After all the summer project posting we want to give you one easy way to access the stories you are looking for about our Summer Project in Branson. Just click on what you would like to read more about!!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Summer Project in Branson- Check it out!
Saying Goodbye
How do say goodbye to people that you have shared life with, nonstop, for the past 9 weeks? The Lord really blessed us with an amazing group of people this summer, and we could not have been more thankful. After we handed over the project to our students, it was really exciting, but we new that our time together was drawing to a close. As a way to close our time together, the students hosted a Staff Banquet to honor the staff as we were leaving. This was a really significant night because the students got a chance to share things the Lord had taught them, and how God had used the staff to impact their life this summer. It was a really emotional night of saying our goodbyes. After the banquet was over my girls from my growth team and I went to Wendy’s and shared fries and Frosty’s. We were all talking and laughing and remembering all the sweet moments from the weeks we just spent together. We headed back to the Honey and prayed together in a huddle for a long while, crying and knowing how much we were going to miss each other, but excited for what was still to come for the students who were going to stay for 4 more weeks. Saying goodbye was so hard! We already had the car loaded, and so at 5 the next morning we gave our final hugs and started the trek home. Which was really sad, and we were really tired, but it was worth every minute.
Vince and I at the Banquet
Autumn’s Growth Team, together one last night!!
Vince’s growth team guys honoring him during the Banquet.
And thats it guys! That was our summer project in a really long nutshell! Hope you enjoyed hearing about it as much as we enjoyed being part of what God was doing with students from around the country in Branson, MO.
We love you OLSP!!!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Turning the project over
When the time came for us staff to leave we had a lot of hard decisions to make. All of the roles that they staff were overseeing had to be filled.
There was the project director, asst director, mens and womens leader, and leaders for each growth team, and servant team. For staff we shared the responsibilities, but before we left we had to carefully appoint students to take over these roles.
This was a multi week process we went over as staff, but in the end we were extremely pleased with the students we left in charge.
The night we turn over the project, and hand the keys over to the students (literally) was a very special night. We had been training these students all summer, and it was time for the to step in and step up.
We had a really cool ceremony at night out by the picnic tables. There were a few tiki torches lit, and us staff stood in front of the students holding flags that represented the things they had been learning. Dan, our director called up and introduced the students director, asst director, and their two assistants. We then prayed over them and immediately left to go get ice cream, and the new director announced the new students leaders we picked out for the rest of the project.
It was a powerful night, and a challenging and scary night for some of the students. The project went very smoothly after we left, and it felt great to see the training we gave pay off.
Men’s Retreat
On the same weekend the women had their shindig, us men retreated to eastern Arkansas to do manly things, and bond with each other under the Lord.
The first greatness of this retreat was the location. We stayed in a giant house/cabin that held almost all our guys, about 50 yards from the water where the White River, and the Norfork River combine. Aka one of the best Rainbow trout fishing that can be had. Also, from sun down to a few hours after sun up, there was an awesome mist on the water which made it easily 20 degrees cooler.
The man things we did included alot of fishing. We caught, cleaned, and fried over 100 fish on Saturday. We had arm wrestling, and jalapeño eating contests. There were random other wrestling occurrences. A few guys opted to sleep outside for the heck of it. We built a fire and covered ourselves in mud.
There were alot of fun things, but what happened that was most important was that the guys were connected to the Lord. They each made commitments that we take very seriously, about a lifestyle that the Lord has called us to now, and in the future. It was a really cool man scene that night with fire and everything when the guys made these commitments.
Us as staff also took the opportunity to serve the guys in our growth teams by mimicking an example Jesus gave, as we washed their feet. As we washed their feet was affirmed them in who they are in Christ, and what kind of men they are. It was an amazing scene.
The weekend also included a number of other sessions about mentors, and some other stuff, but the weekend was a great time, and one of the best men’s retreat that i have ever been a part of.
Women’s Retreat
What a fun way to spend a long weekend! We took off for a Friday-through-Sunday chocolate-eating, late-night-pajama-parting, painting-fingernails, and all-things-girly celebration! Oh, and getting to hear more about how God created us as women as a unique part of His creation, and how He designed with specific personalities that we can use for His glory! These great women talked about friendship!
They have a long long and sweet friendship and it is neat to see how God has taught them things along the way, and that they can entrust that to us!
There were pedicures,
and a dance party,
and a little shopping,
Time together learning about how God created us and gave us different personalities. Which really helped me sooo much, and I highly recommend.
And we got a chance to publically honor all the girls in our growth team in front of the rest of the girls. This was such a special time of realizing the way God made each one of us special and for a purpose!
It was a fantastic weekend with the Lord, and with the girls! I loved it!
Growth Teams and Discipleship
Every week we got the privilege of meeting with our growth teams, which was a small group of 4-5 students. In addition to investing in them in the small group setting, we also met individually with the students in our growth team weekly. This was hands down my favorite part of the entire summer, and we had a GREAT summer. The girls I got to meet with were fantastic, FANTASTIC! From the beginning with our Soul to Souls, these girls stole my heart with their vulnerability, openness, teachability, and their desire to walk with the Lord. I wish you could know these girls. Every week for growth team time we went back to the Chateau at the Lake and got to sit in squishy chairs and spend time in the Word and in prayer. Then throughout the week I got to sit down with the girls one on one, and it was so awesome to get to know specifically what they were experiencing, and to challenge them to grow in their faith. There is something unique and special about sitting down with a person, and finding out where they are spiritually, and challenging them to take their walk with Christ to a deeper level. I saw girls who were hungry for the Word, who wrote verses on their arm so they could memorize it at work, and kept little memory verses in their pocket, who desired to have God honoring relationships, to help their friends back home to know Christ, to step out in boldness and actually share the gospel. The list could go on and on because these girls really grasped what it looked like to follow Jesus. Were they perfect? Of course not! But they chose to dig in and invest in Jesus, and to seek the eternal. It was a blessing to invest in them!
Monday Night Live!
Monday Night Live was said for some people to be their favorite time of the week. Monday Night Live, or MNL, was our weekly meeting for the summer.
The purpose of MNL was to kick the week off right, with Christ, and His mission on our minds. MNL was also a form of evangelism because it was a place where our students could invite their co-workers, and the people the met during outreach to hear more about how they can have a relationship with Christ, and grow in their faith.
The whole night was run by our students, except for the staff doing the talks, but after we left our students leadership picked up right where we left off. We had a student led worship team who did and excellent job.
We had students handling the sounds and audio. And a team of students who handled the theme of the night, and who did a great job of welcoming people.
Then afterwards we’d basically all take over Steak and Shake.
Being Social
Our students worked so hard this summer. They had their jobs during the day, and then we loaded up their schedule every other time. So, the socials on Saturday Night were always greatly looked forward to.
These purpose of the socials were two fold. One, we wanted to give the students a break, and a chance to let loose and just have fun. Two, this was a great time for them to just focus on building a relationship with each other, and strengthening the bond of the project.
We had alot of goofy socials such a Tacky Bowling Night, Staff Hunt, Decades Rollerskating, Old-Fart Bingo, and a few others that took place after the staff left. Here some visual examples...
Tacky Bowling night
Decades Skating….what decade? i dont know…
Outreach
Before students came on Summer Project, the thought of doing outreach was exciting and terrifying at the same time, and the students longed to be able to know how to share their faith. These are actual quotes from the applications for Project from this summer’s group:
“Taking the initiative in evangelism is not the most comfortable thing to do. Jesus left us here with the Great Commission, and shoot, I’m going to do it.”
“I have not had much experience with evangelism, but there is no better way to spread Jesus’ love then telling people ourselves. It is so important to take the initiative to tell people about Jesus. I want to feel confident enough to do that. I think summer project would be a good opportunity to grow in that area.”
“I also really want to learn how to effectively share my faith. It’s something I’ve been nervous about doing but have always wanted to do.”
“It is actually one of my goals to be able to share my faith and witness. I have always been afraid to do so, and I have decided that this year, my goal is to get rid of insecurities of speaking out loud about Jesus.”
“I don’t know much about evangelism and that’s one of the reasons why I want to go on this project.”
This summer, outreach wasn’t just something that we did one day a week, it was a lifestyle. But in addition, we did focus our attention on sharing the Gospel during one day of the week. Every Saturday, after room cleaning, we had outreach time. It was something that the students really wanted, but they were also really scared to do.
The outreaches really helped students to understand why in the world that we do evangelism. One student in particular, she came on project feeling apathetic about sharing her faith., Even on the first day of outreach, she held back and didn’t want to participate. The next Saturday, she and another girl got into a conversation with a group of mom’s and their little girls at the mall. While they were talking about spiritual things, the women kept answering the questions with “I just don’t know” and “I have never thought about that.” When we all returned to the Honey to debrief, the student got up and shared about her interaction with the women, and how the Lord had really broken her hardened heart. She was crying and saying, “these people just don’t know… they just don’t know about Jesus and what He has done for them.” This marked a significant step for our student, and she began to be passionate about sharing her faith, not only on Saturday outreach times, but in her workplace and with new people she met.
Another guy had never really shared he faith before, and one Saturday he began to pray for God to open the door and let him have a great spiritual conversation. A few minutes later he was sharing Christ with a man, who prayed to receive Christ! The man had just moved to Branson recently and had to leave his family to find work. During his time in the new city, he began to realize his brokenness, but didn’t know what to do about it. God had set a divine appointment for the two to meet, and we now have a new brother in Christ!
It was really cool to see God open the hearts of our students and challenge then to step outside of their comfort zone and actually share the Gospel. And thankfully, there are so many more stories of lives that were changed and new people placing their faith in Christ because of our students following the Lord and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and direct them! Praise the Lord!
Also, Tuesday nights we had an open dinner night where students invited anyone they met to come and eat a free meal, and 3-4 students shared their testimony and the gospel. These nights were always my favorite dinners because it was so fun to see the picnic tables packed out with people who were getting to hear the gospel. Some were co-workers, some were children, some were homeless, some were people who had trusted Christ the summer before because of students on that Summer Project. Regardless, it was just another way to see God’s faithfulness to being all these people together to share a meal, and to hear the best news they could ever hear.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Servant Teams
While on project one of the great things we did in addition to training our students to share their faith, was how to have a ministry of their own. One of the ways we did this was to put each of the students in a Servant Team where they could best use their talents and interests to serve the Lord by serving the project and the community. There were eight Servant Teams which they could serve.
Outreach Team – This team was in charge of putting together all of our Saturday outreaches where we’d go to specific places in town and share the Gospel. They’d organize everything from the location, to the tools we’d use, to the training needed for each tool. These day’s will be highlighted later on.
Social Team – Our students worked so hard all week long at work and with everything else we put on their plate. Saturday night was fun night! The social team was in charge of these night which were key in building the community of the project, and keeping everyone relaxed. This is the group that Autumn lead, and she did a great job!
MNL – Every Monday night we had something we called Monday Night Live (MNL). This was our weekly meeting where we’d have worship, skits, and a speaker. This was the night that our students would be able to invite their co-workers and people they meet during outreach to further building their relationship, and share who Christ is with them. This team was in charge of everything. Vince was in charge of this group.
Men’s and Women’s time – We had weekly men’s and women’s times every week, The students in charge of this arranged the events, skits, and the staff did the talks. When the staff left, these students became in charge of the content too.
Hotel Team – These guys had a tough job. They were in charge of maintenance. Fixing toilets, fixing lights, painting tables, mowing the grass. They also had the tough job of judging the rooms on cleaning day and declaring winners. They were very important to the cleanliness of our project.
Video team – These students worked hard all summer filming events and putting together videos that we can use in the future to recruit people to project.
A-team – No, Mr. T wasn’t in Branson this summer, this was the team in charge of planning our adventure days on Fridays, and planning the spiritual content that goes along with it.
Staff were in charge of all of these while we were there, and the students got valuable experience leading them on their own.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Weekly Men’s Time
Every Wednesday night was one of my favorite times of the week. It was men’s and women’s time….more specifically since Vince is writing this, I loved men’s time.
The location was the first cool thing about men’s time. It was held every Wednesday night at a local ministries facility called, Doulos (doo-loss), which is a wonderful place for people struggling with addictions and many other confidential struggles to go and be loved on and counseled. Anyways, they had a volleyball court and an outdoor basketball court which is where men’s time started every week. One thing I like about being a guy is that we tend to bond with other guys through competition. So this was a great time for our guys to have some fun and bond a little bit.
After b-ballin and v-ballin we’d take it to their indoor facility for some man specific content, which was lead by the project director, Dan Boone. Alot of what went on in there was very “manly” and I’m not gonna write about that, but the spiritual content was very challenging, and I saw men’s live change through having them challenged in these specific area’s.
Basically we emphasized the importance of these men to reject passivity, lead courageously, accept responsibility, and expect 
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Just Whistle While You Work…
It isn’t that they didn’t have a full schedule already, because they did. And it isn’t that they “just needed the money” because they were OK without it. And it wasn’t that they were super excited to add these jobs to the formal resume, because you will not find them there. Our students worked this summer while they were on Project to serve, and to share the gospel!
Our 52 students spread out all over Branson to work, and in doing so to love on the community, and share with them about the Lord. Where did they work you ask?
Well 25 students worked under the golden arches in 7 different McDonalds in the city. Other students lifeguarded at a local indoor water park. A handful worked at Sonic, and another small group at Krispy Creme. Finally we had students working parking lot duty at the amusement park Silver Dollar City.
It was amazing to see how students were able to share and grow in their work environment, and to make a difference for eternity!
For each student, there is a story of how God opened their eyes to a hurting world, or how He allowed them to step out in faith and really trust Him.
For one of my girls, even getting a job was a huge step of faith! This summer she worked her very first job, and it was at McDonalds. For the first week, she was really not excited, very overwhelmed by the training process, and not at all enjoying her job. She came back to the Honey so overwhelmed, and sometimes in tears, just feeling defeated. Not only that, but she was fearful about sharing her faith, and wondered how she would ever get to share in such a fast paced environment at work. But just over a week went by before she started allowing God to transform her heart and be excited to share the gospel. She became great friends with a co-worker, who was a atheist. For some reason, this girl just loved our student, and they began talking and texting, even after work! God used her to break down some thick walls in the life of the atheist coworker. A different afternoon, she met a customer in line, and even though it was busy, she got to share the gospel with the customer, and invited him to come to an outreach dinner. Crazy enough, he came! And he heard the gospel from other students, and got into a great spiritual conversation! God transformed a timid and fearful heart into a bold and confident woman who got the opportunity to share the gospel with countless customers and coworkers. I talked to her a few weeks ago at the end of her time in Branson, and she said the one of the hardest part of leaving was leaving the relationships she made at McDonalds. Talk about God powerfully transforming a heart!!! She can’t wait to put what she learned about living intentionally, and being bold in sharing her faith into practice back on campus in the fall!
And you just have to see how awesome they did at work!!
So fun right???
Praise the Lord for transformed lives as a result of these students stepping out in faith and following the Lord!
A-Days
On Summer Project, every Friday was an Adventure Day! ( I think we should make this part of normal life! don’t you??) The area of the country where Branson is located is really beautiful, and we are so fortunate as to get to see parts of it!
Fridays were a very welcome break in the schedule, even though we always had to wake up super-early to get to our destination!
Our first adventure day was canoeing. We traveled to a river in Arkansas and took a 9 mile, 5 hour canoe trip down a beautiful river. It was so amazing! Here we are getting ready to go!
It was great to get to enjoy God’s beautiful creation, and to have fun bonding time together!
The next A Day was called Project Olympics. We went out to a beautiful church and we were broken up into teams to compete during the day in various competitions. It was neat to see the students growing together, and even though it was intended to be a competitive day, students were building each other up and encouraging each other. We had staff and students teams- and here we are with our yellow team! (And if you think that we look awesome… you are right! We rocked it! Ha!)
The next A-Day Friday was caving! We actually were not part of this trip since we were caring for some of our dear friends kids, while thier mom was in the hospital. She is doing fine now, and the students had a great time checking out caves, and swimming in the river!
The next weekend we were at the Men’s and Women’s retreat which we will fill you in on… But the following Friday the students had their first A-Day without staff and they went on a hiking adventure! This was not the finest A-Day. They hiked nearly 12 miles in super hot heat, on super steep mountains, and only had 1 water bottle each… but it was so cool to hear how God transformed bad attitudes! 
We had so much fun enjoying the beauty of God’s creation on these fun A-Days! The students had more once the staff team left- but I don’t have pictures of those for you- but you get the idea!
Thanks for looking, and seeing captures moments from the time we so thoroughly enjoyed on our Summer Project!
~Autumn
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