Shane Pruitt and Jaelene Daniels speak at Convo

Students packed the brightly lit Vines Center Oct. 25 and 27 to hear from speakers Shane Pruitt and Jaelene Daniels during two faith-based Convocations. Both speakers shared insights into their journeys and walks with Christ.

On Wednesday, Oct. 25, Pruitt, Next Gen pastor, graced the Convocation stage following a handful of songs performed by the Worship Collective. Standing in the middle of the large stage, he began unpacking
his PowerPoint.

“Culture calls your generation Gen Z, but I call your generation the revival generation,” Pruitt said.

He continued on, explaining that as he continues to preach and teach the Bible to the younger generation and to teenagers, he has been beginning to see an influx in the amount of people being saved.

“The same gospel that has been saving people for 2,000 years still works today,” Pruitt said. “God is calling us to
know him.”

He dove into Ephesians to discuss what it truly means to walk in our calling, moving through various definitions within the PowerPoint to keep students engaged throughout the discussion.

Pruitt emphasized that we as Christians don’t worship a God who is far away from us, but rather a God who is consistently up close and personal and means to be involved in our everyday lives.

“He calls us to know him and to make his name known,” Pruitt said. “But not only has he called us to do that, he has empowered us to do that.” 

Pollack continued the duration of his speech encouraging students to begin or even continue their walks with Christ and further reiterating his points surrounding sharing the gospel and what it really  means to be a Christian. 

Following Pruitt’s Convocation was Daniels, who spoke on Friday, Oct. 27. Daniels has received All-American honors in soccer along with a handful of other accolades and awards, and she was selected seventh overall in the 2015 NWSL College Draft. She played soccer professionally for seven years. 

Grammy Award-winning artist Michael W. Smith began the morning by playing solo on the piano. He also joined the Worship Collective in performance before Daniels took the stage alongside her husband,
Matthew Daniels.

“Take us back and tell us a little bit about your story, your upbringing and your testimony,” Rutledge said. 

Daniels shared that she grew up in a Christian household where church was equivalent to home. She and her family were at church almost every day of the week, and because of this, she grew up with a strong knowledge of who God is. 

Although she’d memorized things like Scripture from an early age, there were still details missing from the picture. 

“My faith was purely fear-based,” Daniels said. “I had this perception that I had to earn my salvation, so my childhood was filled with a lot of fear and anxiety, and that was really my perception of God for a long time. That really didn’t change
until college.”

During college, Daniels suffered a life-altering injury. What was originally thought to be a muscle strain turned into a full-leg blood clot that threatened Daniel’s life and sports career altogether. The clot required a risky surgery that, if unsuccessful, would put Daniels on the sidelines and on blood thinners for the rest of her life. 

“I just remember sitting in this hospital and praying this prayer, and I said, ‘Lord, I know that I’ve been one foot in and one foot out with you, but if you help me out of this situation, I’ll find out what it means to fully pursue you.’”

The next morning, Daniels came out of surgery expecting bad news, but instead, received nothing but good. The doctors succeeded in removing all of the blood clot — something that was viewed as a miracle — and Daniels was able to return to the playing field after recovery. 

This marked a turning point in her relationship with Christ, and Daniels shared faith-based words of encouragement with
the audience.

“Being prepared to step into any atmosphere where your faith might be challenged, you have no idea the lives on the other side of that. Trust the Lord and build that relationship with him now,”
Daniels said.

Hess is the news editor for the Liberty Champion