By Linda Bailey, Student Reporter
Students scrambling to earn Chapel credits have 13 credit opportunities left in the semester. Students can earn these credits by attending the remaining eight Chapels, completing the online Chapel survey and going to a three-credit Chapel forum.
The last forum opportunity of the semester is from 7-8:30 p.m. on Thursday in Moody Coliseum.
At the forum Serge Gasore will give his testimony about surviving the Rwanda genocide, and Xtra Mile Ministries, an organization based in Rwanda dedicated to helping those in need, will explain what is happening in Rwanda now, what its ministry is about and how students can be involved. The forum will conclude with a presentation about next semester’s Summit.
Mark Lewis, assistant dean for Spiritual Life and Chapel Programs, said he heard Gasore’s story and asked him to share during Chapel. Gasore, senior psychology major from Rwanda, then suggested finding a way to bring representatives from Xtra Mile Ministries to tell about their organization that helps children in the same situation Gasore was in before he came to the United States.
“Serge mentioned that there were a couple of U.S. missionaries who were living in Rwanda who have a ministry outreach similar to Big Brothers Big Sisters, and he wondered if there was a way to bring them to campus to do a presentation about their work,” Lewis said.
Originally, Gasore planned to tell his testimony of his survival of the Rwanda genocide of 1994, but instead he will introduce a video he made. Students will watch a video he took from the last time he was home, while his prerecorded testimony plays in the background.
Lewis said Gasore’s story is one of perseverance and faithfulness.
“It’s an incredible story about a horrible thing having taken place and people in the name of the Lord entering in and doing great things,” he said.
Gasore said he has told his story in Chapel before, but this time he would be accompanied by two missionaries traveling from Rwanda with Xtra Mile Ministries.
Lewis said men working with Xtra Mile Ministries would speak during the Chapel forum about the work they are doing in Rwanda.
The organization helps children in the same situation Gasore faced as a child, Gasore said.
“The group is trying to help kids that survived genocide and who they are responsible for because they don’t have parents anymore,” he said. “So what they do is become their mentors.”
Gasore said Xtra Mile Ministries is looking for students to join its organization. He said he is part of the organization and he wanted to help children who grew up abused and neglected like him.
“I think it is very important for those kids to get the same thing I got,” Gasore said.
