Surge retreat encourages personal growth and discipleship

Over Valentine’s Day weekend, 178 students met in Prescott for Christian Challenge’s annual discipleship retreat, Surge. Main speaker Andrew Marchbanks, executive pastor of First Southern Baptist Church at Sahuaro Ranch in Glendale, focused his messages on hope and on how suffering and testing leads to endurance, faith and a closer relationship with Jesus.

For both students and leaders, spending time with other Christians at Surge and hearing these themes not only changed their own walk with Christ but impacted the way they connected with each other and set the groundwork for discipleship.

Trevor Bush

There are three purposes of Surge, said Trevor Bush, Christian Challenge regional catalyst. The first is to bring students from different campuses together, so they can worship with and be part of a bigger family of believers.

The second purpose is to create an environment where students can build camaraderie outside of their “home”‘ campuses.

But Surge’s ultimate goal, he said, is to provide a place with Biblical teaching that can be a spark for starting discipleship relationships.

“The real discipleship happens on the campus, at the churches, with the missionaries, but we’re hoping that Surge is a catalyst event for further discipleship,” Bush said. “Maybe someone who isn’t being discipled will come and God will really move in their heart.”

Bush said he has especially seen this transformation in students who attend Surge and later become campus missionaries.

Derek Kregler

Derek Kregler graduated from Grand Canyon University four years ago and has worked with Christian Challenge for almost three years. He has been discipled over the years by different people as a young adult student, a youth intern, as a youth and young adult pastor, and now as a staff member for Challenge.

Being with students at Surge for longer periods of time and in a more relaxed setting can help them grow closer, Kregler said. This year, he said, he talked with some of the students he is discipling about how Surge’s main themes of suffering, faith and hope are relevant to what is going on in their lives right now.

“If people either aren’t getting discipled or aren’t discipling somebody, they’re missing out on a lot of growth and opportunity,” he said. “Jesus called us (to) go and make disciples of all nations. That doesn’t mean we just share the gospel with them. It means we also walk through life and help them to grow.”

Mollie Berig

Mollie Berig, a sophomore at Northern Arizona University, attended Surge for the first time this year. She had started discipling another girl in her campus Challenge group just three weeks prior.

Berig’s disciple was not able to attend Surge. Still, Berig said this year’s message could connect to their discipleship relationship.

“I like how [Marchbanks] said the world isn’t perfect, and everyone suffers, no matter if you’re walking with Christ or without Christ, and that it’s obviously better to walk with Christ, because you’re able to handle that suffering better,” Berig said. “It makes a big deal about trusting in the Lord.”

Skyler Cook

According to Skyler Cook, a Christian Challenge leader on the Downtown ASU campus, Surge is a place where students can build relationships with others outside of their immediate communities, but also a place where connections can grow into discipleship relationships.

Cook has discipled most of the boys who are student leaders on the Downtown ASU campus for the past two or three years.

“It’s fun watching [my disciples], coming into year three, being able to spread their wings and teach others what the Lord has taught them,” he said. “And Surge is a great place to be able to witness that.”

Chandler Plante

Chandler Plante, a graduate student on the ASU Downtown campus, has been discipled by Cook for about two years. He was at Surge for his third time.

Plante also started discipling another student two weeks prior to Surge. He said both relationships have taught him that discipleships progress over time and that everybody’s journey with the Lord will look different.

“Surge [shows] that discipleship relationships are meant to be on all different levels, because we’re all in different spots in our faith,” Plante said. “It’s really neat to witness everybody knowing that they’re part of the kingdom of God, with the aspiration to hope and witness them being in a healthy and growing discipleship relationship.”

Pippa Fung is a student at Arizona State University Downtown Phoenix and participates in Christian Challenge there.