Life is a Vapor - Post Project

We’re finally back in Minnesota, trading palm trees for pine. This summer seemed to go by way faster than any other. It feels like STP was just a dream. Although it’s been really nice to be able to sleep in and see family again, I’m definitely missing the environment and community of project. STP was filled with so many memories and sweet relationships. We all grieved the separation of a place that has become so dear to us. Ocean View Motel in Murrells Inlet has become a second home.

Our last theme talk was; “Three Ends: Jesus, Love, Heaven.” While we mourned our final evening of STP, we rejoiced in the hope of heaven. Heaven is real. Heaven is tangible. Heaven is forever. We will constantly be in community in the presence of our Savior.

Paul Poteat asked the question, “Would you be beside yourself to leave earth and be in heaven with Jesus?” I instantly responded to the question with uncertainty. I’m so young and have so much life to live. I’m not sure if I would necessarily be “beside myself” to leave earth. As I thought about the question more, God showed me how He is greater than I can ever imagine. My ignorant, human mindset is so focused on the insignificant details of my life that won’t matter when I’m in heaven. Marriage, success and fame are such insignificant things in light of eternity.

It is so different to look at this earth as a temporary home, even though I know that it is only a vapor. As God has been changing me to have an eternal mindset, I can answer Paul’s question with, “Yes. Nothing would be more exciting to me than to be in the full presence of Jesus.” I praise God for the gifts that He has given me that point me to Him. My community and the environment of project has been a small taste of heaven.

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” ~ Colossians 3:2-3

Laundromat Ministries?

One place you’ll see a lot of students on our day off is the laundromat.  There’s sand, sweat, and grease all over our clothes by the middle of the week. I’m the type of person who puts off laundry for as long as possible. I don’t know how effective that method is because I end up spending the same amount of money by doing more loads, but I guess it’s considerate to keep your clothes clean.

A couple of weeks ago I was minding my own business, putting in my last load when I noticed a woman sitting on the table next to the washer machine I was using. She had a devotional book open and I felt God tugging on my heart to talk to her. I asked if I could sit next to her and she eagerly accepted.

We made small talked for a little while, “What’s your name? Where are you from? Where to you work?” then I pointed to the devotional book she had opened. She shared with me how she became a believer and how she’s trying to be better about reading her Bible. We continued to talk about her past, hard things she had been through, and how Jesus has always been a constant in her life. I was so encouraged by our conversation and wanted to let her know that she is loved. The woman opened up to me about how she has felt alone for many years. This broke my heart. She so readily accepted my offer of friendship and community which is something I take for granted. I expect people to circle around me and be in community with me. I believe that community is Biblical and beautiful, but I never understood what it was like to stand alone and be complete in Christ.

Before I left I asked her if we could exchange numbers and get together again. She gladly accepted and we met again. She contacted me last weekend and we met at Dunkin Donuts. We talked about how her Bible reading is going and how God meets us where we’re at. We read Psalm 81 and talked about how God delivers us from the hard things of this life. I hope to meet again with her at least one more time before we leave project.  

The more I meet with people the more I see how God is the only one who can change hearts. I am an inadequate human being who has been saved by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ and it is HE who works in the hearts of others. I have a tendency to take credit and expect God to change people because of me. How sinful am I! There is nothing I will ever say or do that will stir the hearts of others apart from Christ. He holds His children in His hands and by His grace I am able to have encouraging conversations with others. Praise God for His mercy and allowing me to catch a glimpse of His beauty through the Holy Spirit that is living in others.

"I'm living with how many people?"

The first time I heard about STP, someone told me that it was about 120 college students living in a hotel for two months. Not being a huge extrovert, I couldn’t imagine how you were supposed to make friends in that large of a group. But, in reality, STP has been broken down into smaller groups like campuses, teams and rooms, which makes it easier to form a close group of people around you while still having the option to get to know a lot of different people.

Campuses are probably the most obvious segregation on project. The reason all five Campus Outreach Minneapolis schools come to one project is because the mission of CO is to build laborers on the campus for the lost world. A summer of shared experience, learning and growth is strategic for cultivating a unified group of students on campus who are excited to share their faith and welcome others into the community built here. So we spend time together as campuses every week to lay a foundation for going back home.

Another way that STP has been strategically broken down is into teams. This summer, there are five teams on project: Imperfect Harmony, the Fueen Machine, Old Yeller, Recess and Al We Do Is Win. Each team is made up of 4-6 guy and girl rooms; they work together at Wal-Mart and attend church together, but the main way they spend time together is during team time, a time each Sunday where everyone on the team gets to know each other through games and conversation.

Rooms are designed to bring people of the same gender together from different campuses in a way that relationships can be intimately fostered through discipleship groups, room hangouts and one-on-one time. Rooms also expose students to people who come from a variety of different backgrounds and teach them how to work through conflict in close proximity.

Like I mentioned before, the point of all of these groups is to offer a setting that’s smaller and more comfortable, in which people can get to know one another better. As the summer goes on, they can each become places for sharing growth, struggles and joys.

Is it important?

I remember feeling during both of my past two summers that I didn’t really know what the point of the breakdown of project was, and it’s only now that I’ve been in the role of team leader that I really see the need for it, apart from the practical planning side of its purpose.

If we all perfectly knew how to reach out to others, form a community around ourselves, and never felt like we didn’t belong, there would be no point to what the divisions are about. But the reality is that as fallen and frail human beings, we don’t do any of those things well. We fear others’ opinions of us; we try to blend into the crowd; we hide behind facades of perfection and laugher...because not being known is so much easier than showing your true self. When people know you, they see your sin, they could judge you for the things you enjoy, they could decide that you’re so different that you’re not worth their time.

But vulnerability offers the sweetest connections of all. Openness breeds trust, and trust lays a strong foundation, one that will last long past one summer of living together, working together or being on the same team. It develops an attitude of the heart that should flow out of a security in our identity in Christ.

That’s the reason why STP is structured the way that it is; we hope and desire that people would learn to live freely with others out of a security in relationship with God, but recognize that doesn’t come naturally. Having campus time, team time and rooms offers a platform to show students what it could look like to have community as a way of life beyond this summer.

Talking to Strangers is Okay

You know how your parents always told you that you shouldn’t talk to strangers? Well, here at STP it’s recommended, especially on Wednesday afternoons.

You may be wondering why that is...because it sounds kind of strange.

A big part of what we do here at STP is work to develop our personal relationships with the Lord, but a natural result of getting to know God better is to be moved to share Him with others. Wednesdays’ Ministry Training meeting is the time set aside to equip us with tools to share the Gospel effectively with those around us, as well as to have time to practice what we’ve learned.

What we do

Ministry Training meetings consist of two parts, a talk and a workshop. This past week, Nirmal Mekala spoke on “Abridged Revelation,” and walked us through how to share the Gospel using a simple diagram called the Bridge. It revolves around Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” After that, he discussed two kinds of fears we might face in evangelism, insecurity (fear of awkwardness, rejection or a loss of reputation) and inadequacy (we may not have the right answers).

In the workshop, students paired up and practiced sharing the Bridge with one another as if they were sharing it with an unbeliever. Then, we actually went out onto the beach and talked with tourists and locals about what we believe, and when we come back, we shared stories of conversations we had.

Why it matters

The amazing thing about being a Christian is that we get to be a part of God spreading His name and fame throughout the world. God didn’t have to use us to share the Gospel, but He chose to because it both develops our faith and gives us joy in seeing His work up close.

Undoubtedly, Ministry Training is the meeting that students dread the most, because it’s scary walking up to complete strangers and asking to talk about deep, heart-level issues. But the beauty of it is that, despite our insecurities and inadequacies, there’s no way we can fail if we step out in faith. God doesn’t call us to save those we approach on the beach; He simply calls us to be faithful to share the best news in the world.

Even though “cold turkey evangelism” isn’t our normal modus operandi, I think Ministry Training is one of the most valuable times of the STP week because it’s our chance to vocalize and live out what we profess the rest of the week: that God’s free gift of eternal life through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is the most important thing in our lives, and we want the world to know it.

The theme...revealed.

Every year, STP has a theme that we use to study the Bible to understand more of who God is and who we are. Usually we choose a book of the Bible and formulate the theme around the main point of that book.

This year, we did things a little differently.

Instead of selecting one specific book, we’re studying the whole Bible.

Well, not quite all of it. Our theme this summer is “Revealed,” and we’re studying mini-themes, traced through scripture, that show how the Lord revealed Himself to us. We’ll be looking at themes like the Lamb, the Suffering Servant, and the King.

Our theme verse is Psalm 98:2, “The LORD has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.”

It’s exciting that we’re going to be able to get a bigger glimpse into the redemptive thread God has woven through history and a deeper look into who He is. God reveals Himself in so many different ways that it would be almost impossible to cover them all in one summer, but studying the whole of Scripture gives us the chance to understand Him in a new and more holistic way.

What we want this summer

As I said, the goal of our theme is for us to be able to see more of Christ. But practically, how do we do we know if we’ve gotten to know Him better? Paul Poteat, director of Campus Outreach Minneapolis, and this summer’s project director, laid out three categories and some specifics of what he hopes we’ll get out of this summer of learning.

More of God

We're aiming to become more enchanted with God in all of His attributes and at the same time see Him as a total reality.

More of ourselves

This summer, we want to become disenchanted with our own goodness and our identities. We can’t come to a point of seeing our need for the cross until we recognize the depth of our own sinfulness.

More of Jesus

The more we learn about God’s holiness and our own sinfulness, the larger and more important the Gospel has to become in our lives; it can’t really happen any other way.

Ultimately, it’s God who is going to do the revealing and transforming work in our lives this summer. And that’s the beauty of it all, like Psalm 98 said: God saves and He didn’t make it hard to figure out how to find Him. He’s revealed himself all around us and we get a front row seat to see who He is.

Welcome to the Carnival!

Greetings from South Carolina! 

Three days later, we are 1,084 miles from home, burnt from head to toe, and decked out in Walmart gear; welcome to Summer Training Project 2016! Praise the Lord that everyone made it to South Carolina safely. Everyone was so excited to get out of the car and onto the beach. 

On Friday, we had our very first project social. The theme was “Awkward Family at a Carnival.” Each guy and girl room paired up and creatively decided what their theme was going to be. This year we had a lot of different types of families in attendance. Minion, Olympic, hillbilly, hood-rat, Noah’s Ark, and zombie-nurse families tried their hand at multiple carnival games. My favorite awkward family was Krista Bain and Benjamin Greener’s room who dressed as the Duggar family. 

At the end of the carnival, the “Balla-Shock-Calla” family, Alexis Garcia and Erin Bankson, won ice cream sandwiches in a name drawing. Minion family Mariam Amirikian and Thomas Luichinger also won 10 tickets for best costume. 

The carnival concluded with a dance party in all of our costume attire. What a site it must have been to see Noah’s Ark and the Duggar family doing the cupid shuffle in 90 degree weather. All in all, the carnival social was a success and students are stoked to hear what the next social will be! 

Thank you to all who have supported and been a part of our Summer Training Project. The first social is just a taste of what is to come! 

Introducing the STP Interns!

Every year at Summer Training Project, Campus Outreach offers a number of internships to students to help them grow their professional skills in addition to the spiritual and relational growth they’re experiencing. Internships are offered in a number of different areas, and I’m excited to introduce this summer’s interns and their jobs to you!

First up are the finance interns, Ben Evans and Weston Smith. They’ll be taking care of all of the STP finances, like support raising and reimbursements on project. Ben and Weston are both Marketing students at the University of Northwestern – St. Paul; Ben is a super senior and Weston is a senior. Fun fact about Ben: he can down bottled water at incredibly high speeds!

Next up is our videography intern, Maddie Cook, a sophomore at the University of St. Thomas. Maddie will be capturing all of the aspects of project on video and turning them into promotions and stories for future STPs. Maddie is studying Operations and Supply Chain Management, and in her spare time, she is an avid swing dancer.

Brenna Richardson is our web and audio content intern, which means she will be recording all of the talks given every week and uploading them to the CO Minneapolis website. Brenna will be a junior English major at St. Cloud State University and is passionate about drawing pencil portraits.

STP’s graphic design work is being done by Erin Bankson, a senior Graphic Design major at the University of Minnesota. She designed this summer’s theme logo and will be working on some rebranding projects for STP. Erin’s fun fact is that she has an incredibly keen sense of hearing; she can even hear bubbles in people’s throats!

Jordan McCauley is pioneering a new internship position designing infographics for STP. She’ll be putting together fun and informational pictures about the teams, our theme, and other interesting info about STP and the Myrtle Beach area. Jordan is a senior at the University of St. Thomas studying Communications, with a minor in Justice and Peace Studies. She is originally from Pennsylvania and has worked for the past two years at the Renaissance Festival in a food booth.

Claire Ripley will be this year’s photography intern. She’ll be capturing all of the special moments on project, from socials to work to free time fun. Claire, an incoming sophomore at the University of Northwestern – St. Paul, is studying Graphic Design and Studio Art. She loves anything water-related: swimming, boating, water skiing, the ocean and rainy days, to name a few.

Last but not least, Hannah Swanson and Briana Williamson (the author of this post) are in charge of STP communications, which means you’ll get to read our blog posts throughout the summer, and we’ll keep you up to date on social media with pictures and more! Hannah is a senior at the University of Northwestern – St. Paul majoring in Public Relations, and I am a senior at the University of Minnesota studying Marketing and Public and Nonprofit Management. Fun fact about Hannah: she was born in Canada and has dual citizenship. I was born in Texas and didn’t see snow until I was five years old!

Trusting His Sufficiency

A week ago, 50 staff and students involved with Campus Outreach Minneapolis gathered at Camp Victory in Southern Minnesota for a weekend of fun, relationship building, and leadership training for the various summer events of the ministry.

What does it mean to be a leader? What is my role? Will I do a good job this summer? Do I have what it takes?

These are the same questions that echo in our heads every time the both of us start thinking too much about being the directors of the 2016 Summer Training Project. And if we had to guess, they are questions that everyone involved with the leadership team has asked themselves as they contemplate the summer, whether serving on the Summer Training Project (STP), Cross Cultural Project (CCP), or the Twin Cities Project (TCP).

At the retreat, talks and workshops were designed to help us better understand our role and give us resources to thrive as leaders, but they didn’t put all the questions to rest. In fact, the more we talked about the summer, the more inadequate we realized we really are. The task is daunting. Yes, we want this summer to be filled with fun memories, growing experiences at work, and deepening relationships with other students. But ultimately, we want students’ hearts to be changed by the good news of what Jesus Christ has done for us in his life, death, and resurrection. That is something that none of us have the power to do. We do not have what it takes to do the work that we would love to see happen in the lives of students.

So why are we here? Why pull together a team of 50+ students every summer to lead our summer events?

On the first night of the retreat, Paul Poteat, our regional director, used Exodus 3:11-14 to help us understand our place. Moses, when called to challenge Pharaoh and bring the nation of Israel out of slavery, realized his own inadequacy and asked a similar question.

“But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He [God] said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:12)

The answer to Moses’ fear of inadequacy was God’s promise of the sufficiency of His presence.

The same promise is true today for as we look forward to the summer. We ought to feel insufficient when we think of our roles; without Him we are insufficient. But we are not alone. We can be confident leaders this summer because God promises to be with us, working in and through us to do what is good.

Please join us in asking God to do great work in students’ lives through the STP, CCP, and TCP, and ask him to help all of us to rest in his presence as we prepare to serve this summer.

David Cook & Emma Button
STP Student Project Directors