Spiritual Life

Spiritual deepening week ends with challenge to ‘dwell’ and love others

19Sep

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Spiritual Life

Spiritual deepening week ends with challenge to ‘dwell’ and love others

Photo from Monday night chapel with Michaele LaVigne (left) and Erik Gerneand (right) in their Mr. Roger's sweaters and slippers / Won Seo - Trevecca Marketing By Lauren Steinbrook News and Engagement Editor Trevecca’s annual Spiritual Deepening Week has come to a close, leaving students with a call from guest speaker Michaele LaVigne to become good neighbors who reflect the love of Jesus. Spiritual Deepening Week is a campus tradition each semester designed to create space for the Trevecca community to pause from their routines, gather for worship and prayer, and seek a deeper relationship with God. Michaele LaVigne preaching during Tuesday Morning chapel/ Won Seo -Trevecca Marketing This semester’s theme, “Dwell,” invited students to consider what it means to remain ro...

University president signs document regarding faith and politics

4Nov

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Spiritual Life

University president signs document regarding faith and politics

By Antonia Lopez Sports Editor As the presidential elections get closer, Trevecca’s leadership has taken steps toward bipartisanship in the midst of divisive political conversations. “For about the last decade of my life, the political world has been such that I’ve seen Christians use Christian faith to justify political decisions,” said Dan Boone, university president. “Such that politics becomes elevated over the Lordship of Jesus.” For that reason, Boone has signed the Confession for Evangelical Conviction, a document written by members of various Evangelical branches to affirm the Lordship of Jesus Christ above all powers and politics. Its purpose is to give believers courage in their core conviction as they enter the political arena, said Boone. “This [document] is n...

Students recall their experiences on TAG trips

21Oct

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Spiritual Life

Students recall their experiences on TAG trips

By Kamryn Sanderfer Staff Writer From the vibrant meadows and snow-capped mountains of small-town Alaska to the coastal city of sub-Saharan Abidjan, Trevecca students had the unique experience serving alongside different cultures this summer through the Trevecca Around the Globe (TAG) program. “I learned a lot through the people that we interacted with. I was able to walk away and see different characteristics of who God is through the people that we met, and some of them had some impacts on me that will probably last for a long time,” said Joy Diehl, coordinator for spiritual life and the female leader of the Alaska service trip. TAG team huddles up for group picture in Alaska. Diehl was one of two leaders for the group of nine Trevecca students going to Wasilla, Alas...

Trevecca brings “bridging the gap” to equip students with skills to have important conversations

26Sep

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Spiritual Life

Trevecca brings “bridging the gap” to equip students with skills to have important conversations

By Michelle Loria Alvarado Assistant News Editor During Monday night chapels from Sept. 23 to Oct. 7, students will learn from faculty members how to engage in healthy and productive conversations about difficult topics. “One of the main reasons that I was excited about Bridging the Gap curriculum is because of this semester's political issues and the elections,” said Erik Gernand, Trevecca chaplain. “I felt like our university would likely benefit from just learning some very basic skills about how to show up in a conversation with some tools to help navigate things when you're talking to somebody who disagrees violently.” Bridging the Gap is a curriculum offered by Interfaith America that helps students and educators build the skills to talk over divisive topics e...

Muslim students maintain religious practices while on campus

16Apr

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Spiritual Life

Muslim students maintain religious practices while on campus

By Antonia Lopez Staff Writer Sayem Siddiki does not know what his exact wake up time will be each morning. Each day, he wakes up at a different time, depending on the time the sun rises. Siddiki used his app, Muslim Pro, to know when he needed to get up for prayer. This day, he woke up at 6:15 a.m., the first prayer of the day. Mohammed Azam (left), meeting with his friend Sayem Siddiki (right). Siddiki drove to Trevecca’s campus at 8 a.m. He met up with his friends in the commuter parking lot, as he does every morning. “Assalamu alikum,” said Siddiki, as he greeted his friend, Mohammed Azam. “Walaikum assalam,” Azam responded. This is a common greeting among Muslims. The greeting means “peace be upon you” in Arabic. Siddiki and Azam are two of around 12 students w...

Trevecca students differ in how they observe lent

27Mar

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Spiritual Life

Trevecca students differ in how they observe lent

By Antonia Lopez Staff Writer Photo courtesy Trevecca marketing As the Trevecca community participates in Lent and prepares for the celebration of Easter, students are taking different approaches to how they practice lent in their spiritual life. "To me, [Lent] is my attempt to discipline my body, thoughts and actions through fasting and praying," said Merna Hanna, a junior criminal justice major. "It's a journey of seven weeks that the Lord Jesus went through, and he shows me what it is to be human and connect with God through what He experienced." Lent is 46 days before Easter Sunday on Ash Wednesday every year. According to the liturgical church calendar, this year it began on Feb. 14. The liturgical calendar is usually followed by the Western church, which most commonly...

20Feb

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Spiritual Life

Spiritual Deepening Week on campus

Photo by Alayna Simons, Editor-in-Chief By Antonia Lopez Staff Writer Trevecca welcomed Olivia Metcalf as the guest speaker for Spiritual Deepening Week. “It’s always fun to be on one of our college campuses. There’s a lot of life and energy,” said Metcalf. “I know that entering into [chapel] is such an honor and privilege because the Holy Spirit does really powerful things when we’re engaged and gathered.” Spiritual Deepening Week occurs every third week of each semester. It is an opportunity for students to slow down and remember that going to college is more than attending class and doing extracurriculars, said Erik Gernand, university chaplain. The theme for the six sessions throughout the week was based on the word “peripateō,” the Greek word for “to walk’’. It came...

New Worship gathering allows ministry students to practice skills

16Jan

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Spiritual Life

New Worship gathering allows ministry students to practice skills

By Alayna Simons Editor-in-Chief Daniel Magee, a graduate assistant of student development, wanted a place where he could practice his passion of preaching at Trevecca Community Church. After approaching Jeremy Height, the college and community engagement pastor at TCC, about his eagerness, they realized that there was a lack of opportunity to preach on campus. During the summer, Magee thought that there should be a space where young adults could practice their gifts in ministry, and from that conversation, the creation of Pneuma began. “It was really cool because we weren't looking to start something, but we recognized the need and started talking about a way to meet that need, which allowed me and Jeremy to do more of what we are called to do,” said Magee, the leader of Pneum...

$1.25 million grant awarded to Trevecca program for pastors

13Jan

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Spiritual Life

$1.25 million grant awarded to Trevecca program for pastors

By Alayna Simons Editor-in-chief Trevecca has received the largest grant in university history to help pastors discern their calling and get better at preaching. The Lilly Endowment Foundation has now the posit $1.25 million into Trevecca's program to fund a new grant called “More and Better Preachers.” Three grants have now been approved over the years through the Lilly Endowment Foundation. The Calling Cooperative, implemented to help students figure it out their calling and ministry as they come to Trevecca; Laborers in the Vineyard, specific to help pastors in their five years of ministry after graduation; and now More and Better Preachers used to help guide those called to preach from those in the middle and high school all the way to beyond the five-year point after gr...

Chapel Theme Addresses ‘Epidemic of Loneliness’

13Oct

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Spiritual Life

Chapel Theme Addresses ‘Epidemic of Loneliness’

Photo courtesy Trevecca Marketing By Mia Agee Assistant News Editor Prior to attending Trevecca, Naomi Akinbade, senior biology major and student body chaplain, had been deeply wounded by her friendships and other close relationships. Though she considers herself an extrovert and an avid people person, these “love wounds” caused her to maintain shallow relationships and isolate herself from others. Once she confessed her struggles to her friends and began practicing vulnerability–a challenge she said God placed on her heart–she discovered that many of her friends were facing some of the same things. This calling, paired with conversations with Erik Gernand, university chaplain, birthed the idea for this year’s chapel theme–“a binding together in love.” The university’s cha...