Author and award-winning journalist Lee Grady will be speaking at Emmanuel College’s New Beginnings Weekend January 6-9. Services will be held Thursday at 10 a.m., Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 10:45 a.m. in the John W. Swails Center.

New Beginnings Weekend is an annual series of creative worship services designed to help students, faculty and staff kick off the spring semester with fresh hearts as well as fresh minds.

“We want the students, faculty and staff at Emmanuel College to experience a true New Beginning, not just emotional highs, cool songs, or creative images. We want truth spoken and explained to us as we seek to understand and experience God in everyday life,” says Campus Pastor and Director of Spiritual Life Chris Maxwell.

The theme for this year’s New Beginnings Weekend is “Who Tattooed You?” Lee Grady warns, however, that the title may not mean what people think.

“People might assume I am going to preach against tattoos. That's not my purpose. I'm simply using the cultural popularity of tattoos as a conversation starter,” Grady explains.

“As Emmanuel students begin this new semester, I want them to consider seriously who Jesus is and what it means to call him Lord.”

Grady is an internationally recognized spiritual leader and the founder of the Mordecai Project, a ministry that focuses on confronting the abuse of women around the world. He became editor of IPHC Experience magazine in 2010 after serving as editor of Charisma magazine, one of America ’s most widely distributed evangelical Christian publications, for 11 years.

“Through his writing and speaking, Lee addresses issues too many people fail to discuss. After he spoke two years ago for Emmanuel’s New Beginnings Weekend, we wanted to bring him back. The students, faculty and staff will be inspired and challenged to pursue God’s will,” says Maxell.

Local church and community members are invited to attend the New Beginnings services free of charge. Click here for directions.