Monday night, thousands of students will worship together.
You walk into the dimmed Reitz Grand Ballroom to see it packed with students of all ages and from different backgrounds. Are you late for a career fair, perhaps? A misplaced exam room?
If this is your experience on March 6, you could be walking into Really Big Worship Night, a Christian praise and worship event that usually happens once a semester. This is a time for the line between Christianity’s denominations to be blurred for all Gators to worship the Lord together.
An event this big takes a village to start up. Allie Dekkinga is part of the team planning this upcoming Really Big Worship Night (RBWN). Dekkinga, the civil engineering sophomore, has a specific purpose in mind for this event.
She said, “We may be all part of different student ministries here at UF, but we are all serving one God.” Dekkinga is also on the leadership team for Young Life College, where she can bring God’s Word to the “lost adolescence” of Gainesville’s middle school and high school students.
RBWN has also given her an opportunity to make new friends outside of Young Life. “It is so easy to get in the ‘bubble’ of your student organization or ministry, and this has allowed me to step outside of it. The Christian community here in Gainesville is truly so big, and it is such a blessing that we can continue meeting new people with similar values and beliefs even after years of being here.”
Another student that is assisting in the third Really Big Worship Night is Rylee Ballard, a sophomore majoring in civil engineering with a minor in religion. She is on both the event and PR team this year. The event team makes sure everything runs smoothly the night of and keeps the energy high, while Ballard’s duties for public relations involve creating Instagram content to detail the where, when, and why of RBWN.
“I just wanted to be a part of an organization that is excited about sharing the Gospel,” Ballard said. “The Christian community here at UF is so passionate about reaching students and it shows.” Through this opportunity, she has been able to form relationships outside of her role as a representative for the local Canvas Church.
Something that connected all these Christian ministries during Really Big Worship Night was StoryFaith, an organization that helped promote the last two RBWNs. StoryFaith helps connect students to faith communities, whether that be college-based or younger youth groups. At the end of RBWN in the past, there would be a QR code to scan to StoryFaith’s website, where many of the Christian ministries were listed for UF students to find their spiritual home away from home. Many of the ministry leaders also stayed after the event to talk to any students that were interested in learning more or wanted to come to a future service. If there’s anything they know firsthand, it’s that faith isn’t a one-night type of thing: it’s something that you must continually work on and cultivate over time, and this large community of Gators will be there to pick you up when you stumble.
Really Big Worship Night is made unique to UF’s campus through its illustrious guest speakers. For the past two RBWNs, former UF president Kent Fuchs and Gator football’s head coach Billy Napier opened the events respectively. Fuchs spoke at the first ever Really Big Worship Night in November of 2021. “I want this to make a difference in your life: you could be the president of UF, and you could be a Christian,” Fuchs said.
Napier gave a talk of his own at the following Really Big Worship Night held only four months later, speaking of how he accepted Jesus Christ as His Savior at the age of nine. “Living this life of faith is meant to be done as a community,” Napier said, showing how special this kind of event is, and he commended students for “living life with principle and not giving in to pressure.” After these big names shared their faith with so many students, it is exciting to think about the possibilities of guest speakers at the third RBWN.
Of course, RBWN wouldn’t be able to happen if students didn’t show up ready to worship. Jonny Taylor, a sophomore majoring in psychology, attended the previous Really Big Worship Night in the spring of 2022. “Community” was one word that came to mind for Taylor when describing his experience there. He invites any students considering the event to give it a try. “No matter what they did the night before, whether it was go to a frat party, sleep with a boyfriend or girlfriend, do drugs or drink, Jesus loves them more than words can say and just wants a relationship with them,” Taylor said.
Ainsley Wiechens, a sophomore majoring in health sciences, was also there for the second RBWN. Wiechens said, “It’s really cool to be able to do something like that on our college campus, where so many other things pull us away from God and the Christian faith. In the Bible, it says where two or more are gathered, Jesus is present, and I am so excited to see how He moves!”
Wiechens says that all students are welcome. “Even if you are not a Christian or super strong in your faith, I think experiences like this can be really cool ways to experience Jesus and also just the faith in general,” Wiechens said.
Come see it for yourself at 8 P.M. on Monday in the Reitz Grand Ballroom! Don’t let this opportunity pass you by if you want to get more involved with the Christian communities of Gainesville.