Students challenged to find spiritual focus Finding one's spiritual focus in a religious environment such as Harding's did not seem difficult at first glance, but many students found it a challenging task . "When 1 came to Hardi ng, 1 knew 1was entering a spiritual environment, but 1never expected the types of challenges 1encountered. They were different than high school," sophomore Travis Smith said. "When 1fi rst came here, 1was so excited to be at Harding that 1 wasn't really ready for the spiritual growth that 1 was about to experience," junior Tracy Hall said. Harding has long provided a wide variety of spi ritual activities, ranging from informal dorm devotionals to da ily chapel,assemblies . Harding has a long tradition of requiring chapel attendance. It is important in the "Harding experience." "I like going to chapel, and it helps me to focus at the beginning of my day," senior John Hodges said. Spiritual focus also came from a variety of special events throughout the school yea r. Each year, both the College and Downtown congregations sponsor gospel meetings . This year's College fa ll meeting was conducted by Jimmy Allen, a professor emeritus of the College of Bible and Religion. "I always enjoy hearing Jimmy Alle n speak, and he really added to the beginning of the semester with his comments during the gospel meeting," senior Jay Gentry said. Another annual event in recent years has been the allschool retreat, held at the beginning of the fall semester. This year's retreat fea tured Monte Cox as the guest speaker. "Cox inspired me to step up in my commitment to God this semester," sophomore Eric Schwieter said. During both events, students were encouraged to grow in their spiritual lives . The gospel meeting alone resulted in hundreds of publ ic responses and a number of baptisms. Others responded in a more private way. Junior Jake Chism did not go forward publicly but said he did make a personal recommitment to working harder for God . "I just rea li zed that there is more that 1 could be doing that I'm not," he said. The College Church of Christ 's campus ministers, Dwight and Barby Smith, had the task of guiding the spiritual lives of students. "Many students come to Harding and leave wishing they had done more to grow spiritually while they were here. 1 hope that as many students as possible get involved in as many ways as possible," Dwight Smith said. Everyone from facul ty to administrators did all they could to provide an environment in which Christian values could mature. However, students also had a responsibility for their own growth. Junior Jeff Veal said , "We all have a responsibility to do what we can to help others grow and to seize the opportunities that we need to feed us personally." tllii 36 Student Life - Scott Loftis A/an Howell and jaime Harding sing songs ofpraise at the Thursday night devotional. Studentsgathered weekly in the Mclnteer Rotunda/or thedevo. Photo by BrianHendricks. •
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