Black History Chapels, Soul Food Opinion

Black History Month Chapels Promote Diversity

By Eric Torrence

Campus Pastor Ryan Lee makes an immense effort to provide many diverse speakers for Tabor’s Chapel. He has been focusing on bringing in minority voices, including women, African American, and Latino.

He reached out to cabinet members on the board of pastors in the area and received great feedback. His efforts through the pastor’s alliance in Wichita has brought about a more inclusive chapel service.

Lee said he tries to focus on the different influential months we celebrate cultures and their history. Different messages give students a widened scope or perspective.

“We get a fuller picture of who God is. And someone might say something that makes you wrestle with their message, but it is a good thing,” Lee said about the diversity of speakers.

Connections and recommendations are what keeps the momentum going for future chapels. One phenomenal thing Lee is doing is the Chapel podcast. It allows you to see any particular Chapel service you might have missed and makes Chapel more universal.

Lee has developed great relationships with people that are eager to speak, and for Black History Month, he filled nearly every slot with a Black speaker. He wants to make Chapel better, but he needs people to email him with requests or to give feedback.

Overall, Lee is all about diversification, and is attempting to help everyone at Tabor join together as one community.

*Soul Food Opinion*

By Eric Torrence

February was a time for celebration in the African American community. We, as a country, have made great strides, with many influential figures and inventors in the African American community revolutionizing society.

It was unusual to not have a theme or hear any talks about an event in the works on campus. It took some brainstorming, but an interesting idea came into fruition: how about creating a meal to bring everyone together? It took some help with some really amazing students and faculty of Tabor College. The Southern idea of a soul food luncheon popped onto the drawing board.

We faced many challenges attempting to satisfy everyone’s palettes because there are many ethnic cultures at Tabor. The event ended up doing pretty well. Several people I asked really enjoyed the thought more than anything.

The best moment of the luncheon was hearing someone say, “I feel back at home.” I’m hoping other cultures can do something similar in the future.

There should be more appreciation for Rob Scott, food service director with Pioneer College Caterers at Tabor. He was willing to do something out of the ordinary. I also want to give a special thanks to the Pioneer kitchen staff and all they’ve done and continue to do for the preparation of all our meals at Tabor.