By: Ashley Walling
Students have more options for chapel credits this year, including the possibility of receiving credit for attending a student-led service.
SOMA, a student-led worship service, will be offered three times on Thursday nights for chapel credit. Additionally, the chaplain’s office has planned more than 50 chapel services for the school. Students must attend 24.
Monday night chapels are now every week, accommodating for sports teams who may miss the weekly chapels.
In addition to more opportunities to get credit, a new scanning method for attendance was also implemented this fall. As the student body grows, checking into chapel was taking too long.
Students can now check in at the end of chapel with an app, Tealpass, which was developed by Lipscomb University for chapel attendance.
“We hope that Tealpass will make it easier for students to get to class after chapel and relieve some of the bottle-neck effects of card scanning,” said University Chaplain Shawna Gaines. “[The app] also allows students to easily check their chapel attendance through the app and this may result in more students reaching their chapel attendance requirements.”
For students who cannot access the app, there are still traditional I.D. scanners.
Duncan McClure, senior SOMA chaplain, said his team is excited about the changes.
“SOMA services are totally 100 percent student-led. It gives students an ownership piece on campus to worship,” he said.
SOMA is also focusing on small discipleship groups that meet outside of the services.
“These groups were designed to be more intentional. There are about 15 people in each group. It’s all about creating relationships, praying, and teaching with one another,” said McClure.
