Inspiration

Hospitality for the Holy Spirit

Bil Mooney-McCoy, Director of Worship

Beyond the grand staircase and balcony of the A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel, you’ll find the couch rumored to be the most comfortable on campus. The couch belongs to Director of Worship Bil Mooney-McCoy, and its comforting cushions have hosted many defining moments— pastoral guidance, life-changing mentorship, heartfelt prayers and a fair share of tears.

Just like meaningful conversations can thrive with simple hospitality, Mooney-McCoy says sacred moments arise in worship when the Holy Spirit is welcomed in. “In any given Chapel, if something’s going to strike you, the worship is just as likely to hit you as the preaching,” says Mooney-McCoy, who is responsible for the musical and artistic elements of Chapel. “A lot of times, God meets me in that first song or the closing song. My job is to provide the Holy Spirit space, to make sure that our music is providing that.”

Over his nine years at Gordon, Mooney-McCoy has seen culture ebb and flow, preferences vary and trends change. But as he sets the values of worship for the campus community, his imperative remains the same: “The theological basis of worship—the scriptural mandate is the highest priority.”

Unlike the familiar couch, though, Mooney-McCoy says worship is not always comfortable. Within a multidenominational student body, Mooney-McCoy introduces campus to a wide range of worship styles that all reflect the body of Christ. “There are 50 ways to praise my Jesus,” he says. “Number 37 is not necessarily better than 30 than 12.”

As he guides campus in a posture of worship, Mooney-McCoy says his benchmark is a deceptively simple question: Was God glorified?

Whether students erupt in song with a classic hymn set to bluegrass or sit in solemn prayer accompanied by meditative piano, MooneyMcCoy says a Chapel service that ushers in the Holy Spirit and glorifies God is, “in terms of eternity, successful.”