Block Party B8
LU vs. Syracuse
VOLUME 37, ISSUE 1
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LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
LIBERTY.EDU/CHAMPION | TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2019 | LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
BACK IN BUSINESS
CLASS IN SESSION — The completed School of Business underwent a two-year construction process. The new building is home to the School of Business’s 152 programs.
Liz Fitch |Liberty Champion
Tribute to a Champion
Honoring the legacy of World War II veteran George Rogers Victoria Nelson vfnelson@liberty.edu
Liberty News Service IN REMEMBRANCE — George Rogers was honored at Liberty’s Military Appreciation Day in 2010.
American war hero and retired Liberty University administrator George Rogers passed away in Lynchburg, Virginia, on Aug. 17, 2019, at age 100. Rogers survived the Bataan Death March during World War II and received the Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medals for his service. At his return to civilian life, he graduated from St. Louis University and spent decades serving as a financial officer for various companies. In 1974, he joined the staff of “The Old Time Gospel Hour” as a chief financial officer and eventually became Liberty’s vice president of finance and administration. He was crucial to Liberty’s early success. President Jerry Falwell Jr. remembers him as a wise mentor and financially
conservative thinker that helped the university avoid bankruptcy. “I don’t think Liberty would be nearly as successful financially if it had not been for George Rogers,” Falwell said. “(He) was the tough financial guy we needed to survive all those difficult years. He was a good friend, and he will be greatly missed.” Rogers’ legacy lives on. The George Rogers Champion of Freedom Award was established in 2010 in his honor, and there is a bust of him in military uniform at the main entrance of Williams Stadium. He is preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Barbara, and is survived by his five children and dozens of grand- and greatgrandchildren. The memorial service was held Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019, in the Pate Chapel beside Thomas Road Baptist Church. See HONORING ROGERS, A8
Comfortable in Convo 12,000 students gifted with MyPillows in first Convocation Emily Wood ewood13@liberty.edu
Liz Fitch | Liberty Champion
DEGREE — Mike Lindell received an Honorary Doctorate from the School of Business.
Liberty University kicked off the fall 2019 Convocation season by welcoming MyPillow, Inc. founder and CEO Mike Lindell to address the student body. Liberty University Worship Collective led students in worship and a masked dancer in a mirrored suit hyped the crowd as a choir performed. Multicolored pillows across the arena spelled out
the words “We are Liberty” and “LU” on the sides of Vines Center as the students participated in an interactive game with pillows. Mike Lindell offered more than just words of encouragement to Liberty students during the first Convocation of the semester. The former drug addict-turned-CEO provided each of the 12,000 Vines Center guests with a MyPillow. This gift is valued at over $600,000. School of Business Dean Dave Brat and President Jerry Falwell, Jr. presented
Lindell with an honorary Doctorate of Business to honor his success in business and adherence to Liberty’s entrepreneurial values. Lindell’s company employs 1,600 workers and has sold over 41 million pillows since its inception in 2004. “I can’t think of anyone who epitomizes the principles of this school better than Mike,” Falwell said. See CONVO, A6
What’s News
Liberty ‘It’s Complicated’ The new Campus Community series, “It’s Complicated,” will help students navigate relationships. Wednesday, Aug. 21 marked the beginning of the new series.
Convo Changes
New Convocation guidelines now require freshman and sophomore commuters to sit in assigned sections. ConvoSelect has been moved from Monday to Thursday mornings.
National David Koch dies at 79 Conservative billionaire David Koch died August 23 at the age of 79. The cause of death was not disclosed, but Koch battled a number of illnesses for years, including prostate cancer, according to the Associated Press.
US Open begins Tennis legends Serena Williams and Roger Federer opened the tournament with matches August 26 in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
International Amazon rainforest up in flames Fires in the Amazon caught the attention of international news organizations this week, sparking response on social media from a number of celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Cody Simpson. According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, there have been almost 73,000 fires reported in the country since the start of 2019, half of which occurred in the Amazon region. According to CNN, many of the fires have been started to clear land for cattle farms.
news
A2 | August 27, 2019 | Liberty Champion
Open for business
New academic building offers a prestigious addition to campus Virginia Peay vlpeay@liberty.edu
Campus has witnessed the steady construction of the new School of Business since the fall of 2017. Last week, students filled the freshly painted halls for the first set of classes to be held in the $33 million structure. “We are just pinching ourselves with excitement,” School of Business Dean David Brat said. “The biggest thing is we get all of our faculty together in one building now and we get to see the students face to face.” The new facility will serve as a home base for the 152 programs within the School of Business as well as the faculty and staff within the Sports Management and Cybersecurity programs joining the school. Several of the new features the building offers integrate technology into the classroom, including a BB&T Trading Room, 12 Bloomberg Terminal computers, a SIM Data Center for simulated hacking and telepresence technology, according
to Professor Melanie Hicks. “Students will see the collaborations among the different aspects of business, how we as professors are able to come together, and so the students are the reciprocal of that,” Hicks said. “Hopefully the students will be able to see our passion and we will be able to elevate their education as well.” Construction crews wrapped up the final touches to the exterior a week before classes started. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 25 will mark the official opening. Construction of the building ran into several setbacks, such as rainy weather and a strong economy, which created a growing construction boom, according to Vice President of Major Construction Dan Deter. Versatility was another goal for the new School of Business. “I always look at these hiccups as an opportunity to succeed,” Deter said. “We’ve got it set up to keep (the building) evolving and the business program flourishing.” This semester, the School
of Business will host a wide range of renowned speakers, including the director of the World Bank, the head of NASA, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Arthur Laffer, U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio and a line of CEOs through their new telepresence technology. “We all want to follow the Falwells’ vision to be a nationally recognized school and to keep promoting excellence,” Brat said. “The School of Business is a key centerpiece for Liberty University with our entrepreneurship program extending to all majors. The most important key responsibility is to prepare students with the skills they will need for post-grad life and this building makes it possible.” For more information on the School of Business, visit their Facebook page where a variety of clubs and graduate programs are available to all majors or check out their Back to School Bash on Sept. 5 from 3-6 p.m. in the lobby of the School of Business. PEAY is a social media editor.
TITLE — Caption.
Liz Fitch | Liberty Champion
CLASS IN SESSION— The School of Business has a grand front entrance that greets students in various programs of study.
TITLE — Caption.
BUSINESS — The new building opened its doors for students last week.
Liz Fitch | Liberty Champion
Liberty dining dishes out new additions
Liz Fitch | Liberty Champion
Stephanie Haydon shaydon@liberty.edu
Over the summer, Liberty made multiple changes to the dining program. Some of the changes include moving Simple Servings to the Training Table location in the Food Court at Reber-Thomas, adding Umai and Fuego to the Tilley Student Center and broadening the Global Fusion station in the dining hall to include more options. One of the biggest changes in dining on campus is the expansion of preexisting meals and the addition of new cuisine. This is especially prevalent at the station Global Fusion, as District Manager Duane (Duke) Davis wishes to incorporate input from international students. “Our goal (at Global Fusion) is to be able to feature more foods of the world,” Davis said. “I know we have a ton of students here who are international students from all over the world, and we want to be able to give them a piece of home.” For the Liberty dining program, constant change is essential to growing and improving each year.
Frist Last | Liberty News Service
Liz Fitch | Liberty Champion
TRADE — A state-of-the-art BB&T Trading Room allows students to track the stock market.
What’s cooking
BAGELS — Einstein Bros is a new campus favorite.
Frist Last | Liberty News Service
News editors 2019-2020
Liz Fitch | Liberty Champion
ASIAN CUISINE — Umai offers an oriental option.
“A lot of schools don’t add like we add,” Davis said. “It is our goal that every semester we introduce something new.” Adding more locations is important to giving students options and can impact a big part of their daily lives. Ryan Wheeler, Sodexo’s unit marking specialist, sees the value in what change can do for the campus as a whole. “Adding new locations helps to reshift the entire culture on campus, in terms of where people want to go for snacking or for lunch, breakfast and dinner,” Wheeler said. One thing that sets Liberty’s dining program apart from others is how important student feedback is to the dining service leaders. “Nothing on this campus happens until we feel like we get enough feedback from students on campus,” Wheeler said. “That all goes from doing our surveys every semester, our focus groups every semester, like our focus groups that we do with RAs.” Intentionality is another key factor in the decision-making process for dining managers. “Our leadership team here is extremely focused on being inten-
tional and about connecting with students,” Wheeler said. Inclusivity is of high importance for Wheeler. He, along with other dining leadership, wants to make Liberty dining an amazing experience for every student. “Every year it seems we get more and more students that have allergies, and it’s important to us that everyone, no matter if you have allergies or not, has a great dining experience on this campus,” Wheeler said. The dining leadership does not plan to stop making changes anytime soon. “We will never be complacent, we will never rest on where we are at today and we are always looking to add and make changes for the betterment of the students,” Davis said. Wheeler hopes students see the work put into every decision regarding on campus dining. “At the end of the day, what we hope is that students just see the value of our dining program that we offer and what we’re trying to do,” Wheeler said. HAYDON is a news reporter..
WOOD— Emily Wood is the news editor and a journalism major from South Carolina. Wood hopes to work as a press staffer on Capitol Hill in the future. Wood is also an RA on campus and loves to run and travel in her free time.
HIRNEISEN — Madison Hirneisen is the assistant news editor and a journalism major with a global studies minor from Pennyslvania. Hirneisen dreams of international reporting in the future. Hirneisen enjoys going to coffee shops, traveling and being with her friends.
news
Liberty Champion | August 27, 2019 | A3
Rallying for one Liberty Derek Rockey and Esther Lusenge take on roles as SGA leaders with one vision Madison Hirneisen mghirneisen@liberty.edu
Student Body President Derek Rockey and Student Body Vice President Esther Lusenge are settling into their roles as Student Government Association (SGA) leaders with a unified vision and platform titled “One Liberty.” The pair was inaugurated following an uncontested campaign in spring 2019. Rockey and Lusenge claim such circumstances allowed them to approach their campaign platform with “intentionality.” As a result, the pair titled their platform “One Liberty” with the central vision of their future initiatives being unity. “We understand that we are in, as Americans (and) as Liberty students, a divided time politically, spiritually (and) religiously,” Rockey said. “So we want every event, everything that we do (and) every decision we make to funnel through the lens of ‘will this unify Liberty?’” Rockey and Lusenge are focused on a number of initiatives that will be completed through partnership with various established departments on campus. According to Lusenge, instead of “recreating the wheel,” the pair wants to take advantage of the time they have by partnering with existing campus initiatives to promote “longevity.” “I think the biggest thing (required) to
sustain longevity is to really partner along with initiatives the university is already focusing on,” Lusenge said. One initiative that Rockey and Lusenge hope to implement throughout the year involves athletics at Liberty. A committee known as the “LUnatics” has been formed through SGA to promote a unified student section in support of athletics throughout the year. To kick off the upcoming football season, Rockey and Lusenge are hosting a “Unified Tailgate,” which will be promoted to hall leadership on campus. The pair hopes that the tailgate will unify the student body and encourage students to fill the student section in support of the football team. Rockey and Lusenge also plan to partner with LU Serve through the creation of a Community Outreach Committee in an initiative that will encourage service to become not just a CSER requirement, but a lifestyle. “A lot of what you’re going to see the Student Government Association do this year is be in partnership with (various departments) … our goal is to unify the student body (and) we’ve been able to do that by stepping alongside (existing) departments,” Lusenge said. Among other plans, the pair hopes to bridge the gap between administration and students by fostering a “spirit of thankfulness and gratitude,” Rockey said. Rockey and Lusenge plan to gather a group of students to write thank you letters to an administrator each week. Physical changes have also been initiated in the SGA office space to promote unity. The SGA office no longer has cubicles in the front office area. Instead, they have tables and chairs for students to gather and study. Rockey also has hopes of reforming the legislative process in which bills are passed and plans to keep students updated on legislation via Twitter.
Photo Provided
CRUSING AROUND CAMPUS — Bird Scooters are now availible for student use on campus. After months of planning, Rockey and Lusenge are pleased to have the scooters currently availble for students.
BIRD SCOOTERS ON CAMPUS Nearly 100 Bird Scooters
now operate on
Liberty’s
grounds to provide students transportation around campus.
The addition of Bird Scooters began as an idea last year when Rockey and former Student Body President Jake Page served in office together. After months of working on the initiative, the new form of transportation came to fruition this semester and has already benefitted many students, Rockey said.
“It’s the best Rockey said.
mode of transportation on campus now,”
Students can access the use of Bird Scooters by download-
ing the transportation app. Rockey and Lusenge are currently working on an agreement for students to access the scooters
and pay with Flames Cash. The pair hopes students will be able to pay with their
David Eppinger| Liberty Champion HIRNEISEN is the assistant TOGETHER — Derek Rockey and Esther Lusenge news editor. intend to partner with on-campus initiatives.
guaranteed yet.
Flames Pass by next semester, but nothing is
A4
OPINION
August 27, 2019
To Israel or not to Israel?
Prime Minister Netanyahu can deny congresswomen entry
and killed 21 in 2003. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu barred the two congresswomen from enIsrael barred Congresswomen tering the country with what The New York Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from Times cited as “intense pressure” from Presentering the country, and there are ident Trump. Netanyahu later attributed the no shortages on views of who was in decision to the congresswomen’s support of the wrong. boycotting Israel. But first, the basics. The Washington Post wrote that Omar Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar had the once compared Israel to Nazi Germany, opportunity to embark on a bipartisan trip and she is quoted saying “I almost chuckle” to Israel, but they denied the trip and de- when she hears people call Israel a democcided to travel with Miftah, an organization racy. Likewise, Tlaib invited an activist that The American Spectator called “anti- to her swearing-in ceremony who likened Semitic.” Zionists to Nazis. The National Review dove deeper into The Israeli prime minister offered Tlaib a uncovering Miftah and wrote that the pass into the country for humanitarian rea“group celebrates terrorists” including sons to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, Dalal Al Mughrabi, who killed 38 Israeli provided that she did not promote an Israeli citizens in 1978, and Hanadi Jaradat, who boycott. According to CBS News, Tlaib suicide bombed a restaurant rejected the offer and stated that she would not travel under “oppressive conditions.” The most confusing part of this whole affair? Why would two congresswomen who are, according to CNBC, actively promoting boycott legislation against Israel, want to visit for political reasons at all? Britannica.com defines a boycott as “collective and organized osGoogle Images tracism applied in labor, economic, political or social relaDISPUTE — Israeil Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially tions to protest practices that denied entrace to Israel to both U.S. Reps Rashida Tlaib (left) and are regarded as unfair.” Ilhan Omar (right). Kelly Sobnosky ksobnosky1@liberty.edu
Tlaib and Omar were, as reported by the New Yorker, attempting to enter Israel to “witness firsthand what is happening on the ground in Palestine and hear from stakeholders.” While that is all neat and dandy, the definition of a boycott is cutting off all relations. The Washington Post wrote that Omar claimed the ban prevented her from proceeding with her work. It seems, however, that the Congresswomen’s work is to create boycott legislation against Israel. Since she wants to boycott Israel, it would appear that not going to Israel actually helps her goal rather than hurts it. Perhaps they were hoping to give firsthand accounts of life in Israel, but why would they deny a bipartisan trip to the country and instead go with an organization which has such an inflammatory past such as Miftah? Keep in mind that Tlaib was offered a chance to see her grandmother and her family who reside there, but she turned it down. From this perspective, Netanyahu is attempting to protect his country from a possible ban and not prevent the two from visiting at all, as he did grant Tlaib a chance to come. However, Netanyahu is not blameless. He did bar the congresswomen, which gave them a greater platform to voice their doubts about the country. The greater
show of democracy and acceptance would have been to allow Tlaib and Omar access to the country. Netanyahu should have allowed the congresswomen passage. However, the congresswomen are not saints either; they were actively campaigning against Netanyahu’s country and attempting to enter through an organization that praised terrorists. All-in-all, where does the blame lie? The short answer is with both parties. In the end, both parties should have had the decency and maturity to discuss and avoid this kind of international incident and division. With elections upcoming in both countries, one thing is for sure: the political leaders need to find a path forward if they ever intend to keep the political peace on a once blossoming friendship between America and Israel. SOBNOSKY is an opinion writer.
Taylors to test scores Letter to the editor: the benefits of playing guitar Keith Cooper kcooper21@liberty.edu
The excitement of a college journey is often filled with wonder, newness and uncertainty. The first time? Nah … you’ve been here a while. You know the complicated splendor of what is called a ‘semester.’ Though you pull onto campus, set up the dorm, visit the Rot, go to Convo and settle into new classes like a professional, you still ponder, “Will I do well this semester? Will I make the grade?” Thankfully, research over the last 30 years has much to say about this! According to the College Board, studies imply that learning or playing a guitar could increase academic and test scores by 10 to 12% above those who do not! Ever think your Taylor or Martin guitar could have something to do with a GPA? That’s just the beginning! In a side- by-side study, the National Association of Music Education found that “studies in stringed instruments achieve greater knowledge in reading, citizenship, writing, and mathematics” because music increases aptitude through “increased spatial development.” A study from Walden University shows that “math and reading are improved by learning rhythms and decoding notes and symbols.” Correlations between math and music are long understood; counting rhythm and strumming the guitar are not just actions to irritate your roommate at 2 a.m. It turns out the frets, shapes and fingerings of the guitar provide an all-encompassing experience by creating meaning through music, the order of timing, playing in rhythm and the memory it takes to switch between chord shapes, all while defining song form. This correlates with academics. This same order of cognition can be reproduced on exams, and often with higher averages. According to the NewsHerald of Southgate, Michigan, one student achieved a perfect score on college entrance exams. In an interview, the student placed strong emphasis on playing bass guitar and Beatles songs. This could be more evidence that playing guitar equals better grades. Playing guitar has also been shown to relax the mind. Recently, according to an article by South African news outlet News24, a college-age student obtained eight distinctions on 2018 Independent Examinations Board exams and attributes this success to
getting “home from a long day, picking up a guitar and just playing; get off the stresses of the day." Studies show the sound of music can increase morale and relieve stress. Typically, students do poorly on exams when they’re tired, “cranky,” or just stressed out. It is possible that spending time each day on guitar can relieve daily pressure, relaxing the mind to be more focused and stable. Playing guitar is also an exercise in memory. Memory is vital and is linked to recalling information on exams. Consequently, according to Pacific Standard magazine, data shows students who participate in music “typically have higher test scores than those who do not” by 31 points on some exams. Okay, maybe your GPA is sky-high, and scholarships are bountiful. Ever considered the social interaction of playing a guitar? Certainly you’re aware of numerous guitarists on Liberty’s illustrious campus. Acousticled worship, songwriters composing atop Liberty Mountain and School of Music students cramming for guitar juries all share a community of friends. Many believe the guitar is a vehicle for
conversation, which is paramount in healthy relationships. Often, people are interested in the guitar, its sound and how it is played. This builds community. Particularly, in a 2014 Men’s Health issue, “women associate musical ability with intelligence, commitment, and hard work.” Could this make friendships more attainable in college? Think of the social atmosphere at LU on any given day. What better way to pursue new friendships than with a simple six-string? And these friendships are typically lasting because these new friends now share something quite universal with you: music. In a 2016 study, those who played stringed instruments in an ensemble were more interdependent with the group. “Interestingly, musicians, and especially ensemble instrumentalists, are experts in a form of social interaction characterized by real-time non-verbal communication,” according to and article by Royal Society
Publishing. Anyone who plays the guitar knows that sound, feel and rhythm alone communicate. It’s rare you need words when playing guitar; people just naturally listen and follow along. Sometimes someone will simply ask a question about the guitar. Either way, this is a great conversation starter. Playing guitar may increase mental functioning, which is important for academic study and reasoning. Researchers at the University of St. Andrews claim musical activity can strengthen your mind. “Dr. Jentzsch, a pianist, says, ‘Musical activity cannot only immensely enrich our lives, but the associated benefits for our physical and mental functioning could be even more far-reaching than proposed in our previous research.’” The same study also shows correlation between playing a musical instrument and mental and physical well-being. It seems playing guitar could be very enriching mentally, emotionally, physically and even spiritually if we consider the worship of our Creator. The guitar is a beautiful sound to hear on any college campus. From a graceful strum to a popular guitar line, whether it’s a Chris Tomlin, Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran tune, most people recognize songs and melodies played on the guitar. Even if you’re just walking by the Jerry Falwell Library, you can often you can recognize a tune. Does it make you smile? Give you a solace for a split-second in a bustling new semester? Every fall there are thousands of students who decide to pick up the guitar. The easy access, the simplicity of open chords, even the “common knowledge” of the guitar such as G, C, D, Am and Em chords cause many people to stumble upon a new discovery of academic success, all while pursuing the excitement of new relationships. That’s what the guitar brings. It is a fascinating journey of joy and newness. It seems, even at the most basic level, the guitar is inviting. Most are surprised at how easy it is to start playing worship songs. Learning to play the guitar can be helpful practically, academically, mentally and socially. I guarantee if you pick up a guitar and commit to a little bit of practice, you may embark on a fresh journey of music, academics and a new social status. COOPER is the assistant professor of guitar.
This is Jacob Couch's first column of the year as editor -in-chief. Is there a right or wrong way to perceive reality? When someone says, “the reality is…” the word is always filtered through the speaker’s personal perception. Consequently, doing so gives opportunity for the word to become blurred by the speaker’s lens. Growing up, I remember hearing adults say “well, back to reality” after returning from a family vacation. Following a day at Disney World this summer, a family friend referred to getting back to reality in the same way. This prompted me to contemplate the concept of reality. Reality can be terrible and tragic, but also beautiful and sweet. The reality that a little boy’s mother is dying of cancer is heart-wrenching, while the promise of a new beginning at a wedding brings joy. Reality also has different degrees of impact and significance depending on who receives it. The fact that Michael Jordan was one of the greatest basketball players the world has ever seen hits home to a greater extent with his former opponents than it does with baseball or soccer fans. The fact that reality itself has a Creator is mindblowing. The Creator’s name is Jesus Christ, and he has given mankind a book called the Bible through which we can catch a glimpse of how humans should view the world. The lens of Christ is perfect because he is perfect. We are not perfect, and though we try to see through Christ’s lens, we will inevitably stare through earthly lenses from time to time. The lenses of this world vary significantly depending on who the viewer is and what his interests are. But the commonality that all of them have is that they lead to a feeling of disappointment and unfulfillment. Looking through the lens of Christ leads to joyful and upbeat spirits infiltrating workplaces and pointing lost people to the feet of the Savior. Looking through Jesus’ lens gives us the stability to remember that, despite wins and losses in the sporting world, deaths or weddings in our families, the Lord reigns, and he has us here for a greater purpose than obtaining our dream job or marrying the perfect spouse. We exist to bring glory to his name and direct people to his saving grace. Look through that lens. Doing so will not guarantee pain-free circumstances, but it will guarantee that we will remember who is with us when we endure them. COUCH is the editor-in-chief.
opinion
Liberty Champion | August 27, 2019 | A5
Loving immigrants lawfully
The church should love without encouraging others to break the law particular issue. The Jewish community takes the issue personally, as they have seen their own people hurt by harsh immigration laws. Many Jews have taken action by providing sanctu-
illegal immigration. At the end of the day, the church shouldn’t feel pressured to bring people into their basements and care for populations that have not come to the Editor’s Note: This is the first of a series United States through the legal routes. That of opinion articles examining this country’s being said, the Christian Church recent immigration issues from mulis also expected to care for those tiple perspectives. that have been cast aside. When it comes to political issues, When it comes to providthe church is often viewed as a source ing sanctuary, providing aid to of wise counsel and is a heavy influthose not committed to seeking ence on many people’s views. The citizenship is not a viable solutopic of immigration, however, has tion for the church to attempt. split many congregations and denomWe are always instructed to inations over how to respond to the obey the law set before us, and overflow of immigrants entering the housing illegal immigrants isn’t country illegally. exactly the way to obey said law. As followers of Christ, we are called While giving shelter for such imto love our neighbor (Matthew 22:39), migrants isn’t ideal, the church but we are also warned against putting should not ignore the issue our own security at risk in an attempt altogether either. to assist said neighbor (Proverbs 6:1Are the churches mentioned 3). We are also instructed to love as above in the wrong for breakJesus loved, but when it comes to puting the law, or are they following ting a wall on our southern border, God in His calling to love those didn’t the Old Testament show us that in need? The answer lies somewalls were often used for safety and where in the middle. preferred by most of the major cities The church does play a role in in that time? how it treats those that cross the Volunteering to assist such imborder illegally. We are called migrants in their journey towards to respond in love and treat citizenship is the most realistic those effected as Christ treated and Christ-like way to serve them while not going against the law set Google Images the lepers, the prostitutes and the disabled. When the healthy before us. However, this does not CHURCHED — According to an AP article, Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Seattle has provided sanctuary for Mexican imchurch holds the same qualities necessarily mean we should pro- migrant Jose Robles for over a year. of Christ and follows the Great vide housing or take in immigrants Commission, the people that to live in our homes and places of worship when they are not pursuing ary in their homes and places of worship and be willing to house immigrants who crossed walk through her doors will be greeted with by providing assistance with legal issues. the border illegally, but only if the immi- genuine, lawful love. citizenship. The Lutheran Church offers sanctuaries grants were working towards citizenship. An article published by the Associated Each church has taken a different apPress addresses how various belief systems and housing for immigrants like Jose Roand congregations have responded to this bles, who entered the United States illegally proach as the congregation responds to GRAVES is an opinion writer. Savanna Graves slgraves2@liberty.edu
and remained in the basement of a Lutheran church for a year. Other churches provide assistance within the bounds of the law or provide necessities like food. A church in Houston said it would
Riding the summer beat
The music album is still going strong as it evolves with the times Abby Bowman abowman7@liberty.edu
This summer you probably jammed out to a lot of new music. Whether you were burning up to the Jonas Brothers’s new album, dancing through a tropical vacation with Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes or cruising down your hometown roads with Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus, there were plenty of songs for you to choose from. There were also plenty of ways to listen to these artists and more for free. In September of 2018, I wrote an article arguing that — although media like YouTube, Spotify and iTunes have forced the music industry to evolve — the album stands strong as the primary way for artists to release new music. I argued that even though free music streaming services would seem to hurt artists trying to release a traditional album, innovative artists were able to roll with the times and use modern media to make the album stronger than ever. According to the article by Elias Leight in the Rolling Stones that I cited in my previous article, artists utilized free music streaming services to steadily release multiple singles before their album dropped as proof that the new album would be well worth listening to — and maybe purchasing. This summer’s onslaught of singles and new albums continues to prove my point. Just as Taylor Swift released four singles before releasing “Reputation,” she released four singles — ”Me!”, “You
Need to Calm Down” “Lover” and “Archer” — before her new album “Lover.” The four singles met with very different reactions. “Me!”, a collaboration with Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie, left most of the Taylor Swift fans I know disappointed, and “You Need to Calm Down” sparked controversy, according to a USA Today article. On the other hand, “Lover” and “The Archer” are both softer, uncontroversial and seemingly enjoyed by everyone. According to an article by Billboard, the album received overall positive reviews from critics and fans alike, so the controversy surrounding the first two singles obviously did not hurt the album. In fact, whether she planned it or not, releasing questionable singles first probably ended up drawing more attention to the coming album and made the more popular singles appear even better. The Jonas Brothers also made waves with the release of their new album and beginning of their tour. “Happiness Begins,” released June 7, was preceded by only two singles, “Sucker” and “Cool.” Although this would seem to break the trend of trickling out a small handful of singles before dropping an album, the hype surrounding the Jonas Brothers’ comeback spilled into the social media of ecstatic fans. In its own way, this free press fit the new method of album marketing. In my last article I also talked about artists doing collaborations as a way of getting music out while still developing a new album. An article by Tilly Pearce in
the Sun that I cited in my previous music article said that Ed Sheeran was planning on doing several collaborations before he dropped and album. This summer, Justin Bieber and Sheeran released the single “I Don’t Care” together. Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes also collaborated to create “Señorita,” which has rotated through the Billboard top 100 throughout the summer. Collaborations like these give all the artists involved in creating a song attention and the ability to put new music out while developing a traditional album. Whether singles, new albums or collaborations, the top pop artists provided plenty of summertime music for fans to enjoy. BOWMAN is the opinion editor.
David Eppinger | Liberty Champion Photographer
MEET THE OPINION EDITOR — Abby Bowman
is a senior journalism major from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This is her first year as the Opinion editor for the Liberty Champion. When she’s not writing for the Champion, she enjoys art, poetry, classic rock, spending time with friends, shopping and getting far too excited about NASCAR.
Thank you, Dr. Mike Lindell, for the encouragement of your story and the gift of your pillows.
-Grateful Liberty Students
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICIES & INFO Jacob Couch Editor-in-chief
Chad Wylie asst. sports editor
CONTENT
Jenna Crenshaw feature editor
Emily Wood News editor Madison Hirneisen asst. news editor Abby Bowman Opinion editor Emily Baker sports editor
Victoria Nelson copy editor John Nekrasov copy editor
Liz Fitch asst. photography editor
Hattie Troutman asst. feature editor web manager
DESIGN
ADMINISTRATION
Luke Coleman graphic designer
Deborah Huff Executive Director
Bree McLaughlin graphic designer
Logan Smith Champion advisor
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A6 | August 27, 2019 | Liberty Champion
Scriptorium gains valuable relic
The Rawlings School of Divinity houses page from Gutenberg Bible Jordan Smith jssmith17@liberty.edu
Liberty’s Scriptorium in the Rawlings School of Divinity received a new addition this summer: a leaf out of an original Gutenberg Bible. The artifact is the title page of the Book of Acts and is located near the center of the Scriptorium and showcased in a glass display. The page was purchased from a private collector from Texas. The Rawlings family bought the page with hopes of displaying it on campus. The page was installed in July 2019. With it came the prestige of having an original page from one of the most valuable Bibles in the world displayed on campus. Gene Albert, a curator at the Scriptorium, said the page was “one of the top things you want to be collecting when you collect rare Bibles.” The Gutenberg Bible was the first printed book and printed Bible ever made. There are only 14 Gutenberg Bibles in America today, one of which is displayed in the Library of Congress in
Washington, D.C., Albert said. Other locations include Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Only 49 Gutenberg Bibles exist in the world. Written in archaic Latin, the page was produced in 1455 using the printing press invented by Johann Gutenberg. At the time of production, Catholicism was the primary religion in Europe and Latin was the church’s language for a thousand years. “Only highly educated, wealthy people and people in the church could read Latin,” Albert said. “The common person didn’t even know Latin (during that) period of time.” Gutenberg’s printing press made literacy a much more feasible possibility for the middle and lower classes of the day. It opened the doors for mass production of books and reading materials. “Before the Gutenberg press … all (Bibles) had to be copied by scribes by hand,” Albert said. “It would take a year (or a) year and a half for a scribe to copy a Bible.” The new addition’s historical and
emotional significance is not lost on Albert. He’s grateful Liberty can house an artifact so precious to the Christian faith. “It’s one of the top things you want to be collecting when you’re talking about rare Bibles,” Albert said. “It’s the apex.” Inside the Scriptorium The Scriptorium also features a life-sized version of the Gutenberg press. The original page expands the collection of sacred text The Scriptorium features a number of rare books and Bibles made available by the Rawlings Foundation. The exhibit’s sacred texts are valued at over $1 million. Interactive multimedia screens help students research particular sections of the books and ancient texts. In the mid-1400s the Gutenberg press made it possible for printed materials — including the Bible — to become available to the masses.
Rachel McClamroch | Liberty Champion
PAGE FROM THE PAST — The new addition to the Scrip-
torium is "one of the top things you want to be collecting when you're talking about rare Bibles," Curator Gene Albert says.
SMITH is a news reporter.
Cooking up tasty Asian cuisine
Ramen and sushi restaurant opens in downtown Lynchburg Brittany Slaughter bdslaughter@liberty.edu
Lovers of sushi and ramen should check out AJI Ramen and Sushi, a new restaurant in downtown Lynchburg. The new dining option is nestled on Main
TITLE — Caption.
Street and provides casual dining in an atmosphere that matches the cuisine. Booths, a counter and upstairs seating provide plenty of room for the lunch and dinner crowds. Owner and manager Xian Jin Wu, also known as Eric, says
Frist Last | Liberty News Service
Bailey Duran | Liberty Champion
WELCOME — Aji Ramen welcomes customers to taste a variety of Asian-inspired dishes.
the restaurant has done well since its opening in August and is currently open six days a week. Wu is toying with the idea of staying open every day. Wu recommends the spring rolls, fried oysters, and seafood lo mein. The menu is open to being updated, as Wu pays attention to what sells well and will cater the options around what customers enjoy the most. Wu has been a cook since coming to America at age 19. He has worked in many restaurants before opening his own. “I have been working in different restaurants, all kinds of restaurants,” Wu said. “I sometimes just wanted to have my own ... There is nothing like this kind of Asian cuisine restaurant around here in the downtown neighborhood. I want to bring something that provides an exciting moment." When he purchased the space, Wu said he wanted to remodel to make the style match the cuisine. Paintings
of sushi cooks preparing and creating food decorate the restaurant walls. Wu believes people should try out his restaurant because they should taste a variety of cultures. “Life is short,” Wu said. “You should try something different all lifelong. All kinds of food in the world, see how Asians, American food (and) French (food tastes).” New employee Zhi Mia said she thinks Lynchburg residents will enjoy the new cuisine option. “It is multiple choices for the people that already want (this type of cuisine),” Mia said. “We have teriyaki, sushi, ramen, all different stuff. It is food for all the people, it is not just a sushi store where they only have sushi, it’s all different foods. People always select something new. New fashion for each year, new clothes, the same is with food. People do that too.” Wu said there were challenges prior to opening the restaurant, and he is facing new challenges currently
Bailey Duran | Liberty Champion
TAKE A SEAT — The restuarant has a variety of seating areas, including seating upstairs and downstairs in booths and at a counter.
as he works to gain more employees. “It is a career; it is a good thing,” Wu said. “Right now it is hard, but I think it is going to be alright once I get the right people.” When the restaurant is particularly busy, he helps cook in the kitchen and is currently hiring. He says
those interested in training to be a cook, cutting vegetables or being dish washers should stop by to apply.
SLAUGHTER is a news reporter.
CAMPUS CALENDAR 8/28 - Campus Community 6:30 p.m. | Vines Center 8/29 - Women's Soccer vs. William & Mary 6 p.m. | Osborne Soccer Stadium 8/30 - Bingo 8 p.m. | LaHaye Event Space 8/31- Liberty Flames Football vs. Syracuse 6 p.m. | Williams Stadium 8/31 - Outdoor Movie Night: Endgame 10 p.m. | Commons Lawn 9/1 - Field Hockey vs. James Madison University 1 p.m. | East Campus Fields 9/1 - Men's Soccer vs. Incarnate Word 6 p.m. | Matthes-Hopskin Outdoor Track Complex Liz Fitch |Liberty Champion
MIRROR MAN — A dancer in a disco suit hyped the crowd. CONVO continued from A1 Lindell shared his testimony and detailed his journey of addiction, recovery, heartache and success with students and announced the upcoming release of his autobiography. Wednesday marked the first time Lindell shared the full version of his testimony on
a platform as large as Liberty Convocation. “The pillow is just a platform for a much bigger thing,” Lindell said. “My calling is to speak out the word of Jesus.” Lindell encouraged Liberty’s student body with the wisdom of Proverbs 3:5-6: to “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and
STUDENT ACTIVITIES
lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.” “You guys here at Liberty are the hope of the nation, and right now you are on the right paths, paths that I didn’t take back then,” Lindell said. Falwell and Lindell later an-
CONCERTS
CLUB EVENTS
nounced on Twitter that a schoolwide pillow fight would take place on the academic lawn. Over 100 students gathered on the academic lawn for a friendly pillow fight with their new MyPillows, but they did not break the 2018 record for the largest pillow fight with 7,881 participants, which is held by MyPillow, Inc.
CAMPUS EVENTS
Lindell’s autobiography, “What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict…to CEO” will be released soon and is available for preorder now.
WOOD is the news editor.
news
August 27, 2019 | Liberty Champion | A7
ALL HANDS ON DECK
Hundreds of students involved in residence hall leadership helped new students move in August 15 and 16.
All Photos From Liberty News Service KJ Jugar & Joel Isimeme
A8 | August 27, 2019 | Liberty Champion
news
Honoring Rogers George Rogers was an American hero who attributed his survival in WWII to God’s provision
Editor’s note: The former chief financial officer of Liberty University and Old-Time Gospel Hour, George Rogers, died August 17, 2019. To honor the full life of a hero, patriot, strong leader, devout family man and servant of God, we are reprinting a revised article from the November 4, 2014 issue of the Liberty Champion. Emily Brown, who served as editor-in-chief of the newspaper at that time, wrote the article from a video that recorded the life story of Rogers.
the makeshift hospital were taken outside and placed under the building. As if digging the graves was not enough, Rogers was also made to drag those dead soldiers out from under the building prior to burial. With a severe lack of medical care, thousands of soldiers were left to die. During one of his trips under the hospital, Rogers pulled himself through the dirt in the three feet beneath the building and grabbed a soldier he thought octors said George Rogers was was dead. But the man was not dead. The not supposed to live past 45 or soldier Rogers grabbed turned his head 50 years old, but he lapped the toward Rogers and called out, “Not yet, 50-year life expectation and lived to be 100. buddy. Not yet.” Despite the horrors he faced as a prisoner of More than 150 graves later, Rogers war for three and a half years at the hands of had helped bury 1,600 Americans. the Japanese military during World War II, After completing four months of gruelRogers was the picture of joy. ing work with little food and water, RogWhen George Rogers stepped through ers was moved to Cabanatuan, where he the doors of the recruiting office at Jeffer- spent the remainder of his 25 months son Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, on Aug. in the Philippines, according to his 20, 1941, all he wanted was to avoid the bad biography. stigma attached with being drafted rather At Cabanatuan, Rogers faced strict than enlisting. What Rogers got in return orders from the Japanese and received was far from what he expected. quite a few bruises at the hands of his As a young 21-year-old, Rogers followed commanders despite not doing anythe advice of the major in charge of recruit- thing wrong. Every time he was knocked ing, who convinced Rogers that the Philip- down by the fist of a Japanese officer, he pines was the best place to serve as a soldier. popped right back up, avoiding a bayonet The Philippine Islands were “a poor man’s in the back. Photo Provided paradise,” as pay was $21 a month, accordOn top of the beatings Rogers re- HERO — George Rogers (above) joined the service as ing to a biography written by Rogers’ wife. ceived, he and his fellow soldiers suffered a 21-year-old. Before boarding the ship for his destination, through extreme pain in their feet and Rogers battled poison ivy and despite being legs due primarily to dry or wet Beriberi, finally made it to Japan. The soldiers stayed told he did not have to board, he convinced a disease affecting the nerves and muscles. at Fukuoka and were then transported to the doctors that he could go. Worse than the pain in the soldiers’ feet Yawata Steel Mill, where they worked 11 Only two months after arriving in the Phil- and legs, however, was the disease that ran hours a day. ippines, on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese at- rampant through the camp. Amoebic dysAccording to Rogers, U.S. troops were tacked Pearl Harbor. U.S. troops, including entery, a disease highly contagious that forced to do hard labor, some of which Rogers, were put on high alert. After doing was known as a death sentence to all who included rebuilding ceilings in furnaces. their damage in America, the Japanese ar- contracted it, devastated the camp. Soldiers While working there, the prisoners of war rived in the Philippine islands the next day. diagnosed with amoebic dysentery were im- could only face the blistering heat of the furU.S. troops, along with Filipino soldiers, mediately quarantined. nace for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, and they were forced to retreat to Bataan, hoping that Rogers was one of those had to hop from foot to foot to keep from sehelp would come soon. soldiers. verely burning their bare feet. For six months, Rogers A year after arriving at the Japanese laid alongside the sick and camp, on Aug. 8, 1945, American bombers In my mind, it was not hopeless, dying, thinking he might dropped incendiary bombs on Yawata Steel be added to the ca- Mill. Most soldiers escaped serious injury. because I was content that if God soon sualty list. But Rogers was While the prisoners expected to return to wanted me to live, I would misdiagnosed. work following the bombing, they did not. “This is the Lord working, For the malnourished, tired soldiers, the — George Rogers because I was exposed to all work reprieve signaled something big. these men with dysentery, and I A few days later, Japanese commanders did not contract it,” Rogers said. vacated the camp. After more than three It never did. “… Praise the Lord, first, for that six months years of arduous work, horrible conditions With no relief, American and Filipino of rest, and second, for protecting me from and hardly any food or water, the U.S. prissoldiers were forced to survive on meager that highly contagious disease.” oners of war knew the war had finally come rations. However, the amount of food soon And after avoiding death once again, Rog- to an end. became the least of their worries. ers repeated the feat when he survived maAccording to Rogers, the officer in charge Bataan fell on April 9, 1942, nearly four laria, which he contracted later in his stay at told the soldiers being transported out of the months to the day after the attack on Pearl Cabanatuan. region that the second atomic bomb, which Harbor, forcing the U.S. troops to surrenAlthough Rogers and his fellow soldiers was eventually dropped at Nagasaki on Aug. der. Japanese forces put the weak, malnour- had already faced and overcome a number 9, 1945, was destined for Yawata Steel ished U.S. and Philippine soldiers through of obstacles in the Philippines, their journey Mill on Aug. 8. Overcast skies prevented an unthinkable task — a task known today as continued as they were moved to Japan in the attack. the Bataan Death March. July of 1944. Rogers said he made no attempt to verify The soldiers — approximately 10,000 According to Rogers, in the process of the information and simply praised God for Americans and 62,000 Filipinos — were transporting soldiers, he barely missed the the weather. forced to march nearly 75 miles (120 kilo- first ship out, which was attacked and sunk by Although Rogers had not accepted Jesus meters) in less than one week. During the American forces. For Rogers, God showed Christ as his Lord during his four and a half walk, soldiers were regularly beaten for fall- up again by protecting him and keeping him years in the Army — three and a half years of ing out of ranks or disobeying an officer. from getting on the first ship. which he spent as a prisoner of war — he came And in addition to the fear of being beaten “I was glad I didn’t make the first ship,” to understand God’s goodness throughout or bayoneted, the marching soldiers were Rogers said. “That’s just another indication all the trials he faced. deprived of the very elements they needed in that God was in control of my life.” “I was not born again when I was in serorder to survive — food and water. After making his way onto the second vice, but I did believe in God, and I felt like “One hundred and twenty kilometers may ship, which housed 1,500 soldiers in a space he was going to protect me,” Rogers said. not seem too long, but when you’re hungry made for 500, Rogers panicked as he faced “In so many ways, he did.” and (have) no food, no water, that’s a long the crowded conditions. After being transported back to the U.S., way, particularly when there’s a bayonet that “I almost lost it, and then … I got a peace Rogers — a gaunt, 6-foot-3, 85-pound vercould end your life if you fell back or fell out that came over me, and I just felt everything sion of his former self — was given medical of ranks,” Rogers said. is going to be alright, just relax,” Rogers treatment and counseling about his experiAlthough no exact numbers are known, said. “As far as I’m concerned, God was at ences as a prisoner of war. the estimated number of deaths from that work again.” “There was a team of three psychiatrists march ranges from 10,000-18,000 men. After an 18-day trip with barely any food that talked with us individually, and they After the 75-mile trek, Rogers and his or clean drinking water, extreme heat, ram- (asked), ‘Well, how do you feel about the comrades were put to work doing hard labor pant illness — both physical and mental — and Japanese?’” Rogers said. “And I said, ‘Well, at Camp O’Donnell in the Philippines for no chance for prisoners to wash themselves I was just at the wrong place at the wrong four long months. outside of being hosed down every few days time.’ And they said, ‘Well, isn’t there any “In my mind, it was not hopeless, because with ocean water, all 1,500 men somehow animosity? They didn’t treat you right.’ I was content that if God wanted me to live, I would,” Rogers said. “He would see to it that I would. All that he expected of me was to wake up every morning, do the best I could, do everything in my power to live that day, and that’s the way I worked. You have to have the will to live in a situation like that. I can’t express enough words … to have you feel what it was like to be in that concentration camp.” At Camp O’ Donnell, Rogers was assigned the morbid duty of digging graves for dead and dying soldiers. According to Rogers’ biography, he dug graves three feet deep, six feet wide and 10 feet long — enough space for 10 soldiers to be buried. Liberty News Service According to Rogers, soldiers who died at HONORED — A statue of Rogers stands outside Williams Stadium in honor of his service and sacrifice.
D
“
Photo Provided
LOVE — Rogers and his wife, Barbara, were married for almost 70 years.
And I said, ‘Well, they did not treat us right. They didn’t feed us well. They didn’t clothe us well. We didn’t have enough shoes. But there again, I’m a soldier boy. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.’” But the psychiatrists would not accept his answer. “They kept pounding away (and asked), ‘Well, aren’t you angry with the Japanese?’” Rogers said. “I said, ‘No, not really. They were just trying to do their job as I was trying to do mine.’ So they finally let me know (that) they thought I was really lost. I mean, they thought I was gone for sure because I had no animosity toward the Japanese whatsoever. And I really didn’t. I really didn’t.” Rogers said he has ultimately learned invaluable lessons from his experiences. “What I learned in concentration camp was beneficial to the rest of my life,” Rogers said. “It was just living one day at a time, doing the very best you can, living the best life you can. And, of course, now I know that the Lord is with me whenever I decide to do something.” Following his time in the military, Rogers continued to defy the odds. Although doctors informed the prisoners of war that they would likely lose their hair, teeth and eyesight, Rogers still had all of those things when he passed into glory. Although doctors said those prisoners of war would likely never be able to succeed in school, Rogers received a four-year degree from St. Louis University in only three years and graduated with a 3.2 GPA. Although doctors said those prisoners of war would likely never have children, Rogers had five children with his wife, Barbara, the girl of his dreams. The two had 14 grandchildren. Although doctors said those prisoners of war would likely not live past 45 or 50, Rogers lived to be 100, displaying a contagious joy until his death. Rogers was awarded a Purple Heart and Prisoner of War Medal for his sacrifices during World War II. In addition to being a hero of the U.S. Army, Liberty University welcomed Rogers as a highly honored member of its community. Following more than 20 years of service to the university, where he last worked as vice president of finance and administration, Rogers was honored for his service with the U.S. Army. A statue stands at the gate of Williams Stadium, the home of the Liberty Flames football team, as a tribute to Rogers for his service.
SPORTS Striking a new season
August 27, 2019
B1
Liberty men’s soccer begins second season in ASUN with fresh mix of talent
John Nekrasov ydnekrasov@liberty.edu
Though change always comes with a new year, this year’s season for Liberty’s men’s soccer brings with it a unique period of transition
for the Flames under new Head Coach Kelly Findley. Taking over after last year’s season from Jeff Alder, former Flames player and coach of the team for 19 years, Findley comes to Liberty having coached college soccer since 1999, including at NC State
Leah Stauffer | Liberty News Service
EXAMPLE — Senior Ruben Garcia started all 15 games last season.
from 2011 to 2016, according to Liberty’s website. However, without seven of last year’s starters, Findley has spent the spring and summer months facing the challenge of immediately solidifying a new tactical system before the Flames second year in the ASUN. “We have great guys on our team — the character is tremendous, the work rate is great – the guys’ openness to new ideas,” Findley said. “In some ways, it’s hard when you come in when you’re new, and Jeff Alder did a great job here so it’s hard to follow him. But the guys were excited to do something a little different, so that made it easy.” Without last year’s captain and top scorer Kevin Mendoza (who recently signed for Veracruz in Liga MX, the Mexican pro league), Findley has relied on a mix of freshmen and transfers to augment a core starting 11 for this upcoming season. The team had limited time for preseason training, however, and Findley emphasized the challenges that the short college soccer season imposes on a coach trying to establish his tactical system. “It’s actually super hard,” Findley said. “We’ve got a lot of new parts, so chemistry is important – getting pairings right (and deciding) who fits well with which player. We have a rotation of three players for one spot, where one guy might be bigger and another faster . . . making sure that tactically we’re clear as a staff so the guys can execute.”
Entering a new season of ASUN play facing Lipscomb, champions of the ASUN for two years running, the Flames have their work cut out for them as the season moves toward their first ASUN game Sep. 21. In a recent ASUN coaches’ poll, Liberty placed fourth, with Lipscomb, FGCU and Jacksonville taking the first three places. The Flames won only two of their six ASUN games last season, falling 2-0 to Jacksonville in the quarterfinals of the ASUN playoffs, and Findley knows that record will have to improve for Liberty to have a chance at winning the conference championship this time around. But he remains confident that their status as underdogs will serve them well as the season progresses. “I think it’s perfect we’re chasing everybody else – if I were one of the players, then I’d be frustrated that we’re fourth (in the poll),” Findley said. “So I think it’s better than being first – we haven’t won it (the ASUN conference) ever, and it’s kind of where we should be. I like the fact that we’re in a position where we have to chase it, and our goal is obviously to win the conference championship. I think our schedule is good, I think we have a good enough team to complete – it’s just a matter of: can we be injury free and can the guys get better every single game and handle the travel?” But with Mendoza and last year’s other leading goal scorer Tresor Mbuyu both graduating,
the Flames have lost their primary goal threats from last season, and creating a new scoring formula will require some of the new transfers, freshmen and returners to step up and share some of the goal-scoring burden this fall. “The good part of (the player turnover) is that I’ve kind of got to restart the team a little bit,” Findley said. “The bad part is that you lose some quality, but I think it’s a great opportunity for other guys to step in. In some ways losing a guy like (Mendoza) is very difficult, but it also puts the burden on the team more, so I think now all the guys have to step up a little bit, which should be good for them.” Nevertheless, Findley is confident that as the season progresses, new players like Musa Morris and Seth Clark will find their feet and begin chipping in with goals. “We brought in some real quality (through recruitment), and I think the guys have capability of scoring goals, so I’m not worried about that,” Findley said. “I think the main thing is just getting better at what we do, and the goals will come.” Liberty officially begins its season on Aug. 30 against Radford before its home opener Sept. 1 against Incarnate Word.
NEKRASOV is a copy editor.
ESPN Bowl Agreement Liberty Athletics announced Monday afternoon that it entered into a five-year bowl game agreement with ESPN Events. This means that ESPN Events could place the Flames in one of six different bowl games operated by ESPN. The deal will last from 2020-2025 after Liberty’s current agreement with the Cure Bowl (Orlando, Florida) expires at the end of 2019. These bowls include: - Boca Raton Bowl.........................................................(Boca Raton, Florida) - Camellia Bowl.............................................................(Montgomery, Alabama) - Famous Idaho Potato Bowl........................................(Boise, Idaho) - Frisco Bowl................................................................(Frisco, Texas) - Myrtle Beach Bowl.....................................................(Conway, South Carolina) - New Mexico Bowl......................................................(Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Joel Isimeme | Liberty News Service
FALL BALL — The bowl announcement was made near the end of fall training camp.
Fielding wins
Field hockey wins first home game 5-2 John Simmons jasimmons1@liberty.edu
Andrew Snyder | Liberty News Service
RETURN — The women’s soccer team will see seven returning seniors.
Team building Women’s soccer looks forward to 2019 Sarah Tate satate1@liberty.edu
The Liberty women’s soccer team spent its offseason focusing on one aspect of their team philosophy: building a culture where everyone believes each game is an attainable victory. Despite a demanding season schedule where non-conference powerhouses are listed regularly, including Duke, North Carolina and the University of Virginia, the players are confident in their ability to compete and win because of their culture of competition and mental toughness. Junior defender Cora Duininck said that much of this offseason has been dedicated to developing relationships within the team. “We have been working on building team
culture and chemistry,” Duininck said. “We’re formulating team culture to grow and win the ASUN conference.” Head Coach Lang Wedemeyer echoed Duininck’s emphasis on formulating a team culture where victory is achievable, no matter the opponent. “First and foremost, we want to execute our system of playing consistently,” Wedemeyer said. “We have a clear understanding of our vision and mission and a higher level of belief.” With notable non-conference opponents such as Virginia Tech, UVA and the University of Pittsburg as well as the usual ASUN opponents of Florida Gulf Coast and Lipscomb, this mentality is essential to success.
See BUILDING, B2
members of the All-Big East preseason team, and Dykema earned preseason Big East Defensive Player of the Year honors. Despite a weak first three quarters, the Mountaineers sprang to life in the fourth quarter and the two overtime periods that followed. Junior forward Veerle Van Heertum scored from the corner into the right side of the cage 12:30 into the period, and junior midfielder Meghan Smart scored just three minutes later. Most of the Mountaineers scoring came after both teams put their reserves in, and four of their five penalty corners came in the fourth quarter or later.
The Liberty Flames field hockey team seem primed for regular season action after concluding their preseason with a dominant 5-2 victory over the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Saturday. Junior midfielder Jill Bolton ignited the Flames attack with two goals and an assist, and forwards Victoria O’Keefe, Daniella Rhodes and Olivia Klopp each notched a goal for a Flames offense that generated 30 shots on goal as well as six penalty corners. The pace that the Flames maintained kept the Mountaineers off-balance and on the defense for the majority of the game. See FIELDING, B4 Bolton praised the midfielders for their pivotal role in orchestrating the attack. “We had a lot of lateral ball movement around the back, and our midfielders were doing a really good job of distributing the ball to us forwards,” Bolton said. “That played a big role in getting shots on cage.” On defense, the Flames suffocated the Mountaineers inconsistent offense, allowing just four shots through three periods. Junior defender Ashley Dykema anchored the back section with a strong outing, while senior goalie Allison Schaeffer turned in a stellar effort and made five saves in 55 minutes. Coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker credited the defense for its coordination. “All the backs (Annika Roberts, Ashlyn Roberts and Mallory Fortenbaugh), they really communicated,” Parsley-Blocker said. “We don’t want to get in bad situations further into the circle ... I thought as a unit they Liz Fitch | Liberty Champion played really well together.” DEFENSE — Liberty’s defense won out in Dykema and Schaeffer joined Bolton as the end with superior coordination.
sports
B2 | August 27, 2019 | Liberty Champion
Leah Stauffer | Liberty News Service
25,000 STRONG — Built in 1989, Williams Stadium is home to Liberty University football and recently expanded its capacity to 30,000 people in preparation for a move to the FBS.
Training at the table Liberty Athletics opens new athletes-only dining hall in Carter Tower Paige Frost pmfrost@liberty.edu
The brand-new Training Table on the 2nd floor of Carter Tower in Williams Stadium is exclusively for the use of select NCAA athletes, unlike the old table in the ReberThomas Dining Hall, that allowed use for any athlete. The Training Table moved this semester to focus more on giving athletes the best possible nutrition for their recovery after practice or games. But due to limited space, only four teams (men’s football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball) were given access to the new dining fa-
cilities. A nutritionist pores over each aspect on the menus that will be served to the student-athletes. “Sodexo being behind our facility makes it a team effort,” Associate Athletic Director for StudentAthlete Welfare and Performance Chris Casola said. “The concept of Champion Performance is making it a holistic approach to developing our student athletes. We are looking at the student-athletes in every way, including nutrition.” Nutrition is the pillar of the Training Table – athletes need food that will fuel their body while allowing it to recover correctly. Dinner is served Sunday through Thursday at the Training Table, and although the athletes can put
Chad Wylie cewylie@liberty.edu
There are only two types of unscripted reality TV shows – politics and sports. And while politics has some real-world implications, sports only has one purpose: entertainment. The conflict between entertainment and real life has never been clearer than in Indianapolis on Saturday night, where the Colts 27-17 preseason loss to the Chicago Bears was overshadowed by one man standing on the sideline in a grey Colts T-shirt. In a bizarre scene at Lucas Oil Stadium, news circulated around the stadium in the form of an Adam Schefter tweet that Andrew Luck, the team’s seven-year quarterback, was retiring from football. The fourtime Pro Bowler’s career has been derailed by injuries. He has suffered torn cartilage in his ribs, a partially torn abdomen, a lacerated kidney, one diagnosed concussion, a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder and most recently a calf and ankle injury that has not been diagnosed or treated. Following the game, Luck spoke to the media, explaining why he is retiring in the prime of his career at 29 years old. “I’ve been stuck in this process,” Luck said. “I haven’t been able to live the life I want to live. It’s taken the joy out of this game … the only way forward for me is to remove myself from football.” Schefter explained on Twitter that Luck had been contemplating this decision for two weeks and is mentally worn down from the constant rehab. But the people who really need to get their mental faculties checked are a group of fans who booed Luck as he was leaving the field. In a viral video that trended on social media, Colts fans showered boos onto Luck as he walked across the field and into the tunnel toward the locker room. During his press conference, Luke said, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hear it. It hurt.” The mentality of fans booing a player for making a decision that is best for his life speaks to a culture of entitlement among sports fans. When a player plays poorly, fans criticize him or her for hurting the team. If a
their own plate together based on what they have discussed with the nutritionist, at least one vegetable is required. “We are making sure that there are lean proteins and lean carbs,” Director of Sports Nutrition Danielle Gillen said. “The nutrition staff has a presence at the Training Table so that the athletes can learn how to build their performance plates. We want them to trust us, so that they compete at the level they want to compete at.” They not only want to provide the athletes with the resources they need to perform, but they want to encourage them so that they can take what they learn to other meals. The nutritionists ensure that ath-
star player suffers injury, fans wonder how quickly he can come back to help their team again. Fans celebrate a player once he or she retires, but only if they played for as long as physically possible. Fans must not forget that these players are people, with their own lives, their own issues and their own goals. When a player makes a decision that is best for his life and happiness, and fans boo him as a result, at the very least those people need to step back and reexamine their priorities. Andrew Luck was not just the franchise quarterback who followed Peyton Manning – he provided the Colts with stability at quarterback when much of the franchise was in turmoil. During his seven years, the team has hired a new head coach, their No. 1 wide receiver retired, and the offensive line has essentially been a revolving door. The only constant during all that turnover was Luck’s stable presence behind center. NFL players took to Twitter to criticize fans for disrespecting the man who showed loyalty to his team for almost a decade. Richard Sherman, cornerback with the 49ers, said, “Most people who have not played at this level will never understand what we put our bodies through season after season. We don’t need the sympathy because this is what we signed up for but to ‘boo’ a man that battled for that city is disgraceful.” As passions calm and cooler heads prevail, Colts fans should fully appreciate the commitment Luck showed his team and the loyalty he displayed at a time when the organization struggled. They will remember the deep playoff runs he took them on and the AFC Championship appearance. Andrew Luck deserves a better farewell than what he heard from Colts fans Saturday night. His legacy deserves the adulation of anyone associated with the game of football, as best summed up on Twitter by his divisional opponent, J.J. Watt. “An incredible competitor and a truly great person,” Watt said. “I’ll miss competing against a guy who always played the game extremely hard, with an immense amount of respect. Wishing Andrew nothing but the absolute best moving forward.” WYLIE is the asst. sports editor.
letes will know how to choose the foods that will fuel their bodies, as opposed to slowing them down. “Some of these athletes don’t realize how a certain vegetable will help their recovery due to the vitamins in them,” Gillen said. “So just showing them that we are here to make sure they are eating well, but we also care about their recovery too builds that trust.” Searching for the foods that will meet the needs of all the studentathletes means that Gillen meets with the Sodexo staff to go over the menu weeks in advance. The goal is that if there is a practice before their dinner time, then they will have the specific nutrients their body needs to recover before the
next game or practice. Although every update to Training Table requires NCAA approval, Liberty wants to add more NCAA teams to the dinner schedule, as well as add more space to the facilities. “The goal is that this is something that will be available to all student-athletes,” Casola said. “Hopefully, more than just dinner. Across the country, all Training Tables do something different, but NCAA compliance has a limit to the things we can offer to the athlete.”
FROST is a sports reporter.
Andrew Snyder | Liberty News Service
TEACHING — Almost all of the team’s coaching staff is new to Liberty
BUILDING continued from B1 Senior forward Gabrielle Farrell mentioned how strong relationships among the players are vital to building this type of successful culture. “The relationships this year are so tightknit,” Farrell remarked. “Those relationships will translate to the field.” Going into the season, the goal of this emphasis on culture in preseason is to positively influence the team chemistry and create a greater degree of motivation and passion for the game. While the team continues to build this mindset and culture throughout the season,
the ultimate goal is simple: glorifying God. Both Farrell and Duininck expressed that playing for God was the ultimate purpose for their season. “We’re doing our best to glorify God,” Farrell said. “When we step on the field, we play for an audience of one.” “We play as an act of worship,” Duininck said. Though continuing to grow their culture during a difficult schedule will be a challenge, the team is confident in its ability to be successful despite the hard games and limited breaks. TATE is a sports reporter.
Andrew Snyder | Liberty News Service
COMPETITION — The Lady Flames ended their first ASUN season with a 6-11 record.
sports
Liberty Champion | August 27, 2019 | B3
Recovery season resurgence Track star looks to transfer his success to a new cross-country campaign Benjamin Craft bcraft2@liberty.edu
After battling injuries last fall, redshirt sophomore Felix Kandie looks to carry a fantastic end to the outdoor track season into the cross-country season this semester for the Liberty Flames. During the fall 2018 cross-country season, Kandie injured his back, hindering his ability to perform to expectations. Kandie regained his health and came into form during the outdoor track season, with the highlight a meet-record ASUN title-winning performance in the steeplechase. Switching gears for cross-country, Kandie is working hard to deal with the increased distances. “Track was fun, and I knew I had a good shot, especially in the steeplechase,” Kandie
said. “But I know cross-country is a little bit different. You have to battle with the miles, make sure you’re on track with the miles and give your best.” Liberty Flames coach Isaac Wendland looks to help Kandie make the transfer smoothly between the two seasons. “He definitely showed he was an elite athlete last year at the end of outdoors,” Wendland said. “It’s about transitioning that from outdoors to cross-country. His season went long, so we’re getting him right and making sure he’s sharp at the end of the season. I think the biggest thing for him is the confidence that gives you as an athlete to know you’re one of the best in the nation.” Kandie almost made it to the NCAA national steeplechase final in the spring, finishing one spot too low for qualification, which lengthened his season significantly.
Joel Coleman | Liberty News Service
SCHOOL RECORD — Among Kandie’s individual performances is his 8:42.43 effort in the threekilometer steeplechase, which is currently the Liberty University record for that event.
Leah Stauffer | Liberty News Service
ALL-AMERICAN — His efforts in the steeplechase earned Kandie a second team All-America honor for his 2019 season.
Emily Baker egbaker@liberty.edu
This weekend’s football game hosting Syracuse will be one of the biggest — if not the biggest — Liberty football games in school history. Saturday will be the first time Liberty has ever welcomed a Power Five and nationally-ranked school into Williams Stadium and the first game Liberty plays with new Head Coach Hugh Freeze. The Liberty ticket office is anticipating a giant turnout for the game, to the point that students were asked to pick up their “ticket” wristbands more than two weeks before the game date. There’s quite a lot of rumor that Syracuse will be bringing hundreds of fans, and each of the several Orange fans I’ve spoken to have told me they’re definitely coming to the game. This game will be a test on Williams Stadium’s capacity between sold-out Flames Club-level seats, thousands of students and a large group of Syracuse fans. While I doubt we’ll see commencement-level crowds, Williams Stadium will be pretty close to its 30,000-seat capacity. As far as the team, the Flames are facing a huge challenge. Syracuse is already ranked 22nd in the nation and expected to win with an over-under of 17.5 points. Syracuse is a formidable team, particularly after its phenomenal 10-3 20182019 season, including a bowl win and a four-point loss to an undefeated Clemson. The Orange also finished the season ranked 15th in the nation, their first top25 ranking in nearly 20 years. Despite graduating Eric Dungey, their starting quarterback, and several other key starters, Syracuse has several strong players stepping up to fill their shoes. The most notable of these players is likely Tommy DeVito (who, as far as I know, is not related to Danny DeVito), who will be the Orange’s starting quarterback. DeVito shows a lot of promise and proved himself to be a capable quarterback last season with four touchdowns and a total of 525 yards in seven games. His skill presents a challenge for Liberty’s defense — as does just about any offense in the country, as of last season. Liberty’s defense struggled to keep up all
season and was ranked 123rd in the FBS. Freeze and his staff have recruited several junior college transfers and others who will add some strength, but it’s still yet to be seen if that defense will be effective. The Flames will have less to worry about offensively. Liberty’s offense was 46th in the nation last year, which should only improve under Freeze’s offensive prowess. The Flames scored an average of 33 points per game, which put them at 34th in the FBS in scoring, and the team earned a total of 5,075 offensive yards for the season. Liberty will also see quite a lot of quarterback competition, particularly between starting senior Buckshot Calvert and Auburn transfer Malik Willis. While Calvert is the incumbent starter, I wouldn’t be surprised to find Willis taking the field more than a couple times this season. Whoever the quarterback is, the Flames have a strong offensive line to defend him and the receiving and running depth to keep things moving. Liberty’s offensive line was one of the top lines in the nation, and the Flames will see another year of play from star receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden. However, the offensive line will have to fend off Syracuse’s Alton Robinson and Kendall Coleman — two pieces of one of the strongest defensive end groups around. Robinson and Coleman will be plenty to keep the offensive line busy. But Liberty has one more thing going for it: the element of surprise. While the Flames can watch tape of Syracuse all day, the Orange has very little to watch of Liberty. The Flames will have an entirely new coaching staff and Freeze at the helm, who hasn’t coached in a few years. But surprise isn’t enough to win a game. As lovely as it would be to pull off a Syracuse upset, it’s doubtful that Liberty can keep up for all four quarters. While a onesided blowout from Syracuse is unlikely, a Liberty win is even more unlikely. My final prediction is 42-31 Syracuse.
. BAKER is the sports editor.
But he got back to work quickly, only taking a two-week break before steadily increasing his mileage to get ready for the upcoming season. “The goal is just to be better than last year,” Kandie said. “In the regionals, I didn’t get to make it to all-regionals. I’m hoping to get a better position, and help the team get a better finish than last year.” Coach Wendland’s goals for Kandie are more specific as he believes that Kandie has huge potential for the upcoming season. “I want to watch him believe that he can mix it up with anybody,” Wendland said. “A top-15 finish at regionals would be huge for him, but I don’t want to limit him by any means. I think he can mix it up with the best this year because he’s more than a one-dimensional athlete with just track. We should
see him take this next step in cross-country, instead of being a No. 3 runner for us, he could not only be a No. 1 runner for us but be one of the top runners in the region.” The cross-country season for the Flames starts Aug. 30 with the Liberty Challenge meet taking place at the Liberty Cross Country Course. Kandie is looking forward to the season and his teammates. “I’m pretty positive about the team,” Kandie said. “We have some new freshmen and transfers, and it looks more solid because of the team culture which every athlete should be implementing. I think it’s a stronger team than last year.”
CRAFT is a sports writer.
sports
B4 | August 27, 2019 | Liberty Champion
A dynamic defender Mickayla Green combines quality defending with outspoken leadership Jared Dean jsdean1@liberty.edu
Senior defender Mickayla Green is entering her final year on Liberty’s women’s soccer team, and she has had to put in a lot of hard work to develop into the player she is today. As she has moved forward in her career at Liberty, her playstyle and her approach as a leader has changed. Over the years, Green has learned to become a tough defender for the Flames, something Head Coach Lang Wedemeyer has noticed. “(Green) is very tough and I think that her ability to tackle, slide and throw her body in front of balls make her a real gritty type of defender,” Wedemeyer said.
However, Green was not always the aggressive defender she is today. This type of play was something that she had to work on during her Liberty experience. “One of our core values is grit,” Green said. “I feel like I have really developed, just how I go into tackles, being patient in the play, not overstepping and knowing when to step in and when to not.” As her playing style has shifted over the years, her role on the team has given her more confidence as a person as well as a player. “I am generally a quiet person, but through the years as I got more comfortable with people and people were getting more comfortable with me, I have been able to talk to everyone and it has become easier for me to
K.J. Jugar | Liberty News Service
HOME — Senior defender Mickayla Green is originally from Greensboro, North Carolina.
Joel Coleman | Liberty News Service
ON THE CLOCK — Green played in nine games last season and started in two games.
be that person people can come to or vice versa,” Green said. Wedemeyer has noticed that it has not just been her physicality that has changed, but also her mindset and her attitude toward the game. “I think that she’s matured from someone who came in with a lot of hopes and aspirations from an individual standpoint,” Wedemeyer said. “I think she’s grown through the program – she’s become much more of a team player, and through that she has been able to lift her game up at the same time.” Looking back at her freshman year at Liberty, Green remembers how she looked up to some of the upperclassmen on the team. Now, she strives to set a good example for today’s underclassmen. “It is not about a full leadership role where you feel like you are above everyone,” Green
said. “It is about being someone that they know they can look up to and respect because they have gone through some of the same things that I have gone through.” As she faces her last year of eligibility, Green acknowledges she still has room to learn. “This year I am hoping that I can still develop because I’m at a good place, but I think that I can grow even more in my soccer IQ and decision making,” Green said. “I also feel like we will grow as a team and that the team culture feels even better than it was last year because we already have a foundation and a basis as to what we want to go into for this year.”
DEAN is a sports writer.
Special Report: Monday’s athletics press conference Head Coach Hugh Freeze’s health Head Coach Hugh Freeze is in ongoing therapy for his back after undergoing surgery Friday, Aug. 16, for a herniated disk in his lower back. He will most likely be coaching Saturday, Aug. 31’s game against Syracuse from Carter Tower to prevent stressing his recovery more than necessary. Transfer quarterback Malik Willis’s eligibility Junior transfer quarterback Malik Willis is still waiting to hear back from the NCAA about his appeal to play this season. The football team hopes to receive word from the NCAA by Wednesday night, which will determine Willis’s ability to play this season. Athletic Director Ian McCaw on the Football Operations Center construction Athletics Director Ian McCaw said the Football Operations Center will have completed locker rooms by Thursday, Aug. 29, just in time for Saturday’s game. The rest of the facility’s construction is planned to be complete in January 2020.
STARTING UP — The team’s first regular season game is Sunday, Sep. 1. FIELDING continued from B1
Liz Fitch | Liberty Champion
With the preseason wrapped up, the Flames now look to start their run towards that Big East Championship when they host the James Madison University Dukes at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sep. 1.
Parsley-Blocker said that this late collapse was due to mental errors, which is something she wants the team to improve on heading into the regular season. “I wasn’t too pleased with our tactical decisions out of the back in the fourth quarter,” SIMMONS is a sports writer. Parsley-Blocker said. “What it comes down to is decision making ... we have to keep our head under pressure when it counts, and that’s when they capitalized on our mistakes when we were too flippant with the ball.” Liberty is ranked second in the Big East preseason coaches’ poll, and this season, the Lady Flames will look to build off of last year’s successes and rebound from its heartbreaking conclusion. The Flames concluded last season with a 13-6 overall record and eventually made it to the Big East championship game, ultimately losing 5-3 to the University of Connecticut. However, Dykema believes that this could be the year when Liberty overcomes that obstacle. “My expectation is to win a Big East championship,” Dykema said. “Coming off Liz Fitch | Liberty Champion of winning three preseason scrimmages and beating two ACC teams, it’s going to be an TOP — The Lady Flames are ranked second in the Big East preseason poll. awesome year for this team.”
2019-2020 Sports Section Staff Sports editor: Emily Baker Emily Baker is a senior journalism student with a minor in cinematic arts. She enjoys running, spending time with friends, all kinds of creative pursuits, and the Oxford comma. She’s also a skilled Captain Marvel impersonator. The 2019-2020 year will be her second as the sports editor for the Champion.
Asst. sports editor: Chad Wylie From basketball and baseball to cricket and curling, Chad Wylie consumes all the sports content he can get. Constantly watching, reading or playing a sport, it’s hard to find Chad around campus without a jersey on and some game streaming on his iPad. Growing up near Raleigh, North Carolina, he developed his love for sports watching the best college basketball programs in the country practically in his backyard. Now his favorites have expanded to include soccer, football, the NBA, tennis and all things Tiger Woods.
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Liberty Champion | August 27, 2019 | B5
Ready for the next mission Austin Gaebe gagaebe2@liberty.edu
one in the River Ridge Mall and the other on Commerce Street, is one of urban res-
Mission House Coffee, a local coffee shop velopment and renewal with the construction of its second location in downtown Lynchburg. The journey of running two coffeeshops,
overhauled mall and a gradually growing downtown each hold their own unique set of challenges for Tommy Clark, the owner of Mission House Coffee. “Being involved in aspects of areas that are changing allows us to create a culture that may not have been there before,” Clark said. “I love it because it gives us an opportunit y to put ourselves in a location and put ourselves in a mindset of, ‘We are in here with the change … we’d love to be a part of this.’” Moriah Mc A l l ist er, the manager L IZ F ITCH | L IBERTY C HAMPION for Mission NEW BREW — Mission House Coffee adds a second location in downtown Lynchburg. House Cof-
fee’s mall location, thinks their business is already helping Lynchburg residents think of the relatively sparse mall in a different light. “I love that we are able to bring a very different type of coffee to a market that doesn’t expect that,” McAllister said. “That kind of quality coffee that is not normal for a setting like that.” Her fellow lead manager Samantha Cole, who will oversee operations at the downtown location, agrees. “With Liberty University and University of Lynchburg, the mall is going to be another place where students can come and hang out,” Cole said. for a new era of retail shopping, change is sweeping through almost every street in downtown Lynchburg. The early stages of the Downtown 2040 Master Plan are currently underway with cosmetic renovations to streets and sidewalks. All of this talk of renewal and renovation may worry some residents and visitors of downtown, but Clark feels that Mission House Coffee has innovative solutions to deal with the peoples’ main concerns. The downtown location occupies a former dance studio with high ceilings, white brick walls and tall windows, giving the space an airy and modern atmosphere. The design team’s goal for the new space
light and easily movable, including a stage that will be simple to install and take down. Ample seating and multiple outlets will ensure that the space can be used both as a casual hangout destination and an event space. Gareth Kerlin, the coffee roaster for The White Hart Cafe, is Mission House’s primary coffee supplier. While he has only been in Lynchburg for two years, as an employee, customer and resident of downtown Lynchburg, he has a close connection with downtown’s economy and he is hopeful for the place Mission House will occupy. “I think that with students in for the fall, there is kind of a shortage of receptacles for students. I don’t think it’s going to necessarily take away any of the business from the local businesses that are already established here,” Kerlin said. “I think there’s plenty of room for receptacles – that’s the advantage of building new space.” As Lynchburg continues to change architecturally and culturally, Mission House Coffee is becoming a piece of the new puzzle the city is creating for itself.
GAEBE is a feature reporter.
Looking for stability in the storm Olivia Williams talks about her battle with depression amidst uncertainty Virginia Peay vlpeay@liberty.edu
Her childhood ended with an earthquake. It was 2007 in Lima, Peru, and Liberty University student Olivia Williams was seven years old. The earthquake lasted three minutes, and nothing would be the same after. Williams grew up as a missionary kid, hopping from South America to the United States, never staying in one place for very long. However, she spent the majority of her childhood in Lima with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who also did missionary work in the area. “I had a pretty normal childhood,” Williams said. “It was great, but the way I grew up in Lima – all of the houses had bars on the windows. The nicer ones would have a 10-foot wall around it with glass shards to keep people from climbing over. I was always scared, but I knew that because of those precautions I was protected. Then I was pulled away and didn’t have that protection anymore.” After the earthquake, the season of her childhood that marked security and comfort was gone. Her family served in a remote stroyed town rebuild. During the next year Williams stayed at her grandparents’ home in Lima for homeschooling, as the rest of her family had returned to the States for a furlough year.
“We just lived out on the property and I had no friends,” Williams said. “So, when I had my 11th birthday, my mom called her friend who had two kids my age. I had met them once when we were six, and they came and spent the night for my birthday. I didn’t know them, so they had to introduce themselves, and then we were like, ‘Ok, let’s eat cake.’” A year later, Williams’ parents felt that God was calling them to plant a church in the jungle of Peru. Miles away from any form of modern civilization, the indigenous people group they began to witness to had never seen white people before. “There (can be) a healthy element of fear, but I took it to the point of paranoia,” Williams said. “I didn’t cope well. There was always the sense that we were serving other people and so I shut myself off.” This was the beginning of a season of complete uncertainty that lasted seven years. From age seven to 14, Williams never knew when her parents were going to hear the call of God and uproot her life again. After a year in the jungle, they returned to Lima. Once they returned to Lima, her parents heard the call to go to Texas. They didn’t know how long they would be staying, why they were there, or what their future would hold. “I remember that after a while in the be staying long term,” Williams said. “That’s when I lost my identity. It
“
The stability and American normalcy caused tremendous culture shock. With the fear that they were never going to stay long, Williams created a habit of pulling away from friendships, never letting them grow beyond a year. Williams fell into depression her freshman year of high school. As she transitioned from a public school to being homeschooled in high school, Williams could not shake the feeling of being stuck. The depression, darkness and spiritual warfare lasted three years. “I got to a point where I just couldn’t take it anymore,” Williams said. “I had tried to talk to my parents before, but they just didn’t understand. I gave it one last shot and extent of what had been going on the past three years and I started to get help.”
from the point of no return and works to focus all of her efforts on serving others and glorifying God in it. Williams’ advice to anyone who might be walking through that darkness is memorize Scripture, do not try to cope with your struggles alone, know your triggers and take care of yourself and your surroundings when you can function so that you have taken preventative steps to lessen the hard days. “When you’re going through — Olivia Williams depression, you lose sight of the light at the end of the tunnel,” Williams said. “I truly believe that you can get through anything if you can see the light at the end of Towards the end of her junior year of high the tunnel, but depression puts a curtain in passed her learner’s permit test and began front of that…. Don’t do it alone.” applying to colleges which would soon lead PEAY is a feature reporter. her to Liberty University. But after all that she has been through, where does that leave her faith? “I think my faith is truly rooted in the things God has done for me, pulling me out For Liberty students who are of the darkness,” Williams said. “Before dealing with depression, that, it was rooted in my parents or the work contact Liberty Counseling that my parents did, but once we moved to Texas that was no longer relevant.” Services at (4 34) 582 -2651 Williams, a psychology major, is a Comor studentcounselingsermunity Group Leader on her hall for the vices@liberty.edu second year in a row. She is a beacon of light for anyone who might be going through any darkness of their own. She made it back
That’s when I lost my identity. It was the first time since I was seven that there wasn’t a lot of uncertainty and that’s when I started to get depressed.
time since I was seven that there wasn’t a lot of uncertainty and that’s when I started to get depressed.” The extreme contrast between what she had grown up knowing in the remote corners of a thirdworld country to middleclass suburban Texas left Williams restless without a person that understood how she felt. “I was irritated with everyone around me,” Williams said. “It was very shocking to me to see the lifestyle that people live in the States – the lifestyle I lead now. I remember being so shocked whenever somePHOTOS PROVIDED BY ANDRE A Y OUNG one would throw away food. DEPRESSION — Williams encourages students to reach out for help. I wanted to get up and dig it out of the trashcan, but I knew I couldn’t do that.”
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY ANDRE A Y OUNG
STRONG — Williams gives insight on what it’s like to walk in the light.
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B6 | August 27, 2019 | Liberty Champion
R.A.M.P. up your study sessions Experts offer up advice on how to get better study habits this semester (R)esources Rebecca Fruetel, a graduate from the School of Business and a former student worker for Liberty University’s College The month of August confuses everyone: of Applied Studies and Academic Success the first half is dominated by final trips to (CASAS), highly recommends taking adthe beach and backyard cookouts, and the vantage of the resources offered by CASAS, second by alarm clocks and syllabi. As Sep- such as the Undergraduate Writing Center. tember closes, a student bound for academic “I think a lot of people are hesitant to success will need to shift his or her atten- ‘humble themselves’ in a sense and ask for tion from poolside daydreams to a studying that help, but I don’t know anyone who regame plan. grets using (the Undergraduate Writing For many students, this shift does not Center),” Fruetel said. come easily. But with a bit of simple guidStudents can make 45-minute appointance from a few experts, a daunting new ments with writing tutors for one-on-one school year for incoming college freshmen assistance in essay planning, formatting or even returning upperclassmen can be- and citation questions and even just a final come their best school year yet. review before submitting a paper. Here are four things to consider when esStudents can make appointments with the tablishing a plan for study success: Undergraduate Writing Center online from the CASAS home page. A second resource that Fruetel recommends is the massive online database of academic articles and journals at the Jerry Falwell Library, a resource exclusive to Liberty students. “(This resource) made all the research I did in college such a breeze,” Fruetel says. Multiple databases are compiled into one search engine to provide thousands of credible academic sources for an entered topic. The Jerry Kelvin Yos | Liberty Champion Falwell Library STUDY — Students start getting back into the study routine with the new semester. website can be Toni Travis tgkrebs@liberty.edu
accessed from anywhere with a student login and is a resource exclusively offered to Liberty University students. (A)tmosphere A quiet location significantly improves students’ performances. Some students study most efficiently in quiet, distractionfree environments. Others succeed in bustling environments with plenty of background noise. “Being around people, even if I don’t know them, holds me slightly more accountable than if I were studying on my own,” Fruetel said. Clifford Stumme, the director of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, suggests that students analyze their own strengths and weaknesses to find the perfect study space. “Observe your own study habits and selfreflect every once in a while,” Stumme said. “Figure out what’s distracting you or overwhelming you.” (M)ethods Naturally, the way a student chooses to study determines the effectiveness of that time and effort. In Stumme’s experience, limiting social distractions is one of the best ways to ensure a productive study session. “Put your phone on airplane mode and sign out of social media,” Stumme said. “I’m not saying social media is the only problem out there, but for me personally, I can’t do quality, high-level work when my attention is constantly being pulled away.” Students can also place their phone screen down on a table, or in a different room altogether, to keep these distractions at a minimum. Reviewing information learned in class helps to keep concepts fresh, according to Fruetel. “For big tests, I would recopy my notes to help me study,” Fruetel explains. “Flash cards or just (reading) the same page over and over again got too monotonous for me and I would lose focus. I find that writing notes ingrains (the information) in my mind more since I actually have to think about
what I’m looking at . . . rather than just scanning pages.” (P)lan Possibly the most influential consideration is an organized plan to accomplish needs according to their level of importance. Stumme suggests putting the hardest things at the top of a to-do list to make the most of available time. “If you tell yourself that responding to emails, taking care of messages, picking the perfect font or any number of little things are important enough to be done first, they are all you will get done during that session,” Stumme said. “Do the biggest, hardest thing first, and then take care of those things (most of which honestly aren’t urgent).” Sometimes, though, the hardest things on a to-do list are the most difficult ones to begin. These tasks can feel so hard to finish that deciding which piece of the puzzle to pick up first is a project in itself. “If something feels overwhelming, first plan it out, and then commit to doing it for just five minutes,” Stumme said. “Anyone can do anything for five minutes, right? The trick is that the easiest thing to do is the thing you’re doing right now.” More often than not, the most challenging part of an assignment is starting it. Once a plan and a commitment are made and the first step of action is taken, then the second and third steps come more easily. If the plan is implemented in an appropriate time frame and followed correctly, the project will get completed, maybe even with time to spare. “Every successful effort or operation comes down to good planning,” Stumme said. “If you wait until the last minute, you can’t plan. You just have to do, so you’ve hurt your chances of success and even completion. Plan ahead. Plan ahead. Plan ahead.” Facing challenges of a new year can be intimidating. But with the proper tools, planning and a little personalization, students can create a study plan that will get their year off to a good start. TRAVIS is a feature reporter.
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Liberty Champion | August 27, 2019 | B7
‘Between free and fearful’ Alumnus Clay Finnesand celebrates boldness in second album “Springside” Jenna Crenshaw jmcrenshaw@liberty.edu
The fear that promised him safety almost stole his voice. Almost. Clay Finnesand, Liberty alumnus and familiar face from the Liberty Worship Collective, dropped his second album, “Springside,” Aug. 2. The album’s 11 tracks carry pieces of Finnesand’s hopes and hardest moments. The album blends bright rhythms with mellow singer-songwriter tunes, taking listeners through the whirlwind of love to the aches of heartbreak and loneliness in an attempt to make sense of the unexplainable. Finnesand, a songwriter since second grade, never considered his favorite pastime as a realistic career path. Until he came to Liberty University, Finnesand kept his songs locked away in a journal, showing them only to his family. But during his time at Liberty, he let a few trusted friends listen to voice memos of his songs. They told him that he was on to something. “I don’t know if I would have ever come to that on my own,” Finnesand said. “I think I needed some people around me to say I needed to take that step.” Finnesand released his first EP, “Honest,” in 2016. But his victory was still shadowed by doubt. With the support of his family and friends behind him, he decided that making music was no longer a hobby, but a dream worthy pursuit. After graduating from Liberty in 2017, Finnesand moved to Nashville where he honed his musical style and wrote over 50 songs. A couple years later, the heart of his work lies in the very first track of “Springside.” “If there’s one central theme, one central takeaway of the whole album, it would be the very last line of the intro, which is: ‘A broken heart isn’t the one most tragic. It’s the one that dulls the lows and accidentally dulls the magic,’” Finnesand said. His breezy songs “Falling for You” and
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“When You’re in Love,” matched with the groove of “Never Been Loved” and “R.G.T.,” make “Springside” a perfect summer listen. He feared that the rawness of some of his songs were too specific to his own personal experiences. But it turned out that he transformed his audience’s feelings into something tangible. “There’s a song called ‘October’ that I didn’t have a clue how (much) that would resonate with people,” Finnesand said. “All I knew is that it was the most emotional song for me. But the stuff that we think is too specific and the stuff that we think nobody else experiences … everybody does.” The song “Be Careful” is an anthem for living and loving fearlessly. According to the song, “playing it safe has a cost of its own.” “I grew up always hearing that the heart is fragile and it breaks and the more you give yourself to the people around you, the more opportunity you have to get hurt because they might misuse it and abuse it,” Finnesand said. “(The song) is not saying be dumb … it’s saying open up your heart to the possibility that there’s more. I think if you can’t get hurt in a relationship then you probably don’t have real intimacy with any-
It would be such a bummer to live your whole life and then to look back and realize you never really lived the things that you dreamed about. — Clay Finnesand body.” Finnesand’s time working in high school ministry helped inspire “Alone,” which he hopes will reach the ears of that age group. “They don’t feel known,” Finnesand said. “They just feel like they’re a picture and a caption. And they don’t have anybody who really knows them or cares or listens. I think (with) that song I just wanted people to hear and feel like somewhere in the world they have a friend.”
DROP — “Springside” blends musical styles with the highs and lows of life. Finnesand’s excitement for the release of “Springside” was plagued by the nagging fear that his audience would not find his songs as meaningful as he did. “I was breaking the one rule of this whole album, which is ‘stop doing that, stop protecting’… stop protecting your heart so that you don’t get hurt. Because if you do that all the time, then you’re not going to be able to experience the good things too,” Finnesand said. Finnesand encourages creatives to ride
If you are taking notes, write this down What’s the best way to take notes and become a more effective student?
Hattie is a junior studying journalism and government. She enjoys many outdoor activities, especially roller blading, and thinks Jane Austen is a genius. Hattie Troutman hatroutman@liberty.edu
How do you take notes – do you look for your laptop or grab a pen and paper? When it comes to most exams, class lectures contain the most content. As students enter the classroom, a wide variety of laptops sit on desks along with spiral-ruled notebooks and Pilot G2 pens ready to write down everything the professor at the front of the room has to say. But let’s answer the real question.
Which is more academically effective: written notes or typed notes? According to a study done by the Association for Psychological Science, people who take notes on a laptop are more likely to type verbatim what the professor says, which makes the student’s conceptual learning more difficult. When students try to type every word that the professor says, they usually don’t process the information in their own words, putting them at a disadvantage for retaining the information long term. In the same study, researchers showed that people who take handwritten notes process the information better because they have to be more selective on what is written down. As proven through the study, the people who took hand-written notes performed better on the test following the lecture. Although hand-written notes will not guarantee better test scores, studies show that students have a better chance for success when you bring out the notebook and pen. When you take notes on a laptop you can write down more information. Writing on a laptop allows students to go back through and reread the lecture, whereas hand-written notes don’t always guarantee this. However, when students have to be selective on what they write down on paper, they
have a head start on processing the information before the study sessions begin. But what happens when a professor does not allow the use of computers in the classroom? Or what do you do if you only like taking notes with pen and paper but the professor goes through the slides too quickly for you? Immediately you are faced with a challenge. My tip to you – always be adaptable to different classroom rules. Many professors prefer that laptops be left at the door so students do not get distracted by emails, online shopping and gaming. If this is your professor, be prepared for class and bring a spiraled notebook. Be willing to adjust — if you spend too much time getting frustrated that you can’t take notes the way you want to, you will miss several slides. College is known to push people outside their comfort zone. Whether it be through note taking in the classroom or studying outside the classroom, be prepared to go outside your normal routine to get that degree.
TROUTMAN is the assistant feature editor.
photo provided
the oscillating emotions and fight for their work, regardless of what others think. “It would be such a bummer to live your whole life and then to look back and realize you never really lived the things that you dreamed about,” Finnesand said. Copies of “Springside” are available wherever albums are sold.
CRENSHAW is the feature editor.
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B8 | August 27, 2019 | Liberty Champion
Party on the block
David Eppinger | Liberty Champion
THRILLING — Students enjoyed rides set up on the LaHaye parking lot.
David Eppinger | Liberty Champion
SOUL — Devon Gilfillian brought bluesy sounds to the audience.
POP — Hollyn performed bright singer-songwriter tunes.
ROCK OUT — Nobigdyl, Devon Gilfillian, Hollyn and Colony House performed at the annual event hosted by Student Activities.
TOSS — Students teamed up to play cornhole.
David Eppinger | Liberty Champion
David Eppinger | Liberty Champion
David Eppinger | Liberty Champion
David Eppinger | Liberty Champion
JUMP — Student Activities provided various inflatables for the students to enjoy.