Chapel Hosting BHM Guest Speakers

February is Black History Month, and Central Methodist University’s Center for Faith and Service (CFS) will host guest speakers at Chapel services each Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the Assembly Hall.

All four chapel services during the month – featuring Rev. Jason Bryles, Lyna Williams-Whitehead, Shannon Hancock, and Rev. Ivan James, III – will be publicly livestreamed on the CFS Facebook page at CMU Center for Faith & Service. 

Rev. Jason Bryles is the lead pastor at Webster Hills United Methodist University in Webster Groves, Mo. Bryles will kick off the month of guest speakers on February 4. 

Lyna Williams-Whitehead graduated from CMU in spring 2023, majoring in music and religion and church leadership. Currently, she is earning her Master of Divinity degree with an emphasis in social justice at Saint Paul School of Theology in Leawood, Kan. She is also an intern at Church of the Resurrection United Methodist Church. 

Williams-Whitehead and Shannon Hancock, who serves as the executive director of admissions and communications at Saint Paul, will speak collaboratively on February 11.

“I’m really hopeful that when I and my colleague and friend Rev. Shannon Hancock speak, students will hear God’s invitation to offer their gifts to inspire unity. I pray that they will know there is a special place for them in God’s story,” Williams-Whitehead said. “I hope they’re encouraged to take a look at their community within CMU and feel motivated to partake in all the good things CMU has to offer but also see the places that need the transformation that God’s love brings.” 

Rev. Ivan James, III is the pastor of New Horizons United Methodist Church in St. Louis. He is also a member of CMU’s Board of Trustees and will give the message on February 25. 

“People like him, gravitate towards him,” Central’s Scotty Wall said of Rev. James, who has spoken at CMU chapel services in previous years.

Wall himself serves CMU’s campus chaplain and will be speaking on February 18. 

Ahead of the special month of speakers, Wall pointed out several reasons why livestreaming Chapel services is impactful, including enabling parents of Chapel Band members to see their students play worship music, allowing alumni to participate regardless of location, and giving prospective attendees a chance to know what to expect from a Chapel service. He also said alumni, both recent graduates and those that have graduated two or three decades ago, have shown an interest in experiencing their alma mater’s chapel service via livestream. 

“The most important thing about Chapel, and church in general: loneliness is an epidemic in our society,” Wall said. “Chapel, church, classroom settings, are ways that we can make friendships. And that combats loneliness.”