In 2006, I was a junior and a student leader at California Baptist University. I vividly remember the day Soulforce came to campus as part of their Equality Ride. According to an article in Christianity Today that was published on March 9, 2006, “The seven-week bus tour will take 35 gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and straight 18- to 28-year-olds to colleges with behavior codes that Soulforce calls discriminatory.” CBU was one of the schools they visited. As a student leader, I was asked to participate in a panel discussion to hear the stories and experiences direct from the Soulforce visitors, and have conversations aimed at understanding.
It was one of the most enlightening days of my life up to that point. I was a Christian, but I hadn’t really been asked to wrestle in my faith. I mean, there was this one time in high school when Anna told our friend that he was going to hell because he was a Mormon and we all know that wasn’t the best way to handle the situation, but I had grown up in a conservative Christian family and hadn’t experienced much opposition to my belief system. I didn’t know a ton about homosexuality when the panel began. I knew God created man and woman and I knew I believed firmly in the inherency of Scripture. But as the discussions concluded I understood one thing far more clearly: the church and individual Christians had contributed to deep wounds that were unresolved in the hearts of the people I had met and interacted with that day. I was heartbroken and there was this unsettled sense stirring within me. It led to a resolution: we had to do better because THAT version of displaying the love of Christ was not a reflection of the Jesus I knew.
In 2014 some of the right people believed in me enough to spur me on and set into motion dreams I didn't even dare to fully realize. CHOSEN came to life that year - one of the most beautiful gifts the Lord has ever given me. It has required me to step up and in, to become, to rely on Him, to seek wisdom and find strength to run and then keep running. He has never failed. Right now, 5 years later, I find myself on my knees constantly as I desperately hope to lead well, love well, serve well. I long to shine the light of Christ without wounding. I am stepping out in faith, navigating these very waters with teens I know by name and have walked alongside for years. I want them to see the Jesus I know - I want them to meet Him through me. THIS is what that day was for.
In 2014 some of the right people believed in me enough to spur me on and set into motion dreams I didn't even dare to fully realize. CHOSEN came to life that year - one of the most beautiful gifts the Lord has ever given me. It has required me to step up and in, to become, to rely on Him, to seek wisdom and find strength to run and then keep running. He has never failed. Right now, 5 years later, I find myself on my knees constantly as I desperately hope to lead well, love well, serve well. I long to shine the light of Christ without wounding. I am stepping out in faith, navigating these very waters with teens I know by name and have walked alongside for years. I want them to see the Jesus I know - I want them to meet Him through me. THIS is what that day was for.
2006 was 12 years ago now. So much life has happened. Even still I can picture the exact place I sat in that room in the Student Life Center of the Yeager Building at CBU (now there is a Chick-fil-A across the hall - THAT SHOULD FOR SURE tell you things have changed. I can promise you we weren’t swiping our meal cards for a #1 with an unsweetened arnold palmer in MY DAY on campus!). That day my eyes were opened to the hurt that motivated Soulforce to embark on that Equality Ride. That day it was confusing and overwhelming. Today I am abundantly grateful and consider it a gift of God's kindness to me. He allowed me to be present in that room for those conversations. That stirring was appointed and intended for such a time as this.
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