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Organizing Religious Life at Duke

Christy Lohr Sapp works behind-the scenes with student ministry, off-campus groups

Christy Lohr Sapp, on right, joins other Duke Religious Life staff members during a Habitat for Humanity volunteer day. Photo courtesy of Christy Lohr Sapp.
Christy Lohr Sapp, on right, joins other Duke Religious Life staff members during a Habitat for Humanity volunteer day. Photo courtesy of Christy Lohr Sapp.

Name: Christy Lohr SappPosition: associate dean for religious life, Duke Chapel Years at Duke: 5What I do at Duke: I oversee Religious Life at Duke, which means I act as the liaison between just over two dozen Religious Life groups and campus. Most of the groups don’t have any affiliation with Duke other than through Religious Life. I oversee about three dozen staff people, from the Catholic priest on campus to the Lutheran campus ministry. I also oversee the chapel student ministry. I teach in the undergrad religious studies department in the (Duke) Divinity School, generally one course a semester (This semester, her class is Theology from the Margins). I help build relationships with our partners in Campus Life (in Student Affairs). I also am on the ministry staff here at the chapel, so Sunday responsibilities include attending worship services. My first ever job: I worked at a movie theater. I still remember all of the selections of sodas that we had: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Cherry, Mello Yello. My dream job: Running a retreat and conference center that focused on interreligious engagement but also allowed me to dabble in cooking and get certified as a yoga instructor. If someone wanted to start a conversation with me they should ask me about: Religious understanding and religious identity. The ways in which we find meaning and purpose and a sense of the mysterious in our lives intrigues me. The best advice I ever received: “This too shall pass.” It’s true, no matter what you’re going through. It’s also important for me to remember that during the happy moments as well, just to remind myself to enjoy them. What I love about Duke: Duke is willing to explore diversity and what it means to be hospitable to diversity in some really interesting ways that I enjoy. It makes my work really relevant here where it would be harder to do in a public school. It’s one of the few universities that have such a robust and accommodating religious life organism. When I’m not at work, I like to: Spend time with my family. I inherited this from my parents: Sunday night is pizza night, and we do it all from scratch. The kids are getting to an age where they really enjoy helping. I give them a little bit of pizza dough that they can flatten out and mess up. Something most people don’t know about me: I know all of the words to all of the songs in both “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “White Christmas.” An interesting/memorable day at work for me: On Easter Sunday, we pull out all the stops for worship. In the chapel, we have brass music on that day and the choir’s there and the songs are amazing, and to sit up in the chancel at one of these big worship events where literally the furniture is shaking because of the organ playing and because of the brass music blowing over you, it’s such a beautiful and inspiring place to be. A book I like: The Mary Russell series. Mary Russell is a female contemporary companion of Sherlock Holmes. It’s like the girl-power Sherlock Holmes. She’s a student of Hebrew scripture, so it also weaves in some religious facts throughout it. A pet peeve: Bad grammar gets me. Hypocrisy gets me. Not recycling gets me.