Many students are familiar with the various spiritual life events that happen on campus
during the semester, such as Worship Him at Midnight (WHAM), Gather, Banded Discipleship,
Class Renewals and 24/5 Prayer Week. These events are enjoyed by students and staff alike and
provide unique opportunities to encounter the movement of God while creating deep roots of
fellowship with peers. All of these events are supervised by the Spiritual Life Board (SLB),
which is one of the branches that stems from Asbury Student Congress (ASC).
The Spiritual Life Board, as defined on the Asbury Student Congress webpage, provides
programming to encourage spiritual growth through various on-campus events while also
collaborating with the Office of Spiritual Life. But according to to Vice President of Spiritual
Life Olivia Loy, a junior, SLB has a much bigger role to play in this responsibility of
collaboration.
“I want to see more unity in general, but especially between things that cause
divisiveness, such as different beliefs and stances on controversial issues,” stated Loy. “I want to
see unity above all things because as a campus, it’s hard to grow together when we’re not
discussing what’s always going on.”
For SLB and its representative members, Loy has created a set of four goals to help
accomplish the overarching goal of campus unity. The first goal is to “integrate male and female
students in the context of seeking Christ and growing as one.”
“I would like to see more integration between male and female students, especially
between residence halls,” mentioned Loy. “I would like to see just everybody together and not
worry about gender division. That’s why this year we are working on combining men’s and
women’s retreats together.”
The second goal is to “connect with one another and be one entity rather than separate
committees and clubs.” Loy plans to get everyone who is a member of SLB and beyond to
participate in other Spiritual Life events on campus in order to show support and ultimately draw
in students from every part of campus.
The third goal is to “bring the study of Scripture to the forefront as a commitment in our
daily lives, as a student body.” Loy hopes to find ways to strengthen the implementation of
Scripture through events such as Gathers, Banded Discipleship meetings, Class Renewals and
Bible studies. The hope is that this will then create a chain reaction that will promote the use of
Scripture in other events and groups on campus that are outside of the SLB umbrella.
Lastly, the fourth goal is to “make community life on halls more Christ-centered.” This
will start by finding the best ways to use SLCs and SLAs and supplementing them with materials
to foster spiritual growth in their halls and dorms.
“I’m trying to start a new way in how we go about events through SLB. Spiritual Life
events will no longer just be for students with spiritual lives. We want everyone to come out who
wants to come, wherever they are,” stated Loy.
