Student Testimony: Chase Kersey

By no means would I consider myself old, or apart from my youth; but up until late 2018, I didn't consider myself a member of The Wesley Foundation's community, clinging onto mainly one "obstacle." Despite the minuscule difference in my age compared to the majority of The Wesley's attendees, I felt a general disconnect because I was no longer an enrolled college student and, therefore, felt as though I was in a different stage of life. This mindset stuck with me for longer than I'm proud to admit. Despite my hesitance to dive into the community, it was inevitable because Khalilah, a passionate and charming intern at the time, happens to be my spouse. Even so, I didn't even give it a real chance until midway through her first year as an intern, at which point I slowly began to lower my defenses in the form of the occasional dinner with some of her co-workers.

The uncompromising perseverance from my wife, through countless bouts of frustration and mild conflict, pushed me to open myself up to the possibility of companionship at The Wesley. Unsurprisingly, I was met with a lot of interest and care from the congregation the few times I would make appearances at The Well, the weekly Tuesday service. Due to generally being a more introverted person, I initially limited the majority of my contact to just the other interns. My wife's friends and co-workers definitely made things easier for me going forward, though, as some of them became almost anchors of comfort for me. This was especially true for Laura Cason. She was probably the person I developed my first real relationship with at The Wesley, aside from Khalilah. I can recall some of the very first services I attended, looking for a familiar face to sit beside when I couldn't sit by my wife. I would consistently find myself hanging out with Laura, at least the first several times. With more and more confidence under my belt, I began making more meaningful relationships within the community. The infamous sisters Chlese and Camellia became closer and closer to Khalilah, which led to me seeing and interacting with them more and more, both at our house and out and about, as well. My relationship with the Jiles Sisters was initially founded on a similar taste in humor, and while that is still very much the case, my relationship with both of them has become so much deeper. I'm convinced that they are basically two more sisters of mine now. With a rapidly growing list of meaningful relationships, it wasn't long until I was regularly attending Tuesday night services and comfortably fellowshipping with more than just Khalilah.  

Though my attendance increased at the weekly services, my involvement in the other facets and activities of The Wesley were much slower moving. It wasn't until the second year of my wife's internship that I truly started to come out of my shell and participate on days other than Tuesday. I joined my first small group, led by two of my now good friends, Pete Mace and Phillip Matherne. In this small group, I developed beautiful relationships with other faithful men that have greatly furthered my own faith and given me an outlet to both help and receive help with daily and weekly struggles. Forming new and healthy relationships with other faithful men has shown me the value of accountability that I would otherwise lack. Be it comfort or something else, there have been topics or issues that I have struggled explaining or expressing with my wife that I now have the ability to more readily handle and discuss within these new relationships. Likewise, I am now able to be in a place to more readily respond and assist with the same style of issues but for my brothers in Christ that I would have been absent from otherwise. One such example of sharing and helping through accountability was when we started a series of occasional confession nights. On these nights we would go around the room one by one confessing anything and everything we had on our hearts. Any sin or struggle we faced and could hardly bear on our own, we laid out. Seeking both forgiveness and accountability, we were greeted with just that. Initially, some people were quicker to share than others, but towards the end of the school year, seemingly everyone had begun to come out of his shell and shared a broken piece of his heart with the group. Pete and Phillip were exceptional group leaders, and with the utmost sincerity, I am super grateful to them for their contributions in my life this past year.

 Although past me would claim to be Christian and follow Christ, I was in a dark place of confusion and hurt before I met my wife and even still during the first year or so of our relationship. I received the much-needed healing and revival that Christianity brings before diving into The Wesley's rich-of-faith community, but since I've opened up to partake in its community, I've received an abundant amount of growth emotionally, mentally, and spiritually that I suspect is far from slowing down.

Chase Kersey is an English major at Louisiana Tech, and has been a beloved member of the Wesley community for the last 2 years. He enjoys swinging swords, playing video games, and is always willing to lend an ear or give advice to his brothers and sisters in Christ.