Home Nights are a time when students at Bluefield University can come together to worship God. They happen every Monday night at 7:30 p.m. in Harman Chapel. Campus Pastor Mason West gives some insight into what goes on during these nights and the responsibilities of student worship leaders.

“The main goal of Home Nights is to create a place where students can encounter God’s presence, grow in their faith, and experience genuine Christian community,” West said.

West said the reason they call it Home is because “we want students to find a spiritual family where students are known, encouraged, and challenged to become who God has called them to be, but overall to find their home in the presence of God.”

The 35th annual Duremdes Christian Emphasis Week, held September 21-25, was a memorable experience as guest speaker Danny Morales’s creative and passionate preaching helped students go deeper in their walk with the Lord.

According to a BU press release, Christian Emphasis Week was created in 1992 by Drs. Gene and Jane Duremdes of Princeton, West Virginia. Thanks to their faith and generosity, hundreds of BU students have made professions of faith and been baptized over the past three decades.

Sensing a special calling to “share with the students of Bluefield University some of the blessings they have received from the Lord,” the Duremdes created the event with BU leaders to allow students and the public at-large to “examine their spiritual lives” and to “seek answers to life-impacting questions.”

Savannah Riley is a junior from Abingdon, Virginia, who is making holes-in-one and serving others for Christ at Bluefield University.

As a member of the BU golf team, Riley’s athleticism stands out on the course, and as a member of Student Ministries and a Christian studies major, her faith shines in the classroom and around campus. However, coming to Bluefield she admits is not something she ever thought she’d do, but not that she’s here she said it feels like home.

“Coming to Bluefield was a Lord moment,” Riley said. “I never pictured Bluefield being the place I would call my home away from home until I stepped foot on campus. It felt like a true family and that is the main reason I’m here today. The community and the mountains feel like home. The family makes it home away from home.”