As a bright spring day darkens into night, Lauren Bailey leaves her dorm in Ray Hall, switches the magnet on her door to indicate her destination, and quickly makes the short walk down to the Chapel.

“It is always peaceful walking to the service,” said Bailey, a junior psychology major with minors in counseling and biblical ministry studies.

Bailey is one of approximately 150 students, community and faculty members that make the walk towards the Chapel on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. to attend Upper Room.

Upper Room, a weekly student-led worship service for Waynesburg students and community, is organized by a “Leadership Team” that is comprised of seniors who are passionate about their relationship with the Lord and helping others grow in their faith, according to Faculty Advisor for Upper Room Joshua Sumpter.

“We look for leaders that understand the vision of Upper Room and see our purpose,” Sumpter said. “Jesus is the center of the ministry. Ultimately they care about this campus, they want to see it grow in its relationship with God.”

The Leadership Team each year is active from the beginning of the fall semester until Spring Break, when the new team steps into leadership. The reason for the switch that takes place near midterms is to help ensure a smooth transition from one team to another, according to Sumpter.

“Our hope is that past leadership has time to really work alongside with the new leadership, and so that we’re not starting from scratch every semester,” Sumpter said.

Two of the members of the Leadership Team from the Fall 2016 semester who have already stepped out of their roles are Amy Hawley, former testimony coordinator, and John Wicker, former worship leader and president of Upper Room.

Hawley, who describes her time spent as a part of Upper Room as “a gift,” continues to attend Upper Room weekly though her time as a leader has ended.

“It is almost always bittersweet to leave an organization that you have put your heart and soul into, and invested a great amount of time to,” Hawley, a senior Criminal Justice and Psychology dual major, said.

Hawley will be able to guide Bailey as she begins her time serving as the new testimony coordinator.

“Amy did an amazing job and really fit the position well to her personality, and now I am trying to do the same,” Bailey said.

According to Bailey, the past leadership worked very well together as a team. A member of that team was Wicker, who began his leadership role in Spring 2016.

“Some of the most encouraging changes I have witnessed is the ways in which our team members have grown in their confidence with leading, myself included, how we’ve come to collaborate as a team,” Wicker, a senior marketing major, said.

Though Upper Room is largely student-led by students such as Wicker, the faculty advisor oversees Upper Room services.

Before Sumpter began his role as faculty advisor in 2016, Resident Director Anthony Jarrell held the position for two years.

“It’s becoming easier the older I get because I have seen God continually raise up new people and be faithful to the ministry He has sustained,” Jarrell said of seeing seniors leave their leadership positions.

Upper Room serves to many as a reminder of another week completed, a marker of time that will continue to cycle long after the graduating seniors have walked out the white wooden doors of the Chapel for the final time.

“They really have made great impacts on the lives of students on campus. As the new team is going into our senior year, we want to take on those roles and be those leaders on campus,” Bailey said.