The first Set Apart Retreat of Asbury’s 2023-24 school year took place over fall break, from Oct. 11 to 15.
Set Apart Retreats are an annual series of free faith-focused trips offered for freshmen, sophomores, and transfer students. Set Apart is designed to cultivate a Christian worldview and help students think critically about their faith.
The retreat took place at the Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Center in Panama City Beach, Florida, and featured a turnout of 47 students. Speakers for the retreat were Zach Meerkreebs and Helen Musick, both of whom served as speakers for the Fall 2022 Set Apart Retreat.
The retreat features a three day model of faith exploration aimed at giving students tools to live out their faith.
On the first day, students examine the metanarrative of scripture, giving them a solid foundation for their faith walk based in scripture.
“If we don’t know the story of God, we don’t have a framework for our biblical worldview,” Jeannie Banter, Director of the Christian Life project at Asbury, told the Collegian. “Oftentimes we have a piecemeal story of God, and that hinders our theology and the way that we think about who God is.”
The following days aim to put that understanding into practice by examining identity in Christ and how to live through a biblical lens.
“When I know that I’m made in the image of God, it changes the way that I view God, myself, and the way that I interact with other people,” Banter said. “By finding my story in God’s story, I can think ‘what are the lies I believed about my identity?’ We often don’t even know that they’re lies. They just become truths to us.”
Each day of the retreat featured morning and evening speaking sessions, as well as diverse morning faith workshops and evening small groups. Afternoons were composed of free hours, allowing students to enjoy leisure time at the beach.
“We’re at the beach, so you can do a lot of different things,” Banter said.
Afternoons also featured “Front Porch Time,” when two faculty members would be available to answer questions and share stories. Banter also listed sunset worship and seaside painting sessions as available activities.
Registration for future Set Apart Retreats is available at https://www.asbury.edu/life/spiritual-life/set-apart-retreat/.