“Gospel Explosion was awesome!” “I’m so glad I came.” “Jesus was definitely glorified tonight.” These are quotes from first time Gospel Explosion goers.

Gospel Explosion is an on campus concert featuring the Gardner-Webb E. Jerome Scott Gospel Choir. This third annual concert, under the direction of Canaan Grier, began promptly at 7:30 p.m. in the Dover Theatre as promised.

According to Grier, a senior and Discipleship major, the origin of Gospel Explosion comes from the passage of scripture in the Bible, Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

“We make sure the name of Jesus is presented. It is radical and [it is] crazy. If you’re not ashamed [of him], you’re going to be radical about it,” said Grier.

With a band consisting of two keyboardists, a drummer, a bongo and bass guitar player, the choir started the night with a hand-clapping, foot-stomping, bumping rendition of gospel singer Deitrick Haddon’s ‘Watch Me Praise Him.’

The choir connected with the audience as numerous people began to stand and clap their hands and sing along. The night was off to a good start with songs such as ‘God is Great,’ ‘Here I Am To Worship and ‘Indescribable.’ The Dover Theatre was packed full of people who enjoyed praising and worshiping God.

The night was not solely about praising God through song but through other artistic forms. Darelle Dove, a student at Gardner-Webb and also a member of the Gospel Choir, was not ashamed to radically spread the good news of Christ, in the form of spoken word.

In his words Dove emphatically expressed his sincere love for God. Very precise, distinct and persuasive he informed the audience of God’s love for us. The following act was Heart of Fire Dance Ministry. They danced unashamedly to two dance numbers.

Earlier in the week Grier stated the goal of Gospel Explosion. “The main goal is for people to come to Christ through the music they hear.” The goal was reached and achieved by the end of the night. As the choir sang a medley of soft melodious songs of surrendering to Christ, one by one people walked down to the front of the Theatre and gave their lives to him.

Ministers in the audience came down to pray with each person, as people everywhere wiped their own tear stained cheeks. It was a beautiful sight.

“You may not remember our names, but it’s our responsibility that you know Jesus. To God be all the glory! We don’t want none of it!” Grier said excitably.

“It’s not just a history thing or a religion thing. It’s cross disciplines,” said Dr. Lisa Allen, director for Christian Ethics and Leadership.

This week, April 7-14, Gardner- Webb University joins the nation in remembering victims and survivors of the Holocaust that occurred during WWII. This is the first year the Gardner-Webb community has participated due to the strong efforts of Dr. Eddie Stepp, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Religious Studies.

After attending a conference at the National U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Dr. Stepp, along with some of his colleagues, found it important to raise awareness on this campus.

“This week coincides with the actual religious date on the Jewish calendar, Yom HaShoah,” said Dr. Allen. This day was celebrated on April 7.

Dr. Allen gives three reasons to why this week is beneficial to college students. First, “[it is] to educate all about the historic events leading up to, during and after [the Holocaust].” Secondly, “… the community [needs] to be inspired when hate controls our world… this happened because people hate and want to destroy lives…” Dr. Allen goes on to talk passionately about hate, control and manipulation and how it ruins lives.

“An awareness of this reality is important. You never know when you’ll have the opportunity to say something or do something,” said Dr. Stepp. Thirdly, Dr. Allen encourages active participation in hate crimes. “This didn’t have to happen,” she says. “Vast majorities have ignored it in the past,” said Dr. Stepp. Crimes like this continue to happen because people are silent.

Hate crimes to minority groups are still present this day. Gardner-Webb University is a campus that shows great interest and support on raising awareness about topics and issues that often go unnoticed. Prior there have been awareness weeks expanding from topics/issues such as Hunger to Human Trafficking. The Gardner-Webb community should not stop there.

This University houses different minority groups and ethnicities. Hopefully the University will delve back into history and think of other minority groups that have been ostracized, discriminated against and were victims of control and manipulation, and commemorate their struggles and triumphs as well.

When raising awareness we should want to be all inclusive because America is a melting-pot of many cultures. As an institution of higher learning Gardner-Webb would benefit from exposing its students to the struggles and triumphs of other minority groups. By not taking advantage of such an opportunity, would this make Gardner-Webb guilty of adding to the silence? Should not the University make their students cognitively aware of past hate crimes against minorities and their recurring tendencies?

When referring to the Holocaust and past hate crimes against other minorities Dr. Stepp adds, “There are parallels, from the standpoint ignorance and racial prejudices motivated these events.” “People are equal in God’s eyes. There is no hate,” Dr. Allen politely states.

This week at noon students have been reading the names of victims of the Holocaust in the cafeteria. Informational links and videos have also been posted to the Webb Connect portal for general use. To end the week’s activities, on Sunday, April 14, the movie ‘God On Trial’ will be shown in the Tucker Center’s movie theatre.

Following the film there will be panel of professors, Dr. Yelton- History Professor, Dr. Blevins- Professor of Theology and Ethics, Dr. Carscaddon- Psychology Professor and Dr. Stepp, who will answer questions regarding the film, “but we’ll open it up for any further discussion,” informs Dr. Stepp.

Let us end this week asking ourselves this question, a quote from Dr. Eddie Stepp, “How do we think about others and how do we interact with people who are different from us?”

gwu-today.com Reporter Madeline Coleman

Its National Athletic Training month and for most people an athletic trainer is the person on the side line that is there if you need them. However, it is much more than that, athletic trainers go day to day with injured athletes to try and rehabilitate them so they can get back on the court, field or track.

Ben Bell a sophomore at Gardner-Webb sat down to discuss his feelings on what NAT month meant to him. To Bell the month is about promotion of the degree and profession he plans to pursue. He plans to graduate and pursue a career working as an athletic trainer in the NFL. Bell inspiration to be a trainer stems from when he was injured and had athletic trainers who worked with him daily to get him back on the playing field.

“I want to be able to help athletes who are injured and need me to get them back in top shape so they can play,” said Bell. “I want to be able to watch them recover and get back into their sport, like the trainers did for me when I was injured in a basketball game.”

gwu-today.com Reporter Matthew Johnson

The Gardner-Webb University women’s tennis team (4-7) took the court on March 20^th against UNC Asheville.

The matches started off with doubles by Jenny Lunde and Erica White. Lunde and White came out strong and finished strong, winning the match 8-0, giving the Runnin’ Bulldogs a 1-0 lead over the Bulldogs. The second pair of doubles consisted of Yasmin Doost and Rokia Sacko, struggling in their first couple sets, rallied back from a 3-0 score to make an upset win of 9-7.

Singles were filled with excitement and emotion. White winning her 9^th singles match cruised past her opponent winning with a score of 6-1. Doost took the first 3 sets to win the match 6-1.

Lunde the reigning Big South player of the Week pulled off an amazing match against visiting Bulldog Amryn Soldier with a score of 6-2. Valeriia Popka searching for some light in her match, came back to win with a score of 7-5 proving herself as a worthy adversary. Sacko staying strong in her match going back and forth lost her match with a score of 7-5

The Runnin’ Bulldogs came away with a great win against UNC Asheville. With a record of 5-7 they look to keep adding to their wins in the Big South Conference as they play Liberty on March 23^rd at 12:30.

gwu-today.com Reporter Xavier Stewart

Gardner-Webb brought their season to an end with a lost against Eastern Kentucky in the College Insider Post-Season Tournament game on Tuesday night. The end score was Gardner-Webb 62 and Eastern Kentucky 69.

The game started out with great momentum from both teams. Eastern Kentucky took the lead with the first basket. Gardner-Webb led by 2 with 18:10 to go. Overall, the score tied 5 times, with the lead changing 6.

The two teams trailed each other for the first 10 minutes, and then Eastern Kentucky came out strong and pushed the score to a 9 point lead with 6:16 remaining in the first half.

After the half Gardner-Webb came back a little slow. Eastern Kentucky held a 13 point lead with 13:10 to go in the second half. A series of turnovers and fouls by Eastern Kentucky put Gardner-Webb back in the game.

“We just had to stay focused and keep executing,” said senior Tashan Newsome. “We been in situations like that before, unfortunately things didn’t go our way in the end.”

There were a total number of 36 rebounds for the Runnin’ Bulldogs. Sophomore Donta Harper was the leading scoring for Gardner-Webb with a total of 17 points and 5 rebounds. Newsome tallied a total of 15 points, while Kevin Hartley was close behind with 11 points and 9 rebounds.

“I have never been more proud of a team as I am this one,” said Head Coach Chris Holtmann. “For a season that is special in so many ways; I hate to see it end, but it’s been a great ride.”

The leading scorer for Eastern Kentucky was Cory Walden with 26 points and Glenn Cosey with 22. Holtman said “I definitely have to give credit to Eastern Kentucky on tonight. They shot almost 50 percent from the 3 point line.”

Both the coaches and the returning players look forward to a better season next year.

gwu-today.com Reporter Kanisha Fowler

” Every season is different and next year will pose its own unique challenges, but this weekend’s achievements make me excited and motivated to work even harder going into next season and to build on a great year.”

These are the words of Charity Byrum, a swimmer that made All Conference in both the 200 breaststroke and the 200 medley relay. Byrum is part of the Gardner-Webb Girls swim team that recently competed in the CCSA Championships alongside their male counterparts.

The CCSA, or Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association, Championship took place in Athens, Georgia from Thursday to Saturday last week. The outcome of the conference varied for both teams. The men walked away 3^rd place with 732 points while the women came in 5^th with 349 points.

” Conference had its up and down moments, but I think that for the most part our team met the expectations placed on us based on our training,” Byrum said.

According to Byrum, the conference went fairly well across the board. She said that some of the team members were a little disappointed with their performances, but “the team supported each other every step of the way.”

All of the work that the team invested paid off according to head coach, Mike Simpson. “The team set a new conference record in the 200 medley relay… The team also set 19 new school records during the championships,” Simpson stated.

In addition to the records set by athletes, 11 men and 4 women made all conference according to Simpson.

“These athletes shined because they work hard all year including putting in the preparation in the off-season,” Simpson said.

According to both Byrum and Simpson, the teams success does not rest only in the hard work put in. The success, according to Simpson, starts with all of the support and chemistry that each athlete lends to the team.

“Our rallying point started in October when the team prayerfully got behind Coach Nate and his family as they dealt with the life and death struggle of their 19 month old daughter, Lily,” Simpson revealed.

Byrum stated that the coaches kept the athletes “focused on the true prize that we strive for everyday instead of worrying about an earthly prize like a time or medal.”

Byrum is looking forward to next season and any challenges that it may bring. “With the teamwork and hard work that we are capable of, I know we are going to have an awesome next season,” Byrum concluded.

gwu-today Reporter Matt Strohl