“Whenever I did the gap year, that was when I truly was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is what community is supposed to look like.”
After graduating high school, current Union student Ella Campbell embarked on a nine-month gap year program called the World Race that took her to four countries. Her idea of community radically changed as she experienced relationships in a completely different way.
“We would eat every breakfast, lunch and dinner together, and that made me really see the importance of it.”
She related her experience of sharing meals with others to Acts 2:45-47, which speaks about breaking bread together:
“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (English Standard Version)
She described her group as people who felt like a true family. She lived in a small space with six other girls for the entirety of the nine-month period, sharing everything. Campbell recalled that she really had nothing of her own. Clothing, a bathroom, makeup, skincare and space were all shared by these women. It was a true communal experience for a full nine months.
Campbell described this new way of living as something that was an adjustment at first but one she eventually felt grateful for.
“Then it was like, wait. This is actually so beautiful because it’s taking away all the things that personally I would kind of cling to. We’re literally sharing everything, like in Acts when they shared everything. Like that’s what it felt like and I was pushed in a lot of ways,” Campbell said.
A standout feature of her experience with the World Race was the practice of giving and receiving feedback to and from each other every single Thursday. This consistent and intentional approach to community building made each person feel genuinely seen, loved and cared for. It helped her and her teammates grow not only in their faith but in their understanding of one another.
“You wake up and you are with the people that you love, that love the Lord,” Campbell said. “That is one of my favorite things about being in that community — people are seeing you all the time. They’re seeing you with the Lord in the morning, during the day — at your absolute worst and at your best.”
Because of this intentionality and close community, these people were well-equipped to give her helpful pieces of personal, relational and spiritual feedback.
“Every Thursday was a check-up on myself and everyone on my team — like a weekly reality check,” Campbell said. “I feel like that cultivated so much growth in me during the time that I was there, specifically just the nine-month one because this happened every week. It was encouraging in so many ways, and also challenging in so many ways and pushed me to go sit with the Lord. So many aspects of that community are just so beautiful.”
I shared with Campbell that my outside perspective assumes this experience to be a major wake-up call of what a community has the potential to look like. As someone who has the luxury of a dorm-within-a-dorm layout, I cannot fathom this kind of close-knit community and what kind of changes would happen inside of me after nine months of living in it.
Campbell soon got a taste of being back home for a short time, but following those nine months, she felt called to do a second alumni trip through the World Race. This led her to India and Nepal soon after.
“Coming home from my nine-month trip, I knew I was only home for two and a half months,” Campbell said. “That transition was really hard at first because I went from living with 40 people to living with my family. But at the same time in my head, I was like, ‘I’m leaving in two months.’ I already knew I was leaving again to be back in that community. It was like a little blip.”
After those two trips, Campbell arrived back in the States and remained here for a brief semester. But soon she hopped on another flight. She was presented with an opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic with Fellowship Bible Church here in Jackson and eagerly agreed to get back to serving abroad.
In addition to this trip, a few months later Campbell spent the summer at JH Ranch, a summer camp in Etna, California. She spoke fondly of her time at JH Ranch.
“I worked there for the whole summer. I was a barista half the time and then the other half I got to just pour into these high school kids that came and did different programs there,” Campbell said.
Campbell and I actually lived on the same street growing up and sometimes spent weeks at a time seeing each other every single day. We reconnected in high school and now are finding ourselves doing the same reconnecting years later in college. This semester, we have been sharing stories, laughs and prayers together over taco bowls and burgers in Cobo each Friday for lunch. I have yet to run out of questions for her and am not sure I ever will.
As a Jacksonian who has never left the States and had essentially the same childhood as Campbell, I live vicariously through her and her stories. She has immersed herself fully in diverse cultures and communities, leaving her with many valuable perspectives and stories to share with someone like myself, who does not have these experiences.
We have all heard of the “summer camp high.” You come back from summer camp or a mission trip feeling emotionally fulfilled and ready to evangelize, only to realize that home is not the same environment as the one you shared with other believers — all united under the same goals and intentions. Things are different — which can lead to a pretty rough spiritual crash for some people.
You would think that after almost two years abroad with the main focus being spiritual growth, service and discipleship alongside others doing the same, Campbell would be riding that “spiritual high” as she arrived home and stepped onto Union’s campus, and she inevitably would experience a crash landing.
Ironically, it was the opposite experience for her.
This semester is Campbell’s first year at Union, though her sophomore year by credit hours. She does not live on campus and admitted that her expectations for community entering into this new season of life were low.
“I realized my expectations were so low because I was scared to trust that God had something good for me. And then I get here and I was like, wow, He’s always going to do above and beyond what I’m expecting,” Campbell said.
She said that an adjustment definitely took place, but that in asking the Lord to change her heart posture, He did.
“Within that first week, it was like He had given me the desire to learn and so much motivation, especially for school,” Campbell said. “I didn’t have all of that before. He has also made me feel so filled up by the community. He has put the most awesome, intentional people that love and pursue Him in my life.”
Anna Swindell, a senior here at Union, has befriended Campbell this semester and they have already developed an intentional friendship. Swindell sat with Campbell and I in Barefoots, recalling their first time meeting.
“Whenever we first met, I think you were eating lunch in your car by yourself,” Swindell laughed. Ella laughed, too.
“And maybe you still do that sometimes, and that’s okay,” Swindell reassured her. “But I’ve noticed you doing things like that less and less. You’re making a community, and it’s just growing.”
Swindell recalled her prayers to the Lord, asking for Him to introduce another friendship into her life that would inspire her faith. She sees Campbell as that answered prayer and acknowledged the kind of experiences and perspectives Campbell has already brought to Union that have made an impact.
Swindell referred to Ella’s experiences as a “taste of heaven.”
“I think it’s so unique, the type of community that she has gotten to experience.”
Swindell affirmed that Campbell is the kind of person who will continue to be intentional in cultivating that type of community here at Union and that it shows in the ways she interacts with people and takes action to actively organize community.
Campbell, Swindell and I all spent some time recalling a worship night we attended earlier in the week put together by Campbell and a recent Union alum. Campbell intentionally extended open invites to Union students of all different friend groups and organizations, resulting in a diverse night of worship full of new friends, fruitful conversations and intentional praise. Campbell has dived into community here by actively jumping in to connect with others through her faith, just like she had been doing abroad the past two years.
As Swindell and Campbell continue to cultivate their friendships at Union, they both reflect on the beautiful blend of faith and community that takes place here on campus, acknowledging the transformative power of walking together intentionally. Campbell’s story is a testament to the fullness of life in Christ that can be discovered when we open our hearts to connection and faith in Him.
With each new relationship that Campbell builds, she is not only stepping out in faith and enriching her own life, but contributing to the vibrant, Christ-centered community at Union, reminding us all of the beauty of walking together in faith. Her story serves as an encouragement to those around her to embrace the unexpected relationships and circumstances that the Lord has in store for them.
