Spiritual seekers who are not interested in attending a regular church service may want to check out The Hangover, an event hosted by Lion City, a new Christian RSO on campus. 

Originally founded in 2012 Lion City started making their presence known during welcome week, said Ryan Melson, alumnus and founder.

“We spent a year learning what we could about what an RSO was, and helping with things like moving in,” Melson said.

The location of the Hangover event, Wesleyan Hall, was chosen because of the neutral territory to remove the stigma of a traditional church removing all barriers. The Hangover is what members of Lion City call a Sunday alternative for spiritual seekers, Melson said. 

Lion City President Annemarie Stanfield said she defines a spiritual seeker is anyone looking for what they believe.

“In college you’re getting out from under your parents beliefs and figuring out what you believe,” Stanfield said.

The goal of Lion City is to be for the community that has had a bad experience in church or religion. Lion City comes from a biblical background, but when coming to Lion City people don’t have to worry about being judged from their background, Stanfield said.

Janet McMullen, the organization’s adviser, said she believes in the positive impact they are trying to have on students.

“Anytime we can have a student organization that is trying to have a positive impact and support the student body, that’s a good thing,” McMullen said.

The organization offers opportunities for spiritual seekers of all religious backgrounds to come and sit in during The Hangover  Melson said.

“We have a question session people can text us questions at the end of the night and I try to answer them best I can,” said Melson.

The RSO also has a hospitality team who look welcome people each week and assure them of The Hangover’s safe environment. The organization desires to welcome both students and people around the Florence community, Melson said.

“As soon as I walked into Wesleyan there was an older lady who gave me a hug real tight, it was very welcoming,” said Daniel Crooks UNA junior.

Crooks was impressed Melson’s humble demeanor and willingness to be genuine with students, he said.

“He was teaching from the book of Mark and talked about Jesus, and how people feel God is this powerful being who strikes you down with ever sin, but he’s not, he (Melson) broke it down from religion to real,” said Crooks.

Lion City has life groups for people who are interested in continuing to investigate their faith, Melson said. One example of their methods is a faith and doubt interview where people might have questions and they can learn about the people and where they come from.

“People can find family outside of family,” Melson said. 

For more information about Lion City students can visit their website at lioncitylh.com or visit Wesleyan Hall at 6 p.m. on Sundays.