Join us on the first day of class as we begin the spring semester with a service of communion. All are welcome. This service begins at 10:00am in the Gabhart Chapel on the ground floor of the Janet Ayers Academic Center (JAAC).

Dr. Kevin Cosby will speak about how we can have “infinite hope,” a concept pioneered by Dr. King amidst the reality of oppression and injustice. Dr. Cosby is President of Simmons College of Kentucky, author of five books, and for over three decades has been pastor of the 15,000-member St. Stephen Baptist Church, the largest African-American church and the largest private employer of African-Americans in Kentucky.

Sponsored by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Week Committee and the Office of the Provost

We have come to see our lives through social media – looking for ways that we can highlight and brand our experiences to show others. But what if there is another way? Can faithfully living an “ordinary” life be fulfilling in today’s world? Join us for Chapel with our University Minister! 

What can one student do to help create a more loving and inclusive university community? We will learn from the example of Dr. Don Cole, who came to the University of Mississippi in 1968, and as part of the Black Student Union protested for an end to racism and more opportunities for Black students, staff, and faculty. He was expelled from the university along with seven other students and spent two nights in jail. After unsuccessfully trying to re-enter Ole Miss, he went on to earn a B.A. and two M.A.s in Mathematics, until finally being readmitted to Ole Miss, where he earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics. There he served as both a professor and administrator, in addition to being a leader in multicultural affairs. The 27 demands that originally got him expelled have all been adopted by the university, and he has personally helped hundreds of underrepresented students achieve academic success.

Co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost

The future of American Christianity – and of the country – is in the hands of younger people. The old American is passing away and we’re approach the Next America--- an increasing multiethnic, pluralistic, culture that’s very different from America’s past. This generation of Christians will shape how churches and Christian groups practice their faith in this new world, which needs them to be good neighbors.  How will this generation respond to a country and a church that are depending on them?

The pressure to compromise our values in order to advance our careers is especially great in the entertainment industry, where competition is fierce. We will learn how to be faithful in our careers and lives from CeCe Winans, who is the best-selling and most-awarded female gospel artist of all time. Among her honors are 15 Grammy Awards and 23 Dove Awards. She has numerous gold and platinum albums, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was a founding co-pastor of Nashville Life Church, as well as a Belmont trustee.

Co-sponsored by the College of Music & Performing Arts

When we talk about who you are, we tend to look around and look backward, but not forward. What if the most important aspect of your life and personality is who you are becoming? And how can you work toward that today? Join us as Sean Palmer, pastor of Houston Ecclesia and author of 40 Days as an Enneagram 3, to explore who you are becoming.

Join us for Homecoming Chapel where we gather together as the Belmont community from the past and present and celebrate the gifts that Belmont has given to us in one another.  A panel of Belmont alums will share about what made their time at Belmont significant and how their Belmont experience prepared and shape them for their work and ministry today. Music will be led by Tim and Becca Wildsmith (Class of 2005).

In a world filled with colorful language, these four-letter words may help add color to your beliefs, and most importantly shape how you interact with humanity. This conversation will take us beyond a rhetorical discussion of our faith and push us into the practical, everyday work required to be wiser, stronger, and more mindful humans.

What does healthy sexuality look like in a culture like ours that has commodified and cheapened something so central to who we are? We will explore this topic with Dr. Christina Edmondson, a trained trauma therapist, who served as Dean for Intercultural Student Development at Calvin University. She has a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, an M.S. in Family Therapy, and a B.A. in Sociology. Her award-winning podcast is also the title of her most recent book, Truth's Table: Black Women's Musings on Life, Love and Liberation.

Co-sponsored by the College of Sciences & Mathematics

What is Lent?
Why do people observe it?
How can we make Lent a more meaningful rhythm in our lives?

We'd love for you to join us at our final Chapel before the season of Lent begins later this week on Ash Wednesday as Tim Wildsmith (Director of Faith Formation and Student Engagement) explores the history and meaning of this important season for Christians around the globe. Whether you've never observed Lent before, or it's one of your favorite seasons, this Chapel will be an informative and inspiring way to get ready for Lent this year.

Bishop Mark Spalding of the Catholic Diocese of Nashville helps lead this ecumenical service to mark the beginning of Lent, the 40 days prior to Good Friday.

We live a dark time of division and anxiety, with threats of violence looming in the shadows and so many of us have let the darkness inside, caught in cycles of worry and anger. Join Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, IL named one of the “twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world”, as he shares a life-affirming guide to the practical, political, and spiritual challenges of our day and become living embodiments of Psalm 30 “You have turned my mourning into dancing.”

Co-Sponsored by the College of Theology and Christian Ministry

This year’s Women’s History Month theme is “Celebrating Women who Tell Our Stories.” Join us for a panel of Belmont’s own storytellers who will tell us about their journey to where they are today and their passion for telling the stories of others to make a difference in the world.   

Co-Sponsored by the Women’s History Month Committee 

You are invited to join us as we explore the meaning of ‘proclamation’ in the gospels and how what we proclaim and what we believe are inextricably bound together.   

Many non-Christians, and Christians, have in recent years become convinced that science and faith are at war with one another.  We will hear from Dr. Deborah Haarsma, an MIT-trained astrophysicist and president of the Biologos Foundation, which explores the intersection of science and faith. She is co-author of Christ and the Created Order and Origins: Christian Perspectives on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design and is part of Cambridge University’s Faraday Institute Test of Faith multimedia curriculum.

Co-sponsored by the College of Sciences & Mathematics

In Acts 9, we find a surprising and miraculous story about a woman who served her community faithfully—and was shockingly raised from the dead. Tabitha’s story teaches us what belief in the resurrection of Christ should mean for our own lives, our families, and our communities – by radically redefining who counts as our “family.” 

What does commitment to making the world more like God intends it to be look like? One answer is to choose a career path that leads to the greatest impact, not the biggest paycheck. We will hear from Dr. Britney Grayson, who graduated from the MD/PhD program at Vanderbilt University and did her residency in General Surgery at Vanderbilt, followed by a Pediatric Surgery Fellowship at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health, where she serves on the faculty. She spends a few weeks in the United States every year, and most of her time in Kenya’s Kijabe Hospital, where she leads one of the only pediatric surgery fellowship programs on the African continent as a missionary with the World Medical Mission Post-Residency Program and the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons.

Co-sponsored by the Frist College of Medicine and the Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing

What kind of world can we imagine for each other? Janiece Williams, Vanderbilt PhD student and Minister at Watson Grove Baptist Church, will help us explore this question that faith begs us to ask! Indeed, a selfish faith is a limited faith. But our faith should never be limited to our own lives but should shape what we believe is possible for others.   

As a Jewish Christian with a child born with a disability, Dr. Thomas Boehm has worked to bridge the divide between Jews and Gentiles, and the worlds of the able and the disabled, in his life and work. He invites us on the journey of helping create a more inclusive world. Dr. Boehm helped launch and lead the Center for Faith and Disability at Wheaton College, where he serves as the Ann Haskins Associate Professor of Special Education and the Coordinator of the Special Education Program. He has an M.Div. and doctorate in Special Education and is the founding director of Faith for ALL, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting and supporting inclusive Christian and Jewish faith communities.

Co-sponsored by the Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership and the College of Education

What does it look like to believe that we can be regenerated to wholeness? Globalization and rapid modernization often collide with traditional cultural and religious values. Many Asian American Christians and bicultural individuals struggle to fashion self out of conflicting values and dual existence. The conflicted, divided self is not unique to these groups, but a shared human condition.  

Co-Sponsored by the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Committee 

Most Americans think of Christianity as a Western religion, but what does the history and the reality of world Christianity show us? We will engage this topic by hearing from Dr. Won Lee, Professor of Religion and Asian studies at Calvin University, and the editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea, which explores how faith communities in Korea and the Korean diaspora use the Bible in their religious, social, and political contexts.  He has a BA from Yonsei University in Korea, an MDiv from Princeton Seminary, and a PhD from Claremont Graduate School.

Co-sponsored by the AAPI Committee, the College of Theology & Christian Ministry, and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Asian Studies Program

What makes a Christian powerful? Author, speaker, and justice advocate Marlena Graves invites us to imagine power in the sense of truly Christlike and not some manufactured version of American pseudo-Christianity?  You may be surprised to find out what that looks like.

What can “creatives” do to live out their faith through their work?  We will learn from the life and work of Stacey L. Holman, an award-winning filmmaker who series produced and directed the PBS documentary series “The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song,” hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University. Her new PBS series with him is entitled "Making Black America: Through the Grapevine."

Co-sponsored by the Faculty Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Committee and the Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business

• Join us for a year-end worship gathering led by Belmont students, faculty, and staff as we celebrate God’s goodness and reflect on the past year.