Spiritual Emphasis Week
By Erin Parker

Imagine trudging through a swamp waist deep with nothing to guide you but your compass. It is night, and you have to use your instincts to find your way to a marked point. For speaker Darrin Crowder, he has met many similar challenges such as this when he joined the army.
Crowder came to Valley Christian the week of March 27 to share his message with the students of how to separate “what the world tries to say to you vs. what the Bible is trying to tell you.”
“I have a passion for students your age,” stated the retired master sergeant. “At this age I was going down the wrong path. If someone had spoken to me better I would be going down a different path,” Crowder concluded.
On Monday he shared his experiences with life, and how he saw joining the army as a way for people to see him as the “tough guy” image he wanted to portray. Crowder grew up in a home filled with mostly women, and he noted how he missed the absence of a male figure in his life. However, as the week wore on, Crowder used the week to show students how, although he seemed to be having all the joys in the world, he really was completely empty inside. He included all of his experiences, from promiscuity to military journeys for students to see how much he had changed over the years.
One experience that silenced the audience with terror was his story of how he was hit by a bomb in Iraq. He explained how he had been walking back to camp, when suddenly a bomb came from insurgents and shards from the explosion went through his neck and through parts of his back and his side. Crowder was sent to emergency surgery where he learned that it was a miracle he was still alive. He also learned that his friend who had been standing behind him had not survived. It caused Crowder to question why God wanted him to stay alive, and why he had to take his friend away who was the father of a new child.
The entire week was an experience loved by many students, who found Crowder’s easy way of talking and genuine spirit to be very inspirational. “He broke the mold from the usual speaker,” stated senior John Catanzaro. “He balanced his testimony with advice in a really unique way. His relation of life stories to spiritual applications really worked.” Mr. Oliphant found the speaker’s message to be very relative to his classroom. “I really liked what the speaker said. My job as a teacher is to have class come second, and for your life to come first, and that life is with Jesus Christ.”
Spiritual Emphasis Week was an overall success that left a change in all of the lives of Valley students. For Crowder, it was also an experience he will never forget. “What God has called me to do is give wisdom to young people. I have a passion for young people, and I am envious of your innocence,” said Crowder.