(from the March 2003 issue)

There is a fresh, new way to praise God on the Andrews University campus. No matter what day it is, you will find our students in fellowship with each other and with their Creator. Whether they prefer to serve at an inner-city ministry, an on-campus ministry, or just want to start their own ministry, they can find it all on our campus.

This is the story of the faculty, staff, and students at Andrews, 3,500 students strong, who work to make the campus a house of God.

Keith Mattingly, religion department chair, and his wife, Margarita, physics professor, began a campaign a year and a half ago to make the weekly chapel experiences more interactive and meaningful. Margarita felt the traditional chapel service was not tailored to speak to each student and decided to do something to make worship more personal. That’s when the Mattinglys came up with the idea for Chapel Choices, an alternative to the conventional services.

As all great ideas must, Chapel Choices began as an item on the Chapel, Assembly, and Religious Life (CARL) committee agenda. Keith, a member of the committee, brought the idea before a somewhat hesitant group of committee members. After some talking and lots of praying, the committee—chaired by Timothy Nixon, campus ministries chaplain—gave the go-ahead. So far, Chapel Choices has received rave reviews from the Andrews students. Junior international public relations and French major Bjorn Karlman says he likes this type of worship format. “It allows more interaction and connection between students. It has made me think and become a little more mature in my spiritual life,” he says.

Chapel Choices usually occurs twice each semester and includes approximately 20 different worship experiences presented by faculty and staff on campus. Everyone—including a history professor, a student success consultant, a biology professor, and the University Press director—has jumped on the bandwagon and enthusiastically gotten involved in planning meaningful worship for students.

Erin Cook, Jon Davidson, Sheila Cook and Daniel Fekete enjoy a jam session with physics professor Mickey Kutzner. (Photo by Erin Heldstab)

The sense of community is what most impressed communication professor Janice Watson’s students. After the fall semester Chapel Choices, Janice asked her public speaking class if they had anything they wanted her to thank God for in her prayer before class started. She said, “I was fascinated because several hands shot up immediately. What followed was basically a reflection on Chapel Choices,” but, “interestingly enough, none of them had attended the same one.” Senior communication major Erin Heldstab also appreciates the more intimate feeling of Chapel Choices. She said, “I’ve been able to meet new people because of the smaller group and have felt much more open about sharing.”

Robert Zdor, biology professor, facilitated a group of students at the February 18 Chapel Choices. His topic: service. “Service is life-changing,” said Robert. Other Chapel Choices available included a tour of campus history and inspiring stories of God’s past providence, stories of three Andrews educators’ college experiences and how their faith was strengthened, a study in literature about the meaning of true love, an inductive Bible study, and a Hebrew/English service of prayers, readings, and songs. Adventist Frontier Missions, an Adventist mission organization located in Berrien Springs near Andrews, even got involved and hosted a Chapel Choice of their own

Heather Ferguson, an Andrews University senior math and Spanish major and Inreach co-director, brushes snow off of a random car as an on-campus ministry. Inreach is a new ministry created to “reach out to students during ordinary days.” (Photo by Erin Heldstab)

But Chapel Choices isn’t the only revolutionary way to praise God on campus. Heather Ferguson, senior math and Spanish major, and Kristin Schmid, junior chemistry major, co-lead Inreach, a new ministry they created to reach out to students during ordinary days.

The week of fall semester finals in December, Inreach took to the sidewalks armed with clothes pins displaying messages such as, “I just prayed for your finals,” or “Jesus loves you.” As students walked by, they clipped the pins on their backpacks or clothes without the students’ knowledge. Erik Brown, freshman math major, was impressed with this gesture. “I thought it was cool that somebody had taken the time to do that. They went out of their way during finals, yet they had finals, too.”

Teryl Scott, sophomore history major, definitely appreciates what Heather and her team do. “Inreach has helped me focus more on my relationship with God. It has brightened my days at Andrews!”

Heather and Kristin’s main objective is to show the students that Andrews cares about them. “Many times,” Heather said, “students just need to know that someone loves them. That is what we try to show.”

Education at Andrews is changing with the times, and so is worship. Students are still gaining book knowledge; however, they are deliberately making more and more time to spend with God. Youth of the past entered the halls of Andrews University in pursuit of missionary training to be used in the world for God. They now come to our campus eager to be missionaries in their classes, on the sidewalks, and in the cafeteria. Christ said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15, KJV). Our students, faculty, and staff have taken His call and applied it to Andrews University: “Go ye into all the campus … ”

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