You will see Gabe Espiritu, a baseball player, musician and student chaplain, with his guitar on stage singing at Wednesday night Worship. He comes to Chowan University from Gloucester, VA. Emory Chopp, an alumnus and coach for Espiritu’s high school travel ball team, encouraged him to look into his alma mater, Chowan University. When attending SOAR, Gabe was ecstatic to learn that Chowan University was a Christian college, with a strong spiritual foundation. Coming from a faith based background, he embraced the opportunity to have Christianity and baseball with him daily. Chowan’s values of faith, family and future walk alongside Gabe’s strong sense of a good life.

Espiritu’s father is a musician for the Cornerstone Fellowship church, and taught him to play the piano. The guitar was a miracle of COVID, where Espiritu dusted off an old instrument he found in the closet.  When returning to Chowan, Brayden Conboy asked him to join a band, leading to his performing on Wednesday Night Worship. 

Espiritu’s Dad, Mom and Grandparents have taught him of service, hard work and faith in God and Chowan is expanding his spiritual ideology as it reaches into the hearts of those he serves. Espiritu joined Campus Ministry as a freshman where upperclassmen chaplains Brayden Conboy and Patrick Krack, became Chowanian big brothers, showing Gabe “how to be men who were in the ministry while adjusting to college life.” They also shared a common passion for music (Brayden) and baseball (Patrick). 

Espiritu says of this new era of worship, “I have always loved the ministry, but new things are good. Jason Fowler and I have similar views, as do the other student chaplains. Everything has more energy. Worship is joyful. It’s hard not to smile and be excited about being there.” This clearly shows as attendance at Wednesday night Worship services sometimes reaches 100. 

“Gabe Espiritu has been a gift to me as I have begun leading our student ministry at Chowan. His leadership on stage with our Worship Team has been invaluable and his heart for his fellow students on his team, and on our campus, has been an amazing reminder, to all of us, that loving others is our first priority. He has leaned into God’s calling on his life and continues to impress me with his ever-increasing ability to encourage those around him and trust God with his future” (Jason Fowler, Interim Campus Minister).