WGM Student Center celebrates 35 years

Worship, prayer, and speaking advance missions awareness
by Shannon Elder, Asbury Collegian
January 20, 2005

This year marks the 35^th anniversary of the WGM student center here at Asbury. It began as a student fellowship and met in the home of retired missionaries.

In 1980, the current building was constructed, on land donated by the college. Later, the center spawned WGM student centers at other colleges, including Vennard College and Kentucky Mountain Bible College.

Today, Asbury’s WGM student center remains independent of the college, but offers a wide variety of activities to the campus.

This past fall, the center was busy hosting such activities as a Goat Roast and Fall Fest, a “Lord of the Rings” movie night, and a sand volleyball tournament.

Other special events throughout the year include a Michigan/Ohio State Football party and a January snow skiing trip. 

The WGM student center is the location of various group events, including RA and SLA meetings and two class prayers. Dollar Dinners, when advertised, offer students a break from cafeteria food to enjoy an ethnic meal before the center’s Sunday evening service.

On the center’s Web site, directors Nathan and Cydil Waggoner describe the Sunday evening services as “the heart of what happens here at the student center.” Services begin at 6 p.m. every Sunday, and attendance averages around 50 people.

A time of praise and worship ushers in the speakers, who may be missionaries or students active in missions. Group prayer for the speaker closes out the service and is followed by snacks and fellowship.

“Our ultimate goals is just to expose students to missions” said Nathan. 

Senior Johnny Adkins, president of the WGM student center cabinet, encourages students to participate in the Sunday evening services.

“We get challenged a lot by the missionaries that come through here. They’re all really fabulous speakers and they have real hearts for sharing the Gospel and trying to motivate others to do the same. So I just think it’s an awesome, awesome time,” he said.

Besides evening services and other activities, the WGM student center accomplishes this by offering several unique opportunities for teams and individuals.

Task Force trips have sent teams to numerous countries around the globe, including Hungary, Honduras, Ukraine, and Uganda. For one to three weeks, teams help construct and maintain churches, schools, or homes while sharing drama, music, and personal testimonies.

This year’s Task Force trip will send a team to Bolivia during Spring Break.

Individual work can be done through the Volunteers in Action (VIA) program. VIA trips last from six weeks to a year and allow individuals to use their personal gifts and interests to serve.

The Waggoners said that because missions opportunities for teams have broadened through other organizations and local churches, the VIA program sets WGM apart at Asbury.

“One of our big goals when we came was to promote the VIA program- and it sort of has taken on a momentum of its own now…That’s a real exciting thing for us because I think the VIA program is one of the best ways to tell whether missions is for you,” said Nathan.

Media internships are another way to get plugged into missions through WGM. Communications students can use their skills to help produce missionary or field videos. Students can fulfill internships at the student center using its two “Avid Xpress” editing systems. Others do media internships abroad, like Adkins who served in Kenya his freshman year.

“There is nothing that He can’t use to reach the world- there’s no such thing as non-missions material. God can use everyone,” said Nathan.

The Waggoners are the fourth directors of Asbury’s WGM student center.

WGM initially asked the Waggoners to complete two years at Asbury, and the couple now is in their sixth year as directors. They are hall parents to Kresge Second Mid., and Cydil participates in a women’s Bible study with 70 to 80 other women.

The Waggoners said each year prepares them more and makes their work easier, but not boring.

 “We don’t feel a tug to go anywhere else- we feel very fulfilled,” said Nathan. “There are many people who have told us, “Let us know when you’re leaving because we want your job.” And we can’t argue. We really think that we have the best job in WGM.”

“Nathan and Cydil are amazing. They’re passionate, and they love everybody, and they love Jesus most of all- and that just overflows out of who they are. And it just reflects their lives, their lifestyle, and the way they run the student center,” said Jeannie Banter.