One Girl’s Vision Evolves into Delight Ministry’s Liberty Chapter

• A community of Christ-centered girls gathers for Bible study at the Tea House Lounge on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
• The Bible study includes snacks, worship and time spent working through a devotional written by college students.

One. One girl fell in love with the vision of an all-girls, weekly gathering on campus.

Seven. Seven girls began to pray for this vision to come to fruition.

Seventy-one. Seventy-one girls made this dream a reality as they came together, learned together and loved together.

This is the story of Delight Ministries at Liberty.

Delight is a nationwide organization whose goal is to “invite college women into Christ-centered community that fosters vulnerability and transforms stories.”

It was brought to Liberty University’s campus through the prayers and vision of junior artist development major Jordan McCorvey.

“I prayed about starting a small Bible study with my quadmates,” McCorvey said.

She was later approached by an acquaintance about Delight. McCorvey looked into the ministry, fell in love with the idea and began working to bring it to Liberty’s campus. She first established a leadership team of seven girls to help her lead the ministry.

However, filling these positions was not necessarily easy.

“The leadership team building process is probably one of the most fun parts, but it can also be the most stressful part,” McCorvey said.

Discernment seemed to be the key word for McCorvey in this process.

It took a lot of thought and prayer to decide which girls had the ability to be leaders and which positions they would best fill, but ultimately, McCorvey was able to establish a solid leadership team and start focusing on the next step – becoming a Liberty club.

The application process itself was simple: find a faculty advisor, fill out an application, write up a constitution for the club and wait.

And wait they did.

The leaders of Delight began the process of applying to be a club in the spring of 2016 but were not approved until November of the same year.

However, that waiting period did not stop them from taking initiative.

In the beginning of the Fall 2016 semester, Delight at Liberty made its debut.

What started off as seven girls praying and gathering in McCorvey’s quad at East Campus, quickly turned into 40, then 50, then 70 girls meeting on a weekly basis.

From backyard bashes to Friendsgivings to weekly meetings, it seems to be the community aspect of Delight that continues to lure girls like freshman Sydni Dearden in.

“I really craved that community of Jesus and girls, and I saw it instantly in Delight,” Dearden said.

She said she was taken aback after the first Delight meeting by the beauty of lots of college women coming together to seek after truth and holiness together.

“There was just all this goodness, and I was filled with a sense of peace and joy by just going,” Dearden said. “I knew it was something I wanted to keep going to.”

Her roommate, Ruthie Rogers, has a similar story.

“I’ve never really been that involved in a girl’s Bible study, so I thought it’d be cool to really grow close with a group of people who have the desire to grow closer to God in common,” Rogers said. “That just got me excited about it.”

However, Delight is not just your average Bible study.

“Delight studies the Lord’s hand and his work through other women’s lives and their testimonies,” McCorvey said.

Girls meet every Tuesday on campus to go through the Delight devotional book – a compilation of stories and struggles written by girls currently in college – as well as have a small worship session, prayer and lots of snacks.

“You don’t feel like you’re at a Bible study,” Rogers said. “You feel like you’re just talking to your friends in a good, Christ-centered way.”

Vulnerability and community are the very heart and soul of Delight.

“I love the opportunities to be vulnerable that Delight offers,” McCorvey said. “It gives girls a safe place to share their struggles in the dark days and their joys in their happy days.”

Topics of discussion within a weekly Delight meeting range from things like body image to the stress of school – very practical topics for college women.

“It helps just to know that people are sharing in the struggles that you have,” Rogers said. “It’s literally everyone; it’s not just you.”

No commitment is required. It is on a come as you can basis.

Some of the events Delight will be hosting this semester included a Fall Festival event, a Friendsgiving, a Q&A panel on relationships and a study break session in the Jerry Falwell Library during finals week.

Delight at Liberty meets every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. at the Tea House Lounge in the Montview Student Union. Girls can follow their Instagram page, @delight_liberty, to keep up-to-date on all their information.

“It’s really cool to see that girls really do need Delight,” McCorvey said. “They need a place to share their stories, to be encouraged by other girls’ stories, and allow other girls’ stories to transform theirs.”