After six hundred games of ping pong and counting, Wesley Cunningham and Jayneil Latham-Mason consider themselves pretty good friends.
For the two Trinity Anglican Seminary students, the ping pong table became more than a place to blow off steam after class. It became one of the ordinary places where friendship took root. After long lectures, heavy assignments, and the demands of seminary life, all it took was a look between them to say, "Let's go play ping pong."
Those games became a rhythm of friendship, exactly what they needed after a difficult day. "We'll have deep conversations," Jayneil said, "and then it's like, 'Yeah, you're bad at ping pong,' and then we keep playing. It's amazing."
They are not the first at Trinity to take the game seriously. The Rev. Dr. Alf Stanway, Trinity's founding Dean and President, also played ping pong with seminary students, and he played to win.
Meeting in Room 101
Wesley and Jayneil's friendship began during orientation in Room 101, known among some students as "Collett Stadium" after Old Testament professor the Rev. Dr. Don Collett. They sat on the left side of the room with other new students, both apprehensive and wondering whether they would find people at Trinity who felt like "their people."
Wesley had come to Trinity from Tennessee, grateful for the Anglican communities that had formed him but unsure whether he would find friends who shared his interests. Then he met Jayneil, who also loved sports, competition, and the kind of ordinary conversation that does not always have to begin with a theological insight.
Jayneil felt something similar. He wondered whether he would be able to relate to people who seemed so academically serious, professionally established, and already formed by years of ministry and family life. Wesley gave him someone he could talk to freely. "I don't have to put on my best self," Jayneil said. "If I'm distraught after a theology class, we can talk about basketball or working out or something random like that. It's very low pressure."
Hebrew was bonding
That low-pressure friendship grew into a deep one. Some of it was forged in the shared struggle of seminary itself: long papers, Hebrew and Greek, finals week, and the humbling realization that theological education is both enriching and hard. Jayneil remembers sitting in the library during their first finals week, staring down a major paper and feeling completely overwhelmed. Somewhere in the stress and exhaustion, he and Wesley ended up laughing until they were crying.
"Hebrew was bonding," Wesley said. "After our first semester, it was two peas in a pod."
Their friendship has also become a place of trust, prayer, and encouragement. Wesley described Jayneil as "somebody who is home for me," someone he can talk to about anything without pretense. Jayneil said he has told Wesley things he has told almost no one else. When he needs prayer, he knows he can be honest.
Laughter in evening prayer
One of Wesley's favorite memories happened in the chapel. During finals week, Wesley, Jayneil, and another student gathered to pray Evening Prayer together. Somewhere in the Psalms, someone made a mistake. Then another, and another. Soon Wesley and Jayneil were laughing so hard they could barely continue.
What might have felt irreverent became a moment of grace. Their friend eventually joined in the laughter and thanked them for letting him be part of it.
At Trinity, students are shaped through rigorous academics, Morning and Evening Prayer, Wednesday Eucharist, and the shared life of Christian community. Formation also happens in the library during finals week, across a ping pong table, and when one friend asks another, "Can you pray for me?"
Romans 12:15 calls Christians to "rejoice with those who rejoice" and "weep with those who weep." Wesley and Jayneil have found that Christian friendship does both, in the middle of writing papers, eating meals, sitting in class, and playing ping pong.
Friends for the ministry ahead
As Jayneil prepares to graduate and Wesley continues his studies, both believe their friendship will be a gift for the years ahead. In ministry, they know they will need trusted friends who understand the calling, the pressures, and the weight of pastoral work.
"I can go to Wesley," Jayneil said, "and not have to worry." Wesley said the same of Jayneil. He is someone Wesley can call, who will give him an honest answer, and with whom he can "find the wisdom of the Lord."
This story first appeared in the Fall/Winter 2026 issue of Seed & Harvest.
