From discipleship to apostleship: SEEK promises encounter with Christ that continues

(OSV News) -- When Tom Bruner first attended a national Catholic conference called SEEK, he resisted. A senior studying at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, he went at the invitation of a missionary. He skipped Mass and many of the talks.

Then, on the third night, which fell on New Year's Eve, he wandered into a giant hall where he found everyone kneeling during adoration.

"The longer I stood there, I became convinced that either I needed to stand up on a chair and lead people out of this room -- because it was insane to see all these 18- to 22-year-olds kneeling down on New Year's Eve," he told OSV News, "or, I thought, ‘Lord, that's actually you. And if that's you, I have to change my life.'"

He went to confession that night, he said, and "walked out having met Jesus -- having, I think, fallen in love."

Bruner went on to serve as a missionary himself with FOCUS, the Catholic outreach organization that organizes SEEK annually. Now, 20 years after his SEEK experience, Bruner oversees SEEK as the vice president of formative enterprises for FOCUS.

Following SEEK 2026 and ahead of SEEK 2027, Bruner and other FOCUS leaders spoke with OSV News about the future of SEEK and their plans for it to transform attendees into apostles who share God's love with others.

These leaders want SEEK to be what it was years ago for Bruner: an encounter with Christ that grows into something more.

Earlier this year, FOCUS announced SEEK 2027 will take place Jan. 1-5 in two cities that have hosted it before: San Antonio and Columbus, Ohio. The local bishops, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio and Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of Columbus, welcomed the news.

The decision came after nearly 27,000 people attended SEEK 2026 in January across three locations: Columbus, Denver and Fort Worth, Texas. The event invited people of faith to encounter Christ through prayer, adoration, the sacraments and inspiring speakers. People from all walks of life attended, including students, young adults, families, parishioners, clergy, missionaries and more than 50 bishops.

Bruner, together with John Zimmer, vice president of apostolic development, and Brock Martin, vice president of parish outreach, spoke about how the SEEK experience continues even after the weeklong event concludes.

"One of the ends or the 'telos,' if you will, of the conference is to give people a deeper encounter, maybe an initial encounter for the first time in their life, with the living God -- with the fact that the God of the universe has a plan for your life, that he knows your name, that he loves you, that he wants to pour out his grace and his mercy into you, into your life," Martin, the son of FOCUS Founder Curtis Martin, said.

That encounter is meant not only to ignite people's faith but also to help them grow in relationship with God, FOCUS leaders said. They described SEEK as an iconic moment that happens while FOCUS missionaries accompany students and parishioners all year. Today, more than 1,000 FOCUS missionaries serve over 250 campuses and parish communities.

"We like to say in FOCUS that the secret sauce of SEEK is that there's this iconic moment," Martin said, "but it's in the context of a relationship that you're walking with somebody before the conference, you're walking with somebody during the conference, you're walking with somebody after the conference."

The majority of SEEK attendees return to campuses and parishes served by FOCUS missionaries ready and waiting to accompany them, Zimmer said. He added that students who attend SEEK actively pursue their faith afterward.

"If they weren't attending a Bible study, they're much more likely to join one," he said. "If they're attending a Bible study, they're much more likely to take the next step in leadership and so on."

For those who return to campuses or parishes without a FOCUS presence, Zimmer encouraged them to connect with their parishes and other Catholic ministries. He also pointed to free resources available through FOCUS' website and apps. Zimmer said FOCUS' SEEK app includes everything from videos about sharing the gospel to starting a small group. The FOCUS app also offers discipleship resources, he said.

Many students who attend SEEK later go on one of FOCUS' retreats or mission trips, Bruner added. He also pointed to FOCUS' Summer Projects, a college student formation program.
Martin said SEEK itself features some talks that address discipleship and evangelization. He highlighted SEEK's "Making Missionary Disciples Track."

"That track is really designed for people who have had that encounter with the Lord," he said, who "are coming to SEEK not to experience him for the first time but are really starting to think about, ‘How does God want to work through me for others?'"

Looking ahead, Bruner anticipated that SEEK will continue to grow and be guided by the Holy Spirit. He addressed FOCUS' recent decision to name longtime board member Tim Thoman, founder of an engineering and construction company called Performance Services, as interim CEO. Bruner called him "a fantastic man with great ideas."

"Nothing has necessarily changed," Bruner said. "We have probably some different skill sets from Tim … to think about, How do you build things scalable? How do you build them efficiently? … Because Tim's built and run a huge company before."

Next year, SEEK 2027 will have the capacity to accommodate more attendees in fewer locations.

FOCUS leaders expressed excitement over holding SEEK in two locations. While nearly 27,000 people attended SEEK 2026, the majority were at the Columbus location, Martin said. Next year, both Columbus and San Antonio have capacity for somewhere between 17,000-19,000 attendees.

For SEEK 2027, Bruner said both locations "will be mirror images of each other as far as the experiences."

At the same time, the locations impact the flavor of the SEEK experience, he said. He shared how FOCUS works closely with host dioceses to accommodate their unique needs and desires. San Antonio, he said, has already brought up that a large percentage of their diocese speaks Spanish.

"The message of the Church doesn't change," Bruner said. "It's how do you actually present the truths of the Gospel in a way that the listener is most adept to hear."

His favorite part of SEEK, he said, is still the part that changed his life 20 years ago: the adoration and confession that takes place on the third night. He described how hundreds of priests and bishops hear the confessions of thousands of people in a giant hall. As the night winds down, he even sees priests hearing each other's confessions.

"You're seeing people go in, receive the sacraments, and they come out," he said. "My prayer is just that the Lord will change their life in amazing ways like he changed mine."