School year kicks off with Initium & ""First Day We Pray""
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Initium – the Latin word for beginning -- was a brand-new event welcoming the more than 700 freshmen and new students enrolled this year which featured a devotional by prominent speaker Jeff Walling, encouraging comments by Lipscomb President Randy Lowry and a symbolic passing of the torch from upperclassmen to freshmen.
Held in the final hours of Sunday before classes began, new Lipscomb students emerged from the devotional in Collins Auditorium to find a path lighted by candles all the way from the auditorium steps to the Bell Tower Mall. Drum cadences played as students walked to the tower and received their own candles for the torch-passing ceremony, a symbolic gesture sure to remain in the memories of students for years to come.
New students also received a small slate tile – or a blank slate – as a memento of the ceremony.
President Lowry challenged the students to use the 48 months that they will be on the Lipscomb campus during their college career to grow spiritually and academically.
On Monday, as students made their way to classes for the first time, faculty and staff were present around the clock in the new Doris Swang Chapel to pray for every student, faculty member and staff member by name. The “First Day We Pray” 24-hour prayer vigil began at Lipscomb 11 years ago.
Prayer requests are collected from the Lipscomb community and volunteers spend the night praying for everyone at the university by name.
The prayer vigil was capped off at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday when Prof. Lee Camp prayed blessing upon Lipscomb’s students, student President Matt Williams prayed for all Lipscomb faculty and staff, Prof. Richard Goode prayed for peace among the nations, and Prof. Paul Prill asked for blessings upon the Lipscomb community at-large.
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