By: Chaplain Manuel A. Gomez
Southern Adventist University students gathered in Collegedale Church from Sept. 21-25 for Fall
Week of Worship, a five-day campus worship experience centered on one word: “Beloved.”
Guest speaker Richie Halversen, director of Church Growth and Revitalization for the Southern
Union Conference, spoke throughout the week about God’s love, grace and the invitation to live
from an identity rooted in Him. Halversen frequently connected biblical stories with his own
experiences, including his struggle with addiction and the impact it had on his life and family.
For many students, his vulnerability made the messages feel personal.
“Hearing him talk about his addiction, how it affected his marriage and how his wife stayed with
him through every part of the process made everything feel more real to me,” said Liannet
Paneque Pillo, a freshman biology-biomedical major.
The week drew some of the strongest Week of Worship attendance in recent years, reaching a
high of 912 students on Wednesday. Yet beyond the number of students in the room, many
described the experience as an opportunity to slow down, listen and reconnect with God amid a
busy semester.
For Omaris Mercado, a junior nursing major, one statement captured the heart of the week.
“The message that impacted me the most was when Pastor Halversen said, ‘Real love is not
achieved, it is received,’” Mercado said. “It frees me from the responsibility of pleasing God or
making Him love me, because He loves me before I do anything.”
That idea became a recurring emphasis throughout the week. Through messages such as the story
of the prodigal son, Halversen presented God’s love as something that precedes performance
rather than something that must be earned.
Students were also given opportunities to respond. During one service, students came forward
for prayer and anointing.
Melina Barros, a junior psychology major, said that seeing students accept the invitation was the
most meaningful moment of the week. Isaac Lopez, a junior biology major, described watching
students step forward after Halversen’s personal testimony as “very powerful.”
The week culminated with eight baptisms throughout the weekend. For Qwentin Bland, a junior
computer science major who was among those baptized, Halversen’s message on the prodigal
son became particularly significant, leading him to sense God calling him to take the step of
baptism.
For Carlos Peguero, a sophomore theology major, that response became personal as he watched
his friend Isaiah be baptized.
“My friend Isaiah got baptized, and we got to pray with him individually and as a group with my
other friends,” Peguero said. “Seeing him take that step just meant a lot.”
Beloved was also part of an effort extending beyond Southern’s campus. The Office of Ministry
and Missions collaborated with the SALT program, the School of Religion, Collegedale Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Georgia-Cumberland Conference in the first partnership of its kind centered on a shared evangelistic initiative.
Beloved served as the first phase of that effort, with a particular focus on Southern students.
Halversen will return to Collegedale Church Nov. 7-14, 2026, for the Reveal series, which will
continue the initiative with a broader focus on the Collegedale community.
For students, however, the impact of the week was often deeply personal. Lana Aiko Merginio, a
junior religious education major, described Week of Worship as an intentional opportunity to
“pause from the chaos of the week and rest in God’s love.”
Matthew Woodcock, a junior pastoral care major, called it “a chance to slow down and really
focus on giving God my struggles of the day.”
In that sense, “Beloved” became more than the title of a worship series. It became an invitation
to receive a love that, as Mercado reflected, does not have to be achieved.
It only has to be received.
