By Savannah Phillips
Features Editor
When assistant professor and University Chaplain Dr. Ben Sammons presided over his first chapel service at Wingate University on Wednesday, it was the culmination of a bold move he made five years ago.
Sammons resigned from teaching English at Wingate in 2020, believing he would never find himself in a classroom setting again. There were parts of his job that he loved, particularly the deep interactions and discussions with others, but he had essentially become “soul exhausted.”
He was ready for a change and when he looked to his future, he envisioned—in a broad view—pastoral work. He enrolled in seminary to explore that path.
Two years later, Sammons found himself back at Wingate, again teaching English and eventually was hired as Wingate’s first chaplain, his seminary training and classroom experience coming together in a role that will help the university sharpen its definition of faith on campus.
Reviving chapel is part of that journey. Sessions will be held at noon on Sept. 3, Oct. 8, Nov. 5 and Dec. 3 in the Batte Center’s Plyler-Griffin Recital Hall and services are expected to last 45 to 50 minutes and will consist of prayer, worship and a brief sermon.
The chapel sessions are linked to the Faith and Film Lyceum series that Sammons began last semester, with films being shown at 6:30 p.m. on the day of chapel in AV room 111 of the Ethel K. Smith Library. “My Octopus Teacher” will be held on Sept. 3, “Soul” on Oct. 8 and “Sound of Metal” on Nov. 5.
The final chapel service of the semester will take place on Dec. 3 (there will not be a film to follow that evening). Each Lyceum is worth two credits (all students need a certain number of Lyceum credits in order to graduate).
Sammons said chapel will be a positive and encouraging space where people can come together to worship and fellowship. He views Wingate as a university with a “Christian heritage and a pluralist present.”
Sammons shared his view on the dilemma many Christian-based schools are facing around the country. “Like a lot of church-related schools across the country, Wingate has undergone a kind of negotiation of its religious identity over the last 20 years and in that process it became less clear how Christianity informed our work and our shared life,” he said.
He feels that Wingate has gained much by growing in diversity and that it does not have to be a choice between the “Christian tradition” and “embracing [that] diversity.”
Sammons is excited about the many ways that faith conversations will be enriched by the many traditions represented on campus and although chapel will be specifically Christian, he hopes to “communicate a universal welcome” through both its content and form. Sammons plans to preach the sermons for the first year, but moving forward he intends to have guest speakers and he wants eventually to formulate a team of musicians and other contributors who can channel a variety of worship styles.
The services and Lyceum film series will be broadly related, with the overarching theme being “Becoming Human.” Also, the three films will be loosely connected to the first three books of Genesis.
Sammons is hopeful that those who find no interest in chapel might be drawn to the open-ended questions posed by the Faith and Film series. “The arts engage a different part of our brain,” Sammons said, “and they have access to us and to our soul in a less mediated way.”
He wants the students to “ask important questions about what it means to be human and to become more fully human.” The films are meant to stimulate those conversations.
Sammons says that if Wingate restores “common hour” to its weekly schedule, students will have a one-hour time block in their schedules with no classes, making it easier for those who wish to attend chapel to do so. He called it an “hour of stillness,” a time for students to breathe and separate themselves from the hustle of college life.
“We are so accustomed to the driven, grind culture that we forget to intentionally stop and remember who we are and that our inherent value is not tied to what we’re producing,” Sammons said. That hour of “built-in rest is appropriate and really human,” he added.
In the spring, students can expect to find the theme of “love” being showcased for both the Faith and Film series and for chapel. For students who enjoy Sammons’ classes, he will be teaching only one three-hour course per semester because of his added responsibilities.
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