Keeping Tabs Jan2012

RADIATE.2011—Be Free

Every New Year, I have the wonderful opportunity to worship into the New Year with hundreds of students from the mid-atlantic region. This year 937 students from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey gathered in the Baltimore Inner Harbor to develop their relationships with Jesus through fellowship, training, worship and prayer.

 Pastor Jackson Crum, Claude Hickman and Roger Hershey all spoke on the topic “be free”. In and through their teaching, felt God challenge me to give a detailed testimony, known as a “soul to soul”, to the women involved at Kean Cru. Little did I know this time, which included my sister, developed a greater feeling of freedom within the women to be open and honest about where God has convicted them of sin. Since that night, I’ve been able to privately meet with several of these women and encourage them, as Paul did in Ephesians 5:8, to walk as children of light.

One of the great things about conferences like these is that I am able to reunite with the students I worked with this past summer at Hampton Beach, NH Summer Project. It was really encouraging to see the women from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia & North Carolina persevering and “running the race.”

What Changed?...Generosity!

Hampton Beach Summer Project

New house, new staff, new project, same God!

You’ve probably noticed in the past two letters that I’ve asked for prayer for my summer project trip to Hampton Beach. The reason I hadn’t gone into too much detail about this trip is because I had never been on one! As a student, summer project always scared me because I knew I’d have to raise support to live away from my family with 20-30 other students for 10 weeks! In my mind, these were four extremely uncomfortable and nearly un-American things to do!

So here I am, sitting in a small quiet room on the second floor of the Hampton Beach Summer Project (HBSP) house! What changed? Well for one, I’m no longer a student but am on staff with CCC. And since interning in 2007 this is the first summer I’m available because I’m not raising support full-time! There were many different projects I could’ve been on but I think God knew what He was doing when He assigned me to this one. A summer project is basically a summer long missions trip through Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC).

Training in our house on how to clearly communicate the Gospel

Here at HBSP, staff train college students in the three modes of evangelism: initiative, relational, and body. Students and staff go to share their faith on the beach (initiative), with their co-workers at the local Dunkin Donuts (relational), and through group outreaches like ice-cream socials or scavenger hunts (body). 

We may not have been able to do all of this if it wasn’t for a local church member who decided to help support our ministry by purchasing a house in which our students could stay for the summer! Through prayers and this man’s generous answers to our prayers through God's power, HBSP exists!

 You may not be able to purchase a house for us or even a car, but some church members have donated couches, bikes, and all kinds of food. Some families in certain churches have even adopted the students that attend their church by taking them grocery shopping after church or inviting them over for a home-cooked meal. Our project has truly been blessed by those who are willing to love their neighbor and not leave the world the way it is.

These students want to reach the lost New Englanders of Hampton Beach who believe they are "all set". All they need is help to get there. They are willing to spend their summer serving God. Will you help them stay? 

Maybe you are not local and can't give items, but your prayers and finances are always essential. I currently only raise enough monthly support to cover my basic needs, not extra trips like Summer Project or our National Staff Conference in Colorado this July. Project expenses including housing and fees from May 23rd to July 1st costs $1500. Currently I’ve been able to pay $300 of this $1500 expense but there is still much more due.

Would you prayerfully consider giving a special one-time gift of $50 to help build and transform Christian students into life-time laborers for Christ so that everybody knows somebody who truly follows Jesus Christ?

Living in Hampton Beach, NH

I'm currently in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire as staff with Campus Crusade for Christ for the first month of a Summer Project. A Summer Project is an opportunity for students to engage in spiritual conversations in a new community, be trained in ministry and leadership roles, and grow in their faith.

A tool used to share the Gospel

As staff, I will be...

• discipling three of our 25 students attending this project
• helping lead a small Bible Study
• training my students to share their faith at their new jobs
• sharing my faith on the beach alongside these students
• and training students to conduct a weekly meeting (emcee, worship, speakers, etc.)

One of the ways that we show our students to walk with Christ for a lifetime is to take the training we've given them in leadership and using that at a local church. Most college students move away from their familiar environments after they graduate due to job opportunities. One of the most important things for them to have in this transition is a strong understanding of how to seek fellowship in a new church and engage with it's community. This will help keep their walk with Jesus afresh instead of stagnant or fading.

As staff, we want to be an example of a lifetime laborer for Christ. So the first Sunday staff were here, we checked out the three different churches that partner with us. I had the opportunity to attend Bethany Church in Greenland, NH. To my surprise the Pastor was a Puerto Rican man from Brooklyn! Of course he and another couple were the darkest in the congregation aside from me (I'm trying to catch a tan, but the weather isn't complying), but the service was great!  
Can't wait til my students get to experience the worship and Biblical teaching I was able to. :)