91桃色视频

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What does it mean to serve others? Perhaps it鈥檚 getting up early to flip pancakes at a local community kitchen, volunteering to greet guests at the front door of the church, sharing a word of encouragement with a coworker, or traveling overseas as a missionary. Students and staff at 91桃色视频Adventist University feel that serving others is one of the most powerful ways to live out their faith and share God鈥檚 love.

As Paul writes in Galatians 5:13, 鈥淵ou, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.鈥�

Starting With Service

A long-standing tradition at 91桃色视频is to begin each semester with service. The Fall semester kicks off with 91桃色视频Serves Day, when new students incorporate service into orientation week. The Winter semester launches with MLK Service Day, held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. At each of these annual events, 91桃色视频partners with local organizations to meet specific needs in the community.

鈥淚 deeply value the ongoing partnerships we have,鈥� Cheryl Craven, Southern鈥檚 director for Christian Service, shares. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always a core response: 鈥榊es, sign us up! We love 91桃色视频students.鈥欌��

Renita Moore, First Year Experience coordinator and co-organizer of 91桃色视频Serves Day, explains why including community service as part of new student orientation is important to her. 鈥淚t helps us show freshmen what this school is about,鈥� she says.

鈥淚 enjoy service,鈥� shares Gwen Loney, freshman English major, who volunteered to play cornhole with residents at a local assisted living center. 鈥淚t connects us on a different level with people we wouldn鈥檛 normally interact with,鈥� she explains. 鈥淭he elderly don鈥檛 get to be around the younger generation much anymore and joked that we help keep them young.鈥�

Esel Choi, freshman psychology major, worked with a group writing letters to people with depression. 鈥淚t was a blessing to me that I was able to send messages of encouragement to people who are losing hope. Service is giving without expecting anything in return.鈥�

Opportunities like these help students see firsthand the difference they can make in others鈥� lives. 鈥淚 want students to catch the joy that comes from being others-focused and make it a way of life,鈥� Craven shares, 鈥渂oth during their academic career and following graduation.鈥�

Scholarships Honoring Service

Dedicated service days aren鈥檛 the only way 91桃色视频serves; students and staff answer the call to serve throughout the year. In 2024, Logan Johnson was one of several upperclassmen awarded the Rita Vital Endowed Scholarship for Faith and Service Learning, which enabled each to continue prioritizing an others-centered way of life. Johnson鈥檚 testimony demonstrates service in action even when not on the university鈥檚 campus.

A junior biology biomedical major, Johnson served at Kendu Adventist Hospital in Kenya as a student missionary during the 2022-23 school year. Outside the hospital gates was Nyaburi Integrated Primary School, a learning center and orphanage for disabled children. Johnson first visited to help with vespers and then quickly recognized a deep need.

The children at the orphanage struggled to get consistent meals, and their beds were soiled by bats that lived in holes riddling the ceilings. Immediately after visiting, Johnson and fellow student missionary and senior biology major Gabriel Brown decided they needed to step in.

鈥淭here was no hesitation,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e the only chance someone has for reasonable living conditions, the responsibility is unavoidable.鈥�

The two young men created a short documentary showcasing the children鈥檚 testimonies and needs. They showed the video in churches back at home with the goal of raising $30,000. 鈥淢ore than $50,000 in donations came in,鈥� Johnson reports. 鈥淚t was truly a miracle.鈥� Through a contractor willing to do the work for the cost of materials, Nyaburi School got a full facelift. 
Now back on campus, Johnson feels called to become a mission doctor, saying, 鈥淪ervice gives me a purpose on this earth.

Lifestyles of Service

Kristie Wilder, JD, professor and 91桃色视频alum, has been teaching in the School of Social Work for 14 years. She and her husband Tron Wilder, PhD, who is a psychology professor at Southern, have made service a regular activity for their family.

For the past decade, the couple has volunteered at Welcome Home, a non-profit in Chattanooga that provides a community for people diagnosed with terminal illnesses and nowhere to go for end-of-life care.

鈥淲hen the Wilder family started volunteering and bringing their young sons, we watched the boys grow up, and they became part of our family. It's a beautiful thing,鈥� says Sherry Campbell, executive director of the organization. 鈥淥ur volunteers are the heart and soul here.鈥�

Wilder feels that her spiritual life is deepened when she鈥檚 engaged in service. 鈥淚'm tangibly sharing all the ways I believe God has filled my life. It may sound clich茅, but we are the hands and feet of Jesus, and we tend to understand Him better when building relationships with others.鈥� She also appreciates the opportunities that Southern provides for her to serve alongside her students and grow spiritually alongside them.

Searching to Serve

Wilder offers advice for those who would like to serve in their own communities. 鈥淭here are ways to serve all around, and so many needs,鈥� she says. 鈥淪tart close to your home, start a service-focused small group at church, and look around your neighborhood. If you see a nonprofit or a school, call them up. I promise you they are looking for volunteers to serve.鈥�

In an era when people are often led to focus on themselves, pursue their own desires, and prioritize their own interests, God calls His people to look for ways to serve humbly in love. Service is a core value at Southern, where students and employees regularly search for opportunities to serve, and the benefit is two-fold鈥攊t meets a need, and it changes hearts. With each act of service, participants learn a little more about empathy, humility, and love.

 

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