Veritas Forum Founder Addresses CIU Students, College Campus Ministers

Veritas Forum Founder Addresses CIU Students, College Campus Ministers

Kelly Monroe Kullberg

Kelly Monroe Kullberg

By Lenae Simpson

CIU Student Writer

I met Kelly Grecian at the entrance of Shortess Chapel. She was one of 25 or so college and campus ministers who had traveled from all over the Southeast to attend a luncheon at CIU. Grecian told me she dreamed about a luncheon like this about a year ago when she served as an admissions counselor for CIU. These days she is ministering to young adults at Columbia Christian Fellowship and was happy to be attending the luncheon she initially suggested.

The keynote speaker at the luncheon was former Harvard University professor Kelly Monroe Kullberg -- founder of the Veritas Forum. The Veritas Forum has chapters on college campuses around the United States that seek "to inspire the shapers of tomorrow's culture to connect their hardest questions with the person and story of Jesus Christ." Kullberg is also editor of the book, "Finding God at Harvard," and author of "Finding God Beyond Harvard."

Kullberg addressed the CIU student body during Chapel before speaking to the college and campus ministers at the luncheon. But her message was essentially the same: Truth is a Person, Jesus Christ. Kullberg says that in today's culture and in higher education, students are often discouraged from asking real questions about "Truth." Those who do ask such questions are often met with rebuke or blank stares from their professors. The Veritas Forum addresses such issues.

Kullberg says that through Veritas Forum chapters, Christians on campus or in the community band together, "helping students move from a posture of cynicism and sloganism to posing questions."

"(The Veritas Forum attempts) to gently break up [students'] calcified objections and get them to ask intelligent questions," Kullberg said.



Kullberg was very open about her personal life and pain. It was obvious that our speaker was someone who had wrestled with the difficult questions of faith and is now stronger. Her belief in Jesus as the Savior of the world is undeniable, and her desire for others to intelligently and sincerely seek Him is apparent.

Kullberg said Christians should be available to young people who have questions about faith, and they should be encouraged to ask those questions. "How do we nurture the knowledge of the mind?" Kullberg asked.

I mentioned Kullberg's Chapel message at supper that night and got quite a response. Most everyone received something positive from it. Sophomore Corrie Dorman told me, "There was nothing compelling about Kelly Kullberg as a speaker -- it was her message that kept you at the edge of your seat, hanging on every word."

To hear Kelly Monroe Kullberg's CIU chapel message, visit: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ciupodcast

For more on The Veritas Forum, visit: http://www.veritas.org/Home.aspx