This summer was nothing short of fantastic. It was easily one of the best summers of my life and I didn't even really do anything super exciting. I, along with many other Liberty students, was awaiting the list of convo speakers to be posted towards the end of the summer when Liberty dropped the first of many bombs on us. Our beloved Johnnie Moore had left us. I was really upset by this. It dulled some of my enthusiasm to return to school, but I was still hopeful for what was to come. When my parents dropped me off and I was instantly homesick, I knew this year would be very different. I had never been homesick before and it was weird that it happened my third year. It was a rough start for me, life was busier than it had ever been and a lot of things I loved I had to let go of because God was opening doors for greater things that I could not see. I was really unsettled that things were so different and both my passion for God and Liberty seemed to have faded. I was and still am fighting cynicism. There just seemed to be a lot of discouragement and spiritual warfare. That's when this picture popped on to my timeline and I have been clinging to the truth for a while now:
Things started to look up and I was becoming more excited about God and school again, hints of the old me began to resurface, the me that was passionate for Jesus and His mission and I was excited. My relationship with God has grown infinitely deeper these past few weeks and I'm learning about how to follow Him in valleys because the past two years have been majority mountaintops and I guess you could say that was the second major change that I have has to adapt to.
The third, however, is one that was only announced on Monday, but it has rocked me more than the other two combined. It honestly shocked me to my core. Justin Kintzel stepped down as worship pastor. Mid semester. No goodbye. One day he was there and the next he wasn't. I had no idea how affected I would be by this, but now that I think about it, I'm not surprised. This was a man who was always in the eyes of the student body. One that we held in high esteem and looked forward to seeing. Not that this wasn't the case with Johnnie Moore, but with Justin it was different for me. This man stopped what he was doing one night after campus church my freshman year and prayed with me. I was going through a lot of stuff at this point during the semester and Justin saw a small and broken freshman girl crying and he stopped and prayed with her. Not only that, but when he saw me the next semester he remembered me and stopped to ask how I was doing. To this day, I don't think he knows how much that did for me. So Justin, if by some chance you are reading this, thank you. From the depths of my heart thank you. I have no other words.
I won't say that all these changes, including seeing less of Clayton King (whose sermons were both used to call me into ministry and baptize me), haven't left me hurting and doubting the school that I once blindly loved and trusted. But I will say that my heart is aching more now for David Nasser than for my own hearts questions. I have seen so much hate directed towards this man over every social media possible. I have even read rumors of booing him tomorrow at convo. The very thought of this happening brings me to tears. There are so many things that are not okay with this. He is a child of God, just as we are, and this is now how the body of Christ should be treating each other. Also, we don't have all the facts and I understand and the anger and the doubt, trust me, I've wrestled with it in my own heart, but that does not mean it's ok to bash and hate him. Maybe this comes from me being the new kid on the block one too many times, but I am all to accustomed to the feeling of not fitting in. I know what it is to be ostracized and disliked just for being new and I'm sure many others do as well. David Nasser is facing those same things. He moved his whole family here and it is unfair of us to place all of this blame on him and not accept him into this family at Liberty. I'm not saying this is easy and I do need to practice what I preach, but I do know that Liberty is held in high esteem and will be closely watched throughout these changes. A friend recently said this to me "The Bible is a lamp to our feet, not a floodlight, more often then not we'll only see a few steps ahead of us". The hard thing is that we usually prefer to know the whole plan right away, the good part is that we will never be in the dark. Let's send off Johnnie and Justin in a way that will make them proud. Let's shine the light of Jesus and make much of him because regardless of us the Gospel will be preached. Be cautious in what you post on social media and be mighty in prayer. Let us all as a student body lift up these great men of God before the throne. Regardless, our God is still great and constant and it's not ok for our doubts and fears to overcome that truth.
