Newsletters

July 2000

A God-Honoring Summer

We worked hard this summer! Was God honored by our effort? We shared Christ with thousands of people and saw hundreds receive Christ! Was God impressed? Our students were challenged from the Bible and received training that prepared them to do ministry on campus. Was God pleased?

He is honored by these things only if He is the one who is being honored. He is honored if our effort is done with an attitude of faith—where we are trusting Him for great things. He was not impressed by our effort but is honored when our effort is done for His glory. He is honored in the lives and ministry of our students only if they are ministering out of the love they have for Him and others, not out of a sense of duty

As we look back on the six weeks we have had to work with these students and trust God with these students, it is clear that God was honored. God was honored this summer because we stepped out in faith, trusting Him to do great things!

We want to give you a few glimpses of what God did in and through the lives of our students.

This summer began when 40 of us staff were joined by 107 students from around the country. The students all obtained jobs around Ocean City where they work five days a week.

As staff, we have been working personally either with 4 to 5 students, helping them to develop in their relationship with God and in ministry skills, or with the other staff who have been working with students.

Students have in-depth small group Bible study once a week

The goal of one of the weeks was for students to develop a deeper intimacy with God. The highlight of the week was the evening where we all had a “Date Night with Jesus”. During this time we took a few hours to get by ourselves and have time with God, reading

His word, praying, and enjoying his creation.

During a sharing time afterwards it was encouraging to hear how students had opportunities to lay their hearts before God and how they came out of the time closer to God and ready, emotionally and spiritually, for an intense and faith-stretching summer.

This was the longest and most tiring week of the summer for all of us on the project. But, it was also a week where we saw God move in incredible ways.

The goal for this week was to stretch ourselves in the area of evangelism— to share the good news of Christ with as many people as possible. Each one of us set a faith goal of how many people we would like to share with. We also set a personal giant we would like to overcome in the area of evangelism—some person or group of people with whom to share or some type of evangelism we had been fearful to do in the past. For some students this was sharing with a family member. For others it was sharing by themselves. For still other’s it was simply initiating a conversation with someone to share the gospel with them.

Our goal over the week was to initiate conversations with 4231 people. At the end of the week we had shared with over 5050! This shattered previous records for the 30+ year history of summer projects. We worked hard this week but it was not our hard work that was pleasing to God. God was pleased because each of us learned to trust Him more as we shared the gospel.

We sponsored a beach volleyball tournament during Killing the Giants week and had an opportunity to have spiritual conversations with many people who came to play in the tournament.

All for One

The goal for this week was for the students to learn to depend upon one another. This is vital for the rest of the summer because in just a few days we will leave and they will take over all the responsibilities on the project. We will not be around to solve problems or answer questions or teach them or challenge them in their walk with God. They will solve problems together. They will teach and challenge each other and will come out of the summer with the experience and skills necessary to help lead their movements on campus. They will also come away from the summer having learned to trust God more.

That is why we, as staff, are excited to have had the opportunity to be here! Thanks for helping give us the chance to work in these students lives! Please pray for the students throughout the rest of this summer.

The meetings are held twice a week at the church we attend throughout the summer and offer students a chance to worship together and be taught from the Bible.

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