By Shelby Lintelman/
Earlier this semester, many Howard Payne University students gathered in Grace Chapel for “Genuine,” a ministry of Coggin Avenue Baptist Church.
Genuine is a ministry for college students that is led by Billy Cash, college pastor at CABC. It is a ministry that meets weekly on Sunday nights at 7 p.m. and is normally held in the Coggin Connection Center. The college ministry kicks off each year on the HPU campus.
“Genuine on the Lawn was a great kickoff for the year,” said Kayden Hering, junior Christian education major from Alvord, Texas. “It was a great opportunity to get reconnected with the ministry that I, and so many others, have grown to love during our time as college students at HPU.”
Normally, the Genuine event at HPU is held behind Mims Auditorium, but this year potential rain and bad weather pushed the event indoors to Grace Chapel. While the service itself was held inside, there were many students outside playing cornhole, eating snow cones, and fellowshipping with one another before it started.
This event takes place annually and gives students the opportunity to connect with not only their peers, but with a local church community and get plugged in at the very beginning of the school year.
Many students at HPU call Coggin Avenue Baptist Church their church home because of their opportunities to get involved and serve, but many more come for the opportunity to be discipled and taught through Cash and the Genuine ministry.
Payton Chumbley, sophomore criminal justice major from Prague, Czech Republic, said that Genuine is the true embodiment of being genuine.
“Genuine is important to me because it is what it claims to be: genuine. A genuine gathering of believers my age fellowshipping and worshipping God,” said Chumbley, who also plays drums for the Genuine worship team.
“Genuine has been a huge part of my walk with the Lord and I am forever grateful that he put this group in my life,” Chumbley added.
Genuine is a ministry that has an impact on the lives of many students at HPU, and Genuine on the Lawn is the perfect kickoff event in order to introduce freshmen, new students, and returning students alike to a community that will love them and help them to grow in community, and most importantly in faith.
Photo of Yellow Jacket staff writer Shelby Lintelman