BSU: new semester, same mission
Posted by The Skyliner on February 18th, 2009Kellan Mayfield
Staff Writer
A new semester at North Greenville brings many exciting changes and opportunities to campus: getting new classes, seeing old friends and attending the new lineup of Baptist Student Union’s “Fusion” worship services on Thursday nights, designed specifically for college students.
Meg Kiel, senior marketing major, has served with BSU for three years and now holds the title of president, but she would not let you call her that for fear of sounding snobby, instead preferring the term “council community cultivator.”
“I basically make sure that everyone on council knows what they’re supposed to be doing and try to encourage them the best I can in that,” Kiel said.
Kiel believes that Fusion last semester was a great success, allowing ways for the NGU student body to connect with one another and with God in a more intimate way. The theme for the year, “Rescued,” is meant to show students that we are all rescued from the pain and trials of our earthly lives by God’s grace.
She also admits that though the process has been painful for some, it has allowed growth for many, including herself.
“For me personally, I have seen God work through the council as He’s brought us all closer together,” Kiel said. “We’ve learned how to be vulnerable with one another and put down our walls to really let others in. When this happens, we’re able to create a community that isn’t afraid of having flaws. In fact, only when our flaws are exposed are they able to be healed. It has been really neat this year to see God’s healing because we’ve chosen to examine our flaws from the past.”
In keeping with that mindset, Fusion has been carrying on a series of messages titled “From Fear to Faith,” created to help believers take a closer look at themselves and examine their fears, and in turn give them to the Lord.
While the basic framework of Fusion will stay the same, there will be a central theme, two rotating praise bands and a strong supportive community.
“This year we have decided to stick with one main speaker and occasionally professors or staff at NGU,” Kiel says. “We do this in order to create a kind of unity. You have the opportunity to personally know the speaker, in our case Jody [Jennings], and thus build a relationship with him for the purpose of being discipled.”
One thing Kiel stressed will not change is BSU’s mission for bringing the Gospel to every ear, including those in other countries.
“We want to be a caring community focused on internal growth and external service,” she said. “Every event, speaker and theme is meant to draw us back to that mission.”
According to students, BSU’s vision is portrayed very clearly through both worship and message and allows them to get to know their Savior in a more intimate way.
“The worship music they play blows me away. It makes it feel like God is right there with me,” Courtney Long, freshman elementary education, said.
“Fusion is a great place to hear a great message as well have a community to be able to go to and to grow with spiritually. The good thing is that you live with that community instead of just seeing them on Sundays and Wednesdays,” Colton Guffey, senior interdisciplinary studies, said.
Kiel sums up her experience with BSU by saying that, while she has had her share of both trying times and joyful experiences, she has always thanked the Lord for his sovereignty.
“No matter what,” she said, “I have always noticed that the only way God is going to make an impact is if I stop focusing on how I can make something spectacular, and instead focus on what brings a smile to God.”