Students plunge for Special Olympics
Women’s basketball plays for breast cancer B4
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LIBERTY CHAMPION Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Today: Rain 52/26 Tomorrow: Sunny 43/23
libertychampion.com
Volume 30 • Issue 15
Author inspires
global focus week
Tess Curtis tcurtis@liberty.edu
Ruth Bibby | Liberty Champion
Liberty unites nations TOGETHER — Students raised the flags of their home countries Feb. 11 to kick off Global Focus Week.
Global Focus Week encourages students to answer the call to the mission field Jeremy Angione jangione@liberty.edu
Jessica Jordan jmjordan3@liberty.edu
Waving flags streamed down the Vines Center steps during convocation Feb. 11, held by students signifying their home nations. Cultural representatives marched through the rows of students with the Revelation Song as their universal cadence. According to Vice President for Communications Johnnie Moore, the theme of this
year’s annual Global Focus Week is “make your degree global.” “We believe the Great Commission is for people going into the ministry and the marketplace,” Moore said. “It is our responsibility to be concerned about the entire world.” To help convey that point, Jo Saxton, a representative of the mission organization 3DM, spoke about sharing the Gospel message with the unreached people of the world. “Every generation of Christians will have to decide how they will respond to the Gos-
pel,” Saxton said. “How will we respond?” Saxton went on to tell students that Christians are lacking in a passionate spirituality, meaning that most Christians do not pray, read the Bible or love Jesus as intensely as they should. She encouraged students to think of the unreached nations from the perspective of the cross and from the heart of Jesus to increase their devotion to mission work. Throughout the week, Liberty fostered the idea of the “global degree” by hosting several breakout sessions en-
couraging students to think more globally. Numerous mission organizations lined the walkways of DeMoss Hall, recruiting potential workers in the mission field. Familiar special events filled Global Focus Week’s schedule, such as the Children of the World concert and Taste of the Nations. The Children of the World returned to Liberty on their Rescue Tour in convocation, and in their own concert Tuesday, Feb. 12.
See GLOBAL, A7
Ivy Lake dam needs repair Melanie Oelrich moelrich@liberty.edu
Liberty University’s Ivy Lake property has been home to numerous crew team events and warm Saturday swims. It has also served as a serene backdrop to the surrounding neighborhoods. However, a recent discussion in a public meeting revealed that the lake’s dam is in need of immediate, costly repairs, which has some homeowners worried. According to the Virginia Department of
Recreation and Conservation, a deficiency in the original construction of the dam was discovered in its most recent inspection. Certificates are required of dam owners every six years, department spokesman Gary Waugh said. The Ivy Creek dam certificate expired in September. “The Department of Recreation and Conservation issued a two-year conditional certificate in the fall, requiring a series of actions by certain
See LAKE, A2
Karly Kryza| Liberty Champion
CAUTION — The Ivy Lake dam may receive some needed attention.
Liberty University will now offer American Sign Language as a major. A6
Sports
The men’s DI hockey team celebrated its seniors during their games, Feb. 15-16. B1
See SERIES, A6
Students
await CFAW Dylan Friberg dwfriberg@liberty.edu
Liberty University students are preparing for the semester’s first College for a Weekend (CFAW), Feb. 22-24. CFAW is one of Liberty University’s largest events. Twice a semester, thousands of high school students travel to Liberty’s campus to get a taste of the college life. This time around, college students will host more than 2,000 incoming visitors, according to the Student Advocate Office. “Spring CFAWs are always larger, because in the fall, it is only for juniors and seniors, and then in the spring, it opens up for sophomores,” recruitment event coordinator Ericka Morris said. “From September when they start, until April when they finish, (the groups) gradually get larger.” According to Morris, CFAW is an opportunity for students to talk to professors in their field of interest, attend campus activities and get a feel for college life from an inside perspective. “CFAW is our main and largest recruitment event, but a lot of times students also use it for a college preview weekend,” Morris said. “It’s kind of like
See CFAW, A2
INSIDE THE CHAMPION News
Liberty University students and faculty members alike packed into DeMoss Hall 1090 to hear author and speaker Leslie Leyland Fields talk about a new way for evangelical Christians to interact with the surrounding culture. Fields was introduced by professor Karen Swallow Prior, who had developed a relationship with the writer after hearing one of her lectures. “My specialty is 18th-century authors,” Prior said. “I’m used to studying dead people. To find one I like who’s alive and kicking — it’s very exciting.” Fields opened her lecture with a summary of the current evangelical trend regarding secular society. According to Fields, there has been enormous change in how Christians view their place in the culture. “We live in exciting times,” Fields said. “Christians are standing up, and sometimes being heard. Christians are engaging culture. Part of that started right here, back in the ‘70s. As Jerry Falwell (Sr.) said, we are part of the ‘moral majority.’ … Now, Christian colleges and universities are blooming.” However, Fields believes that altering the culture has proven nearly impossible to accomplish through human means. “Good things have happened and are happening because of this shift — but not-so-good things have happened as well,” Fields said. According to Fields, 79 percent of white evangelicals voted for Romney, but he still did not win the presidential election. Only 2 percent of people go to
Feature “Carousel” opened at the Tower Theater Friday, Feb. B6 15.
News Opinion Sports Feature
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