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Adrienne Bankert, television anchor for KCRA 3, visited Sacramento State today to speak about her religious views at a discussion hosted by members of the International Students Christian Fellowship.

There were 10 people who attended the talk. Most were members of the club, while others were not students at Sac State.

Senior theater major Alfred Chow, a former Christian, said he was interested in learning about different perspectives of religion.

“I think it’s rare that you get news celebrities to come down to Sac State,” Chow said.

Bankert described the decision to visit Sac State as coming from a higher source.

“I don’t go to events unless I first ask God,” Bankert said. “This is a God-idea to come here at Sac State; this is not an Adrienne-idea.”

Bankert’s message of being a part of God’s plan was one of prosperity.

“I know God wants us to be rich and successful and prosperous, and to know our call and our purpose,” Bankert said. “He doesn’t want it to be a strain. He doesn’t want you to have to fight for it.”

Bankert described herself as the youngest of seven children in a family struggling to get by.

“I don’t believe that’s our calling,” Bankert said. “I believe our call is to flourish and have abundance in everything that we do.”

She described money as a useful tool in carrying out God’s will, a tool that God would provide if we ask for it.

“(Doing good is) going to cost you something, but God wants to pay the bill,” Bankert said.

Some students appreciated the different perspective on Christian values mixed with Bankert’s personal experiences.

“Being a Christian and possibly wanting to be a journalist or an editor, it was nice to … hear her talk about (what) she’s gone through (in) getting to where she’s at now, and maintaining her Christian life,” said junior undeclared major Karla Brown.

Brown said she found the lecture to be effective, because she could relate to Bankert’s struggles in life.

“I thought it was really good because…I have been living paycheck to paycheck,” Brown said. “I would like to have a more abundant life, and have been settling for less, so just hearing that it’s ok to ask for more really helped me.”

Others took issue with parts of Bankert’s message.

“I really enjoyed some of the aspects to it,” said Marc Sorensen, senior ethnic studies major and member of the International Students Christian Fellowship club. “I think, as Christians, that we have different ideas and (might) not necessarily agree with everything, but it was a good talk and I do really think that the important thing to come away with it is that God really does have a purpose for us.”

One part of Bankert’s presentation that Sorensen was uncomfortable with dealt with religious stereotypes.

As part of her presentation, Bankert asked: “Have you ever met a poor Jewish person?”

“I have never met a poor Jewish person ever in my life! Every Jewish person I went to school with had money, and if they didn’t have money literally…they knew how to get some. The Jewish people founded Hollywood, Jewish people were in banking, lawyers.”

Bankert said she, herself, is a Jew in Jesus’ name.

“I’m a Jewish person, because I’m saved by the blood of Jesus. He is Jewish, and I want what he’s got for me.”

Avi Ehrlich can be reached at [email protected].