Written by Hayden Couvillon, Reporter
Photos by Hayden Couvillon
On Friday, February 9th, a group of 18 students traveled to Alabama on a MOSAIC trip led by Bruce Morgan, along with Michael Palmer and Kaurie Tallant. The group’s first stop was Montgomery, Alabama, where they toured the Rosa Parks Museum before visiting the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and the Alabama State Capitol.
The party had originally planned to visit the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, the city in which three marches to Montgomery began in 1965, but decided in the interest of time to forego the 54-mile trip, stopping at Chick-fil-A in Calera on their way to the historic city of Birmingham.
The party had originally planned to visit the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, the city in which three marches to Montgomery began in 1965, but decided in the interest of time to forego the 54-mile trip, stopping at Chick-fil-A in Calera on their way to the historic city of Birmingham.
The group first visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a self-guided tour showing the landmarks and timeline of the struggle for civil rights and racial equality. Then, they stopped at Kelly Ingram Park directly across from the Civil Rights Institute and on the opposite corner as the 16th Street Baptist Church. The group ended their expedition here at the site of the 16th Street Bombing, a tragedy that took the lives of four young girls in 1963.
A bus was provided for transportation by Eagle Christian Tours and departed at around 4 PM on Friday. The group then reached Montgomery about six hours later, stopping along the path of their four-and-a-half-hour drive for a two-hour dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Gadsden, Alabama. The party then spent the night at a motel on the east side of Montgomery, where they arrived at around 9 PM Central Time and held a group devotion before retiring about an hour later.
After their tour concluded in Birmingham on Saturday, the MOSAIC group stopped again for dinner at the Gadsden Cracker Barrel before returning to Bryan College at around 10:30 PM.
The theme of the trip, Justice and Reconciliation, was taken from Micah 6:8, which reads:
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”
—Micah 6:8, NKJV
Kaurie Tallant spoke during devotions on Friday night from the Lord’s Prayer, addressing the concepts of forgiveness, and of not dwelling on the hurt inflicted in the past, and stressed the importance of not giving in to bitterness or anger as the group took in the numerous injustices that they would learn about during their tour.
The next morning, Bruce Morgan opened the Bible to Luke 10 and pointed out the fact that Jesus never referred to the Good Samaritan as “Good”, speaking to the concept that the Samaritan should not be considered “Good” for doing the right thing, but rather that in the Love of God, his actions in helping the man should be considered normal. The group then had a word of prayer before embarking on the day’s tour.
The next morning, Bruce Morgan opened the Bible to Luke 10 and pointed out the fact that Jesus never referred to the Good Samaritan as “Good”, speaking to the concept that the Samaritan should not be considered “Good” for doing the right thing, but rather that in the Love of God, his actions in helping the man should be considered normal. The group then had a word of prayer before embarking on the day’s tour.
Hayden Couvillon is a Bryan College Freshman studying Criminal Justice, with an intent to Minor in Communications. He enjoys participating in and organizing activities and life on campus and is also a member of the Bryan College Student Government Association.
