Behind the Scenes : Spirituality & Religion
L.I.G.H.T. Christian center moves to Court Street
By Eric Mungenast, Staff Writer
February 22, 2008 | 11 a.m.
Tucked away in a cranny on Court Street resides the new Living in God’s Holy Light (L.I.G.H.T.) student center. While the center is still in the making, it holds the potential to become a very worthwhile place.
Nicknamed “the L.I.G.H.T. house,” the center is to act as a meeting place for both Ohio University and Hocking College students. It will also “provide opportunities for spiritual growth and create fellowship opportunities and...reach people with the Gospel of Christ,” said Matt Thomas, one of the leaders of L.I.G.H.T.
“This is not just a place to hang out," Thomas said. "I want to give people the opportunity to learn the Gospel of Christ."
The center offers many attractions for religious students, including a daily prayer meeting at noon, Thursday night devotions, fundraising for many different charities and “Saturday Night Alternatives,” which provide students a different option to the usual Saturday evening on Court Street.
“It’s a good place to wind down,” said Michael Dodson, a second-year masters student in environmental and plant biology.
The Blackburn Hill Church of Christ, a nondenominational church, sponsors the center, which shares its sponsor’s nondenominational position. The church held the offices of the L.I.G.H.T. group before the current center opened.
Thomas, a 1991 OU graduate, is also a spiritual adviser. He has officiated 15 weddings, including the marriage of former OU running back Justin Roush and his wife, Erin.
“It’s an honor to have someone ask you,” Thomas said.
Thomas shares an office at the center with partner Jay Smith, or J.D., who graduated from OU in 2003.
At least, they share the makings of an office. Their office features a bookshelf loaded with both religious and counseling books and an OU football helmet signed by Roush. The walls are empty, with the exception of a white dry-erase board with “I love you brother,” written by Thomas to Smith, as well as a calendar from a funeral home.
The common area shares the minimalist values of the office, with few mementos on the wall besides a recently installed dartboard and a prayer board used for the noon prayer sessions held each weekday.
What gathers the most attention from the first-time visitor is the rather auspicious 50” Samsung television sitting on a wooden shelf with a cable box and DVD player resting beside it to complete the medium bonanza available to the students.
Leftover food from the previous weekend’s Super Bowl party sits nearly untouched (though frequently offered) behind a ping-pong table. The continuous smack of the ball provides a soundtrack to the center’s activities.
The place is hardly a finished product. The area behind the office is, for lack of a kinder term, a complete mess. It is in the same state Thomas and Smith inherited it in when they started renting the space for the center, and it took three months and $5,000 to get the place to its current state. Thomas also wants to clean a back area to create extra study space and hopes to add wireless Internet if he can get a deal to afford it.
Besides the material components is the need for programming and figuring out what the students want from the center. “I’m asking [the students], ‘What can we do to help you with your walk with God?’” Thomas said.
What appears to draw the students in, besides its role as a Christian hangout, is the presence of both Thomas and Smith. In an interesting dichotomy, Thomas connects better with the OU students while Smith speaks to the Hocking students, though neither Thomas nor Smith speaks solely to either group.
“They're [Thomas and Smith] very helpful and very interested in the students,” said Denise House, a second-year graduate student in environmental and plant biology and frequent visitor to the center. “Sometimes college students are forgotten by local churches, but they really care. They make us feel important, and they involve us in the church.”
The two leaders offer a hands-on touch in their roles as unofficial counselors to the students. However, it’s a role that Thomas tried to evade but could not completely deny. He unintentionally proved this dichotomy after counseling a married Hocking couple shortly after this interview.
“It comes with the job, but it’s not something he’s actively seeking,” Dodson said.
---