Be Love Week Keynote

We are grateful to partner with campus and community partners in a joint MLK Day gathering that is open to the Berry and Rome community. The service will be held in the Krannert Ballroom at 10 am on January 19th, 2026. We're excited to have world-renowned artist, actor, & author, Lecrae, as our keynote this year.

A catalyst for restoration in faith, music, and popular culture, Lecrae is part of the new wave of thought leaders who are engaging the culture and taking Jesus out of the pulpits into the wider world in hopes of restoring faith. “We can change the narrative, empower the disenfranchised, close wealth gaps, and restore the dignity stripped from us, but we can’t do that by separating ourselves. We need to connect with each other and lean on God to restore our sense of purpose and worth,” shares Lecrae. “There is so much on the horizon. I’m literally just getting started.”

Referring to himself as a ‘social anthropologist,’ Lecrae seeks social change through authentic connections and calls for redemption through positive change. His books, I Am Restored: How I Lost My Religion, But Found My Faith, and Unashamed are roadmaps to social transformation.

Lecrae surpassed the label, “Christian hip- hop artist," when his Anomaly album (2016) debuted at #1 on Billboard Top 200 Charts, the first time ever in Billboard chart history that an artist occupied the No. 1 album spot on both the Billboard Top 200 and Gospel Albums. “I am a hip- hop artist who happens to be Christian, believes in God, and follows the teachings of Jesus, but my music is created for all! Music itself does not have a label; it’s the people that attach the label to the artist and their music.”

To view more events for Be Love Week, click here.