The YMCA partnered with the World Impact Office to give students a chance to engage in community outreach as well as gain extra chapel credit.

The YMCA Y Games are the third and final installment of outreach events that count toward chapel credit for students at Indiana Wesleyan University. The previous two were “Go Give Generously to Gilead” and a food drive for St. Martin Community Center.

Abbey Green (sr), student body outreach coordinator, said that IWU has worked with the YMCA before, but this will be the first year of the Y Games. And, she added, this semester was the first time that chapel credit was given for events like this.

Emily Bowman of the Outreach Office (alumna ‘10) was “the one who wrote up the event for credit,” said Green.

Currently, students who need to make up for skipping chapel services can attend on-campus worship events called Breathe and Still or listen to and take notes on recorded chapel services.

Last semester, the dean of the chapel was in conversation with the Student Government Association about the possibility of mandating a one-credit class for students who went over their allotted six chapel skips per semester.

Rebecca Kineman (jr) prefers the outreach opportunities to the class but thinks it could be given more incentive for the chapel credit.

“I think the outreach is much better than the one-credit idea. As far as the one-credit goes, we sit in class all day, and in a sense chapel is supposed to be something where we take what we’re hearing to heart then go do it. But there should be bigger incentive for the outreach because if it’s going to replace chapel, it should be more equivalent in the hours,” said Kineman.

The Y Games will be held at the YMCA on April 14 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The plans for the games are designed around children in kindergarten through sixth grade and include relays, swimming, tug-of-war and an awards banquet to finish the day. Green said workers are preparing for 100-200 kids and hoping for about 75 volunteers.

Love Revolution is an annual weeklong theme for chapel that includes featured speakers and a variety of activities throughout the week. This year’s events will take place Feb. 6-10 with the theme “Shattered by a Love of Distinction.”

Kyra Pappas (alumna ‘10), assistant director of Intercultural Student Services, said Love Revolution is a week dedicated to recognizing and learning to love the differences among all people.

“It’s a distinctive love that God calls us to. It’s so different from the love that the world calls us to. It’s a love beyond boundaries, a love beyond borders, a love beyond differences, a love beyond similarities,” said Pappas. “God made all of us different, and we are supposed to embrace that.”

The event is a collaboration between the ISS office and the Dean of Chapel Office, with the DOC making more of the decisions regarding speakers and ISS more involved in planning events outside chapel.

“We were thinking about how we could shake up people’s concept of what love really is and give them a new perspective on love because that’s what revolution really means,” said Don Lawrence, director of ISS, who will speak on Monday, Feb. 6. “So we’re trying to get students to understand that difference is not a bad thing. It’s something that drew Jesus to us.”

The speakers for Wednesday and Friday will talk about this love of difference. For Friday’s chapel, author Steve Moore will talk about how to impact one’s community with love.  Coming on Wednesday is Christian author and activist Shane Claiborne, who has written the UNV-180 required books for incoming students in 2008 and 2010.

“We always bring in people who are pushing those boundaries, whether it’s physical boundaries to love people, like Michelle Perry two years ago, or cultural, like Eric Samuel Timm last year. I don’t think you make a difference without doing that,” said Abby Ill (sr), the student director of Love Revolution.

While Love Revolution in the past has set up its own events, this year the focus was on working with existing student organizations. Tuesday night, Feb. 7, the student-led worship night Exalt will focus on love as a theme in both the songs and the speaker. On Thursday, the ISS will be hosting a salsa dance night.

“We wanted to allow students to have different ways to worship God, so it’s not just like, ‘You have to come to chapel and worship in this way,’” said Ill. “We’re offering chapel, talkback sessions, the salsa night, Exalt, and we’re also partnering with the Prayer Furnace.”

“We really want these sessions to be very, very challenging,” said Pappas, “and then we want to provide opportunities throughout the week as a way to engage and put into action what they’re hearing. As a response – but not like an altar call – as an actual call to action. I really feel like Love Revolution is flowing straight out of Summit: ‘Here’s where we were challenged, now we’re going to take it a step further.’”

Talkback sessions will be provided for the chapel speakers both Wednesday and Friday. Steve Moore’s meeting time and place are yet to be determined. Shane Claiborne will have his session Wednesday in the Globe Theatre at 1:15.