Students Hear From Pittsburgh Steelers Players and Wes Huff During Convocation April 2 and 4

Kent Chevalier, chaplain for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Steelers players Alex Highsmith, Payton Wilson and Miles Killebrew took the stage during Convocation April 2, while Wesley Huff spoke April 4. 

On Wednesday, Convocation kicked off with K’saan Preston and the Liberty Worship Collective leading worship. It was also announced that the Collective’s version of “Shall Not Want” was released that morning on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music and TIDAL. The Liberty Christian Academy’s football team was also recognized for winning the Virginia Class 3 State Championship. 

Vice President of Spiritual Development Josh Rutledge then sat down with the Steelers crew, along with Liberty University’s Head Football Coach Jamey Chadwell. Chevalier spoke of his appreciation for the Steelers players and their spiritual lives. He emphasized how they honor the Lord in their lives and contribute to genuine and intentional Christian fellowship, even when they are busy during the week. 

“They don’t get to experience this like you all get to experience this, because they will often be playing on the weekends, so they can’t get to a church service or worship service,” Chevalier said. “So, our role is to basically bring in the Lord into the locker rooms and help these guys be able to want to follow Jesus.” 

Next, Highsmith admired the great opportunity Liberty students have to attend Convocation every week. He also shared how the Steelers and their opposing teams often pray together. 

“Every week, we meet with the opposing team, we pray together at the end of the game in a circle together. I think it’s just unique in our sport,” Highsmith said. 

Killebrew shared details about his involvement in the National Football League, describing how hard it is to develop long-lasting relationships. He said many players and friends come and go, and it is often difficult to connect with other players on a spiritual level. 

“Just from a professional standpoint, understanding that, has been a journey of overcoming that and realizing that ‘Hey, listen, no matter if someone’s in your life for a season or multiple, Jesus has to be the forefront,’” Killebrew said. 

Wilson emphasized his spiritual growth and college experiences. Wilson confessed that he felt lost in college, and spoke of the tremendous dose of reality he received after his arrest in 2019. 

“That was a big wakeup call for me. … I really embarrassed myself, my family and the Lord. And ever since then, … I’ve really changed, you know, grew so close with the Lord,” Wilson said. 

Students really enjoyed hearing about the chaplain and players’ spiritual transformations, gaining behind-the-scenes knowledge of professional football games and learning about the Lord’s presence in the league. 

“It is cool to see that Christians are still in heavily dominated industries, especially in the public, where there is so much controversy right now. It’s nice to see Christians holding their ground and still following the Lord,” freshman Lauren Nelson said. 

Friday’s Convocation began with the School of Music’s Jazz Faculty Quartet on stage, along with President Dondi Costin subsequently welcoming the College for a Weekend visitors. 

Huff, a Canadian speaker and Christian apologist, took the stage to discuss the Bible and its history. He shared his system, which he called “Walk Through History with Wes Huff,” to teach Liberty students about the historical facts of the Bible.  

Huff talked about the original authors of the biblical books, and asked “Is what we have now what the original authors wrote back then?” Huff then compared the differences between Old English and Modern English in the Bible, and how much the Holy Book’s language has changed over the years. 

Huff played a recording of multiple distorted messages mixed together to give an example of how the brain looks for a “neurospecific cognitive key” to make sense of what is being heard amid chaos. He then argued that navigating the world is like navigating through a collection of distorted messages and noises.  

“Just like there are all these factors kind of thrown at you, in this world that we live in there are likewise worldview white noises that we have to sift through. And much like the confusion of all those clips, that’s sometimes like the world that we’re trying to navigate. And … sometimes it’s hard to even figure out what we believe, never mind trying to interact what other people in this beautiful, yet broken, world believe,” Huff said.  

Students enjoyed hearing Huff’s knowledge of the history of the Bible, and his insightful introduction of topics that were new to them. 

“I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really informative, but it was also really engaging at the same time. It wasn’t just a dry history of stuff that happened,” junior Rachael de Klerk said. 

Brinckerhoff is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion.