MURFREESBORO - During the last two weeks of May, Dr. Chris White, President, Chowan University conducted his yearly study tour involving Chowan students and friends and staff of the university. This year the study tour group traveled to the sites of many of the early Christian Churches visited by Paul during his missionary trips. Among the travelers were the Director of Athletics, Dennis Helsel, his spouse, Sue Helsel, and five student-athletes. Tricia Gorman (softball), Ashley Bradford (women's soccer), Travis Albea (men's soccer), Jonathan Walker (men's tennis) and Zachary Hicks (men's basketball) all traveled abroad on this spiritual journey.
For many Christians, a tour of the areas of Turkey and Greece where significant portions of Paul’s missionary journeys occurred and to which he wrote some of his Epistles mark the fulfillment of a dream. The ruins of the seven ancient cities containing the seven major churches of Asia Minor (now Turkey) addressed in Revelations 2-3 (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea) are worthy of visits and study. The group had the good fortune of visiting four (Ephesus, Pergamum, Philadelphia and Laodicea) of the seven. The student-athletes had the opportunity to read to the group Biblical passages in the cities visited. Emotions were at a peak as the group realized that they may be standing and speaking where Paul once stood and spoke.
In Greece, the group visited Phillipi (Letter to the Philippians), Thessaloniki (Letters to the Thessalonians), Corinth (Letters to the Corinthians) and Athens. Among the ruins in Philippi, located on the rocky ledge above the town’s main road, the group saw the “prison” into which Paul and Silas were thrown. They visited the pool of Lydia where Paul baptized the first convert in Europe. In Philippi, the group walked the ground where Octavian and Marc Anthony defeated Brutus and Cassius. In Thessaloniki, the group walked where Paul preached during the winters of 49-50 AD and wrote the two epistles to the Thessalonians. Corinth was home to Saint Paul for 18 months. The group stood at the Bema, where Paul spoke to the Corinthians about The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A visit to the Acropolis and the Parthenon completed the tour.
It is not every day that student-athletes have the opportunity to grow in their personal relationship with Christ. All five did. Their helpful and receptive attitude was inspirational and awe-inspiring. Please take some time to view the photo record of the trip and thus gain a little insight into student-athletes as they excel away from their playing surface and sport.