Set Apart Week kicked off last week. It brought three chapel services and four evening sessions that brought worship and community during a deep dive into holiness.
This year, Vice President of International Ministries at World Gospel Missions (WGM) John Rinehimer spoke alongside Jeannie Banter, the Director of the Christian Life Project. Together, they shared the misconceptions and myths of holiness, community importance and how to spend time with Jesus better. The week-long focus came from 1 Peter 1:15, a call “to be holy as the One who called us is holy.”
University pastor Greg Haseloff said Set Apart week creates space to understand the invitation of holiness extended to us by God. It also allows students to “hear teaching and preaching that provides clarity.”
He said, “And the worship context creates space for students to pray and respond to the Holy Spirit’s work to purify, fill and deepen their relationship with Jesus.”
After participating, freshman Geneva Wise walked away from Set Apart, claiming holiness “means not reacting the ways that the world does even when it’s most convenient.”
She said, “When others react with anger, we need to be kind and always open to understanding.”
On Monday, Jan. 23, Rinehimer shared how God in Exodus 3 commanded Moses to “throw down” his staff. He challenged students by asking what they needed to “throw down” or surrender to pick up something better. From him, something better meant a relationship with Jesus.
“I’ve learned that it is far too easy to let the walls go up and allow yourself to be held captive again by the things you have surrendered to God,” said freshman Ellie Haseloff. “It is important to live into the freedom that God gives you in surrender.”
Along with surrendering and giving up something, Tuesday night’s message strongly emphasized identity. The goal was to help expose lies and then replace the lies with truth.
Haseloff said she learned that “as we live this identity of freedom, our behavior will flow from us and out to others.”
This emphasis on identity created an avenue to respond to God, remove lies that often fill the mind and become filled with God’s truth.
Then, on Wednesday, Banter shared the story of the lame man whose friends carried him to Jesus. Jesus forgave his sins not because of anything he did but because of his friends’ faith. Banter said the people we choose to do life with matter. She encouraged those in attendance to pray with expectant faith for friendship and the people God places in their lives. Because being “set apart” does not mean being alone.
Banter said, “Set Apart is God sharing His life with us through His Spirit in us.”
