AUDREY REED & MEREDITH RODRIGUEZ
Assistant News Editor & News Assistant
Campus Ministry’s spring retreat had a first: an encore performance.
The retreat was held Jan. 14-18 at The Oaks at Lake Hughes, Calif. It allowed 160 students to set the tone for the semester as well as spend time with friends and participate in worship time.
Dean Barham, campus minister of the Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas, returned to the spring retreat after the impact he made on the students in the spring of 2004, campus minister Linda Truschke said.
Barham was invited back, a first for Campus Ministries, because last time he spoke in 2004 he inspired students the rest of the semester by encouraging them to form small support groups, Truschke said.
“Dean Barham was really good at taking different passages and making them applicable to our lives,” freshman Darnell Brisco said. “He did a good job of connecting everything together to make it an all inclusive story — the New Testament, the Old Testament and your story.”
Barham brought nine college students from his home congregation to the retreat. Truschke said that bringing them was a mark of his integrity because those whom he knew closely could keep him accountable to what he preached to strangers.
Besides Barham’s lessons, students participated in small groups and prayer sessions. Both of these events were new from past retreats.
Instead of concentrating on the speaker’s message, small groups discussed topics that college students face in their own lives: self-image, sexual purity and singleness and pursuing relationships, Truschke said.
“I saw some ways of thought I never encountered before,” freshman Paul Hignight said of an all-male discussion group. They discussed falling short of being like Christ, but still believing that in God’s eyes they are still perfect, he said.
Brisco, who attended the singleness and pursuing dating discussion, said it was structured so that women spoke first about relationships with men.
“It was a good chance to see what girls thought about Pepperdine dating life and all that good stuff,” he said. “ It was good to get an honest response of how girls perceive guys.”
Another break from past retreats was a special time set aside for guided prayer. The entire group met in a dark, candle-lit sanctuary with stations prompting prayer about confession, healing and family, to name a few. People could move around to different stations for an hour.
“It was really cool to experience that with friends,” senior and activities team leader Elle Graham said. “It brought us closer together.”
Freshman Abby Hassle said the prayer session was her favorite part of the retreat.
“It was out of the ordinary for me, which is probably why I got a lot out of it,” Hassle said.
But despite the changes, the retreat, as always, allowed people to get to know each other and create a support group for the upcoming semester, Truschke said.
“I think a lot of people developed meaningful relationships over the weekend,” worship intern Matthew Bush said.
Junior Mark Baucum agreed. Although Baucum said he enjoyed the retreat, he said his favorite part of the weekend was the ride there and the ride back because the people he rode with added to the experience, he said.
“It’s good to get to know those people on different terms than school,” he said.
This was part of Truschke’s goal for the weekend.
“It’s my hope that a lot more small groups will come about,” she said. “It was a great retreat. God was at work there.”
01-20-2005