By: Lydia Campbell
Fifteen years ago, Leticia Chaparro, a military member and mother, attended a retreat with her
teenage daughter that she said changed her life.
“Not growing up in the Adventist Church, I went to the retreat, and I saw these college students
just showcasing their love for God and presenting worship in that space,” Chaparro said.
The retreat was hosted by Engage Worship, a traveling student-led worship ministry with the
purpose of showcasing the spiritual life of Southern Adventist University to high school students,
according to Chaparro. Now, Chaparro is the ministry coordinator for Engage and an
admissions counselor at Southern.
Engage is made up of four student-led praise teams, according to leaders from Engage. Glenn
Melnichenko, a senior theology student and a four-year student director for Engage, explained
the structure of the teams.
“We have our ministry coordinator, Leticia Chaparro, and then under her, we have four student
directors,” he said.
Melnichenko went on to explain that the four worship teams are made up of 9 people each. There
is also an operations team, which includes social media and audio visual (people), totaling
to about 46 people on Engage.
“Engage has about 15 events per semester, which can be a trip or something in-house here at
Southern,” Melnichenko said. “Most of our events are around the Southern Union.”
Noel Lewis, a senior accounting major and a co-leader of Team One, explained the mission of
Engage.
“The overall goal is to minister to high school students,” Lewis said, “to be used as a vehicle for
God, to be able to reach the kids in the way that we worship [and] create an environment for
students to be able to encounter God.”
Lewis highlighted that Engage is a part of the Admissions office, making it a tool for recruitment
and outreach.
Lena Moody, a sophomore strategic communication major and the marketing coordinator and a
student director of Engage, explained where the group travels.
“Most events are in the Southern Union, like Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and here at
Southern, but we have done a few outside the conference,” she said.
Some examples from Moody included Colorado and New Mexico.
Students who were unfamiliar with Engage shared their first impressions or confusion about the
ministry.
“I’m shocked,” said Raquel Delgado, a junior strategic communication major. “I had no idea that
they were a recruitment tool.”
One common misconception Moody mentioned involves Engage’s relation to Southern’s vespers
program.
“Engage is completely separate from the vespers teams,” said Moody. “[But] there’s a lot of
overlap. A lot of the musicians from Engage [also play on] vespers teams, but they’re two
different things.”
Moody explained that Engage is catered toward reaching high
schoolers and prospective Southern students, rather than current students at the university.
Chaparro said that this year, Engage will also be conducting worship at convocations.
“This year, Dr. Negron came to my office, and he said that he surveyed the students as to what
they wanted for convocation, and they said worship,” she said. “So, he asked us to do a couple of
convocations. From the business aspect, we have the opportunity to tell people who did not know
Engage that we have a scholarship program, and it is also a recruiting opportunity for people by
word of mouth.”
Lewis said that attending the Southern Union Conference’s prayer conference changed his life
and inspired him to join Engage. While at an evening worship, the preacher
conducted an altar call while the theme song played.
“It just spoke to me on a level that I had never experienced before,” Lewis said. “I had never had
an experience with God so vividly, and I remember it changed my life and put me on the path of
music ministry. That is why I joined Engage; because of the environment that they created for
me to be able to experience God like I have never experienced before.”
Lewis also shared a personal testimony of how Engage reached the hearts of students at a school
they recently visited. He noted that many of the students had difficult pasts, yet the week of
worship had an impact.
“There was a change in the atmosphere over that week,” Lewis said. “I believe it was
eight students that end[ed] up getting baptized, and it was the first baptism at that school. I
remember one of the students’ parents [was] moved by the worship and decided to also
get baptized.”
Chaparro explained that the application for Engage opens in January and closes around mid-April and is available to freshmen through seniors. Each year, Engage looks for specific
instruments, vocals or operational roles based on that year’s needs. Students are required to fill
out an application, provide a demo or a portfolio and be interviewed.
For students who are not involved in Engage, Chaparro asked for spiritual support.
“We need their prayers as we go out and represent them and represent what God is doing at
Southern,” she said.
“It’s nothing that we do,” Lewis said. “It’s simply being a vehicle for God to move and being a
vessel for Him to use. And when we open ourselves to that, we’re able to let Him do some
extraordinary things in the lives of these students.”
For more information, visit southern.edu/engage.
