Event: Lifeway

A 2007 Lifeway study found that 70 percent of young American adults who regularly attended a Protestant church in high school stopped attending upon reaching college age. Unhappy with the trend, Trace Hamiter founded The Oaks Collaborative in 2012, an interdenominational nonprofit that helps college students build faith communities through retreats. When Lifeway repeated the study in 2017, it found similar results, but participant testimonies and The Oaks’ growing footprint—reaching nearly 15,000 freshmen and 7,000 student leaders—suggest that the 2027 findings could be more encouraging. The Oaks Collaborative invites incoming college students, upperclassmen leaders, and local churches and campus ministries to a three-day retreat before the school year begins. Students participate in activities, hear sermons by local pastors, debrief in small groups led by upperclassmen, and connect with campus and community ministries. Since its founding at Auburn University, it has expanded to more than twenty college campuses nationwide, with each retreat bearing a distinct name shaped by a local and biblical vision. After learning about the Oaks Retreat during her Auburn tour, Caitlyn Holmes decided to attend the Arch Retreat as a freshman at the University of Georgia. During her sophomore year, she signed up to be a counselor and saw the retreat double in size. “Our prayer is that it would be impossible for freshmen to not know about it,” Holmes said. Signing up to be a counselor extends beyond a three-day commitment. Counselors are expected to follow up with their small group members throughout the following semester: remembering birthdays, helping with move-in, offering rides to church. This summer will mark Holmes’s third year of involvement. “I am involved in Greek life, and honestly, had I not at first really gotten plugged into ministry, I wouldn’t be surprised if that would have been my biggest commitment,” Holmes said. “I…