The Religious Life Community has a new theme and attitude that has a lot of people on campus buzzing. This year, under the leadership of RLC President Courtney Swanson, RLC has already launched their new campaign, “One”, which is surrounded by a verse from Ephesians 4: 4-6 in the Holy Bible. The verse talks about being one with faith within a community and it has already had a widespread effect.

“The vision of RLC is a place where ordinary people discover God’s call for their lives,” Swanson said.

The theme of bringing the community together has sparked much interest in many freshmen on campus and has also inspired talks of possible movie and PlayStation nights at Smith Chapel. RLC is very interested in creating comfortable environments where students can just get together and get to know each other on a personal and religious level.

RLC, which is know across campus for sponsoring programs like Shalom Zone, Food 4 the Soul and Haven Club, are also excited about inviting more students to participate in new activities. One activity RLC is working on this year is fundraising for “Nothing but Nets,” an organization that buys mosquito nets for communities in Africa. The nets, which are about $10, protect people from mosquitoes that carry Malaria.

Swanson, who has been very pleased with the interest many students have already shown, hopes that people utilize the many resources RLC has to offer. Service projects, church involvement and a few music endeavors are all resources that are open to everyone on campus.

“I want people to feel comfortable coming to anything and we just want to get to know people,” Swanson said.

Angela Gafford Asmus, chaplain and director of religious life community, is very enthusiastic about this particular program and hopes that they campus will get involved as well.

“(We are) excited to lead that campus to reach out globally,” Gafford Asmus said. “We can’t all travel to Africa, but we wanted to do something here in Indianola to help change the world.”

Gafford Asmus will also be continuing her weekly women’s bible study meetings as well as bringing the Labyrinth back to campus.

RLC is also very excited for the return of Daybreak, which has already had great attendance for its first two services. Junior Chris Petrick, chapel intern of worship, has been very pleased with the time and respect the worship service has gained.

“I just want people to know that God is someone to meet people in life,” said Petrick. “We want to welcome everyone to this place.”

Daybreak, which is held on Wednesday nights, was originally known as Campus Worship. After students decided to revamp the weekly event, it gained a new name as well as a new vision of how students may want to worship while at Simpson. Students also have a chance to voice any changes they would like to see being made to the service.

“The biggest thing is that people have found an identity to the worship,” said Petrick. “Hopefully, people are seeing the changes they have voiced to us.”

The event will also see the face of more students getting involved as weekly speakers, which will hopefully also bring the campus together.

Chris Waddle, chaplain and director of church relations, feels that RLC is on the right track for gaining more campus involvement and interest. Waddle, who is also working with eight new chapel interns, is very happy to see the organization grow.

“[I am] blessed every day by their faith, leadership and commitment to ministry.” Waddle said.