On Fri., Sept. 23, Concordia campus leaders organized a beach clean-up at Corona Del Mar for students to serve the community where students also enjoyed each other’s company with a live band worship around a bonfire. 

Lillian Hall, a senior and member of abbey west emphasized what a great opportunity this was to give back to the community, stating, “As Christians, we are called to give back, all while making disciples. Making disciples includes going out into the community, serving others and leaving  places better than we found them.” Hall added, “To be witnesses to our communities, we need  servant attitudes and hearts, which is exactly what was witnessed on Friday.” 

Abbey west, Concordia’s student campus ministry group, planned this event with one goal in mind, Hall  said, “We simply wanted to get students to the beach to bond and have a good time through community service and a great worship.” 

Megan Auringer, a senior and abbey west leader, said, “The event was very fun and an overall success! It was awesome seeing Concordia students come together to serve by cleaning up trash.  The night’s worship service was also very uplifting and fulfilling. The band led students in  worship for almost two and a half hours!” 

John Trinklein, junior and Theology major, added, “Both the service event and the worship night were huge blessings. It was such an uplifting night for so many. I am glad to have been a part of this.” 

It has been a yearly tradition for Concordia to host a worship night at the beach. However, this year campus leaders decided to take a different approach and add a bit of community service to the fun. 

Autumn Borg, abbey west member, has been part of worship night for the past few years and added, “It was different this year but I really enjoyed it, I seriously hope it continues throughout the years. The beach clean-up portion of the event was new this year, and I hope abbey west considers partnering with Concordia Cares in the future to get more students  involved with serving!” 

If you were unable to make it to this year’s event there is no need to regret. Abbey west has looked into making this a regular semester event. Hall said, “The event was an overall success.  We had a really great turnout and plan to host one at least once a semester.” 

Each year continues to be bigger than the previous one. Following a successful community service day and worship bonfire, campus leaders will continue to keep the fun going throughout the year. Abbey west invites you to join them for the Beautiful Feet Mission Conference coming up November 3 to 5, hosted on campus for the first time ever.  

For more information on the Beautiful Feet conference go to https://www.cui.edu/studentlife/student-leadership/abbey-west/beautiful-feet and for student life events, visit https://www.cui.edu/studentlife.

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