Senator Josh Hawley Encourages Students To Be Courageous During Convocation Speech March 28

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., took the stage at Convocation March 28 to encourage students to be courageous and use their boldness to become men and women of valor for the Lord.  

At the beginning Friday’s gathering, Josh Rutledge, the vice president of Spiritual Development, encouraged students to vote in the Student Government Association election that day, and also asked the audience to consider participating in Serve Lynchburg April 26. Serve Lynchburg is an annual tradition for Liberty University, where students and staff show the love of Christ through a day of service in the city’s community.  

Following worship, Chancellor Jonathan Falwell introduced Hawley as a prominent constitutional lawyer and senator that has represented the state of Missouri since 2019. Hawley began his time onstage by introducing his wife, Erin Hawley, and daughter, Abigail, to the listeners.  

Hawley’s message focused on Judges 6, which is centered around the account of Gideon.  

The senator noted that in the beginning of the chapter, Gideon was in a desperate place, comparing the fear and spiritual oppression of the biblical period to the United States today. Hawley listed some of the false gods present in modern American society — including secularism and materialism — and stated that these philosophies are a form of spiritual oppression on the culture.  

 “When we open the book of Judges, we find Gideon afraid … but something happens to Gideon,” Hawley said. “God gives him a supernatural blessing. He gives him a supernatural anointing, and he uses Gideon … to change the destiny of a nation.”  

According to Hawley, the greatest need in America is spiritual revival. 

“God had a bigger plan for Gideon’s life and God wasn’t done with the nation of Israel. And I believe God has a bigger plan for your life and God is not done with the United States of America,” Hawley said.  

Gideon’s transformation was contingent on his anointing from the Lord.  

“He’s going to take Gideon from… a place of fear (and) timidity, and He’s going to make him one of the boldest leaders in the history of Israel. He is going to make him a fearless, courageous warrior for the Lord,” Hawley said. 

The senator stated that the nation, the church and the Kingdom of God need ordinary people who can muster up godly courage and receive the same anointing as Gideon to make a difference for Christ.  

He then asked students if they truly wanted to follow in the biblical hero’s footsteps and proceeded to give three instructional steps to embrace the Lord’s calling based on the passage in Judges. 

First, Hawley told students to accept God’s vision. Even though Gideon had not fought in battles yet, God still declared he would fulfill his purpose as a “mighty man of valor.” He emphasized that God calls each believer to be a mighty man or woman of valor for his Kingdom, and this begins by embracing God’s proclamation of our identity. 

Hawley’s second point of instruction was to “tear down your idols.” Like Gideon, Christians are called to set aside their worldly fixations and pursue the Lord wholeheartedly.  

“When God calls us, he doesn’t leave us where we are … God calls us to serve him,” Hawley said. 

 In order to best serve God, the senator said it is essential to identify one’s idols, such as overprioritizing personal performance or money, and put those immoral idolizations aside.  

Finally, Hawley challenged each student to “put your life on the altar.” He quoted Romans 12:1, in which Christians are instructed to offer their lives as living sacrifices to the Lord.  

“Gideon is transformed by the fire of God that falls on his sacrifice,” Hawley said.  

To fully receive the Lord’s anointing and transformation, the senator said that Christians must make personal sacrifices for God’s Kingdom.  

“Do you want to be a man or woman of fire (for the Lord)?” Hawley asked. He challenged students to consider what they were willing to “put on the altar that the Lord might fall in fire and ignite (their) life.” 

He then concluded his time by leading students in prayer, asking that God would “extend the Gideon anointing” to each one of them, and that they would be “on fire” for the Lord.  

Senior Nikki Carlo was inspired by Hawley’s message.  

“What I took away was wanting to pray for further passion for the gospel,” Carlo said. 

When asked to summarize the Convocation message in one word, senior Bella Binev chose “sacrifice.”  

“Living a life on the altar requires sacrifice,” Binev said.  

Barta is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion.