Category: Spiritual Life

As SALSU’s Religious VP, Caitlin Cuenca wanted to generate campus involvement in a worthy cause: helping Syrians forced to flee their country in the face of civil war. Working with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Caitlin decided to focus on Syrian refugees in Jordan, where 600,000 displaced people now live.

Chris Oberg, senior pastor of the La Sierra University Church, is a familiar presence and vibrant force in our university community.
We asked religious studies major Daniel Peverini to help us introduce her to prospective students.

Informal “Connection” worship groups offer you a great way to feel part of campus life, get to know fellow students, and engage in meaningful conversation.

Everyone attending Chapel has experienced Roots — a student-led ministry that spreads the Gospel through music, drama, and Scripture.

A group of La Sierra students traveled to La Trinidad, Nicaragua over spring break. Their objective? To build a wall around an Adventist academy. Their work became much more than cement and dirt.

With an Adventist pastor dad and an Adventist teacher mom, Chris Kaatz lived ministry whether he wanted to or not. And mostly, he did not. “My call to ministry wasn’t so much a call,” Kaatz says, “as a push. It took my high school religion teacher pushing me to be the pastor for a junior class trip to get my feet wet.”

Kate Case has spent the past three years advocating against human trafficking. Her goal? To eradicate slavery globally in her lifetime. It’s an ambitious pursuit, with an estimated 12 to 27 million people enslaved in sex or labor exploitation worldwide. But Case, a Global Studies major and 2013 graduate, is beginning to see results.

This past December, the The La Sierra University Church shimmered with music, voices, and stories full of the wonder of Christmas. Both the University Chamber Singers and University Chorale and the University Orchestra performed. A special performance of the Christmas Story According to St. Luke, by Roger Wagner, was narrated by John de Lancie, an award-winning actor, director, and writer.

The 30 select singers who make up the La Sierra Chamber Singers share their musical talents not only with the university community, but with thousands of others each year. They tour throughout the U.S. and internationally, sharing sacred music of many genres, including classical, spirituals, and hymns. In the past several years, they have performed with the Riverside County Philharmonic, in churches and concert halls throughout the Southern California, the Midwest, and many European countries.

At 8p.m. every Friday evening, you’ll find hundreds of La Sierra students in the sanctuary of the La Sierra University Church. Why? Because they’re taking part in the popular campus worship First Service. Things are kept pretty simple at First Service. It’s a time for the community to come together and engage in praise and worship with lots of student lead music and programming as well as entertaining, thought-provoking speakers.