Faith in a Culture of Violence

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Wednesday, April 8

10 a.m.    Chapel: Cedric Peerman (NFL Player)
                     Hughes Auditorium

3 p.m.      Coffee House Panel
                     Guests: Cedric and Hagar Elgendy Peerman
                     Student Center (Kenyon Room)

7 p.m.      Asbury Athletes Meet the Peermans
                     Miller Center for Communication Arts
                     Male Athletes: Blackbox Theatre
                     Female Athletes: Screening Room

Thursday, April 9

Noon       Domestic Violence Seminar Lunch
                     Speakers: Cherie Jones (DV Advocate) and
                     Johnson Cafeteria (Gray Room)

2:55 p.m. Classroom Discussions
  &                 Speaker: Barbara Norris (Domestic Violence
3:30 p.m.       Specialist with the Fayette County Courts)
                     2:55 in Dr. Gay Holcomb’s PSY 320 Class (Morrison 104)
                     3:30 in Dr. Lisa Clifton’s SW 475 Class (Morrison 104)

NFL’s Peerman to Speak at Asbury Event

March 19, 2015

When NFL player Cedric Peerman comes to speak to the entire on-campus student body of Asbury University in early April, he won’t be talking about his latest contract negotiations, his team’s playoff goals or his play on the field. He’ll be talking to students about something far more important. 

Peerman, a running back and captain of the Cincinnati Bengals the past two seasons, will be on the Asbury campus with his wife, Hagar Elgendy Peerman, on April 8-9 speaking about his main desires in life: loving God, loving his wife and loving others.

“God worked in my heart, giving me mentors, grace and mercy along the way, and I was saved,” said Peerman, who earned a degree in Sociology and graduated from the University of Virginia in 2008. “Everything I’ve gained in life is nothing compared to knowing Jesus Christ.”

The Peermans were invited to Asbury as guest speakers during the 2015 version of the school’s annual Faith & Culture Lecture Series. Focusing on important topics such as faith and relationships, faith and medicine, faith and sexuality and faith and competition, this year’s topic is one getting a great deal of attention within the NFL and around the country during the past year: Faith in a Culture of Domestic Violence.

While Cedric will be featured during Asbury’s Chapel — where the student body gathers three times each week to hear guest speakers ranging from missionaries, to business CEOs to Hollywood actors to the General of the Salvation Army — Hagar will join her husband and speak at a Coffee House Panel discussion in the afternoon, and then each will speak to Asbury’s athletes in the evening. Hagar – who received a full scholarship to study Neuroscience for both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Tulane University – is a world-class swimmer who has competed at the national-team level for her native Egypt.

Other guest speakers during this year’s two-day lecture series include:

• Cherie Jones: domestic violence survivor and advocate, who will speak at the Domestic Violence Seminar Luncheon
• Barbara Norris: domestic violence specialist with the Office of the Friend of the Court (Fayette County Circuit Court), who will speak with students in multiple classes.
• Kathy Witt: Fayette County Sheriff, who will speak at the Domestic Violence Seminar Luncheon

NFL Star, Fayette Co. Sheriff Speak at AU

April 09, 2015

WILMORE, Ky. — Asbury University had the privilege of hosting Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Peerman and his wife, Hagar Elgendy Peerman, as guest speakers during this year’s annual Faith & Culture Lecture Series. The topic for this year’s series was Faith in a Culture of Violence, and other speakers for the event included specialists in dealing with domestic violence and Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt.

In addition to being a professional football player, Peerman is an associate minister at the Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Va. During Wednesday’s Chapel service in front of the entire on-campus student body, Peerman shared his testimony, recounting how he came to Christ in 2007. During a season in his life when was benched due to a dislocated foot, one of Peerman’s teammates had him listen to a sermon. Peerman said that, for the first time, the gospel became real to him. From that day forward, he started seeking to better understand the gospel and to share it with others.

Within the next few years, Peerman met his wife on a mission trip to Costa Rica. Hagar, an athlete herself, is a survivor of domestic abuse. She shared her powerful story during a coffeehouse panel on domestic violence in Asbury’s Student Center.

Domestic violence is an issue that affects every region of the United States today. The NFL has had an increasing presence in the news media with word coming out about several professional football players committing acts of domestic abuse. During Chapel, bringing with him what he called a “locker-room perspective,” Peerman said, “Domestic violence exists in the NFL because of sin.” He shared that the NFL, just like the rest of the world, desperately needs the gospel in order to break the cycle of sin and, as a result, make strides in delivering our nation from a culture of domestic violence.

Reflecting on where he is in life and how far God has taken him both in his career and in his spiritual life, Peerman said, “God has used this silly game [football] to conform me to the image of Christ. 

In addition to the Peerman’s (who spoke at Chapel, the coffeehouse panel and to Asbury’s student-athletes) and Sheriff Witt, Asbury brought in special guests and domestic violence experts Cherie Jones (a DV Advocate) and Barbara Norris (Domestic Violence Specialist with the Fayette County Courts) to speak during a Seminar Lunch and in classrooms. Each shared stories of transformation and healing in order to bring awareness of, and deliverance from, the shackles of domestic violence.