PREPARE TO LAUNCH EDITIONFALL 2014

• MY MOVE TOELLENSBURG

• MANDATE FORMULTIPLICATION

• THE ELEVATEEXPERIENCE

LAUNCHING RESONATECWU

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO RESONATE

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By: Keith Wieser A little over a year ago I stood on an enormous stage in an enormous room near myhometown. It was summertime in Houston, not a good combination, not a place you really want to be. Yet as the lights were shining and the crowd was listening, I couldn’t believe that I was getting to tell this story to thousands. For a few minutes, time seemed to stand still. The video flickered on the screens and the sound echoed across the convention center, filling it with the story of Resonate Church. Then Jacob and Jessica Dahl stepped up to the microphone and connected the story of the past to the story ofthe future. In that moment, our desires to multiply the ministry of Resonate Church outside the Palouse were made public. For the first time, we stated our intentions to plant a church in Ellensburg at Central Washington University. For all of us on stage that day, when the words echoed across the room, somehow the idea just got real. To be honest I wasn’t so sure it was a great idea the minute I heard it. I had talked about it, prayed about it, and strategized dozens of times. But as I lookedat Jacob and Jessica, our church planting couple, I really didn’t want them to leave. Were we sure about this? Could we send people we loved away? Weren’t there still people who needed Jesus in the Palouse? The answer to all these questions came back to what we really believed about thegreat commission - was it a suggestion or a mandate? The conclusion we came to was truly

bittersweet. The clarity of the command invigo-rated us, the mission alignment gave us purpose, and the strategy gave us hope. Yet at the same time, it meant that there would need to be some heartbreaking gospel goodbyes. We realized that our mission was to expand the Kingdom of God through the planting of churches in college towns in order to push back lostness on these campuses. This is what pointed us to Central Washington University in Ellensburg; this is what caused us to identify, develop, and deploy a team of church planters. However, this is not just about Ellens-burg and Central Washington University, it’s about stirring a passion for the gospel that effects the Palouse as well. Many successful churches can experience mission drift if they aren’t careful to guard against it. The despera-tion for God to move on their behalf is replaced by an expectation that if they simply organize “church events,” people will come. Mission is replaced by maintenance and caring for insiders replaces reaching outsiders. It leads to people becoming consumers instead of missionaries. Resonate isn’t immune to this kind of mission drift. For us, the key is to never take our eyes off the missionary endeavor. It’s the process ofpreparing and planting churches that keeps our entire church from drifting off course. So we say our gospel goodbyes with clear consciences, high hopes, passionate vision, and aching hearts. We know that planting churches isn’t just about the people that go or even the people they go to - it’s about all of us, in it together, because of the mandate to multiply.

LAUNCHINGRESONATE CWU

By: Jacob Dahl On June 1, 2014, Resonate Church held its first gathering on the campus of Central Washington University. That Sunday, 84 college students gathered in the SURC Theater to worship and hear about a vision to reach people for Christ in Ellensburg. The preview service was an incredible capstone to the weeks of hard work our church-planting team put in during the final weeks of school at CWU. 

As soon as school was out at WSU and UI, our team packed our bags and headed west. We landed in Ellensburg the second week in May and immediately got to work. What we experienced was surprisingly difficult: we had absolutely zero momentum. Nobody knew who we were (or what Resonate was), nobody really cared, nobody knew what community meant. The four of us stuck together, prayed a lot, and kept pushing forward. We also had four students from a Texas missions program called Go Now join us in Ellensburg for six weeks to help with the initial launch. We began to develop a weekly rhythm where we would pray, meet people in the dining center, throw a party in the park, and host a Village. Over the course of just four weeks, by the time school ended and summer

break began, we had 40 people experiencing deeper community in Village. This momentum we fought so hard to gain will prove to be huge going into the fall, when Resonate Central launches officially on September 28. Our team is learning that nothing will ever replace the good old hard work of building relationships. If it was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for us. Making friends and cultivating authentic community takes tons of time, energy, and emotion. Church planting also creates a survivalist mentality in you; out of complete necessity and desperation come incredible urgency and effectiveness. You become intentional with every single person and conversation. The gospel being made known is consistently on the forefront of your mind.

This is a timeless truth - this ancient restorative work - one that the early church displayed beautifully some two thousand years ago. It's not complicated; it's just difficult to do. Regardless of location or people group, all humans are desperate for community. Wherev-er you are, whomever you call your neighbor, realize that people are a lot lonelier than you think and that one invitation just might change their lives. 

TOTAL SHAVED ICEGIVEN AWAY

GRANOLA BARS & FLIERS GIVEN AWAY

ATTENDED THE PREVIEW SERVICE

BY THE NUMBERSWeek 1• Village: 10 // BBQ: 15Week 2• Village: 22 // BBQ: 25 Week 3• Village: 28 // BBQ: 35Week 4• Village: 41 // BBQ: 45

By: Shell Goertzen As a kid who grew up half an hour south of Ellensburg and Central Washing-ton University, I hated the idea of both the city and the school. It was too close to home, there weren’t enough majors offered, or I didn’t have any friends going there - my list of reasons went on and on. I saw the university as my last resort school, so when God placed a calling to CWU and Ellensburg on my heart two years ago, every bit of me wanted to say no. To be honest, it took me over six months to even consider the idea of moving to Ellensburg. Why would I transfer my entire life to a different city? I still don’t fully know the reasons. But I think it is because I saw a God who is bigger than mydoubts and insecurities and wants to push me out of my area of comfort, because in my comfort, I lose sight of certain aspects of Him. Already, I’ve been shown again and again of His abundant provision. Maybe God gave me thoughts of Ellensburg so

early because He knew it would take me a long time to agree to it. I know that He works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), and if His purpose for me is in central Washington, then He will work out good things for me here. As I write this, I’m sitting in my apartment in Ellens-burg, where I live with two other girls who moved here from the Palouse to help plant a church. I can’t wait for fall to get here, for students to come, and for life to bloom inthis small valley town. But most of all, I can’t wait to start building new relationships, to share life with people, to share with them the story of a God that loves them more than they can imagine. Sometimes, I still can’t believe that I’m actually here. I’m in Ellensburg, but it’s still summer. School starts at the end of September, so students aren’t around. I’vegot my classes for the fall, but I can’t go to them yet. I’m done preparing and still getting ready. What does it look like for me

to wait? It’s a long transition. It’s like having already bought your tickets for a vacation, but waiting weeks for it to start. It’s sitting in the terminal for a few hours for your plane to arrive. It’s like the Israelites wandering in the desert, knowing that a land flowing with milk and honey is promised and yet to be given to you. It’s like the disciples on theSaturday after the cross, knowing that Sunday is coming. What I want is for people to make friends. I want people to come to Resonategatherings, Villages, and events and meet people, find community and a place to belong. But what I pray for is different. What I pray is that people find Jesus. I pray they see their desperate need for the Savior. I’m not saying that it will be easy - we’re not promised an easy journey now or later; we’re given purpose and we’re given work. But we are also given Jesus, love, redemption, a promise, and hope – all things that I want others to experience in Ellensburg, Washington.

completely different way. My relationship with God started to become paramount over any desire I had to party, seek atten-tion from girls, or pursue a career just for the sake of making money. That’s certainly not to say those things weren’t temptations. More than ever, they were. But God placed such strong community around me that was willing to keep me accountable and offer me encouragement every day. As I went about my new life in Pullman, I would hear people talk every now and then about planting a church in Ellensburg. It was one of those things that always struck me as cool for other people to do, but I never considered it an option for myself and would quickly dismiss any notion that I might transfer schools to be a part of it. November 17th really was just like any other Sunday: I came to campus early in the morning to help set up our equipment in Todd Auditorium, sat through the service, tore down the equipment, went to lunch with some of the setup team, and then hung out for the rest of the day doing homework. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. I sat down in my room to relax before climbing into bed, but for the next hour and a half, I started envisioning what it

would look like for me to be a part of the team that would move to Ellensburg. I finally got to sleep that night, but over the next couple days I just couldn’t shake the thought of transferring to CWU. I didn’t have a “snapping point,” rather the idea slowly developed from “this is some-thing that intrigues me,” to “I’ve never felt called by God to do something before, but I think this is what it feels like.” The vision I had for my college experience was being swiftly shoved away and replaced with a greater vision for the next few years of my life. And - slowly - that started to become ok with me. After all, isn’t that what the great commission is all about? Matthew 28:19 -- “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations [and universities], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” As a follower of Jesus, I desire to make His name known among people who don’t have hope, and I believe that I can do that most effectively among college students. If that requires me to lay down my vision for my life for a much, much greater vision, then bring it on. Am I scared of the challenges this year will bring? You bet. It’s going to be intense. But through it all, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is the right decision for me and for His Kingdom.

By: Jonathan Crabtree I went to my bedroom on the evening of November 17, 2013 with every intention of simply going to sleep like any other night. Instead, I changed, turned off the light, and then...just sat there. For an hour and a half. Just me and my thoughts. That one night radically altered the trajectory of my future, and now I’m transferring from Washington State University to Central Washington University because of it. I came to WSU in the fall of 2013 with the vision that it would provide me with a more memorable college experience than I had been getting from its satellite campus, WSU-Vancouver, over the previous year. The Vancouver campus is a commuter school, which means people drive up there, go to class, and then go home. I yearned for more interaction and close relationships than it could offer me. I felt that, frankly, I was wasting my college years. This prompted my move to Pullman to seek memories, stories, and connections over the next three years. Little did I know that I would certainly get those things, but in a very different way than I expected. I arrived in Pullman last August, and God immediately started working in my heart. He surrounded me with a community of people my age who were on fire for Jesus, and I started viewing my life in a

Everything We Can Giveby Jordan and Shianne Lowe In the month of May 2014, we graduated with our master’s degrees, got married, and movedour lives to Ellensburg. Though God led us separately to find deep community at Resonate Church, He was intent onteaching us the same things about Himself as He aligned our lives to lead to friendship, adating relationship, and eventually marriage. One great struggle for me (Shianne) over the course of my life has been a deep desire toplease others and to find my worth in how they see me. I learned to base my decisions onhow I thought people would expect me to act, rather than seeking God’s will for my life. Itwas in the summer of 2010 that I met Jordan, who went to Resonate and happened to bereally cute, so I quickly became a regular. It was there that God surrounded me withintentional community, and brought to light my misplaced identity. God urged me to trustHim and allow Him to be the basis of my worth, and even still when I am tempted to ignoreHim, He reminds me: my future belongs to Him. I (Jordan) started going to Resonate in 2008, and quickly became involved in weekly setup.However, my identity continued to exist in my schoolwork, and my trust was in my ownabilities. It took me two years to begin to realize that my relationship with God was coldbecause all my actions were for my own self-interest. Through continual discipleship by JacobDahl, I learned that because of what Jesus had done for me, serving Him was worth anythingI could give. As my friendship with Shianne grew into a dating relationship, I was given moreopportunities to care less about my own pursuits, and more for her and the communityaround us. But I still didn't want to trust God with my future, and feared what it might mean togive over control of my plans for a career in architecture. After two dream jobs failed to meetmy expectations, I began to release my own desires and trust God that He would replacethem with His own for His glory. Since then I have found no greater joy than using everything Ican give to see the gospel change lives. A pivotal moment for the two of us occurred when Keith asked the church: What if, instead ofsearching for the best job offer when you graduate, you search for the best missionopportunity? What if you trust God and allow Him to provide for you in whatever fashion?This was absolutely counter-intuitive to the social timeline we had been primed to follow, yet itfelt so much more hopeful than our current direction. So we asked each other - would yoube willing? Tentatively, we both said yes. The day after we were engaged, we asked ourselves these questions again. We had heardabout the plans of a planting a church in Ellensburg, and now preparation was taking placeto do so the following year. It appeared that if we were to trust God in this way, there was nobetter opportunity for us to serve. We prayed for guidance, talked with pastors and friendsand our families, and received an overwhelming yes. We had to let go of our picture of thefuture regarding where and how we would live and where we would work. God urged us totrust Him, reminding us of His promises to provide. Over the months leading up to ourgraduations and our wedding, we each experienced doubt, encouraged each other, andclung to God’s faithfulness, allowing Him to train us toward obedience. God provided a job in Ellensburg and community through the Resonate team already hardat work. We are thankful for how God has orchestrated our lives together, that we should startour marriage in the midst of the beautiful story He has prepared for CWU’s campus, and weknow that we are here with His purpose.

By: Jordan & Shianne Lowe In the month of May 2014, we graduated with our master’s degrees, got married, and movedour lives to Ellensburg. Though God led us separately to find deep community at Resonate Church, He was intent on teaching us the same things about Himself as He aligned our lives to lead to friendship, adating relationship, and eventually marriage. One great struggle for me (Shianne) over the course of my life has been a deep desire to please others and to find my worth in how they see me. I learned to base my decisions onhow I thought people would expect me to act, rather than seeking God’s will for my life. It was in the summer of 2010 that I met Jordan, who went to Resonate and happened to be really cute, so I quickly became a regular. It was there that God surrounded me withintentional community, and brought to light my misplaced identity. God urged me to trust Him and allow Him to be the basis of my worth, and even still when I am tempted to ignore Him, He reminds me: my future belongs to Him. I (Jordan) started going to Resonate in 2008, and quickly became involved in weekly setup. However, my identity continued to exist in my schoolwork, and my trust was in my

yet it felt so much more hopeful than our current direction. So we asked each other - would you be willing? Tentative-ly, we both said yes. The day after we were engaged, we asked ourselves these questions again. We had heard about the plans of a planting a church in Ellensburg, and now preparation was taking place to do so the following year. It appeared that if we were to trust God in this way, there was no better opportunity for us to serve. We prayed for guidance, talked with pastors and friends and our families, and received an overwhelming yes. We had to let go of our picture of the future regarding where and how we would live and where we would work. God urged us totrust Him, reminding us of His promises to provide. Over the months leading up to our graduations and our wedding, we each experienced doubt, encour-aged each other, and clung to God’s faithfulness, allowing Him to train us toward obedience. God provided jobs in Ellens-burg and community through the Resonate team already hard at work. We are thankful for how God has orchestrated our lives together, that we should start our marriage in the midst of the beautiful story He has prepared for CWU’s campus, and we know that we are here with His purpose.

own abilities. It took me two years to begin to realize that my relationship with God was cold because all my actions were for my own self-interest. Through continual discipleship by Jacob Dahl, I learned that because of what Jesus had done for me, serving Him was worth anything I could give. As my friendship with Shianne grew into a dating relationship, I was given more opportunities to care less about my own pursuits, and more for her and the community around us. But I still didn't want to trust God with my future, and feared what it might mean to give over control of my plans for a career in architecture. After two dream jobs failed to meet my expectations, I began to release my own desires and trust God that He would replace them with His own for His glory. Since then I have found no greater joy than using everything I can give to see the gospel change lives. A pivotal moment for the two of us occurred when Keith asked the church: What if, instead of searching for the best job offer when you graduate, you search for the best mission opportunity? What if you trust God and allow Him to provide for you in whatever fashion? This was absolutely counterintuitive to the social timeline we had been primed to follow,

MY FIRST YEAR AS A SITE PASTOR

By: Craig Lovelace Once in a while, God provides His people with a season of life that is both challenging and uplifting, encouraging and humbling. God gave me, my wife, and my team a year like this as Resonate launched its fourth site on campus at the University of Idaho. Over the seven years Resonate has been on the Palouse, UI has continually been a place of spiritual challenge. Knowing this, our team began to pray that the Holy Spirit would move there in ways we had never seen before. We prayed that students would meet Christ, that our team would be united, that God would glorify Himself on our campus and grow the church He loves so dearly. As the year progressed, we saw that what God wanted to do was more challenging and moreincredible than we ever imagined. We saw nearly thirty students come to Christ, twenty baptized, and countless stories of growth in community. At the same time, I couldn’t have prepared for how difficult church planting would be. I’ve experienced moments of tremen-dous grace and joy in the Holy Spirit as well as moments of doubt and struggle when ministry felt overwhelming.Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way:

Nothing can grow the church like the response of the Holy

Spirit to prayer.While it is essential that we plan, there is no substitute for the prayers of people fully devoted to

God, and deep dependence on His power to do the supernatural. What we’re after - life change and the saving of souls - can only be done by the power of Jesus Himself.

There’s no such thing as too much time with Jesus. The demands of life and work (even

work “for Jesus” in the church) can divert your attention and affection from Him in an instant. It takes commitment to pursue what is most important instead of chasing what is most urgent. Devotion to Jesus is the only thing that leads to the empowering of the Spirit you and I so desperately need. Jesus is faithful and His timing is perfect.

Whether it’s a semester of growth preparing you for a semester of blessing, or eight

months of silence for one week of answered prayer that makes all of it worthwhile, Jesus knows what we need when we need it. If we believe we are the church, then we must believe that Jesus loves each of us and gives us what we need so that we can accom-plish the mission He started.

Sometimes, God works on the church before He works through the church. Much of

God’s work last year involved our own refinement rather than to directly grow His church. I believe that Jesus wants to pour out His blessing and power on UI, but first He needed to change me and my team

and prepare us to be used for His glory. I’m so thankful that Jesus has deep-ened our dependence on Him and I am filled with hope for Him to do even more. After all of this, I believe God is just getting started. Not only does He want to change UI but He wants to save and transform college students all over the Northwest. As we pray toward the future, what is happening at UI to prepare our team and prepare our students will have massive implications on Resonate church planting in the years to come. There is a great need in Missoula. 16,000 college students attend the University of Montana andso many of them don’t know Jesus. As the school year begins, pray with us not only for UI to continue growing, but also for a team to form, funding to be provided, and vision to be clarifiedas we ask God when and how we can reach the students at UM.

RESONATEHITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO

By: Josh Martin Do churches have anniversaries or birthdays? I’m not sure. Let me know if you find out. Either way, today is that thing for Resonate Church. We were born on August 19th, 2007. We are seven. Just entering the sensitive social space of 1st grade. The time when they let you play at recess without supervision. Or teach you to count by two’s. Or quit kissing your knee when you scrape it. They just give band-aids now. And blow the whistle when it’s time to come in. It’s fun and frustrating being seven. You don’t know much, but you know some stuff. As a church, we’ve certainly learned some stuff in our seven short years. We’ve had some fun and been frustrated. We’ve lived and grown and tried and failed in what has felt like dog years. In other words, most of us feel forty-nine instead of seven. Our backs hurt. Our hair is falling out, and we’ve gained some weight and wisdom. Whether dog years or regular years, getting wisdom in church planting is costly. Especially when you’re a church like ours. Being a regular church is hard enough, but being a collegiate church is like living in a blue ocean. You look around and don’t see anyone for miles. It’s uncharted, unorganized, and unlikely that you would find someone else doing what you do. Therefore, the few of us that are doing campus plants have to stick together, learn from each other, and use the few years of experience we have

We pray all the time that the third Great Awakening would happen through planting churches on college campuses. Win the campus, win the world, right? But you don’t win the campus without leaders. Hitchhiker’s Guide to Resonate accelerated campus ministry leadership in a powerful way. We hope that it continued to push the pace of campus church planting and gave people courage to go to the next place God is leading them. You guys reading this have helped make this happen. Thank you for helping us push the ball forward. Thanks for helping us take the gospel to 21 million college students. I’ve never been more encouraged and hopeful about the future. Hitchhiker’s woke me up to the potential we have, and it was beautiful. May the Lord receive the glory, and may the church keep pushing forward.

to share best practices and fight off pirates. In light of that, the North American Mission Board hosted an event in the Palouse called Hitchhiker’s Guide to Resonate. On March 28th, eighty-five collegiate ministry leaders from across the U.S. and Canada came to hear our story, look at our practices, and brainstorm and strategize with us. Some would even say learn from us. For three days we emptied our cups. We gave them the good, bad, and ugly of our church-planting process. From general session inspiration to breakout session details, the information flew a mile a minute, with the hope of giving these leaders something to take home. On Saturday morning our Executive Staff gave 8-minute TED talks about the specifics of our ministries. These talks then turned into coaching calls given to people over the next six months. We covered everything from ‘How to Discover, Develop, and Deploy Leaders’ to ‘How to Create an Attractional Worship Gathering’ to ‘How to Break Through Growth and Multiplication Barriers’ to ‘Practical Ways to Resource the Mission.’ Behind all the scheming and strategizing was the feeling of a move-ment. Seven years ago when we started Resonate, there was no one to talk to about collegiate church planting. So, to host eighty-five collegiate-minded ministers in our church was a dream come true and a prayer answered.

By: Chad McMillan We have learned to make it a habit at Resonate to regularly ask God formore: more influence, more gospel opportunities, and more death-to-life stories. This summer, we began to ask God to increase His work in each of these areas, specifically in the community of Pullman. As we asked God to grow our influence in the city, we knew Resonateneeded to serve in a new way. Jesus says a great way to gain favor is to become a servant of all, which for us means serving outside our usual college-student focus. To do this, we decided to serve our communi-ty by partnering with Pullman Parks & Recreation to put on a family-friendly movie each Friday night, all summer long. The Summer Outdoor Movie Series quickly became a weekly highlightacross Pullman. Businesses happily put posters in the windows and in employee break rooms. Some owners even chose to sponsor the events financially or to send email announcements to let their networks know about this community-building opportunity. With nearly 3,000 peopleattending over the span of six weeks, the

movie series became a new Pullman summer staple. Again, our great hope in offering each of these attractions was to gaininfluence in our community. Over seven-ty-five volunteers helped put this mam-moth production on throughout the summer. In addition to showing a movie each week, we set up bounce houses, gave out snow cones, and served popcorn in the hopes of further engaging the families whocame and sharing why Resonate showed a movie each week. Before each movie began, we showed a brief commercial inviting folks to participate in Resonate’s first sermon series specifically focused on the needs of families, entitled Home Builders: Blueprints for a Thriving Family.Throughout the Home Builders series, we tackled common issues that many families face. Whether talking about healthy parenting or how to make love…a verb, whether conflict resolution or how to live happily ever after, our church and those who came because of the movie nightsheard God’s instructions for strengthening families. On Monday nights, we also offered Date Night childcare to parents

Reachingthe City

who wanted to go out for dinner or a cup of coffee and discuss what it was they heard during Sunday’s sermon. Each week we heard stories of how these evenings brought healing to families and marriages. We know God wants to do even more. (Ephesians 3:20) Lastly, and most critically, we are asking God for more death-to-life stories.During the previous school year, seven-ty-three people decided to follow Jesus, with only a couple of those being outside our traditional demographic of college students. We pray for 200 people to come to Christ for the first time this year, with a greater percentage of those being moms and dads, husbands and wives. This summer has created many exciting opportunities for our church, butwe continue to assume an attitude of holy discontent, knowing that God is not finished. Please join us in imploring God for more of His good gifts while we learn to pursue our city.

To watch the Home Builders series, please check out our Vimeo page:vimeo.com/resonatechurch

By: Jane Worsham & Brian Jones The summertime slump is the biggest threat to leadership development in a collegiate church. After a full year of discipleship, faithful service, and consistent community, most students go home for the summer and find themselves backsliding into the same old struggles with the same old friends. They take a "time-out" from pursuing Jesus and laziness quickly becomes lord. By the time they come back to campus in August, whatever growth and progress happened in the spring is often set two steps back. We couldn't just shrug our shoulders at this reality. Enter Elevate, our remedy against the isolated summer experience. This was the second summer we took a group of students down to San Diego for an intense 10-week leadership and discipleship program. Fifty-eight students from Washing-ton State University and the University of Idaho, as well as fourteen Resonate staff members, invaded the shores of southern California for what would inevitably be one of the most unforgettable summers of their lives. Each student lived with a staff member and a small group of their peers and acquired full-time jobs in the area. They learned what it looks like to be a Christian seven days a week: serving local church plants, sharing the gospel with their co-work-ers, embracing tight quarters with their

roommates, and learning a strong work ethic. They learned that being a disciple isn't a part-time job, but requires every part of

been asked, and really connected with a couple of our students. A littleoverwhelmed but excited to have met so many people, he told us he would absolutely be back the next Sunday. Soon, these Sunday visits turned into him dropping by on weeknights with buckets of ice cream. Before long, everyone at Elevate knew Clyde. “You guys are just so different than any other friends I’ve ever had,” he told us.Wanting to know more about who we were, Clyde asked Cameron (one of our students) if he could go to church with us on Sunday morning. This summer we didn’t just attend church, but partnered with local church plants, showing up early to set up each week and engage families in the area. So, each Sunday, Clyde would be with us from morning until night, from setup until ourBBQ’s ended. Wednesday nights were Village nights. One particular Wednesday night on the tail end of our summer, our Villages were diving into the struggles and joys of biblical community. The group of guys I (Brian) was leading thought it would be cool to invite Clyde to our Village to hear about hisperspective of community. He showed up late at night to a room full of people with smile-sore cheeks and achy stomachs from forty-five minutes of laughter and tears; we had just shared story after story about how each of us were adopted by community and captivated by Jesus. “Clyde, what is community to you?” With a smile from ear to ear and watery eyes, he told us, “Before this summer

them. They also learned that they weren’t made to do it alone. There are too many stories of transformation from this summer to tell - transformation that has foundationally changed the lives of our students. Young men and women that were once far from God and had no concept of what leadership looks like are coming back ready to lead and to serve in any capacity they can. But these stories span beyond just our own students. Before we left San Diego, four individuals we met there made decisions to follow Jesus because of the intentional relationship-build-ing and gospel-sharing of our students. One such story is of our dear friend, Clyde. We met Clyde at our first House Party of the summer through one of our students, Marissa, who was baptized just weeks before we left for California. These House Parties, which were essentially huge BBQ’s, happened every Sunday night and were the most connective thing we did all summer. Loud music, games of volleyball and frisbee, burgers and more burgers, ridiculous dance moves, and people everywhere - this is where you wanted to be on Sunday evening in La Jolla: with us. These House Parties gave our students an opportunity to invite their co-workers and people they had met each week to party with the entire Elevate crew. Clyde was living on a military base, working Monday through Friday to exhaus-tion with no consistent friends. That Sunday evening, Clyde met seventy new friends, answered more questions than he had ever

I’ve never had friends or known people like you guys. I feel like for the first time in my life I am experiencing joy and real friendship with people that actually care about me. This has been the most fun season of my life. I’ve never experienced community before but I can’t imagine it being better than this.” We smiled back and told him how thankful we were for his friendship. Damian - who just started following Jesus months before - explained why we are able experience the joy that drives us to love one other: “It’s all because a sinless Savior died the death that we deserved.” After this, we busted out of the hotel and piled into cars, yelling and playing our favorite music as we headed to the beach. The sand and waves must have felt the shift of excitement in the world as we ran into the water. Clyde yelled, “I need to tell you guys something… this night has been the most exhilarating night I’ve ever had.” He pulled Cameron and me to the side as everyone danced out of the water andlooked us intently in the eyes. “I think I need to be baptized,” he said. We grinned. “That’s awesome,” we said. “But this water is only symbolic. It’s a external expression of something that has happened in a person’s heart when they have trusted in Jesus completely and given Him their life.” With understanding eyes Clyde said, “I think I’m ready to do that, how do I do that?” Clyde pulled us in close, explaining that he had never prayed out loud before. He asked God to forgive him for his sin and told Him that he wanted to give his whole life to Jesus. Only two weeks later, we stood in the same sand on La Jolla Shores at our last

being discipled by the pastor there. He told us right before he was baptized that he had the opportunity to lead his friend Rex to Christ just a few days earlier. This is the Story of Elevate, an infectious movement of students doing life together in a hotel for ten weeks. There was not a wasted moment or a pointless activity this summer. Our students were equipped with all of the tools they need for their leadership back on campus, from learning the discipleship language of our church's Huddles to learning how to be intentional at house parties as our primaryway to connect with students who wouldn't typically be inclined to show up at church on Sunday mornings. They understand the truth that we are not called to go to church and be consumers, but that we are the church and it is our joy to serve. They learned about their personality types and their giftings and about how to use what they have for the Kingdom. At the end of the summer, each student was asked to sit before a panel of staff and pastors and give a defense for their faith.They memorized 1 Peter 3:15 and learned how to answer challenging questions about what they believe with confidence, gentle-ness, and respect. These students are coming back to their campuses culture-changers. They reject the typical college mindset of "What's in it for me?" and have learned to ask, "How can I help?" They are the nineteen-year-old shepherds of our church, young and passion-ate and faithful, eager to implement what they’ve learned and make a difference in their classes, their Greek houses, and their dorms, ready to change the campuses they inhabit because of the ways that they themselves have been changed.

House Party. The music was loud, the food smelled amazing, the volleyball was rocking, but this summer evening was different. Two hundred people showed up, more than we had seen all summer. As a huge mass, we migrated down to the water and gathered in as close as we could to watch the beginning of a glorious sunset. Chris Routen (our WSU on-campus site pastor) stood with his back to the painted sky and shared with everyone present why we throw big parties every Sunday. He told our friends our hope for each of them - that they might encounter God and feel the weightof the story that has changed Clyde’s life. Then he shared the story, the explicit gospel. The wind blowing over the grandeur of the ocean behind him carried his voice; it was like a ‘sermon on the mount’ moment. Clyde stepped up next to share the testimony of his broken past, his encounter with real community, and his new love affair with the relentlessly loving Jesus. Three of us ran into the water with Clyde, symbolically buried his old life in the waves through the act of baptism, and ran back out of the water into a crowd of shouting, sign-waving, teary-eyed people in celebration of his newlife in Christ. That night we danced really hard. But what happened after is the story of Resonate Church. You see, when someone really encounters Jesus, a movement happens. That night, our friend Arsenia led her co-worker to Christ while everyone else was snapping photos of the sunset. The next night another co-worker showed up at the hotel wanting to talk to our friend Meryn about the story she heard on the beach thenight before. She gave her life to Jesus too. Clyde is now connected to one of the local churches that we served, and is

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