The GRIT team is a huge fan of SCORR. In honor of SCORR’s 25th anniversary and the strange season we find ourselves in, we asked student directors Lailah Walker and Katie Bean to share with us their highlights of putting on this year’s conference. Here’s what they had to say:

This year we kicked off the 25th-anniversary of SCORR conference in a special way. Not only was this a historic year for the SCORR conference because of the anniversary but it was the first time SCORR had to be a completely virtual conference. This came with many challenges but in the midst of it, all unexpected blessings still found their way into the conference.

This season for SCORR conference definitely felt a lot heavier due to all of the racial injustice that took place during 2020. Racism and violence have always been woven into our history, but this year those events were broadcast and captured for the entire country to see. You could literally sense the feeling of hunger that people had to learn more about racism and the systems that are still being upheld by it. So this conference came at a pivotal time for the hurting people in our community. We knew that planning this year’s conference would not only be an exciting time of celebration, but also a time of mourning and regrouping.

Like many that are a part of our Biola community, Katie and I (Lailah) both had impactful takeaways from this year’s conference. Katie’s biggest takeaway was that the mission of reconciliation is not only kingdom work, but is a mission directly handed to every single human being by God. One of our keynote speakers, Trillia Newbell said in her address that “[Jesus] has bought our harmony, he has bought our reconciliation. The question is, are we walking in what he has already done for us?” The work of equity and justice is not solely up to us to complete because Jesus already paid the price for its completion, but God is using each of us daily to carry out his “every tribe, every tongue” perfect kingdom. We can not stop fighting this fight.

My biggest takeaway was even though we are put in unfortunate situations and given limitations, this does not diminish our strength to fight for what is right. The events that took place this past year were extremely devastating for the Black community. From the continuous replaying of murder on our screens to seeing the justice system continue to fail to uphold the notions of “liberty and justice for all.” There was not only a war against our civil rights and lives but there was an attack on our joy. SCORR this year reminded me that even though the fight is long and tiresome don’t ever let it steal the joy that God has put in all of us. Not allowing the trials and tribulations to demolish your spirit is the reason why the fight for equality and justice will never wither. Change isn’t going to happen overnight but proceeding to grow in education strengthens our voice. Our voices are the key to seeing change happen in our broken country.

Although SCORR 2021 is over its mission of equipping students is not. We encourage you to attend next year’s conference and continue to educate yourselves about social justice. The takeaways that we all gain from SCORR aid in equipping us for living out our lives in a way that reflects the mission of reconciliation.

Catch recordings of this year’s SCORR conference sessions at on Biola’s SCORR Playlist on Youtube. You can check out past conference workshops and sessions there, too!