This summer, we held the first annual Sophomore Discipleship Retreat at Sierra Lodge, led by Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang. It's only been a year since we first met these sophomores as wide-eyed frosh, and many of them didn't really know each other very well either. The first night we played some games, including a rousing competition of King Kong Shower -- and I must mention that the girls handily triumphed over the guys. Over the next couple of days, we had times of sharing stories about ourselves, hearing inspiring messages together, doing some work around Sierra Lodge, hearing Pastor Ed and Kelly’s sharing and advice about different topics, playing at the lake, kayaking, and hiking. One night, we watched a video of Tony Campolo’s Carpe Diem message, and I was so stirred once again by the truth he spoke and his passion. I was inspired once again not to sell out to the small dreams of materialistic comfort, and to live out with passion our God-given visions. I was so thankful that the sophomores got to have this time to set the tone before their soph year, when everything gets tougher – personal relationships, spiritual life, school.
After the video, Pastor Ed and Kelly asked the students to write down what they would like to do in their lives for God with a group of like-minded friends. As the students were writing, I thought about my own visions I’ve had for my life. In many ways, I realize, I am living out the dreams I’ve had for my life. I usually don’t think about my life in this way, and am generally more focused on things that I lack. But sitting there with the students, it was easy to think back to how I felt at their age and it gave me a different perspective on my life. I was reminded how it was so daring for me to even think that I and my friends could live the way our leaders lived, that I could indeed forgo the standard dreams of securing a comfortable life for myself, that I could pour my life out to impact other college students at that most exciting time of their lives, when they are just waking up to what the gospel means and how it could be lived out, just as I experienced. I was so thankful that there I was trying to impact these students in the same way that they impacted me, 14 years ago. Though I haven’t done anything grand in my life, I just felt joy to think that my God-given visions had come true in this way. Even the fact that we are foster parents right now, I was reminded that this is way beyond what I ever imagined for myself, until I saw some of my leaders become foster parents, and our church carried the burden together.
As the students were writing out their visions, some of the younger staff and I were talking about their own visions. I was so thankful for how God has transformed their lives. They were reminders to me of God’s faithfulness throughout the years of our ministry. Here they are, having caught on to the heart of our ministry, committed themselves to God, having grown through many struggles -- and who knows how God will use them in the years to come. I was reminded of God’s faithfulness in the lives of those people, and was excited afresh to think there is that same potential in the sophomores for their lives to be transformed by the gospel. Afterwards the sophomores took turns sharing their visions of what they would want to do for God in their lives. I felt that this was a marker of something changing in their midst. As Kelly Kang shared, one of their goals for this retreat was for the students to get to know one other on a deeper level. She said that you can play games together for four years and not really know one other, but she wanted them to have the opportunity to develop their visions, and to find like-minded friends with whom they could dream dreams for God together. I think it will long be remembered as one of those memorable times of their undergrad lives. I was reminded of what a wonder it is that I am here in the midst of this kind of ministry, and felt so thankful to be able to be a part of it.