ACU Summit, an annual event dedicated to encouraging ministers and church leaders, is taking place from Oct. 7-9.

This year’s Summit is centered around Romans 12, emphasizing an overarching theme, “A Call to Genuine Love.”

During Summit, church leaders and ACU students are invited to hear keynote speakers and break out into community groups.

This year’s speakers will be Dr. Josh Graves, Dr. Sara Barton, Dr. Heather Gorman and Mitch Wilburn. Featured topics include “What Love Looks Like” and “The Local Church Is an Experiment in Love.”

The two keynote sessions on Thursday and Friday will count for chapel credit for students.

New aspects of this year’s Summit include a reflective, meditative art walk and spiritual direction. The full schedule and list of events for Summit are on the Siburt Institute website.

Dr. Jennifer Schroeder, Summit director, said the continual impact Summit has on those who attend means a lot to her.

“It has to be just that sense of connection and relationship that the people that come leave with,” Schroeder said. “I think that’s the thing I hear most often is, especially for our ministers and our pastors that come, it’s a really busy time of year.”

Caroline Casey, online content manager for Summit, said the connection with church leaders is what stands out to her during Summit.

“Specifically, if students are interested in going into ministry, I just think that opportunity to connect with people who have done it for a really long time,” Casey said, “it’s pretty special.”

Schroeder said Summit is an opportunity to be refreshed and filled by God’s Word.

“It feels like a very busy time of year,” Schroeder said, “and invariably the thing I hear the most as Summit draws to a close each year is ‘I’m so glad I came.’”

This year’s Summit theme of Romans 12 gives students a chance to reflect on important questions.

“What does it look like to really love each other?” Schroeder said. “Especially in what feels to be a very divisive time in our world, what does that actually look like?”

Schroeder said students can learn many different things from Summit, even if they are not in ministry.

“They will walk away with something, seeing scripture in a way that they had not thought about it,” Schroeder said. “I think this year’s theme especially feels very relevant to our day and age. I think that will bring a measure of hope and joy when it can be really easy to focus on all of the bad in the world.”

Casey said the amount of care and attention put into this year’s Summit is encouraging to her.

“It‘s kind of rare to see so much care be put into something like that,” Casey said.

With Summit beginning Oct. 7, students have the opportunity to experience Summit for themselves.

Schroeder said everyone should try to attend at least one session.

“If you have 30, 45 minutes to spare, come give it a try because I think you will be glad you did,” Schroeder said.

For more information and to see the full schedule, visit The Siburt Institute website.