Wesley moves to larger home

    The Wesley Foundation has moved its weekly worship to the Magnolia Ballroom due to an increase of attendance of 60 percent in just one year. 
    Just six years ago, Wesley, one of GCSU’s campus ministries, met in the Wesley Foundation House with an average attendance of 65 people, according to a 2001 article in The Colonnade.              Since then, Wesley has moved to and from Maxwell Student Union to its current location, Magnolia Ballroom on West Hancock Street across from Front Campus.
    “Today, people aren’t interested in being preached at and they’re not interested in being told what to think,” said Rev. Bill Baker, the director of Wesley. “They just want to experience God for real.”
    Wesley now averages around 320 people every Wednesday night, where as this time last year it was averaging around 200 people, according to Baker.
    “Magnolia is packed out every week,” says Beth Shepherd, 19, a regular at Wesley.
    Not only are the seats filled, but people also line the sides as well as the back wall.
    Kevin O’Kelley, a sophomore art major, has gone to Wesley since the beginning of his freshman year and is now involved in the video production at Wesley.  He says it is “awesome” that so many people want to experience the Lord.
    For its Wednesday night service, Wesley puts a lot of focus and energy into worship and, for Baker, that has a lot to do with the growth.
    Shepherd calls the worship “really raw and pure,” something she says people can appreciate.   
    Every Wednesday night at 8 p.m., after the Wesley announcement video, the Wesley praise band plays for almost an hour.  Each song is filled with energy and passion.
    People all around the ballroom close their eyes and sing along with the band.  Baker then speaks for around 30 to 45 minutes.  His message varies from week to week but it is usually based on scripture.  After Baker’s message, they worship a little more. 
    So what brings people through the ballroom doors every Wednesday night?
    For O’Kelley and Shepherd, it is the welcoming environment and the acceptance of who they are.     
    “Everyone was just so, so nice, like the most inviting and welcoming people I’ve ever been around,” said Shepherd. “These people were real, they weren’t fake. They just really loved the Lord.”
    Wesley is not just about these Wednesday nights.  With its expansion came an increase of participation, allowing Wesley to offer more activities and ways to get involved. 
    “We try really hard to get people involved in things.  We don’t want it to be just a Wednesday night thing,” Shepherd said. 
    Wesley offers many Bible studies: men’s, women’s, freshmen’s and one on the book of Daniel, just to name a few.  Personal prayer meetings are held on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wesley also has a dance team, a creative arts team and the praise band, all of which meet at the Wesley Foundation House, located at 211 S. Clarke St.
    Inside these headquarters is the office for Wesley as well as a prayer room that is open most hours of the day so people can have a quiet place to pray and reflect. The house is also home to five active members of Wesley.  Those who live in the house are either in leadership, praise band, or are interns.  With all the activities that take place at the house, it is not surprising that it is a common hang out. 
 In the nine years that Baker has been with Wesley, he has seen Wesley grow from the six that were involved when he first started to the number of people they have today. 
    “ We’re not doing anything different that what we’ve been doing the last four or five years,” Baker said.  Each year, a new set of students come in and they seem “hungrier” that the students before them. 
    “Anybody can do what we’re doing,” Baker said. “We’re not doing anything special. I think they’re just drawn to God.” 

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 18 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry