Erin Davenport featured at CNTRD
Each Friday night at Union College, students gather as the sun goes down to celebrate the next 24 hours that God designates as a time of rest. At Union, vespers begins at 7:30 p.m. and typically end anywhere between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Music at vespers is given special attention, and a speaker is selected each week to bring in a message to the audience. These services don’t come together on their own, though. Emma Bermeo, the vespers coordinator in Campus Ministries, says that planning usually starts in early summer. Gathering speakers from across the country and across Lincoln, compiling different ideas and brainstorming different services takes many months to plan.
At Union, there are three types of vespers programs. The first is the “classic Family Worship”, as Bermeo describes it. This is typically held in the church. The second program is called “Unplugged”. This program features quiet, acoustic music. Students and staff are also asked to remove their shoes to acknowledge the holy space they are entering. The third program is called “CNTRD” (pronounced “centered”). This program is typically full of music and a powerful testimony or two. Kianna Frishman, one of the main people who plan this program, said that a total of 10 hours is put into planning each time CNTRD happens.
The speaker at the Friday, Sept. 29 CNTRD was Erin Davenport. Her biography on her website says that she is a “published inspirational author in numerous books and magazines, [who has] led ground-breaking scientific studies, and demonstrates hope through her own personal journey to bring you a wealth of knowledge, tools, and holistic understanding of life that is well beyond her years”. She presented a different angle of herself on Friday, however, as Davenport spoke on her journey out of and back into Christianity. She spoke of a fast spiral that started with spa music on YouTube and hit rock bottom with demonic creatures and Tarot cards.
Kianna Frishman gave her testimony as well. Her testimony was over a brief but powerful 10 minutes. Frishman spoke on her not-too-distant past of using substances to cope with the stress of life and the ultimate decision she made to trust in God and choose sobriety for herself.
The music, an important part of this program, featured Mike Waworuntu and Adam Anderson on guitar, Ahchen Edwards on piano, Liam Liversidge on cajon, Zuzu Masina on electric guitar and Milka Mendoza Sanchez, Kylie Wehling and Frishman on vocals.
An article from a 1949 Ministry magazine issue describes an ideal formula for a vespers service: “The audience should be fed with spiritual food as well as inspired by a beautiful service. The intellect as well as the emotions should be appealed to in order to make the service of lasting benefit rather than a temporary enjoyment.” Bermeo and her team do just that each week as they put together prayer-filled vespers services for the students and staff of Union College.
By Salissa Tonkin