Gardner Webb University

This event was a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to share the experience. The Gardner Webb University event was AMAZING! So many kids showed up that not only did they pack out the room we had set up, but they spilled out into the halls trying to lean in and catch a view. I ended up setting up my computer and trying to sync the movie so we could have a second 'screen'. It warmed my little heart, haha.

When I first got to gardner webb, I was a little intimidated by its 'prestige', but found yet again that you can never judge the people of a compound by the compound itself. Every 'warzone' is home to real people. Families, kids, grandmothers. Not only terrorist. Im not saying that Gardner Webb is a 'warzone', but that its (what seemed to me at the time as overindulgent) landscaping and brick buildings took me aback at first, only to be taken aback yet again by its people and the beauty found in their stories and lives. My stigmas are being broken left and right.

The discussion time was so fantastic. I am loving that this film is seeming to create environments conducive to free thought and conversation. A place where every opinion is freely welcomed and honored. I think one of the biggest reasons for the chasm we see in the church is due to a lack of communication. There is such a pride in the church, and that spirit has to be broken and deconstructed. We have to become a people who learn to disagree well, and in love. Most of the reasons there is such an ignorance in our lives is because we are terrified in sounding and being 'wrong'. As finite as our minds are, who TRULY incarnates the 'truth' apart from God? Its time to start talking about the 'tough stuff', because the root of loving our neighbor is knowing them and understanding their hearts. We have to begin to love one another, not only in word, but in deed.

I stayed in that lounge after the Q&A until about 5am talking with some of those students. Most of them didn't want to go to sleep that night feeling the apathy they have felt the night before. I honor that sort of desire. The bible says that those who diligently seek God, find God. There is no better time to begin seeking Him then now. Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. That burden only becomes light when it begins to be shared. Its time to bear our hearts to one another. The time for change is now.