As the Student Government Association and Student Missionary Union get ready for their annual elections, candidates were given the opportunity to campaign during SGA chapel on Monday.
PRAYER
Director of Spiritual Development Chad Miller started the session by focusing on an integration of prayer in deciding who to vote for.
“At the very least, we must be wise and discerning about who among us will be called to lead and in what fashion,” Miller said during the session. “So it is our desire to go to God, single out this day as a day of prayer about those things, to seek that wisdom.”
REFLECTIONS
After the prayer session, current SGA president Sierra McCoy and SMU president Jeremy Lupinacci were invited up on stage to share their reflections as they near the conclusions of their term of service. Both presidents emphasized the significance of participating in the elections.
“It is vital that the students who serve in these positions next year, truly do represent the biola student body,” Lupinacci said during the event. “The best way to determine this is in the form of a campus-wide vote. And we not only want your individual voice to be heard through this voting process, but we need your voice to be heard.”
THE SGA CANDIDATES
SGA president candidate Renee Waller and SGA vice president candidate Seth Gladysz presented their campaign with three aspects—bringing student groups together, pursuing a proactive attitude and providing financial alleviation for students through marketing.
“SGA is in a strategic position to build up the body of Christ here at Biola, in ways we never seen before,” Waller said.
Sophomore engineering major Nathan Ankrum expects the next SGA administration to bring changes.
“Seeing more obvious changes is part of some of my expectations for SGA,” Ankrum said. “I feel like they do a lot of work and have a lot of stuff they do, but we don’t get to see it as much.”
THE SMU CANDIDATES
SMU presidential candidate Carly Micheal shared her campaign statement, “Near and far: Seeking Jesus, Sending People.”
Micheal shared her goals of better relations with missionary organizations and bringing forth a missionary revival in the Biola community.
“We as students are going near and far. God is near and far and he is already in all the places that we send our trips,” Micheal said. “Near and far is the fulfillment of the great commission in Acts 1:8. This is the heart of SMU, but it is also the heart of God.”
SMU president candidate Dee Jacocks presented his campaign phrase, “Communal revival.”
Jacock shared his pursuit for an expansive view over both including local and global mission fields.
“Biola, if I’m being real, we need a revival for missions, we need our hearts to be on fire again and be obedient to the call that God called on our lives,” Jacocks said.
