Wor­ship Nights Com­ing Soon

MISHAWAKA -- Start­ing Fri­day, Sept. 20, Bethel Uni­ver­sity will be­gin hold­ing stu­dent wor­ship nights. 

The idea was put into mo­tion by se­nior Stephen White. He is one of the lead vo­cal­ists for two chapel bands, is a cam­pus guide and works in the ad­mis­sions of­fice.  

White said that God had given him an idea to put some­thing dif­fer­ent on cam­pus. Ini­tially, there were two sep­a­rate ideas: the first be­ing a gospel choir. How­ever, there were wor­ries that the group would­n’t have the at­ten­tion it needed to get the ball rolling.  

Sec­ond, came the idea of stu­dent-led wor­ship nights. White had heard from dif­fer­ent peo­ple on cam­pus that some­thing should be done, and he thought that now would be a great time to im­ple­ment this idea.  

This new Fri­day night plan will start off every other Fri­day with times and lo­ca­tions to be de­ter­mined.  

Wor­ship Nights will be a time for stu­dents to re­fo­cus, to spend time in wor­ship, to hear dif­fer­ent sounds and songs, and to sing in dif­fer­ent lan­guages, all on a com­mon ground with dis­tinc­tive­ness.  

“It’s some­thing that I want to give stu­dents, who want to sing and want to play, an op­por­tu­nity,” White said. “This is to give a chance to ex­press their gifts in what­ever way that may be.” 

Through­out these wor­ship nights, White plans on ex­plor­ing dif­fer­ent gen­res and not just con­tem­po­rary sounds. He wants to ex­plore dif­fer­ent places that would­n’t be done in a nor­mal chapel ser­vice. It’s a time for peo­ple to be free to pro­claim and to min­is­ter in any way, shape, or form, he said. 

He is most ex­cited about what God is go­ing to do through it. 

“[These nights are] seeds be­ing planted and it’s some­thing to grow big­ger than any­thing,” White said. 

Even through the plan­ning process, there are still a lot of prayers be­ing made be­hind the scenes. White prays and is hop­ing that there will be a pos­i­tive re­sponse.  He hopes peo­ple will have a de­sire to re­fo­cus and let go. 

The story in the book of Acts, where Paul and Silas are both im­pris­oned, has in­spired White through­out this process. Both Paul and Silas wor­shiped late at night, which is what stu­dents will be able to do, and from this came free­dom and break­through. White said that is the hope of these nights.  

“We want to give God the abil­ity to break chains and to free peo­ple.”  

Wor­ship Nights are meant to be less of a com­mit­ment and more of a re­lief. It is out of freewill, and chapel cred­its will not be given out.  

For more in­for­ma­tion, email Stephen White at Stephen.White@BethelU­ni­ver­sty.edu.