College For A Weekend crowd joins convocation;
Dr. Ergun Caner speaks on God’s will for our lives

Liberty University welcomed more than 1,600 high school students to College For A Weekend (CFAW) at Friday convocation in the Vines Center. Vice Chancellor Dr. Ron Godwin said the students exploring LU this weekend are the largest CFAW crowd yet.

CFAW gives high school students a chance to experience life at Liberty as they decide where they will spend their college years. They can attend classes with LU students, eat in the dining facilities, stay in the residence halls and enjoy extracurricular activities. There are four CFAWs planned throughout the year, two each semester.

Godwin encouraged the visiting students to apply early, as LU will be closing out its enrollment early in May, for the second time in the school’s history.

Dr. Ergun Caner, president and dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary since 2006, presented the convocation message. Raised a Sunni Muslim, he became a Christian in 1982 after moving to the U.S. He is a frequent speaker at Liberty University’s Campus Church services.

Caner’s message was derived from 1 Timothy 4:

“Let no man despise, reject, look down upon or mock your youth but be an example to the believers in word, conduct, love, spirit, faith and in purity. Till I come, pay attention to the reading and to exhortation and to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the elders. Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them so that your progress may be evidence to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and you will save those that hear thee.”

He encouraged students to discern what God’s will is when faced with a difficult decision.

“It is possible to know what God wants for you; God has not only called you he has gifted you,” he said.

He told students that God’s will always sharpens the tools or gifts that God has given to that individual, and that God’s will cannot be forgotten.

“God calls everyone; he doesn’t just call preachers.”

Caner said God’s will is set apart from man’s in that it makes an individual feel alive and excited, and individuals will hear, one way or another, from God when a path is His will.

“You’ve got to be vulnerable enough to listen to the voice of God, but visionary enough not to listen to the voices of men,” he said.

—— Also at convocation, LU Athletics Director Jeff Barber encouraged students, staff, and visitors to attend this weekend’s athletic events. Both men’s and women’s basketball teams have their opening match Friday night in the Vines Center. The women will tip off at 7 p.m. against Virginia Commonwealth University and the men will face off against the Montreat Cavaliers at 9:15 p.m. The men’s club hockey team has matches in the LaHaye Ice Center Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. On Saturday, the volleyball team will host Winthrop at 2 p.m., and the football team will play their last conference game of the season against Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m. in Williams Stadium.

Barber also asked to students to support the Flames next weekend in a very important football game, with the possibility of getting a bid in the postseason.

“We play what we think is the most important game in the history of Liberty football next Saturday against Elon,” Barber said. “They are a top 10 team.”

LU will face Elon on Nov. 22 at 1 p.m. at Williams Stadium.