking into this smaller library, it looks exactly like any library at an elementary or middle school, complete with shelves of children’s books, interactive stations and seating areas.

Located on the ground floor lev-el of The Jerry Falwell Library, the Curriculum Library is full of nec-essary books and services designed to help education majors.

“The Curriculum Library was previously located in the old library on the first floor of DeMoss, but that space has been renovated to provide more classroom space for other departments,” Nancy Ander-son, one of the staff members for the Curriculum Library, said.

Books located in the Curriculum Library include winners of major literary awards such as the Calde-cott Award and the Newberry Medal Award.

According to Lauren Paige Cor-nett, a senior education major, the Curriculum Library supports the School of Education by providing access to a variety of instructional resources, such as textbooks and teaching materials for children from preschool through grade 12, as well as standardized test material.

“It provides a multitude of edu-cational resources that we can use in our education classes and in our practicums,” Cornett said. “By also providing access to education tests, such as the PALS test, education ma-jors are able to practice administering and scoring tests in order to find out what level their student is at.”

The Curriculum Library not only offers education majors the op-portunity to use the resources for their teaching material, it also pro-vides them with resources such as photocopiers, laminators, bulletin board paper, construction paper and listening stations that provide information via CD players, cassette players and phonograph players.

“The curriculum library is great as it provides an abundance of re-sources for prospective teachers to explore and utilize,” Caroline Ham-blen, a junior special education ma-jor, said. “Each time I go in, I am excited to enjoy the cheerful and friendly environment and discover new ideas I can incorporate in my lesson plans and future classroom.”

Additional resources provided by the Curriculum Library include textbook teaching guides, a collec-tion of materials used in the Eng-lish as a second language program and standardized tests designed to measure aptitude, achievement and learning styles.

“Education majors use this de-partment to help supplement their lesson plans that they are required to construct as a part of their ma-jor,” Anderson said. “Almost ev-erything in this room is designed to help them with resources that equip them to become teachers, al-though this library is also open to the general public.”

The Curriculum Library is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. For more information about the Curriculum Library, visit liberty.edu/library/curriculum.

JONES is a news reporter.

FYI As part of the

expansion, LBTS will host a free lecture series with topics

focused on students’ daily struggles.

The next lecture will be held Thursday,

Oct. 2, in the Scholars Lounge in the Jerry

Falwell Library.

Dresses put on displayFashion show recognizes designs from FACS department

phoTos provided GLAMOUR — Models showcased designer creations during student fashion show this past April.


After months of preparation, Courtney Paige Garrett, a 2014 graduate of Liberty University and Miss Virginia 2014, heard her name called after every cut, from 53 to 16, 12, 10 and 5, and finally took the first runner-up spot in the Miss America pageant Sunday, Sept. 14.

“I watched Miss America grow-ing up since I was a little, little girl,” Garrett said. “I admired (the contestants) as women. They were my role models. I dreamed of being on that stage, and for it to finally happen was a culmina-tion of years of dreaming and years of hard work. … (It was) absolutely surreal, a dream come true, and a huge blessing. … I still haven’t fathomed that it really happened. I mean, thousands and thousands of girls have dreamed of being there, and to have all this hard work pay off and for God to allow me to get first runner-up, it was just a culmination of so many things, just overwhelming joy and gratitude and excitement.”

During the course of her Miss Virginia and Miss America competitions, Garrett amassed $65,000 in scholarships and is now debt-free following her time at Liberty.

For two weeks, Garrett, along with 52 other women from each state, the Virgin Islands, Washing-ton, D.C. and Puerto Rico, com-peted in preliminary rounds, in-cluding the interview, lifestyle and fitness, talent and evening gown portions, to determine a top 16.

Those top 16 then participated in the final rounds Sept. 14 in the competition that was nationally televised by ABC.

Garrett explained that one of the most important aspects of the competition to her was the inter-view portion in the preliminary rounds. According to Garrett,

each contestant fielded questions from seven judges for approxi-mately 10 minutes.

“(T)ypically that is the part that’s most important to me, that I feel is my strongest point, but I get most nervous about,” Garrett said. “This was a much different experience for me. I was the calm-est I’d ever felt. I had done all I could do to prepare and I just felt God’s peace to just be who I was, to be bold in that, and to trust that His will would be done.”

Garrett said she faced a num-ber of tough questions because of her background and faith.

“I walk into an interview room and always have to break down stereotypes and almost defend my choices because of coming to Liberty,” Garrett said. “But I’m very proud of that, and it’s opened a lot of … (opportunities) for me to hopefully shed positive light on what Liberty provides. … I use it as an educational moment to say, ‘We sign up for this, and this environment is conducive to our faith and to becoming solid Christians and learning how to profess our faith, and developing our worldview.’”

During the nationally televised portion of the Miss America pag-eant, when Garrett made it to the top five, she faced a question about ISIS and what America’s re-sponse should be.

“My thoughts were, ‘I just want to be Miss America, I can’t solve all the world’s problems in 20 sec-onds,’ you know?” Garrett said. “Thankfully I had (answered) a very similar question in inter-views, … so I kind of had an idea of what to say.”

Garrett said that, while the in-terview was most important part in her mind, being able to sing op-era during the talent portion was the highlight of the competition. According to Garrett, in January of this year, she found out she had a benign vocal cyst and had surgery to remove it in March.

“I never knew if I’d ever be able to sing to my potential again, and so being able to perform my talent, and the ability that God gave me to perform it in the way that I did, was probably one of the most humbling moments,” Garrett said. “That was so excit-ing, because that was a blessing that God didn’t have to give me, but he did, and I was so grateful for that.”

Dr. John Hugo, chair of the Department of Music and Humanities, said he was ex-tremely impressed by Gar-rett’s performance in the Miss America pageant.

“During her undergraduate study, Courtney was outstanding in the classroom and on the stage, but she impressed most with her genuineness,” Hugo said. “She is the real deal. The young lady you saw at the pageant is the real Courtney, and she represents her (God), her alma mater and (Vir-

ginia) extremely well. Everything about her performance at the pag-eant was exemplary.”

Now that the Miss America competition is over, Garrett said she will continue to make ap-pearances as Miss Virginia for an entire year, emphasizing the “De-fying Disabilities” campaign she chose to be her platform through-out all of her recent pageants. Garrett’s campaign was inspired by her brother, Austin, who has cerebral palsy.

“I feel that it is a calling on my life to be a voice for not only him but the entire disabled community,” Garrett said dur-ing her Convocation address to Liberty students Sept. 17. “Be-ing Miss Virginia allotted me the opportunity to bring that story, and the stories of so many oth-ers, to a national platform. And that’s something that I think God will continue to use to bring that voice across that nation and

throughout the world, advocat-ing for their rights, advocating for their respect.”

In the future, Garrett plans to start a nonprofit organization named “CARE,” which stands for Communication and Respect for Everyone, that promotes aware-ness for disabled individuals.

More information about the future organization can be found on the Facebook page “CARE – Communication and Respect for Everyone.”

Garrett will also be using so-cial media as Miss Virginia for the next year. Fans can follow Garrett on Facebook through the page “Courtney Garrett, Miss Virginia 2014” and can follow @Miss-VirginiaMAO on both Twitter and Instagram.


Liberty Champion | September 23, 2014 | A7news

Register to vote in the upcomingmidterm election

Register by getting a form at the Student Conduct Office, where someone will be able to answer questions and help with the process.

What you will need...

The deadline for students to hand in registration tothe Dean of Students Office for this year’s generalelection is Oct. 8.

You will need to know your social security number as well as your MSC box number. You should also know your previous registration address when switching to Liberty’s address.

After that date, students will need to bring theirforms to the city registrar office or by registeringonline at vote.virginia.gov by Oct. 14.

Election 2014

Alumna takes runner-up spot

Nik Ripken speaks at Convo

Miss Virginia will use her title to raise awareness for people with disabilities

Missionary dares student body to rethink response to Middle East turmoil

Joel Coleman | liberty news serviCe

ROYALTY— Courtney Garret is now debt-free after obtaining $65,000 in scholarships.

Tré [email protected]

“I’ve been in a bad mood for two or three weeks, and (my wife) begged me to not take it out on the students this morn-ing,” Nik Ripken, author and missionary to the Middle East, said at the start of his Convocation address Monday, Sept. 15. “I don’t think I’m going to listen. I think I’m going to take it out on you anyway.”

Grabbing the audience’s attention quick-ly, Ripken, who has spent 30 years on mis-sion in the Middle East with his family, sought to describe what it is like to share the gospel in the Arab world.

In his address, he described to students the tension that exists between a desire for justice against radical Islamists and the Bi-ble’s command to extend grace.

Ripken, which is a pseudonym to pro-tect his identity, has authored two books, “The Insanity of God” and “The Insan-ity of Obedience,” as well as interviewed nearly 600 Christians who live in places of persecution. He and his wife have been in-volved with missions work in a total of 72 countries to date, according to his website.

“We prepare sheep to go among the wolves,” Ripken said. “We prepare peo-ple to get on the plane in the New Tes-tament and get off the plane in the Old Testament.”

Grace being the centerpiece of the mis-sionary’s talk, Ripken encouraged students to seek what Jesus would do rather than

jumping to an “eye-for-an-eye” mentality.“The Church is joining with the govern-

ment, and we’re believing there’s a political — there’s a military — solution to the (Is-lamic State), to Iraq and Syria … and here comes Jesus,” Ripken said.

“You’ve heard it be said, ‘Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’ but I tell you, do not re-

sist an evil person. … You’ve heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for them who persecute you,” Ripken read from Matthew 5.

The missionary challenged students to seek love alongside justice, reminding them that, according to the gospel, everyone is guilty of sin and in need of grace.

“Who is standing up in your culture to-day — who is standing up in the name of Jesus — to say that there is no political so-lution for this world and its hatred. There is no economic, military solution,” Ripken said. “Who is standing up today … and (saying) here is a godly, Christ like, Jesus-centered response to ISIS?”

Ripken left students with a call to ac-tion, a call to reexamine their perspective. Though the religious and political dealings in the Arab world are often hostile, Ripken reminded students that no one is any less in need of the grace Jesus offers.

GOINS-PHILLIPS is the opinion editor.

Joel Coleman | liberty news serviCe

CHALLENGE — Nik Ripken speaks of travels across the globe as a missionary.


For ticket information, call (434) 582-SEAT or purchase online at www.Liberty.edu/SA. For more information, email [email protected] or call (434) 592-3061

9/26

ANDREW BELLEFREE for Students$5 for the Public

ALL SONS & DAUGHTERS$7 for Students

$10 for the Public

10/7

10/14

INDELIBLE GRACEFREE ConcertTicket required for all admission

JOHN MARK MCMILLAN

LAHAYE EVENT SPACE CONCERTS

$5 for Students$7 for the Public

10/30

8:30 P.M.

7:30 P.M.

8 P.M.

8 P.M.

Sodexo hosts Farmer’s MarketNearly 30 vendors gather at Doc’s to showcase vendors’ local products


FESTIVITIES — Students took advantage of produce and treats offered in Doc’s parking lot during Liberty’s first Farmer’s Market.

Quinn [email protected]

On the afternoon of Sept. 18, vendors set up their stations outside Doc’s for the first campus Farmer’s Market. The event began at 3:30 p.m. as the parking lot filled with merchants selling a variety of goods from local gardens and shops.

Sodexo, Liberty University’s dining pro-vider, organized the event. Kaitlyn John-son, an employee for Sodexo, explained that Sodexo’s district manager Anthony Delligatti came up with the idea for the Farmer’s Market.

“Back a few months ago, he had talked about an event that will bring the commu-nity together more,” Johnson said. “He is

all about buying local, creating local com-merce and putting a lot of money back into the community that already pours so much into Sodexo.”

Johnson said Delligatti went out into the community and found many of the ven-dors personally.

“Some of them he knows and buys from himself,” Johnson said. “He also went down to the community market and looked for vendors there. The community market was one of his biggest resources.”

According to Johnson, there were nearly 30 participants present for the first campus Farmer’s Market, and more are expected to join in the coming weeks. One vendor ex-pected to be present at the Farmer’s Market soon is Bold Branch Beef, a family-owned,

grass-fed cattle business from the Pied-mont region.

The addition of Bold Branch Beef will contribute to the diverse selection of Lib-erty’s Farmer’s Market. Booths from the first week included vendors selling fresh produce, local honey, kettle corn, barbeque, baked goods, home décor and accessories.

One of the specific merchants that Del-ligatti recruited for the market was Hill City Coffee, a family business that operates lo-cally. Co-owner Julia Waddell attended the event and sold to students at the market.

“We roast out of our home in Lynch-burg, Virginia, hence the name Hill City Coffee,” Waddell said. “We really wanted to bring Hill City Coffee to the students and faculty at Liberty.”

Supporting local businesses and provid-ing fresh, local goods to students was, ac-cording to Sodexo, the motive behind start-ing the Farmer’s Market.

Hill City Coffee participated in the Farmer’s Market along with nearly 30 other vendors and has intentions of continuing to sell goods to Liberty University students and faculty for the foreseeable future.

The Farmer’s Market will continue to run from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. every Thurs-day until Nov.13. Students are highly en-couraged by Sodexo to participate in the Farmer’s Market.

FOLEY is a news reporter.

M. Soccer W. Soccer Volleyball Volleyball Field Hockey

Volleyballvs. RadfordSept. 26 @ 7 p.m.

Field Hockeyvs. LouisvilleSept. 28 @1 p.m.

WE’LL SEEYOU ATTHEGAME

Liberty Wright St.3 2

Liberty MSU7 1

Davidson Liberty 1 0

M. Soccer vs. Howard Sept. 23 @ 6 p.m.

Volleyballvs. Virginia Sept. 23 @7 p.m.

Liberty Belmont3 1

Liberty GMU2 1

Field Hockeyvs. Ohio Sept. 26 @ 3:30 p.m.

SPORTSSeptember 23, 2014 B1

Bears downedFlames blast No. 25 Bryant for third straight win

Courtney russo | Liberty Champion

FIRED UP — The Flames improved their record against FCS top-25 teams to 3-5 since Turner Gill has taken over.

Playoff ousting avengedFlames blow out Navy in the second game of their series with the Naval Academy


ICE HOT — Freshman Luke Simon (22) notched two goals on the weekend.

Ryley [email protected]

Liberty University men’s di-vision I (DI) hockey, ranked No. 7 in preseason American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) polls, battled their Sept. 19-20, 1-1 weekend se-ries split versus the No. 12 Naval Academy in the mind as much as on the ice.

The teams last met in the second round of last year’s ACHA National Champion-ship tournament. The then-13 seed Midshipmen stunned the fourth-seeded Flames with a 4-3 overtime win, ending their season early and providing extra incentive for Liberty.

The Flames took the ice Friday, favored at every posi-tion, but ended the night in a 5-4 shootout loss. After jump-ing out to an early lead on goals from forward Colt Steele and defenseman Chase Har-ris, play on both ends of the ice turned rough. Heightened emotions, building aggression and a near-frantic pace found Liberty in the one spot from which they couldn’t score: the penalty box.

“We just kind of lost our heads,” defenseman Ben Hughes said. “We got undis-ciplined and wrapped up in our emotions, I think, just be-cause it’s Liberty versus Navy and everything that stands for.

… It was maybe just hard to get over the history between the teams.”

In 60 minutes of regulation play plus five minutes of over-time, the Flames acquired a total of 42 penalty minutes — including a 10-minute miscon-duct. Despite two more goals from forward Luke Hannon and linemate Luke Simon, the Midshipmen converted power plays and mutual man-down situations to even the score, take the game to shootout and get the win.

“(Penalties were) the dif-ference in the game,” Head Coach Kirk Handy said. “Five

See AVENGED, B3

Sisteract

Sarah [email protected]

When the Lady Flames volleyball team opened their season against San Jose State Aug. 29, it was not just the first match of the year for the team — it was a reuniting of family members on the court.

For the first time in four years, sisters Jade and Sirena Vorster stepped on the court together as teammates.

Redshirt junior Jade Vorster and her younger sister, freshman Sirena Vor-ster, have joined this year to help the Lady Flames retake the Big South title. However, their journeys to Liberty look very different.

According to the Vorster sisters, they played their only season of volleyball together during Jade Vorster’s senior year and Sirena Vorster’s freshman year of high school.

This year, middle blocker Sirena Vor-ster joined the Lady Flames through the normal recruiting process. She committed to play at Liberty during the spring of her junior year in high school.

At the same time, her sister Jade Vor-ster was close to a ten-hour plane ride away, playing her redshirt freshman year of volleyball for the University of Hawaii with no real intent to ever play on the same team as her sister again.

“Transferring really wasn’t an idea yet,” Jade Vorster, also a middle block-er, said. “It was always in the back of our minds … but it wasn’t apparent to us that it actually would be plausible. “

At the University of Hawaii, the el-der Vorster recorded 388 kills and was named to the First Team All-Big West in her redshirt freshman season, ac-cording to the official University of Hawaii athletics website.

According to Jade Vorster, as she was preparing for graduation last year,

See SISTER, B4

Nate [email protected]

The Liberty Flames football team (3-1) dominated the No. 25 Football Championship Subdivision team in the nation in the NCAA coaches poll, the Bryant University Bears (3-1) 38-21 at Williams Stadium Saturday, Sept. 20.

On the first possession of the game, with only a few seconds until the 13-minute mark in the first quar-ter, safety Jacob Hagen jumped the route of a Bryant receiver and inter-cepted the pass from quarterback Dal-ton Easton, placing him fifth on Lib-erty’s all-time interception list. Hagen said he recognized the play from the start, due to film study, and actually expected the ball.

The Flames eventually hit the scoreboard first, and they did it in

record-breaking fashion. With 7:50 to go in the first quarter, kicker John Lunsford lined up for a 52-yard field goal attempt. Thanks to a delay-of-game penalty, 52 yards became an improbable 57 yards. Despite the distance, Head Coach Turner Gill kept punter Trey Turner on the side-line and sent out Lunsford again for the attempt.

“There was a little bit of hesitation, in particular after we got the delay (of game),” Gill said. “But I knew he had the leg.”

When the ball went up, the hands of the officials soon followed, in-dicating that the junior kicker had just made program and conference history. Lunsford broke the 0-0 tie, along with the 30-year-old program record for longest field goal in a game (53 yards).

“It was probably one of the great-

est feelings I’ve had,” Lunsford said. “I’ve had trouble hitting 55s, kind of just with my accuracy, not really length. And I really just give all the glory to (God). I don’t want to give you the typical Christian answer, but that’s really it, because I know I couldn’t have made that on my own.”

The Flames defense rode this newly acquired momentum from Lunsford’s kick as they forced another one of Bryant’s five punts on the night.

Liberty quarterback Josh Woo-drum took the field with a 3-0 lead and began to quickly take his offense down the field. After tight end Dexter Herman made a difficult one-handed grab for 23 yards, redshirt freshman Todd Macon maneuvered his way through defending Bears for a 21-yard gain, putting the Flames in the

See DOWNED, B2

Liberty 38, Bryant 21

Navy 5, Liberty 4 (SO)Liberty 6, Navy 2

Follow @LUChampSports for Flames athletics coverage

Jade and Sirena Vorster reunite on the volleyball court

sports B2 | September 23, 2014 | Liberty Champion

Nate [email protected]

During this past summer, while the rest of the Flames were pre-paring for the upcoming season, two Liberty Flames basketball players were back in their native countries, preparing for one of Europe’s largest tournaments.

EuroBasket 2015 plays host to some of the best European na-tional basketball teams, and senior Tomasz Gielo and freshman Peter Moller were both a part of it.

Gielo, a Poland native, repre-sented his country during this summer with the Polish National team. According to fibaeurope.com, Poland led the tournament in points and finished second in assists, and won five out of its six games, automatically qualifying them for the 2015 EuroBasket Tournament next summer.

According to Gielo, the Po-land national team was stacked with talent across the board, including the 7-foot center, Przemek Karnowski.

“It was just an amazing experi-ence,” Gielo said. “All of the guys were pros. There is also one more guy that plays in college for Gon-zaga University, Karnowski, and he’s a really good player too.”

Gielo also said that this was his first time making the final roster for this team. He played in ev-ery game except for the last one against Austria. His best show-ing was against the Luxembourg national team, when he scored 13 points and brought down five rebounds. He averaged 3.6 points per game and two rebounds dur-ing the qualifying rounds.

Moller also had the opportu-nity to represent his home nation, Denmark, on the basketball court.

In his four games, he averaged two points and 0.5 rebounds.

“It was a great, great experi-ence,” Moller said. “I was so happy that I could finally play for my nation. In my last game with them, it was on home court and it was so nice to represent (my) country.”

Gielo also said he was honored to represent his country while do-ing something he loves.

“It’s a great honor,” Gielo said. “I don’t think there’s a big-ger blessing than playing for your country. All of the fans are out there supporting you. You know

you play for your country when they play the national anthem before the game. It’s a great feel-ing that really gets you going for the game. You really can’t take it for granted.”

The Poland native has been more than a Liberty teammate to Moller. He has been somewhat of a mentor to the freshman guard. They both left their native lands to attend Liberty, and be-cause Gielo knows exactly what Moller is experiencing, the two were able to connect on a more personal level.

“He helped me with the recruit-

ing process,” Moller said. “He was really nice to talk to me and to tell me what it is like to be a Euro-pean at Liberty.”

Both athletes said that play-ing basketball this past offseason has proven to be beneficial for preparation in the upcoming sea-son, and Head Coach Dale Layer has noticed.

Every time you play, you get better,” Layer said. “And to play in that type of competition at that level, as intense as those games are, you not only get bet-ter from the actual experience, you get better from the practices

(and) the interactions with old-er players. That always helps in your development.”

Layer is also proud to have two athletes on his team that repre-sented their countries and school on a global scale.

“It’s an unbelievable opportuni-ty for these guys to do something that every kid grows up dreaming of — representing their respec-tive country,” Layer said.

HAYWOOD is the asst. sports editor.

Flames represent nations

DOWNED continued from B1red zone for the first time With just under three min-utes left in the quarter, Lunsford scampered in for his third rushing touch-down of the season, and the first touchdown of the game.

After shutting down the Bryant offense once again, the Flames received the ball back right before the sec-ond quarter. The offense moved down the field and made it all the way to the two yard line when D.J. Ab-nar capped off the three-minute, 66-yard drive as he powered his way through for a three-yard touchdown, giving the Flames the early 17-0 lead.

After Lunsford missed a 35-yard field goal in the second quarter, it appeared that the Flames had cooled down. Liberty’s defense had already held the Bears to 31 first-quarter yards while Gill’s offense amassed more than 150. But there appeared to be no cool-down when the Flames de-fense forced another stop.

The offense took the field and Woodrum made a big-time play to put Lib-erty in scoring position. After avoiding pressure from Bryant’s front four, including breaking a tackle, the junior quarterback hit a streaking Dante Shells for a 43-yard completion. This play set up Abnar for a 23-yard touchdown, his second on the night, giving the Flames a commanding 24-0 lead.

Despite the deficit, the Bears clawed back. After the Abnar touchdown, Bry-ant running back Ricardo McCray returned the en-suing kick for 63 yards, giving Bryant excellent field position.

Minutes later, McCray found himself wide open in the back of the end zone, catching a pass from Easton and giving Bryant its first points.

Special teams contin-ued to be an issue for the Flames when they dropped the kickoff and watched it roll out of bounds at the six yard line. After a quick three-and-out for the Flames, Gill sent out

the punting unit. However, Liberty fumbled the ball be-fore Turner could even kick it, giving the Bears the ball deep in Liberty territory. Two plays later, McCray scored his second touch-down of the night. In a matter of three minutes, the Bears scored 14 points and cut the deficit to 10 points right before halftime.

“We hurt ourselves,” Gill said. “It was more about what we didn’t get done than what they did against us.”

The Flames defense re-sponded to the resurgence of the Bears offense with a stop early in the third quarter. Liberty’s offense jumped back on track when Woodrum passed for his

first touchdown of the night, hitting Thomas Ken-nedy for a four-yard touch-down pass and putting the lead back to 17. This was the only score for either team in the third.

Early in the fourth quarter, Woodrum bolted to the end zone for a 30-yard rushing touchdown, the longest of his colle-

giate career. Bryant scored one more time with four minutes left in the game, which ended all scoring, leaving the final score as 38-21 Liberty.

Woodrum and wide re-ceiver Darrin Peterson were the top performers for the Flames offense. Wood-rum finished with another 300-plus-passing-yard game along with two rushing touchdowns. Peterson fin-ished with his sixth career 100-plus-receiving-yard game with 118 yards.

“(Peterson) has been playing great lately,” Woo-drum said after the game. “I’m sure he had over 100 receiving yards tonight, and I expect that from him.”

The Flames are now on a three-game winning streak and look to extend it next Saturday, Sept. 27 at 3 p.m. against the Indiana State Sycamores (2-1) at Memorial Stadium in Terre Haute, Indiana.

HAYWOOD is the asst. sports editor.

Tomasz Gielo and Peter Moller play for home countries in European tourney


VETERAN — Polish native Tomasz Gielo has started 66 games since arriving at Liberty in 2011 and is the Flames leading returning scorer.


UNTOUCHED — Wide receiver Dante Shells bolts down the field against Bryant.

Liberty Champion | September 23, 2014 | B3sports

TICHENOR

Tich’s Take

AVENGEDcontinued from B1on five, we looked strong and did a lot of things well. Penal-ties killed us tonight … and we’ll correct for (Saturday).”

Each of the players echoed Handy’s promise. Less than a day later, despite the frustrat-ing loss, they made good on it. In a show of maturity, the Flames controlled the game Saturday afternoon from puck drop to final buzzer, posting a 6-2 win over the Midshipmen with pace and patience in stark contrast to the night before.

“We knew coming into to-day that we needed to redeem ourselves from yesterday,” for-ward Luke Hannon said after the victory. “Yesterday we got drawn into a few of those pen-alties there, and we knew we needed to keep our cool today. We couldn’t let them get the best of us by putting us in the box, not letting us play five on five hockey … because any-time we were five on five, we could control the game.”

Swallowing the emotion of the first game and skating away from frequent opportu-nities to fight, the Flames fo-cus provided them a 2-0 lead midway through the second period on a power-play goal from forward Lindsay LeBlanc and a solo goal from defense-man Danny Logan.

When Navy snuck in two of its own, tying it up early in

the third period and looking to push the pace back to a frenzy, the Flames kept their heads and retaliated with a four-goal scoring spree. The Hannon, LeBlanc and Simon line con-tributed on three and forward Colt Steele netted another.

All in all, the Flames ac-crued just three penalties up to the final two minutes of play, proving, when all on the ice, they are the better of the two teams.

“We were all preaching be-fore the game and during in-termission to stay disciplined,”

LeBlanc said. “When you take 13 penalties like we did last night, you’re going to end up losing the game. It comes down to mentality. We stayed out of the box tonight and we won.”

The adjustment, however obvious it may seem, took character in the heat of a his-torically charged matchup. Handy expressed his pride in the team for their rebound.

“It’s nice to see our guys respond,” Handy said. “We wanted to modify the disci-pline aspect and they did. …

The plays last night that we were retaliating on, we avoided tonight, and that was huge. Our team was patient all night, waiting for opportunities, and when it was there, they went for it.”

The Flames will look to bring that mindset to the ice next weekend against Ithaca College Friday and Saturday, Sept. 26 and 27, at 7 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.

RUSH is a sportsreporter.

Jonathan [email protected]

Following Monday’s release of the shocking elevator video that has been shared by sports sites, social media and news outlets alike, former NFL superstar Ray Rice was both fired and suspended indefinitely from the NFL.

The TMZ Sports video showed the actual altercation between Rice and his fiancée Janay Palmer. The couple was seen entering the elevator before Palmer rushed towards Rice, who then viciously hit Palmer. Palmer’s head struck the el-evator railing, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

The release of the video was a surprise twist in a case that was all but wrapped up, as Rice was set to return from his controversially short two-game suspen-sion last Friday. After the video was re-leased, the true events of that Febru-ary night were revealed, and Rice’s fate changed dramatically.

All that had been seen prior to last Monday, Sept. 15, was another TMZ vid-eo of Rice dragging Palmer out of the el-evator after the altercation had occurred. This left the events of the actual incident a mystery, and that proved to work in Rice’s favor.

Rice and Palmer met with NFL Com-

missioner Roger Goodell July 16 to dis-cuss the incident. A week later, Goodell handed down a widely criticized two-game suspension, meaning Rice would be able to return after the second game of the season, which would have been last Friday. The release of the video Sept. 15, changed that.

After seeing the video, the Baltimore Ravens felt they had no choice but to terminate Rice’s contract, effectively firing him. The NFL also suspended Rice indefinitely.

On top of everything, Goodell is fac-ing heat because of an Associated Press report that claims Goodell saw the video of the elevator altercation, yet gave Rice the two-game suspension anyway.

The NFL hired former FBI direc-tor Robert Mueller to conduct a private independent investigation into how the NFL handled the Rice case. If evidence of a cover-up is exposed, the NFL and Goodell will be facing heat of scandalous proportions in the days to come.

This case has brought an issue into the public eye that really transcends football. Violence against women is a major issue today. The NFL must address this issue in a big way going forward, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because they must make the statement that violence against women is wrong and must be

stopped. And they must do so with the entire world watching.

Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti had perhaps the best hope for the out-come of the Rice situation. In an inter-view with CBS Sports, which aired on Thursday Night Football Sept. 18, Bisciot-ti said, “What we can do going forward is pray that this was a moment in time that changed everything.”

The Rice case is about much more than football. It is about making a statement concerning an issue that is prevalent in our country today, and truly needs to be addressed. The NFL must make a con-certed effort to show that there is no tol-erance for domestic violence in the NFL.

Effectively emphasizing no tolerance for domestic violence is not only impor-tant for the NFL going forward, but it is also an important message to send to the NFL’s vast audience as well. It is never okay to commit such an act as Rice did, and he is finally seeing the consequences for his actions. Hopefully these conse-quences will prevent others from doing the horrible things Rice has done.

HUSKER is a sports reporter.

Editorial: NFL ousts RiceRavens running back Ray Rice is paying for his actions


SLASHED — The Flames dropped their first game at LaHaye Ice Center since Jan. 25, 2014.

GooGLe imaGes SHAMED — This may be the last time Ray Rice is seen wearing an NFL jersey after his indefinite suspension and release.

[email protected]

There is not a set-in-stone formula to building a successful NFL team, but one position is universally regarded as the most important — quarterback.

The quarterback is a coach on the field, the face of the team. Everybody follows his direction. The head coach and quarter-

back need to become one mind, engineering the team to victory.

And with every spectacular misstep Jameis Winston con-tinues to take, it be-comes more and more evident that he may not be that franchise

quarterback an NFL team can count on to build a winner.

In the span of a year, Florida State’s (FSU) Heisman Trophy winner has been the subject of a sexual assault accusation, theft and standing up on a table and yell-ing obscenities in a crowded part of FSU’s campus. Somehow, he was suspended for the first time after his yelling ordeal this past week, but only for a half. Yet, Win-ston managed to put himself in an even deeper hole by lying about specifics of the situation, earning himself a complete one-game suspension on the eve of FSU’s matchup with No. 22 Clemson.

Still, Maybe-Not-Famous-For-Much-Longer Jameis managed to make his coach Jimbo Fisher even more upset at him when he emerged from the tunnel pre-game in full pads, apparently ready to play. Fisher’s eyes almost rolled out of his head when he saw Winston on the field before telling him to go back in the locker room and take his pads off.

Talent is not the question with Win-ston. Heisman Trophy voters do not just give away Heismans. Winston dominated college football as a redshirt freshman, throwing for more than 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns while leading FSU to a national title. And he is not just a quarter-back, he is an athlete. Winston has excelled for the Seminoles on the baseball diamond the past two springs, both as an outfielder and a pitcher. The dude can play.

But the dude cannot think — common sense-wise, at least.

Not to say Winston does not perform in the classroom. According to Sports Illus-trated, Winston is a social sciences major with a minor in business and was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s academic honor roll for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons. In the classroom and on the field, Winston can perform. But outside of those two arenas, Winston needs to get his head on straight.

The quarterback position in college is much different than the NFL. Players can get along by talent alone in college, but much more is needed to lead a profession-al team. Take a look at the quarterbacks who have won a Super Bowl since the turn of the millennium: Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Pey-ton Manning, Tom Brady, Brad Johnson, Trent Dilfer and Kurt Warner. Big Ben is the only one of the 11 to have faced signif-icant off-the-field trouble, although I hear Brees sneezed during a prayer at church once. NFL quarterbacks not only need to be smart and poised while leading the two-minute drill, but in everything they do.

After beginning the season at the No. 1 spot on ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper’s Big Board, Winston has fallen to No. 25 in response to his most recent actions. Kip-er’s list is not simply a list of who he thinks is the best prospect, but a gauge of what NFL front offices are thinking. With so many stars making off-the-field mistakes lately, plaguing the image of their teams and the league, even teams with a hole at quarterback will overlook Winston’s talent because of his irresponsibility when his helmet is off.

If I were an NFL general manager, I would not go near Winston with a 10-foot pole, or even a 100-foot pole. The warning signs are posted everywhere. He is not a guy I would want to represent my franchise.

I would not even be afraid to stand up on a table and say it.

TICHENOR is the sports editor.

sportsB4 | September 23, 2014 | Liberty Champion

Cierra [email protected]

The Lady Flames field hockey team pulled out an impressive home win against the 12th- ranked Wake Forest Demon Dea-cons Friday, Sept. 19 with a close score of 2-1.

Liberty entered the contest with strong momentum following a 3-2 comeback win against the University of Pennsylvania Sun-day, Sept. 14. The Lady Flames were able to collect their second straight win and im-prove to 3-4 on the season. The Demon Deacons fell to 4-3 on the season with the loss.

The Lady Flames maintained a strong defensive presence throughout the entire game. The first period ended in a 0-0 tie against a tough Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponent.

Two minutes into the second period, Wake Forest senior Anna Kozniuk scored the first goal of the game on an assist from Jess Newak and Christine Conroe.

Wake was not able to hold the lead for long, as Liberty junior forward Sarah Gipe was able to knock in her third goal of the season, unassisted, to tie up the contest.

“It felt really great just to be able to come back and answer one of their goals,” Gipe said. “We’ve been working on tip-ping and just being smart in the circle, so it

was awesome to see that pay off.”Both teams continued to be aggressive

in a back-and-forth second period. Liberty finished with 12 total shots, and Wake was right behind them with a total of 10.

The game remained tied until Liberty junior forward Ashlee Krulock scored her second goal of the season on an assist from junior midfielder Erin Dombach. Krulock’s goal came in the 64th minute and proved to be the game winner, as Wake was unable to respond.

“Last year, we were in the same situation, but they ended up coming back and scor-ing on us,” Krulock said. “But this year, we were able to finish it out and know what we needed to do and learn from last year and hold out (to) win. We didn’t let up any five minutes.”

Coach Jodi Murphy, in her fourth sea-son with the team, believes they played their best game of the season against the ranked Demon Deacons.

“Today we put all the pieces together and we played a great game for 70 full min-utes and we saw the result fall our way,” Murphy said.

Murphy praised the home crowd of 173 for their continued support throughout the season.

“These fans have been so good to us over the last couple of years. … This is the first time that we’ve beaten an ACC team,

and to do it at home is really powerful,” Murphy said.

The Lady Flames followed up their big win against Wake Forest with a 7-1 thump-ing of Missouri State on Sept. 21. Six dif-ferent Lady Flames scored, with Gipe notching two scores.

The Lady Flames will take on Ohio and Louisville at home next week, hoping to add to their two-game win streak.

CARTER is a sports reporter.

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Lady Flames stun Wake Forest Field hockey team upsets the nation’s No. 12 team to begin a six-game homestand

ElliE FrasEr| libErty Champion

PASSING — Cassidy Bremner (16) looks to recieve a pass from teammate Natalie Barr.

CourtnEy russo| libErty Champion

BIG SIS — Jade Vorster spikes the ball for one of her 128 kills.

SISTER continued from B1she began searching for her next step in life. Then, the door to transfer to Liberty opened.

“Everything just kind of fell into place,” Jade Vor-ster said. “I knew that if I wanted to transfer, coming to Liberty and being with Sirena was … my number one option.”

According to Jade Vorster, the transition from graduating from the University of Hawaii with a degree in chemistry to

coming to Liberty this fall has gone smoothly. As of Sept. 20, the Vorster sisters have combined for 186 kills, Jade Vorster with 128 and Sirena Vorster with 58, according to liberty.edu/flames.

Even with playing on the same team and at the same po-sition, the Vorster sisters are able to encourage each other on the court.

“We aren’t super competi-tive,” Sirena Vorster said. “We are more supportive toward each other.

Not only have the Vor-sters felt the support of

each other, but they have felt at home at Liberty during their first seasons in Lynchburg.

“It’s just such a supportive community here,” Jade Vorster said. “It’s been really nice.”

The Vorster sisters, as well as the rest of the Lady Flames volleyball team, will be back in action Sept. 23 at home against the University of Virginia.

RODRIGUEZ is a sports reporter.

Liberty 2, Wake Forest 1

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Liberty University’s College for a Week-end (CFAW) is a four-day, action-packed experience. It is designed to give prospec-tive students a taste of life at the world’s largest Christian university, according to Liberty’s website.

Kicking off Thursday afternoon at the Hancock Welcome Center and running through Sunday, CFAW offered a vari-ety of seminars, outdoor activities and social events Sept. 18-21.

Glenn Stepp, a 2013 Liberty graduate, is currently employed by the university and is one of the head coordinators for CFAW. He said the weekend offers many activities, including snowboarding, ice skating and a chance to visit classes.

Stepp said many of the first-time CFAW guests can feel overwhelmed, but many others have returned to attend the event for their third or fourth time.

Emma Carlson, a junior from North Carolina, had visited Liberty before, but never as part of CFAW. This semester, she had her first CFAW experience.

“CFAW is cool because you get to see more about what it’s like to be a stu-dent instead of just seeing the campus,” Carson said.

Giving visitors an opportunity to gain a student perspective is one of the main opportunities offered during the CFAW experience. They have a chance to attend Convocation, an event the CFAW itinerary describes as the world’s largest weekly gathering of Christian young people.

Mac Powell, the lead singer of Third Day, was featured in Friday’s Convocation, which Stepp said was one of the things CFAW students most looked forward to entering the weekend.

Many students also enjoyed the Andy Mineo concert in the

Vines Center on Saturday night.CFAW student Madeline Logan said she

was “super stoked” for the concert, and this sentiment was echoed by many others.

Carlson was excited for the Mineo con-cert, but said she was most looking forward to seeing “The Little Mermaid,” in which her cousin Rachel Osterhus plays the role of Ariel. Guests could attend the Alluvion Stage Company production at the Tower Theater Friday through Sunday.

A “getting to know Liberty” session gave students and their families the oppor-tunity to meet the faculty and staff, while

admissions sessions, financial aid question-and-answer sessions, scholarship searches, residence hall tours and study abroad in-formation sessions provided important information for those considering Liberty, according to the CFAW itinerary.

Logan and fellow transfer student Sa-mantha Lavoie planned on using their time on campus to choose housing for their first semester at Liberty, while Carl-son hoped to get a clearer idea of what her major should be.

Overall, Carlson said she was impressed by the unique culture of Liberty, where she

says the people are “really friendly” and “make you feel welcomed.”

Three more CFAW events are planned to take place throughout the school year, and juniors, seniors and transfers can reg-ister online for the next CFAW, Nov. 6-9, for $50.

Students can also bring a friend for half price or attend CFAW for free with a $250 confirmation deposit for those planning on attending Liberty.

RIEGEL is a feature reporter.

Students attend CFAWYoung people from around the country visit Liberty’s campus over weekend


WELCOME — Parents and prospective students traveled to Liberty in order to get a first-hand look at the university.

ALBUM continued from B8

“I’ve been (to Liberty) a few times,” Balltzglier said. “I was in a worship band called Fee and we led (worship) here a few times at different things.”

Powell performed a variety of songs, including a Third Day song and a song by Powell’s favorite art-ist, Johnny Cash.

“The Lord is not going to mind us doing a Johnny Cash song,” Powell said on stage. “So I figured (if) the Lord don’t mind, y’all don’t mind doing a Johnny Cash song.”

Powell’s new country album has been described as a “rootsy collection of foot-stompin’, hand- clappin’, country tunes,” according to Powell’s official website.

“I had a really cool time writ-ing music,” Powell said. “But I also had the chance to write with some cool people that I look up to, that I love their music.”

Powell collaborated with country music singers Kris-tian Bush of Sugarland, Darius Rucker and Travis Tritt for his “Southpaw” album.

“Southpaw” is a way for Powell to pay tribute to his early musical inspirations while showcasing some music with a little less seriousness than Christian music affords, ac-cording to Powell’s official website.

Grimes said she is a big country fan and loves that Powell is branch-ing out in his style of music.

“I think it’s a good thing,” Grimes said. “I think he’s able to reach more people that way, and I think he did a really good job. And he sounds really great too.”

Powell had the audience sing-ing and dancing along to the closing country song of the night, “Mississippi.”

“I thought it was amazing, the crowd was awesome,” mandolin and electric guitar player Jason Hoard said. “Best (show) so far. It will probably be the best (in the end).”

For more information about Powell, tour dates and locations, visit macpowell.com/tour.

BUNNER is a feature reporter.

featureB6 | September 23, 2014 | Liberty Champion

Saving lives

Emma Jane [email protected]

A local organization is fight-

ing to save women’s lives. Free-dom 4/24 will be hosting a Frocks for Freedom event Sept. 24 and 25.

Event organizer Johanna Calfee said it is a flash sale where women can purchase do-nated clothing, jewelry and ac-cessories such as purses.

“We have some really nice clothing,” Calfee said. “Peo-ple donated clothes from J-Crew, Ralph Lauren and other name brands.”

All items are priced under $24, with proceeds benefiting Freedom 4/24’s mission of res-cuing girls and women from the sex trade industry in Thailand.

Calfee said Liberty students can get involved by attending the event, which will be held at 6-8 p.m. both nights at Tresca on 8th. Wednesday night is VIP night, during which customers can shop for the best deals by paying $24 for each ticket. Tick-ets can be purchased on Free-dom 4/24’s website.

Tresca on 8th is located at 724 Commerce St., Lynchburg.

Calfee, an adjunct professor at Liberty University, said she got the idea for the event after returning from a missions trip to Thailand five years ago.

“While in Thailand, the (Freedom 4/24) president’s wife took us through several brothels,” Calfee said. “I re-member feeling so disgusted at seeing what these women went through, and I was determined to make a difference.”

Calfee became inspired to host the event while standing in her closet one day.

“I remember thinking to my-self, ‘I have so many clothes I am not wearing, and I bet a lot of my friends do too,’” Calfee said. “I knew that God was calling me to clean out my clos-et to help these women.”

That was four years ago. To-day, Calfee said she hopes to raise at least $5,000 from this year’s event.

“It costs about $24 to rescue one woman from a brothel,” Calfee said. “It is my hope we can rescue a couple hun-dred girls (through the event) this year.”

Calfee’s team plans on travel-ing across the globe to Thailand in a few months.

“We will be traveling to Bangkok over Christmas, and after rescuing the girls, we will host a party for them at Home of New Beginnings, which is a ministry dedicated to help-ing them learn to live new lives in place of the sex trade,” Calfee said.

According to Calfee, when rescuing the women, the main goal is to share the gospel with them.

“Many of these girls and women have never heard the gospel before,” Calfee said. “It is honestly the best gift we could give them. Along with their freedom, we need to teach them that they have more worth than their (bodies).”

Calfee said there will also be an auction during the evening.

“Moore & Giles donated two new leather bags for the event, which is really a bless-ing,” Calfee said. “Those will be auctioned off, as will some of the higher-end clothing and accessories, like some brands of boots and purses.”

For more information about Freedom 4/24, vis-it freedom424.org or the Frocks 4 Freedom event page on Facebook.

MAURER is a feature

Photos Provided | Liberty ChamPion

CREATE — Graphic design student Joanna Garcia uses her talents to paint one-of-a-kind shoes.

Stepping in styleJoanna Garcia transforms sneakers into something uniqueSam [email protected]

Ever since she was a toddler, Joanna Garcia has loved to draw and create.

“I started as early as three, I think,” Garcia said. “It started with green stick people drawn on the kitchen wall behind the table. My family didn’t find them until we moved.”

Garcia has come a long way from drawing stick people. She is now a junior in Liberty Uni-versity’s Studio and Digital Arts program.

“I’ve always wanted to pursue art, but I wanted to go to a college or institute that upheld the same

morals and beliefs,” Garcia said.That is why she chose to study

at Liberty.But Garcia has taken her art to

a whole new level. Instead of re-stricting herself to sitting behind an easel, she has found a new canvas — shoes.

“My first pair was for a guy at my church who asked me to do Calvin and Hobbes shoes,” Garcia said. “He ordered the Vans, and I just went from there, kind of a trial and error process.”

Garcia said she completed four pairs of shoes for clients this summer and is currently working on two more pairs. Her designs have ranged from Tinker Bell to Nacho Libre.

According to Garcia, those

who receive their shoes are al-ways excited to see the finished product. The bland, white sneak-ers that they dropped off are now splashed with color and feature a bright, playful scene. However, there are usually some concerns about the durability of the shoes.

“I wouldn’t wear them in a tsu-nami or anything, but I do put var-nish on them, so that gives them somewhat of a waterproof pro-tective coat,” Garcia said.

Though she has painted for oth-ers, Garcia still has not designed a pair of shoes for herself. She said she cannot make up her mind.

The cost for Garcia’s shoe designs begins at $55. Cli-ents can provide pictures or something that inspires them,

and Garcia will paint a scene based off those items.

As she looks past college, Gar-cia said she would love a career illustrating children’s books or starting a clothing line that sup-ports missionaries or a Christian organization.

But no matter what successes come her way, Garcia said it is important to always use art “for God’s glory.”

To see more of Garcia’s art-work or to learn more about shoe designs, visit her Facebook page at facebook.com/artistjoannagarcia.

CAMPBELL is the feature editor.

Carly [email protected]

The crowd wrapped around the block of the Vines Center Friday night, Sept. 19, as many were anxious to hear the Italian hip hop artist from New York City, Andy Mineo.

A number of fans standing in line were sporting shirts with the logo “1-1-Six” on the back. That is the logo of the “116 Clique,” a Christian hip-hop group. Members consist of Lec-

rae, Andy Mineo, KB, Trip Lee, Tedashii, Sho Baraka and more. The name of the group came from the shared belief in the Bible verse Romans 1:16, which says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

Student Bryan Bareford, who attended the concert, said Mineo’s music speaks to him because the songs motivate him to get up and

do something for Christ. “I feel like a lot of his

songs are about going out there and actually doing something as opposed to just being a ‘stay-at-home-Christian’ and actually getting your hands dirty for the cause of God,” Bareford said.

At 7:30 p.m., fans poured into the Vines Center. People with floor seats abandoned their chairs to be up against the stage and as close to the music as possible.

Hip-hop artist KB

opened the show. He pumped energy into the room, especially through his song “100.” While in-troducing the song, KB was swinging a sweatshirt around his head and said to the crowd, “When this sweatshirt hits the ground, I want to see you all lose your minds. I want you to turn up so high that we’ll have to peel you off the ceiling.”

When the sweatshirt fell, the crowd responded as he asked.

Braxton Critcher, a College for a Weekend student, shared his opin-ion on Liberty’s choice of musical acts brought to campus.

“I’m really impressed,” Critcher said. “They’ve got the big time artists.”

A collection of clips from the film Hook, fea-turing Robin Williams, played on the jumbotron as Andy Mineo’s song “Neverland” began to play. Mineo came out full of vi-tality, so much so that he ended the song by jump-ing off the stage and into the crowd for a little bit of crowd surfing.

“You might witness some crazy antics tonight, but that’s just us being us,” Mineo said referring to

himself, his DJ and KB.One song that seemed

very popular with the crowd was Mineo’s “Pai-sanos Wylin,” an upbeat song influenced by his Italian background. A line that is repeated over again throughout the single is “red wine on everything.” Mineo spoke about how many people misinterpret that line and think that he is condoning drinking and partying, but what he is really trying to say is that Christians need to pour the wine of Jesus Christ on everything.

Following “Paisanos Wylin,” he performed his song “Uno Uno Seis,” which is related to Romans 1:16 and the “116 Clique.” This song also has a Latino influence, which he said comes from being married to a Puerto Rican woman.

At the end of the show, Mineo jumped off the stage and made his way into the aisles, dancing and singing with the crowd.

KOENIG is a feature reporter.

Lyrics move crowdHip hop artist Andy Mineo motivates audience during CFAW

Liberty news serviCe

PERFORM — Andy Mineo’s lyrics empowered students to be active for Christ.

Freedom 4/24 hosts flash sale

Liberty Champion | September 23, 2014 | B7feature

No longer flying soloFreshman Olivia Fuller wins scholarship and allows God to guide her future

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Things tend to look different from 3,000 feet in the air, accord-ing to Olivia Fuller.

The freshman from Hager-stown, Maryland, has loved planes ever since she was a young girl, and enjoys helping her grandfa-ther — a retired Air Force ser-viceman — build airplanes.

“I am so blessed to have the opportunity to put together air-planes with my granddad,” Fuller said. “I feel that for pilots, it’s just as important to know how your aircraft works and what it’s made up of, rather than just simply knowing how to fly it.”

At age 13, Fuller experienced her first airshow, “Thunder Over the Blue Ridge,” in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where she saw an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet for the first time.

She was hooked.Two years later, as a sopho-

more in high school, Fuller began the process of researching col-leges, knowing that she wanted to study aviation.

One of those colleges was Lib-erty University.

So, she decided to attend a Col-lege for a Weekend event. And another. And another.

Although she liked what she saw, she was still unsure of God’s will for her life.

“At first, I felt like God kind of

abandoned me, because he wasn’t showing me where to go, and I had a really hard time with that,” Fuller said. “I had breakdowns at home because I didn’t know what to do.”

Fuller said her heart was at Lib-erty, but she needed a push, a con-firmation that Liberty was where God wanted her.

This summer, Fuller attended EAA AirVenture Oshkosh — the largest fly-in and airshow in the world — in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with her father.

“For one week each sum-mer, EAA members and avia-tion enthusiasts totaling more than 500,000 from more than 60 countries attend EAA AirVenture at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where they rekindle friendships and celebrate the past, present and future in the world of flight,” the EAA website states.

After driving the 13 hours from Maryland to Wisconsin, Fuller and her father camped for a week, enjoying all that AirVenture had to offer, including College Park, a space dedicated to showcasing aviation schools from across the United States.

Liberty was among them.Fuller visited Liberty’s

tent a few times, connecting with representatives from the aviation program.

She also entered a drawing for a $16,500 scholarship.

On their way back from Wis-consin, Fuller and her father stopped to visit the National Mu-seum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

It was then God decided to speak to her — through a text message.

As she walked among the ex-hibits, Fuller looked at her phone.

She had won the scholarship.“I was speechless. All my ques-

tions were answered about my future,” Fuller said. “When I got that scholarship, I was like, ‘God cares and he has taken care of my life and is guiding it where he wants it to go.’”

Flying, in a sense, is a spiritual experience for Fuller — some-thing that helps her better under-stand God and his creation.

“There are so many ways to perceive God’s beautiful creation and, to me, flying in an airplane 3,000 feet above it all is one of the best ways to do so,” Fuller said.

Fuller hopes that one day, as a pilot, she can influence other pilots and military personnel for Christ.

“People are missionaries in whatever field they go into,” Fuller said. “I just want to bring my faith to the military part of the world and try to minister to people there.”

Fuller’s dreams have taken flight, and she trusts that God will guide her future.

“When you’re up in the air, it’s

like what you see ahead of you is a whole different perspective of the world you thought you knew,” Fuller said. “In the cockpit, at the controls, streaming through the

endless sea of clouds, is my favor-ite place to be.”

GRAF is a feature reporter.

Vittoria SamouliS | liberty Champion

TRUST — Olivia Fuller felt God leading her to Liberty.

FEATUREB8 September 23, 2014

Professor inspires

Amber [email protected]

Blogs are no longer just a hobby for soccer moms

with great recipes wanting to share their 20-minute, dine-and-dash techniques with their readers. In this age, blogs provide a platform for an array of articles, from how to deal with noisy roommates to making sock puppets or dealing with difficult seasons of life.

Today, bloggers around the world share their thoughts on the struggles and celebrations of life, and Dr. Stuart Schwartz continues to honor his late wife by blogging for beliefnet.com.

According to Stuart Schwartz, a professor in the Digital Media and Communication Arts program at Liberty University, he recently started his blogging adventure with the site, which is one of the largest and most heavily trafficked Christian and religion sites in the world.

Schwartz’s inspiration for the blog came through the tragic loss of his wife, Sharon Schwartz, during the spring of 2014 due to amyotrophic lateral sclero-sis (ALS), more commonly called Lou Gehrig’s dis-ease. The disease is a “progressive neurodegenera-tive disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord,” according to the ALS Foundation.

“It started out when my older daughter, who is a nurse in Austin, Texas said, ‘I want mom to video record words for me,’” Stuart Schwartz said. “And if you knew Sharon, she wouldn’t go for that.”

After other suggestions, Stuart Schwartz finally settled for sitting with his wife often and simply talk-ing to her while taking a few notes.

Stuart Schwartz reviewed the content from the conversations with his wife and wanted to help oth-ers enjoy a Hallmark movie-like “happily ever after” through every issue and predicament, no matter how tragic or seemingly insignificant.

“A Hallmark-shaped life was one of the 10 prom-ises she had me commit to that would allow us to recover from her death … and all of the other ‘stuff ’ we face every day,” Stuart Schwartz wrote in his first blog.

As Stuart Schwartz penned his wife’s words, he began to realize that she was teaching him lessons — 10 to be exact — which were similar to the teach-ings of Christianity.

“As I went through (my notes), I said, ‘This is Christianity. This is wonderful. There’s a lot here that can be applied,’” Stuart Schwartz said. “And (not just) in dying, in so many ways, she turned my life around.”

Stuart Schwartz said his wife taught him valuable life lessons, and he hopes to share some of those truths with the world.

“My hope is to get out there some lessons I learned from her, because she had such a great, God-centered view of things,” Stuart Schwartz said. “I hope to take some of what I learned and apply that and help other people, not just through crummy things like this, but through any kind of a difficult situation — anywhere from the death of a spouse or a child to a hangnail or a paper cut, anything that we get upset about.”

Through blogging, Stuart Schwartz wants oth-ers to be able to better deal with difficulties in life, in addition to raising awareness about ALS. Stuart Schwartz will be donating all of the money earned from his blogging experience toward the ALS foundation.

“The more readers I get, the more I donate,” Stuart Schwartz said. “I know that Sharon’s gone. There’s nothing I can do about that. But who knows, maybe someday someone else will be (helped by her words).”

Stuart Schwartz’s blog can be found at beliefnet.com/columnists.

TILLER is a feature reporter.

Powell debuts new albumThird Day lead singer explores a different sound while performing at Liberty

RJ Goodwin | LibeRty Champion

COUNTRY — Mac Powell performed for CFAW.

Ashley [email protected]

Liberty University students gath-ered in the LaHaye Event Space Friday, Sept. 19 to hear Mac Powell perform a concert promoting his new country album.

Known primarily as the lead singer for the four-time Grammy award-winning Christian band Third Day, Powell has recently branched out and is paying homage to his country roots with a second solo country album.

However, Liberty stu-dents were not the only ones in

attendance at the concert.Kelsi Holstein, a College for a

Weekend visitor, and her parents went to the concert to hear Powell’s music for the first time.

“I like it,” Holstein said. “I’m not a huge country fan, but it was good.”

Powell introduced the audience to music from his latest album “South-paw,” which means left-handed. He said Friday night felt particularly spe-cial compared to the past two shows he performed.

“This is only the third show of the tour,” Powell said. “We had a good time those first two nights, but honestly, I feel like that was

a little bit of practice for (Friday night).”

Liberty student Abby Grimes liked the fact that it was a relatively small concert. There were 500 tickets up for grabs, and according to the Office of Spiritual Programs, all 500 tickets were sold.

“I felt like it was more intimate, and you could get to know (the band) a little bit better,” Grimes said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Bass guitarist Heath Balltzglier said this was not his first time on Liberty’s campus.

See ALBUM, B5

Leah SeaveRS | LibeRty Champion

COLOR — The cast of “The Little Mermaid” performed both classic and original songs during opening weekend.

Under the sea“The Little Mermaid” premieres in the Tower TheaterSam [email protected]

The Tower Theater stage will be “submerged” for the next few weeks, playing host to mermaids, singing fish and an evil sea queen. The Alluvion Stage Company and Liberty University’s Department of Theatre Arts are collab-orating for performances of “The Little Mermaid” Sept. 19 through Oct. 5.

This is the first time “The Little Mer-maid” has been performed on stage in Virginia.

The musical, based off the Dis-ney movie and the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, is filled with vi-brant colors and toe-tapping tunes. It features Ariel, a mermaid who dreams of being where the people are, who falls in love with the dashing human Prince Eric.

Ariel is played by 2014 Lib-erty graduate Rachel Osterhus, who mirrors the cartoon character

in both voice and appearance.Though the musical features famil-

iar songs such as “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl,” audiences will hear new melodies, including “One Step Closer,” performed by Prince Eric.

Another aspect that sets this musical apart is the use of “flight,” thanks to flight choreographer Paul Rubin.

According to Director Linda Coo-per, Rubin choreographed the flight of “The Little Mermaid” on Broadway, and brought many of the same sequences to the Liberty stage. This flight technique allows actors and actresses to hang sus-pended in the air in a way that resembles swimming through the ocean.

Alumna Katie Barber was on hand for the debut performance Friday eve-ning and found the play to be “family friendly and very engaging.”

“The colorful costumes and lively choreography captivated my attention and more importantly, the attention of my children,” Barber said.

According to Cooper, a lot of time and effort went into making this the best show possible.

“I believe this production brings something onstage that is hard to cap-ture — a true Disney classic with all of the Disney color and heart,” Cooper said. “The production team worked all summer to find just the right details that would make this happen, and then we added a cast and crew that truly has brought it to life.”

Tickets for the show can be purchased through the Tower Theater website or by calling the Liberty University Box Office at 434-582-7328 during weekday business hours. Standard tickets are $12 for students and $15 for adults.

CAMPBELL is the feature editor.

Research contributed by TOBI WALSH.

Stuart Schwartz’s blog shares life lessons

Research contributed by TOBI WALSH.

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Liberty Champion Sept 23 2014