Monday, Nov. 10, through Wednesday, Nov. 13, hundreds of UT students gathered on HSS Lawn for hours to hear one man speak — Cliffe Knechtle. People came from all over East Tennessee, with some driving nearly two hours from Johnson City, to have their questions answered, and even some high school students were skipping classes to be there.
So, who is Knechtle and why did so many people from so far away come to hear him talk?
Knechtle, along with his son Stuart, are Christian apologists known for traveling to colleges around the United States in an effort to answer some of the hardest and most controversial questions relating to Christianity. They have extended their message to social media and have built a following of hundreds of thousands across YouTube and Instagram. Cole Koogler, a sophomore at UT, shared why he came to see Knechtle speak.
“Cliffe is just a really great debater, he answers questions thoughtfully, and he’s very authentic,” Koogler said.
The size of the crowd varies between campuses they visit, but this fall has been standout in relation to past seasons. This is the Knechtles’ first time visiting UT, and the father-son duo has noticed an uptick in attendance this semester.
“At times we have very small crowds and at times we have large crowds,” Knechtle said. “So it varies an awful lot. It really just depends on people’s openness to seriously thinking about Christ. When people aren’t seriously open to thinking about Christ, we don’t get very good dialogue. But this year, this fall, has been outstanding.”
People in the large crowd picked Knechtle’s mind on everything from belief, God, life issues and how Christians should believe politically. Those who were grappling with hard issues stepped forward to ask Knechtle for his advice.
Some issues that were discussed were how Christians show love to the LGBTQ+ community, how can God love all of us but send some of us to Hell and how can we forgive someone who has hurt us beyond healing.
However, many of those who showed up were there to just listen. The crowd was made up of people from every background, but the majority were Christian students at various levels in their faith.
“It’s good to have these questions answered in a question and answer style like Cliffe does,” Jake Lot, a sophomore studying civil engineering, said. “Just solidifying my faith and getting good reminders is just kind of what I’m hoping for.”
Koogler explained his background. He identifies as a Christian but has been grappling with making his faith his own now that he’s in college.
“I grew up in a Christian household, went to church every Sunday. I’ve had questions about my faith for sure. As I came to college, I’ve started figuring out what Christianity is for myself, instead of just being another thing my parents believe. And I’ve started believing it for myself.”
Koogler described how a life of faith is a life of never having the complete picture, of always having questions, and that’s what brought him there. He said, “I’m hoping to take away more understanding. As a Christian, I have a bunch of questions. I’m pretty sure every Christian does. So I’m here just to gain a clear understanding of who Jesus is and what He’s done.”
Evan Hartsell, a freshmen exploratory major at UT, was just leaving class and decided to stop by to listen in for a while. He explained that he was a Christian, but had moved away from faith in recent years and hadn’t returned since.
“I’ve just heard he’s like a really good speaker and I’m hoping for a different perspective, maybe something to reignite my beliefs,” Hartsell said.
A lot of people in the crowd would agree that they were there to discover what that one word meant for them — belief.
“Everyone believes,” Cliffe Knechtle said. “If you and I lose our jobs this week. And if you get angry and I get depressed, it’s not because of the circumstance. It’s because of our belief system that teaches us how we’re going to respond to circumstances. And if I have a deep faith in Christ, I’m going to have a hope and a resiliency, because I know that my life is in God’s hands. If I don’t have faith in Christ, then I’d be giving into despair or depression a lot easier because it’s all a cosmic crapshoot called life.”
Stuart Knechtle speaks to students outside HSS at the amphitheater. Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024.
