The spring semester is underway and full of many surprises soon to come forth. Worship is filling the atmosphere, calling all students to join wholeheartedly and fellowship in the presence of God in one accord. Are you someone who finds themselves stressing constantly over school work, family concerns, relationships or just plain brokenness? Do not be anxious any longer about relying on your own strength; rather, come along for a spiritual journey that will enable us to turn sorrow into joy, pain into purpose and hopelessness into worship.
According to Eagle Hall student chaplain Barbara Merroth, a worship session of Christian fellowship will be held on the first and third Sundays of each month from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday Night Worship will continue to be held for all students in Gough every week from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. This new campus event has been created to allow more students to engage in worship while pursuing their degrees at Eastern. Merroth and Eagle Hall’s RD, Sharina Hudson, were happy to share exclusive details of programming and how this all began.
After much collaboration and teamwork the Eagle staff was able to brainstorm new opportunities to serve the hall residents and campus community.
“Last semester, it was in the brainstorming phase, but this semester it has moved into the execution phases. The great thing about this rollout of ‘Worship in the Nest’ is that it will also help address the spiritual growth and community development desires of the Eagle Hall residents, which was mentioned on the hall surveys taken last semester,” Hudson says.
“Worship in the Nest” is being led by Merroth, with assistance from the rest of the Eagle staff.
“What sparked the idea was I had students talk to me about wanting something over on this side of campus…a place where they can have a sense of spiritual community as well. At one of our staff meetings I mentioned the idea of me starting a worship night, and it snowballed into an even better idea of multiple people coming together to form another worship team and host it here in Eagle Great Room,” Merroth says. “I don’t want this to interfere with Wednesday Night Worship. I want it to be kind [of] the same. A little more upbeat songs to get the week started is the only difference I can think of that I want to do….If you’re not up that late or Wednesday nights just don’t work, come try another night. You can never have too many resources to absorb what Christ can give you.”
There are high hopes for the potential of another worship night on EU’s campus. Every student should dare to step out in faith and prepare for new encounters with God. There is great power in unity, and much more when worshipers join together. Based on student survey responses, Hudson says, “I see ‘Worship in the Nest’ as a spiritual growth and community development initiative for Eagle residents and the Eastern community as a whole. So in a sense, this is another visual aid to show a united front and collaborative efforts based on student voices.”
Sources: Sharina Hudson, Barbara Merroth