Posted: Monday, March 28, 2016 1:30 pm
In December 2015, Northwest University received a grant of $427,345 from the Lilly Endowment Inc. funding a new summer program for high school students known as the Summer Journey program. Dr. Joshua Ziefle is developing what will be known as the Center for Calling and Theological Formation, which the program will operate under. NU is the only Assemblies of God university that has been awarded this grant.
The program places a high emphasis on helping students develop a mature, theological understanding of their calling. Students will have the opportunity to live in the NU dorms for 10 days, engage with mentors and small group leaders, and be taught by many of NU’s professors. While the students will be challenged to think, learn, and grow in these 10 days, they will also take a short journey up to the Cascade Mountains for some recreational fun that embodies the Summer Journey theme.
“I’m excited for the impact this will make on the lives of students and local churches,” Ziefle said, “Students will have an opportunity to make connections between theology and experience… I’m excited to see student leaders rise up who are passionate about the things of God and the work of the Spirit in their life, and have an understanding of what their calling means biblically and theologically.”
2016 will be a planning year for the program, as the logistics are ironed out and set in to place, but high school students will receive invitations to apply to the program throughout this year, and NU will launch the first official Summer Journey program in the summer of 2017.
If NU students are interested in becoming involved, Ziefle said the program may be looking for some mentors to serve as RAs and small group leaders while the students are here. For more information, contact Ziefle at joshua.ziefle@northwestu.edu.
