Immerse

Every summer our church network puts on a summer program called Immerse. It is led by Randy Beckett, a leader on our apostolic team. Immerse is geared towards young adults – college students and post college – who are trying to figure out what course to set their lives on.

The program uses several integrated pieces to help young adults learn biblical principles, put the principles into practice, and use them to plan for their future. Three courses – Acts, and Pauline Epistles, and Life(n) – are key to the student’s learning.

Acts teaches them about the importance of the local church and how churches should be established and multiplied. Then, Pauline Epistles dives into what the role of local churches is and how God wants each one to be ordered. The principles learned in these two courses feed into the central course, Life(n), which helps students to think about their unique gifting and about how to live their lives to their maximum potential.

As they are going through the courses, each student is actively involved in the ministry of one our churches, allowing them to see what they are learning lived out. Each student also has two mentors outside of class who are there to hold students accountable and push them into deeper thinking.

Kari Gruver joined Immerse this summer from Hickory, North Carolina. She has been part of The Journey of Catawba Countyfor the past year, one of our partner CityChurch networks. Describing why she came to do Immerse, Kari says “I came to Immerse because I desired to fully understand my purpose within the church through studying what I’m gifted at, looking at my circle of influence, and understanding the basic commands Christ gave to all his followers. I know that the only way my life can be best used for His glory is if I understand who I am, what I’m supposed to be doing, and design a plan in order for me to do it!”

The group this year is already three weeks into Immerse. Randy says that this summer’s group is very motivated and asks for our prayer for a fruitful summer. He also asks all of our churches to check in with the students from time to time and talk with them about what they are learning.

Pictured above from left to right: Matthew Shuka, Kari Gruver, Randy Beckett, Lissa Burns, Jennifer Berg, Jeba Jesudoss, and Janae Smith