Olivia Blinn/THE CHIMES

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, if you are part of the Spiritual Development leadership team.

Singspiration student leaders have asked other leaders and the campus at large to stop referring to Singspiration chapel by its nickname, “Singspo.” They expressed a desire to expunge this slang name from the student lexicon on the basis that it fails to adequately capture the purpose of the event.

“Biblically, the name of someone or something often reflects it’s [sic] character or purpose,” the interns said in an email regarding the change. 

The Singspiration interns do not feel the shortened name accomplishes that.

“In order to better reflect our character and purpose as a chapel,” the statement continues, “we have decided to make a conscious effort to reestablish the full name, ‘Singspiration,’ acknowledging that true worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23) is not only an offering of our lips (Matt. 15:8-9), but a spiritual act of presenting one’s whole self as an offering to God.”

Singspiration was the original name for the event when it was first established as a music-based chapel. “Singspo” quickly became popular shorthand, and was adopted as the standard name — the event was even referred to as “Singspo” in official chapel promo materials as recently as last year.

Full-time staffers of the department have backed up their student leaders’ choice.

“It was their decision,” confirmed director of Chapel Programs Lisa Ishihara. The students wanted the name to reflect “that full idea that we are worshipping not just in song but also in the Lord,” Ishihara said. 

Mike Ahn, assistant director of Chapel Programs: Music and Worship, also supported the measure.

“When you say ‘Singspo’ you get this idea of going to sing, whereas, if you have the whole name — ‘Singspiration’ — the ‘-spiration’ part, it reflects to the idea that the Holy Spirit is actually part of this, and the Spirit is leading the time,” Ahn said.

For Ishihara, the change is coming from within the hearts of the student interns, who just want to see a campus inspired to worship God.

“I think one of the best things about all of our student [leaders] is that they always come up with these really creative ways to worship and engage each other,” she said. With the name change, perhaps they will be “able to more fully step into that.”