By Katherine Siglin
A room full of students stared at an empty stage and listened to a booming, disembodied voice for the first few minutes of Tuesday’s convocation.
No, God wasn’t speaking in audible tones to the Milligan community. Students were listening to the voice of Spiritual Renewal Week’s keynote speaker, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove as he preached the message over the phone.
Hartgrove was scheduled to speak at the chapel service but received bad directions on his way to Milligan’s campus, leaving him above Doe River Gorge around the time he was supposed to preach.
When it was clear the speaker would not make it to the service, the decision was made by campus minister Brad Wallace to try to stream Hartgrove’s sermon. Hartgrove called student worker Elizabeth Gentry’s cell phone and that audio was patched through the chapel speakers. This is the first time Milligan has ever had a remote chapel speaker.
“Sometimes Jesus comes to us in the strangest ways, so perhaps this [medium] is fitting,” said Hartgrove during his sermon.
The low audio quality of the stream made it hard to understand Hartgrove’s words.
“It was like listening to a radio,” said junior Teresa Traficante.
About ten minutes into the stream, Hartgrove lost signal and the call ended.
“The mercies of our faithful God are much more reliable than the technology of men,” said Wallace after the service had dismissed.
Wilson-Hartgrove is an author, founder of the intentional community Rutba House and a leader in the New Monastic movement from Durham, N.C. Rutba House focuses on living, praying and eating with members of the community and extending hospitality to those around them.
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