Living in Community, Growing in Knowledge and Playing in the Outdoors
The Dream Year of a Quest Student at Columbia Bible College
By Andrea Ykema
Ten years ago, a man named Mike Richardson asked himself what he would want his kids to experience if they only attended one year of post-secondary education. It would be a dream year, selecting the best from different veins of focus to create a season of holistic growth and learning. And so in 1996, Trek was born. This one-year program at North West Baptist College evolved and grew over the years into what it is today – a one-year discipleship and outdoor experience program called Quest, offered at Columbia Bible College. Quest is a program that is full every year, attracting a wide demographic of students with its overseas missions trips, outdoor adventures, academics, and community development. Dan Boon, Quest’s program director, commented, “The fit at Columbia has been incredible – the great discipleship focus that Columbia has only compliments it and advances the purposes of what we’re doing in Quest.”
“We’ve been referred to as a holistic program,” Dan commented. “Our hope is to push that and continue it – how can we be more holistic?” Quest can certainly claim this understanding of holistic education. Their time spent in the outdoors, in the academic classroom, in service, and in community reflect a desire to address every facet of a student’s being – their body, their mind and their spirit. I asked Dan about Quest’s experiences in the outdoors.
“Our outdoor calendar is specifically sequenced to go from very introductory to more challenging activity as well as in time durations… we start with a day trip and go to a two day trip, a three day trip, and then a five day trip as our finish for the fall. The advantage to all of that is that we have a head-start building community through those experiences. Community is built through shared experiences, so by having those experiences with a specific group of people in a short time-frame at the beginning of the year, it brings us to a point of feeling like a family far earlier than I think is possible for many other programs.”
Quest explores the outdoors with originator Mike Richardson’s design in mind – from cross country skiing in Whistler to sailing off the coast of Vancouver Island, each experience is selected specifically to showcase the best of what British Columbia has to offer.
The academic component of Quest is very similar to other first year programs at CBC, but with some unique classes designed to give students a fundamental understanding in essential life-skills. In addition, Quest participates in Columbia’s Service Practicum program, which encourages students to step into the surrounding community and give away the knowledge that they accumulate over the year. As Dan observed, “It’s an important thing for us to be focused on giving, because Quest is such an intense year of receiving, teaching and community blessing. If you’re constantly receiving, the cup overflows! Our hope is to take people from being receivers of blessing to channels of blessing, so they receive things but also have an outlet to give away.” The three mission trips offered to Quest students also cultivate their commitment to service – whether a student chooses to work in an orphanage in Mexico, visit a Christian school in Kenya, or go trekking to remote villages in India, they are being asked to prioritize service to others over and above their own comfort and expectations.
At the core of the Quest program is a passion for community and discipleship. Outdoor activities are pursued with community-building in mind and service projects are undertaken with this value at the forefront. Discipleship meetings are a regular part of a Quest student’s life at Columbia. “The purpose of [our discipleship groups] is to provide a safe place to challenge one another to ask difficult questions, to dig into the Word, and to learn what it means to follow closer to Jesus. It’s a more discussion-based opportunity than a typical classroom experience. Oftentimes we won’t even have them on campus – we’ll meet in homes, because we want it to feel different than a class.”
Dan Boon’s relationship with Quest began over ten years ago when he participated in the fledgling Trek program at North West Bible College. Dan knew from the beginning that he wanted to pursue a four-year Bible college degree, but not all Quest students arrive with such vision. As Dan commented, “We have a variety of students – some come in knowing who they are and where they want to go and what they want to do after this place. Some of those people get rocked and changed going, ‘I thought I had it all figured out, and I don’t’ – and that’s a good thing. And some people come in going, ‘I don’t have anything figured out,’ and in this eight months they figure out the core essentials of what they need to know – they may realize that they don’t know their circumstances or what their circumstances are always going to be, but they know their purpose here. And that’s an incredible thing to be a part of.”
Dan’s vision for the student’s that participate in Quest is long term. “Everything we’re doing, we’re hoping it is multiplying to the ends of the earth. The students that come here from all over the world are learning what it looks like to be intentionally discipled and to walk down this road for a time. When that time ends after eight months, our hope is that people will take this to their home towns and multiply it.” Multiply passion for the outdoors, pursuit of knowledge and service, and discipleship and community? You can sign me up…
For more information on Quest, visit http://www.columbiabc.edu/academics/Quest.html
