How a Summer at Elevate Prepares You to Reach Your Campus
By Hannah Lewandowski
God commands His people to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But how are we to make disciples if we are not one ourselves? How can we reach the lost if we are lost too? God promises to give us exactly what we need, and whether we believe we need more or not, ultimately we need Him; we need the Holy Spirit to dwell inside us. The power of God at work in us can overcome areas of lack, but knowing what is true and how to communicate that to others is immensely valuable.
Since 2013, Resonate Church has been facilitating a summer project called Elevate, where college students gather to learn how to be a disciple of Christ and make disciples of their own while intentionally immersed in Christian community. Over the years, the San Diego summertime experience has taken different forms, originally starting as a ten-week program and now a fast-tracked, yet highly potent five-week project. Students are poured into by their leader, staff team, and pastors while being deeply encouraged and challenged. Elevate is designed to create lifelong followers of Jesus who actively work to fulfill the Great Commission. There is no hiding yourself or your sin in places like this, making them transformative in the best way. If you leave loving Jesus more than you did when you arrived and are equipped to reach the lost, then it’s safe to say that it was a job well done.
Making disciples of Jesus is something that Resonate Church takes seriously and is at the very core of our church’s mission. From the very beginning, we have been all about reaching the lost. Still, within the last year or so, a new strategy has been implemented to maximize the net cast across each of our campuses with the hope of connecting as many students as possible to the life-changing news of the gospel. This strategy is referred to as “In the Harvest Time”, referring to Luke 10, where Jesus says “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you… “, our God promises a plentiful harvest, but first we must go, we must show up. During this time, those reached by the laborers hear the gospel, often for the first time, are connected to a local church, and have the opportunity to have their eternity changed forever.
Before “In the Harvest” time, there wasn’t an anticipated or structured time for each church in the Collective to intentionally pursue the campus together. To invite more people into the harvest, in the fall of 2024, each of the churches within the Resonate Collective began to consistently go onto their campuses at the same time throughout the nation, giving those who couldn’t join specific moments of prayer, connecting them through this shared effort. It had been normal to rush the campus, meeting people left and right, around the first few weeks of a new school year, but through this structured time, meeting students and sharing the gospel became the weekly norm year-round.
“How can anybody draw near to Jesus, be satisfied by Him, and not want others to know the same Savior?”
The people at the forefront of this movement, aside from campus staff members, appeared to be distinct students who had attended Elevate San Diego a few months prior. Leading the charge and setting the pace were the sophomores, the 19 and 20-year-olds, freshly poured into, equipped, and deeply convicted. A summer spent fast-tracking their capacity and competency proved to be highly effective. Those who had been equipped to reach the lost before being on campus during Week of Welcome found it to be second nature to pursue their peers. Simultaneously, the other students were encouraged to do the same, being filled with courage and boldness by the Lord as they learned how to reach the lost. Something about spending five weeks pursuing Jesus intentionally changed the students from this past summer at Elevate internally, so much so that they couldn’t help but share about the One who changed their lives to anyone who would listen.
One of the biggest hurdles students have to overcome when sharing the gospel with a stranger is fear; the fear of what this person will think, the fear of not knowing what to say or how this person will respond, the fear of messing up or miscommunicating something. Elevate works to mitigate this deeply rooted fear through repetitively addressing strangers to the point where it is normative, but also equipping students with the words, the approach, and the prayer that fuels them. Attending Elevate is not essential to being equipped to reach the lost effectively, but it sure does help progress young leaders through an immersive experience. Directors of the summer project, Jacob and Ellie, share that students sharing the gospel in San Diego over multiple weeks realize “it’s okay to be rejected”, and upon realizing a “no” doesn’t change who they are or they’re value as a human, they find it’s much easier to push on.
Through teachings, sermons, conversations, and other content, the outstanding “lostness” of people throughout the world, especially in our cities, becomes apparent to students engrossed in Elevate. The aim of some of the content directs students' eyes to the mission field before them, increasing their awareness of those who need Jesus just as much as they do. Part of being a disciple of Christ is knowing His heart for the lost and growing in your desire to put your fleshly desires aside to obey the calling of reaching them found in Matthew 28. Ellie shares, “sanctification and transformation increase our desire to reach the lost.” How can anybody draw near to Jesus, be satisfied by Him, and not want others to know the same Savior?
The fruit of sharing the gospel boldly and intentionally has been evident from the beginning of Elevate in 2014 to the start of “In the Harvest” time in 2024. People are waiting to hear good news; who are we to pridefully and fearfully hold it back from them? There are countless stories of people in San Diego being saved from those at Elevate pursuing them alongside Christ, as well as throughout the campuses where Resonate churches reside. Eleven people have come from death to life in the last 10 months as a result of being reached during harvest time. Eleven eternities changed forever. How much more can our God do if we take the time to be equipped and to live sent, just as we are called to? We must be disciples of Christ, making disciples of all nations.
Join us, the Resonate Collective, in praying for the 74 students attending Elevate San Diego this next week and throughout the end of July. Pray they would be equipped and courageous to share the gospel with strangers. Pray they would feel a personal conviction to reach the lost no matter the cost. Pray that people throughout the world would come from death to life as a result of those equipped in San Diego this summer. Find updates on our God at work through our social media platforms.
