Friday night event follows Acrofest theme

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   In keeping with the “Facing the Giant” theme, the Acrofest Friday night vespers program featured singer Ana Laura and worship speaker Jason McLeod, both of “Facing the Giants” fame. The program was held in the Leiske-Pultar Gymnasium.
    Ana Laura is best known for her song “Completely,” featured on the “Facing the Giants” soundtrack, while Jason McLeod is the actor who played the part of “Brock” in that movie. The program ended with group praise singing and ten baptisms.
    A native Texan, Laura sang a mixture of Christian pop and praise songs, including a song in Spanish that reflects her family’s Mexican roots. Assisted by her sister on keyboard, Laura led the audience in praise singing at the end of her set.
    Laura’s concert set the stage for McLeod to share his personal testimony of how God led him from the college football scene into ministry. His wry, personal wit was easy to listen to. At one point he admitted to taking up football because he was “too heavy to play soccer.” He loved the contact aspects of football, including being able to plow through other players and “see the spit fly.”
    He exhibited no regret, however, for trading in his football jersey to follow another calling. It came as a result of much prayer and reading God’s word to “find a purpose like never before.” After he was finished, one Acrofest participant was overheard saying, “That was amazing! Listening to him gave me a complete paradigm shift.”
    After McLeod’s testimony, a group of Southwestern students led the audience in singing quiet worship songs, followed by ten baptisms in a large tank set up in the gym. Five of those baptized were from the Keene area, including three Southwestern students and head coach Chad Hutchinson, who spearheaded this year’s Acrofest event. Hutchinson was baptized by Southwestern’s Director of Enrollment Keith Gray, to many cheers from the crowd.
    Pastors Ingo Sorke, Russ Laughlin and John Peckham also participated in the baptisms. Sorke and Peckham are both professors in the University religion department. Laughlin is youth pastor at the Keene Seventh-day Adventist Church.