Hey all!
Again, I am sorry for the scarcity of info. It's been jam-packed here in Gulf Shores!
Highlights: StuMo Nights, Relationships Conference, KU Staff, Campus Prayer, group date, and 4th of July barbeque!
First, StuMo Nights! June 24 was focused on the topic of fellowship. Brandon, one of the people on staff at Oklahoma, came to speak to us. He kept repeating the phrase, "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future." He emphasized the importance of our inner circle of friends, then the other rings. He described it as a bullseye. Your inner circle is made up of the people who are closest to you and influence you the most. As believers, as well as laborers, it is important that we are careful who we allow into this inner circle because none of us (no matter what we want to believe) are above peer pressure. We want to make absolutely sure that the people in this small group of friends are going to be people who encourage us in our faith and spur us on to grow daily. Those relationships are so important in our lives. The "middle circle" are those who are still friends but who don't have quite the influence on our lives. These are relationships that we are working on growing, people we are investing in spiritually or the people we're just not as close to. The outer ring is typically just acquaintances and they usually don't influence our lives much at all. Brandon really encouraged us to evaluate our inner circle and maybe make some changes to it. He gave examples of his best friends from high school and where they are all at now as opposed to the inner circle he found in college that really encouraged him spiritually and helped him in his growth. He emphasized the importance of evaluating and even rearranging without "booting anyone out" of our lives because we don't want to lose friendships that we already have but we need to make sure that if people are going to be in our inner circle that their influence is one that helps us in our faith.
Then, this past Thursday Heath spoke about evangelism. He talked a lot about cost versus benefit of sharing the gospel, which is a big part of what we're learning to do this summer. He made the point that sharing the gospel should be a lifestyle, not just an activity. The costs were our image, our comfort, and our life. Dramatic? Yeah, it sounds like it, but it's really worth it. The things we gain from these costs are a greater view of Christ and how to be more like him, our true purpose in life fulfilled, and having an impact on the eternity of those we come into contact with. That's definitely something that has really hit me this summer. I'm not learning and growing simply to benefit myself anymore. The things I learn and put into practice back on campus this fall affect people's eternity. Heath gave the example of Edward Kimball, an ordinary Sunday school teacher, who shared the gospel with a student, who passed it on, who passed it on, etc. and eventually it reached a boy named William. William was also known as Billy Graham. If Kimball had not shared then Billy Graham may have never come to know Christ and then how many hundreds of thousands of other people would have never heard the gospel either. By me passing up the opportunity to share my faith with someone I not only deny them the chance to know Christ but also anyone they would have eventually shared with and so on. And on top of that, all the laboring that the people who have invested in me and the people before them would be in vain if I were to be a "spiritual dead-end". Coming into the summer I had a very selfish view on the things I would take away; now I can see how much bigger of a picture that I am just a small part of.
Last weekend we had the Kaleo Relationships Conference! It was an opportunity to hear from the staff, and some pretty legit resources, about Christ-centered friendships, dating and marriage relationships. They talked about being content in singleness and how this is when I have the most time to focus on my relationship with God, the most important relationship I could have. They also separated the guys and girls. The girls got a talk about modesty and the guys got a talk about girls' emotions. It was a great couple of days and I feel like it will still take awhile for me to absorb all the information.
In the final week before the staff left, our group had the chance to get time with all but one of the staff members from KU. We had dinner with Stephan and Sarah Billings after the Relationships conference and got to talk to them a little more about what that looked like in their life. Then for D-Group night we had Claire Lewis over. She was so fun and energetic and had great insight. Then on Wednesday we had the other Claire over for desert and got to hear about her life and testimony and get some great advice from her. It was so cool to get the chance to spend time with them!
The past couple of Mondays, instead of doing Inductive training we've had a short workshop and then a time of Campus Prayer. This has for sure been one of my favorite parts. Last week we began praying specifically, by name, for everyone at the project this summer. We prayed for Alpha Chi and FarmHouse the first week, as well as a few of the residence halls based on where people are going to be living. Tonight we prayed for Alpha Delta Pi, ATO, Theta Xi, Kappa, and Sig Ep. It was so cool to know that over the next few weeks each and every person will get prayed for by name and to know that the rest of the project is behind them 100% when we get back to campus. Prayer is so powerful and I've really enjoyed learning more about it and seeing the impact it can make.
Last friday, we had another group date. We were told to dress like we would have in elementary school and to be ready at 6:30pm. We were a little confused. It turned out great, though! The guys did a great job planning it. They cooked us macaroni and corndogs (a classic elementary school meal) for dinner, along with fruit cups and juice boxes. Then we went to the 'Burbs and did some finger painting and played board games. It was a great night!
Sunday afternoon/evening we had a barbeque with everyone from the project. We had the traditional hamburgers and hot dogs. Then we got some games of soccer and ultimate frisbee going. Then once it was dark we headed down to the beach for some fireworks. It was a super show!
Well, it's getting pretty late and I've got work tomorrow (only 16 more days! wow!). Thanks for checking in! Until next time...
Sarah
XOXO
Prayer Requests:
*Pray that Kaleo would not be just a 9-week summer program but that it would be a lifestyle
*Endurance- that we would not "coast" through the last few weeks but continue to be giving 100% in everything
*Boldness and opportunities- to share with others and to be courageous and confident about sharing
No comments:
Post a Comment