‘It’s a space for us to come together and look up, literally, to connect with God and breathe.’
COLUMBIA, KY. (09/02/2025) Lindsey Wilson University Chaplain the Rev. Tyler Brumfield knows that the energy and enthusiasm that permeate college students during the first week of classes often dissipate a week or two later.
That’s why Brumfield is holding the university’s first weekly chapel service of the 2025-26 school year during the first week of September.
The first chapel service of the school year — which will include a message from Brumfield — will be at 10:45 a.m. CT on Wednesday, Sept. 3, in the historic John B. Begley Chapel, nine calendar days after the first day of classes on Aug. 25. The services are open to the public.
“You often notice a shift in the mood of college students around week four or five,” said Brumfield. “It seems that people don’t quite have the energy they had at the beginning of the school year. So we hope that starting our weekly chapel service in early September will give people, especially our students, an opportunity to check in.”
Even holding weekly chapel on a Wednesday morning has a purpose.
“Holding it in the middle of the week is also a good way for people to check in with themselves and be nourished spiritually,” said Brumfield.
Brumfield said that the weekly 30-minute service will usually feature songs and a brief message, and occasionally communion will be offered. Subsequent chapel messages will be delivered by School of Professional Studies Dean Curt Lee (Sept. 10) and the Rev. Landon Harting ’17 (Sept. 17), who is a campus minister at Western Kentucky University. Music at the Sept. 3 service will be led by William ’25 and Yayi ’23 Sonnabend.
In addition to giving the campus community and guests an opportunity to recharge, Brumfield said the weekly chapel service “celebrates our roots.”
“Our roots are in the Christian tradition, so we provide a welcoming space for people to come to a formal communal gathering,” he said. “It’s a space for us to come together and look up, literally, to connect with God and breathe.”
Some services will feature more music, such as when the Lindsey Wilson Singers perform.
“The sound doesn’t get much better than that,” said Brumfield. “Music always sounds fantastic in the Begley Chapel.”
And on Oct. 22, chapel will be held in V.P. Henry Auditorium for Church-University Day, when the Lindsey Wilson community celebrates its founding by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and its affiliation with The United Methodist Church. The Rev. Tami Coleman, who is chief ministry officer in the Kentucky Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, will deliver the message that day.
Brumfield said that one of the best things about weekly chapel is that “it reminds us who we are as an institution.”
“It helps us slow down, take a few moments and connect personally in the middle of our week with God,” he said.
Lindsey Wilson University Chaplain the Rev. Tyler Brumfield said he wants the weekly chapel service will give people “an opportunity to check in.” Chapel, which is open to the public, is held at 10:45 a.m. CT every Wednesday during the school in the university’s historic John B. Begley Chapel.
Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university’s 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson University)