“SPIRITUALLY RENEWED”

The lives of many students were transformed during the Spiritual Extravaganza service put on by the United Student Movement on the afternoon of October 17 and Janelle’s life was of no exception. Janelle has been privileged to be the first of five siblings to attend a university; this glorious opportunity presented itself in July 2010 when she was awarded a scholarship to pursue her studies. However; like any normal teenager, peer pressure reared its ugly head in her life and Janelle who was once a Christian found herself straying from the Lord.

While struggling with a double standard life of trying to balance Christianity along with secularism, Janelle found that her spiritual life was slowly decaying. Until one day, she received an e-mail inviting her to attend the United Student Movement Spiritual Extravaganza service. She made a mental note of this and decided that she would not miss it. It was on this day that Janelle’s life was completely renewed and she reconnected with her Lord and Saviour. “Since I started NCU, I stepped out of the Christian pathway but this event made me realize the need to draw closer to God. The testimonies were touching and had me looking within myself. I must certainly commend the organizers of this event as it impacted my life positively” she noted.

The concert which lasted for a little more than an hour saw enactments from various groups including East Jamaica Conference, Ministerial Association and Dramatist for Christ. Additionally, there were testimonies, worship songs and scripture readings by students which played an integral role in the program.

Organizer of the event, Vice President of Spiritual Affairs for the United Student Movement, Sasha-Gay McIntosh believes that NCU needs more events like these to reach students who are struggling with their spiritual lives and also to gather souls for the Kingdom. “In planning for this day, the main objective was to sensitize students that Christianity isn’t as boring as some persons make it seem and that you can have fun in the Lord. I want NCU to find students who wish to meet Christ and minister to them”, she said smiling radiantly. She is also hoping that the campus will have more spiritually inclined events that attract students and aid them along the spiritual pathway. “During my reign as VP of Spiritual Affairs I hope to work assiduously to transform the lives of students here by hosting events that will impact their spiritual lives in an effort to build their faith so that they can minister to others”, Sasha-Gaye mentioned.

The event was well supported especially by religion students who believe that not many events on campus are deliberately aimed at catering to the spiritual aspect of a student’s life. “There are many students here facing challenges and would like their spiritually related questions to be answered, however there isn’t an outlet for that if they don’t wish to go to the pastor’s office. This event allows these students to approach their peers for answers on a face to face level” noted Ryandrew Brown, a third year religion student.

The event ended on a rather high note with prizes and surprises for those who were able to answer the trivia questions correctly. The Jamaican slang “the thing tun up” or “the thing shot” could be used to describe the event which was definitely well supported for its first staging and students are looking forward to another Spiritual Extravaganza next year.

Written by:

Sharmica Holness (for JOUR257 Faith Based Assignment)

Organizer of the event, VP of Spiritual Affairs, Sasha-Gaye McIntosh signing books at the event.

A group of students engaged in a circle of prayer at the recently concluded Spiritual Extrvaganza

A role play put on by students