Beginning Friday, Oct. 5, Mid-America Christian University will host its semiannual Celebration of Culture event with an up-close look at Hispanic culture.
At 10 a.m. Oct. 5, the university’s semiweekly chapel services will kick off with praise and worship by the OKC Family Church and Latina recording artist Jacqueline Chavez.
Following musical performances, several MACU students will take to the stage to share culture and traditions from their home countries in Latin America. Their testimonies will be followed by a keynote address on the richness of various Latino cultures from Rev. Daniel Caceres from Iglesia Bautista Hispana Church in Norman, Okla., with interpretation provided by MACU’s Dr. Enrique Cepeda.
After chapel services conclude at 11:30 a.m., MACU students, faculty, staff and community guests are invited to the campus cafeteria, Café 1412, for a special meal featuring foods selected by international MACU students to represent their home countries. During lunch, the Sana Sana Colita de Rana Mariachi Band from U.S. Grant High School and Clips N Hips Candela Cultural Dancers and Singers group from Colombia will perform traditional Hispanic songs and dances.
Lunch costs $6.50 for guests.
Following the meal, a group of MACU students will travel to the Un Nuevo Amanecer Church in Oklahoma City, where they will take part in an afternoon of community service.
To wrap up the Celebration of Culture, students will have the opportunity to attend a bilingual church service at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, at the OKC Family Church in Oklahoma City.
MACU campus pastor Matt Cossey said Friday and Sunday’s events exemplify the diversity of MACU’s culture. Sixty-eight percent of MACU students identify as non-white.
“No matter where we come from, we all share the same God,” Cossey said. “We want to give our students the opportunity to take part and meet people who share different cultures from their own.”
In addition, MACU offers a Master’s of Leadership entirely in Spanish and is home to the Thomas School of International Studies, a multi-dimensional center that equips individuals across many countries to impact the world for Jesus Christ.
The Celebration of Culture event is a semiannual event on the MACU campus, located at 3500 S.W. 119th St. in Oklahoma City. Every semester, MACU holds chapel services to recognize and raise awareness of various cultures on a local and global scale.
MACU chapel services are open to the public and can be viewed online at www.macu.edu/chapel-media. Archives are available for those who cannot attend or watch at the time of the service.