Milligan students hosted a church service on Sunday, after a winter storm forced churches in the area to cancel their regular Sunday services.
The one-hour-long service took place in Lower Seeger, with around 75 students in attendance. An eight-person band, consisting of students, played songs; senior Bryant Magness preached from Matthew chapter five and the students gathered shared communion.
Sophomore Brayden Goddard came up with the idea of a student-organized church service when his church service got cancelled the night before.
“The church of Christ is the people, his believers. It’s not a building,” he said.
Goddard reached out to Magness, and together they started to organize the event around 6:00 p.m. the Saturday night before.
“I went and looked through old sermons that I’d written in the past and tried to find one that I felt like was suited to the occasion,” Magness said about preparing a sermon last-minute. “I spent last night doing a lot of editing and reworking. I had maybe like ten to pick from and went with that.”
Magness talked about the Beatitudes, teachings in Matthew 5, and highlighted the proclamation of hope for the hopeless in his sermon.
Students were informed about the events around dinner time Saturday night by text messages, which were sent out in different group chats, and by word of mouth.
“It was great,” Goddard said. “I’m glad that this many people showed up. I didn’t expect this many people to come.”
Photo: Students in line and taking communion at Milligan’s student-organized church service on Sunday, February 1 (by Emily Haas)
