33 An anonymous donor provided all Bethel students the chance to attend a 24-hour Ignition Retreat for free this past weekend. Sixty-two students and staff accepted the offer and went to Life Action Camp in Buchanan, Mich. for the event. Dave Warn from Collegiate Impact and Matt Bennett, founder of Christian Union, led the sessions for the retreat. They emphasized living a lifestyle where Christians expect breakthroughs of God’s presence and power in daily life and circumstances that produce change. Bennett discussed seven different principles that aid us in seeking after God and the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. These include: humility and fasting, frequent and fervent prayer, intensive knowledge of the Scriptures, repentance, ongoing obedience to God, perseverance and the gathering of people together to seek God. “I’m going to quote Dave when he said, ‘We’ve built the alter, we’ve laid the wood, let God send fire to ignite them’,” said freshman Jacob Busscher. “I can’t do it by myself; it’s God doing the work through us to create breakthrough.” Bennett stressed the practice of frequent prayer and perseverance, saying that an hour and a half to three hours of prayer a day should be the norm in people’s lives. He based this amount of time on the historical accounts of Old Testament practices of the Israelites and the discipline of the disciples. “We did a similar retreat with staff and faculty last year,” said Student Life Director Julie Beam. “One of our main intents for this retreat was to pray for revival for Bethel and such a variety of students came who have a common desire to grow deeper [spiritually] and have a desire to see the campus grow deeper too.” Activities outside of the sessions included ping pong and foosball in the game room, a campfire with smores, and a photo scavenger hunt. “Getting to know other Bethel students on a more intimate and deeper level and bonding together in a Christian atmosphere,” was one of Junior Stephanie Schmidt’s favorite parts of the retreat. Freshman Sonya LaVerdure said she wished she could have had a chance to get to know more people, but felt the conference was beneficial. One of the last questions Warn asked the students was, “Are there things that have been blocking the streams of living water in your life?” Well, are there?
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