This past week, 3 staff and 12 students from Bethel went on a spring break trip to South Carolina. Two months ago we were praying that God would bring 4 freshmen girls and 4 freshmen guys on our spring break trip. God answered our prayer with a "yes" and he brought 5 freshmen girls and 4 freshmen guys. This was really exciting for us as we wanted to have extended time to relationally connect with underclassmen.
Our main focus for the trip was to relationally connect with students and to engage students hearts about who Jesus is for them. Both of these happened! To the first point, our group had a ton of fun! Since the weather was in the 70s and 80s almost the entire trip we soaked up a lot of sun on the beach. We played a lot of volleyball and basketball outside. We went to some fun restaurants and we even grilled out at our hotel. Going into the trip not everyone knew each other and by the end of the trip the group was already planning on when we would hang out next back on campus. To the second point, as a group we went through three of Jesus "I am" statements in the book of John; Jesus as the good Shepherd, Jesus as the light of the world and Jesus as the bread of life. In the morning we read the bible with a partner and then one of the staff gave a devotional on the verses we read for that morning. This led us to go deeper spiritually with the students. It brought good conversation that we had on the trip and that we are continuing to have back on campus. Our hope and prayer is that these students would move closer to the cross to see their need for Jesus, whether that's the for first time or for their continued sanctification in Christ.
Looking back on the trip, we had a ton of fun and thought the trip went really well! Almost all of the students that went on the trip are considering coming to our Summer Training Project. If half of the students that came on our spring break trip came to the Summer Training Project we would be so excited. Please pray that the relationships we established on the trip would continue and that Jesus would be glorified in them.
Lucas Cecka
Campus Outreach Minneapolis
Bethel Staff