Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
With her genuinely good heart and a wealth of experience behind her, Susannah works to connect local business and non-profit leaders to their neighbors. In a community like ours in which so many have invested their lives, there are fantastic stories all around us that motivate and inspire, often right next door. She hopes to share some of those here, on the Good Neighbor Podcast. Book an interview today at GNPAuburn.com
Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
Ep.#101: From Auburn Roots To A National Network, The Oaks Collaborative
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We explore how the Oaks Retreat helps freshmen and transfer students find faith, friends, and a church home before classes begin, and how that Auburn-born idea scaled into the Oaks Collaborative across campuses nationwide. Trace shares the heart, the hurdles, and the leadership pipeline that turns a weekend into a year of mentorship.
• What the Oaks Retreat is and who it serves
• Why freshman fears and choices shape lifelong paths
• Student-led model and leadership development pipeline
• Growth from Auburn to a national collaborative
• Retreat as catalyst, not a standalone event
• Addressing church dropout with early connection
• Entrepreneurial values grounded in humility and trust
• Practical steps to learn more and register
www.theoaksretreat.com
oaks.registration@oakscolab.com
info@oakscolab.com
Welcome And Guest Introduction
SPEAKER_01This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Susanna Hodges.
SPEAKER_02Welcome. Today with uh me is Trace Hameter. Trace is with the Oaks Collaborative and specifically the Oaks Retreat right here in Auburn. Welcome, Trace.
SPEAKER_00Hey, Susanna. Thanks so much for having me.
What The Oaks Retreat Is
SPEAKER_02So tell me a little bit about the Oaks Retreat.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the Oaks Retreat is a retreat for incoming trust incoming freshmen and transfer students to really to any of our local colleges. So Auburn University, Southern Union, and Tuskegee. And it was started in 2012 as a you know, I I started it, but as a collaboration of multiple churches and campus ministries in the area to welcome incoming freshmen and transfer students, to help them find Christ-centered really to start college, have this, you know, understanding starting college rooted in Christ, strengthened by Christ-centered community around them, meaning, you know, upperclassmen that were leading the retreat, as well as other freshmen that were, you know, joining in with them, and then also connected with churches and campus ministries quickly so that they could plug in quickly and and um and kind of have that, you know, have that foundation. And also really with that have a vision for reaching their campus. So we started that in 2012, and um and the Lord's favor has just really been upon it ever since then. It's just consistently grown to the point that this past year we had um right out about 1,100 freshmen um and transfer students attend, yeah, which is um kind of what I think like 16 or 17 percent of Auburn's incoming class, you know, attended. Um it's led by students. So our ministry, you know, our ministry oversees, you know, systems, infrastructure, you know, all those kind of things that you can imagine. But it's really student-powered. And so it's a strong student leadership team, and then student counselors are the ones sacrificing of their own time um to, you know, to be there and to lead this, lead the freshmen because they want to invest in those freshmen. And so it's just a a really amazing thing. It happens now out at the um the Marriott at Grand National, and they come into town for you know a part of it and kind of get to have their first hangout around down, you know, downtown Auburn and and everything like that. And yeah, just a time for them to really find we say find your people, find your place, find your purpose before classes even start.
SPEAKER_02Right, before you, before you get inundated with all of that.
SPEAKER_00That's right. That's right.
Why It Was Created
SPEAKER_02I love it. So what was the what what brought you guys to build this? What was it that said, hey, we need this?
Impact And Growth In Auburn
SPEAKER_00You know, I think what brought anybody that was a part of it that first year, this is true for me and others, is this idea of your freshman year, right? Like if anybody just takes a minute to like slow down and remember the few weeks before you left for college, the the first few weeks of college, right? Like just to remember that, remember the fear, the anxiety, you know, everything that comes with it, the temptations, right? All of those things. Everybody goes, oh man, like, if I could have had any help during that time. And so I had heard about um something similar to what we do at another college um in Texas. And I was like, oh man, that's what we need. And so we started brainstorming what it could be for Auburn. Um, and everybody that I told about my idea, everybody just said the same thing. They said, that sounds like exactly what I needed as an incoming freshman. And so it kind of just became one of those things of, hey, do for others what you would have someone do for you. And um, and so we did it, really not knowing the profound impact that it would have, both on individual lives, but also just on the body of Christ as a whole. And um, and what we've seen, Susanna, is for a lot of people, this has kind of closed the back door of the church in a lot of ways. You know what I'm saying? That the statistic that tells us that nearly seven out of ten people will that that that were you know claiming Christ and and attending church in high school will fall away from their faith in college. We've seen it, we've seen it um you know be something that has changed that for a lot of people. And um, and that's been exciting, but also just been a place where people that didn't know Christ at all, but just were looking for a community came and found community, but they found they found Christ as well. And and so um, yeah, just wanting to do that so that we could maybe um just have a deeper impact on the college campus.
SPEAKER_02Well, tell me a little bit about you, Trace. How did you get involved in all of this? What led you to the Oaks Collaborative?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I um I've done college ministry ever since I was in college, Susanna. I came to know Christ late in high school, and um college was a central time of me growing in my faith. Um, you know, somebody told me when I was in college, you become in college who you're gonna be for the rest of your life. And and I believe that. And they also cast vision for me that the college campus is this central and just strategic moment in everyone's life. And and I wanted to be a part of that moment in people's lives, helping them choose from that point on to live for Christ for the rest of their life. And and um, and so I started doing that. My wife and I met in college, got married right afterwards, and we really have been doing college ministry ever since college, two years down in Tampa, and then we um starting in 2006, we have been back in the Auburn Opalica area. I was a college pastor at First Baptist Opalica at you know, to start, and and I started the Oaks Retreat as a college pastor. Just it was kind of a, as they say now, as a side hustle that I was that I was doing and and doing it with my other friends in ministry from other churches and and ministries. And um, and it it honestly just kept growing to the point that in 2019 I realized that it really it really deserved to be led with a full focus and not just as a as a side thing. So I um stepped away from First Baptist of Aleika in 2019 to do this full time. And since that point, the Oaks is con the Oaks Retreat has continued to grow, and the Oaks Collaborative has now become really an umbrella ministry for retreats like the Oaks Retreat all over the nation.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was on your website and saw all the locations and the colleges that you guys are affiliated with, and it's pretty impressive. You guys have grown a lot in you know five, six years here. It's amazing.
Trace’s Calling And Background
SPEAKER_00Yes, it we it has honestly been very humbling, you know, um very exciting. It it wasn't something that I planned, it's something that the Lord kind of um put in our laps, just other other universities reaching out. Um, and so now, yeah, it's 21 retreats this past year. We're looking at probably 27, 28 retreats this coming year. And we just expanded outside of the South this this past year to Rutgers and to Ohio State. And then um this coming year we'll expand even farther, looking at a couple California schools, uh, Minnesota, Michigan, Purdue. So really excited about the expansion because we've realized, you know, I didn't have this vision, Susanna. I I just wanted to do it for Auburn, but I realized, oh, this is a common need across the nation.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, yes, over the whole entire United States, getting people grounded before they start school. I think it's an excellent ministry.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's right. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02So tell me a little bit about uh just you personally, you and your family. What do you guys like to do for fun when you're not working on a retreat?
SPEAKER_00Yes, but well, my family is my fun, Susanna. So I have uh my wife and I, we've um been married for almost 22 years now. We have five kids, and um my uh my oldest, my only my only daughter is my oldest, and she's a student at Auburn, actually. And then we have four boys, um, and they are nine, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen. So you can imagine that busy, yeah. Yeah, that keeps you busy. So it's it's always it's always a party at our house. And so yeah, you know, uh that is what we do for fine. It's the you know, it's the kids' sports, you know, I'm taking I'm taking my boys hunting this weekend, you know, it's those kind of things.
SPEAKER_02Now, part of the reason I do this uh podcast is to encourage people to kind of follow their dreams into entrepreneurship, and and that's you know, also is applicable to the ministry because it's a lot of people that like me and I'd like to do more. I have this idea, but you know, I've got a job and a family. And I so tell me a little bit about some of the hardships that you had to overcome, or maybe just the ministry had to overcome to get on the ground and get going, and uh how that made you a stronger person and the collaborative a stronger uh ministry.
SPEAKER_00That's a great question. You know, um Susanna of our six core values, entrepreneurial thinking is actually one of our core values.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah.
From Side Project To National Ministry
SPEAKER_00And so, and we say that I always like to correct I always like to correct people because when some people think entrepreneurs, they think people that are they think shark tank, they think people that are trying to, you know, become a you know millionaire, but really, you know, our nation was built on entrepreneurs and and the the most common entrepreneur is not trying to get rich, they're just trying to serve their community and provide for their family, right? They're they see needs and they want to meet those needs for their community, and um, and that's what we've been trying to do. And now for us, meeting needs for communities well beyond our local community, but it's a it's a need that we that we see. And so for for me, I would say um the I think the the hardship has has been this the trial of the of the growth that the Lord has blessed us with. Um you know, I I joke with people that I never imagined leading a nationwide nonprofit. Um I'm from a small town in South Alabama, just uh, you know, kind of kind of good old Alabama boy. And I say that nothing in my resume or my pedigree would make me the one that you'd say, oh, he needs to be, you know, to do this, yeah to do this. He needs to be the one that founds and and leads a nationwide non you know nonprofit. Um but but the Lord chose you know has has you know chosen me for that. And and so it's been a lot of just that learning curve of you know, Lord, I it's kind of you know the saying you don't know what you don't know.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Right.
SPEAKER_00And so that's that's been a process of it for us. Um, I think you know, as a as a follower of Christ, the big thing for me has been just walking in step with the Spirit, hands open, Lord, show me. You know, um 2 Chronicles 2012 says, Lord, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are set on you. And so as he has keep has he kept on expanding early on, it was just it was Auburn, then it was Troy and Auburn. Then it was then we added on you know, University of Alabama, and it was UGA and Ole Miss. And with each one, it's like, okay, Lord, he show us what to do. I I don't know, you know, and then now it was, you know, this past year was Rutgers and Ohio State, and and it was okay, Lord, show us how to expand that far. And and now we're talking nationwide, you know, partnerships and and networks, and it's and it's just been Lord, continue each with each step. I'm just gonna trust you with the next step. One of our sayings in our in our ministry is just do the next right thing. You know, it comes off of Proverbs 37, 3 that says, trust in the Lord and do what is good, dwell in the land and live securely.
SPEAKER_02He will direct your path. So that's right. He's got it, he's got it under control. You just got to do the work. Yeah.
Family Life And Roots
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And so just walking in that continual obedience and and not getting ahead of yourself and not putting too much pressure on yourself to have all the answers, you know, and to to look a certain part. Another core value of ours is just humility. And so having that humility to say, I don't know. I don't know, you know, what I'm doing. There's no script for me to follow either. And so I'm just gonna be obedient and reliant on the Lord step by step. And in so doing, he has had you know so much favor on us. And so I think that's one of the biggest, one of the biggest things is just learning how to grow well and expand and um and be willing to accept uh the things that you don't know and be a continual student, a continual learner has been the biggest thing for us.
SPEAKER_02Now you've been doing this for several years now. Have you come across any misconceptions that people may have about uh retreats in general or maybe about the Oaks retreat or the Oaks Collaborative?
Entrepreneurship, Values, And Growing Pains
SPEAKER_00Yes, for sure. Thank you. Thank you for asking that. I think one of the big things, you know, when people see us, they see an event, which it is an event. The Oaks Retreat is an event. Um, but one of the things they don't see is is how they so we got always get the question asked, so uh, what do you do the rest of the year? You know, like of these, you know, if these retreats happen in you know in late July, early August, like what do you do the rest of the year? Which is which is funny because I got that question as a pastor too. You know, people ask pastors all the time, so so what do you do when it's not Sunday or Wednesday? Like, you know, I play golf, that's all I do. You know, then there's a lot of other things that go on. And so um, you know, for us, I think one misconception is like I said, that it's just an event. But what we do throughout the year is we're really investing in our student leaders. So um, you know, I had a dad say to me one time, his daughter came to the retreat as a freshman and was very blessed by it. Then she became a counselor and was and grew greatly as a counselor. Then she was on leadership for us. And he said to us, he said to me, He's like, you know, I only thought about your ministry as an as a ministry to incoming freshmen until my daughter became a counselor. Then I was like, oh, y'all focus way more on the counselor. So they grow in their ability to disciple these freshmen and their ability to lead a small group and share the gospel. And I was like, Yeah, we do. He said, but then she got on leadership. And then I and then I realized, no, y'all spend tons of time investing in your leaders. So they grow as leaders in Christ and are able to use their gifts for the for the kingdom well beyond college. And I was like, that's exactly what we're doing. And and um, and so he was like, you know, you're probably thinking, duh, but actually I was thinking, man, I'm just so glad somebody sees it when we don't have to explain it. So I think that's one of the things I want people to see. And also, you know, the fact that our our events are not just events, they're catalysts, they're launching, they're launching pads, right? So what we what we tell our counselors is you are not signing up for a three-day, two-night event only. You are signing up to shepherd your freshmen on into their freshman year.
SPEAKER_02You're you're to be that to be that uh counselor throughout the year that's right. That relationship you established at the retreat doesn't stop at the end of the retreat.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's right. Yeah, you're it couldn't it couldn't end up being a vibrant discipleship relationship. It could just be that you're the one who's giving them rides to church or checking on checking in on them, grabbing lunch randomly. You're you're signing up to be a friend, to be a a brother or sister in Christ all throughout their year, and so they continue walking with Christ in college. So I think that's one of the misconceptions. It's it's oh, it's just an event, it's like a fun event, and it's and it's much more than that. Now we don't have anything else that goes on throughout the year because our goal is to get these students connected with local churches and ongoing campus ministries. That's a win for us, is when we when we get them there, you know. So um, but it is those relationships that keep going.
SPEAKER_02Well, tell me, what's one thing you wish people knew about the Oaks Retreat that they may not realize?
Beyond An Event: Year-Round Investment
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think the biggest thing, especially for people in our local community, is that the Oaks Retreat has had this reach far beyond Auburn. And I just think it it would be exciting for a lot of people in in our local community to realize that there's now been a nationwide nonprofit that's been birthed out of the Auburn, Opa Lake area. That you know, that I'm gonna be out at UCLA in a couple weeks work working on the start of a retreat out there, and that started right here in Auburn, you know, like I'll I'll be in Minnesota in a couple weeks and Purdue, all that started out of Auburn. And I think that I would just love for our local community to know that that the oak it's not just the Oaks retreat anymore. The Oaks Collaborative is that in our and our prayers are the same across every campus that these incoming freshmen and transfer students would become Oaks of Righteousness, a planning of the Lord, that his name will be praised. That's Isaiah 61.3. And um and a collaborative that at every campus we collaborate with the with the whole body of Christ, um, but also all of our retreats are a collaboration. So again, headquartered right here in Auburnobalaika is this collaboration of retreats all across the nation and with with a goal to spread to every major you know D1 school across across the nation to address this need nationwide.
SPEAKER_02Well, how can people learn more, uh get in touch with you guys, and even uh register for an event?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so our website is the Oatscollaborative.com, or you can find us on you know um Instagram or Facebook just by searching just the Oats Collaborative. And then through that, like on our website, if you've got a freshman or transfer student that's going to you know a school that you think might have one of our retreats, please go on there and check. You'll see a map on our homepage as you scroll down, or you can just right there at the top of the homepage, you can click find a retreat and it'll take you to our page. And from that, you can find you know it's the Chimes retreat at the University of Alabama, or you know, it's the Living Stones retreat at Troy University, or if they're going farther off, see if see if we have a retreat for them. Um, and then and then you know, let that student know, you know, the the whether they're that graduating senior, let them know the website so that they can register because they'll register for a retreat at their individual website. So for the Oaks Retreat at Auburn, it's just the Oaksretreat.com and they'll get on there and they can click register here in a here in about a month or so. Typically most of our registrations open in um kind of you know late February or or or March. Okay. And um, and you know, that's when that's when these graduating seniors are making their decisions on college anyway.
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, where they're gonna be in the fall. It's amazing. Well, thank you so much for being with me, uh Trace. I've enjoyed learning about the Oaks Collaborative and more about you, and uh really appreciate you spending some time with me.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's an honor and privilege to do so, Susanna. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Auburn. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpauburn.com. That's gnpauburn.com. Or call 334 429 7404.