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God Talk is a Christian-based club that meets weekly to discuss topics concerning God and certain other themes found in the Bible. One of our editors, Kirubel Ghebreab, interviewed the two founders, Bryce Schmidt and Dylan Nivens.
Kirubel: How is God Talk more unique than any other club in the school?
Bryce Schmidt: Well, I think God Talk gives an environment for kids who might not be comfortable in other environments in the school and to just have a group of people who will listen to them and be with them throughout any issue, as well as introduce them to new ideas and things like that? What do you think Dylan?
Dylan Nivens: Well, I think that, uh, kinda what you were saying that it just allows a space for people to, you know, convey their feelings but also know that there is a group of people that care for them and willing to listen to them.
K: How often does God Talk meet? Is there ever any variation during meeting dates? Do you ever have to cancel or reschedule?
BS: We meet every Tuesday from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm in the auditorium lobby. Sometimes we’ll go over by 10 minutes, but people are free to come and go as they please. Every once in a while, we may meet in another room, but no, we don’t usually cancel.
K: Is it a club that requires intensive dedication?
DN: No, not really. People can come whenever they’re in the mood or need something or just want to have a good time. We also have food every time we meet, so you can just come in and get food if you want and hang out with good people.
K: Are there any prerequisites to join God Talk?
BS: No.
DN: Nah.
K: So what would you tell a student who’s thinking on joining God Talk? What would you say to convince him or her to join?
BS: Well, I definitely encourage him/her to come. There’s nothing that they need to do in order to come first. We just like to have anybody who’s willing to come to come because we like to meet new people and we have a lot of food so…
K: Are there any specific themes you guys try to hit on or is anything fair game?
BS: We try to encourage people to ask questions, so every week we have a set of cups out that people can put any needs or requests they have, as well as any questions. We’ll try and answer those questions, and if we can’t answer them on the spot, we’ll research them or get someone who can answer those questions. We encourage curiosity in questions.
K: Is there any upward mobility in the club? Are there any other executive positions dedicated to researching the aforementioned unknown questions?
BS: We have a leadership team that consists of 8 people currently. We just actually introduced four new members, three freshmen and one sophomore, into that team. And what we’ll do is speak at God Talk sometimes and organize the discussion. Other times we’ll invite normal God Talk members who, say, have a topic they feel that they want to share, to lead discussion one week.
DN: We even have one of our youth pastors, or a pastor from our churches, come and speak on the tougher topics that some of us might not have much experience on or are just not comfortable with, but want to be addressed and relayed throughout the community by God Talk.
K: What happens to the revenue from events God Talk hosts?
BS: We usually use it to finance other events the following year. Community members help out with costs as well. This year our Second Annual Event had it’s raffle ticket prizes, snacks, and games financed due to generous donations from certain groups and individuals.
K: How frequent are these events?
BS: Well, we have a couple of events towards…
DN: The end of the year. End of the year parties, sort of like mini banquets.
BS: And another one for winter break. This fall we had our first outreach as a club. We went around the neighborhood and raked leaves. So outreaches that help the community are something we will definitely try to continue.
K: Anything else you want to say?
DN: Come to God Talk!