Michelle Kinsey

mkinsey@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE – There were no shades of "gray" as thousands of students gathered Wednesday in the Muncie Fieldhouse for the annual Fields of Faith event.

FOF is a student-driven, student-led event planned by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Dressed in shirts that were half black and half white, the members of the FOF band led the crowd in the song "No More Gray," which was the theme for the evening.

The point, said adult FCA representative Jeff Mosier, is that "God is not confused and he doesn't want us to be."

"God's truth ain't gray," he said. "It's only black and white."

The event, now in its sixth year, featured student speakers who shared their struggles with fitting in, honesty, lust, porn and depression.

Cowan High School student Gentry Staton spoke of the lustful feelings he had in middle school. "I hated myself," he said, adding that he was letting God down.

"But he just loves you," he said. "He loves us despite everything we've done."

Winchester Community High School student Mackenzie Mehaffey said she struggled a lot with honesty and fitting in.

"As Christians, it's not our job to fit in," she said.

As Isaiah Huisman, a student at Yorktown High School, spoke of his battle with depression, several students in the audience wiped away tears.

He said he gave "it all" to God and encouraged others to do the same.

Jay County High School student Levi Hummel his struggles were with lust and porn in middle school.

Everyone struggles with things you cannot see, he said.

He said to stop focusing on those struggles and "focus on your goal, Jesus Christ."

Central High School student Jeremiah McKeighen said a house fire destroyed his faith in God, saying that he "walked in gray" after that.

But he said he realized it wasn't God's fault, it wasn't his own fault.

"Accept Jesus into your heart," he told the students. "Let him spark the fire inside your heart."

The FOF band, which featured musicians and singers from 11 different FCA huddles in the area, performed several songs during the event, which had the crowd singing and clapping along.

Among them was Trea Kates, 18, a senior at Yorktown High School. This was not only his first year in FCA, but his first FOF event. He sang the first song.

"I have always been a believer in Christ but I've never really expressed it," he said, adding that he has always been a singer. "I feel honored to be a part of all of this. This is amazing."

Students from all of the 52 campuses served by FCA in Delaware, Jay, Blackford, Madison, Henry, Randolph and Wayne counties as well as many church youth groups, church congregations and community supporters attended the event. New FCA groups traveled from Cambridge City, Winchester Community High School and Madison-Grant.

The adult guest speaker was Peter Heck, a history teacher and conservative Christian speaker and radio show host based in Kokomo.

Heck's passionate — and often humorous — speech led with "There's something different about Christians."

Those who are not Christians, he said, try to get by without a "fixed point of reference in their lives."

Humanists, he said, are all "gray" all the time. He said they often abide by the saying "Who needs a God. Just be good for goodness sake."

"That is the stupidest thing in the world," he said.

He said in order to be good for goodness sake, you need a definition of good, that point of reference.

"The more like the Creator you are, the gooder you are," he said. "The less like the Creator you are, the badder you are."

The students cheered.

Contact reporter Michelle Kinsey at 213-5822 and follow her @MKinseyTSP.