Natalie Baudonnet traveled more than 2,500 miles from Clovis, California, to her new college home in Raleigh, North Carolina.
But before the incoming freshman settled in, she made one last stop with her mom and sister: the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, North Carolina.
From July 10-12, Natalie and her family attended speaker and author Sean McDowell’s conference, The Cause: Strengthen Your Faith for College.
Natalie, who is 17, was eager to learn how to defend her Christian faith: “I’m super interested in apologetics … [but] I know that is an area in which I’m lacking that I shouldn’t be lacking in when going to college.” She plans to attend Wake Technical Community College this fall before transferring to East Carolina University.
Natalie’s sister Erin is 14 and still has several years of high school, but she was excited for the conference to help her through her high school career and beyond.
“I feel like I know why I’m a Christian, but I don’t know how I can explain it to others,” she said. “And when they ask me hard questions I don’t know how to answer them, so this whole thing is just a really good idea to help me learn how to defend my faith.”
The Baudonnets attended the conference along with a number of other families and church groups. McDowell, an assistant professor at Biola University, high school teacher and author came to the conference with his wife and three children, and said he enjoyed meeting the students and their families.
Throughout the weekend, McDowell generously took the time to eat each of his meals with students and stayed after his sessions for extra discussion with them.
On Friday evening, he started the conference by putting on his “atheist glasses” and role playing the part of an atheist. He opened up the floor to let the students ask questions, then answered them scientifically and from an atheist’s worldview.
This caused some students to not only realize the need to have knowledge behind their faith, but to check their attitudes as they defend their beliefs.
“You did not like me, lady,” McDowell commented about the way in which one woman addressed him as an atheist.
“I’ve realized it should be more about making the relationship with the people instead of trying to argue with them and stating your point and proving their point wrong,” said rising college freshman Alex Long. “What matters is compassion in relationships.”
Over the next two days, McDowell spent time teaching the conference attendees about the truth and evidence behind Christianity.
“I’m a Christian for one primary reason: I actually think Christianity is true,” McDowell said. “I think the claims of Christ match up with reality. I’m not a Christian because it makes me feel good; I’m not a Christian because I was raised that way … I have good reasons for what I believe,” McDowell said.
Likewise, he told the students, “If you’re going to stand up for your faith and make a difference, you have to know in your heart it’s true.”
He encouraged them to go beyond loving God with their hearts, to love Him with their minds also.
McDowell also challenged them to see the truth of the Bible by putting it through several tests.
He made a case for the honesty of the Bible, as it records rather than omits embarrassing material, such as when the disciples fell asleep in Gethsemane.
He further proved Daniel B. Wallace’s claim that there is more evidence of Jesus than anyone else in the ancient world, through the findings of more than 23,000 New Testament manuscripts—compared to only ten manuscripts found about Caesar, another historical figure whose story tends to be accepted without question.
And McDowell described physical evidence of the New Testament through archaeological examples, such as the healing pool in Bethesda that directly aligns with John 5:2.
At the end of the weekend, students and parents said they left The Cove armed with the truth and more prepared to face the challenges of college. As McDowell put it, “Truth is a compass for life.”
“This week has been an eye opening week for me,” said incoming freshman Isaac Feinn of University of Louisville. “God is a personal God who can relate to us, [but] He’s also a logical God of order and information and academics.”
