Latest / The Wesley Word / Welcome to Wesley!
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the Wesley Word.
- 0:15SPEAKER_02: Welcome again to the Wesley Word, a podcast of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
- 0:19SPEAKER_02: My name is Bailey Meehan.
- 0:20SPEAKER_02: I'm a grad student here at Clemson Wesley, and I will be serving as the producer/slash editor for the Wesley Word here in its inaugural season as we figure out where we're going with this and what the podcast is going to look like.
- 0:33SPEAKER_02: Right off the bat, if you are new to Clemson Wesley or are looking to learn more about Clemson Wesley, I want to be the first one to say, welcome to Wesley.
- 0:42SPEAKER_02: We're glad you're here.
- 0:43SPEAKER_02: And stick around after I'm done talking to hear a great introduction from our campus minister, Steve Simeneau, and our assistant director, Andrew Wetzel.
- 0:52SPEAKER_02: In that bit, Steve rattles off a whole bunch of ways you can get connected with us.
- 0:57SPEAKER_02: Links for all those will be in the show notes for this episode.
- 1:00SPEAKER_02: If you're joining us as a current Clemson Wesley student, thanks for giving me a chance.
- 1:05SPEAKER_02: I'm super excited about this opportunity.
- 1:09SPEAKER_02: I imagine this podcast as a place where you can catch one of Steve's sermons you missed as you walk to class or learn something new about one of your fellow students.
- 1:18SPEAKER_02: I want it to be a place where you can discuss things, uh, learn from each other, entertain each other, laugh together, share your experiences, and walk together on your faith journeys and your journeys through college.
- 1:33SPEAKER_02: If you're joining us as a Wesley alumni, church member, family of a Wesley student, or anyone else, uh thanks for joining us.
- 1:41SPEAKER_02: I'm glad you're here.
- 1:42SPEAKER_02: I hope that this podcast helps you get better connected with Clemson Wesley and gives you a little window into all of the awesome things we have going on here.
- 1:51SPEAKER_02: If you have any feedback about the podcast, I would love to hear it.
- 1:55SPEAKER_02: Please email me at podcast at ClemsonWesley.org.
- 1:59SPEAKER_02: Without further ado, I'll let you jump right in.
- 2:02SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy the Wesley Word.
- 2:10SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Wesley.
- 2:12SPEAKER_00: You guys want to say welcome to Wesley.
- 2:14SPEAKER_00: My name is Steve Simoneau.
- 2:15SPEAKER_00: I'm the campus minister and director of Clemson Wesley.
- 2:17SPEAKER_00: I'm starting my ninth year here as a campus minister and excited about the year.
- 2:21SPEAKER_01: And my name is Andrew Wetzel.
- 2:22SPEAKER_01: I'm the new assistant campus minister of Clemson Wesley, and I'll be filling some big shoes uh previously filled by Grayson Duke.
- 2:28SPEAKER_00: So I absolutely love Clemson Wesley.
- 2:30SPEAKER_00: I said I'm starting my ninth year here as a campus minister.
- 2:32SPEAKER_00: I was also a freshman back in 2000.
- 2:35SPEAKER_00: And so I am starting my 17th year at Clemson Wesley in some capacity.
- 2:39SPEAKER_00: And so I love this place.
- 2:40SPEAKER_00: It's my family.
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: Uh for those of you that have never been to Clemson Wesley, it's just uh an incredible community that's Christ-centered.
- 2:47SPEAKER_00: Um we try to welcome everybody.
- 2:48SPEAKER_00: That's really what we're big on hospitality, treat them like family.
- 2:51SPEAKER_00: Um, if you're looking for a community that's real, authentic, we're we try not to be fake.
- 2:55SPEAKER_00: I mean, we got people that struggle, we got people that are on fire, we got everybody everywhere in between.
- 2:59SPEAKER_00: Um, we just try to do life together and try to get it right more often than not.
- 3:03SPEAKER_00: Um, doing fun things, um, social events, small groups, retreats, worship all the time.
- 3:08SPEAKER_00: Um, but just a it's a solid community.
- 3:09SPEAKER_00: I think you know if you want to come check it out, looking for some people, we would love for you to come and give us a shot to be your group.
- 3:15SPEAKER_01: There's a few goals we also want to focus on this year.
- 3:17SPEAKER_01: Part of that is getting back to what Steve mentioned, which is our community.
- 3:20SPEAKER_01: Um community has always been a huge part of Wesley.
- 3:23SPEAKER_01: It's part of what makes us fun and what makes us real.
- 3:25SPEAKER_01: Um that's been really hard in the past year through COVID and all the stuff that you guys have dealt with as well.
- 3:31SPEAKER_01: But now when we're getting a little bit away from masks and a little more back into having the full group there, this community has been awesome to see grow already, and we're excited to continue to focus on that.
- 3:40SPEAKER_01: Um with community, we also like to focus on discipleship.
- 3:43SPEAKER_01: Discipleship is a huge part of our ministry.
- 3:45SPEAKER_01: Um that includes outreach in our community and also within um Wesley as a whole, we like to disciple together and disciple each other, and that's something we're gonna focus on in the coming year.
- 3:54SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we've got all kinds of things going on each week, but one of the things I tell students all the time is you can't do everything.
- 3:59SPEAKER_00: Or if you are doing everything, you're probably gonna be burnt out and that sort of stuff.
- 4:02SPEAKER_00: But we offer two worship sessions uh each week.
- 4:05SPEAKER_00: One is on Sunday night at Clemson Methodist Church called Wesley Worship.
- 4:09SPEAKER_00: We do a free meal at 6:30, usually a good home cooked meal followed by student-led worship.
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: And then we are excited after an 18-month COVID hiatus.
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: We are launching Eventide uh once again, and that is a Wednesday midweek service.
- 4:21SPEAKER_00: Uh, starts at 8 o'clock.
- 4:22SPEAKER_00: That's at our building downtown.
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: Currently, we're worshiping on the patio because you know, 50 people in a downstairs tiny room doesn't make sense, but a beautiful patio, we can sing joyously.
- 4:31SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've got six plus small groups that meet throughout the week.
- 4:34SPEAKER_00: Um, anywhere from a freshly group just for freshmen, um, co-ed groups, studying everything from social justice to getting down from Genesis to Revelation, uh, anything like that you want to plug into.
- 4:45SPEAKER_00: We also have social events all the time.
- 4:48SPEAKER_00: Um, but like I tell folks, you know, we don't want to do everything.
- 4:51SPEAKER_00: Um, just find some ways to plug in, connect, find some community.
- 4:54SPEAKER_00: And I as I mentioned to people all the time, it's also healthy to have other things going on on campus, right?
- 4:58SPEAKER_00: If you're Wesley all the time, I think that isn't healthy for anybody.
- 5:02SPEAKER_00: So I want to make sure you're also spending some time doing other groups and clubs and organizations outside of Wesley as well.
- 5:07SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for ways to connect, again, um, we've got our social media game is strong.
- 5:13SPEAKER_00: Uh, Brand Beaton does a great job with that.
- 5:15SPEAKER_00: And so you can follow us on Instagram at Clemson Wesley, like us on Facebook.
- 5:19SPEAKER_00: You can go to our website, ClemsonWesley.org.
- 5:21SPEAKER_00: There's places to sign up for weekly e bless.
- 5:24SPEAKER_00: Uh, you can join our group me, uh, which we are always there on Clemson Wesley hangs.
- 5:28SPEAKER_00: There's always something going on anywhere from hey, let's go to intermirals, let's go play on Bowman to this awesome service project, anywhere and everywhere between we can uh get you plugged in.
- 5:36SPEAKER_00: I say we're looking for a great year at Clemson Wesley.
- 5:39SPEAKER_00: Um, Andrew and I are excited to be here and to be your staff leaders, but we rely on student leadership.
- 5:44SPEAKER_00: We've got 30 plus student leaders who are incredible.
- 5:46SPEAKER_00: They're excited and fired up about this year, and I can't wait to see what God brings.
- 5:50SPEAKER_00: I hope that you will uh join us as we go through this year.
- 5:52SPEAKER_00: One other thing, I always joke um about getting people plugged in and that sort of stuff.
- 5:55SPEAKER_00: You know, some people are like, ah, should I come?
- 5:57SPEAKER_00: Ah, maybe I'll wait until next year, next semester.
- 5:59SPEAKER_00: If you've learned anything in the past year and a half, don't wait.
- 6:02SPEAKER_00: Try us out.
- 6:02SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be awesome.
- 6:04SPEAKER_02: The Wesley Word is a production of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
- 6:07SPEAKER_02: For more information about Clemson Wesley, check out our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
- 6:12SPEAKER_02: Until next time, get out there and love your neighbor.