I could not have been in a worse mood when I wrote the check. It was the biggest one I had ever written but at least matters were settled. I could begin to put things back together again. Going back to work immediately afterwards proved to be a huge mistake.

The letter that was sitting in my mailbox wasn’t the first to make me question my commitment to teaching in the UNC system. It was more like the straw that broke the camel’s back. Or, I should say, almost broke the camel’s back - at risk of getting ahead of myself.

I called Frank and talked to him at length. He wanted me to resign and come to work at a school of journalism at a private Christian university. I thought maybe it was time. I decided not to write the letter of resignation until I got back from a three-day trip to Colorado. I was going there to teach at Summit Christian Ministries (www.Summit.org). That was Frank’s idea, too.

I packed my bags with a nice blue suit, my favorite Carolina blue tie, and a bottle of pills my doctor gave me to help me sleep. I hadn’t slept well for months as the turmoil in my life was being resolved slowly in the court system. So far, things were going well. But I still could not seem to sleep.

When I got off the plane in Colorado Springs I was taken aback by the beauty of my surroundings. Then I found out Delta had lost my baggage. At the time, I really needed to lose a little baggage.

I would later realize that God was sending me a message. I’d be lecturing in jeans and a polo shirt dressed like everyone else. God isn’t impressed by Joseph A. Bank. And He’s offended by insomnia. Insomnia is another form of worrying. All worrying (faithlessness) is offensive to God.

We ate dinner on picnic tables next to the old Summit hotel at the base of Pike’s Peak. I was enjoying the cool breeze and the lack of mosquitoes when Judson told me it was time to speak. I had just met Judson a few hours before but for some reason he seemed like a son to me.

I spoke for about an hour during which I felt the most awesome flow of energy from me to the audience and back. If it felt like the Holy Spirit was in the room it was probably because the Holy Spirit was in the room. I met so many incredible kids there afterwards and felt such excitement that I feared I would not get any sleep before giving two more speeches the following morning.

That night I slept like a baby.

The next morning I gave a speech called “Unequally Yoked.” I discussed the lengths universities will go to in order to infringe upon the rights of Christians at public universities. During the speech, I referred to the Southworth case, which, theoretically, prevents public universities from collecting mandatory student activity fees and then refusing to fund Christian groups and activities.

After the speech, Doc Noebel, the President of Summit, introduced himself saying “Mr. Southworth is a Summit graduate.” I already knew Summit was there to teach kids a Christian worldview – one that would help them survive a secular onslaught in college. Now I knew that Summit gave young men and women the courage to fight back. Even to the Supreme Court, if necessary. Continued...