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.