(USA) Are You Born Again?: Midwest Encounter Student Fall Retreat 2026
- Oct 05, 2026
- 12 reads
By Lydia Shin
Thank and praise God for pouring out His Holy Spirit on the 2026 Midwest Encounter Student Retreat, with the theme, “Are You Born Again?”
God blessed the gospel presentation based on John 3:16 by Grace; a message on John 3, ”Are you born again?” by Chris Hoffman; a panel discussion on who the Holy Spirit is and how to walk in the Holy Spirit with Dylan Burke, Zach Ninan and moderator Grace Park; and a powerful John 4 message by Pastor Mark Vucekovich.
God blessed the gospel presentation based on John 3:16 by Grace; a message on John 3, ”Are you born again?” by Chris Hoffman; a panel discussion on who the Holy Spirit is and how to walk in the Holy Spirit with Dylan Burke, Zach Ninan and moderator Grace Park; and a powerful John 4 message by Pastor Mark Vucekovich.
God brought 72 students and 29 adults. God blessed the prayer team across campuses to meet every Tuesday for 2 months to pray for every part of the program and, most of all, for 70 students to be born again. God touched each student by the work of the word of God and the Holy Spirit. We thank and praise God!
During the retreat, God raised up prayer servants every hour to pray for each student by name faithfully throughout the retreat. God blessed student group Bible study leaders to prepare wonderful Bible studies, and students wrote and shared testimonies with repentance and faith.
The highlight was the Holy Spirit panel discussion with Dylan, Zach, and Grace P., where we learned about the Holy Spirit, how he moves to bring about re-birth, and works into our lives practically. We heard practical testimonies of how the Holy Spirit works in their lives personally. Then we all signed a covenant to surrender, listen to, and obey God, the Holy Spirit.
On Sunday, God blessed Makayla to share her baptism testimony and baptized her in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through P. Mark Vucekovich.
After the retreat, each attendant is receiving daily post-retreat devotions to help them keep walking in the Spirit and overcome post-retreat blues.
God blessed the unity of Mid-West ministries: Milwaukee, IIT, U of I Urbana-Champaign, Central Illinois, DePaul, COD/Dupage, NEIU, UIC, Indianapolis, Loyola, College of Lake County, Harper, and Washington U. God also blessed us to collect offerings to send to brothers and sisters in Ukraine.
