By Frances Inabnet
“I think when life gets hard, worship really grounds us, and praising God and thanking him is everything,” said Micah Strawn.
Strawn is a Samford freshman sports marketing major and the founder and organizer of the Samford Freshmen-Led Worship group that meets in Crider Commons under Gaston-Mann Hall. He says worship is an important part of his life.
“And we always say worship is the weapon. I wake up every day listening to worship music and end every night with worship,” said Strawn.
Strawn, who grew up going to Young Life camps, did not start playing the guitar until about a year ago. Worshipping at camp is one of his fondest memories that shaped his desire to lead worship.
“One of my favorite parts was that someone would have a guitar, whether that be me or someone else, and they would just start, we would just start worshipping. It’s really intimate… not any fog machines or lights, it’s just simply praising God together,” said Strawn.
The worship group began the first night of Connections Weekend, where Strawn discovered other students on the quad who were musically inclined.
While they did not have an active Instagram account during the first worship gathering, the group formed through word-of-mouth and gained attraction through a Snapchat story.
80 people came to the first gathering, which was held in a common area in the freshmen dorm. However, the next gathering was moved outdoors, garnering the interest of 200 students.
Olivia Ray, a freshman piano player and singer, says not only is she unable to hear anyone’s voice specifically, but she also cannot hear the piano she is playing in front of her.
“I think you’re just overwhelmed by the voices, yeah, it’s amazing everyone,” said Ray.
Ray says worship nights have no pressure attached to them, describing it as refreshing and something for students to look forward to.
“Like, no matter how much work I have to do, I can always make time to worship and be in that community and serve, you know, because you’re not performing, you’re serving with your gifts that you have so that we can lead others to worship,” said Ray.
Grace Dierking, guitarist for the freshmen-led worship group, says her interest in campus worship began a year ago after visiting two sophomores at Samford and experiencing campus worship in real time.
“It was just them and God. It was a relationship that was one-on-one and seeing that personally was the thing that made me come here. Being at that worship night was the night I decided I was going to apply,” said Dierking.
With previous guitar experience in high school, Dierking says that ever since that moment, she has always wanted to be a part of a worship band throughout her college years.
“And afterward, it was mind-blowing to see how God brings things back full circle… And I remember, like choking up last week because witnessing that beauty and witnessing God’s hand moving is unimaginably overwhelming. That’s the only way I can describe it,” said Dierking.
Strawn says this is just the beginning for the freshmen-led worship group, and the hope is that its outreach will expand and inspire students.
“My dream, looking back on my time at Samford, I want to see the Samford class of ‘29 to be known that they walk with Christ…that we are a class that walked in faith, in community with the Lord,” said Strawn.
