Last weekend, over 130 students from all three student ministries (Gateway, Naples, and University) gathered together at the Naples campus for WAKE 2020. WAKE is a three-day camp where every year the theme is all about waking up to the reality of who God is and our standing with Him. We began the first night of WAKE as we do every year calling upon the Lord in worship and praise through singing. This year, Naples lead pastor, Jeremiah Taylor taught from Genesis chapter one speaking about the brokenness each one of us feels due to sin. He reminded us that each one of us was created by God and that when we live apart from Him, we deny the created order. We continued conversations in our host homes discussing the weightiness of our sin and its effects. Personally, I was surprised at the level of depth in our student's questions and answers.
My experience with Wake this year was incredibly eye opening. Pastor Jeremiah shared powerful messages which influenced many students. He proclaimed the truth about the reality of our sin and God’s rightful presence in our lives. It made me realize that sin is a daily battle that we have to fight, and we don’t have to fight alone when we have God on our side. My small group and I created life long memories by simply having fun and being vulnerable with one another, which is my favorite part about Wake. At church we played may exciting games that created team bonding and lots of laughter. I wouldn’t have traded this weekend for anything!
-Abby, student
Our host families and their homes were a huge blessing to our students where we could all relax, play games, and goof off in between sessions. On Saturday morning we listened to a pre-recorded message from Matt Cantwell that was all about waking up to God's presence in our lives. Matt shared about what it means to have intimacy with God and experience Him; he asked questions like what it means to be in the presence of God and whether or not we are resting in His presence.
Wake was an amazing event. Pastor Jeremiah plainly yet powerfully taught about the severity and dangers of sin. It inspired me to be more aware and combative towards the sin in my own life. I deeply enjoyed the time I spent with my small group, both in laughter and serious conversation. In addition to the spiritual impact of Wake, I had lots of fun playing games, and hanging out with my small group. It was an incredible weekend, and one I won’t soon forget.
-Silas, student
The rest of the day we were able to participate in all sorts of fun like relay races, escape rooms, and laser tag wars at the church. At our last session on Saturday night, Jeremiah spoke about Waking up to the Gospel. Jeremiah shared how in his own grace story when there was no way, God made a way. He laid out Christ crucified and the offer of salvation and soul satisfaction to every student. Jeremiah ended the night by inviting students to stand if the Lord was working in their life and many stood! This followed by a sweet time of confession and prayer for students. As student leaders, our prayer was to see students respond in faith to the Gospel and to see students further in their relationship with God over the course of only a few days. I believe that the Lord answered those prayers at WAKE 2020!
