Celebrating The Resilience Of Synergy Wesley Students
Celebrating The Resilience Of Synergy Wesley Students
Written By: Brittany Burrows-Melrose
Dear Arapaho Family,
Oh, how I have missed you. What a strange and difficult past 15 months it has been. Yet in the midst of this time apart, there has been so much to celebrate. In my own life, my wife Nicole and I celebrated the birth of our twins last June, and they are quickly approaching their one year birthday! Denver and Dash have brought so much light and goodness into our lives, and remind us daily that even during a time of pain and grief, new life is springing forth.
As your Campus Minister at the Synergy Wesley Foundation, our campus ministry at UT-Dallas, Collin College and Dallas College, I have been witness to the beautiful strength, faith, and resilience of our college students. We had our last in-person campus program on March 10th, 2020 – a powerful outdoor worship service, which we had no idea would be one of our last times to meet in person together for a long while. As the campus shut down and closed the dorms a few days later, students had to move home, and classes transitioned online. When school started back last Fall, students could decide whether to attend online or in-person. Many decided to remain at home with their families and attend classes online instead of moving back to campus. For those who did move back to campus, it was often a quiet place. Student groups were no longer allowed to meet in-person, and the in-person classes were sparsely attended. This was not the college experience they dreamed about.
Yet God gives us the strength to be resilient in times like these, and our college students are an amazing example of that resilience. They adapted to the new challenges of online learning, and our Wesley ministry has not merely survived, but has thrived and grown during this time. In addition to our weekly online worship, we added several new online ministries. We hosted amazing speakers including Andrea Gibson, Rev. Dr. Ray Jordan, Fr. Shannon T.L. Kearns, Rev. Heather Gottas-Moore, Rev. Jonah Overton, Dr. Dawn Pleas, staff from the organizations BorderLinks and Story of Stuff Project, and best of all, our own Rev. Scott Gilliland! These amazing folks led students in a variety of programs, ranging from engaging our faith through spoken word poetry to talks on racial bias, climate change, sexual ethics, immigration, and more. Our programming has continued to expand, and we are reaching more students than ever before – more than 90 students were part of our Wesley ministry this year! Our student leaders worked hard to make sure students on our campuses knew that Wesley could still be a faith home for them, even while we were physically apart.
So as you can see, there is a lot to celebrate! We celebrate the possibility and hope of students coming back to campus, Wesley, and church at Arapaho again this August. And we celebrate the blessings of the past year – even with the immense challenges and heartaches, we saw God working in powerful ways in our ministry and students’ lives. Here is a video of a few Synergy Wesley students you may recognize – Maddie, Gray, Zach, and Grace – sharing about their experiences at Wesley this year. May you be blessed by their joy! Thank you so much for the ways you continue to make Synergy Wesley Foundation grow and thrive. We are so blessed by you!
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