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...

3Feb

By trevechoesonline1 Comment

Campus News, Features

Trevecca Women team up for fitness challenge

By Shadaye Hunnicutt Kaylee Harrell and Rebekah Dunn sit on the couches in the Tennessee Hall lobby debating whether or not a package of fruit snacksis considered a dessert. The sophomores have just finished working out and are trying not to be tempted by the candy bars for sale in the lobby. For the past week the women of Tennessee and Georgia Halls have been trying to cut calories, exercise and explore the ways fitness are connected to a healthy spiritual life. (more…)