All the donations and proceeds from the auction will go a long way in helping us provide next summer’s discipleship experience: the Community Live-In 2026!

This discipleship trip is one we’ve done before and is a part of our three-year rotation of summer experiences for high school: one year, we go to our denominations high school conference called “Unite” (formerly known as CHIC). Another year, we go on a Missions based trip, like our Alaska Mission Trip last summer. This summer is reserved for a discipleship trip that centers around building community and living into our faith through relationships and action together. And for those that haven’t heard much about these trips, here is a bit of history, followed by information on the trip we are planning for 2026:

The original idea was hatched in 2013 while I was serving as the Youth Pastor at the Covenant Church in Princeton, Illinois. At the time, we were all too aware that the amount of time we had to walk alongside students as they grow in their faith was limited to the hour or two we had per week. So after brainstorming ideas on how we might be able to do this better with a few other youth pastor friends, we hatched an idea for an experience that would have students live together in Christian community for a week. Each day, we could create a rhythm of bible study, prayer, and service, mixed with times of fun relationship building… and through that, we could practice what we preach in ways that we can’t do in that limited hour or two we get each week.

We called the week-long discipleship experience a “Community Live-In”, as they were simply coming to live together in Christian community and see how God transforms us through the time we spent living, serving, and having fun together! The students lived at the church, engaged in daily devotions and prayer times, served one another in groups that took care of cleaning, cooking, etc, and played games together for an entire week. The result was almost tangible, as it drew us all together in ways that were only possible because of the time invested together.

In 2021, I revisited this idea with my youth group at Valley Covenant Church, and again during my first summer here in 2023 and 2024 (because we could not attend Unite that year). Instead of staying locally, we turned it into a trip and lived in a rental home somewhere else while partnering with local churches and community service-based non-profits. Each time, the result remained the same: personal transformation, deeper relationships, and life-long memories made!

In late June 2026, we will once again be taking students on a Community Live-In (or CLI) discipleship trip. We will be returning this year to Orlando, Florida, where we will again stay in a large house together while we partner with our friends at our sister church: Audubon Park Covenant Church. Their pastor, Sarah Robinson, has a deep heart for loving people through service and community, and she will help us organize unique experiences to learn from people who serve and love well already. The hope is that our team walks away with a greater understanding of how we can live into our Christian faith and calling to love God by loving others well, in even ordinary ways that fit our passions and gifts.

Throughout the week, we will have daily devotion times for learning, prayer and spiritual formation. And we will also have fun in “play” together, as we enjoy some time at the Disney theme parks. Not only are these fun days, but sharing them together adds to the community and experience in uniquely fun and memorable ways. Each time I’ve done this trip, the days at “play” at the parks are often surprising to the students because of how they fit with the purpose of the whole trip. As we’ve reflected on them, many have said that it wasn’t even about being at the Parks as much as it was about being TOGETHER at the parks. Something unique happens when the community shares such fun experiences together, which is why we make it a part of the trip.

We just had our first informational meeting about the trip and our hope is to send a group of 8 to 10 students and 4 leaders the week of June 25 to July 1, 2026 down to Orlando for this CLI trip. If you have a High School student that is interested in attending OR if you would like to make a donation to support and help fund this experience, please come speak to me or send me an e-mail!

Our prayer is that this trip again becomes a foundational experience for each student and leader, and that all needed funds are provided and all details come together over the coming months. Will you please join us in this prayer.

--Pastor Chuck Potts

cpotts@thegrovecov.church