Discovering Faith Through Community at Chi Alpha’s Fall Retreat
In late October, I had the privilege of attending a Fall Retreat with PennWest Edinboro’s Chi Alpha. Chi Alpha ministries can be found at colleges across the United States. Other branches of Chi Alpha, including chapters from Mercyhurst, Gannon, and Penn State Behrend, were also at the Fall Retreat. I went on this retreat in hopes to learn more about Jesus and to deepen my faith. It also served as a much-needed reset after what had been a very stressful semester.
Not only did my relationship with God get deeper, but I was able to build connections with students from these other campuses. During the retreat, I kept notes of my experiences and the lessons that I learned. In a series of four articles breaking down the weekend’s events, I will share what a relationship with God looks like.
My goal is to offer personal reflections with people who are exploring the Christian faith or are interesting in understanding Christian perspectives. Hopefully, readers can relate to the lessons I learned and find them useful in their own experiences.
My first article explains why having a supportive and loving community around me was essential in my faith journey.
Lesson 1: The Importance of Community
After a long chaotic journey, we finally made it to the campsite in Seneca Hills, PA campsite. I wanted to leave at 6:30 p.m., right after practice, but Coach told us we were required to make an appearance at the volleyball game long enough for him to at least get a head count. I didn’t mind at first. I enjoy watching volleyball and I even have friends on the team. The only problem was that this was the one time Coach was late. He didn’t show up until 6:30, the time I was hoping to leave at. That plus cramming four wheelchairs in my tiny car, picking up my teammate Jeremy, and a detour to Wendy’s that took a little longer than it should have. We were three hours behind schedule. I should’ve expected this. That’s how it always works when we travel. But at least we arrived safely.
We got there at around 10 p.m., right as the first service was just ending. I felt kindof bad because the whole camp pushed everything back a half hour just for us and we still missed everything. But it is what it is, I guess. The night’s events kicked off with pizza in the dining hall, a well-deserved treat after a hectic adventure.
After pizza, the missionaries opened the rec center and started a bonfire for us campers to enjoy. Jeremy was quick to make a new friend named Aldo, a missionary from Penn State Behrend. Aldo and Jeremy talked about everything, from music and life to politics and God. It was fun to listen to the talk, a matching of wits, I guess you could call it. Meanwhile, Karai, my roommate and fellow co-captain, Ryan, a sophmore on the team, and I decided to go make friends in the rec center.
When we pushed inside, we saw Elijah, our last teammate on the trip and 5th year senior being the social butterfly he is, talking to a group of people he knew from Boro and some new people he met from the other campuses. We said hi before noticing our close friend Jack and two more guys we knew from Bible Study, Steve and Ola. We played a few games of football but eventually, we switched to basketball. Karai and I played one on one against each other but unfortunately, we only had our everyday chairs, not our basketball chairs, which made scoring a lot harder. Karai somehow managed to beat me, but we still had a lot of fun.
Soon we gathered enough players to play 3 on 3. Four of us were in wheelchairs and each team would have one able-bodied (AB) person. My teammates were Ryan and Jack was our AB. While the other team was Karai, Elijah, and their AB, Ian, a track athlete from Boro who made the game fast paced and competitive. We played three games, and my team ended up losing the series 2-1. Steve and Ola joined in making it a 4-on-4, five game series, but sadly, my team fell short again.
By the time we returned to the cabin, it was almost impossible to find a bunk. Since we showed up so late, we had the last pick for beds. The only ones available were those that were on the top bunk but because of my disability, I wasn’t able to climb up to the top. Thankfully, Ian was still awake, and he offered to move to the top bunk so I could have the bottom one. Even after finally settling in, I still wasn’t able to fall asleep. Maybe it was because I slept in the night before, the cold I was combatting, the excitement of being on the retreat, or a combination of all three. I ended up staying up until 3 am watching YouTube. .
The next day, after breakout sessions, we had Field Day. This was an optional event, so I was very tempted to sleep through it, but I decided to push through it. This was a chance to make new friends and memories that I may not have again. We split into two teams: Edinboro against the other campuses that combined to form Team Erie. Games included tic-tac-toe relays, water balloon tosses, and a “head, shoulders, knees, toes, cup” challenge. I competed in the Coca-Cola can balance challenge and won it for Team Edinboro.
Both teams were also tasked with making a cheer, and while ours was creative and simple, Team Erie’s was loud and elaborate, complete with drum solos and a human tunnel that was hard to compete with. After a tie breaker and two overtimes, Team Erie came out on top. It’s okay, we’ll get 'em next year!
Afterward, some friends, including Jack, and I went back to the rec center for more football and a competitive game of PIG before dinner. That night after church, we gathered around the bonfire and made S’mores as we discussed the day’s events. Eventually, we decided to tap into our inner child and went to the playground to play on the monkey bars.
After a few minutes, we all decided to lie down on the slide and look up at the stars. The sky looked like a perfect painting created by God. This moment turned into a deep conversation about the guilt and shame we felt from living sinful lives. It was almost like God was trying to tell us something because as we were talking, our good friend and Chi Alpha Minister, Jonathan Mendoza came up to us to ask if Jack wanted to get baptized tomorrow during service.
Jack was very hesitant about it, saying he felt unworthy. But Jonathan reminded him that “God doesn’t care how much you’ve sinned. He only cares about your heart and your willingness to accept Him as Savior.”
After a while, Jack began to accept this truth but he requested his baptism to be a private moment with close friends.
He also agreed to being baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is a way Christians see as being spiritually empowered and developing a deeper relationship with God. This experience can unlock spiritual gifts such as a prayer language, a personal and intimate form of communication with God.
Since Karai, Elijah, Jonathan, and I have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, we prayed over Jack in our prayer language. Witnessing Jack’s joy and release from guilt and shame as well as hearing him pray in his prayer language for the first time touched my soul in ways nothing had ever been able to do before.
Even after such a long day, we decided to head to Sheetz for food and milkshakes before bed, laughing and talking about the day and the different ways we saw God move in our lives and the people around us.
On Sunday, we were able to sleep in a little longer - a much-needed rest after two days of not getting enough sleep - before service and water baptisms. Water Baptism in Christianity is a public ritual where a person is immersed in or sprinkled with water. It symbolizes a spiritual transformation and commitment to follow Jesus. That day, 15 students from all four campuses were baptized. It was very touching to witness. As people emerged from the water, the pure joy on their faces and the cheers of the people looking on brought tears to my eyes. Seeing the unconditional love and support among people who barely knew each other really puts into perspective how important it is to surround yourself with a community that only wants to see you grow and be happy.
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