The pancakes served at the El Roi breakfast lure students in but it is the community they find that keeps them coming back.

“I’ve attended 20 or so breakfasts over the past two years,” Odessa Baltensperger, senior, said. “I like pancakes and Coach Peach is very convincing, but it is also a welcoming community.”

Hosted by Scott Peach, athletic coordinator, and Julie and Craig Morris, parents of senior Nolan Morris and sophomore Ella Morris, El Roi is a free pancake breakfast served at the MAC every other Thursday of the school year. El Roi comes from Genesis 16:13 in which Hagar gives God the name El Roi, meaning the God who Sees.

“The reason for the breakfast is to let the kids know that they’re seen and to give back to them,” Peach said.

During the breakfast, students and coaches share their testimony and invite others to share theirs.

“Students will come up to me and ask to speak or I’ll seek them out,” Peach said. “They usually talk about their story with God and how they found him.”

After being involved in a car accident last year, Baltensperger decided she wanted to share her testimony and spoke at one of the breakfasts this year.

“I had a car accident last year and it was really scary. That experience kind of turned me back to my church,” Baltensperger said. “I talked about about my car accident, I talked about thin places – which are places you feel really close to God, and for me have been Yellowstone and Mo Ranch – and I talked about my boyfriend.”

Everyone is welcome to the breakfast though most of the attendees are student athletes and coaches. Volunteers from the community serve pancakes, sausages, eggs, orange juice and water. Past speakers include seniors Kelvin Goston and Cooper Peach, junior Tristyn Weaver, and most of the coaching staff.

“Lots of my friends go because it’s a good environment,” Baqer Ihbish, sophomore, said. “I feel like there aren’t enough programs in our school that help Christians get together.”

The next El Roi breakfast is Thursday, May 9 from 6:45-7:25 a.m. in the team room of the MAC.

“Not only are the pancakes really good but it is a nice community,” Baltensperger said. “It’s nice to experience it and be in community with other people.”