Searching for Faith
An event shrouded in mystery is taking place this summer at the St. John’s Center in Little Rock. No attendees have known what adventures they were about to embark on. No one knew that this event would change their lives forever.
This event is Search, a retreat that is entirely peer-led. Search #152 is the next opportunity to attend and will be on the weekend of June 23-25, 2023. This event has been going for 54 years, with 151 sessions. Many students here have attended Search in the past and will serve as Search team members.
Sophomore Zach Ellis attended Search #151 and applied to be on Search team for Search #152. Ellis’s family introduced him to Search. He said, “It was something that all of my siblings went to, and they came back with fire for Christ. They came back and were not allowed to tell me anything about it. [My parents] wanted me to go and experience it for myself. I saw how much it affected the people around me, so I knew I had to go.”
Junior Luke Parker had a different experience, however. He never thought about Search until his youth minister mentioned it one day. Parker said, “I just thought ‘You know what? I’ll go.’”
Ellis received a lot from going to Search, but his biggest takeaway was prayer. “I think the power of prayer [stayed with me],” Ellis said. “During a time of reverence, a lot of people started crying. I didn’t really know what to do, but I went over and started praying over them. That power of prayer really sticks with you. It gives you more of a reverence for prayer. It makes you want to pray more. That connection with God and the people around you through that medium of prayer was huge.”
Parker attended Search #150. His biggest impression came from the discussions. “I really liked listening to the talks,” he said. “What they had to say really helped me look into myself. The discussions afterward were really nice.”
Ellis also enjoyed being away from society. He said, “The people that go to Search are mostly on fire for Christ. Being able to be in that space is unworldly. It is supernatural. You don’t have those worries. You don’t think of anything outside of Search or that moment. It is just you and the Lord, and I search for those moments a lot.”
Ellis thinks that anyone on the fence about going to Search should go. “It’s one weekend, one weekend that could change your life. You’d be choosing to give up one weekend that you’d probably end up just wasting goofing anyways. It’s an amazing opportunity that you should seize while you can. No one that I have ever talked to about Search has regretted it; every single one loved it. Even people who were forced to go loved it and were glad that they went. So take the opportunity if you can because you won’t regret it.”
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