This week, we pick up after Called—last week’s Cook Missions Conference. In this episode, Biola students Pres Wilson, Jason Le, Isaac Kim and Annalinn Crevoiserat share their convictions and reflections on John Mark Comer’s session titled “A new (or really, old) model of discipleship.” Crevoiserat, who is the co-president of Biola’s Autism Community Club, also shares her thoughts on how the conference directors made sessions more accessible to members in the club.
For more details about this week's headlines: Power outages, SGA president, Biola Theatre shows, Snyder School beam, CMA building live feed and construction updates, Torrey Theatre, March Madness, JuJu Watkins Injured, Eagles Swim and Dive, Trump targets Dept. of Education, US military group chat leaks, Gazans protest, Ukraine ceasefire conditions,
Find more stories at The Chimes’ website. Find the transcript to this episode here. An additional special thanks for this episode goes to Chimes opinion writer Kelly Van Duine.
Creators & Guests
What is The Chimes Weekly?
Bite-sized podcast episodes with your top news stories from The Chimes, Los Angeles County, the nation and the world, with an interview with a Chimes writer to close out your week.
By Biola University students, for Biola University students. Previously known as Chimes Rundown and KBR Daily News Updates by KBR The Torch.
Thomas Rahkola: From The Torch Podcasting Network, this is The Chimes Weekly. I’m Thomas Rahkola, reporting from Biola University. It’s Friday, March 28.
Annalinn Crevoiserat: I enjoyed it. It was hard for our club, of course. I’m co-president of Autism Community Club. We were able to get accommodations thanks to the Missions Conference directors [who] actually let us have our own row toward the back right ...
Thomas Rahkola: This past week, Biola’s student missionary union hosted its 95th Missions Conference. The event was officially introduced as the Clyde and Anna Belle Cook Missions Conference, after one of Biola’s former presidents. It featured seven speakers including Ed Stetzer and John Mark Comer.
Coming up, we’ll hear more testimonies and thoughts from the Cook Missions Conference. But before that, let’s take a look at this week’s headlines….
Yesterday the power went out for half an hour across Biola’s campus. According to chief of Campus Safety John Ojeisekhoba, the protective relay for campus power failed, causing the campus main breaker to trip. The outage affected lights, automatic doors, air conditioning, Wi-Fi and elevators. One person was in the library elevator when the outage happened. Campus Security responded by standing outside the elevator, and talking with them until the power came back and they safely exited on the lower level. Power was restored after switching to a secondary protective relay. Chief O said that Biola’s Internal Emergency Response team responded appropriately to the power outage, sending updates to students, faculty and staff as well.
Timothy J Malley, also known as TJ, a sophomore accounting major, has just been appointed as the SGA president for the 2025-2026 school year. On Tuesday, Biola’s student government announced his appointment on Instagram, along with other open positions, details about his interview process. In a statement to The Chimes, Malley said, “It is my great honor to be appointed SGA President. I will strive to serve my fellow Biola students to the best of my ability and, God willing, earn the trust of the people despite the unusual circumstances of my appointment,”
For those looking for a break from work this weekend, Biola Theatre will be presenting A night of Student-Directed One-Act Plays, including No Exit and Gun and A Hotel Bible. No Exit captures the story of three strangers locked in a mysterious room in hell as they gradually realize that their eternal torment is, in fact, each other. In the other play, Gun and a Motel Bible, a man named Pete has an unexpected encounter in a motel room with Gideon, a personified bible who challenges his perception of faith and morality. Tickets for the show are $5 for students and can be purchased at the link in the show notes.
If you’re still looking for a study break, it pays to advertise. That’s the name of the play showing next week in Mayers Auditorium. In the show, the son of a businessman finds that fibbing about soap is a slippery slope. Torrey Theatre is hosting this play, and all students are invited to come. Tickets are 9 dollars and 31 cents. See our show notes for our podcast episode with the director, Audrey Schnell, and a link to get your ticket.
March Madness is in full swing for men’s NCAA collegiate basketball. Now down to 16 teams, the next stage of the tournament, better known as Sweet 16 will wrap up today. The remaining teams will continue to the Elite Eight this coming Saturday and Sunday.
While all four of No.1 seeds, including Auburn, Duke, Florida, and Houston, “slammed-dunked” their way into the Sweet 16, the tournament has not been without upsets. The No.2 seed St John’s Red Storm was eliminated in a grueling second round by the Arkansas Razorbacks, the only double-digit seed in the tournament to move on.
The Women's NCAA basketball tournament is also underway with Sweet 16 games beginning today. While No.1 seeds UCLA, USC, South Carolina, and Texas still remain in the tournament, the injury of one of USC’s star players leaves fans uncertain of how they will perform tomorrow against Kansas State. JuJu Watkins suffered a season ending ACL tear earlier this week in a game against Mississippi State. USC’s Trojans finished strong with a 96-59 victory; however, the team remains shaken.
For the first time in Biola’s history, the Eagles sent two swimmers to the NCAA Division 2 Swim and Dive Championships in Indianapolis. Josh Peace and Samuel Slezak both swam the one mile and thousand yard freestyle. Slezak secured a tenth place finish in the nation for the thousand yard with a time of 9:10.31, earning him a Second Team All-American honor. Peace finished not far behind at 9:21.85 and fifth in his heat. Peace went on to finish with a 15:42 mile and Slezak not far behind with a 15:48.
Last week, President Trump signed an executive order to begin the closure of the federal Department of Education, though, since the department was created by Congress— it is unclear how far the agency can comply with the order. The department is currently responsible for the distribution of financial aid to college students through programs like Pell Grants and student loans. They also ensure equal access to education for underserved and disabled communities and collect data on colleges and universities. Last week’s order to close the department followed the announcement of a plan earlier this month to cut nearly half of the agency’s staff.
On Wednesday, the Atlantic posted screenshots of a group chat comprised of top US officials including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as well as a journalist for the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, The group chat disclosed sensitive details of a military strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen prior to the operation. Though the White House has denied texting any classified war plans, the leak and resulting questions dominated a large portion of the House Intelligence Committee’s annual threat assessment hearing, which was already underway earlier this week.
This week Palestinians gathered in the streets to protest Hamas’ rule over Gaza for the past 18 years. As of Tuesday the war in Gaza has resumed, ending a 3 month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, though Israel is looking into new agreement terms under President Trump. The protests began on Tuesday, March 25th following resumed airstrikes by Israeli militia, and are aimed at promoting peace and combating the idea that all Gazans support Hamas.
Amidst the thick of negotiations ongoing between Ukraine, Russia and the United States are the children of Ukraine, thousands of whom have been illegally deported to Russia during the invasion. According to AP News, their return is one of the many conditions Ukraine has set forwards as the nations continue to work towards a peace agreement.
Lastly, if you’ve been on Biola’s campus in the last few weeks, you probably noticed the white metal beam sitting between the Lim Center and the Crowell Business building. Maybe you’ve even used one of the Sharpies there to sign your name or write a message on it. That long piece of metal was the last structural beam placed on Biola’s new CMA building at yesterday’s official ceremony. To top it off, donors and faculty were present, including the founding dean of the Snyder School Tom Halleen and President Dr. Barry Corey.
Once the Snyder School opens in 2026, the beam and all its messages will be completely covered in drywall, according to construction workers. But until then, it’ll be beaming down at anyone who looks up to it while construction continues. See the link in our show notes for live photos of the construction in progress.
That’s all for this week’s headlines. Next up, we’ll hear students’ thoughts on this year’s Cook Missions Conference thanks to Chimes opinion editor Isahi Minero, opinion writer Ashley Newman and business manager Joseph Abboud.
Pres Wilson: My name is Pres. I am a writing for film and television major. One of the main things that I took away from a Missions Conference was just that it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. God uses everybody in different ways. And I think the fact that no matter who you are, like, you cannot be unworthy. One of my favorite things that was said is you might feel unequipped, but God doesn’t equip you. He equips the call for you. So when you go out and you go to do whatever he’s having you do and whatever he wants to fulfill the Great Commission, he will equip you. And that’s like something you don’t need to worry about. So then just getting relieved of the stress of being like God. I don’t know if I can do this. When he says no, like, I’ve already made this plan for you and I’ve already got it figured out.
Isaac Kim: I’m Isaac. I’m a senior. And one thing I walked away with today is how discipleship goes hand in hand with like, following Christ and how, like, it’s not an optional thing. So it really convicted me to rethink my relationship with Jesus and to think of, like, ways that I can better follow him.
Jason Le: My name is Jason. I’m also a senior. I’m a Bible major. One of the things that I learned or was thinking about throughout his talk was the emphasis on information, you know, in the, like, last 30 years, as he said. And I kind of realized like one are the reasons why one of my close friends hasn’t been going to church or really believe in God is, yeah, he knows what he wants to do, but he doesn’t really understand how to fight it. And, you know, I think it adds a lot of insight as to how I can help, um, this friend and just kind of being there instead of just teaching him the Bible over and over, over again. Yeah, it was good.
Ashley Newman: Hello. Hello.
Ashley Newman: What is your name?
Annalinn Crevoiserat: Annalinn Crevoiserat.
Ashley Newman: What did you think of Missions Conference overall?
Annalinn Crevoiserat: I enjoyed it. It was hard for our club, of course. But we were able to get accommodations thanks to the Missions Conference directors [who] actually let us have our own row toward the back right of this gymnasium and let us have the ability to actually skip the line to get in. Because a lot of anxiety is because of the line. The sound is a lot and the number of people’s lot. It was hard for them, but definitely the Lord reached them in a really unique way.
Ashley Newman: Yeah.
Annalinn Crevoiserat: Which I love. That it doesn’t have to be the passionate one, but the quiet one. I’m co-president of Autism Community Club. We started last semester and we officially launched this semester. And yeah, our whole point is to actually do what he was talking about in there is to make disciples of fine quality and virtue. And that’s kind of the focus of our club is that and then, giving safe community to other people who feel ostracized or alienated. So that’s the primary focus.
Ashley Newman: Do you feel as though the conference overall was relatively accessible? Just something that was noted was that the overflow sessions are closed, which are typically quieter. Even I noticed how loud these last two main sessions were. What are your thoughts about that overall?
Annalinn Crevoiserat: Yeah, I know that we were looking forward to having overflow. We were told it was going to be open until pretty much every session except Friday morning. And so while, of course, it’s an opportunity to grow as an individual, right? And lean into the Lord, you shouldn’t have to be forced into that position during a conference, right? So I think that with what they had, they did really well. They reached the majority of the masses, which is the majority of those probably in there still worshipping.
Ashley Newman: Yeah.
Annalinn Crevoiserat: So it’s hard to accommodate a small percentage of people who wrestle with that sort of thing. So for what they had, I think they did well. Unfortunately, people who are on the spectrum feel like they live in a world that’s not made for them. And so it’s a not safe world. And so no matter what you do, we’ll always have some sort of feeling of alienation because of that. And so they did a great job accommodating. But again, there’s only so much you can do when the whole focus is hyping people up for evangelism.
Ashley Newman: Yeah.
Annalinn Crevoiserat: But they did a great job otherwise.
Ashley Newman: What would you hope to see in next year’s conference?
Annalinn Crevoiserat: I was worried initially that we wouldn’t touch on making disciples of fine quality and more the evangelism, like saving people front. But we did touch that, which is great. So I think for me, a lot of individuals aren’t reached by the super hyped up passionate worship. I think the liturgy earlier today, for example, was a great experience. So I think more moments of quiet worship is really, really helpful. Because I can’t think clearly, it’s just a lot of emotions that I don’t have to deal with in my own heart. So maybe a better balance of moments of quiet in there that’s not just, go to the SUB if you want quiet worship. And I love that this speaker also didn’t have to yell to actually get his passionate point across. A lot of my members felt overwhelmed by the amount of yelling by a few of the speakers. But that’s not their fault. My fiance and I have been going to conferences like these for seven to 10 years now, or something like that. And so we’ve seen this kind of thing before. And it’s actually encouraging for us to see that we’re doing the mission actively. And to be affirmed in that is really beautiful. I’m actually quite happy with where I am. I think every human has a level of pride, but I’m quite proud of the mission we’ve done here, and I’m really looking forward to that in the future.
Ashley Newman: Thank you, Annalin!
Thomas Rahkola: Thanks for listening! As always, if you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review and share it with a friend or roommate. For more stories from the Chimes, head over to our website at chimesnewspaper.com.
This episode was produced and hosted by myself with additional headlines written by Reagan Glidewell, Hope Li, and Izah DeFigh. It was also engineered by Hope Li, with music from Warner Chappell Productions. Hope Li is our executive producer.
I’m Thomas Rahkola, we’ll see y’all next week.