Last Wednesday, more than 50 college students gathered in the Chapel of Memories to worship simply by the notification of a tweet.
This year, Michael Lewis, junior business administration major and a few others introduced a different way of worshipping to the student body through Pop-Up Worship. Lewis said everyone is welcome to join.
“Pop-Up Worship is just a time where a handful of people can come worship together as a campus and praise God regardless of their denomination and what they are involved in,” Lewis said.
Lewis and a few others are the masterminds behind this student-led event. They brought this abandoned concept back to Mississippi State University. Pop-Up Worship was introduced to MSU when Lewis was a freshman, but was cast aside until this year.
Lewis said Pop-Up Worship is a student-led worship service where band members, MacAlister Parker, Walton Mallette, Robby Keifer and Nicholas Cobb, lead students in worship by singing multiple songs and a student gives a small devotion midway through the worship service.
The concept of Pop-Up Worship is nobody knows when it will happen. It typically occurs once every month, but no one knows when it will happen until the week of the service. Cobb said students can always expect the event to take place once a month on a Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. The only way to find out when it will happen is to follow their Twitter account, @MSUPopUpWorship.
“We are going to let you know about it right before it happens, so it can be a pick-me-up for your week with whatever you are going through and it is late enough to where you can get here and not have meetings or any distractions,” Cobb said.
Lewis said each time this event has been held, they have had an overwhelming amount of people show up to worship.
“We went in expecting 30 to 40 people last month and ended up having a full chapel with people sitting on the floor and guys standing up, Lewis said. “People just showing up by using social media, being able to come without any warning beforehand and to have a full Chapel of Memories is just the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Emily Turner, freshman whose major is undeclared, said she regularly attends Pop-Up Worship and finds it to be an escape from her stressful week.
“My favorite part about it is that they aren’t trying to drill the Bible. They are just offering a calm welcoming place to sing, worship and pray not only for ourselves, but for those around us who we might not even know that well,” Turner said.
MSU has many Christian organizations that students can get involved in such as Baptist Student Union, Catholic Student Association, Reformed University Fellowship Canterbury Episcopal Fellowship and more.
To get involved in Pop-Up Worship, please contact Michael Lewis at [email protected].
