URSA - Mercer University Research, Scholarship, and Archives
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Stillmore Baptist Church Minute Book, 1901-1907
No full textChurch record book that includes regularly recorded meeting minutes and church membership lists for Stillmore Baptist Church in Emanuel County, 1901-1907
Sexual Health Education Series
No full textProposal and final report of a Service Scholars project to conduct sexual education workshops with Mercer University incoming freshme
ABLE Mercer
No full textFinal report of a Service Scholars project establishing a peer mentoring program among first-year college students
Sunday Supper is Killing Us! Black Church, Do You Want to be Made Whole?
No full text2024ABSTRACT
ADAMA MELITTE ZAWADI
SUNDAY SUPPER IS KILLING US!
BLACK CHURCH, DO YOU WANT TO BE MADE WHOLE?
Under the direction of David Garber, Ph.D.
The history, the intergenerational relationship to food, and the culinary traditions of African Americans all too often manifest as deleterious lifestyle choices leading to preventable illnesses and death. From the first sip to the last sip, learned dietary behavior, good or bad emanates from the art of gathering around food As with the Eucharist, fellowship, communion, worship, and wellness have always been centered around the table.
The church is ground zero for educating, empowering, and cultivating a spiritual awareness that aligns the people of God with the will of God that says, “You shall live and not die.” However, the numbers do not lie.
Cornerstone Christian Church is a microcosm of a growing societal problem: the propensity to be sick by choice. The invitation to wholeness imagined a shift from being engaged in making detrimental lifestyle choices to accepting the invitation to exert one’s right to wellness.
The research was a qualitative ethnographic study, peculiar in that it attempted to measure the intangible. Will faith affect one’s willingness to live a full, healthy life? Does faith have any bearing?
The research was designed to explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and legitimate threats to creating wellness within the faith community, particularly among the African American faith community. This is the population readily disposed to the most significant health disparities across the spectrum in modern society.
Research instruments included participant questionnaires, individual pre- and post-interviews, observational field notes including extemporaneous conversations, as well as audio/video recordings of roundtable discussions. Data were collected, secured, coded, and analyzed. The findings corroborated potential barriers, validated health concerns, and nuanced indications for change.
There was a total of six bi-weekly sessions: one dietary educational component, one documentary film review, one meditation session, and a Welcome to the Dinner Table potluck. Discussions were either concurrent or otherwise centered around questionnaires. The secular calendar was intentionally synchronized with the spiritual calendar during the first quarter of the year.
Conclusions probably asked as many questions as were answered. Fresh ideas were germinated for assuming individual responsibility and self-determination to attain a higher quality of life. Conclusions also presented tangential opportunities for further study.Garber, David GGarber, David GWilliams, Betty WMiller, Heidi ADeLoach, C GregoryD.Min
Reimagining Connection Within The Covenant Community of Believers in a Post-Pandemic Disconnected Digital Age in Worship: A Model For the Small (Under 200 Members) Rural Church
No full text2024RONALD P. HAYES
REIMAGINING CONNECTION WITHIN THE COVENANT COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS IN A POST-PANDEMIC DISCONNECTED DIGITAL AGE IN WORSHIP: A MODEL FOR THE SMALL (UNDER 200 MEMBERS) RURAL CHURCH
Under the direction of Karen G. Massey
Is it possible to have a connection between worshippers when some worship in person and some attend online? Hybrid worship is a reality that all congregational ministers and congregations will be challenged with. In an era that seems obsessed with the simplification of human existence, coupled with the culture’s alteration of schedule’s respect for traditional worship times, churches have recently moved service times, moved service days, and implemented online worship, even in the smallest of churches to accommodate those that cannot or will not attend worship at the traditional Sunday time.
After the COVID-19 pandemic waned, some people were reluctant to return to in-person worship. Hybrid worship became normative even in the smaller, more rural churches. Understanding this to be the case, this thesis explores the possibility of a connection between worshippers who don’t share the same physical space. The scriptures clearly show believers are to gather together and share in the experience of praising and worshipping the Triune God.
Ten participants participated in this study to see if they could connect better with those worshipping in a different space than where they chose to attend. The study was conducted over the four weeks of Advent 2022, where Oak Grove Baptist Church only offered an online Zoom option and in-person worship. Before the project, there was a survey attempting to establish a baseline of attitudes toward connection with people during the pandemic within the congregation and the extension post-pandemic. After the project, another survey asked questions attempting to determine the level of change in connectivity among the congregants participating in the project.
Results varied from the online community, but a theme of minimal increase in connection emerged from the in-person attendees. Congregations will continue to attempt to find innovative ways to engage participants in worship in the future. Technology designed particularly for churches will emerge to assist in connecting these two worship platforms in the future.Massey, Karen GMassey, Karen GRowland, HarryWalker, Graham BD.Min
This Is My Story: A Qualitative Narrative Inquiry of The Lived Experience of African American Faculty Members at Predominantly White Institutions
No full text2024With the continued rise in the call for more diversity, equity, and inclusion in society, colleges and universities are not exempt. Specifically, Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) face the urge from students, faculty/staff, and administrators to answer this call. Unfortunately, while many institutions of higher learning are adjusting to attend to diversity, equity, and inclusion, they miss a key factor – their African American (AA) faculty. Having AA faculty helps AA individuals feel that representation does matter, and supporting AA staff aids in recruitment, retention, and overall wellbeing. While there have been many studies on the impact that microaggressions have on AA faculty, none have been conducted to explore the impact of microaggressions and microaffirmations on AA faculty.
This qualitative phenomenological study focused on filling the gap in the literature by exploring the lived experience of AA faculty at PWIs and looking at the microaffirmations and microaggressions they experience from students, peers, and administrators. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather the participant’s perceived experiences at it relates to microaffirmations and microaggressions, in the hopes of painting a fuller picture of their experiences. The results found that AA faculty experienced varying levels of microaggressions and microaffirmations at past and current PWIs, which dictates how they feel about themselves, their abilities, and trust with peers. It was further noted that there is a level of emotional labor disparity experienced by AA faculty, due to what has been coined as assumptions of dynamism.Redmond, Donald BLane, W DavidBrown, Tavari TD.Phil
Native Hawaiian Alzheimer's Caregivers and their Experience of Anticipatory Grief
No full text2024Alzheimer’s is a progressive brain disease and the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. Informal caregivers are providing the greatest margin of care. Due to the trajectory of the disease these caregivers are overwhelmed and experience anticipatory grief. Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing minority group in America. The AANHPI are comprised of 50 subgroups with 100 different languages. Alzheimer’s and dementia research among these subgroups is limited due to a lack of disaggregated data. According to the literature, Native Hawaiian elders experience historical trauma and multiple health disparities which includes a shorter life expectancy and early onset Alzheimer’s. Therefore, this qualitative study examined Native Hawaiian Alzheimer’s caregivers and their experience of anticipatory grief.Lane, W. DavidRedmond, Donald BRowland, Karen DD.Phil
THE CALL IS ALL: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE VOCATIONAL CALLING EXPERIENCES OF NONDENOMINATIONAL MASTER OF DIVINITY STUDENTS
No full text2024A sense of vocational calling to ministry is a primary factor leading seminary students to theological education. Nondenominational students now comprise a significant proportion of enrolled seminary students. This qualitative study used the method of hermeneutic phenomenology to examine the phenomenon of vocational calling within the lived experiences of nondenominational Master of Divinity students. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven participants enrolled at five different seminaries. The data analysis revealed the vocational calling experience to be ontologically transformational in a way that redefined the participants’ relationships, careers, and sense of self. The participants’ deep sense of devotion to their calling can be found in the six essential themes that emerged from the data analysis: a divine call and anti-call; paradoxical devotion; experiential, dialogical, and gradual discernment; portal relationships; seminary as a vocational laboratory; and a destination-less journey. Furthermore, the data analysis revealed that participants experienced a vocational calling concurrently with another life altering event, described in this study as an “ontological trigger.” The results of this study show the need for seminary administrators to consider vocational formation as an essential and formal part of the seminary education, especially for nondenominational students attending denominationally affiliated seminaries. Furthermore, the results demonstrate the diverse experiences that nondenominational students take with them into their seminary education. These diverse experiences offer new opportunities for seminaries to expand their notions of vocation and calling beyond their previously accepted understandings.Vander Putten, JamesIsaac, Carol A.DeLoach, C. GregoryLuther, Vicki L.Koballa, Jr., Thomas R.D.Phil
QUANTIFYING MULTIMODALITY: THE VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE QEMT AND QEMR
No full text2024While multimodality and multiliteracies has been a concept for 25 years (Kalantzis & Cope, 2023; The New London Group, 1996), research on and application of the concept within text complexity measures has been limited. Attempts to assess multiliteracies and multimodality (Jacobs, 2013; Schmerbeck & Lucht, 2017; Wyatt-Smith & Kimber, 2009) have primarily relied on qualitative or subjective assessments of multimodality. This dissertation seeks to study and compare the validity and reliability of two tools designed to assess multimodality quantitatively. Based around a theoretical clarification of the New London Group’s original concept, these tools will allow researchers to assess multimodality in unique and helpful ways. Ultimately, the Quantitative Evaluation of Multimodality Tool was found to be both reliable and valid. Discussions for its implementation and understanding its results as well as the limitations of the study are discussed.Panther, Leah M.Ford, Deana J.Black, Jay E.Crovitz, DarrenD.Phil
Practicing Receptivity: Grassroots Ecumenical Dialogue for Building Relationality and Inspiring Missional Imagination Among Churches in Gastonia. NC
No full text2024Though engaged in various missional and social outreach endeavors, churches continue to struggle to commit themselves to deep relationality with their Christian and non-Christian neighbors. The reasons for this are varied, often stemming from theological, socio-cultural, and psychological sources. I implemented this project to understand better how building relationality between individuals of diverse theological traditions could inspire a commitment to increasing relationality, particularly joint ecumenical witness and mission. Individual members from three churches serving the Brookwood and York-Chester neighborhoods in West Gastonia participated. Participants were interviewed before and after a series of five group sessions. In the pre-session interviews, participants introduced themselves, discussed the role they play within their faith communities, and described their respective church bodies’ relationship with the neighborhood and neighboring faith communities. The post-session interviews asked many of the same questions, allowing the researcher to compare any shifts that occurred because of the five group sessions.
In session one, participants introduced themselves and their faith communities to the group. In session two, they participated in a bible study on Acts 10-11:18. In the third session, participants looked at the varying dimensions of common life present in the local neighborhood and how each respective congregation participates in it. The fourth session focused on the doubts members have in the pursuit of deep relationships with Christian and non-Christian neighbors. In the final session, participants reflected on future possibilities for joint missional witness. The project found that the act of coming together and committing to mutual respect increased the hopefulness of the participants in helping to build relational capacity. Further, fear was often reported as the most significant barrier to doing this kind of work. This effort requires intentionality as well as a commitment to grace, welcome, and forgiveness if it is to be effective.Nash, Robert NNash, Robert NRowland, HarryGarber, David GD.Min