Awakening: Remembering freedom
Ruth Bibby Freedom — Sonic Flood played at a free concert to close Saturday night’s session. Photo Credit: Ruth Bibby.
“Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
These words of Ronald Reagan appropriately ushered in the last night of the Awakening, Liberty University’s annual political conference featuring more than 60 speakers. The Awakening took place April 8 and 9.
“We’re going to pray, we’re going to repent, we’re going to be educated and we’re going to be motivated,” Dean of Liberty University’s law school Mat Staver said of the event.
The conference began at Convocation on Friday, with a speech from pro-life activist Lila Rose who talked about what she called “the greatest human rights issue that our nation is facing—” abortion.
Rose founded Live Action at the age of 15.
The nonprofit, youth-led organization uses media to inform and mobilize people against the injustices of abortion clinics.
“(Investigative journalism was used to uncover) shocking findings about what goes on behind the closed doors of Planned Parenthood,” Rose said.
The conference continued Friday night with a series of speeches at the main sanctuary of Thomas Road Baptist Church (TRBC). Staver opened the event.
“We have a country that is literally out of control. This country is broken,” Staver said. “It is time in this generation that there is an awakening that transforms this world.”
Other speakers included head of the Virginia Tea party and Liberty alumna Jamie Radtke, first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives Michele Bachmann and president, of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference Samuel Rodriguez.
“The speakers are authentic,” executive chairman of College Republicans at Liberty University Zach Martin said.
There was also a panel, including Ohio’s Secretary of State J. Ken Blackwell, discussing the future of the conservative movement.
“I’ve been watching people who have been my heroes for years,” College Republicans member Tim Johnson said. “It has been an opportunity to meet some rock stars from political arena which is great.”
Activities continued Saturday with break out sessions and presentations from speakers including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
Saturday night’s session concluded the conference with a concert from Sonicflood.
Throughout the concert, keynote speakers presented their organizations and causes.
Executive producer of the feature-length documentary, “Sex+Money: A National Search for Human Worth,” Morgan Perry spoke about the problem of sex trafficking in the U. S.
The CEO of Concerned Women of America, Penny Nance spoke on telling the truth to those in power in the U. S., Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd was honored by Staver with the 2011 Great American Hero award for his stance against pedophilia, and Sonicflood’s lead singer Rick Heil told of his healing from Crohn’s Disease.
This year marked the second annual Awakening at Liberty.
“The Awakening is off to a running start,” Johnson said. “It has been very heartening to see people come out for this.”