What’s New with Student Organizations This Fall
Student organizations offer an outlet for students to explore, refine, and share extracurricular passions and interests. This fall, orgs are hosting a number of notable events and speakers.
There are nearly 20 student organizations at The King’s College, ranging from The King’s Players and The King’s Debate Society, to the Financial Services Club and the King’s International Justice Mission Chapter. Student organizations bring students together to explore, refine, and share extracurricular passions and interests. Here is an update on notable events and speakers hosted by student organizations at King’s.
On November 14, The Table collaborated with Refuge to host “Revival Night.” The Table is a community of Black and Hispanic students who meet to support the minority populations at King’s and to engage the broader community in discussion of multicultural issues, and Refuge is a student organization that facilitates campus-wide worship gatherings.
Revival Night was a multi-cultural revival-styled worship night designed to introduce the King’s community to the many ways gospel music draws us to God, as He draws us to Himself. Isuraoluwa Adedokun (PPE ’20), president of The Table, hoped that the event would allow students “to be utterly consumed by the Spirit welcoming the Kingdom of God in collective praise and worship.” Samantha Kelly (PPE ’21), president of Refuge, explained that the leadership of The Table and of Refuge “wanted to highlight that God unites us all under Him, no matter the background of worship someone may come from.”
Sixty-five students and staff members were in attendance for Revival Night. The night began with gospel music and prayer. Dr. Dru Johnson, associate professor of biblical and theological studies shared a letter of Paul’s, reminding students that Paul was called to minister to those who did not come from the same culture as him and to see them as his brothers and sisters in Christ. At one point, Johnson said, “Jesus has it. He’s in it all. Let all other names fade away. He doesn’t need the help of your idols. Let them go.” Prayer stations were set up around the room so students could pray for specific needs such as family, relationships, and the King’s community. After more musical worship, Sarah Fox (PPE ’20), vice president of The Table, closed the event with intercessory prayer for the entire student body. Revival Night was the first part of the two-part series, “Draw God: He Draws All.” The second part will be presented by The Table sometime in the spring semester.
On Friday, November 15, The Publius Society, which exists to build community centered on the pursuit of intellectual curiosity, better self-government, and Christlike character at King’s, hosted Dr. Brian Ballard for a public lecture on “God the Author: How Christian Faith Empowers the Life Story.” Ballard was an interim philosophy professor at King’s in the fall of 2016.
Ballard’s lecture focused on the nature of faith and its relation to the narrative of our life stories. Though we typically think of faith as a leap in the dark, Ballard argued for the epistemic rationality of faith. Ballard noted, “The conviction that in full recognition of what we are, God not only loves and forgives us but desires our fellowship, and can be called upon for the courage to confront one’s own evil.” Dr. Ballard encouraged the King’s community to have faith in God, who is the author of our life stories, who “weaves our real-life events together to form a larger, beautiful narrative,” and who invites us to join Him in that project. The lecture was attended by over fifty people.
Student organizations at King’s have many additional events planned for the rest of the fall semester and into the spring, including the following:
On Tuesday, November 19, TKC Students For Life will sponsor author Sarah Williams for a lecture titled, “Beautifully Simple: What My Stillborn Daughter Taught Me About Life.” Williams is an Oxford-educated historian who will share her story of carrying her daughter, Cerian, to term, despite knowing she would not survive birth.
On December 3, the International Justice Mission Chapter at King’s will be hosting Christine MacMillan from the World Evangelical Alliance for a Q&A. Those in attendance will hear from Macmillan’s seasoned work in the human rights field and how God has shown up in her line of work. The event will be in classroom 521 at The King’s College at 7:30 PM.
On December 7, The King’s Players is staging a Christmas Radio Play, “The Polar Express,” in the City Room at King’s. There will be two shows, the first at 2:00 PM and the second at 7:00 PM. The King’s Players are partnering with Dele, a student organization which shares meals together monthly, to serve hot cocoa and cookies during the show. Tickets are $5 and will be available at the door. In March, The King’s Players plans to stage a production of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.”
On March 10, The John Quincy Adams Society, a student organization dedicated to providing opportunities for students to engage in discussions of global events and America’s role on the world stage, will be hosting Daniel J. Mahoney at The King’s College. Mahoney is an assistant professor of politics at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., and the author of the critically acclaimed book, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Ascent from Ideology. He will speak about U.S.-Russian relations, with attention given to Russia’s internal politics today, and will argue that it’s wrong to refer to Russia under Putin as “totalitarian.” He will also discuss NATO’s eastward expansion in the early 2000s and its effect on the relationship between the U.S. and Russia today.