WHAM has been a staple Asbury event for several years now, with close to 150 to 200 students in attendance as of last semester.
WHAM stands for “Worship Him At Midnight,” and is a worship event usually held on weekend nights for all students to gather together. With this semester comes some new changes to the well-attended event. WHAM co-chairs sophomore Gabe Ernst and junior Kenna Gardiner look to add an aspect of inclusivity and diversity through opening opportunities to lead worship and spoken-word to a wider variety of majors and by encouraging more intercultural involvement in the upcoming WHAM events.
“Doing a worship night every month helps renew the student body and provides a space for them to be free in their worship, whether that is dancing, praying, singing or any other form that glorifies God,” said Ernst. “We believe the purpose of WHAM is to invite the Holy Spirit to move within our faithful students so that this campus might be radically changed with the love, truth and joy of Jesus Christ.”
As WHAM moves forward, the organization hopes to continue to encourage community growth through worship.
“My vision for WHAM coming up is to get a really diverse group of people involved,” said Gardiner. “It’s typically just been worship arts majors, but I’d like to involve more students with a more diverse cultural background and anyone of any type of major performing and just showing us how they worship God.”
In past years, WHAM has typically had few other majors represented, and been in the contemporary style with spoken-word interludes over the course of the three-hour event.
“Having people talk about missions would be fun,” said Gardiner. “It would also open up other areas for other ministries on campus to get involved. I’d also love for other cultures to bring their music and I’d love to incorporate other forms of worship that would fit in well with WHAM.”
There are three WHAM events planned for the spring semester. The first was on Friday, Jan. 4.
“In March, we’re looking to do an intercultural WHAM. I want every event to be intercultural, not just a special event,” said Gardiner. “It should be a part of every WHAM. Our last one will be mostly seniors who are graduating.”
For those looking for an outlet for worship, Gardiner emphasizes that WHAM is open to new participants.
“I would like to open this up to anybody; we’re all capable of worshipping,” she said. “Having leadership in worship is a common gift so I’d like for everyone to feel like they can experience that.”
Anyone interested in getting involved with WHAM this semester can email Ernst or Gardiner.