Taylor University’s annual Senior Share chapel service took place on May 14, honoring their testimonies of God’s blessings and movement in their lives over their time at Taylor.
This year marked a special change as members from multiple chapel bands combined forces to lead worship with a team completely made of seniors.
Testimony submissions opened a couple of weeks prior to the service. They were reviewed by the coordination team and selected ahead of time but only revealed the day of.
Senior Sydnee Follett is graduating this year and serves as the Senior Chapel Coordinator. As part of the team that chose the speakers, she noted that people are not the same as when they entered Taylor and that their stories can look different.
“It's really easy for us as students to just kind of get locked into our own bubble in what's happening on our wing or what's happening in our friend group,” Follett said. “Seniors chapel is a good way to just open our eyes to see the Lord is moving all across campus and the lives of so many different people. And just because somebody's Taylor experience doesn't match yours, it doesn't make it a bad experience.”
Reverend Greg Dyson, vice president for spiritual life and intercultural leadership and campus pastor, hopes that underclassmen will get to hear a story that is fuller than their own. He hopes that these representative students that share can give listeners hope and optimism.
For graduating seniors, the hope is different.
Dyson said that of course, chapel and corporate worship at Taylor is special, but worship is important outside of Taylor. Like chapel attendance at Taylor, it is a choice. Students choose to attend the services, and they have a choice going forward, too.
“Keep choosing Christ,” Dyson said. “Because when they (seniors) show up in churches and in small groups and in worship environments and on missions, on short term mission trips, all of those carry the same kind of weight. What makes them great? Somebody showed up.”
Dyson said that Taylor students are adults and have wisdom that they can share as student leaders.They can teach not only their peers and younger friends, but also give a final message to faculty and staff, making senior share chapel a special day for them.
It is an opportunity for faculty to hear from students after they have had the opportunity to pour into their lives.
“This tends to be a day where we laugh really hard and we cry really hard,” Dyson said.
The seniors who shared are just a representation of the class and there are many others with incredible stories of how they have grown over the past four years.
Graduating senior Patrick Marsh, a film and media arts major, said that his time at Taylor has led him to become more mission oriented. He has learned to “stand on his own two feet” with his faith and has become collaborative and relational.
“Pay attention to the people around (you),” Marsh said, his advice pointed toward underclassmen in particular “You can really create incredible things by utilizing the skill sets of the people around you and by understanding what their hearts want to make.”
During the service, attendees had the opportunity to pray for their seniors as they move on to the next phases of life.
The chapel service is one of three events used to send off seniors, honoring their work and their stories. The other events include a worship night the night before graduation that the seniors are invited to take part in, as well as the commencement ceremony the next day.
