Latest / Wesley at FSU & TSC / Senior Sunday | Sunday Service | April 19, 2026

Transcript

Senior Sunday | Sunday Service | April 19, 2026 · Wesley at FSU & TSC

• 0:58
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, uh full transparency.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_05: I was standing over there during worship and uh getting a little overwhelmed, a little emotional.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I nobody goes into college ministry because it's an easy thing.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_05: Uh people think it's easy.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_05: Like people always dead serious.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_05: Other pastors are like, when are you gonna come do real ministry?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_05: They said that to me all the time.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_05: And it's like, okay, back up, bro.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_05: Uh but like I I often get asked that because I I think people think that it's just some sort of easy job, some sort of stepping stone into some sort of real pulpit.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_05: I gotta be honest with you, I hope they never send me to a real pulpit uh because this is uh the most amazing thing in the world.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_05: But but all honestly, people do it because they have a heart for you.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_05: That's why I'm here.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_05: And one of the things, one of the blessings of being in this type of ministry is that we get to build personal relationships and bonds that you just don't get in a local church.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_05: And uh I'm moved every year because I get to see the progressions of students like you from freshman year to senior year.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_05: I get to see the like immaturity fall away and come back.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_05: I get to see the wisdom creep up through the cracks, you know.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_05: I get to see the mentorship that you give to others younger that you don't even realize.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_05: I get to see all of that like from both a 10,000-foot view and a 30,000-foot view.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and it's the most amazing thing in the world, and it brings me to tears to see the progression of it.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_05: Now, seniors Sunday is hard for me because it's a reminder, and there's only a few seniors speaking this morning, but there's a whole bunch of seniors that are leaving us, and um it's a reminder that we don't get to stick, you know, in the local church, like Marjorie on the fourth pew, like she's gonna be there till she dies, right?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_05: And so you get to build that really, but here we get like three years, it's gone like that, it's so fast.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_05: And uh this class, in particular, including last class, last year's class as well.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_05: They were kind of the ones that guided me into this because I came in during COVID.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_05: And so we've now, this is like the second year of people who have only known me as their pastor.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_05: And so um, it's been a special class because of that, with a lot of special individuals.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_05: So uh we have an opportunity to hear from four of them this morning, and they're gonna pass on their um their wisdom, their joy, hopefully their good things.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I do not police what they say.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_05: I have to say this every year.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, if they say something inappropriate, just remind them it's church.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, but it is a chance for them to share uh what's on their heart.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_05: So, are you ready for this?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_05: All right, well, so we're gonna skip it.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_05: No, it's are we ready for this?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_05: All right, here's what you have to do.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_05: You have to give them your energy because it's very nerve-wracking to stand in front of your peers and try to talk, right?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_05: So, our first senior this morning is Miss Hannah Ashley.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: All right, hello everybody.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um I might surprise some people, but I actually don't love speaking in front of people.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: But I really wanted to share a little bit of my story and how much Wesley has meant to me over the past three years.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: When I moved back to Tallahassee, I was in a really transitional season of my life.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: I just ended my job at Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa, and I needed a fresh start, but I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do and what it was supposed to look like.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: That summer, Brent and I drove to Warren Mullis to volunteer for a week.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: On that drive, we talked the whole way there, and at some point the conversation shifted to my college journey.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: As some of you know, I dropped out of college after my sophomore year, and it truly, I truly never intended to go back and finish.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: But during that conversation, something shifted in me.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: I remember thinking, maybe I could go back.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: And that small thought turned into action.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: I registered to TSC just a few weeks later and to finish my degree.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: And looking back, I reminded by Proverbs 16:9, the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: Because going back to school wasn't part of my plan, but it was clearly part of God's plan for me, even before I could see it.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: But even after making that decision, I still felt like something was missing.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: I knew I needed a place where I could be spiritually fed, a place where I could grow, not just academically, but in my faith.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I slowly started coming to Wesley, and I mean really slowly, and they asked me how I do it, and with a lot of help from my friends, because and a lot of help from my siblings, because I was so shy and honestly a little intimidated.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: But there was one person who always stood stood up to me, Ben Reed.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Back then, the staff, oh someone's calling me, back then, the staff would draw little pictures on the name tags each Sunday, and you could pick out which one you wanted.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: But every single week, as soon as I walked in, Ben would greet me and say, Hi, he had the perfect name tag for me.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: And it was always something interesting, um, like a weird animal, or something you couldn't quite identify, or something that you just made you laugh or question what you were looking at.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it might seem like a small thing, but in those moments, I felt seen, I felt known, I felt wanted before I even really knew anyone.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it reminds me of Isaiah 43:1.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: I've called you by name and you are mine.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: Because through this community, I didn't just feel welcomed by the people, I was reminded that I was fully known and deeply loved by God.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a really good picture of what this place has been for me.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: Once became more than just somewhere where I showed up on Sundays, it became the place where I experienced community and where I felt genuine relationships, where I saw the way God works for the people in its intentional and unexpected ways.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: Over the past three years, God has used this community to grow me in confidence and faith and understanding of more of who He is and who He's calling me to be.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I just want to say thank you to the people who welcomed me when I was quiet and unsure, to the friends who have become family, and to everyone who's been part of this journey.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so grateful for the relationships I have built here, and I'm excited to see where God leads me for each of you.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: If there's one thing I've learned is that even when we don't know where we're going, God does.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: He is always faithful to lead us exactly where we're meant to be.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_05: And if you don't know, Hannah Ash has made a um a real impact here.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_05: And I don't say this lightly, this seems small, but Hannah has humbly run the slides like 90% of the time that we've had anything.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_05: And um, and that's a lot.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_05: You guys don't people think that's so easy, they think it's a space bar.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_05: It's like the hardest thing in the entire world.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_05: And she's done an amazing job.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_05: So we thank you, Hannah, um, for the ways in which we served.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_05: One of the weird things about Wesley the last couple of years is that we've had uh a set of siblings uh that have been here, and we're gonna invite without further ado, Hannah's sibling, Howie Ashley to come scared us.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_05: Please give it up for him.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_04: So I wrote something on my phone, but I was low-key called to like not be on my phone to just not just just read from my heart, man.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_04: So so when I came from um I was at UNF for my freshman year, and I absolutely hated it.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_04: I had no friends, my classes, I had no community.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_04: And so my second year coming from Warren Willis, where a lot of us serve on uh staff during the summer, I met Brian.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_03: Brian You have changed my life for the matter.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't know where I was going.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_04: And you have helped me and saved me truly Um soon after that, um I was here at Wesley for uh two years just as in the congregation, and then after that I was on residential staff, which is my second year, and residential staff, you have changed my life.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_04: I also didn't know where I was going for two years after graduation, and soon after that I was going into my first year and my bachelor's at TSC, and I'm graduating with a special education degree.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm very grateful for the people that mentored me.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Jessa, Hannah.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_04: If Garen was here, I would say Garen.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: But also Ben, Grace, Phil, apartment B this year, you have mentored me into the person I am today, Quaid.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_04: I wouldn't be here with any of y'all.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm very grateful for my sisters.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_04: You have shaped me into the person I am today.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_04: Changed me so much.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_04: I can't can't wait for our journey together in grad school.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be amazing.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_04: And I can't wait for the future of Wesley.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_04: What what a cool I can't wait to see what y'all do.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_04: Every one of Sing of You can't wait what the future holds.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_05: Um so Howie has served in an enormous amount of ways here.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, most notably recently.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_05: I don't I have this.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_05: Uh most notably recently, um, making the announcement video every week, which we're gonna see the final one at the end of the service.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_05: Um he actually signs off.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_05: It's pretty cool.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_05: Uh but so I'm I'm grateful for the way in which he's he's served in that way.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and also how he's going to uh figure out where God's calling him by going to seminary uh at Candler and Emory University on a full ride scholarship.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_05: Very excited about that.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_05: Um this next one's very special.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_05: No, they're all special.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_05: This next one's special, and then the next one's special.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_05: Um Bailey uh came to me, I don't know, maybe uh several several months ago at this point and said, I would really like uh to be baptized.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_05: I've never been baptized before, I would like to be baptized here in this church.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: And oftentimes we baptize on on Beech Retreat.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: She wasn't on Beech Retreat, and so we figured out a way for her to be fully immersed, baptized in this space, uh in this trough that we still have.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_05: And um uh I'm just so grateful for the ways in which she has trusted Wesley.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_05: So come on, give it up for Bailey Thomas.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_05: And uh hand of the microphone.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, wait, is that okay?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_05: Uh here.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_05: What if I hold the microphone?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Are you okay with that?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, because in your fancy thing won't work.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, perfect.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Not the fancy thing.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, everybody.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanted to say this morning because I was struggling to find the words to talk about what this community means to me.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um sorry.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you have heard me talk before about what it's like going into a new place as a person with a disability, about never knowing if you're gonna be judged, helped, accepted, or ignored.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I know this is a feeling that so many of us regularly have, regardless of a disability.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: But here in front of me is an amazing group of people who love and accept everyone simply for the fact of sharing the love and the kindness of Jesus with every single person around them.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: I still remember walking into Wesley on my first day, so self-conscious and uncertain, I didn't know where to go, what to expect, or how things would work out.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: I found out very quickly that open hands and open hearts are how things work out around here.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, from that first day, even though I was still discovering my place, I could tell that God was doing something truly incredible with the people here.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, after all this time, I've seen this community come together in so many ways, from mission trips to prayer sessions, from baptism to Sunday lunches, from braille Bibles to breaking bread through communion.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: I've felt something within myself grow, and I truly don't think that I could have experienced that if I hadn't come to this place.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So how do I express all of that?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: How can I encompass in just a few minutes the space that this place and all of you have in my heart?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way that I could come up with is to say this we love because he first loved us 1 John 4.19.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's a verse that's always stood out to me, and I truly see that here.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being a community that loves so unconditionally, for being a place where anyone and everyone is invited to experience grace, mercy, truth, and growth.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for holding your hands out to help and throwing them up in praise.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you for taking me and of course serious and giving us a home to experience such an awe-inspiring amount of God's love.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: I feel beyond blessed for the time that I've spent with each and every person in this room.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel beyond blessed that I get another year here through the master's program to continue growing and to watch others grow as well.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's my hope and my dream that everyone could come to know the love of Jesus Christ with such a wonderful community surrounding them.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_05: It's dude, so cool.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_05: Um all right, we have one last one uh before we receive communion this morning.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_05: And so I'm gonna invite up without further ado, Miss Hannah Squire.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, I don't even know how to follow Bailey's.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: That was so good.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um but just when reflecting on my time at Wesley, it's really hard, as I think we've all said, to know just what to say.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: How do you sum up a place that has defined the three, for me, most important and transitional years of your life?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: How do you speak about the people that you know will now be in your circle for the rest of your life because they picked you up when you needed it the most and genuinely saw you when you felt like no one else did?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: How do you explain to others the way that God has shown up and transformed your life largely because of the work of this place?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: I really don't know, but I do know that I will spend the rest of my life being grateful for it and thanking God that he led me to this place.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: There are a few places on earth that I feel like are thin and that allow you to feel closer to heaven, and I know with confidence that Wesley is one of those places.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: As I've talked about a little bit before, I came to Wesley because of a Rainbow Cross Instagram profile picture that my mom sent me.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I was looking for a church and she was like, I think this is a place you'd like.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so I checked it out.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I grew up in the church, but coming into college, I was largely burnt out on religion and I was pretty much searching to define my own faith.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: I had spent a lot of time throughout my first 18 years trying to prove excellence and trying to prove myself in so many ways.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think a lot about like that with specifically music throughout time.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I did choir and theater and all these things, and I really just had never found a place that I felt like I could just like sing and just be.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so although I had planned to, I was so nervous that I did not come to any welcome week events at all.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: I literally every day I was like, okay, today I'm gonna go.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I finally came to my first service, and the first time I came at my first service, Bryant gave a sermon about diving in.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: We'll never forget it.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I did, and I've just stuck around since.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'll never forget one of the first times I did a late night worship.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was just so scared and like I just didn't know how to use ears, I didn't know how to use any of it, and I was like, I don't know when to come in, I don't know what harmony to sing and everything.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember Phil just being like, just sing, just sing, and I like I've got you, just sing.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, I feel like both of those experiences and just so many more really sum up this place for me.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, dive in, get uncomfortable, stop putting the pressure of the world on you, and you'll find your people.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to prove yourself here, you get to just be.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: You get to just do it, and you are accepted as you are.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's one of the most important things.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, at Wesley, I found a community that lifted me up, challenged me, allowed me to see new perspectives, and gave me some of the best people I have ever known.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: I have been on staff for two years, and it's been the best decision I could have ever made during my college experience.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so thankful for the staff that I call family, for the roommates I feel like are my sisters.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and for the years I've been able to spend living with my best friends.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and just for the constant love that surrounds our community that's, you know, given to us through one another by Bryant, um, through growth and happiness and through tragedy and devastation.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm proud of what has been built before me and what I have helped to build, and how much more will be built after we all move on.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: But more than this, I am proud of the ways we show up for one another when it feels like we cannot even show up for ourselves.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Wesley brought me a summer that changed my life at Warren Willis, um, mission trips to Guatemala and service opportunities here in Tallahassee that have changed my perspective on service.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: A job that allowed me to help students experience just a sliver of what I've been given as a Wesley member.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out Life Groups, who, by the way, have two of my campers from Warren Willis in them now, and my sister, just the craziest, most god thing.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a place to worship authentically without competition, and more than anything, a home made up of a welcoming space and incredibly loving and genuinely caring people.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite verse in all of scripture is Esther 414, and it reads, Perhaps you have been put in a royal position for such a time as this.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: This verse has carried me throughout college.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps the Lord put Wesley in all of these wonderful people in my life for such a time as this.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that that could be more true.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so happy to be staying here for another two years to complete my masters.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Me and Bailey, yes.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I cannot wait to see how God continues to use Wesley to shape and to change so many lives to come.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is the most special place, and I'm so grateful to everyone, everyone, seriously, who has been part of my experience here.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: I love and I cherish you, and I will always love and cherish Wesley.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: And my advice to anyone would be to dive in, to get uncomfortable, to make connections, because this will be one of the greatest parts of your college experience, and it will, you will see the Lord start to filter into every other part of your life.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_05: I remember I remember preparing that sermon called Dive In.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_05: Being like, this is the dumbest sermon.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_05: Dive in, okay, sure, go for it, you know.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_05: What does it actually tell you?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_05: But I do think uh in some ways, sometimes the simplest things are the most profound.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_05: And um when you're in college, when you're a freshman, when you are overwhelmed, nervous, scared, you've all been there.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_05: You don't know where to go, what to say, who to be friends with.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_05: You're constantly like rethinking every interaction that you've ever had.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_05: You're constantly rethinking what classes you're gonna take.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_05: Many of you rethinking what major you are.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_05: Perhaps the best advice might be just to go for it.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_05: Dive in.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_05: Don't overthink it.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_05: Just do it.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_05: Live a little.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_05: As a way of like making friends, as a way of just seeing what the Holy Spirit will do in your life.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_05: Oftentimes the Holy Spirit doesn't care about your planning.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_05: Have you ever experienced that?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_05: And so I I would encourage you, if you're sitting here thinking, like, I've got all this time ahead of me, let me tell you first and foremost, the time goes quick.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_05: You don't have as much time as you think.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I feel like I got here yesterday, I've been here six years now.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_05: But if you're sitting here thinking I've got all this time ahead of me, and you're trying to like, some of you are planners, you're trying to sketch out your life, you're trying to plan this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this internship.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_05: Sure, do all those things, but don't forget to build some relationships in that time.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_05: Find the community around you.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_05: Spend some time.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_05: There's gonna be moments when you get invited to something and you're like, I don't wanna go, go.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_05: There's gonna be moments when you don't get invited to something, invite yourself, okay?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_05: You all know what I'm talking about.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_05: Find a place, a way to dive in to a community that will surround you and love you.