“God’s Not Dead” Author Dr Rice Broocks and Emmy award-winning journalist Dr. Michael Guillen present evidence of God

On October 17th, 2019, Dr. Rice Broocks (left) and Dr. Michael Gullien (right) share their personal testimonies of becoming Christians and the evidence they have found for the proof of God’s existence to a mixed crowd at the University of Maryland, College Park, Md. (Garrett Hestla/Every Nation)

Best-selling author Dr. Rice Broocks made a stop at the University of Maryland on Oct. 17 where he hosted the “God’s Not Dead” event with Emmy award-winning journalist Dr. Michael Guillen. 

They presented members of the UMD community with historical, philosophical and scientific evidence for the existence of God.

In 2013, Broocks, a co-founder of Every Nation Churches & Ministries, published his book “God’s Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty” -- a book that later inspired three films of the same name. He’s since devoted his time to presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ to social and religious groups and college campuses all over the world.

Broocks’ inspiration for the book stemmed from the Newsboys’ song of the same name and his coming to the realization that the majority of college students either have lost their faith in God or don’t believe in God at all. 

“When I wrote this book, “God's Not Dead,” I just was driving down the road with a friend and I said, ‘hey, I'm writing this book because kids are losing their faith,” Broocks said. “Let's do more than a song. Let's give evidence.”

Guillen is world-renowned for his 14 years of science correspondence with ABC News and eight years as a physics instructor at Harvard. His career has netted him three Emmy awards, but he said that it was his “gazillion” questions that led him to become a Christian. 

“Science can never provide you with proof,” Guillen said. “It can disprove something but never provide you with proof.”

The two are touring across America and stopping at colleges and universities to display “proof” of the existence of God through multimedia demonstrations that incorporate video clips from thought leaders, animated dramatization and various statistical charts.

The reception to the presentation was mixed as some attendees left affirmed of their faith in God, while some skeptics left unfulfilled with questions still unanswered. 

Wyatt Bucci has been on a three-year journey of questioning, researching and figuring out the “truth” about religion, philosophy and the universe. Having conducted a wealth of research, he came to the event wanting to see whether the presenters could answer the many questions he had.

“I hoped that I could hear some new arguments,” said Bucci, 22, Maryland alum and atheist. “I didn't hear any new arguments.”

After the hour-and-a-half-long presentation, Broocks and Guillen fielded open-air questions from the crowd and then later had one-on-one conversations with anyone who wanted to further discuss the contents of their presentation.

Bucci spoke with both presenters and was able to share ideas with them, saying, “I was really thankful that I got to talk to them afterward in person, a little bit, probe their minds and toss around a couple of ideas.”