Vines Center reopens its doors; Campus Community commences under new roof

After 11 months of being closed for construction on a new roof, Liberty University’s Vines Center reopened on Wednesday night for the first Campus Community of the semester.

The last event to take place in the building was March 8, 2020, when Liberty’s men’s basketball team defeated Lipscomb in the ASUN Conference Championship.

The new roof replaces the iconic silver geodesic dome, built in 1990, that had exceeded its life expectancy and was in danger of leaking. The new flatter, standing seam metal roof is 30 feet lower than the previous overall height, so the building now complements the architecture of the new adjacent Liberty Arena and other campus structures. Deconstruction on the old dome began in April and work continued throughout the summer and fall.

The new roofing was also designed to significantly improve the acoustics, which was put to the test during Wednesday’s services.

Campus Community, a weekly worship and Bible study service that has become a longstanding tradition at Liberty, is being offered at two separate times — 6 and 8 p.m. — to accommodate more students while adhering to social distancing. Hosted by the Office of Spiritual Development (OSD), Campus Community is the central gathering place for worship and spiritual growth at Liberty. More students and the larger Liberty community are invited to watch the 8 p.m. service, streamed online each week through OSD’s Facebook page. Students were required to order their free tickets beforehand due to limited seating, and masks were mandated for the entirety of both services. (Tickets for each week’s services will become available every Monday.)

The Liberty Worship Collective opened the night’s gatherings before Liberty’s Senior Vice President for Spiritual Development David Nasser thanked the construction crews for their dedication in presenting the university with a beautiful new Vines Center roof. He kicked off the semester’s sermon series, titled “Playlist,” which will take the students on a journey through the Psalms at each Campus Community service.

Nasser reminded students that the book of Psalms showcases all of our emotions, particularly through displaying in detail the roller coaster life of King David.

“The highest mountains and the lowest valleys can all be found within the psalms,” he said.

The sermon series’ title was chosen because the word “psalm” originally means “song.” Nasser focused on giving those in attendance some history of the longest book in the Bible and said that next Wednesday night, Feb. 10, they will begin a deeper dive into studying specific psalms.