{"id":2079,"date":"2016-01-26T16:38:35","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T21:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/?p=2079"},"modified":"2016-01-26T16:38:35","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T21:38:35","slug":"students-take-charge-to-lead-worship-service-jan-24-in-spite-of-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/?p=2079","title":{"rendered":"Students take charge to lead worship service Jan. 24 in spite of weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Chelsea Sydnor<\/p>\n

A winter storm hit NC hard the weekend of Jan. 22-24. As snow covered the ground, along came the dangers of ice-covered roads and walkways. This led to many churches cancelling services on Sunday, Jan. 24. Rather than sleeping in, two groups of GWU students decided to plan their own worship service to be held in the Dover Chapel.<\/p>\n

As each group began planning and spreading the word, they learned of the other and decided to team up as one cohesive group. \u201cWe had a similar idea, to bring a group of people together for a worship service,\u201d said junior, Kyle Medlin. \u201cWe decided to meet up and we planned something really big.\u201d<\/p>\n

The student leaders had less than 24 hours to put the service together and invite others. While the university was technically closed, the students decided to use the chapel for size and convenience.<\/p>\n

As the student leaders walked out to the chapel that morning, some doubt arose when they noticed the icy conditions around the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got some sticks and started breaking up the ice and sweeping it up,\u201d said junior, Jesse Anne Rogers. \u201cWe even had people helping others to cross the ice safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing the students around the chapel, concerns arose from a University Police representative, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The officer] said that Gardner-Webb was technically closed, but he wouldn\u2019t stop us,\u201d said Rogers. \u201cWe talked about it, but we felt like we were worshipping the Lord, and it wasn\u2019t Gardner-Webb sponsored. We didn\u2019t feel like we were in the wrong for holding the service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/a>
Senior Sam Vining leads the student congregation in prayer.
Photo by: Kyle Medlin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The service ended up becoming a bigger event than the student leaders expected. \u201cFor me, being part of the worship band, you could hear so many voices lifted up in song,\u201d said junior, Rachael Zimmerman. \u201cIt was stripped-down worship, and it sounded like a big choir. I imagine that is what Heaven will sound like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a time of prayer, and people were taking their friends around to different parts of the chapel and praying for them,\u201d said Rogers. \u201cIt really reflected on the community here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe even had some people say that they wished it would snow every Sunday,\u201d said junior, Shelby Robinson.<\/p>\n

Though none of the students that planned Sunday\u2019s service remember a similar one taking place in their time at Gardner-Webb, it is somewhat of a recurring tradition, according to alumni.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no surprise that people have gotten together in the past,\u201d said Zimmerman,<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo by: Kelsey Carithers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of people that Gardner-Webb attracts, people that are devoted to the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the few difficulties that came along with planning the service, those involved were ultimately pleased with the service.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod really worked it out for us,\u201d said Rogers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Chelsea Sydnor A winter storm hit NC hard the weekend of Jan. 22-24. As snow covered the ground, along came the dangers of ice-covered roads and walkways. This led to many churches cancelling services […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[210,53,499,22,503,505,502,52,504,349,506,501,42,500],"class_list":["post-2079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-student-life","tag-boiling-springs","tag-chelsea-sydnor","tag-church","tag-gardner-webb-university","tag-jesse-anne-rogers","tag-kelsey-carithers","tag-kyle-medlin","tag-news","tag-rachael-zimmerman","tag-sam-vining","tag-shelby-robinson","tag-student-leadership","tag-student-life","tag-winter-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwu-today.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}