Speeches
Finding Confidence in a Christ-Centered Identity with CEO Amy Antonelli
On Feb. 14, the Southern Virginia University campus community gathered in the Knight Arena to hear Amy Antonelli, CEO of Humanitarian HXP—an independent nonprofit that operates humanitarian expeditions for youth—speak on finding confidence in an identity developed in Christ.
“Our mission is to help kids understand that they are a child of God,” Antonelli said. “Do the spiritual work required to understand that you are a disciple of Christ, a child of the covenant, and a daughter or a son of God. If you do, I promise those three identifiers will carry you through whatever stories your life has to offer. I also promise you that your life will be full of unexpected miracles.”
Referencing a devotional given by President Russell M. Nelson to the young adults of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2022, Antonelli shared that the three most important labels we can give ourselves are Disciple of Christ, Child of the Covenant, and Child of God.
Antonelli shared that she came to understand what being a disciple of Christ meant during her time in India, helping the leprosy-affected colonies with Rising Star Outreach. After meeting the founder, Becky Douglas, during a tsunami cleanup, Antonelli found a place where she could love, nurture, and care for others, as well as learn from their faith.
”When Christ says he can heal a leper, he’s not just talking about the physical. Christ was talking about all of the things that hurt us because leprosy takes everything away from you.” said Antonelli. “I believe in a God who can heal us of everything, of all the things that hurt us.”
“If you’re struggling, if you’re hurting, if there’s something going on, cling with white knuckles to Jesus Christ, who can heal,” Antonelli continued. “That’s why President Nelson said it is so important that you understand that you’re a disciple of Jesus Christ, because this is a God that can give you confidence and can heal you no matter what it is that you’re facing.”
Defining a child of the covenant as someone who understands that God keeps his promises, Antonelli shared how she found peace in His promises to her while speaking at a BYU-Idaho devotional not long after being let go from a successful career at Facebook.
”I’m a child of the covenant, which means that I believe in the God of Abraham, who always, always, always keeps His promises,” Antonelli said. “And He had promised to me a long time ago that my life would hold things beyond what I could possibly imagine, and that my life was destined for miracles. And so I had to trust in that moment that whatever God had in store for me next was exactly what he had planned for me all along.”
The event featured a musical number of selections from “Suor Angelica” performed by the student cast of the upcoming university opera production, “Suor Angelica.” It ended with the traditional singing of “Love One Another.”