Evangelist Tim Lee and activist Gia Chacón spoke at Convocation April 15 and 17, sharing their personal experiences and challenging students to reflect on their faith. The speakers emphasized the power of individual testimony and the global reality of Christian persecution.
Wednesday’s Convocation featured Lee, chairman of the Liberty University Board of Trustees, evangelist and Marine Corps veteran, who shared his personal story of salvation, hardship and God’s faithfulness. He first spoke at Liberty in 1984, and this time Lee centered his message on the importance of testimony.
“All through the Bible, stories are important,” Lee said. “The Bible talks about stories in James 4:14; he talks about what is your life. In Acts 5:20, it says go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.”
Lee’s emphasis on storytelling highlighted the idea that faith is not abstract but lived out through real experiences.
“My God, the God of this Bible, is a God of a second chance and sometimes a third and sometimes even more than that,” Lee said.
That theme of grace carried through his message, as Lee pointed students toward the idea that failure does not define a person’s future with God. Instead, he described God as continually offering restoration and purpose.
He also described conviction as a direct encounter with God that forces reflection on eternal truth.
Lee then reflected on his salvation at age 10, describing it as the defining moment of his life.
“God changed my life; he saved me and gave me eternal life, and if you’ve been saved, that is the greatest thing that’s ever happened in your life,” Lee said. “If you’ve never been saved, then your life is incomplete.”
However, Lee acknowledged that his early faith did not prevent later rebellion. After being kicked out of college, he joined the Marine Corps. While serving in South Vietnam in 1971, Lee was severely injured in combat.
“At 1:30 in the afternoon, I stepped on a 60-pound mine,” Lee said. “It blew me several feet into the air. It ripped both of my legs off my body. I should have been killed instantly.”
The moment marked a turning point in his testimony, shifting the focus toward survival and reliance on others. During recovery, Lee said he encountered bitterness among many patients he was in hospitals with, but he made a deliberate decision to reject that mindset.
“Bitterness will destroy you. Bitterness is a cancer. Bitterness will make you angry at anything and everything,” Lee said. “And I didn’t want that in my life. I couldn’t get my legs back; there was nothing that I could do about that. I didn’t want to be bitter.”
The choice became central to his message that while circumstances cannot always be changed, attitudes can.
Lee concluded by urging students to respond to the Gospel personally and immediately.
“Make it right with God today,” Lee said. “Here’s the great news: He wants to come and live in your life.”
Friday’s Convocation featured Chacón, founder of For the Martyrs, in a panel discussion with Vice President of Spiritual Development Josh Rutledge. Her message shifted the focus from personal testimony to global persecution and the responsibility of the global church.
“At the time, I was living a very comfortable Christianity,” Chacón said. “I had one foot planted in my faith and the other was in the world.”
Chacón used her own background to highlight how comfort can shape a shallow understanding of faith. That perspective began to change when she traveled with her grandmother to Egypt and encountered believers whose faith required sacrifice.
“On that trip with my grandmother, I met Egyptian Christians who were willing to lay down their life for Christ,” Chacón said.
That experience challenged her assumptions and led her to further international work, including a trip to Jordan, where she met Iraqi Christian refugees fleeing Islamic State group persecution.
“If they could have Jesus, there was nothing that wasn’t worth sacrificing — even their life,” Chacón said.
Chacón also referenced the killing of the 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by the Islamic State group in 2015, when the men were executed on a Libyan beach after refusing to renounce their faith.
“Despite this threat, despite the pressure, these Christians have this immeasurable joy,” Chacón said. “They love Jesus so much, and it is pouring out of them.”
She explained that this level of faith changes how believers live daily.
“When you have to make the decision that you are willing to die for your faith, it changes how you live, and your faith becomes everything to you,” Chacón said.
Chacón encouraged students to live boldly even in environments of comfort and pressure.
“We need the boldness to stand strong in our faith when we’re not facing persecution, with our comfortable Christianity or the intimidation that we see,” Chacón said.
Chacón also explained she founded For the Martyrs to amplify persecuted voices and mobilize Western Christians.
“All the things that we would think would be their first need are probably the last things they say,” Chacón said. “The first thing that they say is, ‘we need your prayer.’ The second thing they say is, ‘we need your voice.’”
She concluded by challenging students to respond through prayer, advocacy and participation.
Both Convocations ultimately pointed students toward action. Lee focused on personal transformation and surrender to God, while Chacón expanded that call to include global awareness and responsibility for the persecuted church. Together, their messages emphasized that faith is not only personal belief but a lived response that extends beyond the individual.
Clardy is the off campus news editor for the Liberty Champion.