Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and all the changes that have taken place throughout Covenant College, the tradition of senior testimonies in Chapel has been retained. This is a time of open-hearted sharing, meant to encourage students, as well as give seniors a chance to share what they have learned from their time at Covenant.
This year, senior testimonies took place on April 26 and April 30.
The photos in this article belong to Covenant College Chapel Department
First up was Lesley Hill ’21, a music major who shared about God’s faithfulness in her life during her time at Covenant College. In her testimony, Hill shared how she has been challenged by the faculty, made great friends and connections, and experienced her growth alongside her brothers and sisters. For Hill, her ability to just be at Covenant College is a testimony in and of itself, a blessing that she believes she does not deserve.
Hill was also honest about the fact that despite the Lord’s faithfulness to her, she has often worried and been afraid. She compared this fear to that of being an orphan, rather than a daughter of the King. Hill shared about her battle with anxiety, and how in each year at Covenant she can remember moments when God ministered to her and helped her through her struggles.
For Hill, the experience of sharing her testimony was an exciting and emotional one, as her family joined her on campus as a surprise to hear her testimony.
Following Hill on Monday was John Bae ’21. Bae started off his testimony by saying, “I’m going to be honest… I’m highkey nervous. So just work with me, okay?” He also shared that for his testimony he did not write a layout and was just going to “go with the flow.”
For Bae’s testimony, he chose to give the basics of his entire life, starting off with the fact that he was born in South Korea, but only lived there for three weeks after he was born. He then spent the first 13 years of his life in East Malaysia, on the island of Sabah, in the city of Kota Kinabalu. He then went through middle school, high school and now college in America, and ended his brief bio by saying, “So that’s like my general synopsis of who I is,” which got a laugh out of the staff and students present.
Laughter appeared to be a running theme throughout Bae’s testimony, as he made multiple jokes to lighten the mood. He shared that on Covenant Campus he is referred to as a “triple threat” because he is a pastor’s kid, missionary kid, and third culture kid.
Bae spent most of his testimony sharing that what he struggled with the most was his personal identity. He can remember a time when he was still living in Malaysia when his mother attempted to teach him Korean. In response, Bae told her he was not Korean, but Malaysian. His mother asked him how he could say he was Korean if he did not learn his mother tongue.
Bae ended his testimony by stating that it hurt for him to spend so long trying to figure out what it meant to be Asian, what it meant to look different and what it meant to be treated differently. The heart-felt line was then rebutted by the statement that “God is bigger than this, that we are bigger than this.” Bae shared that his time at Covenant solidified this truth in him and that the college as a whole showed him that his place of belonging was heaven, rather than earth.
On April 30, the two seniors to share were Eden Anyabwile ’21, an art major, and Michael Fennema ’21.
Anyabwile started off by sharing a story of when she was in high school and how she was supposed to read “Hamlet,” but didn’t. She shared that according to Sparknotes, there is a scene where the character Polonius is giving advice to his daughter and son, and that she personally thinks about this scene a lot in relation to her first year at Covenant College.
Anyabwile shared that when her dad dropped her off her freshman year, he had what she referred to as a “Polonius Moment” where he gave advice about life and college, and how, similarly, she was going to treat her time on stage as one of these “Polonius Moments.”
Most of her testimony was sharing what she had learned from Covenant and life, as well as parts that she had to “unlearn” over time.
She shared that in her opinion, college should not and cannot be the best four years of your life. She said that she is unsure where this idea can come from, but that for her college was not the best time of her life. Going to college does not automatically guarantee good relationships, future career success or safety, and it “certainly does not guarantee a spouse.”
Anyabwile ended by saying that while Covenant is great, it is broken because it is manmade. It is wracked with sin alongside most things, and she believes that most days she was complacent in just taking what she could get and not seeking change. Anyabwile finished by encouraging students to bear the image of God in all the best ways that we can.
The final testimony was Michael Fennema, who started off by saying, “I love the Lord, just like praise the Lord for Eden Anyabwile and her testimony and pairing us together because I want to talk about spiritual growth.” He agreed with her statement that everyone’s time at Covenant College should not be the best years of their lives, but that they are nevertheless important years.
Most of Fennema’s testimony was sharing different pieces of the Bible and other sermons and comparing it to his own life. Fennema shared that we have to love each other just how God said to us and that we must realize that God is relentlessly tender and compassionate towards us, not in spite of our sins but with our sins.
Fennema closed by thanking everyone for the chance to speak as it let him analyze the last four years in an intentional way that showed him how Jesus never abandoned him and continued to stay with him. He finished by expressing hopes that students would go forth and share what God has given to them with the rest of the world.
The senior testimonies this year welcomed a point of view that did not revolve around the coronavirus pandemic. It gave these few seniors the chance to share their faith and experiences at Covenant College to a group of underclassmen who welcomed the idea of growth within their time at this school.