Kacie Woosley
Staff Writer
The anticipated Prayer Chapel to be built by the end of the 2008-09 school year will provide a place for students to slow down, reflect, and get in a little “knee time”.
Ironically, the dream for the project came to mind when Jesse Hayes and a few friends skipped prayer chapel. They said to themselves, “We’ll skip and pray on our own.”
A week prior to Prayer Chapel, Hayes had been a part of 24-7 prayer at the Salem YWAM Base. In this event, the chapel was open twenty four hours a day for those involved to split up covering every hour of the day praying. His experience was so positive, that he and his friends would point at different buildings around Corban’s campus, and half-joking, half serious, would picture it as being the next prayer chapel.
Dreaming became a reality when Hayes and friends presented the idea to Nancy Hedberg. While in college, Hedberg had a room on her floor for students could go to pray.
“I always considered this very important for us to be able to go and struggle through issues.” she said.
Hayes heart towards the new prayer destination is excited at “having a place that was set aside to meet with God. It makes our time a lot more intentional. I rarely set aside an hour to pray.”
The plan is to take a previously donated portable and transform it into a serene place for students to step-back and have a reality check. Total cost will be $3000, in comparison to the original estimation of $10,000 by building from scratch. These funds will strictly come from ASB contribution and donations. Nothing will be taken from student fee’s or department funds.
The little white “chapel” banks that will be distributed around campus will be collecting quarters to raise money. Members on the Prayer Chapel Board include: Nancy Hedberg, Steve Hunt, Lori Schilling, Zach Eilander, David Collett and Megan Franklin.
As far as projected time of arrival, Hunt’s thoughts are “The faster the better. All we need is muscles and shovels.” Knowledge of and experience in construction are needed.
Collete said that when looking at student’s responses to the idea of a prayer chapel, the majority were “intensely excited.”
Work on the Prayer Chapel begins this Sunday. Contact David Collette at asb@corban.edu for more information.