NEWS
A2/Liberty Champion
JANUARY 21, 2014
Liberty’s Board of Trustees welcomes 9 new members DR. RONALD GODWINHe is Liberty’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost of the university.
Photo Provided
HELP — TRBC members come together to help the civilians of West Virginia have fresh water for drinking.
TRBC assists West Virginians
More than 300,000 people are without water after a chemical spill contamination Tiffany Samuels tksamuels@liberty.edu
Thomas Road Baptist Church (TRBC) has teamed up with Gleaning For The World (GFTW) in order to aid the people affected by a chemical spill in West Virginia that left at least 300,000 people without clean drinking water. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, at least 7,500 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol leaked from several storage tanks into the Elk River in Charleston, W. Va. Thursday, Jan. 9. At least nine West Virginia counties were affected by the spill, forcing people to drive at least an hour for clean water. Since the
spill, residents have been advised to stop drinking, bathing and washing with the contaminated water, according to the city of Charleston’s website. The Rev. Ronald Davidson, president and chief operation officer of GFTW, said as soon as GFTW was aware of the spill, he contacted the board of directors, including Jonathan Falwell, the head pastor at TRBC and current chairman of GFTW. “Every time a disaster happens, I send out a text to the board,” Davidson said. “Within five minutes, I get a response.” Davidson said that with the financial help received from places such as TRBC, Liberty Christian Academy (LCA) and Liberty
University, the organization has been able to send several tractor trailers carrying nearly 250,000 water bottles to Charleston. Thousands of people came out to the collection points in West Virginia to get clean water. “TRBC has a sensational board of directors who combine with (LCA) as well as Liberty University in order to provide relief where it needs to be,” Davidson said. TRBC also partnered with GFTW to provide water bottles when a million residents in Virginia were hit with a wind storm that knocked out their power in June 2012, according to Davidson. “We have the best board of directors leading us when unexpected things like this
happen,” Davidson said. In a press release Jan. 14 on the city of Charleston’s website, Danny Jones, the mayor of Charleston, said that relief is still needed. “Even though the worst of the crisis seems to be behind us, many people still are affected by the ‘Do Not Use’ order, and many more are, quite frankly, very anxious about using the tap water for drinking or cooking,” Jones said. According to Davidson, GFTW has maintained a steady supply of water to the affected areas in West Virginia as the water improves. Despite the organization’s continued strive to ship more clean water, Davidson said the reason for helping
residents in West Virginia stems beyond the goals of an organization — it is a mission from God. “It is not just a duty,” Davidson said. “It is a calling.” GFTW is also currently partnered with TRBC and Liberty for a construction of a new hospital in Guatemala, according to Davidson. The aid provided by TRBC and GFTW is in the same category as missions work. “We used to hear Dr. Falwell say it all the time, and now you hear Jonathan (Falwell) say it,” Davidson said. “When (Christians) go into the world to aid those who need help, the number of Christians multiplies.” SAMUELS is a news reporter.
Students evangelize in East Asia Center for Global Engagement team travels overseas, interacts with locals
Shae Leitz sleitz@liberty.edu
A group of Liberty University students embarked on a journey to East Asia Dec. 27, 2013, where their mission was to work with long-term, in-country workers in order to engage in the lives of many people who have never heard about Christ. According to Global Teams Coordinator Craig, the students participated in a number of activities where they interacted with the people of the quarter, a specific neighborhood in East Asia where the team focused most of their time. “This trip was a well-rounded exposure to the joys and challenges involved in longterm outreach to unreached people in this region,” Craig said. “We gained a more accurate picture of the current state of the church in this
region, and noted that while freedoms have increased, government controls and persecutions still exist.” One of the activities the team members participated in was learning the language of the people they were interacting with, Craig explained. By doing this, they were able to connect on a deeper level with the people of East Asia. “Team members had four sessions of instruction in the local language, which gave us a taste of the challenges that our hosts have faced in their language learning,” Craig said. According to Craig, along with learning the local language, team members hosted an English Event for children between the ages of 2 and 12. They interacted with the children by creating crafts, playing games and having story time.
By assisting their hosts with an event called English Corners, the team was able to practice conversational English with the East Asians in hopes of allowing them to communicate with native speakers, Craig said. According to Craig, the team encountered many situations where they were able to clearly see the hand of God at work. After one of their team members shared his testimony, the group received a response from a local attender. “If God can change the heart of that young American boy, then he can change mine,” one of the local attenders said. Aside from their mission work, the team members also had the opportunity to engage in some fun personal activities, Craig said. They took part in a karaoke night and even did a little sightseeing at
the The Museum of Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses and the Great Wall of China. Many of the students who attended the trip have plans to return with the goal of serving long-term, Craig said. The Center for Global Engagement is highly considering future trips to East Asia. For more information on the Center for Global Engagement and all that they have to offer, visit Liberty. edu/academics/globalengagement.
JEFFREY AND GAYE BENSONJeffrey was a quarterback for the Flames and graduated in 1983. Gaye, whose maiden name is Overton, graduated in 1982.
STEVEN A. SNYDERHe worked with the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, Sr. on his Old Time Gospel Hour.
ANTHONY BECKLES, SR.He remains in Lynchburg and is the chief financial officer for the Lynchburg City Schools.
WILL GRAHAMGrandson of Billy Graham, he is the executive director of the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, N.C.
THE REV. JASON SUITTHe remains in Lynchburg. He is the teaching pastor at Living Word Baptist Church.
JIMMY THOMAS, JR.An alumnus of Liberty, he and his brother Glen Thomas donated the facilty that is now Residential Annex I.
LEITZ is a news reporter.
Editor’s note For safety purposes, names and places have been left out of this article.
GLEN THOMASAlso an alumnus of Liberty, Glen’s donations helped to open the Thomas Indoor Soccer Center.
VISIT THE CHAMPION’S WEBSITE AT LIBERTYCHAMPION. COM. CHECK US OUT ON FACEBOOK. 1. IVY LAKE HAS LOWERED THEIR WATER LEVELS TO REPAIR THE DAM.
2. SCHOOL OF MUSIC PRESENTED COSI FAN TUTTE JAN. 16-20.
3. LIBERTY NOW OWNS A SKATE PARK AT CANDLER’S MOUNTAIN STATION.