The campus-wide power outage made the 14th annual SCORR conference a little unusual Friday and Saturday.

The unexpected loss of electricity left speakers without lights, microphones or technology-based visual aides. Glen Kinoshita, director of multi-ethnic programs, said the lack of electricity was certainly a challenge.

“The fact that there was no electricity made it hard on everyone, but people made the best of it,” he said.

As many as 250-300 people from Biola came to part or all of the conference, according to Kinoshita. About 150 non-Biolans attended SCORR, about 30 more than expected, he said. And the blackout didn’t stop them from hearing the message of racial reconciliation.

“Racial reconciliation is an issue and as the body of Christ, we need to be concerned about that,” said Biola senior and workshop speaker Tabitha Verdick.

Students seeking to dialogue about the issue came from numerous schools beyond Biola. Point Loma Nazarene, Azusa Pacific, Vanguard, Fresno Pacific, George Fox in Oregon and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago were represented.

The keynote speaker was Richard Twiss, co-founder and president of Wiconi International and a member of the Lakota/Sioux tribe. Speakers from varied cultural backgrounds gave workshops on topics of diversity, shalom and ethnicity. A Taiko drum performance finished off this year’s SCORR conference with a celebratory boom.

Other highlights included a one-woman drama presentation by Will and Company and a special performance by Azusa Pacific’s Umoja step team.

The biblical basis for diversity pervaded this year’s theme, “One New Humanity,” taken from Ephesians 2:14-18.

Deborah Taylor, an assistant professor of education who has attended SCORR throughout her years at Biola, said Biola is not trying to be politically correct or culturally relevant by hosting the conference. Rather, Biola is seeking to learn where the issue of diversity intersects with God’s heart, she said.

“This is a Kingdom of God, biblical issue,” said Taylor.

Twiss also focused on the Christian foundation for racial reconciliation.

“Within God’s divine being, we have a picture of community expressed through diversity,” he said.

Twiss went on to say that unity requires diversity, for unity is a harmony between differences.

Throughout the two-day conference, Q&A formats allowed students to engage in the conversation.

“Students want to have a voice in this process, and they’re struggling to find a respectful and godly way to do that,” Taylor said.

Liana Sims, a Biola graduate student who led the Student Voices in Reconciliation workshop with Verdick, said students are initiators of change through relationships with peers, faculty, and administration.

“We are the institution … if there’s no one to teach, there’s no university,” she said.

David Vasquez, a sophomore from Vanguard University, hadn’t realized the power of the student voice. But he was curious to see how students from other schools approached the issues surrounding diversity.

André Abrantes, a junior at Vanguard, knew coming to SCORR would help him learn how to bring more diversity to his campus, where a diversity department has recently been started.

The topic of racial reconciliation is not an easy topic to discuss. But debates like that over the Jesus Mural have made many at Biola realize it’s one that can’t be avoided. Sims said relationships would have to be risked for change to come about, but that shouldn’t stop students from being vocal about reconciliation.

“Let’s try to make our school what it needs to be for those who come after us,” she said.

Taylor said it is going to be a messy issue, but in order to come to a place of understanding, students will have to brave the uncomfortableness.

“I don’t want this to become an alienating issue, but a uniting issue to where our campus becomes more of a reflection of the diversity that God created,” she said.