Surrender, Praise, and Rubber Frogs

At 7 pm on February 8, Taylor students gathered in Rediger Chapel/Auditorium for the first session of Spiritual Renewal, a focused message series and time of worship that takes place each semester. Rev. Greg Dyson introduced the speaker, Andrew Znachko, Lead Pastor at Antioch Community Church in Indianapolis.

This Spiritual Renewal was led by two different speakers, Znachko and returning speaker Beth Guckenberger, Co-Executive Director at Back2Back Ministries, and kicked off the spring semester Chapel theme of surrender.

Surrender in All Ways

This semester, Chapel is centered around the theme of Surrender. Znachko captured this through his sessions, first exploring how we surrender to God as His children, and then how we surrender to God as a church. “You don’t have to convince God that you are His,” he said.

He encouraged students to listen for what God is wanting to tell them and direct their focus onto Christ. “Jesus is the target audience of the church,” he said. “If we fill our churches with people and Jesus isn’t there, it’s not church.” With high energy and a zeal for the Lord, Znachko helped students learn to allow the Holy Spirit to move and to surrender to God.

Beginning Monday night, Guckenberger took the stage to continue revitalizing students' spirits. She encouraged them to make room for God to work and rely on his timing. “He is a God who is perfectly on time,” she said.

Speaking on Exodus 8 and the plagues on Egypt, Guckenberger highlighted the need for true surrender. Exodus 8:9-10a states, “Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.’ And he said, ‘Tomorrow.’” Guckenberger encouraged students to not wait for “tomorrow” but to surrender their burdens to God with urgency. The entire audience approached the stage, where rubber frogs were waiting. Writing down their burdens, students then left their frogs on the stage, symbolically leaving behind whatever holds them back from full surrender to God.

A Very, Very Full Chapel

Spiritual Renewal is just one of the meaningful programs at Taylor that points the community to the Lord and invites them to join Him in his work. Chapel is a space for the entire Taylor community to gather, worship the Lord, and center our hearts and minds on Him. Though attendance is expected but not monitored, Chapel is bursting at the seams. Over 35% of the student body does not have a place to sit inside Rediger, with students frequently standing in the aisles for worship and watching the livestream in Zurcher Commons in the student center. That’s why Taylor is undertaking the new Chapel and Welcome Center project and providing a seat for everyone—because Chapel is about worshiping God in community.