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The Love Campaign was first envisioned in November 2004 by a group of students who knew love to be much deeper and much more profound than the definitions and portrayals around them in pop and consumer culture. Out of this feeling grew a curiosity as to what their peers thought, and this curiosity led to the campus-wide conversation that hoped to capitalize on the interest in the concept of love around Valentine’s Day. At its heart, the Love Campaign is a conversation. It simply begins with the question: What is love? From there, anything is possible. We are committed to giving everyone an equal opportunity to express his or her opinion of love. Everyone’s experience is valid and worth taking the time to express and understand. Through the Campaign, we seek to discover diversity, energy, creativity, and thoughtfulness. It is through this kind of open conversation and a willingness to listen that we hope to create a willingness within our peers to hear our answer to the question as well.
It's hard to put into words, isn't it? Paul, one of the authors of the Bible, once wrote, "Love is patient, love it kind... It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." C.S. Lewis wrote, "Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken... To love is to be vulnerable." Does that sound like just some emotion or physical act? We, as Christians, believe there's a lot more to love than long walks on the beach or that funny feeling you get in your stomach. Love is much deeper. We believe that we're all made in the image of God. Thus, we love because God loves. And just as we are imperfect compared to God, our love is imperfect compared to His love. God's love is extended to us without condition. There is nothing we can do to earn it - or lose it. We believe that God's greatest act of love was when He sent His Son, Jesus, to walk among us and teach us what love is truly all about. Serving as the ultimate example of love, Jesus died for our sake and rose from the grave so that we could spend eternity in a relationship with God. So, this Valentine's Day, as you are bombarded from every side with messages about love, we hope to challenge you to examine what you think about love. We've told you what we think - now it's your turn!
The Love Campaign was created by the Gator Wesley Foundation in 2004 and was first introduced to campus in February of 2005. The main mission was to challenge college students to think deeply about love. Around Valentine's Day, there are so many messages buzzing around about the meaning of love- mostly that it consists of gifts, chocolate, feelings, and other fleeting things. Yet, to us, there is more to love. The way we chose to go about addressing the depth of love was to simply ask the question, "What is Love?" So, we printed a red banner with the question on it and took it on campus for 5 days in February. The response to that simple question was overwhelming. Everyone had an opinion, and they were so excited to share it. We met really cool people, had incredible conversations, and had the chance to share our understanding of love on campus. If you would like to support us in this program, you can click the link below to make a donation to the Wesley Foundation directly or email us at gatorlovecampaign@gmail.com for more information on donating. Click here to make a donation for the Love Campaign |
