Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
One College Park Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: 2007 Fall Student Renewal: Abandon the Ordinary, Sept. 4-6
2007 Fall Student Renewal: Abandon the Ordinary, Sept. 4-6
August 28, 2007
At 10 years old, Steve Austin starting smoking cigarettes.
By 12, he was drinking alcohol and using cocaine.
The teenage years that followed weren’t much better. He did more drugs. He twice attempted suicide.
“Thank the Lord. He never leaves us or never forsakes us,” Austin said on the Web site of 180 Degrees Ministries, an organization he founded. “Christ met me in such a way that I began to fall in love with Him.”
Austin, now a pastor of CrossWay Church and the president of 180 Degrees Ministries, is the featured speaker at MBU's upcoming Fall Student Renewal. The annual three-day event is aimed at reenergizing students' spiritual walk. This year’s Fall Student Renewal is set for Sept. 4-6; the event will be held from 11 to 11:50 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday and from 2 to 2:50 p.m. on Wednesday inside MBU’s Pillsbury Chapel and Dale Williams Fine Arts Center. Classes will not be cancelled on Wednesday.
Through a series of miraculous events, Austin credits God with freeing him from his addictions. Today, Austin, who is married and has two daughters, travels across the United States speaking about the freedom people can have in Jesus. Using his personal, real-life experiences—along with multi-media, humor and drama—Austin connects with his audience in a real and relevant way.
Austin’s primary goal: “To become God's agent proclaiming freedom in Christ to those trapped in bondage and living in the United States.”
It’s that vision that he is hoping to convey to the MBU student body.
“I was amazed that the God of the universe could still love me, a pitiful excuse for a human being,” Austin said. “After all I had done to family, friends, people in general, even Christ, He still loved me and He loved our time together too.”
In addition to Austin, Chris White, a worship leader in suburban Denver and musician who has toured internationally, will lead worship at the event. White is also the founder and director of Spirit and Truth Missions, an international missions organization.
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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