Spiritual Life – TrevEchoes Online

One year of COVID-19: the unforgettable experience of pastoring a college campus through a global pandemic

26Mar

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

One year of COVID-19: the unforgettable experience of pastoring a college campus through a global pandemic

When Trevecca chaplain Erik Gernand thinks back to his first reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic putting a halt to campus life as students knew it, it doesn’t take him long to remember the main concern on his mind. “I think the first pastoral prompt was how do we maintain some sense of connectivity as a campus community and how can we shift the content and the spaces we have to be able to try and address some of the current issues we’re facing,” Gernand recalls. In the early days of COVID-19, Gernand worked to create a YouTube series called “How Christians Respond in Times of Crisis,” where religion faculty, mental health professionals and medical workers joined him to speak about where faith fits into this new reality of a COVID world. Gernand also hosted a podcast with Tim G...

Students turn to small groups to foster spiritual community on campus during COVID-19

26Feb

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Coronavirus, Spiritual Life

Students turn to small groups to foster spiritual community on campus during COVID-19

Every Thursday night, Ashley Forman grabs her Bible and heads out the door to worship with her friends in Soma for what she describes as some of the most authentic community she’s experienced all school year. Forman is one of several students who participate in some sort of small group each week on campus. Some of those groups are official and sponsored by the chaplain’s office or the counseling center, while others have been organic and popped up out of what students say is their need to connect, pray with and be in community with people. “There’s something so special about being able to do life with these people and see them every day. They’re like my family,” Foreman says. Students gather for worship at Soma. Photo by Sommer Bright. College students face a uni...

Religion professors shift course content to equip students for ministry in COVID-19 era

9Feb

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Coronavirus, Features, Spiritual Life

Religion professors shift course content to equip students for ministry in COVID-19 era

As Tim Green sits down to plan the syllabus for his Fall 2020 Old Testament Theology class, there’s one thing he knows with certainty: he can’t teach this class the same way he has in previous years. Green, dean of the Millard Reed School of Theology and Christian Ministry, said a Zoom conversation with other Nazarene Old Testament professors across the country confirmed his feelings that the course needed to be redesigned from the ground up in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and other 2020 tragedies. “Can we ignore the elephant in the room and teach this like we would any old time?” Green asked himself. Immediately, he knew he couldn’t. So the redesign began. “For the group that made up our class, the elephant in the room was that their spring semester ended in March and the...

29Jan

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

Campus News, Events, Spiritual Life

Spiritual Deepening Week begins Tuesday

By Joshua Michel From Feb. 2-4, Trevecca will host a hybrid Spiritual Deepening Week. In-person services will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday. A recorded chapel session will be posted in the iAttended app on Thursday. Information regarding Spiritual Deepening Week will be distributed via the iAttended app. Last semester, videos were released every day for Spiritual Deepening Week, but the return of optional in-person chapel in the spring semester allowed for planning a mixture of physical and online. “Everyone is fatigued with video stuff. At some point it becomes the law of diminishing return. We were able to do in-person this semester, and we did not want to overdo the video stuff. The amount of content is going to be distilled, we will shrink it down and be inten...

Chapel Redesign Moves Services Across Campus, Online for Spring 2021 Semester

28Jan

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Campus News, Coronavirus, Spiritual Life

Chapel Redesign Moves Services Across Campus, Online for Spring 2021 Semester

Trevecca chapel is back to meeting in-person this semester and requirements and fines will be enforced again. After a semester of no required attendance and all virtual chapels, a return to previous chapel plans and requirements is underway. Students will be required to wear masks and socially distance and the number of required chapels is 14 this semester, instead of the usual 24. Online viewing was down last semester when attendance wasn’t a requirement, so a shift back to mandatory chapel credits is necessary to get students to engage with the content on a regular basis, University Chaplain Erik Gernand said. With more than 24 options for attendance this semester, Worship & Witness chapels will be held Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. in Boone Convocation, Benson Audito...

7Apr

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

Campus News, Coronavirus, Spiritual Life

Nashville churches use livestreams to keep congregations connected

By: Allie Crumpton As Trevecca students return home, local churches all over the United States are finding unique ways to connect with their congregation during a time of mandated quarantine because of the novel coronavirus. “We act in these ways not out of fear that we might get the virus but out of love for those who might get the virus and not be able to fight it off well,” said Erik Gernand, Trevecca chaplain. Many Trevecca students’ local churches have taken innovative approaches to continue their ministry. A popular local church for Trevecca students, Kaleo Nashville, used a Zoom call on March 29 to take communion over video. “Everyone either found a piece of bread, or a cracker, or someone even had an animal cracker to do this eucharist across the way,” said Noah S...

31Mar

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

Campus News, Spiritual Life

Chapel resolution fails to pass SGA

SGA rejects effort to reduce chapel to 18 credits in a 4-15 vote By Maria Monteros Members of the Student Government Association overwhelmingly voted against a resolution that would have reduced the number of chapel requirements to 18 from 24 credit hours each semester. The resolution failed to pass the SGA for the president’s cabinet to review in a 4-15 vote during the regular Monday meeting last week. Six members voted to abstain. On Change.org, a petition to “drop chapel requirements from 24 to 18” gathered over 500 signatures and 153 shares within three months. The petition cited stress, workload, commutes and chapel burnout as factors to reduce the required hours. Failure to complete the required credit hours could result in a $10 fine on the first absence, $20 on th...

9Oct

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

Campus News, Spiritual Life

Tennessee Governor shares testimony in chapel

By Maria Monteros Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee shared his personal faith experience, including the death of his first wife and his journey from businessman to politician, with the Trevecca community in Tuesday’s chapel service. The Tennessee governor agreed to share his testimony when a Trevecca student invited him to speak in one of university’s worship services. Lee told students about the tragic death of his first wife when their four children were young and how that time solidified his faith. “The Lord does his most powerful work, I’m convinced, in the midst of struggle and difficulty and pain,” he said. “I could speak for hours about what God did in the nearness that I felt in the most broken of days. I believe that to the degree a person is broken they can experience wholeness.” Le...

9Oct

By Naomi OverbyNo Comments

Campus News, Faculty, Spiritual Life

Space for prayer and discussion offered by faculty to students during chapel

Around 20 students and faculty and staff gathered in the Fireside Room in Bud Robinson to talk and pray during chapel on Tuesday. The event was hosted by a few faculty members who had heard from students that they were uncomfortable attending chapel if Gov. Bill Lee was speaking. Some students on campus expressed concern about Lee’s views on issues like immigration and tuition for DACA students. “When the chapel schedule came out…we just started listening to students, having conversations with each other. There were faculty that were being curious about how to be a part of charitable discourse but also how to support students,” said Elizabeth Nunley, assistant professor of social work. Twelve students and 10 faculty and staff members attended the meeti...

9Oct

By Naomi OverbyNo Comments

Campus News, Events, Spiritual Life

Gov. Lee’s visit sparks discussion on campus; officials hope experience will help prepare campus for civil discourse before next election

By Maria Monteros, Kayla Williamson, Kallie Sohm and Naomi Overby Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's visit to campus generated multiple conversations and meetings in the weeks leading up to his appearance in chapel. As word spread that the governor would be speaking in chapel it garnered mixed reactions from students and faculty on campus. Some said they were looking forward to having the Republican governor on campus and others questioned why he would have a platform in chapel. Some students and faculty expressed concern about how the governor's visit impacted students of color or students with DACA status. Earlier this year, Lee signed the proclamation establishing July 13 as Nathan Bedford Forrest Day. Nathan Bedford Forest was a Confederate Army gener...